Old Devil Moon [Paperback]

Christopher Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

“[Christopher] Fowler repeatedly challenges the reader to redraw the boundaries between innocence and malevolence, rationality and paranoia. His strength lies in the way he unveils the darker side of the ordinary.”—Guardian

A geologist trapped in a town without water is lured into a desperate escape plan. A boy plans a murder in an eerie funfair. A cop witnesses an inexplicable plague of madness. A teenager learns a deadly trick with his cell phone.

Christopher Fowler’s tenth collection of uniquely disturbing short stories contains the blackest humor and the darkest fears.

Christopher Fowler is the author of twelve novels, including the Bryant & May series. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. British author Fowler, best known for his Bryant and May impossible crimes series (White Corridor, etc.), scores another triumph with his eclectic 10th short story collection. Highlights include The Lady Downstairs, a Sherlockian pastiche told from the perspective of the great detective's long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Hudson, and the grim revenge story, The Threads, in which an arrogant British tourist to North Africa gets his comeuppance. The amusing parody That's Undertainment! brutally eviscerates modern popular culture. Old Friends, an effective modern ghost story, pays homage to such late British film greats as Terry-Thomas and Diana Dors. John Wyndham would've appreciated the concise but horrific The Spider Kiss, in which an outbreak of insane human behavior in Miami proves to have its origins in the animal kingdom. Exclusion Zone focuses on a father's estrangement from his daughter's anarchic rebellion. Fans of all genres will be impressed by the 22 well-written, often moving selections. (Aug.)
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Review

"'Fowler repeatedly challenges the reader to redraw the boundaries between innocence and malevolence, rationality and paranoia. His strength lies in the way he unveils the darker side of the ordinary: fresh and thought-provoking, elegant and playful' Guardian 'Fowler hides a powerful narrative in a slyly experimental text to superb effect' Time Out 'Gothic stories in a realist vein... Ian McEwan used to mine a similar seam. Fowler does it better' Arena 'These deadly funny stories are like short sharp shocks of adrenalin administered to the unsuspecting in the dead of night' Metro"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852429259
• ISBN-13: 978-1852429256
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christopher Fowler was born in Greenwich, London. He is the multi award-winning author of thirty novels and ten short story collections, and the author of the Bryant & May mystery novels. His first bestseller was 'Roofworld'. Subsequent novels include 'Spanky', 'Disturbia', 'Psychoville' and 'Calabash'. His books have been optioned by Guillermo Del Toro ('Spanky') and Jude Law ('Psychoville'). He co-founded Creative Partnership, a company that changed the face of film marketing, and spent many years working in film. His memoir of growing up without books, entitled 'Paperboy', was highly acclaimed.

He has written comedy and drama for BBC radio, including Radio One's first broadcast drama in 2005. He writes for the FT and the Independent on Sunday, Black Static magazine and many others. His graphic novel for DC Comics was the critically acclaimed 'Menz Insana'. His short story 'The Master Builder' became a feature film entitled 'Through The Eyes Of A Killer', starring Tippi Hedren and Marg Helgenberger. In the past year he has been nominated for 8 national book awards. He is the winner of the Edge Hill prize 2008 for 'Old Devil Moon', and the Last Laugh prize 2009 for 'The Victoria Vanishes'.

Christopher has achieved several pathetic schoolboy fantasies, releasing a terrible Christmas pop single, becoming a male model, writing a stage show, posing as the villain in a Batman graphic novel, running a night club, appearing in the Pan Books of Horror, and standing in for James Bond.

His short stories have appeared in Best British Mysteries, The Time Out Book Of London Short Stories, Dark Terrors, London Noir, Inferno, Neon Lit, Cinema Macabre, the Mammoth Book of Horror and many others. After living in the USA and France he is now married and lives in King's Cross, London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dark often amusing and satirical crime suspense anthology, August 7, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Old Devil Moon (Paperback)

This dark often amusing and satirical crime suspense anthology is a terrific anthology from one of the best short story authors today (Mr. Fowler's odd couple Bryant and May police procedural novels are also excellent). Each of the twenty-two entries is top rate. Baker St Irregulars will especially appreciate "The Lady Downstairs" starring Mr. Holmes's landlady while fans of 1960s British movies will relish the appearance of the late actor Terry-Thomas in the aptly named ghost story "Old Friends". Weird fun are "Turbo-Satan" in which two East Londoner slackers Daz and Mat text messaging to SATAN and even stranger "Take It All Back, Put It All Back" starring statistically bad luck magnet Lukas Forrest. Also superb is the Miami police officer struggling with "The Spider Kiss" mad disease spreading amidst residents in which an outbreak of insane human behavior in South Florida proves to have strange beastly origins. Well written, Christopher Fowler uses taken for granted aspects of everyday life like text messaging, walking the dog on a big city street, and comic books, etc. but runs them into dark dangerous devices and places.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old Devil Moon, February 21, 2009

By 

Teresa Pietersen (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Old Devil Moon (Paperback)

Weird situations, as only Christopher Fowler can imagine. I'm not a huge fan of short stories but I've been reading Fowler for a long time and he's so very good at strange!
As an author he's the English answer to Tim Powers (another of my top picks)who can make characters that are believeable, place them in the most bizare situations and you'll care about them. Not many can do it as smoothly as these two guys.
If you are a fan of the strangeness that lies just below or behind the very ordinary, I'd recommend not only these two writers but also Phil Rickman (another English author - call me biased if you like, a Brit living in U.S.A.)but you won't be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Always awesome., April 24, 2011

By 

Mike Isguder (Richmond Hill, ONT Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Old Devil Moon (Paperback)

If you're thinking about buying this you either already love Christopher Fowler's anthologies or you're browsing for an actual good short story writer. Either way just purchase this already. I've read quite a few anthologies and Christopher Fowler is up there for me with Matheson as masterful short story writers. You'd think it would be easier to write short stories but I find a lot of writers (especially famed novelists) just can't deliver. I'm positive anyone can find a story in here they'll love. I really think someone should produce a tv series based on Fowler's short stories one of these days.