Book Review: Crow Shine by Alan Baxter

I’m delighted to share my review of this short story collection by Australian horror author, Alan Baxter.

“The dark fantasy collection features 19 stories, including the Australian Shadows Award-winning “Shadows of the Lonely Dead”; and original title story “Crow Shine” in addition to two other never before published stories.
“Alan Baxter is an accomplished storyteller who ably evokes magic and menace. Whether it’s stories of ghost-liquor and soul-draining blues, night club magicians, sinister western pastoral landscapes, or a suburban suicide–Crow Shine has a mean bite.”—Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase.
“Crow Shine, by Alan Baxter, is a sweeping collection of horror and dark fantasy stories, packed with misfits and devils, repentant fathers and clockwork miracles. Throughout it all, Baxter keeps his focus on the universal problems of the human experience: the search for understanding, for justice, and for love. It’s an outstanding book.”—Nathan Ballingrud, author of North American Lake Monsters.
“Alan Baxter’s fiction is dark, disturbing, hard-hitting and heart-breakingly honest. He reflects on worlds known and unknown with compassion, and demonstrates an almost second-sight into human behaviour.”—Kaaron Warren, Shirley Jackson Award-winner and author of The Grief Hole.
“Buy your tickets, step up, and enter the world of Alan Baxter’s debut collection, Crow Shine. Here fates are brutal, justice is swift and merciless, yet even the most ruthless characters are sometimes – just sometimes – strangely touching. Crow Shine will terrify, surprise, and stun you.”—Angela Slatter, World Fantasy and British Fantasy Award winning author.”
My thoughts:
Alan Baxter has penned a collection of gritty, sharply written tales filled with dread. The horror seeps from every paragraph, often simmering just behind the scenes. Baxter creates a strong sense of place and atmosphere, drawing on both urban and rural settings in the USA and Australia. There are the satisfying twists readers of horror shorts expect. There’s the unwavering prose and moments of poetry indicative of quality horror writing.
The title story, ‘Crow Shine’ is an ironic tale whose antagonist, the crow, ever the watcher, will have its way. There’s an allusion to Mephistopheles selling his soul to the devil through the demon drink, when protagonist Clyde uses his grandfather’s recipe to make moonshine and thence is able to play the Blues.
‘Crow Shine’ sets the tone for the rest of the collection, Baxter in full control of his characters as they tumble into darkness, decadence and the pits of hell.  In ‘The Darkest Shades of Grey’ David is possessed by demons after meddling with ouija, and drifts further and further into inner conflict and torment. Here, Baxter is concerned with the possible consequences of using the occult for entertainment, a warning to us all.
I would recommend this collection to all who enjoy good horror shorts and especially to those wanting to discover the best in Australian horror today.
Get your copy here
Find Alan Baxter here

More…