MISTS AND MEGALITHS by Catherine McCarthy @serialsemantic

4.5 out of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: I read the final story, Carreg Samson, in a horror anthology and thought it was excellent, so wanted to read more.

In a Nutshell: low-key horror/supernatural stories set in Wales

I read this over a period of two days, and was most impressed.  Catherine McCarthy's love of her country and the spiritual attachment she feels to its past are so evident, all the way through; I haven't been to Wales for many years, and it made me want to go back there.

In every collection such there will be those you love, those you like, and those that don't quite hit the spot for you, but there is not one weak story in Mists and Megaliths.  One of the aspects I loved was that I didn't guess how any of them were going to end.  Not one - and the writing itself made me fall into the story, each time.  My favourites were:

MÃRA - about a husband and wife who purchase a 'spirit box' before moving into a new house, not knowing what they are living with... in the notes for the story (there are notes for each one, a feature I liked very much, as it made them mean so much more), we learn that this is semi-autobiographical.  It's a real shocker.

RETRIBUTION - about a certain darkness that falls over a village and its church, and what Ewan Jenkins does to remedy this.

COBLYNAU - an old man with dementia, sitting by a window in a residential care home, wonders when the Coblynau, the mythical goblin-like creatures that haunt mines and quarries, will arrive for him.  I loved this one partly because it made me think of visiting my mother in the care home in which she lived for around six years before she died (Alzheimer's), and how we would see her struggle to find the words she wanted to say.  Also, it reminded me of sewing her name tapes into her clothes!

CARREG SAMSON - I was pleased to find this one at the end, and enjoyed reading it again.  Carreg Samson is a huge, ancient stone that has watched the movements of man over millennia, and knows that another period of darkness is coming soon...

If you're a fan of the darkly mystical and folklore (or is it more than just folklore?), you will love these stories.  Well done, Catherine McCarthy - a fine collection!