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Spirits of the Vasty Deep

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St. Madoc, on the coast of North Wales, seems like a suitably quiet place for an aging writer to work; when Simon Cannick moves into Raven Cottage he thinks it might even be too quiet. Stopping by the pub, he learns of local lore concerning mermaids, spirits and the Murden family who inhabit the nearby Abbey. Perhaps some of this might furnish Simon with material, but soon he finds he has little time to write. Before he can investigate the folklore it has already begun to investigate him, through the venerable and isolated Murdens, the bewitching Cerys and even a raven called Lenore. Truth, however, turns out to be stranger than folklore, and, as a storm approaches that has been brewing for generations, destiny intervenes to divert Simon’s plans for a quiet life into deeper and vaster waters.

Eccentric, erudite, adventurous, Spirits of the Vasty Deep by Brian Stableford, is an eclectic, bubbling cauldron full of cosmic vision, droll humour and off-beat science fiction. Intelligent fantasy for those who long ago strayed from the beaten path.

Published by Snuggly Books in March 2018
ISBN: 978-1-943813-54-X

Review by Sally Startup

What happens in this novel could be taken entirely metaphorically, or as serious and enlightening science fiction. There is also an element of contemporary fantasy based on historical folklore. I am not particularly concerned about categories of genre, so I read it in all of those ways, and more.

Simon Cannick, an eccentric writer, moves to North Wales and discovers a previously unknown personal history. Simon has always felt himself to be unusual. He also seems to have a propensity to be kind. Being kind can be hard, courageous work, requiring purposeful effort.

Simon’s new community do not exactly welcome outsiders, in spite of the fact that most of the local properties are let as holiday homes. However, with the assistance of the Reverend Alexander Usher; a lady of ill repute called Megan; and a raven named Lenore, he soon discovers that the strangest residents of all may not even be human. He becomes quite intimate with some extremely elderly women, and he converses with a ghost.

As a writer, Simon is familiar with that which is normally hidden. Some of his work has explored this in detail. He now finds himself in a situation that seems to come straight out of Welsh folklore. It also parallels much that he already knows from his own studies of French folklore. Feeling himself to be inside a story he could almost have written himself, Simon begins to fear that he has actually entered the world of an entirely alien author. As he considers all this, his thoughts provide some fascinating exposition about the processes of reading and writing.

Simon may lack confidence in his own writing ability, but his story contains layers and layers of intrigue for serious readers to dive into. Encompassing Simon’s experience is a far wider story concerning what humans know, and cannot know, about the ecosystems of the Earth.

The Brian Stableford Website