"Tell me you will never leave me." - Toby

Paul Mannering, renowned for the Brokensea audio venture, finally plunges into the published book world with a collection of twenty one stories set to amaze and delight the avid dark genre reader. While I would love to report that every story centres on the dark gruesome end of the speculative fiction world, I can't, as Mannering tackles everything from gothic, through suspense, to even Sci-Fi, as he twists the shapes to fit some very demented visions. With a whole slay of stories to get through you can expect the unexpected as Paul Mannering takes you through a twisted world of demented nightmares. Ready to roll the dice and take a peek between the covers? - hey ho let's go!

One of the problems with hitting the review trail Downunder is the amazing amount of output that surprises the unwary. We went into this whole thing a few years back now on the insane thought that we might just be able to cover everything, as opposed to our labouring brethren up North. One site even bemoaned the lack of Downunder dark genre output. Rubbing our hands with glee we dived on in, and the review queue grew and grew, and then a desk collapsed under the weight. Holy hell, it's a rich vibrant world of Film makers, Writers, and Artists, happily bushwhacking the public with nightmare visions in ever increasing volumes. As such it's pretty easy for a work to slip under the radar as the deluge threatens to turn into a flood. One Writer we had missed, and only picked up on with the news of a debut novel Tankbread, more on that later, was rampaging kiwi Paul Mannering. Not quite sure how that happened, but as they say better late than never yo. I'm going to state right upfront here that The Man Who Could Not Climb Stairs was the best collection to be released in 2011 Downunder, and I should know as I've read about every collection from that year. Don't believe me? - let's see what dark delights might be lurking between the covers.

Clearly, given the collection page length and the number of yarns at our disposal, we're not talking War and Peace epic sagas here. Paul Mannering is writing some concise prose, hitting the elements of each story, and not wasting the reader's time with turgid description passages or over indulging himself in examining how many angels can chill out on a head of a pin. Mannering hits the essence of the short story form and rocks on with it, no unnecessary words here, the prose is as tight as a Banker's wallet. Surprisingly, and I'm not quite sure how he's achieving it, there's a lot of warm and feeling coming at you on the page. Quite the achievement if you ask me, and a salient lesson in how to construct stories that are not only well written but also pass the entertainment test. If you want a text book example of how to write speculative fiction of the short variety then look no further, Mannering has your back.

I should also point out for those wondering, no Paul Mannering doesn't go Kiwi centric. So don't worry, you won't be submerged in Maori mythology, grim kiwi survival tales, or anything like a Pacific Island beat. Actually I was somewhat disappointed there, but hey most readers will be happier than a taniwha in a murky creek.

I'm not about to mention every story in the collection, though I would be quite happy to as there are no weak links involved, but an edited glimpse into the content. After Lights Out sees a school master bemoaning the drop in standards at a prestigious bordering school, he might just have the remedy for what ails the youth of today. Showing a keen eye for the Sci-Fi invasion story, Mannering hits the ball out of the park in the totally unexpected Extinction Event. Getting down in the horror trenches, the Author shadows the tropes with Not My Daisy, a story I found particularly gruesome. And for those that like their horror archetypes, dial into The Ear Worm and Prime Time.

For mine the best story in the collection was For the Children, arachnophobics be warned this tale of suburban madness takes no prisoners. Mannering not only hits out with a well-constructed short story fill of chills, he has a nasty twist at the end that had me high fiving the dissected corpses in our pantry. The tale is original, deranged in its content, and sure to please even the fussiest reader. The collection is well worth the price of admission on the strength of this story alone.

Along with the fore mentioned tales Mannering tips his toes in some dark primordial waters, stirring to life things best left undisturbed. There's at least one Cthulhu mythos story, I'm always up for some dark delights in that direction. A haunted house yarn that devolves into a flora horror that should have avid gardens tipping poison on their veggie patches. Strange backwoods locations that harbour dark secrets faintly whispered. A few more Sci-Fi tales featuring first encounters with truly alien species. And a number of other journeys into the darker recesses of the genre.

What should be apparent is that Paul Mannering isn't constraining himself to just one sort of story, or indeed one central theme, the collection ranges across genres, with very different points of view in each case. Something about a box of chocolates, Mannering matches it up and maintains interest via a diversity of solid prose that had me reading long after I should have turned the lights out.

It's that time in the review that I absolutely dread, trying to compare a Writer I've introduced to the site with an Author foreign readers might be more aware of. I was going to go with Roald Dahl, but someone has beaten me to the punch there, so after careful consideration I'm going with Graham Masterton. Paul Mannering has the same cool clear prose that shouts out that the Author has a command of the language and isn't afraid to use it. Also, like Masterton, Mannering can range his dark genre musings from the everyday occurrences that might happen, to the fantastic that leaves you in awe of the Writer's imagination. So if you dig Masterton, and who here doesn't, then get your bum off the seat and rush out and buy this collection. I can guarantee a page turner that will have you, after finishing the book, searching out other work by the Author. Hey you can thank me later.

Speaking of which, just a short mention that Paul Mannering's first novel Tankbread is now available from amazon.com and other notable online retailers. I'm placing an order for this one with our next round of site expenditure, due to the solid writing displayed in The Man Who Could Not Climb Stairs. Hey a novel in the post civilisaiton zombie world, I'm all over that one friends and neighbours.

As stated somewhere toward the start of this now rambling review, Paul Mannering had slipped under my radar due to the overwhelming deluge the ScaryMinds office seems to be reeling from currently. We hope to remedy that real soon folks. So it was quite a surprise to discover a collection was available, and that knowledge was only due to the online marketing of Tankbread. Naturally it was a must have collection and proved to be mighty fine reading. I'm not going to beat around the bush here, full recommendation; this is a collection you will not want to miss. Why on earth this Author hasn't been winning awards is a mystery.

Now I know you want a copy of the collection, set your controls to amazon.com and for around the $10 mark they will sort you. There's also a number of e-book options floating around the web, though horribly centering around those unnecessary ebook readers that are all the rage currently. If you are after an iPad verison, then you're dead to me anyway. Final statement would be to Publishers, ensure a pdf version people, a lot of us don't see the need to lug around yet another fashion accessory, which is about what an ebook reader is yo!

Before signing off here, and apologies to our Editor for heading well North of the word limit, further Paul Mannering mayhem can be found at Brokensea and via Paul's own website right about here. Gosh I really wish more local Authors would develop their own websites, those BlogSpot places look complete crap.