A new review of Marion Pitman’s Music in the Bone has appeared in Phantasmagoria Magazine:
I FIRST READ Marion Pitman’s writing in The Alchemy Press Book Of Horrors, which contained her story ‘Apple Tree’. I remember enjoying it and when I was asked to review Music in the Bone, I returned and re-read it. Her writing is not just one style and she very much writes what she likes, which means you never get the same voice. For me, this is a real treat as I like different. Throughout Music in the Bone, her adaptability in storytelling is proficient and robust. I would compare this to Tales of the Unexpected – it really has that quality of no story being like any other but each one is enjoyable and stands on its own merits.
The title story of this anthology sets the bar high, in terms of the quality of writing. Lena is a folk musician who regularly attends open mic nights in a club. One night she meets Ed. After being captivated by his music on stage, she can see his talent has not only enchanted her but the rest of the audience too. Lena also feels a physical attraction and one thing leads to another but as much as she is enamoured by his talent, his lovemaking is often rough, like he’s testing her somehow. Still, she finds herself going back for more and can’t fathom why, when it hurts. Maybe it’s the music he plays whilst they have sex, or maybe, there’s something more.
Another story that I really feel is worth mentioning is ‘Out of Season’. Two sisters, Dorothy and Mabel, are inseparable. They spend their summers together holidaying in Coombe, Devon. As they’re such regular faces, they become friends with some of the locals and Mabel gets close to Jack. One night the group tells the girls they can’t meet up because they have something to do and Mabel and Dorothy aren’t locals, so can’t be there. But they see a procession carrying a horse skull, late at night.
Years later and Mabel is terminally ill and asks Dorothy to take her back to Coombe, so she does. This time the procession has become a tourist attraction and as Dorothy watches from the window, she can’t believe what she sees. I liked the pagan influence in this story. Pitman has used the West Country’s pagan history to craft her story without it being occult.
‘Looking Glass’ is a short story about death and lost love and at the end – there’s a brilliant twist delivered in one line. What Pitman does here in such few pages, takes skill.
Finally, I recommend you read ‘Dead Men’s Company’. My favourite story in the collection, not least because it’s about pirates. Lec and Lee have escaped slavery by killing Manero. They’ve buried his body, taken his money and fled. Lee decides they will use some of the money to buy clothes and stay in a swanky hotel. However, Lee has a bad feeling about it all, not least because he is convinced that Manero will rise from the dead and look for them. But they have bigger problems when the female crew of a ghost ship raid the hotel and they are taken to Captain Swan for her harem.
At the end of this collection, Pitman cites her influences as M.R. James, Arthur Conan Doyle, folk music and old movies. You really get a taste of these influences in her writing. Pitman’s homage to these influences is no bad thing, it enhances her writing. After all, shouldn’t a writer write what they know?
Music in the Bone and Other Stories is published by The Alchemy Press and is available to purchase from Amazon and other outlets. For more information please go to: alchemypress.wordpress.com
—Helen Scott in Phantasmagoria #22 (2023)
The Alchemy Press 