Horror World :: View topic - A Discussion On Tom's Headstone City

Horror World http://horrorworld.org/msgboards/

A Discussion On Tom's Headstone City http://horrorworld.org/msgboards/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=8993	Page 1 of 1

Author:	ttzuma [ Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:23 pm ]
Post subject:	A Discussion On Tom's Headstone City
The following is an old posting from the Leisure Boards (2006) on a discussion of Tom's 'Headstone City". (Groan, one of my first reviews, and it shows - Tt) ****************************************** TTZuma: HEADSTONE CITY By Tom Piccirilli The first part of this book was excerpted in the back portion of November Mourns, and I remember as I was reading it that it was one heck of a start to his next novel. It was different than November Mourns in that the narrative had much more action rather than relying on some atmosphere to carry the story along. November Mourns did have equal parts atmosphere and plotting and the combination of the two made it one of my favorite books of last year. Headstone City starts out with a man named Dane who is in prison and going to be released that day. The problem is, there is someone on the outside who wants him killed. Dane knows that on this day there will be an attempt on his life. Knowing what’s in store for him, he goes into a shower to clean up before leaving and sure enough there are two men who have been blackmailed into sticking some shiv’s into him. Dane makes it out of prison, dispatching the would be killers, and heads home to the job he had before, taxi driver. But Dane has some problems. He sees dead people and they talk to him, quite often. Before prison it seems that Dane unknowingly drove a young female friend to a drug house in his cab where the young girl overdosed. Dane sees her in trouble as she's coming out of the drug house so he scoops her up in the cab and rushes her to the hospital, where she eventually dies. Dane's got two issues now though, the young girl was the daughter of a mob boss who wants revenge (he's the one who sent the two to kill Dane in the prison shower) and while driving his young friend to the hospital Dane runs over a cop and drives to the hospital with the cop still hanging on to his hood. That’s why he went to jail in the first place. The dead young girl often comes up from hell to talk to Dane, and even tries to have sex with him. She wants revenge also on the drug dealer who gave her bad heroin. Dane’s father also comes to talk to him, he having been a corrupt cop who got killed several years ago. Dane’s mother also visits him along with some young boy,both died of cancer. And along the way, several other dead people come a calling. Dane also has the gift of making people’s souls come out of their body while they are sleeping so he can talk to their souls and get information on what’s happening all around them. This is not a bad book, I did enjoy it, but to say its muddled would be an understatement. Too much goes on with too many people for the reader to really become more than a casual observer. The book is full of mob stories with inept mob wiseguys. Piccirilli takes delight in having Dane constantly note how horrible these mob guys are. Even though they botch every attempt to kill him, Dane keeps longing for the good old days when mobsters where much more professional and always got the job done. In addition to mob guys, there is are whole threads on: making movies, movie stars, an FBI sting (talk about a convoluted plot line), Italian bakeries, and his Grandmother who turns out to be tougher than all those mob guys and is fond of saying things like “you gotta finish what you start”. And the ending itself was not anything that anyone would expect, but it did seem to be an afterthought on how to wrap things up. After all I read, I scratched my head at this ending. What saves this book and makes it enjoyable is Piccirilli’s writing style. He is one hell of a writer and can just mesmerize you with his words. Please see the passages below: <<<<His father, a hard man of imperfect justice. His mother, a mere suggestion that dwelled in the house, unseen but still obvious, often coughing. His Grandmother, a Sicilian witch lady of sorts, a soothsayer who didn’t soothe. It was her way. At nine she’d seen the Virgin Mary in an olive grove outside Messina, in the shadow of Mt. Etna. She told her local priest, who had burned her with sulfur for speaking with the devils tongue. You heard about stuff like that and you understood why she loved chapels but hated churches. Since then, she’d had dreams that gave her a glimpse through the thinnest part of the veil. They informed her of what was happening, who might be visiting Dane from the other side. She called it his burden, but didn’t treat it as such. It had been passed to him like a rock. >>>> And: <<<<Dane looked down to see a girl, maybe twelve years old, touching his wrist. Tufts of coarse gray hair stuck out in odd cusps and notches across her pink scabbed head. Bandages swathed her throat and forehead, and there was hardly anything left of her face. He couldn’t tell if she’d been in a fire or if this was some kind of cancer, chewing her away an inch at a time while the doctors tore more away with their scalpels and radiation. She looked at him with one perfect eye, beautiful in its depth and full of understanding, perhaps even forgiving. The dark angles of her ruined features drew together to form an inexplicable shadow. She used what remained of her lips to ask, “Are you real?’ It gave Dane some pause. “I’m not so sure anymore. I have my bad days. How about you?” Something like a tongue prodded forward. She grunted a sound that could’ve been either yes or no and tried to give him a grin.>>>>>>> I would recommend reading this book just for the beauty of the writing. You can follow the plot well and keep clear on all the characters so I do not mean to be misleading in that respect, I just think that Piccirilli just put too much in there of both. Thanks for reading. *** HERO KILLER ID: I struggled through The Night Class a couple years back and didn't really care for it. I was having some of the same problems with this one as well. I made it about 100 pages in and decided I would shelve it for a time when I was a little less picky about what to read. I enjoy his writing style but I'm not too keen on overbearing interperative literature. ******* TOM PICCIRILLI: Thanks for the comments, guys, much appreciated. Maybe I packed too much in, maybe it's just my style. Thanks again! *** HERO KILLER ID: I hope I didn't come off as too critical I really do enjoy the plot and characters in the novels, but I found myself confused in alot of the descriptions and the happenings. I will still be reading Choir of Ill Children later this year for the Rue-Morgue book club and I have heard nothing but rave reviews for it. Though its been kind of hard to find. ***** TOM PICCIRILLI: Thanks for the comments, HKI. CHOIR will be getting a reissue from Bantam in September, with a new cover, so hopefully it'll wind up somewhere nearby you. Hope you enjoy it a bit more than my other books, and that you don't find it too overbearing. Thanks again. ********* HERO KILLER ID: Any idea what the cover is going to be Tom? It's a shame I really loved that Cagnalia painting on the original though I love most of his art anyway. As for Choir I'm looking forward to it, glad to know it's seeing another printing because I havn't had any luck finding it. I'm sure it will live up to the hype your characterizations are great but I guess I'm just a little more simple minded and my knowledge of the english language isn't as extensive as it should be. I get frustrated when I don't know what's going on and find myself rereading pages. I think I need a word a day calander I also have a copy of Dark Father sitting on my To be Read Pile. I love going back and reading author's earlier works. ******************* TOM PICCIRILLI: Well, you can always order a copy from Amazon.com or B&N.com, who are still carrying the first Bantam pb edition. The new cover...with a blurb from Dean Koontz taking up a hefty portion...can be seen on my website on the NEWS page. It'll be available September 26th to coincide with the release of my next novel THE DEAD LETTERS. CHOIR is even weirder than my other recent books, so maybe there will be too much funk for your tastes. Luckily, a lot of folks dig it. ************** TTZUMA: Tom Piccirilli wrote: <<<<<Thanks for the comments, guys, much appreciated. Maybe I packed too much in, maybe it's just my style. Thanks again!>>>> It’s not your style Tom. In fact, I think Headstone City was the one book by you that I read that was the most different from the style that I would associate you with. Maybe it was the setting of the city instead of the Gothic South, or the breath of your plot, but the story, for me, just didn't turn out to be as an enjoyable read as November Mourns and Choir. I still did enjoy Headstone City for the reasons I detailed prior to this post. I do want to mention that the beginning of Headstone City was captivating. What a great story/chapter to open your novel with. Man, I've never read anybody that writes like you do. I hope you continue to write horror novels for a long time. **************** WILLIAM GAGLIANI: I have to confess, the way Tom's novel is described here makes me want to read it all the more. I have just ordered it. (Didn't get an arc, Tom, so I missed its street date - sorry!) I think there are few writers who can blend the real and the surreal as easily as Tom Piccirilli and with so lyrical a prose, and I'm envious of the ability. With all due respect to readers who found it "muddled," I think it may just be a case of the book not being for everyone. I've never found any of Tom's books muddled, but some were surely not easy reads. On the other hand, it's work like this that elevates the horror field to the level of literature, and I think we need more of it. Just my 2.5 cents, first as reader and then as critic with over 20 years' experience writing about books and literature. *** TTZUMA: Bill Wrote: >>>>With all due respect to readers who found it "muddled," I think it may just be a case of the book not being for everyone. <<<< Great point about how writing like Tom's elevates horror fiction to literature. But I take issue with the quote above. How can you make this statement without having read the book? I really enjoyed both Choir and November Mourns and would not consider them muddled at all, and those sometimes were tough reads. Headstone City is much more accessible than these novels but I still found it muddled. I would be interested to know how you feel after you've read it Bill. Great chatting with you again. *********** WILLIAM GAGLIANI: of course... ... I can't speak of this book specifically, and my haste in posting may have left the impression that I meant the action within it. Apologies for lack of clarity, ttzuma. You're right, I can't say that yet. But I was speaking of Tom's style, even at its loftiest, never seeming muddled to me. I can't imagine how it could ever seem that way to me. However, I'll be happy to report my conclusions after I've read it. I'm still not sure how HC can be both "accessible" and "muddled," as the two would seem to be contrary. Maybe that's why I was confused. As always, great discussion! W.D. ************* TTZUMA: Hey again Bill. By accessible I meant that the basic story is more traditional for a horror novel. Also the characters are more "real and fleshed out" than the atmospheric freaks and shadowy figures that were much more prevalent in November Mourns and Choir. I enjoy both types of characterizations, but I guess I like the weird ones a bit more. When I say muddled, I'm talking more about the plot than anything else. For instance, I know there is most likely a simple explanation for it, but I still can't figure out the FBI sting/plot of this novel. Hopefully you can explain it to me. Hows your new novel coming? ************** GOTHIC COWGIRL:I'm trying to find a copy of Grave Men ; I'd like to read that before I tackle Headstone City. At this point, it looks like I'll be Ebaying it. November Mourns is edging up near the top of my TBR pile. Finally.

Page 1 of 1	All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/