R.B. RUSSELL

LITERARY REMAINS

PS Publishing, 2010

Short story collection

 

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Contents:

"Literary Remains"

"An Artist's Model"

"Llanfihangel"

"Una Furtiva Lagrima"

"Another Country"

"Loup-garou"

"Blue Glow"

"A Revelation"

"Asphodel"

"Where They Cannot Be Seen"

 

In this collection love and loss tear at the fabric of everyday life and distort reality. What was once objectively familiar is tainted by uncertainty, and soon everything becomes subtly and terrifyingly altered. In "Loup-garou" a young man watches his own past re-enacted as an avante-garde French film. In "Llanfihangel" memories of the past are shown to be incorrect and misinterpreted. In Russell's stories even the present appears to be open to misunderstanding.When those around you insist that they see the world differently at least you can argue with them. But when you realise that you cannot rely on your own senses then the world becomes a terrifying place indeed.

 

Please note: The stories are reprinted in Putting the Pieces in Place and Literary Remains.

 

Reviews

 

'Literary Remains by R. B. Russell (PS) is the second collection of stories by a writer who in the past few years has been making a name for himself with his well-written weird and dark fiction, although he's still better known for being the publisher of Tartarus Press. The ten stories, eight new, are all well worth reading.' Ellen Datlow, The Best Horror of the Year 3

 

'...readers are held spellbound by Russell’s elegant prose.' Dead Reckonings # 10

 

'This is an engaging and enjoyable collection from a writer whose work, through the power of suggestion implicit in each text and the oblique narrative strategies, brings to mind that of Aickman, perhaps crossed with some of the more adventurous strands of European cinema.' Peter Tennant, Black Static

 

'...a worthy successor to R.B. Russell's first collection, Putting the Pieces in Place. It should appeal to those who enjoy well-crafted short stories in general, and strange stories in particular.' Peter Bell, Supernatural Tales 18

 

'...a remarkable read...' David Longhorn, Supernatural Tales 17

 

"This collection sets the bar high for himself, not to mention future authors, but also ensures a special place for his fiction in the contemporary weird's bright future. " The Grim Blogger

 

'...strangely beautiful prose . . . compelling stories.' Risingshadow.net

 

'...all the stories are elegantly written, clever, classy tales apt to delight the reader throughout the whole volume...' Mario Guslandi, Bookgeeks

 

'A fine collection at times reminiscent of Machen, Aickman, Ligotti and others but always with that unique R.B Russell style.' Tales from the Black Abyss

 

'I shall also need to seek the 'sold out' Putting the Pieces in Place, another anthology by RB Russell (Ex Occidente Press) because I now feel I want to be a RB Russell completist!' Des Lewis, Weirdmonger

 

'The stories in this collection are, to be sure, effective taken individually (I first read "Loup-garou," an unsettling story that has less to do with werewolves than you might imagine, in an anthology, and very much admired it).  But read as a cohesive whole, preferably in one sitting, they reveal a profound awareness of human drives and limitations, an understated but very real sense of the large and small tragedies that characterize our lives.  Literary Remains is dark fantasy of the first order.' - Brendan Connell, The Stars at Noonday.

Copyright R.B. Russell, 2024