If you happen to be a fan of horror or dark fantasy and haven’t yet checked out the catalog from Tenebrous Press, take a moment and do so. I’ve yet to read all they’ve published so far, but I have gotten a good sampling and have yet to be disappointed. From the Belly by Emmett Nahil is their latest, a short novel filled with tense atmosphere and subtle thematic depth.
Isaiah Chase serves on the whaling ship Merciful, a grueling life at the mercy of a demanding, cruel captain and the unforgiving sea. Sailors are carefully attuned to omens and occurrences outside of the norm, but Chase and his shipmates are rendered shocked as they open up their latest catch. From within the whale’s digestive lining spews a man, unconscious and unresponsive, but alive. While many want him tossed back into the sea, Chase argues for the strange man’s life. Though suspicious and disturbed, the captain remands the stranger into Chase’s care and responsibility, though placing him in the brig.
The strange man awakens, but offers little in explanation of who he is or has come to be in this situation. Yet, Chase finds himself drawn to the man and sympathetic, even as inexplicable accidents begin to occur on the ship, a strange rot sets in through the holds, and the captain becomes increasingly unhinged. Though it all, prophetic dreams that Chase has had in the past return in full force, raising a specter of doom over the Merciful.
You can taste and smell the briny air in From the Belly. The maritime horror is full of evocative imagery and an unrelenting tension from the opening pages through disasters as things gradually fall apart and to the bloody conclusion. Set almost entirely on the planks of the whaling ship – only a brief excursion to a bit of land comes – the novel effectively applies claustrophobia to its characters, trapping them within this degenerating situation without any escape in sight.
The one criticism I would make of From the Belly would be that it does suffer a bit from the repetitiveness of slowly building dread within the limited setting and limited cast of characters. After a few cycles of: strange tragedies occurring, character confusion, speculation on the nature of the strange man, fear and hopelessness building – the pattern becomes familiar. Tighter pacing or earlier development of plot points could have lessened this.
However, in the scheme of things, far more works tremendously well in From the Belly, from the rich atmosphere to the characters. The relationship between Isaiah and the strange man (who eventually gives the name Essex) is fascinating. They are drawn to one another and at times it seems as if Essex is supernaturally manipulating (taking advantage of) Isaiah, but then at another moment it seems as if perhaps it’s really the reverse. The attraction between them is powerful, and together they seem to have potential for something far greater than either on their own. I don’t know as the reader ever gets clear cut answers about Isaiah, Essex, or the pair, but there is certainly much to mull over.
The secondary characters all exude that old sea salt vibe one would expect from sailors, yet this is all without ever seeming cliches. The setting of the novel seems outside of any particular time or place, not necessarily even on Earth, but with a mixture of anachronistic elements from the whaling days centuries ago (although it still does occur of course in some places) and modern social dynamics, such as female and male sailors working alongside one another and diversity in sexuality.
Underneath this all, Nahil crafts a story that is from marginalized perspectives within the makeup of the crew, with a plot that touches upon themes of ecology and economic critique. It could all be reduced to saying that From the Belly is a parable on the destruction that accompanies greed. That is certainly true, but there’s also a lot more here beneath the surface.
