THE DARK TUNNEL, a novel by Osric Allen, demy 8vo, 256pp., hardback.
Price G.B. £7.00 (or U.S. $11.76), post free.
ISBN 0-9523093-1-9
Payment by personal or trade cheque or cash (English pounds or U.S. dollars).

ORDER a copy by e-mail from:     osricallen@telinco.co.uk

Reviewed by Keith Brooke in `Beyond' as under:

"One of the great pleasures of reviewing is the discovery of occasional gems
that would never, ordinarily, come to one's attention. Osric Allen's `The Dark
Tunnel' is such a book. Unfortunately, as the first full-length work to be
published by second-hand booksellers and pamphleteers Robert Temple, `The Dark
Tunnel' will probably  never be seen outside a few specialist bookshops.
I have no wish to belittle the small press when I say that, I just think it's
a shame  more readers won't get the chance to stumble across books like this.            

The problem is one of category, as much as anything else: the large publishers
depend on their pigeonholes so a mass market edition of this book is unlikely.
Advertised, somewhat misleadingly, as a `Science Fictive Gothic Novel,' `The
Dark Tunnel' might be better described as non-generic fantasy: no Dark Lords
and unicorns here; indeed, when you look closely you suddenly realise that a
novel that feels like a fantasy has no fantasy elements whatsoever. But then
- it's hardly contemporary realism either. What it is is fantasy stripped
bare, a pared down novel: Allen has little interest in the world-building and
explication of commercial fantasy; instead, he concentrates on story,
atmosphere, intrigue.

`The Dark Tunnel' focusses on the relationships and manoeuvrings of the ruling
family of some unspecified city. A member of the royal staff has been arrested
for murdering his wife whose last act, it emerges, was to send a letter to say
she has information which might interest the king. And so Allen unravels a
story of intrigue and manipulation: the reader eavesdrops, absorbing what is a
strong plot in piecemeal, apparently uncoordinated fashion. In the way the
story is revealed, in the disjointed wierdness of the telling, `The Dark
Tunnel' is, perhaps, closer to Alain Robbe-Grillet than to any contemporary
fantasist.

Much of the novel revolves around the struggle to understand the place of
humankind in a world without God. The youngest prince, Leo, is trying to come
to terms with a philosophy that, taken to a logical conclusion, implies other
people have no value; his struggle to reconcile this argument with his gut
feeling that people do matter ultimately points towards a near-trancendental
enlightenment. His older brother, Julian, works through this exploration in a
less intellectual manner, with violent and truly shocking consequences.
There's more: first love, the machinations of those vying for control of the
kingdom, the playing out of conflicts started in infancy.

Certainly, the novel has its weaknesses - over-long blocks of philosophising,
eccentric punctuation, a few tricksy excesses - but I would strongly
recommend it to anyone with an interest in the off-beat. It's a shame
to devote so much of a review to discussions of publishing category, but I'm
sure it's the unclassifiable nature of this book that will keep it from a
wider audience."

MICHAEL MOORCOCK wrote of the novel: "Vivid prose...it has the effect received
from the best magic realists. It's definitely the kind of original
idiosyncratic novel I thoroughly enjoy."

EDWIN MORGAN wrote: "Very readable and enjoyable.... powerfully atmospheric...
The Grand Guignol parts are brilliantly carried out!"

COLIN WILSON wrote "Allen is obviously very talented indeed."

POLLY BIRD reviewing the book in `Write to Publish' said it "would have been
better without the scenes of sex and torture".

It was also short-listed for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award but caused
a row, no doubt for the reasons given by Polly Bird, and failed on a tie-break.

           ORDER A COPY by e-mail from:   osricallen@telinco.co.uk