The Creator by Aliya Whiteley (book review).
NewCon Press has a new line of novellas in a little book A5 format. Note the dimensions above which translate to 7 x 5 x ¼ inches, meaning about 200 words to a full page. But with chapter headings and other paraphernalia, all the one hundred and odd pages aren’t full. The books must be over 17,500 words to fit the SFWA criteria for a novella, so I’m sure they do.
This isn’t a buyer beware warning as NewCon is a fine publishing house, just a warning so buyers aren’t surprised when the book arrives. We seldom scan book dimensions online and I have been disappointed in the past with an illustrated history of tractors.
The back cover tags this novella as ‘Scientific Invention, Rural Horror and Murder Mystery’. Presumably, these are the keywords readers scan for online that will make ‘The Creator’ pop up in response. Tags and keywords are crucial for getting noticed in the big online bookstores. All three are perfectly apt here.
The story opens with first-person narration by Phillip Corbus, scion of a wealthy family and brother to Reynold Corbus, the famous inventor who lives on the ancestral estate, complete with a lake and some woodland, three gardeners and servants. This is Agatha Christie territory but also a familiar scenario in old Hammer Horror films, where the mansion always burns down at the end. Reynold visits Phillip at his club in Mayfair and tells him he’s getting married. Phil meets his wife, Patricia, and they get on rather well. When a son, Buckingham, arrives, Uncle Phillip spends a lot of quality time with him in the woods, exploring nature. This is important later. Reynold, a workaholic, is always toiling in his basement laboratory to come up with a brilliant new invention.
Patricia calls one night in 1958 to say that Reynold is dead. Phillip rushes out to help and finds himself in a bizarre situation. One of Reynold’s experiments has gone horrifically awry. Oddly, Bucky is home from school and shouldn’t be because it’s term time. The police are called and turn up at about midnight, a crusty detective and a fresh-faced young constable. The circumstances are difficult to explain.
There used to be two-hour classic detective dramas on television every Sunday night. The English upper classes are, by this means, familiar to many a reader and viewer from the lower orders. Author Aliya Whiteley captures the atmosphere of these old country houses perfectly and her realistic prose, reminiscent of Graham Greene or Somerset Maugham, suits it well. By the end, you realise she has applied this smooth literary veneer to a pulp fiction plot with a mad scientist in the basement. It’s also a clever homage to a classic horror film. I perceive, too, a metaphorical poke at AI and would be creators who want to make something without putting in the years of practice and training necessary for true art. All true artists will feel this way.
Unfortunately, AI is brilliant at faking it and getting better. Perhaps it could serve up a film version of ‘The Creator’ with Christopher Lee as Reynold, Peter Cushing as Phillip, Jacqueline Pearce as Patricia, Jack Hawkins as the crusty old detective and Ian Lavender as the fresh-faced constable. That would be great. Meanwhile, enjoy the book. I did.
Eamonn Murphy
May 2025
(pub: NewCon Press, 2025. 106 page A5 paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK), $10.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-914953-91-0)
check out website: www.newconpress.co.uk
