‘The Box’ (Jack Ketchum) and ‘The Reservoir of Rot’ (Ian Green)

Am I back? Sort of… Things are still busy here (okay, really busy…) so for now at least, you won’t see a post every day; I just haven’t got the capacity for it right now. Every few days though…? That’s a little more do-able, I think. Lets see how it goes ;o) I want to have a little go at ‘Cimmerian September’ for a start.

In the meantime though…

Reading hasn’t come easy the last few days but I did manage to get a couple of short stories under my belt last night; one re-read and one new. I’ve got some longer books on the go but for now, lets have a little chat about these…

‘The Box’ – Jack Ketchum (Crossroad Press)

What is in the box? Our narrators son knows and now he won’t eat; and when he tells his sisters… they stop eating too.

‘The Box’ is chilling, all the more so because it is told in such a matter of fact way. It almost doesn’t matter what’s in the box, it’s the inevitability of that knowledge that drives our narrators family to their death and makes the tale a compelling one. The narrator’s inability to accept the answer may be the only thing that saves him but you’d have to ask if it’s worth it, given where the story leaves him.

‘The Box’ leaves a pretty big question unanswered, or maybe it doesn’t… You’ll have to decide that for yourself and that’s really the whole point. ‘The Box’ hasn’t put me off my food but it left me very unsettled and with a lot to think about.

‘The Reservoir of Rot’ – Ian Green (Black Library)

The battle of Thellasamin is at a stalemate when the forces of Nurgle capture a knight named Barrek. To ensure his survival and see the Chaos horde leave, all he has to do is plant a seed in the city’s reservoir. He selfishly agrees, and over the years, the city thrives. But there are growing signs of malfeasance – nightmares, missing children, strange sicknesses that defy treatment, and it’s only a matter of time before the forces of the Great Unclean One return.

When reading doesn’t come easy, I invariably pick up a Black Library book to get me back in the swing of things and that’s where I found myself last night. That and I have a soft spot for old Grandfather Nurgle (the happiest god in the pantheon), this title pretty much chose itself ;o)

‘The Reservoir of Rot’ suffered slightly by being read straight after ‘The Box’ but to be fair, a lot of short stories would. That’s not saying anything bad about ‘The Reservoir of Rot’ though which was a fun read with its own take on inevitability; the inevitability of the natural cycle of decay and then rebirth. Add some suitably grotesque scenes of warfare (along with Barrek’s declining physical state), and a little commentary on how humanity’s worst enemy is itself, and ‘The Reservoir of Rot’ ended up being an engaging read that has given me a little nudge towards the ‘Black Library TBR Pile’ (I don’t normally arrange TBR piles by publisher, this one just happened).