An outstanding mini-collection of short stories on psychological disintegration, with introduction by Stephen Volk and cover by J.K. Potter, by the author of The Impelled
Gary Fry’s rise has been little short of meteoric; his first short story appeared in 2003, and in 2005 he published his first book. Poe’s Progeny was nominated for a British Fantasy Award as Best Anthology, as was his second such book, Bernie Hermann’s Manic Sextet.
In 2006, Fry published both his first collection, The Impelled and other Head Trips. Fry has continued to produce one or two books a year; in early 2007, Humdrumming Books published World Wide Web and other Lovecraftian Updates.
Reviewing The Impelled for Strange Horizons, Colin Harvey noted of it that it was, “Competent? Yes. Outstanding? Sadly, only occasionally.”
Fry has clearly addressed some of the weaknesses noted in The Impelled, and has produced an outstanding novella-length mini-collection of short stories on the theme of psychological disintegration, published in a limited edition by PS Publishing.
The stories in The Impelled veered away from sex, and it may well be that Fry deliberately held back the stories that touched on the topic, because every one of the stories in Sanity and Other Delusions touches on marriage, particularly the chains raised by the institution. JK Potter’s alluring yet disturbing cover perfectly sums up the dissonance in Fry’s relationships.
The stories are book-ended by men in unhappy marriages, one of whom prevails, one does not. In “Beggars Belief,” an overworked accountant yoked to his desk by his wife’s compulsive spending learns the fate of his boss’ previous employees. “Projecting Malice starts out so suspiciously happily that Bernard’s disintegration is almost a relief.
Two of the stories feature widowers; “It Also Ends at Home,” is the only story in which familial relationships do not play a major part –Murdoch is a self-obsessed loner who finally achieves some sort of human contact, although it may not be what he hoped for, or anticipated. “The Indelible Strain of Company” is more conventional, but the story’s inevitable progression makes it no less horrifying.
The two most horrifying stories in the book both feature awkward teenagers. The introduction by Stephen Volk claims “His final images, for example in 'The Familial,' are amongst the most terrifying I have ever read.” While not every reader may buy into such a claim, there is no doubt that the Oedipal-Moebius relationship is genuinely unsettling.
Perhaps not as disturbing, but even more thought provoking is “No Oil Painting,” in which a lonely adolescent staying in a North Yorkshire hotel tries to turn an old photograph into an oil painting, and then to airbrush it, with disconcerting results. Fry has interesting views on society’s obsession with beauty, and capturing the essences of souls.
The stories in Sanity & Other Delusions are much more complex and multi-layered than in Fry’s previous works and fully justify his growing presence on award ballots, such as the Stokers. There are only a few hundred copies of Sanity printed – seek them out, they are fully worth it.
