Tales from the Gutter is a twisted collection of Extreme Horror from Harvey Bastard and Candle Phillips. The subject matter is extreme, the content is graphic, and the stories are hardcore.
First is Harvey Bastard’s “The Final Meeting of the Exquisite Flesh Society,” a graphically sex-fueled story where an author visits a kinky sex club meeting for research purposes and learns more about the power of sex than she expected. This riveting tale is amusing, erotic, and shocking by turns, very powerfully written.
Next is “Bog Worms” by Candle Phillips, a story of depravity, partying, and creepy old folktale-cum-urban legend. This is a dark and brutal read with subtext regarding prejudice, bullying, and karma.
“Maelstrom” is a horrifying and moving story about a possessed young woman and the enigmatic but compassionate nun sent to tend to her. The story flows deceptively smoothly for one with so much horror, bodily fluids, and graphic content. The unique take on the subject is a clever and disturbing surprise and is expertly executed.
“Penance” follows Lola as she enters a church convent in pursuit of an evil priest, but there is more to this than you think. I felt the tension in my whole body, and my face hurt from the involuntary expressions I made at the words. This is an impactful and grisly page-turner with an intense ending.
“Scrape” by Harvey Bastard is a riveting little tale. This graphic and engrossing bizarro tale funhouse-mirrors the weird stuff that one seems to encounter out of nowhere when one is just trying to get something done. It’s humorous and relatable in that sense and has a twist at the end that made me say “what the hell” out loud. I love this story.
“The Garden of the Forgotten” by Candle Phillips is not the morgue worker story you expect. The liberties of bizarro couple with the no-holds-barred scope of extreme horror in this blasphemous and gruesome tale of sociopathic determination, and the result is a violating assault on one’s senses and sensibilities.
“Pucker Up” by Harvey Bastard is brilliant. The concept, the writing, the characters, the story! I loved it. The dialogue between Phillip and Sam is clever, funny, and annoyingly punny in places, but most importantly, it is ridiculously realistic. The story itself is riveting, fast-paced, twistedly entertaining, and there’s a serious gross factor in places, but it all fits together and flows into this crazy, brilliant story you simply gotta read!
Tales from the Gutter is an eclectic assemblage of wild Extreme Horror stories that also subtly speak to deeper, darker aspects of humanity and society but do so with no filter. Extreme Horror fans will enjoy the diversity of themes, brazen subject matter, and gruesomely vivid storytelling.
But Extreme Horror fans only, please. These are, after all, Tales from the Gutter, and it gets messy.
