Fiona Cook (back and catching up!)'s Reviews > Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell

Nathan Ballingrud's North American Lake Monsters was an excellent debut collection, but Wounds took his writing to the next level. You can see his increased confidence; he's gone from writing extraordinary events happening to ordinary people in ordinary places, to creating his own world, and placing these stories on it's fringes. It's not until the last story that it truly comes together, but when it does you see the entirety of the story of this collection; it's a really well executed revelation.

The horror here isn't taking it easy, either - these are the kind of stories that could list Clive Barker or maybe Poppy Z. Brite in their influences. There's moments of body horror, which I'm usually not a fan of - but the way it's presented and the bizarro context made it work. Don't get me wrong - it's still horrifying, strongly so, it's just that it never feels jarring or out of place.

Nathan Ballingrud has made an impression with his horror, and between his two collections it's not hard to see why. I'll be looking forward to what he brings out next - even if I'm looking from between my fingers.