Moths - M. P. N. Sims, L. H. Maynard

L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims are familiar names to those who know. Not only have they set up and run the superlative Enigma Press, currently running at four imprints, but they have a very fine reputation for supernatural tale-telling of their own.

'Moths', the launch title of Enigmatic Novellas, is a very fine example of this duo's gift. Unpredictable, creepy and disturbing, the tale deals with the strangeness of David Alywin's old friend Simon Desborough, recently returned from Japan with a new fiancé. Visiting the Desborough estates deep in Wiltshire, David notices a strange tension in his friend. Something disturbs him also about bride in preparation Anna Otani, and her oriental family. When he discovers, to his horror, that the Otani's are now owners of the Desborough assets, he digs deep to find out just what is going on. What he finds underlying events, the monstrous Tashkai, are beyond all imagining.

Slow building, the novella paints clearly the culture clash between the Otani and the British players. Menace seeps through the pages, and it is the oppression of niggles that turn up the heat. A thing not right here, something just off-kilter there - the effect is quite beautiful in its understated power. When the plot lurches forward, there is a real sense of unpredictability; neither the main players nor we have time to gather ourselves for the explosion.

Among the triumphs of this spooky little piece are the villains in question, the Tashkai. Maynard and Sims have reached into Japanese culture to create a unique and disturbing monster in the classic tradition. Though they share some traits with the vampire, there is a real originality at work here, a discontentment with tired motifs, and the creation of something startlingly new. It's easy to forget how terrifying the unknown really is. If only more writers worked so hard to take our comforting nightmares away from us, to replace them with such horrifying creatures as this.

In tone and mood, it is easy to see why the work of this partnership is often compared to M.R. James. If James had a crown for the passing, to Sims and Maynard it would have to go.