Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Six Stories
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Wesolowski, M.J.
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com/
CITY: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
http://orendabooks.co.uk/matt-wesolowski/ * http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2017/3/25/blog-tour-book-review-six-stories-by-matt-wesolowski
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2017144578 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017144578 |
| HEADING: | Wesolowski, Matt |
| 000 | 01134nz a2200205n 450 |
| 001 | 10599611 |
| 005 | 20171107073050.0 |
| 008 | 171106n| azannaabn |n aaa c |
| 010 | __ |a no2017144578 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca11053629 |
| 040 | __ |a ICrlF |b eng |e rda |c ICrlF |
| 100 | 1_ |a Wesolowski, Matt |
| 370 | __ |e Newcastle upon Tyne (England) |2 naf |
| 372 | __ |a Horror tales |a Detective and mystery stories |a Short stories |a Tutors and tutoring |2 lcsh |
| 374 | __ |a Authors |a Tutors and tutoring |2 lcsh |
| 375 | __ |a Men |2 lcdgt |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 670 | __ |a Wesolowski, Matt. Six stories, 2017: |b title page (Matt Wesolowski) |
| 670 | __ |a Orenda Books website, Nov. 3, 2017 |b (Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK ; he is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North ; started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine, Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more) |
| 670 | __ |a NLN, via VIAF, Nov. 3, 2017 |b (est. hdg.: Wesolowski, Matt) |
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and English tutor.
AVOCATIONS:Kickboxing.
WRITINGS
Has published horror fiction in Ethereal Tales magazine, the Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, and the 22 More Quick Shivers anthology.
SIDELIGHTS
Matt Wesolowski lives in Newcastle-upon Tyne, England, and works as an English tutor. He also leads the Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people. He has published horror fiction in Ethereal Tales magazine, the Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, and the 22 More Quick Shivers anthology. His first book, the horror novella The Black Land, follows an American tycoon, Martin Walker, who made his fortune in resorts, as he journeys to the Northumberland coast of England to try to acquire an island. He soon discovers the island’s “malevolent atmosphere,” as Matthew Fryer described it, when he and his family “enter the twisted keep of the castle, a building apparently designed to keep something in as well as out.” Writing at Welcome to the Hellforge website, Fryer noted that while the story has a “few familiar tropes, there are some ghastly flourishes of fresh imagination and attention to detail.”
Wesolowski’s second book, Six Stories, follows the reexamination of a twenty-year-old death: that of a teenager, Tom Jeffries, on an adventure trip with a group of other teens at an eerie place called Scarclaw Fell. Was it an accident? Or was it murder? In the fashion of true-crime podcasts like Serial, Scott King takes on this complicated case, conducting interviews with six people who were involved in various ways with the long-ago incident. A critic at the Crime by the Book website applauded Wesolowski’s crafting of “distinct, three-dimensional people, each with totally individual and lifelike voices.”
Peter Dabbene, reviewing Six Stories in ForeWord, likened the tale to the Japanese classic 1950 film Rashomon in its use of the plot device of subjective and contradictory eyewitness accounts of a crime. He praised the “gripping writing” and “inventiveness” and found the author “especially skilled at utilizing the setting to enhance a naturally suspenseful story.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer found that the “surprise ending comes as more of a disappointment than a revelation.” The critic at Crime by the Book called this debut “fiercely original, innovative storytelling” as well as “inventive, bold, and unapologetically different.” Correspondent David Nemeth, writing at Unlawful Acts, also picked up on the surprise ending early on but summarized the book as “brilliant.” Doug Johnstone, critic on the Big Issue website, summarized: “The meat of the story is the typically fractious and fraught relationships between the teenagers struggling to find their place in the world and their role within society. Impeccably crafted and gripping from start to finish.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ForeWord, April 27, 2017, Peter Dabbene, review of Six Stories.
Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2017, review of Six Stories, p. 56.
ONLINE
Beyond the North Waves, https://mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com (January 11, 2018), author website.
Big Issue, https://www.bigissue.com/ (April 17, 2017), Doug Johnstone, review of Six Stories.
Crime by the Book, http://crimebythebook.com/ (March 25, 2017), review of Six Stories.
Crime Review, https://thecrimereview.com/ (March 20, 2017), review of Six Stories.
Orenda Books Website, http://orendabooks.co.uk/ (January 11, 208), author profile.
Storgy, https://storgy.com/ (May 25, 2017), review of Six Stories.
Unlawful Acts, https://www.unlawfulacts.net/ (March 21, 2017), David Nemeth, review of Six Stories.
Welcome to the Hellforge, https://matthewfryer.com/ June 13, 2014, Matthew Fryer, review of The Black Land.
About
Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North.
Wesolowski started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous magazines and US anthologies.
Wesolowski’s debut novella ‘The Black Land‘ a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 by Blood Bound Books and his latest horror novella set in the forests of Sweden is available in ‘Dimension 6’ magazine through Coeur De Lion Publishing.
Wesolowski was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at ‘Bloody Scotland’; Crime Writing Festival 2015, his subsequent debut crime novel ‘Six Stories’ will be available through Orenda Books in the spring of 2017
You can follow Matt on social media here:
Matt Wesolowski
Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine, Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.
Six Stories
Peter Dabbene
ForeWord.
(Apr. 27, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
Matt Wesolowski; SIX STORIES; Orenda Books (Fiction: Mystery) 14.95 ISBN: 9781910633625
Byline: Peter Dabbene
Wesolowski is especially skilled at utilizing the setting to enhance his naturally suspenseful story.
Inspired by the podcast Serial, Matt Wesolowski weaves a dazzling fictional mystery in his book Six Stories, told in the form of interviews with those involved.
Set twenty years after a teenager's mysterious death in a remote United Kingdom area known as Scarclaw Fell, Six Stories offers a Rashomon-style variety of points of view, combined with realistic characters, teen angst, tales of the supernatural, and surprising twists.
Some novelists use an unreliable narrator as a plot device; Wesolowski multiplies the effect, as different interpretations of events are offered by people who were present at the time of the incident. Across a distance of twenty years, the effect is further magnified, as shown in an exchange between interviewer and interviewee:
Have you been in contact with any of the others since?
Not at all. I think a few of them added me on Facebook. God, my memory's so bad.
The book's verisimilitude in characterization, setting, and diction allows fiction to imitate life -- in this case the popular nonfiction Serial podcast. Six Stories is written mostly as a series of transcripts of a fictional podcast, titled Six Stories. Its host is one of the primary voices that guide the mystery's revelation -- but not the only one.
To call Six Stories a fictionalized version of a Serial-type podcast doesn't do justice to
1 of 3 12/20/17, 9:48 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Wesolowski's gripping writing, inventiveness, or the elements of a classic mystery that appear here in a slightly different format than the norm.
Wesolowski is especially skilled at utilizing the setting to enhance a naturally suspenseful story -- he's written horror novellas set on the Northumberland coast and the forests of Sweden, respectively, and in this case, the forbidding landscape of Scarclaw Fell becomes a character in its own right.
While those who enjoy the Serial podcasts will probably enjoy Six Stories as well, it's perhaps more notable for those who love classic mysteries. Six Stories offers a new style of mystery, one that encapsulates the twenty-first century, the Internet, and social media, even as its characters struggle to recall -- or forget -- a time before such things.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Dabbene, Peter. "Six Stories." ForeWord, 27 Apr. 2017. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com
/apps/doc/A490947785/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=dc3acce0. Accessed 20 Dec. 2017. Gale Document Number: GALE|A490947785
2 of 3 12/20/17, 9:48 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Six Stories
Publishers Weekly.
264.15 (Apr. 10, 2017): p56. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Six Stories
Matt Wesolowski. Orenda (IPG, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-910633-62-5
Podcast moderator Scott King, the protagonist of Wesolowski's ragged debut, hosts a program called Six Stories, in which he interviews six people involved in a 20-year-old tragedy. In 1996,15-year-old Tom Jeffries, one of a group of 15 teens on a weekend visit to Northumberland's rugged Scarclaw Fell, disappeared. The son of the lord who owned the land around Scarclaw Fell, along with some friends, discovered Jeffries's body in 1997. The first interviewee is 62-year-old Derek Bickers, one of the two adults who were on the trip; the second is Haris Novak, a childlike man from the nearby village of Belkeld. Through the stories of these men and four who were teens back then, King offers his listeners a picture of the group dynamics and clues to Jeffries's puzzling disappearance and death. These different viewpoints on the same events don't generate much suspense, nor do frequent references to two mythological monsters, the Beast of Belkeld and Nanna Wrack. The surprise ending comes as more of a disappointment than a revelation. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Six Stories." Publishers Weekly, 10 Apr. 2017, p. 56. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com
/apps/doc/A490319262/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=9a145d1e. Accessed 20 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490319262
Blog Tour/Book Review: SIX STORIES by Matt Wesolowski
March 25, 2017
SIX STORIES by Matt Wesolowski
CBTB Rating: 5/5
The Verdict: fiercely original, innovative storytelling
There’s no other way to say it: SIX STORIES must be the best debut I’ve read in ages. It’s inventive, bold, and unapologetically different—in a crowded field, SIX STORIES stands out for its fierce originality. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it, neither in its structure nor in its content. SIX STORIES is based around a true crime podcast, and the author has structured it to mirror such a show: its plot is divided into six separate “interviews” with individuals with knowledge of the story’s central crime. If you love podcasts like Serial or Sword & Scale, you’ll feel right at home in the world of SIX STORIES—but really, this is a book for every crime fiction reader looking to be swept up in a story that’s as addictive as it is unsettling.
Plot Synopsis: 1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound center. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivaled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death.
There’s one word I keep repeating when I talk about this book: original. It’s been a long time since I've read a book that’s as much in a category of its own as is SIX STORIES. Every element of this book seems to radiate with originality, from its plot structure to its content to the voices of its characters. I truly wouldn’t know what other book to compare this one to—and I consider that a testament to the author’s vision for his debut novel.
I’m a huge fan of true crime podcasts, and I was instantly impressed with how authentically Wesolowski captures the tone and language used by true crime podcasters. If you’re a fan of Serial, Sword & Scale, or Criminal, you will feel immediately at home in SIX STORIES. But don’t let that lull you into thinking you know what the author has in store for you. SIX STORIES uses the formula of true crime podcasting as a springboard, from which the author launches the reader into a dark, compelling maze that slowly but surely reveals the shocking truth at its core.
Out of all the impressive elements of this debut, the one that stuck with me most has to be the author’s incredible talent for crafting vivid, believable characters in such a short space. This is a relatively brief novel - only 225 pages - but within this space, the author develops six unique characters. And boy, does he develop them well. In the six interviews that make up the book’s “six stories,” Wesolowski has created distinct, three-dimensional people, each with totally individual and lifelike voices. Reading their “interviews,” I found myself forgetting that this was a work of fiction, that’s how truly authentic these characters felt. It's almost hard to imagine that one author could come up with all these unique voices, and manage to make each as strong as the next, but Wesolowski has done it in spades. Readers get to know this group of interviewees - both their individual personalities and their group dynamic - through Wesolowski’s engaging and immersive writing.
This book’s ending completely blew me away. I won’t say much about this, as I would never want to spoil anything. But I’ll just say that I was stunned by the intricate puzzle Wesolowski has laid out in SIX STORIES, and deeply impressed by the sensitivity and insight that lace his writing. After reading this book, I wanted to know so much more about his background—I have so many questions I’d like to ask him.
I do want to make one note: it did take me until I was through the first "interview" to get into the groove of this book. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and it took me a little while to make sense of who was who, and understand how they all relate to one another. Once I did, though, I found myself utterly addicted to this book. And “addicted” really is the right word—when I wasn’t reading SIX STORIES, I was thinking about it or talking about it to anyone who would listen to me.
SIX STORIES is simply a stunning debut crime novel. Its plotting, pacing, and unique content make it one of the most impressive books I’ve read recently. Wesolowski is a major new talent in crime fiction, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.
I have only one piece of advice for you: buy this book.
BOOK DETAILS:
SIX STORIES by Matt Wesolowski
Orenda Books
US Publication date: 6/1/17
Buy Links:
Purchase on Amazon
Purchase on BookDepository
NOTE: I’m not an audiobook listener, but I’ve heard absolutely fantastic things about the SIX STORIES audiobook. I can imagine that, with its podcast-based plot, this would be an absolute winner in that format! Find it on Audible here.
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
March 21, 2017 / By David Nemeth
It has taken me a year of reading crime fiction, but I have come to realize that I am not a fan of the psychological thriller. My reviews of Megan Abbott’s End of Everything and Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train are examples of my distaste for these types of books. The final marker for me in this genre comes with Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories (Orenda Books). I know I am in a minority here with my view of psychological thrillers, but I prefer crime fiction focusing on the people on the fringes of society.
Wesolowski’s premise for Six Stories is splendid — the murder mystery is told mainly through a six-part podcast à la Serial. The novel discusses the disappearance and subsequent death of a 15-year-old boy who was camping in a dangerous wood called Scarclaw Fell. The police ruled the young man’s death accidental, but the podcast narrator’s wants to explore what really happen and maybe even discover if the death was actually murder.
There are brief interludes between the podcast interview chapeters where the owner of the land walks about and tells his story. These peices really show the strength and beauty of Wesolowski’s writing
I stop in the clearing and pour tea into the cup of my flask. Everything is damp and I don’t want to sit down. It’s a cliché I know, but you never really stop and listen to silence, do you? I have started to listen when I’m here, beneath the branches. When I first started coming out, I used to wear headphones, one ear-bud in my right, my left empty.
The woods aren’t silent, not really; if you stand and listen there’s all sorts going on: rustlings and chattering; when it rains, the sound of the leaves is a cacophony of wagging green tongues; in the mornings the indignant back-and-forth clamour of the birds is almost comical.
I’ve not come out into these woods at night. Not for a long time, anyway.
The last time I walked here in darkness was nearly twenty years ago – it was me and Jus and Tomo. That was the night we found him. That boy. It was where the woods begin to thin, where they turn upward towards the bare back of the fell; where the path turns to marsh.
The conversations between the podcast host and the various people attached to the disappearance of the teenager are equally as well written, maybe even better than they should be, but that would be a minor complaint.
One of the tropes of a psychological thriller is the twist. I picked the twist out about a third of the way through the book which probably didn’t help in the enjoyment of the book for me. But if you are a fan of psychological thrillers, Wesolowski has done a bang-up job and presented the story in a new and vibrant way. And as I said earlier, Wesolowski’s writing in Six Stories is brilliant.
Amazon: AU CA UK US
Similar Books Reviewed:
Snare by Lilja Sigurdardóttir
Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb
Posted in: Books Tagged: Matt Wesolowski, Orenda Books
Review: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski / One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel
Two books by debut authors will keep you hanging on to the end
Culture › Books
April 17, 2017
By Doug Johnstone
@doug_johnstone
I have heard recently through the literary grapevine about some older, male authors who confess to only reading works by dead writers. What an arrogant and self-defeating attitude that is. Imagine all the glorious fictional worlds they’re missing out on, the energy and innovation of all that new writing that they’ll never experience.
Here at The Big Issue we champion as many new writers as possible, and this week we have another couple of whip-smart and razor-sharp novels by debut writers.
First up is Six Stories by the young English writer Matt Wesolowski. The book has a terrific and highly original structural hook, the story arranged as six separate interviews with six characters, each of whom was involved somehow in the death of a teenager 20 years previously.
Six Stories mirrors the format of recent true crime podcasts such as Serial perf-ectly, drip-feeding information and revelations to the reader, twisting our perceptions and expectations as it digs deeper into the case.
There is more than a whiff of modern horror here, and The Blair Witch Project feels like a touchstone
The events around the death of Tom Jeffries are eked out with skill and precision. A group of teenagers called the Rangers were at an outward-bound centre in the north of England called Scarclaw Fell when Tom went missing. A year later his body was found but the mystery of his death was never solved.
Wesolowski evokes the ominous landscape and eerie atmosphere of the area with sharp, direct prose, and through his podcaster, Scott King, he slowly unpicks the knots that tied the tight-knit group of Tom’s teenage friends together.
There is more than a whiff of modern horror here, and The Blair Witch Project feels like a touchstone, but the meat of the story is the typically fractious and fraught relationships between the teenagers struggling to find their place in the world and their role within society. Impeccably crafted and gripping from start to finish.
Equally compelling is the brutal and uncompromising One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel. It’s a short and intense story told from the point of view of an unnamed 12-year-old boy who, along with his father and older brother, flee their lives in Kansas for the deserts of New Mexico.
The boy’s parents have had a messy divorce, and the brothers, under psychological pressure from their father, have been complicit in lying about their mother’s behaviour, so that their father now has sole custody. But it quickly becomes apparent that the father is unstable and abusive, both physically and mentally, and the book becomes a nerve-shredding examination of a toxic father-son relationship.
To begin with our narrator is completely on the side of his dad, despite his apparent problems with drugs and anger, but Magariel brilliantly depicts his slow awakening to realise the horrors of his situation.
The internal struggle in the narrator is subtly evoked, as he tries to overcome his own conditioning and see things for how they really are.
The prose throughout One of the Boys is spare and unflinching, the action delivered in deadpan style, making the grotesqueness of the actual events all the more impactful.
The tension on the page is palpable from the very start, and the trajectory of the family’s story is utterly compelling, while a smart epilogue throws new light on the journey into darkness that all three main characters have made. Cracking stuff.
@doug_johnstone
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski, out now on Orenda £8.99
One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel, out now on Granta, £12.99
REVIEW: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
March 20, 2017 thecrimereviewadmin 1 Comment
Series: N/A
Book Number: N/A
Read this book for: innovative format, modern mystery, surprise ending, journalist investigator, suspense, whodunnit
Quick Review: Perfectly capturing the suspense and need-to-know tension of the true crime podcasts it’s modeled after, SIX STORIES is definitely one of this year’s must-reads for all crime fiction fans.
***
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found a year after his disappearance at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivaled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure.
In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death.
SIX STORIES is the fantastic first novel by Matt Wesolowski published by Orenda Books, and it is based on the premise of a story told through a true-crime podcast like Serial. It’s really exciting to see a novel published in this format, given the success of Serial and other podcasts like it.
Wesolowski handles the style perfectly. The novel is laid out in an interesting alternation between the present-day perspective of the man who found the body of Jeffries and who owns the land, and dialogue-only episodes of the podcast as it would have been produced – and it is done so well that you can actually hear those episodes in your head as you read them. He does a great job of capturing the individual voices of the characters.
And the characters truly are special. There’s a diverse cast with many secrets – much like P.D. James’s novels – and they are extremely well developed. Much of the novel hinges on these characterizations, and SIX STORIES doesn’t disappoint, delivering well-formed, rich characters with deep backgrounds. In fact, the episodes with their dialogue are so well-written that you actually feel like you could sit down and have a conversation with these people yourself.
It’s good, too, that the characters are so well-crafted, as much of the plot hinges on them. This novel is not a police investigation; instead, it’s a deep-dive into the group dynamics among the teens involved in the disappearance of Tom Jeffries – their secrets and wishes, their thoughts about him and each other, and what was going on in their minds at the time. Save an interesting supernatural element regarding the legend of the beast that resides on the fell, the mystery and suspense in this novel come from the reader desperate to find out more about what was going on in the group, and how all of these elements could come together to result in the death of Tom Jeffries.
This is absolutely a novel you will not be able to put down once you start it. SIX STORIES is definitely going on my must-read list for this year!
Post navigation
Previous PostBLOG POST: Top True Crime Podcasts
Next PostQ&A: Matt Wesolowski about SIX STORIES
One thought on “REVIEW: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski”
Pingback: #bookbloggers #BuzzBook of the Month #SixStories: Matt Wesolowski @ConcreteKraken @OrendaBooks | Mrs Bloggs' Books
BOOK REVIEW: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
One murder. Six stories. One podcast. Six versions of a memory. One murderer. Six possibilities. British author Matt Wesolowski is known for short horror fiction. Although his first nove lSix Stories possesses some elements of horror, it is more of a psychological thriller meets whodunit murder mystery, with echoes of the paranormal. A modern-day version of Agatha Christie, Six Stories presents an unpredictable plot full of twists and turns that will have you guessing until its very last page.
‘Tom Jeffries had gone missing on a trip to Scarclaw Fell Woodlands Centre with a group of other teenagers and two supervising adults. Unlike today, when such disappearances run riot on social media, Tom Jeffries’ disappearance was largely ignored by the national press…Maybe it was just the times; there was no such thing as social media in the nineties…Or perhaps it was something to do with Jeffries himself.’
Six Stories intertwines two narratives. One is a series of modern-day podcasts in which journalist Scott King interviews characters with some connection to the murder of teenager Tom Jeffries in August 1986. Most of the interviewees are members of The Rangers, an informal group of teenagers and parents who were on a trip with Jeffries when he was killed. Think of The Rangers as Scouts with rebellious teenagers. The second storytelling device, parts of which are written between each of the six character interviews, is a more traditional narrative; the first-person perspective of a man very familiar with Scarclaw Fell, the woodland in which the trip, and the murder, took place.
As the story introduces an impressive cast of characters, I was skeptical about how memorable each would be. I’ve read a lot of murder mysteries, and most focus more on plot than on character. Six Stories, however, manages both. Think of the novel as less of a murder investigation and more of an exploration of authentic group dynamics. The characterisation in the novel was extremely clever; each character was well-rounded and believable. This comes down to the genius podcast concept, which details every interview as a back-and-forth conversation between King and the interviewee. The characters come alive through the slang and pauses written into their interviews. We can hear their hesitations, the sentences that stop and start. Not only do you get a chance to hear each character speak, but you hear them being spoken about. Their character is a product of their own voice and six others’. Depending on loyalties, grudges, prejudices, and crushes, the details about each character change and multiply. You decide who you like based on who you trust.
As the crime itself predominantly revolves around teenagers, teenage issues are explored in an authentic way throughout. Wesolowski details underage drinking and drug use, as well as bullying. All of these topics are handled delicately, but are not sugarcoated. Wesolowski is an author very much in touch with the realities of people and the way they treat others. As a teenager myself, I am impressed with his deeply accurate understanding of how we work.
‘Look, we knew they smoked, we knew they drank – teenagers are the least subtle people in the world. But what were we going to do? If we lost our rags, kicked off with them, they would have still done it, but further away.’
I must admit, the second narrative incorporated in the novel was somewhat distracting. It was not until the end of the story that I realised its significance. Although the first-person perspective forms a key piece in the puzzle Wesolowski constructs, I struggled to make the transition from interview to standard narration and found myself rushing through those sections to get back to the podcast portions.I can only advise you to be patient and assure you that all will eventually become clear.
I can credit Wesolowski, therefore, for successfully tying together the loose ends. This is not one of those crime novels that will leave you feeling underwhelmed. All of the burning questions you had whilst reading will be answered, I promise. With its brilliant balance between plot and character, Six Stories is a page-turner. A fast and gripping read, but an equally authentic study of how people speak, act, and treat another, the novel reminds us that there is always more than one side to every story. Sometimes there are six.
Matt Wesolowski
2016-2
Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine,Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.
Six Stories was published by Orenda Books on 15th March 2017.
You can purchase a copy of Six Stories from Foyles, Waterstones, or The Book Depository:
Review – “The Black Land” by MJ Wesolowski
Posted on June 13, 2014 by Matthew Fryer
After a few days of June sunshine spent in pub beer gardens, it was a grey and rainy afternoon, so I thought some old-school terror would be the perfect way to while away a couple of hours. This downloaded novella from Blood Bound Books proved to be just the thing with its baleful castle, ghosts in wolfskins and a splendid descent into madness for all those unfortunate enough to be involved.
Black LandWe meet Martin Walker, an American self-made tycoon who owns the exclusive Gateway Resorts. He arrives in North-East England with his wife and two young children in tow, intent on acquiring the remote island of Blamenholm to add to his luxurious list of locations. But the bleak slab of rock is also home to a forbidding and long-abandoned castle that was once garrisoned by invading Norsemen. And it appears that these “Children of Odin” – psychotic wolfskin-wearing warriors high on hallucinogens and bloodlust – are still very much there in spirit.
The tale begins with a brilliant Hammeresque feel as the family visit the storm-lashed rock. I was completely drawn into the malevolent atmosphere as they enter the twisted keep of the castle, a building apparently designed to keep something in as well as out. Not to mention a vast, diabolical trap looming in the shadowed hall that chills the family – and us – right from the start. And that’s before we even know what’s lurking in the castle’s dungeon, about which their English guide Saul is terribly grave but teasingly vague.
They return to a rented mill in the coastal countryside, and things start to go wrong pretty quick. His wife Martha and the kids start to have dark thoughts as nasty ghosts rise from their past, and everything becomes drenched in the same unease that bled from the castle. The rooms plunge cold, things go missing, internal voices start to whisper. Their young son Chad claims to have seen wolves, and pawprints surround the sodden mud around Martha’s car, all of which cements the tone for a genuinely scary ride.
I really enjoyed this novella. The characters are well rounded, filled out deftly with back story as the tale progresses. Although the stubborn, success-driven businessman Martin is not always the most likeable character, we still invest, and soon realise his behaviour – and increasing rage – isn’t entirely in his hands.
While there’s a few familiar tropes, there are some ghastly flourishes of fresh imagination and attention to detail, and I was drawn into world of Blamenholm and the Walker family. I also enjoyed the author’s use of digital technology (such as smart phones) to bridge the gap between the archaic and the contemporary. This particular ancient evil sure can adapt with the times.
What’s also cleverly done is that the family seem trapped, somehow unable to pinpoint and discuss the creepy events with the expected rationality. This creates a slick aura of otherworldliness as the wicked powers do their thing, racheting up the fear.
Ah yes, the fear. What I loved most of all about “The Black Land” is the chills. MJ Wesolowski creates menace through suggestion and a superb malignant presence. This is “bump in the night” horror rather than graphic, and all the better for it. I was startled by the movement of one of our cats in the room, and the rain and wind blowing through the branches of a tree outside my window kept making me glance up uneasily from the page. Creating such edginess on the part of the reader is no mean feat, and is of course the essence of any quality horror story.
I also liked the author’s voice. There is no fixed POV, which is unusual nowadays, but used to good effect here. It gives the whole thing a classical feel and provides sinister narrated observations of which our protagonists are unaware. The prose is also very descriptive – which isn’t usually my thing – and although I found it slightly off-putting at first, I soon settled in. Stick with it, stalwart reader, because this style brings evocation and grim atmosphere by the bucketload.
The conclusion also delivers. The final few chapters tie up all the loose ends, some of which I’d forgotten about, and there are a few surprises as everything descends into nightmare. My anticipation was stoked throughout the first half, and rewarded by a noisy showdown of subterranean, primordial dread.
I will definitely be checking out more of MJ Wesolowski. “The Black Land” is great value for money at 111 pages – available in print and download – so if you fancy a seamless meld of classic and modern horror, give it a whirl. Just don’t read it alone on a rainy night. Actually, do read it like that. Because hey, we’re all a bit tweaked in the head and that’s exactly why we love this kind of thing.