Liminal Spaces: Horror Stories

by Deborah Sheldon

• ISBN10: 192255667X
• ISBN13: 9781922556677
• Publish Date: 7 October 2022 (first published 1 March 2022)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: IFWG Publishing Australia
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 254
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

Deborah Sheldon has done it again! Liminal Spaces is her latest collection of horror tales, several of which also fall under the umbrella of sci-fi, historical, or mythological. We have a variety of settings and characters here, from scientists in the Antarctic to backpackers in Greece and an astronaut lost in space. But Deborah's uncanny ability to put us into a character's head really shines through in her stories set in suburban and rural Australia where the familiarity of the lifestyle and turns of phrase belie the weirdness held in store. There are tales of haunted campsites, psychological disorders, suburban cults, astrological cataclysms, and you won't fail to notice the presence of terrifying animals in a number of the stories. What makes Deborah's fiction so eerie is the way we often don't know quite what happened even at the end of a story or even whether it was real or mere hallucination. She doesn't always wrap everything up with a nice little bow, instead opting for loose ends that leave the reader to fill in the blanks. Two of my favourites are the two I probably understood the least; "Molly, Dearest Molly" and "All the Stars in her Eyes". Others that stood out were the spooky "For Weirdless Days and Weary Nights", the by turns disturbing and comical "Carbon Copy Consumables", and the frightful inevitability in "The Littlest Avian". Highly recommended for fans of weird horror and a great place to start if you haven't yet read Deborah's fiction.