Broodcomb Press

For the next few days, until 01 November, Jamie is offering a nice package.

Hallowe’en R. Ostermeier Bundle – You’re Only As Happy As Your Saddest Child, A Trick of the Shadow, Nocebo, Therapeutic Tales – One hardback and three paperbacks, £45
For Hallowe’en, all of the R. Ostermeier collections are up as a bundle, the offer ending on the 1st of November, 2025.​

An excellent deal for UK residents, very good for Europe, for USA and ROW, shipping is a bear.
Broodcomb's prices are still more than fair.
 
Helmut said:
A Trick of the Shadow, Wild Marjoram Tea and Nocebo. They have now just about reached the top of one of my TBR piles. After reading yours and this groups posts on the Broodcomb books, I thought it might be prudent to ask if I could get a recommendation as to what order I should be reading them in. I know that will probably mean I need to source out a few that might be higher in the starting order, and that is fine with me - I think the "right order" is a bit important sometimes. Jamie had mentioned that the only two that really have an order are The Settlements and The Revenants (both of which I do not have). However, that doesn't mean that readers, with knowledge aforethought, would have preferred to go in a certain order.
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Yes, what Jamie said is true, though there is now another pair, the first being Wild Marjoram Tea and its follow up Old Children.

Otherwise, you could read the ones you have in any order. The Ostermeier stories seem to me to be more recognizable as horror, though they are still weird in a good way. And they are all stories or novellas, and all the stories are standalones. I personally like the other books better, including both Silvia Littlegood Briggs, Edita Bicker and Jude Golby. Those are all novels, and they don't really read like anything else I know of. I guess I happen to resonate with the style. And yet all these books are obviously conceived by the same mind.

Nocebo happens to contain the novella Upmorchard, which was published in its own volume as the first Ostermeier. That was the last one I read, but I still have a few to go. Enjoy!
 
Thank you for the insight Zaharoff and Ironrose!

Unfortunately, the reading base for Jamie's work is relatively thin, so unlike Ligotti - when I am "not getting it" (e.g. Object from A Trick of the Shadow) there is not much out there to help me along. At least with Ligotti, when I am struggling for a little more meaning than I am getting (which is quite often with his stories, although that does not keep me from enjoying his prose immensely !), it's not hard to find what others have gleaned from his stories to give me a bump down the road!

Thanks again,
Tom
 
- New book from Broodcomb Press -

The third O. Jamie Walsh book, “The Martyrs”, is up on the website, for pre-orders!

The hardback edition will be limited to 200 copies with a paperback unlimited version following later in the year—

This third volume will come with a strictly-limited copy of ''Gloom Circus'', Hardback 126 pp !!!

Only the printing costs will be charged for this volume, which is 126 pp. in extent and titled “Gloom Circus”. Readers will recognise that “Gloom Circus” has shadowed the world of the settlements since the beginning:

R. Ostermeier, etc. [Books] – Broodcomb Press

broodcomb.co.uk broodcomb.co.uk
 
Charon said:
- New book from Broodcomb Press -

The third O. Jamie Walsh book, “The Martyrs”, is up on the website, for pre-orders!

The hardback edition will be limited to 200 copies with a paperback unlimited version following later in the year—

This third volume will come with a strictly-limited copy of ''Gloom Circus'', Hardback 126 pp !!!

Only the printing costs will be charged for this volume, which is 126 pp. in extent and titled “Gloom Circus”. Readers will recognise that “Gloom Circus” has shadowed the world of the settlements since the beginning:

R. Ostermeier, etc. [Books] – Broodcomb Press

broodcomb.co.uk broodcomb.co.uk
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Thank you so much for the heads up. Ordered! I love everything Broodcomb publishes. Such gifted weird writing.
 
Sylvia Littlegood-Briggs

Littlegood-Briggs, Sylvia - Wild Marjoram Tea

Tom was mid-teens when his mother died, crushed by livestock.
Polly, around his own age, instinctively shields him, and then bonds.
Kids that age, fearless of danger, innocent of consequences.
A rumored cabin sits near Murdered Woods. Late at night, they begin to snoop.
Only people live there. Peter and Elfie, and a monstrously huge dog.
The adults are akin to folk hippies, experience without cynicism, and not careful with disciples.
A Broodcomb book, this skirts around the Peninsula, the characters feel like outsiders.
Later on, the narrative ventures deep into the realm of Faerie, not what I term Fantasy Island.
There are herbs, tinctures, mixtures involved, leaving interpretation open to hallucination.
Those who embrace a more magical world may take a different view.
Suggest reading other Broodcomb titles ahead of this one.
Paperback with French flaps – oh, if only other presses offered French flaps.
 
Zaharoff said:
Sylvia Littlegood-Briggs

Littlegood-Briggs, Sylvia - Wild Marjoram Tea

Tom was mid-teens when his mother died, crushed by livestock.
Polly, around his own age, instinctively shields him, and then bonds.
Kids that age, fearless of danger, innocent of consequences.
A rumored cabin sits near Murdered Woods. Late at night, they begin to snoop.
Only people live there. Peter and Elfie, and a monstrously huge dog.
The adults are akin to folk hippies, experience without cynicism, and not careful with disciples.
A Broodcomb book, this skirts around the Peninsula, the characters feel like outsiders.
Later on, the narrative ventures deep into the realm of Faerie, not what I term Fantasy Island.
There are herbs, tinctures, mixtures involved, leaving interpretation open to hallucination.
Those who embrace a more magical world may take a different view.
Suggest reading other Broodcomb titles ahead of this one.
Paperback with French flaps – oh, if only other presses offered French flaps.
Click to expand...
This might be my favorite from Broodcomb. I like the other one from "Littlegood-Briggs" too, but I was still new to Broodcomb when I read this, so I guess it's like the first time dropping acid? (You only need to drop acid once...) But still, I've read this one twice, and I sometimes think I ought to buy a spare copy just for a loaner, because I do happen to think it's a book I'd recommend to first timers to The Peninsula (I have a couple people in mind). It's weirdly surreal, and I'd never read anything like it. And Faerie, for sure. Read it!
 
O. Jamie Walsh

Walsh, O. Jamie - The Martyrs

Following a crime, narrator Jamie is sentenced to the Settlement Of Fear.
His role is that of omissioner (sic). Fit in with the settlement, then ascertain what is going wrong.
Clowns dominate that part of the Peninsula, but now, instead of frightening, they are damaging.
Physical inflictions, bloodletting, eventually homicide.
Early on, our omissioner is drawn into the Settlement Of Fear, allowing us to observe the area peculiarities and odd characters, who may not actually be that way.
Speculating: are all martyrs, in essence, narcissists?
The overall narrative thrust is quite loose, however. The author dawdles off into tangents or sidetracks into digressions repeatedly.
Poems are scattered about, which often have no bearing. Confession: I don’t care for poetry, although there is a delightful poem about the potato, which the author must have found amusing as it is told twice.
I enjoy Broodcomb titles, although this wanders all over the map, akin to A Journal. The author is playing with form, experimenting, following self-imposed rules at the expense of storytelling.
The enigma. Not others, self. Not self, others.
For those who appreciate exercises, this makes a fascinating read.
Me? I didn’t care for this so much.
 
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