Fiction
351073
The Curious
Spectre at
the Feast
Phobophilia
Bred in the
Bone
Dionysus
A Glimpse of
the Numinous
Hold That
Moment
Past Away
Glimpse of
the Numinous
Once Upon A Name
The Curse of Beauty
Strife After Death
& Gull Power
Heartwood
Winner of the British Fantasy Society
award for Best Anthology 2006
Reviews for 'Elastic Book of Numbers'
In "351073," a poignant memoir by Jeff
Gardiner, a clergyman reflects on his
daughter's unusual life. The circumstances of
her naming at birth engender in her a
fascination with numerology and number
games, culminating in a religious philosophy at
once alien and similar to the narrator's
Christianity. The father's voice is somewhat
distant and sentimental, as if the narrative is
the text of one of his own sermons. Even so,
he learns powerful lessons about love from
beyond the bounds of his faith, and readers
may feel moved to tears.
Reviewed in 'Tangent' by Brit Marschalk
Mysterious numbers also occur in the two
most spiritual pieces in this volume: in Jeff
Gardiner's '351073', a girl named Eloise after
the serial number on her hospital tag when her
grief-stricken father brought her home from
hospital, grows up to become a guru of a
numerological cult, to the clergyman father's
slight dismay. This story is profound, sensitive,
moving, and convincing.
Reviewed in 'Future Fire' By Djibril
"New Wave of Speculative Fiction" edited by Sean
Wright (a collection of new short stories) is brimming
with quality writing, speculation about what might be,
a mix of horror, fantasy and sci-fi, as well as some
new twists on classic themes. "New Wave of
Speculative Fiction" has a strong contemporary line
up. Many of the authors are known for their vision and
imagination, and for the quality of their prose. The
stories Sean Wright has chosen for this book reflect
the current demand for exciting writers prepared to
break barriers and see this and other worlds with a
fresh eye. The book has an international flavour with
new and award-winning writers from USA, Australia,
South Africa, Canada, and the UK. It includes stories
from Allen Ashley, Che Ballard, Gary Moeser, Lisa
DuMond, Sian Orthello, Jeff Gardiner and Sean
Wright.
Jeff Gardiner's "The Curious" escorts us on a poetic
journey of other worldly exploits.
Review for 'When Graveyards Yawn' in 'Vault of
Evil'
Spectre at the Feast by Jeff Gardiner: Charlotte
just wants them all to sit down for a family meal
around the table. It's not a lot to ask; she doesn't
want anything grand. She just feels that her role
is to hold the family together. And everyone
knows the bonding quality of a family meal. But
husband Nathan has to work late, daughter
Heather always visits a friend, and son Jake
spends less and less time at home. And
Charlotte seems to be haunted by a grim figure
in the house. You will not anticipate the chilling
twists that this story takes ...
My favourite story, based on that rarest of
things, the quite genuine chills that it provoked -
and I felt more than one, while I read it - would
be Jeff Gardiner's The Spectre at the Feast.
http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/index.cgi?board
=deathdisco&action=display&thread=2113
'Phobophilia', (click here to buy)
by Jeff Gardiner, tells the tale of two social
misfits pushed together as roommates when
starting at university. Phobophilia - the
psychological love of fear. From the wonderful
opening line, the tale becomes a little heavy-
going as lots of back-and-forth dialogue tries to
be both vague and enlightening about Toby's
obsession with fear, read death, itself. It's when
the unnamed narrator separates from his
roommate I felt the tale become more
interesting, possibly because the back and forth
is replaced by much introspection and I felt I
was getting inside the narrator's character more.
The ending is both depressing and upbeat at
the same time-a neat trick-with midlife crises
battling the narrator's determination to conquer
the fears that led to Toby's demise.
Stephen Pirie
Review of 'Subtle Edens' in Future Fire
Welcome to Twisted Tongue Magazine issue
twelve. Packed with thousands of words-larger than
a standard novel-over 95,000 words for your
enjoyment. Our thanks to all of our wonderful
contributors: Karen Cole Peralta, Aliya Whiteley,
Harry Hughes, Bill Schweizer, Jeff Gardiner, John
Morgan,Gary Hewitt, Paul Johnson, Janey Brewer,
Brian Wright, Jessica Lynne Gardner, Robert Knox,
Aaron A Polson, Theodore Carter, S H Hughes, K S
Nixon, Tina Koenig, Jade Eckert, Ginny Swart, C M
Clifton, Oonah V Joslin, Jonathan Pinnock, David
Towsey, Tonya L Lambert, John Morgan, Alexander
Salas, Jim Steel,Glen Batchelor, Ben Eubanks, Mel
Fawcett, Jeff Carter, Lynette Mejia, Rebecca, Colin
Campbell, Brian Rosenberger, Dr Charles
Frederickson, Greg Schwartz, Ramona Thompson,
Jonathan Hayes, Peter Egypt, Sherie Davis, P S
Gifford, Lynn Tait, Len Hecht, Luigi Monteferrante,
R Jay Slais, Caroline Barnard-Smith and C J Carter
Stephenson. Enjoy your twisted read…
Dark Desires Edition : August 2009
Cover art by Steve Upham
A short issue with fiction by Dean Drinkel,
Shaun Hamilton, Jeff Gardiner, David Gatward,
Mark Howard Jones, John Miller, Dominic Lyne
and Pedro Escudero Zumel.
http://www.screamingdreams.com/2009issues.
html
PDF Format : 56 pages : 1.02mb
or read the Flip Book version online at Issuu