Title: Timekeeper
Author: John Morressy
In: The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic (Mike Ashley)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Magic
Dates read: 28th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 1989
5th sentence, 74th page: Perhaps she loves him, Mr. Lockyer.

Mr. Bell has decided to open up his clock shop in a small town. His clocks might not be all that they appear though. As Monsoon and his cronies are about to discover.

Ideas of time change across the world. It’s an idea that completely fascinates me. So it kind of makes sense that a story about a timekeeper and conjurer finds it’s way into a collection of dark magic stories. Although this one isn’t as dark and twisted as the other tales, there’s still that sense of mystery and brutality that is present in the rest of the stories in this collection.

I love the idea of do unto others what you’d want done unto you. And this seems to be one that intertwines throughout this story. Mr. Bell is neither good nor bad… he doesn’t take sides but acts as an equaliser to others. For those who are good and need help, he is able to subtly provide that. But for people like Monsoon, he is a little more aggressive, and leaves people wondering where the bad man and his evil cronies have gone.

The timekeeper is a nice, soft version of tales of dark magic and dark fantasy. It has all of the integral aspects to it, but without the overwhelming sense of horror and discomfort that you sometimes get at the conclusion of the tale.

<- The Sage of Theare

The Double Shadow ->

Image source: Hachette Australia