Black Masquerade by Stuart Tudor

Blurb:

There is an end to everything, even to peace and prosperity.

It’s 1929 and Barbara’s engagement party to Dennis is about to begin, filled with the promise of booze, good food and friends with her one true love. But another guest has arrived: a spectre of future horrors, of suffering and pain too terrible to imagine.

As her friends get branded by terrible fates one by one, Barbara takes it upon herself to try to stop the guest. On the most important night of her life, she is going to find out if the future is truly set in stone or if it can be changed.

Black Masquerade is the third entry in the Eight Nightmares Collection, a horror collection of stories about the dreamlike, the surreal, and encounters with the fantastical. Black Masquerade is rated R for references to The Great Depression, Holocaust, Gulag, London Bliz, the 1881 pogrom and the Dresden Firestorm. There is also suicide, alcoholism, racism and homophobia. Reader discretion is advised.

Review:

So… this review here is a bit overdue, since I got this novelette sometime last March. I blame school, procrastination, and a review slump that I got myself into for not getting to this sooner. But, all things considered, after writing out a few paragraphs for the SPFBO XI competition, I feel back in the mood to write out reviews again. Not sure exactly how many I will be tossing out before I hit another review slump, but until then, I shall be typing out as many reviews as possible.

Anyhow, back to the novelette, “Black Masquerade" by Stuart Tudor. It is a short read, should take one less than an afternoon to get through it, but at the same time it takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of fate tolling death's bell.

If I had to describe this book in a sentence or two to someone who wanted to read a short story set in London in 1929, I’d give them this sentence as a teaser as to what is to come:

“Barbara is on her way to a masquerade party, but little does she know how much her life will be changed by a mysterious shadow.”

Like usual, that one sentence is but a shadow of the actual story that is “Black Masquerade", so unless that one sentence has sold you on the story, let me try to garner your interest with what I have written down below.

First off, the main character of the story, Barbara Acton. She is scarred by the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the suffering it caused, and is engaged to an American, Dennis Bloomberg. Throughout this tale, she shows her kind side to Alexander Forrest, a gay man who cannot be with the man he loves, as well as a curious mind wanting to know why the fortune teller that the hosts hired wanted to flee as far as possible from the manor

Then there’s the plot. It starts off with Barbara and Dennis in a limousine heading to the outskirts of London. On the way there, Barbara sees a shadowy figure appear out of nowhere and strike a woman with a clawed hand, but before she can see more, the car is speeding away towards the manor. Once there, she sees more of the same shadow, infesting the walls of their host's home. The hosts say they have hired a fortune teller, and bring all the guests to a room where the Roma woman has been placed. She starts fortune telling and then, once proclaiming the grisly fates of everyone in the room sans Barbara and Dennis, she tries to flee. Shenanigans ensue, the shadowy figure continues to mark people, and the story ends with a bittersweet note.

Lastly, there’s the worldbuilding part of the tale. It’s very light, with most of it just being a retelling of history before, during and after the second world war, however with one character being added that only a select few can see if they feel compassionate enough about humanity. That being being Death, who stalks great tragedies and proclaims, “qui sera, sera”, what will be, will be. It’s an interesting little add-on that makes the whole story a bit more interesting and fun to read through.

The only thing that I can truly nitpick about this novel is that there is too little truly going on. It is like a brief flicker, a snapshot of Barbara Acton's and Dennis Bloomberg’s life, with very, very brief, one or two sentence mentions of her past. All things considered, it would’ve been interesting to hear more of both Barbara’s and Dennis past, yet considering the overall enjoyment I had reading it, I can’t say it bothered me too much. Before you agree or disagree with what I said, I implore you, the reader, to go check this book out for yourself, since I am just one guy typing out my thoughts on literature on the internet.

All in all, if you like stories set in the late 1920s in London, with mystery and mayhem, with little time needed to finish it, then “Black Masquerade" is a great thing for you to read.

Like usual, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading this overdue review on a short novel, and I hope I’ve nudged you towards a new read or a new addition to the evergrowing TBR pile. If not, don’t fret, we have plenty of reviews up on the site set within a plethora of genres that might interest you more, ranging from pleasant light fiction to off the deep end fantasy worlds. There are millions of great reads out there, and maybe a fellow SFF Insider might entice you to read something outside of what you considered the genres you enjoy. Here’s a link to a random review on the site that may or may not nudge you towards a new read.

As always, wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!