Dirt Upon My Skin: A Gripping Horror Collection

Dirt Upon My Skin by Steve Toase

A Review by Kit Power

Dirt Upon My Skin is the – blimey – 37th book in the Black Shuck Shadows series – single author micro collections where the stories are themed in some way. So far, we’ve had everything from creepy kids to the end of the world to first person narratives (and a hell of a lot more). With Steve Toase, the collection is themed around archaeology.

Now before we go any further, the disclaimer: I’ve met Steve Toase several times, I like him, and I consider him a friend. I’m also lucky enough to have had a book published in the Shadows series. I say that upfront, and also this; regardless of how well I know or like someone, I only review work that I a) finish and b) enjoy.

Dirt Upon My Skin opens with The Ericlidoun Accord, and follows an archologist working – with great care and trepidation – in the realm of the Fay. The Accord of the story title is an agreement, reached between the court of the Fay and humanity, that human archaeologists may be permitted to work in this strange land for the sole purpose of finding and repatriating the remains of humans who have been unlucky enough to stray into the realms and subsequently perish.

It’s a bold and imaginative setup, and Toase does a masterful job of welding the fantastical nature of the land with the scientific, methodical approach of the archaeologist. A consistent strength of Toase writing is the ability to bring the supernatural and uncanny in alongside the mundane, grounding what’s happening in a believable way, and The Ericlidoun Accord does this brilliantly. I was especially struck by the efficiency with which he does it in this story;  utilising the archologists’ assumption of our shared understanding, along with context clues and some sharp naming convention choices, to draw an incredibly vivid picture of a land both alien and disturbingly familiar. It’s a brilliant opening to the collection.

Next up we have To Rectify In Silver, in which stereoscopic images appear to be misbehaving, against a backdrop of grief and loss. Toase again demonstrates his flair for light touch technical details, with an instinctive grasp of how much (and sometimes how little) is needed to effectively communicate the concepts at play; I know a bit more about archaeology than I did when I picked the book up, but at no stage in any story did I feel the deadening presence of an infodump.

Instead, as here, Toase seamlessly integrates the relevant information into the telling of the tale itself, with an unfussy prose style that allows for the narrative and characters to be the stars of the show. I really liked how satisfyingly this one built from a creepy premise to a really satisfying resolution.

After flash fiction piece God In A Box we have Dirt Upon My Skin, the first of a couple of tales that take place in more recently abandoned areas; in this case, a disowned housing estate in Germany. You can see why this became the title track for the collection; Toase does an incredible job bringing the inherently creepy environment to vivid realisation, again providing the needed back story without fanfare or flab before mercilessly cranking up the creeps. I detected notes of Ramsey Campbell in the opening few pages, and in the way Toase allows the tension to build and play out – and really, for short horror, praise doesn’t come much higher than that. Superb.

Next is Traverse, and again we have a theme relating in part to misbehaving data, as an archaeological dig appears to be uncovering evidence surrounding a local legend. Told though a combination of official on-site reports and the personal diary of the site lead, Toese utilises the found document approach to chilling effect, as the gap between the official story and the lived experience grows wider and more sinister.

Tuppence A Bag offers a significant tonal shift, as Steve Toase goes full-bore pulp horror with this delightfully gruesome Night of the Living Dead meets The Birds – and yes, it’s as brilliant and as fun as that premise sounds. Then Breach! Puts us back firmly in the realms of Fantasy, as the Archaeological League operate under a Royal Charter to undertake an excavation through time itself.

Toase appears to delight in presenting this vision of archaeology, seamlessly welding now-established terms, tools, and roles with charms and magics whose names intuitively explain the work being undertaken. It’s something of a tour-de-force (albeit still told in his wonderfully uncluttered and slightly understated prose) and builds to an incredibly powerful emotional payoff. My favourite tale in a very strong collection.

Horn and Hoof is an excellent slice of modern folk horror, which also talks about the economic realities of so much of modern archaeology and the commercial pressures of the pressures butting up against the responsibility to preserve the past. Terminus Post Quem is another story told entirely through found documents. Here, Toase ruthlessly exploits the cold formality of excavations and medical expert reports to create an impressive atmosphere of rising dread and tension – no mean feat, considering the events being uncovered took place well over a century ago.

Finally, we have Zaun Konig, which felt almost like a greatest hits or encore for the entire collection, weaving together themes of economic pressures, inexplicable remains, and an emerging folk horror that seems to be suggesting (if not threatening) that the reality we think of as solid and immutable might have all the structural integrity of a soap bubble. It’s a bravura performance and an excellent way to conclude the collection.

Dirt Upon My Skin is a superb collection that manages to find a surprising variety of narratives within the overarching arachnological theme. Toase impresses throughout with storytelling that is simple (but never simplistic), creating short stories of incredible depth that punch very, very hard indeed. Highly recommended.

KP

22/3/25

Dirt Upon My Skin by Steve Toase

A series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction.

From Black Shuck Books and Steve Toase comes Dirt Upon My Skin, the thirty-seventh in the Black Shuck SHADOWS series.

Further Reading

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