“From the acclaimed author of 'Greaveburn' comes a collection of tales to tingle your spine and goose your bumps. Enter worlds filled with tentacle pods, bogeymen, dark gods; vamps zombies, werewolves, and things with no name.
Not Before Bed isn't just a title...it's a warning.”
 
I’ve tried getting into Lovecraft. I bought a best of and dug in. I don’t think reading it in the height of summer helped, but I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve come across Lovecraft in the works of authors continuing the mythos he’s created; I get it, Old Ones and tentacles and what not, but as for the man himself. Just no. Didn’t turn me on.

Before reading “Not Before Bed” I was aware of the Lovecraftian influence, and still thought why not. The truth is, this stands up on its own, whether you’re aware of the Lovecraft mythology or not, Hallam makes it his own. But not only are the tales genuinely unnerving, they’re funny as well. I mean really funny. Not only are you getting horror here, you’re getting some fine written British dark comedy as well. Hallam welds humorous prose into the direst of situations. All the traditional horror stalwarts are on show here along with a generous helping of tentacles, the best of which is the aptly named “Lovecraft” which mixes the jadedness of the dating scene with tentacle love. Sheer brilliance this, one of the funniest horror shorts I’ve ever read. Another favourite is “Oestrids”, that deals with a Triffids-like invasion, which the last man on earth takes on with a hilariously grisly trial and error set of experiments.

Even through his writing, you can tell Craig Hallam is a likeable sort of fellow, and you can detect his positive influences clearly. There’s the sharp, sardonic wit that is unmistakeable British, and the creepy gothic of the classic seeping into every page.
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I won’t ruin any of the tales, but rest assured, there’s something for everyone and each is unique as the last. Halloween is coming and it’s not all about the scares you know, it’s good to laugh as well. Even if it’s maniacal giggles.

Plot- Somewhere away from the cities and towns, a group of men and boys gather around the fire each night to listen to their stories in the Valley of the Rocks. For when the women are all gone the rest of your life is all there is for everyone. The men are waiting to pass into the night.

An apocalypse society where only men are left till the discovery of mushroom women, sounds ridiculous but the story is really enjoyable. It’s fantastical but there are realistic interpretations of how most people would behave, with shifting alliances as they discover more on the mushroom women. The portrayal of these creatures (The Beauty) is interesting as they can’t speak but passing images and emotions mentally, which jog the men’s memories and all they ask for in control is sex and control (the two things men want most). There are several other gender nods my favourite being cider comes in jars now as men stereotypically can open them but this also has a darker connation that they can get away with this as women not around. Indeed the portrayal of apocalypse is made more realistic by points like the cider and everyone calling each other by first name as there is no point in family name since family will be over soon. This story as well as being engaging with a great structure of four short parts each ending on a strong hook is also well written with concise description and a unique narrative point, that of Nate the story teller. Nate’s stories are woven into the narrative at different point and demonstrate how stories can achieve all sorts of things from unity, entertainment, to hope and propaganda. One last positive before I focus on aspects I didn’t enjoy as much is the ability of the author to bring us into the world and let us draw our own conclusions and imagine what paths we would take in similar circumstances.
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However there are several things that could have been better, but these could be rectified if the book was larger like part 4 for instance which deals with outside world should be expanded. Also the divisions in camp could be more explored; perhaps rival storytelling time could be set up.
Overall this was a really engaging novella, with several gender references and an amazing apocalyptic world. I look forward to reading more from the author.

When Tom, the son of a powerful Senator, becomes stranded in the Plagued States while searching for his lost sister, his only hope of survival rests in the hands of a few grizzled veteran zombie hunters and a mysterious half-breed zombie woman he thinks may know where to find his sister...
 
Zombie novels besiege the horror chart like the horde that they seek to represent, good, bad and ugly, each seeking to be something different, something original in a sub genre that has literally being done to death.

Plagued is one such novel, which presents us with the interesting notion that the undead can be tamed and even put to work after a virus ravages the world, leaving the United States split in two. This however serves as a back story, for when a frontier town in “Mid-America” is suddenly besieged by the untamed dead, a group of survivors take to the river in a frantic bid to escape their clutches.

I enjoyed the set up of this story, as the author lays the frontierscape, creating an environment that suits the world of the story perfectly. The survivors also find themselves with a distinct lack of guns, which makes a refreshing change of atmosphere, as survival becomes that little bit more fragile as they travel through a desolate land devoid of humanity in order to reach safety.
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There’s a likable enough core of characters, and even an interesting emerging love story involving a “half breed” zombie that shows promise, but there’s too many disposable characters that go undeveloped, and I found myself not all that bothered when their deaths eventually did come.
Plagued shows promise, but an increased gore quota and a bit more time spent of fleshing out some of the survivors would have made this an original must read.