Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies (2011)

Sex :
Violence :
Author Lucy Sussex
Publisher Ticonderoga Publications
Length 512 pages Reviewer :
Genre Collection
Blurb The Essential Lucy Sussex
Country

Review

"There are traces of that reverence for blood in the AIDS hysteria" - Cecily Chaucy

Matilda gathers together 25 tales that cover the 28-year assault on the dark genre by kiwi ex-pat Lucy Sussex. For anyone who has travelled the by-ways of the genre Downunder there will be some familiar tales to re-ignite your interest in Sussex, but I can almost guarantee that there will also be any number of stories that you may have missed previously. I certainly revelled in the old and the new, and hey with the cover there's something blue as well. Regardless of dark genre preference, yes looking at you Gorehounds, Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies is as the by-line implies essential reading and should join volumes such as Brimstone's Macarbe on your bookshelf. Heady stuff perhaps, let's get down and back up the claim.

I'm always somewhat hesitant when I see the word "essential" on a book cover, too many memories of freezing lecture halls in Wellington while for no apparent reason toiling away on a degree in literary criticism. But I do tend to grudgingly proceed beyond the covers if the Author of the book is well renowned in dark genre circles. And by "dark genre circles" I mean the actual fans not the ivory tower mob that live in some sort of Writers utopia beyond the horizon of the likes of you and me. If you have ever picked up a magazine or an anthology containing Downunder horror fiction then odds on you have run across a tale of mayhem by the incomparable Lucy Sussex, it's par for the course really. So on the one hand I was presented with the "essential" word and on the other Sussex's name, sort of like a literary scale of justice. And you know what, for once the "essential" word proved to be exactly right, this is indispensable stuff for the dark genre reader. There's something almost ethereal yet brutally grounded in Sussex's approach to things, that you cant help but be held spellbound by.

Lucy Sussex attacks the dark genre in an almost surreal fashion, even when dealing with vampires we don't get the full blood on the table approach, though thankfully we aren't expected to wade through paranormal romance either. Sussex creates worlds that are not that far removed from our own, while approaching a number of themes and social issues. Don't worry you won't be inundated with serious social messages either, Sussex subscribes to the mantra of writing as foremost a means of telling a story. If I had to coin a single word to sum up the Writer's style across the stories in the collection I would have to say whimsical, sorry to disappoint the Gorehounds out there. I should also warn the intrepid reader that he or she will not be thrilling to the beat of zombies, psychos, or Paranormal Activity clones, Sussex writes to her own style and considerations and is unapologetic in doing so. For once I'm going to just come out and say it, Matilda is likely to appeal more to female readers than male, and that's not just because of the feminist ethos running through some of the stories. Before you decide to give us a blast via the contact form, I have no problems with a dark genre outing being aimed specifically at the gals, there's plenty of material that spins toward the male half of the equation, Sussex is simply evening the score.

Having said all that, and before losing the readership to the next zombie that catches the eye, Lucy Sussex is writing some damn fine prose in Matilda. To fit a comparison, something our North American cousins are want to demand, I guess I would say Sussex is the dark genre's answer to Janet Frame, though Sussex writes stories we all want to read, can't claim the same for Frame. The style of writing is easy to read, though the whole purpose of some of the stories isn't giving itself up without a bit of a struggle to be honest. Matilda is one of those books you are going to have to wrestle with a bit rather than being served up everything on a platter, that's a good thing kids.

While the stories contained in the collection canvas Sussex's career thus far, and we're talking an impressive body of work here, at no stage did I detect a Writer slowly find their voice and going from run of the mill stories to solid efforts. Right from the get go Sussex displays a strong writing style that doesn't waver from first tale to last, you are not given any clunkers here, each story is worthy inclusion in the collection. While I'm never sure a Writer is born screaming in their own voice on the first page of their first story, Lucy Sussex on the evidence here is the example that perhaps proves the adage. Even Stephen King and James Herbert have some clunkers to their name, and anyone that claims otherwise is fooling themselves. If Sussex does in fact have some literary skeletons in the closet than they aren't let out in this collection.

For foreign readers who might be thinking of dabbling, don't worry Sussex doesn't confine herself to Downunder mannerisms. Although Sussex would appear to define herself as an Aussie in a number of stories, her kiwiana leaks through in the writing style, New Zealanders tend to take a more English approach to the written word than the Aussies who seem to be labouring under some antipodean American style. So while there are some stories set in New Zealand, Albert & Victoria /Slow Dreams immediately springs to mind, the majority of the collection is either Aussie orientated or truly cosmopolitan.

Sorry I've run out of room here and haven't touched on the actual stories themselves. Dark genre themes, feminism, some fantasy, a glass and a half of Sci-Fi, a sort of tour de force of the speculative fiction end of town. That enough for ya? I had a reasonable time with the collection, there's some old favourites in there, (have I mentioned The Runaways), and a number of new tales that I hadn't run across before. This collection comes recommended to the female readership and about anyone else who wants a break from the more robust end of the horror spectrum. Lucy Sussex remains an excellent Writer regardless, Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies is a requirement for Downunder dark genre wanderers.

The collection comes to us courtesy of the good folk at Ticonderoga Publications, who have as ever thrown together a very professional package. You can catch up with Ticonderoga via their official site.

Beyond Scary Rates this read as ...

  The definitive must have Lucy Sussex collection.