The Night Cyclist

Who knew that cycling and things that go bump in the night were a combo that I needed in my life? Well, slap Stephen Graham Jone's name on it, and I know that it'll be a spooky and engaging ride.

I love the way that Jone's couches his stories in the mundane details of daily life, introducing the horror in matter-of-fact, careful measures. I'm noticing that his approach to violence and gore has a distance to it that somehow makes it even more unnerving, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I think part of it is that it makes the supernatural seem natural, and thus even more terrifying.

The main character is neither likable nor unlikable; he's just a regular joe going about his business and contemplating his life, who finds himself inadvertently in the path of a dark and unsettling figure, and the denouement managed to take familiar concepts but play them out in a way that I wasn't quite expecting.

It's got everything I want from a horror short; atmosphere to burn, interesting ideas, and a plot that doesn't bite off more than it can chew.

But I mean, when isn't SGJ a winner?

Merged review:

Who knew that cycling and things that go bump in the night were a combo that I needed in my life? Well, slap Stephen Graham Jone's name on it, and I know that it'll be a spooky and engaging ride.

I love the way that Jone's couches his stories in the mundane details of daily life, introducing the horror in matter-of-fact, careful measures. I'm noticing that his approach to violence and gore has a distance to it that somehow makes it even more unnerving, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I think part of it is that it makes the supernatural seem natural, and thus even more terrifying.

The main character is neither likable nor unlikable; he's just a regular joe going about his business and contemplating his life, who finds himself inadvertently in the path of a dark and unsettling figure, and the denouement managed to take familiar concepts but play them out in a way that I wasn't quite expecting.

It's got everything I want from a horror short; atmosphere to burn, interesting ideas, and a plot that doesn't bite off more than it can chew.

But I mean, when isn't SGJ a winner?

I came across this at 12:30 this morning, the only tagline was, “There must be no compulsion to hide the bodies. Otherwise I'd have never found them,” and I paid the $1.99 for it immediately. Didn't even know what else it was about. 
Ultimately, this is a spooky, horror-y short story that's about being afraid to get older, and the act of change. It's something mostly everyone can relate to. The cyclist plot line, however, was not something I have experience with, so I'm sure there were metaphors and analogies that simply went over my head. 
Enjoyable and quick though, personally a 3.5/5*. 

An enthralling short story. Keen to read some longer works of Stephen Graham Jones.

Very economical use of language to evoke a focused and coherent theme, plot, and character that all line up to deliver a whallop. I don't like biking and I didn't much like the main character, but Jones had me right there with him, regardless of all that! I'm definitely going to read more of his work in the coming year.

Please give me a helpful vote on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VFO2ALEB6MEC/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

This is a Tor.com original short-story. Unlike most Tor.com Originals, this is a complete story rather than a prequel or cryptic glimpse into a world that the author has fleshed out in a novel or series. This story works well as a short story, having a beginning, middle and end.

The narrator is a bicyclist getting old and feeling alienated from his life and the world, He rides his bike home at nights, though the dark, to his lonely apartment, avoiding the malicious booby-traps left by small-minded pedestrians. One night he spots two dead bodies floating in the river. Watching the news, he intuits a detail about the killer. The next night he is in the race of his life with the “night cyclist” clad in pure black.

I was conflicted by this book. It is technically proficient and the writing is good, but the character of the narrator left me unaffected. For example, the narrator sees the bodies but does nothing about them, presumably because he doesn't want to get involved. Then, there is his interactions with the demonic cyclist, and the easy way he deals with the problem that closes the book.

I just didn't get a sense of the character's motivation, except that he was not someone I could identify with, or care to identify with. On top of that, I didn't find the inside game of being a cyclist particularly interesting.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Merged review:

Please give me a helpful vote on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VFO2ALEB6MEC/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

This is a Tor.com original short-story. Unlike most Tor.com Originals, this is a complete story rather than a prequel or cryptic glimpse into a world that the author has fleshed out in a novel or series. This story works well as a short story, having a beginning, middle and end.

The narrator is a bicyclist getting old and feeling alienated from his life and the world, He rides his bike home at nights, though the dark, to his lonely apartment, avoiding the malicious booby-traps left by small-minded pedestrians. One night he spots two dead bodies floating in the river. Watching the news, he intuits a detail about the killer. The next night he is in the race of his life with the “night cyclist” clad in pure black.

I was conflicted by this book. It is technically proficient and the writing is good, but the character of the narrator left me unaffected. For example, the narrator sees the bodies but does nothing about them, presumably because he doesn't want to get involved. Then, there is his interactions with the demonic cyclist, and the easy way he deals with the problem that closes the book.

I just didn't get a sense of the character's motivation, except that he was not someone I could identify with, or care to identify with. On top of that, I didn't find the inside game of being a cyclist particularly interesting.

Of course, your mileage may vary.