Hardcore Horror is an anthology of short fiction compiled by Tim Cundle of Mass Movement Magazine. This started out as an idea a couple of years back, when a call was put out on social media for members of the hardcore punk scene to write and submit horror stories for inclusion in an anthology. It was very much a “the world is your oyster”, go forth and create something that falls into your own interpretation of “horror” as a broad concept, with no prejudice or preconception.
The finished product attracted submissions from published authors such as Alex CF, who is also a talented artist and musician with bands such as Morrow and Fall of Efrafa amongst others; published writers of non-fiction, such as Ian Glasper, who has a string of hefty tomes on the history and evolution of the UK punk scene (in it’s many guises) to his name, and also played in Stampin’ Ground amongst other UK hardcore luminaries; and poets, such as James Domestic, who plays in (you guessed it) The Domestics amongst others, and runs a label and distro called Kibou Records. It also attracted submissions from gifted amateurs, and not to cast shade on anyone’s efforts, but some not so gifted amateurs, too. Tim even approached me at the time to see if I was interested, but I had to decline as I didn’t feel like I had a story in me worthy of inclusion at that time, and coming up with one would have seen me take too much time away from my main passtimes of self-castigation and existential navel-gazing.
Anyway, the works collected here cover a whole gamut of settings, from ‘The Smith’ by Alan “Peabrain” Marshall (verily), which is set at the emergence of the Iron Age from the Bronze Age, through to ‘Breakfast with the Family’ by J.D Harlock, which looks into the horrifying possibilities of the near future, where algorithms, shopping habits and entrapment by immersive AI collide with unpleasantly bizarre results. So, er, be careful about who has access to your personal data and internet browsing habits, lest one day you find yourself trapped in a labyrinthine hypermarket filled only with official Red Hot Chili Peppers butt plugs and Billy Bear reclaimed sandwich “meat”…
By and large, the stories thankfully aren’t about bands or music. There’s one particularly bad one called ‘Macho Insecurity’, which I assume is meant to be some kind of homosexual coming of age tale fed through a meat grinder of the films of David Cronenberg (not to be confused with local pisshead David Kronenbourg), in particular his interpretation of Naked Lunch. Suffice to say, abduction, weird bondage dungeon and having a mixtape shoved up the protagonist’s arse by a burly boke known as “MasterBlaster”. Daddy issues maybe? Which would all be fine and dandy if wasn’t utter shit. Kind of reminded me of a performance of The Legs Akimbo Theatre Company from The League of Gentlemen.
There are some interesting takes on intersection with the music world, though. Such as a dull boy by DaN McKee, which deals with issues centered around abuse and sexual assault in the punk scene and resultant revenge upon the perpertrator via an Arabian demon bound into a tattoo by a Muslim fanzine writer and her mystical girlfriend. There’s a lot of sensitive issues in there, and it’s really great to see them being addressed here; however, unless you have one of those haircuts that screams “I’m offended by literally everything”, I expect the levels of unnecessary virtue signalling might prove to be a bit much.
Another that stuck out for entirely different reasons was The Island by SJ Lyall. This one is about an alldayer on one of those small islands you get that can only be reached by traversing a causeway at low tide. The organiser has needed to replace one of the bands at short notice with a Black Metal band. Hopefully they aren’t Neo-Nazis or anything else dodgy… But yeah, a bunch of fun that illustrates the risks of fucking with potential edge-lords.
If you are on the lookout for masterful literature, you aren’t going to find it here. But that’s not really the point. This is a broader scene community effort attracting writers of varying backgrounds and experience. It’s full of interesting ideas and interpretations of the very broad concept and possibilities of horror as a genre, and I think demonstrates how far it has come from candlelit folk tales from countless centuries ago, where superstition was the norm, to how modern day fears and anxieties can push the context into new and interesting areas. Perhaps it might influence you to have a punt at writing? It’s all fun and catharsis to varying degrees, innit? I’ll also give a shout-out to the cover art by Steven Crawley, which I thought was a cool pop-art style nod to Tales from the Crypt and the Crimson Ghost (Misfits)
Tony of Nurgle rating 8/10
You can pick this up direct from the Earth Island Books webstore, which also sells many other wonderful things.
