Sonnenbarke reviewed Help the Witch by Tom Cox
The 21st Century Yokel Rides Out
5 stars
A very good collection of stories set in rustic locations around the UK. Like Cox's recent novel Villager, all these tales combine a fascination for the mythology and memories lurking in the landscape with a snappy, no-nonsense modern voice that often has a lot of humour. The novella "Help The Witch" charts the journey of a man who's made a dramatic move to a rugged, isolated part of the country, and what he finds in the shabby house he rents from a lurking landlord. The theme of who "own" the countryside is very present here, and there's a lot of anger bubbling away but without being allowed to spill over, and the ending provides a lot of hope.
Many of the stories are piecemeal affairs, patchworks of the experiences of dozens of different people from all strata of society, from rich yuppies in their summer homes to the rural unemployed, …
A very good collection of stories set in rustic locations around the UK. Like Cox's recent novel Villager, all these tales combine a fascination for the mythology and memories lurking in the landscape with a snappy, no-nonsense modern voice that often has a lot of humour. The novella "Help The Witch" charts the journey of a man who's made a dramatic move to a rugged, isolated part of the country, and what he finds in the shabby house he rents from a lurking landlord. The theme of who "own" the countryside is very present here, and there's a lot of anger bubbling away but without being allowed to spill over, and the ending provides a lot of hope.
Many of the stories are piecemeal affairs, patchworks of the experiences of dozens of different people from all strata of society, from rich yuppies in their summer homes to the rural unemployed, though people tend not to stay in their place in Cox's fiction and the numerous witches, of course, do largely as they please, even though their actions are not always devoid of consequence.
Another story I loved was "Seance", a monologue by a not particularly popular medium, which is very funny, and the section of "Folk Tales of the Twenty-Third Century" given over to savaging the sex offender and occasional comedian Russell Brand (at the time of publishing Brand had yet to be outed for his crimes in a TV documentary, but Cox was once a London journalist who probably had access to other sources of information.) Cox's style is incisive, sometimes even irascible, and full of movement, and he has a knack for depicting the peculiar experiences the woods and fields are able to inspire in a way that makes them seem real without compromising their often nebulous quality. These stories cut a dash through the crowd of lesser "folk horror" writers and provide a great snapshot of the myriad ways people interact with lonely places. Also a great design and some lovely illustrations from Cox's mother Jo.
