By Jim Mcleod 
Songs of Shadow, Words of Woe by Matthew R Davis
Out now through JournalStone is the second full-length horror collection from award-winning Australian author and musician Matthew R. Davis. Songs of Shadow, Words of Woe collects thirteen deliciously dark short stories and novelettes, five of them awards nominees or winners and one previously unpublished. Like an obscure prog-horror soundtrack album found at the back of the racks in a strange record store you’ve never seen before, this book contains deep drops and diverse grooves that will intrigue, entertain, and terrify.
Songs of Shadow, Words of Woe follows on from Davis’s increasingly eclectic and electric range of previous releases: the Australasian Shadows Award-winning novelette Supermassive Black Mass (Demain, 2019); debut horror collection If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (Things in the Well, 2020); the Aurealis Award-nominated novel Midnight in the Chapel of Love (JournalStone, 2021); the Ditmar Award-shortlisted novella The Dark Matter of Natasha (Grey Matter Press, 2022); the Shadows Award-nominated flash fiction chapbook Bites Eyes: 13 Macabre Morsels (Brain Jar Press, 2023); and non-fiction music volume The Cure On Track: Every Album, Every Song (Sonicbond Publishing, 2025).
Morose, macabre, and mordant, Songs of Shadow, Words of Woe will play on in your mind long after you turn the final page…
Tracklisting:
Andromeda Ascends / Steadfast Shadowsong / A Walking Wound / The Haunted Heart of Ebon Eidolon / The Ballad of Elvis O’Malley / I Do Thee Woe / Pilgrimage / Heritage Hill / Our Tragic Heroine / Thee Most Exalted Potentate of Love / Nymphaea / The Black Regent / Vision Thing
Blurb:
The beach where his teenage sister disappeared / Time and dream melt in the mouth of deep weird—
An open mic night bears witness to a fury / A life-changing performance before a dread jury—
A truck stop photo by a touring punk bassist / A chase across the country and her most personal places—
Seven friends mourn a beloved queer icon / A final bequest unleashes the deepest dark of an eidolon…
Songs of shadow, words of woe!
A lonely film student attends a free indie screening / Will this obscure flick bring the end he’s dreaming?
Two wilful women climb a hill to watch a storm / And learn their town’s history of racism and scorn—
Grotesque gangsters in a burlesque club dive / Trouble erupts when a new player arrives—
Invited to experience true terror, not a relic / A horror film fan runs through a theatre derelict…
Songs of shadow, words of woe!
Thirteen morbidly melodic deep cuts from Matthew R. Davis, including the Australasian Shadows Award-winning “Steadfast Shadowsong” and the Shirley Jackson Award-nominated novelette “Heritage Hill.”
“A f**king beauty of a book, every story brilliant.” —Kaaron Warren, award-winning author of The Underhistory
“Elegant, frightening, and so delightfully strange, this isn’t just a collection—it’s a cabal.” —Aaron Dries, author of Dirty Heads and A Place for Sinners
“A powerhouse collection filled with rock and roll, the uncanny, the unsettling and the all-out terrifying. A few stories had me looking over my shoulder to see what was lurking in the dark corners of my room.” —Jo Kaplan, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of When the Night Bells Ring
Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FQTKNTQN/ref=sr_1_2
Publisher store: https://journalstone.com/bookstore/songs-of-shadow-words-of-woe
Author blog: https://matthewrdavisfiction.wordpress.com
Horror Book Reviews on Ginger Nuts of Horror
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