ARC Review: A Blackness Absolute by Caitlin Marceau (Out February 21st)

If you thought This Is Where We Talk Things Out was anxiety inducing, wait until you read the first and titular story in Marceau’s upcoming short horror fiction collection, A Blackness Absolute. I don’t know how Marceau got into my brain, but sometimes it feels like she’s in there scrolling through a fancy iPad menu of things that totally freak me out, and then selecting them into her work with an evil grin on her face as she taps at the screen. 

We open on a woman, Zoey, who seems to already be prone to panic attacks, reluctantly following her boyfriend, Liam, into an ABANDONED MINE SHAFT he wants to explore which, yes, of course that’s always a good idea. I spent some of my childhood growing up in a former coal mining town that sat atop miles of now empty mine shafts (& only a few miles from the infamous coal mining town that burns from within), & as a result, I’ve heard countless horror stories about mine shaft collapses, sinkholes, or people’s four wheelers falling right through the ground and into an open mine shaft, possibly landing on top of them at the bottom. I don’t know if those real life horror stories intensified the horror of this particular story, but my anxiety was UP when I started reading & only went further up as I continued & discovered the horrors within both the mine & this story.

The follow up story, Sarah, was another fave – a brutal story of vengeance & possibly schaudenfreude for everyone who was cruelly & relentlessly bullied as a child. 

And Gordon, a tale of an elderly woman with a new cat who doesn’t just bring companionship but also some supernatural accompaniment, will not only have you curious but also, if you’re anything like me, it will also have you completely fired up over the fact that her family doesn’t believe her, chalking up the spooky circumstances to “old age” or possible senility. Absolutely infuriating & kind of left me hoping that family gets what is coming to them. 😂

I also loved Doireann, a more period-piece type story following a family living in a dangerously isolated area during a harsh winter, & the story takes some stomach-turning twists you will not see coming. 

Of course, I enjoyed all the stories in the collection & think Marceau is an incredibly talented writer who deserves every iota of recognition she gets AND MORE. I’m sitting here saying I have four favorite stories from a collection that contains eight stories—I think it’s a pretty good sign that my favorites were half the book! 

A Blackness Absolute comes out February 21st from Ghost Orchid Press, & I am of the opinion that you will want to grab a copy. Marceau is no one hit wonder, & multi-talented as she explores real life horrors, supernatural horror, ventures into more fantasy-like spooky stories, & more. You will be on your toes always as you’re reading & your heart rate will be up—but in the best way. 

Thank you again so much, Caitlin, for sending me an advanced copy to check out! So far I’ve really loved everything I’ve read by you!