Critical Mick

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Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

Fourtold
by Michael Stone
Baysgarth Publications, 2008

Four Stones

Welcome, O lover of fresh new fiction, to the latest Critical Mick review free of rules. Today's Quarry: the Brit behind the popular blog My Left Eye, Michael Stone. After thrilling readers in several anthologies and magazines, Stone has just released his first hardcover original. Fourtold is a collection of "four novellas of dark and darker fantasy," with introduction by Garry Kilworth and cover art by Stephen Player. "Dark fantasy" is often the codeword for "Devil stories," a genre that sends many readers running for the nearest sledgehammer or stick of dynamite. Fear not! Stoke-on-Trent resident Michael Stone is the man who brought imaginary psychological floating pigs to the world. His short stories (the magnificent, aforementioned "Clob" for instance) have always been startlingly fresh, imaginative and entertaining. So, whip out your catapult and give him a shot. 1. "The Terracotta Warrior" is set in a 1920's Britain of colonels with big moustaches and pith helmets, boldly exploring the world in search of arcane artefacts. These, naturally, prove to be cursed when unboxed back in decrepit English mansions where white sheets cover the furniture. Sort of a King Tut's Tomb story, but with an aspiring insurance adjuster on a vintage motorbike. The mummy, who prompts the unlikely heroes to band together, is a colorful foe. It's good old-fashioned visual fun, though "The Terracotta Warrior" is either overlong or I now have less patience with the monster-chasing-people-around-a-big-spooky-house stories that I used to love. Critical Mick says: Thrown with the force of a Hammer horror, this Michael Stone story sails long in flight. It hits home just strong enough to smash a flower pot. 2. At nearly seventy pages, "Lemon Man" is Fourtold's longest novella. Set in modern day Stoke-on-Trent, the story relates what occurs within a working-class lad after his marriage of twenty-some years dissolves. Russell Hamilton, a narcoleptic, is subject to bizarre, terrifying visions of a celestial realm called Second Heaven when he sleeps. An ambitious tale, "Lemon Man" provides interesting writing. In his introduction, Garry Kilworth states that "There is… a certain intrinsic brilliant illumination buried in these tales: every so often we are subject to blinding flashes of light, especially in Lemon Man." There are vivid flashes, but I feel this novella tries to do too much. Is this a story of two brothers? Of a man trying to restore the love of the only girl to whom he has ever given a heavenly object? Of an average Joe's descent into drug-induced madness? Of a killer who needs the blood of a motorbike's past owners to magically restore it to working order? Or is this an exploration of a city of (literally) discontented spirits? "Lemon Man" has imagery striking enough to send at least one reader fact-checking St. Augustine. I believed it has the power to prevent others from committing suicide.

Michael Stone on Fourtold's Cover "The cover is a real grabber, isn't it! The artist Steve Player (www.playergallery.com) is someone I've long admired. We used to have long email discussions, less so now he's teaching in the States. So when Baysgarth Publications asked if I wanted anyone in particular for the cover I got on to Steve and asked him if there was a remote possibility he would do an illustration. "Anyway, long story short, he loved the premise of the 2nd story in the book, 'The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark,' about a guy with a deformed mouth in his forehead, and went with that. The mouth-eyes are symbolic of my own blindness and are based on photos I sent Steve of my own gob. So that's what you're looking at. "When I saw the finished picture I thought, 'We have a title: Fourtold'. The image shaped the TOC as well. It all kind of evolved together. OK, I'm rambling. Better sign off. "Enjoy the book, "Mike" For more on how Michael Stone wrote these four stories and how Fourtold reached publication, please read our April 2008 interview!

Critical Mick says: Though it seems to fly in several directions at once, tests show that this story splats enough impact to spiderweb a bus window. "Lemon Man" might fly better in more skiller readers' hands, but I feel it is too broad a Stone and wobbles in flight.

3.

In "San Ferry Ann" two shell-shocked veterans of The Great War bicker their way through the Ardennes, "eking out a living that even a Spartan would quail at" until a nameless girl in dire peril forces them to seek if any kindness still exists in their souls. Can two men and a Clydesdale overcome cold, poverty, the influenza pandemic, and vicious, venal aristocrats when the only medicine in their travelling medicine show is the 1919 version of Viagra? Even so, can they overcome the horrors they carry within themselves?

Though there is very little fantasy in this piece, Michael Stone has crafted it with a certain magic. There is wonderful humanity and imagery in this tale. "San Ferry Ann" would deserve the big-screen treatment for the sake of one beautiful scene alone.

Critical Mick says: this is a Stone to throw at someone you like. It's pretty, and lumps the unexpecting head in a way not soon forgotten.

Uncovering mysteries: Somewhere on the page of Critical Mick's April 2008 interview with Michael Stone a secret link awaits your discovery!

4.

Incredibly weird, or just incredible? Fourtold's highlight is "The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark." Kasper is a man who has always coped with a horrible congenital deformity, but whose fiancé now insists he undergo radical corrective surgery if they are to wed. Kasper- this notion is literary sushi, so simple, so fresh, exotic and fun- was born with his mouth on his forehead.

Only one "special" clinic offers him the hope of a normal life. Its doctors look suspiciously like devils, and like in R. Scott Taylor's Stingy Jack, there is a big red-skinned guy who plays chess with an unseen voice as he toys with Kasper. The other patients do not seem like normal, healthy people either. Will Kasper be able to make his deal and receive himself a normal mouth? If so will he be able to walk out of there?

The characters are Charles Dickens on E. Michael Stone's narrative is offbeat, hilarious, and absolutely gripping. The man would deserve praise just for finding a new angle on the Devil story. For writing one that Terry Gilliam should film he deserves a Betty Trask prize.

"Give me something I didn't know I was wanting to read" is the master's test that a writer must pass. I assure you, that challenge is answered with the incredible "The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark." It's a Michael Stone masterpiece.

Critical Mick says: This one breaks windows, castle walls, and the speed of sound. A Stone? No way man! Kasper Clark ROCKS.

Damn! I wasn't the first to interview Michael Stone

Mark S. Deniz interviewed Michael Stone as part of his "The Stars of Speculative Fiction" series in March 2008.

I was second

Critical Mick got Mark S. Deniz's sloppy seconds in April 2008, begging Michael Stone's answers on the afterlife and motorbikes.

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2008 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 24 April, 2008.