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I Love You And There Is Nothing You Can Do About It...and...
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Author:  ghouarner [ Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:50 pm ]
Post subject:  I Love You And There Is Nothing You Can Do About It...and...

TWO FROM CROSSROAD PRESS - I LOVE YOU AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT....AND....VISIONS THROUGH A SHATTERED LENS!

With the publication of these two collections from Crossroad Press, just about all my old work is back and available in all ebook formats:
I LOVE YOU AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
Twelve tales of the human condition as seen from the dark side, through the lens of myth, nightmare, romance, the weird and the surreal. The collection’s title story sets the table, turning over love’s joy to explore where such an emotion might come from, and what it might cost. Other stories include:
-“The Question Man,” in which Derek is compelled to find the answers to the questions of a mysterious caller
-“Spider Goes to Market” finds the trickster god Spider caught in the horrors of the African slave trade
-“The Dead Mothers’ Club” seeks to answer the question of what happens to the children who cannot recover from the loss of their mothers
- “Twelve Nights” is the length of time it takes for a man to transform into something else, once the reality of what he knew to be his life is broken

Other stories included in this collection are "The Oddist", "The Lighted Window", "The Good Dead", "Five Pregnant Vampires", "The Abandoned Mother", "Our Lady of the Jars", and "Not an Exit".

From the first print edition of this collection, John Pelan writes in his introduction: Gerard Houarner is an artist, one that’s not afraid to venture into new territories and try different hues and shades in his prose painting. The artist has hung an entirely new show in his gallery, and it’s well worth coming in to view, the admission fee is inexpensive and the memories will linger a lifetime.

And, from Asimov’s SF Magazine, Paul Di Filippo writes in his On Books Review:

…the stories that flesh out this book (flesh bruised and broken) are hardly romantic trifles, cynical or otherwise. They are instead Grand Guignolish shockers reminiscent of John Shirley’s work. Houarner’s introductions show a concerned and ethical individual at work, and his sharp literary skills insure that he always adheres closely to his personal moral compass, without sacrificing horrific impact. “Out Lady of the Jars” is my favorite here, straying as it does into the Borgesian territory of imaginary beings.

available from your favorite ebook dealer, including Crossroad Press, and/or amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-There-No ... n+about+it

AND

VISIONS THROUGH A SHATTERED LENS

What visions may come, when peering into the darkness through the shattered lens of a broken world:
—the sins of the father being vested on the son in "The Chain-Lynched Man."
—the nature of angels, the price of their existence in “The Unborn.”
—the horrors of drug addiction, in "Bone House."
—Lovecratian cosmic dread, with a distinctly un-Lovecraftian heroine, in “Out of the Shadows.”
—the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet manifesting herself in New York City in "Finding the Lost Children."
—the Apocalypse, lurking on the periphery in 9/11 tales “Signs of Death" and "Things I Wish I Had Not Seen,” stepping out for a view from other perspectives in “Dead Ground” and “The Changeover.”
—the ending and breaking of gender and sexuality in "Clown Fish."
—the secret hard edges of "Those Who Cast Shadows."
—the path that should not have been taken in “On the Road.”

Visions Through A Shattered Lens presents the twenty stories, 9 original to the collection, plus two new additions to this Crossroad Press edition, all searching for meaning in the splintered realities of our existence in shadows and corners, among old gods and goddesses reborn in a modern world, in twisted faith, apocalypse, loss and transformation.

Other stories included in this collection are: "Visions Through a Shattered Lens", "Bui Doi", "Children in the Moonless Night", "Born from the Womb of Forever", "Like Tears, Cast in the Steps of Her Mother", "The Mutilation Missionary", and "Bones of the Maker".

What others have said:

In his fourth story collection, native New Yorker Houarner (Painfreak, etc.) offers 20 tough, uncompromising horror tales, nine of which are previously unpublished. No reader is likely to enjoy all the stories, with their mostly urban settings and in some cases overly familiar themes, but there’s something here for every taste in adult horror.”
Visions Through A Shattered Lens, Publishers Weekly, October 14, 2002

Houarner's greatest strength is, hands down, his versatility of idea and style. In this collection, we experience the grand, almost poetic tales for which the author is often lauded, the ones that sweep off the pages in a lush beauty……and trail blood in their wake. Naturally, the old horror standards of pain and loss are also in abundance, but this collection has a more playful resonance, a wider breadth of ideas and stylistic forms, than some of his earlier collections, and it's all the stronger for it. Gerard Houarner is rapidly shaping up to be one of the finest horror authors in print today through such divergent works as THE BEAST THAT WAS MAX, PAINFREAK and others.
Visions...., Richard Laymon Kills site, 12/02

Visions Through a Shattered Lens does indeed offer a skewed portrait of the realities, both seen and unseen, that encompass the mysteries of our existence. This is powerful, primal work by a far from ordinary writer. It taunts with concepts too large to fit on the screen of the mind’’s eye, illuminating just enough of what can’t be clearly conceived to terrify and intrigue, while maintaining the essential mystery of enigma. This is the most definitive collection yet by an author who’’s only begun his journey of morbid discovery.
Visions....., Hellnotes, Vol.7, Issue 3, January 16, 2003

Once again, available at your favorite ebook seller, Crossroad Press, and of course for all the kindle warriors at amazon.com -
http://www.amazon.com/Visions-Through-S ... tered+lens

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