Joel McKay’s collection of short stories It Came From the Trees is an interesting
mixture of horror, action and monster adventure tales.
A sinister airline threatens a scientist working on the cutting-edge of travel
technology in ‘A 21st Century DB Cooper’. A lone warrior finds a kindred spirit in an
unexpected place as he runs for his life in ‘The Warrior’s Task’. A Lovecraftian
horror bleeds into our world in a museum full of stolen First Nations artefacts in ‘The
Silent Screamer’. And a mysterious disease besets a group of tree planters out in the
wilderness in the titular ‘It Came From the Trees’.
These stories are highly imaginative, drawing tropes and inspiration from a variety
of tropes and genres, including horror, pulp westerns, Lovecraftian monsters, action
thrillers, and even high fantasy. The main thread that most have in common is a connection to, or setting in, British Columbia, the author’s home, but they are
otherwise quite unique in plot, character and genre.
Despite being such a short collection—there are five stories, the longest being 32
pages—they are so rich and far-ranging in themes that it feels like a much longer
work. McKay’s choice to write a subsequent two-pager explanation of each story
shares with the reader why he chose to explore a specific theme, orient in a particular
setting, include a certain monster, and so forth. Far from dulling the magic of the
stories, these rationalisations add a richness to the texts, making the reader think
critically about what they’ve just read.
Good for writers and readers of speculative fiction. This collection is short but
packs a punch—well worth a read.
This review first appeared in Aurealis magazine, issue #175.
