Review: Horn by Peter M. Ball

I was fortunate enough to have attended the book launch for Peter M. Ball’s novella, ‘Horn’ (Twelfth Planet Press, 2009), during last month’s Conjecture convention (Adelaide), and I devoured the work on the plane trip home (because, well, airline meals aren’t up to my standards). I enjoy attending book launches, because you get to witness the key moment when a pen-to-paper-to-printer dream becomes a reality. Needless to say, Peter M. Ball had an abundance of enthusiasm for his dark (urban) fantasy/noir project, and the adulation was warranted.

Unicorn snuff porn. There, I’m throwing the central plot element into the open. During the book launch there was a general tension in the air that this was just too disturbing (yet intriguing at the same time). I say it’s a wicked twist on the norm, but nothing too above the standard horror-crime fair of late. In the novella, a dead teenage girl is found in a dumpster. Freelance ex-detective Miriam Aster is called in on a consulting job because, well, the girl’s body is riddled with unicorn ‘remains’ and Aster has had experience with fey creatures (no, not on a snuff porn level). What follows is a rather quick hunt to find who has let a unicorn on the loose before more damage is done (the ‘remains’ quickly mutate into blood-thirsty fairies). Along the way, Aster must consult with a former lover – Anya, a fey who holds a special bond with Aster – who will give her extra power to accomplish her task.

To put it simply, I didn’t want this novella to end. Ball presents a dark world where fey and human interact on a rather unwholesome level. Gone are the general romantic stereotypes of fey and unicorn – who needs that anymore? – and in place are realistic, gritty characters you want to get behind (or injure), in a world that still retains the everyday feel of an Australian city. Ball’s writing is sharp, the pace wonderful, the plot racing along to the inevitable resolution.

The problem, however, is that it did end. Ball’s idea and the associated writing is so good that this should have been a prime candidate for a novel, not a novella. If I were the publisher, I would have asked Ball to extend the prose, to meat it out, because he was on to a really good thing. Yes, novellas have their place, but because this one has a noir side to it, the detective work is much too quick. Aster follows one (count them, one) lead, and that lead is correct. Where is the fun in that? There is also little accountability with City Homicide, and so on, that a freelance PI still has to do before running off on their own (but hey, it’s a good throwback to its noir roots). I just felt a little cheated, but that is not the author’s fault – it is good they made me feel cheated, it is wonderful they made me want to read on after the novella ended.

That said, you can get this novella for a steal at the moment, so don’t hesitate to grab yourself a copy. I will be watching Peter M Ball in the future – he is a great developing talent who can do a lot more.