Things From The Past

by Steven Deighan

Review by James R.Cain

This is Steven Deighan's second book, with the first being A Dead Calmness, a collection of fourteen of his short stories.  We're told by the author in the acknowledgements this is the last collection for a while.  Things From the Past   contains four longer short stories, illustrated by the talented Ian Simmons.  Ian Simmons is a British Fantasy Society award nominated artist.

I felt that this was a solid collection of stories, and I enjoyed Steven's writing, particularly the characterisation.  My favourite of the collection was the first tale 'The Last Drive' and there were moments in that story where I found the writing almost tactile.  

That being said though, I was disappointed by the storylines themselves.  It's not that there was anything particularly wrong with them, but I felt they were very close to storylines I'd read before.  Given Steven's obvious talent as demonstrated in his writing, I felt he could have extended himself to giving us something a little more imaginative.  

All in all though, I think Steven Deighan is certainly someone to keep an eye on.  The book's is 170-pages and is a nice paperback.  It's certainly worth the money for a Saturday afternoon read.   

Publisher: Hadesgate Publications (2006)

ISBN 0-9550314-3-5   Paperback (170 pages)