Review | Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

A collection of six horror stories including The Visible Filth which has been adapted into a movie. These stories serve terrifying portrayals of a world on the brink of Hell.

Instead I see a row of huge, bobbing purple flowers, each with a bleached human face in the center, mouths gaping and eyes palely blind. The sight of it shocks me into silence; our guide fixes his stare on the horizon, refusing to acknowledge anything unusual.

(The Atlas of Hell)

An outstanding collection of horror stories that surprised and scared me in equal measure. I first heard of this book through the movie adaptation of The Visible Filth. So I read the story first in order to watch the movie, which is a faithful adaptation and I thought kept the theme of the story intact.

Then I proceeded to read the rest of the stories and was blown away by how they are interlinked and provide a larger context to the unknown universe glimpsed by the characters in The Visible Filth. My recommendation? Read the stories in order! The stories are arranged with purpose, so that you get more information with each segment. After I finished the book I felt like I just came back from someplace where Hell is just a ship ride or a phone call away.

In The Atlas of Hell, a bookseller is pulled into a quest to find the atlas of hell by his former criminal partners. This story has brief touches of humour but nevertheless still managed to provide nightmare images as he gets closer to the goal. In The Diabolist, an unknown narrator describes the events in the life of a diabolist where it leads to an unnerving end. The narration took some getting used to but once I’m inside the story really flows. Skullpocket features ghouls vs humans and it’s just delightful! There are moments of horror but also a melancholic vibe to the story and I didn’t want it to end. The Maw is a touching post-apocalyptic tale of love and loss featuring two characters who couldn’t be more different than each other. This is a story that builds on dread and I love how it ends. The Visible Filth is the sole story that feels like it exists on the outside of the horrors of this Hell universe. It’s an incredible story of loneliness, emptiness and the desperation to fill that hollow. Finally, The Butcher’s Table is a rip-roaring adventure featuring pirates, cults and frightening villains. This has interesting characters, a well-crafted plot and really dark scenes, and I could see this being turned into a movie too.

Overall, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell is a remarkable collection of horror stories that are deliciously dark and visceral with a superb world-building. I enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more work by the author!

About the author: Nathan Ballingrud

Photo by Jonah Pettrich