Various (short story collection) – The End of the Line

The End of the Line is a collection of horror short stories edited by Jonathan Oliver. The stories are all previously unpublished and are all linked to an underground railway system of some sort. Most are set in and around the London underground but there are several with different settings as well.

As I love horror and have a long running interest / fascination with the London underground this collection was perfect for me and I couldn’t wait to get stuck into it. Overall the standard of stories in the collection was very good, there was just one that I didn’t really like and several that I really loved.

The collection opens with Bullroarer by Paul Meloy. It’s not what I would have picked as the opener as I thought it was one of the weaker stories in the collection. I just found it a bit odd but it was alright. We move on to The Girl in the Glass by John Llewellyn Probert. This is a fairly traditional ghost story with a twist. Creepy, atmospheric and very enjoyable.

The next story, The Lure by Nicholas Royle was the one I didn’t really like! I found that there was far too much detail about journey routes and too much French which I just didn’t understand as I don’t speak French! It was also a little predictable, I knew exactly what was going to be on the other side of the door.

My three favourite stories in the collection were Fallen Boys by Mark Morris. A traditional ghost story set in an old Cornish tin mine. In The Colosseum by Stephen Volk, a voyeuristic story of sex, drugs, murder and CCTV and probably may favourite of them all Crazy Train by Natasha Rhodes about a musician who shoots himself and ends up taking a very interesting train journey.

Whilst it wasn’t among my favourite stories in the collection On All London Underground Lines by Adam L.G. Nevill has now made me tempted to pick up Apartment 16 as that has been on my radar for a while and I liked his writing style.

Overall a great collection that I really enjoyed. I hope there will be a volume two at some point!

David Long – The Little Book of the London Underground

I picked this book up at the London Transport Museum shop in London recently as I have a long held fascination with the underground. The book is a potted history of the underground, packed full of interesting facts and information. It covers pretty much everything from the first attempts at building the underground through to wartime usage, abandoned stations and the underground in popular culture. Of course, because it covers such a large subject in a small book it is not able to go into much detail, but it gives a good overview on the subject.

It is written in a light and entertaining style. Its easy to dip in and out of and I think would be of interest to those with a passing interest in the underground right through to those with a keener interest looking for a good starting point.

It has certainly re-ignited my interest in the subject and I will be going back and continuing to read another book on the subject which I started reading some time ago but didn’t get round to finishing at the time. I will be looking out for books on abandoned stations as these are of particular interest to me. I also found the wartime usage chapter very interesting and will be looking to read further on that as well at some point.

I enjoyed the Little Book of the London Underground and would certainly recommed it.