Marvelry’s Curiosity Shop is, indeed, curious – an antique store specialising in the strange, occult and macabre. Dr Marvelry himself is a retired stage magician with a penchant for oddities, including his customers and their stories! This collection of paranormal fantasy contains twelve stories about Marvelry himself and the objects he sells, including a haunted phonograph, a pair of fertility dolls, a magical cabinet that does more than believed, and a trunk with some very odd items inside…
Several of the stories focus around items bought from the shop. In The Victor Talking Machine, a phonograph seems to be replaying the screams of the dying in between Frank Sinatra’s dreamlike tones. In Echo’s Reflection, it’s a mirror that seems to show images of the future to a young couple, leaving them wondering if it’s really what they want. The Letterbox delivers a horrifying truth to a man determined to restore his grandparent’s house to its former glory, and the sewing machine in Seams of Consequence weaves futures into the clothing it creates – but the future is not always kind. A Made Match is slightly more lighthearted, wondering what happens when a pair of fertility dolls get separated.
Several stories only incidentally involve Marvelry’s shop, focusing instead on the customers. When Justin buys an easel and brushes from the shop, he wonders why the scene he’s painting over and over is never the one he intends to paint, and starts to dig deeper in The Painter’s Premonition. Nick’s new neighbour in Siren Song is an organist fond of continuously playing, and he wonders if he has a chance with an attractive young woman. And in A Gift Ungiven, the purchase of a breastplate in Marvelry’s shop causes problems for a battlefield historian, who starts seeing spirits.
We also get a few hints about Dr Marvelry himself, and his former career. The New Assistant leaves Marvelry’s helper alone in the shop for a day; what could possibly go wrong? In Magician’s Complex, a lacklustre magician purchases a trick bureau, which entirely reforms his act – until things go wrong, despite Marvelry’s warnings. Martinus’ Mannequin brings back an old foe to the shop, forcing the magician to think on his feet. And in Grand Illusions, Dr Marvelry meets a group of old friends and former magicians, hoping that old rivalries will stay in the past.
The collection is an easy read; the stories occasionally lack tension and I can’t class any of them as ‘horror’, but they do all have an interesting paranormal theme. I like the old-fashioned tone of the shop, the antiques with a dark secret, and the central link to Marvelry – but while the stories in themselves are all good, they are too short to make an entirely satisfying read. I’d like to see more of Marvelry in a longer piece, and find out what other secrets the shop holds! If you’re into mild horror, paranormal activity and unusual short stories, give this a try.
Ps. There’s also a bonus horror story at the end from a new anthology, At The Cemetery Gates: Year One, which is due to be published next year. If you want a chilling and ghostly tale, A Dark and Desolate Recurrence is just the taster you need.
© Kate Coe, August 2016
Marvelry’s Curiosity Shop by J Brhel and J Sullivan
Published July 16th 2016
Review copy courtesy of the author
http://cemeterygatesmedia.tumblr.com
156 pages
