Left In The Dark
John Gordon
Medusa Press
Hardcover, $40 Unsigned, $60 Signed

You may have never read John Gordon’s work. Gordon lives in Norwich, England and he’s been writing supernatural fantasy for over four decades now. His first complete book, The Giant Under The Snow, was published by Hutchison in 1968. Since that time, he’s written fifteen novels, a memoir, three short story collections, and over fifty short stories. If you’ve never come across his work before, it’s a shame. His writing is vivid and eerie and true.

Left In The Dark collects thirty of Gordon’s stories, spanning his career. It opens with the title story, “Left In The Dark,” which is a tale inspired no doubt by his experience as a teenager when (during the German air raids) evacuees from London would flee into small country towns in search of temporary shelter. It’s a tale of three boys who find themselves in the strange, unsettling attic of the home of a bitter old woman who remains in the shadows for most of the tale.

“The Night Watch” completes the collection. Here, scholar Dr. Martin Glover has worked late at the Castle where he has access to the records kept in the Castle museum. He encounters night watchman Jack Ketch and learns more about the history of the Castle than he ever wanted to know.

In between these two bookends, you’ll find story after story rich in mood and subtlety, nearly impossible to put down, and always rewarding at the end. Although, Gordon’s work is primarily written around the awkward and uncomfortable time between adolescence and adulthood, these are stories for everyone.

Karl Edward Wagner once wrote, “John Gordon’s precise control of his fiction and his mastery of the English language are unequalled since the death of Robert Aikman.”

That truly says it all.

You can order directly from Medusa Press: Left In The Dark

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