‘Macabre’ Editions
The first UK hardback edition, with painting by Mark Taylor, after a design by myself
The balance between fantastical horror and real-life horror is what all good horror writers should strive to achieve. Some of the greatest horror novels in the last decade of the 20th century had their feet firmly planted in reality: (including) Stephen Laws' much under-estimated social statement.
- CRAIG CABELL (A FEAR OF RATS)
French book club edition by Presses e la Cite. Cover by Liliane Mangavelle
“How all the elements fit together into an exciting and coherent adventure is a joy to behold. Laws lays the jigsaw pieces before us, and slowly moves them together. Piece meshes with piece until a picture about the reincarnation of an ancient evil forms and then, with the placing of the final elements, the novel is confirmed as a masterpiece of storytelling and characterization. Laws keeps it all under control, and we are involved in the story from page one onwards. The imagery of dank, dripping streets, silent canals and desolate inner-city deprivation is skilfully meshed with themes of gang warfare, drug abuse, racial tensions and the constant threat of the unknown. ‘Macabre’ is an excellent novel and a gripping read. Another classic from one of the top names in the field.”
(Cover from the French paperback - Pocket edition Presses De La Cite. Artwork by Pierre Olivier Templier)
“Laws delivers well-written, truly terrifying scenes of supernatural menace and mystery. The prose and plotting join together seamlessly to create a believable netherworld, contained within our world, where the more-than-human and the human, the supernatural and the everyday, give both the despicable and the endearing the power to change lives - or end them, slowly. Laws is a master of carefully revealing the exact nature of his plot, of casting shadows that loom larger then the reader’s reality, eventually subsuming it.He’s obviously learned from Lovecraft that sometimes, less is more, and from the splatterpunks as well, that sometimes more is more.”