The Naughty Corner

A big thanks to the author for the e-ARC. So glad I got to read it.

The Generation Games is perhaps Towse’s darkest elderly horror yet. The decision has been made to no longer allow people to grow old and die on their own. In an all-too close future, a mandate has been made due to earth’s depleted resources, that no one can live over 70. That is, unless they are incredibly successful, rich, or influential. Since most people aren’t, one television station decided to capitalize on this, seeing the death of millions as an opportunity. Those selected for this program have the opportunity to win millions, and to afford the age passport they so desperately need. What do they have to do, you ask? When you remember that the outcome for them is death either way because of their age, you can get an idea of just how unhinged the things they’re forced into really are. Horrific, gruesome, bloody, gory, and unbelievably wicked.

My Name Is Brian is the second of the novellas collected and it features a new student that’s just a bit strange. Brian is heavyset, a book worm, and unerringly calm, even when the school bullies want a rise out of him. The problem with bullies, is that they are forced to up the ante, rather than lose face value. When humiliation, name calling, and dumping Brian’s own food onto him don’t work, they’re forced to even greater heights…or in this case greater depravity. The main issue I had with this one, is although anyone of any size eating their dumped food off of their own head or lunchroom table would be disgusting, it’s often only ever used when describing fat people, and therefore can read as fat phobic. This is ultimately completely erased though by the novella’s climax, it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way while reading. But there is more to Brian, his size and shape, than you may have previously thought.

The Naughty Corner, the novella collection’s namesake, as well as its third entry, is a madhouse of desire, neglect, infatuation, and control. Set in what appears to be an Idyllic town, it may not take long for them to remember that looks can be deceiving. Sheila, Frank, and Charlie move into a new house, in a new neighborhood. What appears to be a good deal, comes with a set of ‘guidelines’ for their behavior. With the list in the dozens, they may have gotten more than they bargained for. This novella, which could be argued to also include some terrible elderly horror, mixes some of the more unusual with its doses of horror. In this case, it does that by mixing, and thus distorting, pleasure.

Personally a 4/5*, the first was definitely a favorite. But this is a great showcase of the author’s skills, as there are three very different stories on display.