The Collioure Coincidence

Mark N. Drake’s The Collioure Coincidence, the sixth installment in the captivating Darkisle series, continues to weave an enthralling tapestry of 1920s detective noir infused with Lovecraftian cosmic horror. Set in the spring and summer of 1925, this novel finds hardboiled private investigator Jack Glennison grappling with personal challenges while unraveling a mystery that spans from the shores of southern France and back to the foreboding island of Darkisle. Drake’s skillful blending of historical authenticity, atmospheric tension, and eldritch unease makes this entry a standout, building seamlessly on the foundations laid in previous books like The Gathering of Shadows (first in the series, and the place from which you should begin your journey to Darkisle) and Bogganmor (the previous novel in the series).

While the series’ recurring cultic menace and island setting could risk repetition, Drake keeps things fresh by venturing off-island and delving deeper into Jack’s psyche, hinting at broader cosmic threats. The first half of the novel involves an excursion to Collioure, France to investigate the King in Yellow—readers of Robert W. Chambers will eagerly await more revelations in future books in the series—before bringing Jack and Josine back to Darkisle for an archaeological expedition. What begins as a seemingly innocuous art inquiry escalates when Jack and Josine uncover links to forbidden tomes, dream-induced madness, and the ever-lurking Church of the Celestial Shadow, a deadly cult whose machinations have haunted the series since its inception.

About halfway through, Drake masterfully shifts the action to the rugged, myth-shrouded landscapes of Darkisle. Here, Jack joins an archaeological dig on Ben Cattrick hill, unearthing a megalithic stone circle. As disappearances mount and cultists close in, Jack must confront malevolent forces, including references to gods like Katlu and Neulthtep, while deciphering runes that could very well summon unspeakable entities. The narrative builds to a gripping climax involving magical rituals, gunfights, and revelations about lost temples, all while exploring themes of fate and the thin veil between reality and the abyss.

Jack Glennison remains a compelling protagonist: a war-scarred, cigarette-smoking everyman, whose cynicism is tempered by loyalty and a reluctant heroism. His dynamic with Josine—part professional partnership, part unspoken affection—adds emotional depth, especially as she grapples with her own traumas from prior adventures. Supporting characters, from the enigmatic (and not entirely trustworthy?) Viscount Charles Deverby to quirky archaeologists like Professor Elvet, enrich the setting, while Drake’s prose evokes the era’s grit with vivid details: the clatter of French trains, the eerie howls of Darkisle’s feral munt hounds, and the oppressive heat of Mediterranean afternoons. The author’s research shines through the many historical touches, such as the Fauvist art movement and Norse influences on Darkisle’s ancient sites, creating an immersive blend of mystery and mythos that fans of H.P. Lovecraft or Dashiell Hammett will devour.

The Collioure Coincidence is a taut, page-turning read that rewards longtime followers with callbacks to earlier cases while standing alone as a thrilling story in its own right. Drake continues to excel at crafting creepy, character-driven tales that linger like shadows on a foggy Darkisle night. Highly recommended for those who crave intelligent horror with a detective twist. Here’s hoping Jack’s adventures continue.

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WITCHCRAFT: Beyond & Within Series
Edited by Marie O’Reagan & Paul Kane
Flame Tree Press (February 17, 2026)
Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Here’s the latest volume in the excellent “Beyond& Within” series  from Flame Tree Press, addressing various aspects of sorcery,horror and, obviously, witchcraft.

The prolific and classy Angela Slatter is certainly one of the most expert contributors in this  area and her sinister story “Murder Ballads by Moonlight” provides a creepy narrative confirming her extraordinary talent as a dark storyteller.

“Jackie’s Dust” by Alison Moore is another of my favorite tales in the book, a bittersweet piece featuring a young girl whose life is changed by a series of apparently trivial events taking place in her village and in her family.

David Barnett contributes “The Witch of Withered Hill,” a piece of dark and fantastic fiction, quite in tune with the title and the spirit of the book, where a real witch makes a stop to her village’s living curse.

In “Remembrance,” the always excellent Helen Grant develops a rather predictable yet deeply upsetting plot where a smart serial killer takes his final revenge.

Another of my favorite is the weird “The Weaver” by Kay Hanifen, featuring an atypical witch whose only real friend is a peculiar spider.

All in all, a rather unusual anthology.

The list of other contributors includes: Ally Wilkes, Eliza Chan, Mark Chadbourn, Muriel Gray, Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu, Gabriella Buba, Aveline Fletcher, Lisa L Hannett, Melissa Bobe, Amanda Mason, Damien Kelly, and Eugen Bacon.

And Cast It From You

Ever heard the saying, “small but mighty”? It usually refers to someone or something who may not appear to be much of a threat, but when they get going, look out! The something in this case is Scarlett R. Algee’s novella And Cast It From You. Not only does the book appear deceptively brief, but the evil inside waiting for readers is tiny and not the sort of thing that strikes fear into the hearts of anyone except maybe neat freaks. Intrigued? Then let’s check it out!

Our narrator, Kris Winters, has inherited her late grandmother’s house—a place full of fond memories, country goodness, and love. Not too many people can say that about their first home! Everything is great, except for one small problem: the shed is NOT fine.” Readers will soon discover just how much of an understatement that is.

Even so, how dangerous could a small shed full of odds and ends be? I mean, sure, there’s two decades worth of heavy yellow dust on everything, which certainly could be a hazard to a person with allergies. Kris doesn’t say she has a history of allergies and seems unconcerned when she approaches the clean up job, but something in that shed turns what should be a joyful experience into relentless creeping horror that makes you want to scream. Alone in the middle of nowhere with her options narrowing fast, Kris has to make an emergency decision and stop the misery while she still can. Or is she already too late?

Wow! This reviewer gives And Cast It From You by Scarlett R. Algee a hearty 5 Star Rating! At the time of this review, this excellent novella is available on Amazon Kindle for just $2.99 (sale price) or as a paperback for $6.95. A true case of small but mighty, this story will stay stuck in your head long after you read it. Big monsters may be loud and scary, but it’s the tiny ones that’ll take you down and drive you mad while doing it. So, if you happen to be house hunting, just tell your realtor to take any houses with small rustic sheds out back right off your viewing list. Better safe than sorry!

Scarlett R. Algee’s work has appeared in many places, including Bards and Sages Quarterly, Body Parts Magazine, and The Wicked Library. She’s also the author of Bleedthrough and Other Small Horrors. You can find Scarlett on Reddit as u/Cold_War_Radio

Brian James Lewis is a disabled writer, poet, and book reviewer with PTSD whose work has appeared in Trajectory Journal, Mythic Picnic, The Awakenings Review, and multiple horror anthologies. Please visit him at: www.damagedskullwriterandreviewer.com, X/Twitter @skullsnflames76, or https://facebook.com/DamagedSkullWriterandReviewer

The Night Ship
Alex Woodroe
Flame Tree Press (January 20, 2026)
Reviewed by Carson Buckingham

A refreshing new take on apocalyptic novels, Alex Woodroe’s The Night Ship is set in 1980s ultra-repressive Romania, during the waning days of Ceaușescu’s Romanian dictatorship and has three main characters:  Gigi, who drives a semi and is a by-the-book ‘party man’; his fiancée and part-time smuggler, Rosi; and a philosophical, Hamlet-esque hitchhiker named Sorin, who is an academic.

The world has been beset by a creeping blackness that seems to be dissolving it. As the three watch, it crumbles away into nothingness. But they take refuge in GiGi’s truck, which somehow manages to float on through the darkness surrounding them without falling into the stygian void beneath them after the area on which they were previously standing falls away into the blackness below. The truck becomes a spacecraft, of sorts.

The fear and paranoia the characters feel could be likened to day-to-day living in a society with secret police, propaganda, citizens informing on each other, and feeling continually off balance as to one’s place in the world.

The story examines the complexity of traumatic experiences and the unique behavior of each character as new and utterly horrific experiences pile up, one by one, creating an accumulation of horror that I’ve not seen the like of since The Haunting of Hill House—and that was released in 1959. And the buildup is done with such a deft hand that it will leave you breathless. This novel is unlike any I’ve previously read… and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s hard to find something new under the sun these days, but if you are searching for the sui generis, The Night Ship is it…in spades, and though you might see elements of Mad Max as well as The Mist, fanfic this is not.

One of my favorite things about this book is that the characters grow as a result of what they experience. “Well, shouldn’t they?” you ask. Of course, they should, but in many books I’ve read, the horror elements so overshadow the personal growth of the characters that the reader doesn’t get to know them at all, and it’s hard to root for someone you don’t know. The novel isn’t just about horror upon horror. It doesn’t have jump scares, but rather, is filled with increasing dread, and we have the privilege of observing how this dread affects and transforms each of these three unwilling voyagers into the unknown. This grounds the story in reality and makes it easy to suspend our disbelief when the horror is brought to the fore, bit by bit.

The darkness is never explained, and I like that. It’s analogous to the authoritarian regime that was running the country at that time. The characters have learned to roll with things and not ask questions. And this apocalypse is just one more thing…a big thing, to be sure…but just one more thing. They cope, but don’t demand answers. They’ve been conditioned to know that they won’t get them, and asking a question in the first place could easily get them something far worse than an answer. It is interesting to note that the new society is almost as bad as the apocalypse that created it, but if there’s one thing the voyagers have is the coping skills they’d developed all their lives from living in Romania.  They were coming in handy. When you are traumatized by the very act of living, an apocalypse doesn’t really pack the knockout punch that it normally might.

And there is something in the darkness…but where you have a heartless governmental system, it ruins more than just people, and your heart will break, just a little bit. The book is so very completely, undeniably, well…human.

This is my first Alex Woodroe book. It will most certainly not be my last.

I can’t recommend this book any more highly. If you love a good apocalypse, or even if you’ve never read that sort of book before, you will want to get a copy of this one. Superb in every respect.

5 out of 5 stars.

These Dreaming Spires

These Dreaming Spires is the latest literary effort by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. It is part of the newly popular horror genre labeled ‘Dark Academia’, and surprise, surprise, all the stories take place in schools…the new haunted houses of the millennium’s second decade.

There are a dozen stories in this anthology, and they are all good ones. Here’s what you get:

“Tallow’s Cove” by Erica Waters – Lana Waldron is writing her thesis about haunted sacred spaces in the US that represent historical wrongdoing. The other places she visited didn’t show much evidence of the paranormal, but the St. Clement’s College chapel is another story—just don’t fall asleep and spend the night there!

“Utilities” by Genevieve Cogman – Studying and working inside a virtual reality (read that, living inside the server), Madeleine, a student at Scholomanz School, a virtual university, is working on coding utilities around midnight…but on the hour, the campus clock chimes 13. And suddenly, nobody recognizes her anymore…and the reason for that is horrifying and unexpected. One of my favorites.

“Destroying Angel” by Jamison Shea – Evander, an expelled Philosophy major, still sneaks into the University of Whitby library to steal books and to sell drugs. When he steals a rare book, entitled The Book of the Damned, we learn what self-love is really all about…

“Within the Loch” by Elspeth Wilson – Why is the Schoolmistress so attached to the Loch? And why does she panic when the school votes to drain it?

“Advanced Dissection” by Taylor Grothe – At Hallenrod University in Switzerland, there are only a few prestigious spots open in the Dissection class, and only the best of the best get in. But there’s an awful lot of fine print that goes with it. Nice twist at the end.

“God, Needy, Enough With the Screaming” by Olivie Blake – Seraphina goes from being a top-performing college student to an asylum resident in the blink of an eye…and all because of her boyfriend and an experiment that her father is involved with. Another favorite.

“Poisoned Pawn” by De Elizabeth – Gives a horrifying new meaning to codependence.

“Open Book” by Kit Mayquist – An ancient grimoire, an Archivist, and a student who takes competition to a whole new level.

“A Short List of Impossible Things” by Faridah Abike-Iyimide – How far would you go to be with someone again? Someone you truly love? Isadora Lex is willing to do the impossible… literally…in this epistolary story.

“The Harrowing of Lucas Mortier” by M. K. Lobb—Lucas Mortier seeks spiritual salvation, as he is convinced his soul is forfeit due to the death of his girlfriend when he was behind the wheel. A mysterious woman offers to help him, leading to a wonderful twist at the end of the story. Another of my favorite stories.

“The Coventry School for the Arts” by Ariel Djanikian – Katherine is an art student who is the product of an emotionally absent father and an out-of-control mother. Her father is the art teacher at the school she attends. He paints a woman and a child obsessively and exclusively, and will not allow anyone in his studio…ever. Katherine has a great deal of talent, and the only people who are at all nice to her are her father’s teaching assistant and another girl her age named Abigail. Things get stranger and stranger until the truth comes out in a beautiful twist at the conclusion. Another favorite of mine.

“The Magpies” by Kate Alice Marshall – At a school of magic (and aren’t we all getting sick of those), two young students, one who makes Cassius’ ‘lean and hungry look’ seem like a request to pass the potatoes, and the other devoted to kindness. I would have put this story in the middle somewhere, and ended the book with the much stronger “The Coventry School for the Arts.”

All in all, though, the stories presented had sufficient variety and depth to keep me interested in what could have easily degenerated into mind-numbing repetitiveness, due to the specific and narrow nature of the theme. All were well-written, imaginative, and I enjoyed each one. Marie and Paul did a fine job of choosing the stories for this volume, and you will take something away with each of them and be mulling them over long after you close the book. ‘Stick to the ribs’ literature like this is becoming increasingly difficult to find in this age of ‘let’s crank out 12 books a year, who cares if they’re any good’ nonsense, so it is nice to see the concern for quality, and the thought that was put into this book. I highly recommend These Dreaming Spires to the horror reader who enjoys thinking.

5 out of 5 stars