Digging in the Dirt: Exploring Matt Shaw’s Sick. Sicker. Sickest. The Bastard Collection!
The UK’s huge exclamation mark in the world of extreme horror, Matt Shaw, has come a very long way since I interviewed him back in 2016 (see Sick Genius: An Interview with Author Matt Shaw here). Having written an avalanche more of books, some (especially one) rated as the sickest and most vile novels ever written on earth (more on that one soon) plus his adventures in movies increases an ever-growing CV on IMDb (I had a cameo role in Monster).
Basically, for anyone who is thinking of going down this long winding path, Matt merges the seriousness and character-building style of Jack Ketchum with the (sometimes) humour and shock value of Edward Lee to make page turning reads.
Before I begin this review of Sick. Sicker. Sickest. The Bastard Collection, lemme just explain the ups and downs of Matt. He has a huge back catalogue of novels and shorts. Some are written with other UK authors (Michael Bray is a regular partner in vile). Others vary in length. Some are so tiny you feel robbed until you begin the emersion into his world. However, there is the quickly written shockers which merit a read once you’ve finished a few of his classics (avoid Dribble, Granny Fuckers from Out of Space, etcetera, because they are for completists only when you’re ready… My Pug is an Arsehole, however, is hilarious).
Sick Bastards is his most famous work, being the game changer in his career when first released. His fans decided his path. All the disgusting stories lead to Matt’s more infamous, Hub. Only available on his website, simply deemed the nastiest book in creation by some… and I’ll be reviewing it soon… trust me, you won’t be ready for Hub!
Back to Sick Bastards. The popularity of this one gained it a part adaptation in comic form, plus two sequels, Sicker Bastards, and Sickest Bastards. The other two aren’t anywhere as near the strength of the original, however they continue the story brilliantly, sewing up all the loose threads (aside from a rather weird timescale of events which is mentioned twice in part two, but I could have sworn the stuff happened over a longer time in part one. Meh).
Sick. Sicker. Sickest. The Bastard Collection begins with Sick Bastards where a family wakes up in a house within deep woods. They have no memories of who they are, anything of their past, nothing at all. All that clues them to their family ties is a photograph, thus they must be Father, Mother, Brother, and Sister. They are the names they are known by. Father does recall a huge nuclear blast, though. Civilisation must be gone, they have survived alone, somehow.
Using constant and clever intervals to weave past events into the present. The present is way beyond their awakening, in the now they are all cannibals and are indulging in incestuous graphic sexually acts. The past chapters show how they begin confused and scared, discovering infected flesh-eating creatures outside, to the first of many other survivors knocking on the door.
Only Son (aka Brother) is trying to remain at least somewhat human, though his savage acts become more and more. It’s him who wanders off to seek a way out, and finds out the horrifying truth…
Sicker Bastards takes it further, as the twisted world they are all inside starts to unravel. Fighting in infected gives way to fighting each other, then there’s the finale, Sickest Bastards, which is a little over thirty pages yet is more powerful in some ways than the first!
Matt doesn’t shy away from the gristly raw shit he writes. The long chapters of cannibalism, and especially filthy sex between Brother, Sister, then Brother and Mother, spares nobody. This trilogy is a prequel of sorts to another of his series, Rotting Dead Fucks (followed by Rotting Living Fucks and Ted) again highly recommended for lovers of quickie zombie fiction.
Matt watches a lot of horror films. He writes a lot. He wants to push the envelope, challenging even his most hardcore audience over and over. Sick. Sicker. Sickest. The Bastard Collection is probably the perfect way to begin. The degeneration into simple dirt cannot be rivalled anywhere else.
Matt is addictive, you find yourself returning more and more. He has earned the right to be called one of the planet’s nastiest authors. The Bastard Collection can be purchased via eBay, Amazon, or Matt’s website: mattshawpublications.co.uk/products.
Coming soon… Hub… be warned, you may not like it…
Book: Sick. Sicker. Sickest. The Bastard Collection
Edited by: Matt Shaw
Written by: Matt Shaw
Year: 2017
Published by: Amazon