Review: Carnies by Martin Livings
Martin Livings is a Western Australian author (currently residing in London) whose short fiction has appeared in a myriad of publications since 1990, including Year’s Best Australian SF and Fantasy Volume 2. He has also garnered nominations for the Aurealis and Ditmar awards. Carnies is his first novel, and is published by Lothian Books.
Think you’ve read all you can about the werewolf? Think again.
Several themes in dark fiction have been revived over the years (think Anne Rice popularising the vampire genre) but one that has been ignored to a degree is the werewolf. And while the “w” word is never used in Carnies, it is a werewolf story, and one unlike any you have read before.
Set in the town of Tillbrook, Carnies explores a mysterious carnival that has been resident in the town for over a hundred years. Two brothers, David and Paul Hampden, find their lives becoming entwined with the carnival and its inhuman carnies.
As in much of his short fiction, Livings excels here at putting as much creepiness as possible into every word while still maintaining a credible story. I guarantee that several scenes will have you squirming uncomfortably in your seat as you read, and that you will not be able to forget some of the startling, and often gruesome, imagery.
While one could argue that some of the storyline is clichéd to an extent (and what genre fiction isn’t to some extent?), Livings manages to twist the clichés in his own particular way, making them something new again. His characters are living, breathing individuals, even those who step foot onto his virtual stage for only a few moments.
Livings is a master of his genre and manages to draw us into his world, kicking and screaming though we might be. And his world is dark, and there are things in the darkness that howl and hunger.
Carnies ends on a note that begs for a sequel, and I for one hope that it will appear on shelves as soon as humanly possible, along with other novel-length work by Livings.
Carnies is available at all major bookstores and has a website: http://www.martinlivings.com/carnies/
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