The world is a far stranger place than we give it credit for. There, in the things we think familiar, safe, are certain aspects. Our fears and desires given form. Moments that defy explanation. Shadows in our home.

In Malcolm Devlin’s debut collection, change is the only constant. Across nine stories he tackles the unease of transformation, growth and change in a world where horror seeps from the mundane. Childhood anxieties manifest as debased and degraded doppelgängers, fungal blooms are harvested from the backs of dancers and lycanthropes become the new social pariahs. The demons we carry inside us are very real indeed, but You Will Grow Into Them.

Taking weird fiction and horror and bending them into strange and wondrous new shapes, You Will Grow Into Them follows in the grand tradition of Aickman, Ligotti and Vandermeer, reminding us that the mundane world is a much stranger place than it seems.

If there was a guiding theme that bound all of these stories together, I couldn’t tell you what it was. The synopsis says that each story is about transformation and change, which I suppose is accurate but it doesn’t really give you an accurate idea of what to expect. The only thing that I can really say about each story is that they’re specifically arranged to be open to interpretation at the end – they’re all very surreal and have no clear ending, it’s up to you to decide what it all means.

Sadly, this is not my cup of tea when it comes to stories. I may be lazy (I’m totally lazy) and not literary enough to appreciate this style of writing but I like things spelt out for me and the conclusions of the stories to be well and truly concluded.

I can’t really tell you about these stories either as they all have cliff-hanger endings and I don’t want to give them away… just know that no two is alike so you’re bound to find something that speaks to you.

That aside, the stories were really original and spectacularly well written, I really savoured every word the author put on the page but again, the style of endings ruined it for me a bit.

If you like creepy, surreal stories and don’t mind pondering over them to get to the deeper meaning – this You Will Grow Into Them is a fantastic collection and well worth a read!

Still European. Writes stuff. Also draws stuff under a different name but that’s a secret, so don’t tell anyone.

www.malcolmdevlin.com
@barquing