Details - China Mieville

 Details - China Mieville

Details first appeared in the 2002 anthology The Children of Cthulhu, edited by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan. The story was nominated for both IHG and Stoker awards, making the shortlist of five stories in each case. It was also selected for Ellen Datlow’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (Sixteenth Annual Edition) and Stephen Jones’s The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 14. When a horror story attracts this much attention from notable individuals in the field, it is probably worth reading; and Details does not disappoint.

A large part of Mieville’s success in this story is in the carefully realised depiction of urban life. The characters are as recognizable as the landscape for anyone who has spent any time in an English city. The way that weirdness permeates everyday life for the individuals in Mieville’s story is also one of the most successful aspects of Lovecraft’s work. The closeness of alien terror to the neglected parts of our world makes for a disturbing reading experience. Details is, at the same time, both familiar and horribly strange. Mieville also shows a mastery of the short form, in that he closes the loop of the story that he has to tell, while leaving the agency of the horror open. 

Sadly, despite the best elements of his work, H P Lovecraft’s legacy will always require criticism for racism and other prejudices. Mieville’s tale is the work of a much more enlightened author. There are racist and sexist characters in Mieville’s work, as there are in life. However, the author’s position is clear. Mieville is definitely not the only living, or the only British, author to make a significant contribution to Lovecraftian horror. However, Details is a very good place to start an exploration of the sub-genre; and it is a story that lurks in the corner of the mind for a while after reading. How secure are we in the way that we read the world that we inhabit?