Engines Beneath Us
Malcolm Devlin

‘Malcolm Devlin is one of those writers who inspires great trust from readers, and rightly so. He is a quietly brilliant craftsman who never puts a foot wrong. His writing here has an authority and economy that gradually induces paranoia in the reader. We become conscious of the engines beneath us, and afraid. Highly recommended.’
– Georgina Bruce

‘After reading Devlin’s well-written chiller, you may never look at cities in exactly the same way, but reading Engines Beneath Us is something you definitely should do.’
– Locus

‘A beautifully told and deeply troubling story that confirms Devlin’s place at the forefront of Weird fiction.’
— Jonathan Thornton, Ginger Nuts of Horror

‘Demonstrating how understated prose can itself thrum as if concealing hidden workings, this authentically eerie novella gets its tone just right.’
— Morning Star

Rob is a Crescent kid. Born and raised in the sheltered circle of grey semis, built to house the employees of The City Works and their families. Under the eye of the reclusive Mr Olhouser, the residents of The Crescent go about their work, their lessons and their law, accompanied by the never-ending sound of The Works machinery deep under the ground.

When Lee Wrexler moves into The Crescent, he brings with him something dangerous from the outside. Not just a reputation for trouble, but an outside perspective that will show Rob that the home he always thought he had a measure of is a stranger and far more unsettling place than he could have imagined…

Malcolm Devlin’s Engines Beneath Us is a powerful and unsettling novella of how the individual spirit is crushed by the pressure to conform, from a contemporary master of weird fiction.

About the Author

Malcolm Devlin is the author of And Then I Woke Up (2022), Engines Beneath Us (2019) and the collections You Will Grow Into Them (2017) and Unexpected Places to Fall From (2021). His short fiction has been published in Interzone, Black Static and Shadows and Tall Trees. He currently lives in Brisbane, Australia.

Paperback ISBN: 9781914391019

Ebook ISBN: 9781914391026

Publication date: May 2025

Formats: Paperback / eBook