In my latest review on Blazing Minds I take a look at the horror novella Four from Red Cape Publishing and author P.J. Blakey-Novis who is best known for the short story collections; Embrace the Darkness, Tunnels, and The Artist.

Four friends spend a night away camping in the English countryside, each taking a turn to tell a horror story that will terrify the others. But the group soon discover that there is more to be afraid of than just some campfire tales, and that no one is as innocent as they seem.

Four is a clever new novella from horror author PJ Blakey-Novis who uses the theme of the traditional scary campfire stories to create a unique horror anthology – where each story has their own unique style and unexpected twist.

The book is broken down into the main story arc involving the journey of friends who are spending a night away camping. Once they are set up for the night they settle around the campfire, each of the four friends take it in turns to tell a chilling horror story. It is a unique concept which PJ uses to bring together four individual shorts as part of an overall arc story. Interchanging the conversations and reactions of the other characters throughout to naturally incorporate the two.

Each story told by the group has a unique and different style, with the execution often reflecting the personalities of the individual who is telling their story. Often causing a change how the characters are portrayed, the tone and in some cases the humour.

The stories as you would expect do start with classic campfire tropes such as “It was a dark and stormy night”, but when it comes to the ideas and execution they do thankfully something more original.

Following the initial introduction to the group on their trek and setting up camp, the group settled around the campfire. The first story is told by Steven who also sets up the basic template for the story which most of the group then follow. Incorporating their recent journey, Steven starts the story with the group still searching for somewhere to camp. With the sun fading they soon become lost in the woods, surrounded by darkness and it isn’t long before they realise that finding a place to camp quickly becomes the least of their worries.

Steven’s story builds up some tension with the story, but as with many shorts it doesn’t take long before it dives into the action.  With an extremely graphic and bloody start and at times a dark humour, it sets up a precedence of what you can expect from the book, before leaving you with a clever but ominous ending. 

The next story is from Daniel which matching his personality has a more jovial delivery which incorporates the characters cocky self-assured nature. In Daniels story the group have managed to set up camp when they notice what looks to be a falling star in the sky, only this falling object has landed in a field nearby.

Whilst still maintaining some nasty surprises that will inevitably befall the characters, Daniels story has a more controversial and comical delivery than some of the other stories. Which based on the characters personality you would probably expect. During Daniels story we get several interjections from the group with people reactions and comments, which reminding the reader that this is a campfire story. The natural banter between the group and odd frustrations from some worked really well to create some humour, which surprisingly didn’t affect the overall flow of the story.

The third story by Noah is a more classic haunting story and is my favourite of the four. In an attempt to avoid an unexpected storm the group decide to take shelter in an old military pillbox, but when they decide to stay the night to avoid the rain strange events suddenly start to occur.

Swapping action and blood shed for brooding tension and eerie chills Noah’s story is a definite change of pace. The story builds a sense of uncertainty where you are constantly questioning what’s going on. The most imaginative of the four, it manages to incorporates the structure and history of the pillbox into the story before finishing with a rather haunting twist ending.

Martha’s is the final story to be told by the group and surprisingly has a different structure with Martha choosing to create a standalone story. Both events and characters this time seemingly unrelated to the main group. I won’t give any details of the story away, but it is a rather morbid tale of revenge and with the tone is definitely the darkest of the four.

There is an excellent balance between the gore and humour with the stories and it manages to maintain an ongoing uncertainty which builds throughout the book. You always sense that something is going to happen, but you are never quite sure how the story is going to unfold. I did find myself on a few occasions thinking I had worked out how some of the ideas would unfold, but there were plenty of twists that I just didn’t see coming.

The four stories would have worked well as part of a short story collection, but there is something special about the way in which they are connected within the main story arc of Four. P.J. Blakey-Novis showcasing a variety of styles with his stories, which goes to prove that he is not just a good writer, but also the creativity to move away from the normal structure.

At 93 pages it is a perfect novella for quick read. whether at home on the sofa or in front of an open night-time fire. It won’t leave you disappointed but it may make you think twice about taking a camping trip with friends.

You can see my original interview with P.J. Blakey-Novis here

You can follow PJ Blakey-Novis on the following website and social media

www.facebook.com/pjbnauthor
www.twitter.com/pjbn_author
www.instagram.com/pjbn_author

You can purchase Four and other books from PJ Blakey-Novis using the following links

Four
Embrace the Darkness & Other Stories (Collection I) 
Tunnels & Other Stories (Collection II) 
The Artist & Other Stories (Collection III) 
Karma & Other Stories (Collection IV)

You can find out more about Red Cape Publishing on the following website and social media

www.redcapepublishing.com
www.facebook.com/redcapepublishing
www.pinterest.co.uk/redcapepublishing

Philip Rogers

Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!