"Dammit I've told you we're putting an end to this nonsense once and all" - Michael

After Darkness Falls contains ten original stories by Brit Matt Drabble, and I'm going to place a bet right here and now that most readers are going to want to grab a copy of this book. Drabble hits the horror tropes, is unapologetic in doing so, and has released one of the great UK collections of 2013. Get ready to rock as Drabble proves horror short fiction isn't only restricted to Ramsay Campbell, Clive Barker, and James Herbert in the old Country. Great to see new Writers emerging from the misty Isles, and even better to note that at least in Matt Drabble's case the standard of horror fare is still high on the hog.

If there's a common theme running through the stories, besides trying to force the reader into a clean pair of grundies on occasion, that theme would be bad things happen to ordinary people who take a side step into chaos. Be careful what you wish for, what insidious plans you make, there's dark forces out there waiting to bring mayhem into your life. But Drabble isn't satisfied with his main culprits running into a tad of supernatural justice, there's a fair amount of collateral damage as well. Let's buckle in and see what Matt Drabble has brought us, hope you are sitting comfy with clean undies at hand. Hey ho, let's go!

The ten stories contained in the collection could have been dragged dripping blood from the pages of Tales From the Crypt, you can almost hear the Crypt Keeper cackling away as each story begins. As stated above the stories feature ordinary people who fail to heed the warnings and venture beyond the ordinary, usually with diabolic results for themselves and those who are dragged into the situation with them. Thus the opening story, Roll Up, Roll Up, features a boy suffering from coulrophobia - fear of clowns, who's Father decides throwing him into the deep end is the answer to the problem. Naturally we learn that there is a very good reason why people fear clowns.

Late Shift takes the concept of the serial killer, peppers it with a few additional characters, and then gives it something of a twist. Okay most people with their horror-dar on will work out the resolution before it arrives, but what the hell the journey is still worth taking as talking about it proves to be less successful than just doing it. Likewise You call that music? follows horror tropes, or at least it does if you have ever caught up with the John Carpenter's Masters of Horror episode Cigarette Burns. There's a similar adherence to the idea that you should be careful what you wish for, which dates back to about the year zero. Matt Dabble takes the idea out, dusts it off, and puts a new spin on it. I would point out that the Author is well aware of the horror tropes and establishes his credentials in them for new readers, but with each story there's a slight twist on what you might expect. To draw another comparison, if anyone remembers the Pan series of horror anthologies published through the 1970s and 1980s, vaguely think there was over twenty of those bad boys, then you are in the right place with After Darkness Falls.

[Editors Note: Thirty anthologies were published by Pan between 1959 and 1989]

Matt Drabble has his Tales From The Crypt on with the fourth story in the collection, Whose face is this anyway? which underpins the horror notion that for every action there are consequences, something modern teens need to learn. Horror is rife with stories of people getting punish for dropping off the moral path. Drabble underlines, then highlights, then bolds this concept with a story that not only points out that there are indeed consequences, but also winks at the Crypt concept that Eve wasn't finished with the apple. Conversely Pink Bow simply states that bad things sometimes happen to ordinary people who haven't made morally questionable decisions. Matt Drabble points out that in horror you just aren't safe, even from lap dogs, the forces of chaos can seep through in the most unlikely of guises.

I should be pointing out that the Author writes in an easily accessible style that will have you spellbound as you fall into his stories, Drabble will make you a believer in the most unlikely of plot developments with his well crafted prose, but I really did want to mention each of the stories as there's some very solid horror tropes going down. Suffice it to say that Drabble is an excellent writer who will appeal to the vast majority of readers; he really is a joy to read.

One of the great tropes of horror is be very careful what you wish for, it might just happen, Drabble isn't pulling any punches with this concept as he unleashes Careful what you wish for. Albert Desade is the perennial loser, his wife and job have recently gone, but things look up when he Stephen King's his life with a magical typewriter. Naturally things go off the rails of course, even with Albert doing his best to help those around him, you make one step into the strange in horrorland and you are pretty much going to end up neck deep in the quicksand of consequences. Yes there's a recurrent theme here. As opposed to Albert, Duane Jones, the antagonist in Recycling can be hazardous to your health, brings about his own consequences by disrespecting the dead. It should go without having to be mentioned that you never ever disrespect the deceased in a horror story. On the bright side we get zombies of the Tales of the Crypt variety, with the punishment fitting the crime.

Matt Drabble shows a strong ability throughout the collection of throwing his ordinary, but exceptionally well developed, characters in the way of temptation and then has them reap the rewards of their misguided actions. One wrong step is all it takes, no matter how small that step might be. Randall, the central character of Mommy's little soldier finds love at the local library after over 50 years of living under the heel of his tyrannical mother. Mom could best be described as a hellish cross blend of Norman Bate's mother and Vera Cosgrove from Peter Jackson's Braindead (1992). His Mom might be an old bitch, but Randall isn't quite prepared for a bitch of another sort in the form of Jennifer, an over ripe siren of the Tales of the Crypt variety if ever there was one. Randall makes the mistake of taking one step beyond and is going to pay the piper as a result, though Matt Drabble does have a nasty little twist waiting for you in this tale. Likewise Donald Segel learns if there is one festival you really don't want to mess about with its Trick or Treat! Another tale where the punishment fits the crime, and every parent's nightmare of just what might be lurking in the Halloween candy that comes home to roost.

The collection rounds out with You are what you eat which sees yet another innocent character in Daisy "Duke" McHale meeting a fate she in no way deserved. This tale of the macabre is an interesting way to finish the collection as it dispenses with any notion of the supernatural and drives directly into the concept of horror. There are monsters about Matt Drabble tells us, it's just that those monsters are all human. It's a fitting way to complete a book that journey's through the myriad avenues and back streets of the dark genre for mine.

Through the ten tales contained in After Darkness Falls author Matt Drabble shows an ability to write pulp fiction, or to give it a better horror title "penny dreadful", at an alarmingly good level. While the wine and cheese set may look down their collective noses at the collection, true horror fans will be right at home, Drabble is writing fiction for us and would appear to be having a devilishly good time in doing so. If I had to compare Matt Drabble to another writer I would choose Graham Masterton, another Brit writing clear concise prose with a North American flavour. Full recommendation on After Darkness Falls, the tales contain within this collection are exactly what horror is about.