Horror World Book Reviews
July, 2009
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The Shimmer by David Morrell, Vanguard Press, July 2009, 352 pps $25.95
The latest from thriller writer Morrell is a fast-paced, multi-layered story that will please fans of his previous novels and bring him a legion of new readers.
Texas cop Dan Page comes home one day to find his wife is gone. She leaves a note saying she is visiting her mother, but when she doesn’t arrive Page searches for her. He eventually tracks her to the small town of Rostov, where Tori Page has come to relive a childhood memory. When she was small, her family stopped in Rostov and Tori witnessed the miraculous sight of floating lights in the night sky. The lights are an unexplained phenomenon that has been reported since the 1800s. Some viewers claim to have been changed by the lights, while others can’t even see the glowing sight. Tori can see them, and her husband eventually sees them, too.
Page also learns that his wife has been keeping a secret from him, and that the marriage he has taken for granted is in danger of collapsing.
While joining a crowd of tourists that has traveled to view the lights, Page and Tori are witness to a tragedy, as a crazed gunman opens fire on the crowd, killing several people. The event draws the attention of both the media and a covert government agency. The town is quickly overrun by satellite trucks, gawkers and desperate pilgrims seeking cures.
The military has been studying the Rostov lights for decades, determined to find a way to weaponize the phenomenon. One officer in particular has a personal stake in the lights, and he travels to Rostov to personally oversee the project.
Page is determined to discover the source of the lights, not just to satisfy his curiosity. He also senses that it is vital to his marriage, as well.
The lights are getting stronger, and before The Shimmer ends, the mysterious spectacle will change the lives of everyone they touch.
As always, Morrell writes in a clear, deceptively simple style that somehow manages to deliver a ton of information on his characters and setting without ever bogging down the story. Fans of last year’s The Spy Who Came From Christmas already know that Morrell can deliver the action with a hint of spirituality, and he’s done it again here. The Shimmer is a techno-thriller with humanity.
In an afterword, the author explains that Rostov is based on Marfa, Texas, the actual home of the unexplained lights.
While a few readers may grumble because Morrell has not delivered another Rambo novel, the majority will no doubt be captivated by THE Shimmer. No one else writes like David Morrell.
-- Mark Justice
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Bad Things by Michael Marshall, William Morrow, 384pp $24.95
Michael Marshall (add “Smith” for those who have been reading him for years) lives in England but has become an American treasure, situating most of his novels within the states and pulling it off like the pro he is. From Only Forward to the Straw Men trilogy to last year’s Intruders, Marshall has dazzled readers with a style that speaks to the reader in such an accessible manner, no matter what the plot or setting, it becomes the here and now when the cover is cracked wide.
John Henderson leads an idyllic life in the quiet, woodsy Northwest. His wife and 4yr old son enjoy the good life in a sweet home in Black Ridge, a sweet spot on the map that most people would love. Then his son walks to the end of the jetty and falls into the water – dead before his body has a drop of water on it. Life changes in that stoppage of a heartbeat and John finds himself out of the legal profession, into Oregon, working as a waiter in a pizza joint, and without a family.
Then a strange message: a woman reaches out to him and says she knows what happened to his son. His world spins out of control faster than Marshall can toss plausible plot twists at the reader. The town he knew now reeks of something wrong and different, the people darker than he remembered, and full of secrets they tell him that he doesn’t want to know. The woman he meets pulls him deeper with a conspiracy that may or not be tinged with the supernatural, into a conspiracy that delves deeper with every move John makes. Each character becomes a die that when rolled, a different side of their personality is revealed to the reader. Characters from his past emerge, as well as the true nature of his wife. The “Bad Things” unfurl like a half-opened parachute plummeting towards earth at high speed and propel the plot from dark mystery into horrific suspense.
As with most MMS works, the reader will close the book with questions – not about what happened or who a character truly was - but about the human condition and how people in everyday lives can reach deep into themselves and pull out something so dark it scares the hell out of them. The realistic far outweighs the supernatural aspect in terms of scares but not a flaw can be found in this thriller. Read past the initial impression of a father dealing with the loss of a child and returning home – while those tropes have worn thinner than the souls of Marshall’s worst characters, the author does more than turn tired plot and character twists on their heads. Few writers these days leave the reader feeling both satisfied and wanting more, while feeling they have yet another piece of the human puzzle in their hands, no matter how ugly it may be.
I can only pray that things are fairer in the real world than in John Henderson’s. Bad Things deserves strong Stoker consideration. For those who haven’t been initiated yet into his world, dig deep. Intruders, Spares, One Of Us, or a short story collection (if one can be found) – any and all will take the reader away on a journey that will scare the living hell out of them and return them to their world “different.”
Highly, highly recommended.
-- David Simms
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Damnable by Hank Schwaeble, Jove, 400pp, $7.99
Books come along once in awhile that make a reader feel as if he or she is strapped down in a rollercoaster through the darkest parts of the human soul. DAMNABLE takes readers on a ride that might leave them feeling a little uneasy, but like all great ones, leaves a smile on their faces. Hank Scwaeble surprised horror readers with 5 STROKES TO MIDNIGHT, which won the Stoker Award for best anthology. The surprise came not from his editing ability, but from the fine short stories within that stood toe to toe with Gary Braunbeck, Deborah Leblanc, Chris Golden, and Tom Piccirelli.
But Damnable is its own monster and Schwaeble his own voice. A combination of Rambo meets noir, the story explodes with violence, sexy women, electric characters, and plot twists that will keep the reader up much longer than expected.
His first novel takes readers on a journey of damnation for hero Jake Hatcher, a soldier sprung from jail to attend his brother's funeral - a brother he didn't know existed. Jake begins to investigate the tragic, mysterious death of brother Garrett who lived in the shadier side of life but died attempting to save the live of a beautiful woman. Of course, Hatcher's heavy handed manner and bad luck puts him in the crosshairs of two detectives, one a stereotypical Irish badass and the other, a gorgeous brunette who just might kill him before they hit the sheets.
On the other side, Demetrius Valentine, a rich psycho, carves up women all over town for some ungodly purpose. At first, he seems thin, but fleshes out rather nicely over the course of the winding plot. On a side that seems ambiguous at best are the Carnates, women of a secret society who definitely aren't what they seem. Beyond beautiful, they pull Hatcher and his beliefs in several directions along with providing titillating mental images that harken back to Lilith.
Schaeble has crafted a fine novel here, part horror, part thriller, part noir and all successful. To give away more here would kill the suspense he created and derail the fun ride the reader is guaranteed to be thinking about long after the pages stop burning by. Some truly creepy scenes will haunt those who entertain thoughts of damnation and redemption. One will likely wonder if hell can exist on earth, through the dysfunctional family Jake endures, the relationships that scar, and the blackening of a soul caused by some of life's toughest decisions.
A fine first novel that will likely find its way onto the big screen. One hell of a recommendation for this read.
-- David Simms
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Cover by Jack Ketchum, Leisure, 308pp $7.99
Jack Ketchum has produced some of the most gut-wrenching fiction in the history of horror. Yet instead of focusing on creatures of the supernatural realm, he often turns the table and forces the reader to examine the monster in the mirror. Not always pretty or escapist reading, Ketchum's novels and stories stick with people long afterwards, and for good reason. The man knows how to emote into his writing and can wring it out of his audience where lesser writers simply attempt to frighten. He knows how to hit in all the right places, especially those kept dark and hidden from the world.
Cover, another thankful reprint from Leisure as this is a title which deserves a wide audience, may look like First Blood "redux" according to the summary on the back cover. However, words would fail to describe the true impact of what the characters accomplish inside. This novel tackles the veteran's mind without judgement, showing both positive and negative aspects of the trauma that they carry home from the front.
Lee Moravian lives away from society with his wife and son in the forest, growing a crop of weed for survival purposes. He realizes that the war wounds will never close, living on the edge, hoping to ride out the rest of his life in some semblance of peace. A group of campers arrive and by accident, send the ex-soldier teetering into a tailspin that will end in a revisiting of the battlefield.
The camping party is not the typical stereotype grouping of victims. In fact, they show how the title of the novel fits perfectly. Cover can mean a multitude of things, and Ketchum seems to hit on many of its subtleties. Bernard Kelsey lives his life as an aging, Hemingway-like character who loves life and seeks one last masterpiece. In his stable reside two women: Caroline, his loving wife, and Michelle, his mistress who lives with them and forms the ultimate dysfunctional marriage. The women appear to have a better relationship than with Kelsey, but that's what makes Ketchum's characters stand out from the rest.
Once Moravian notices the intrusion on his land and misinterprets it as something he needs to react Vietnam-style, the characters really roll, evolving and showing colors not expected. The reader will have trouble picking sides as Moravian epitomizes the scarred warrior while each of the Kelsey clan has their moments to through off the psychological need humans have to label "good" and "bad."
The ending will satisfy and force people to re-examine who we really are as opposed to who they think they are. Again, a true winner from an immensely talented author.
-- David Simms
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The Sticks by Andy Deane Cargo Cult Press (Lettered Edition) & Delirium Books (Trade Softcover & Digital Download Editions), April, 2009, 210 pages, $5.95 – Digital Download, $16.95 –Softcover, $300.00 - Deluxe Lettered.
Andy Deane … Andy Deane. If you are like me, (you’ll of course be shocked to learn that I’m generally not considered the “hippest’ guy in the neighborhood) you’ll realize that you’ve heard this name before – it is someone you think you should know, but cannot quite place him in within the context of horror genre authors, or authors in general. As it happens Andy Deane is the well-known and talented frontman and lyricist for the internationally prominent Alternate Rock band, Bella Morte. His abilities to write lyrics and perform in a successful Alt Rock band are unquestionable. But, what of his ability to write a horror genre novel …?
After reading The Sticks, which is a quick, fast-paced, fun read the answer is that Mr. Deane is at least as adept with words as a novelist as he is with lyrics, and that is a sincere compliment. It is clear, at the outset, that author Deane set out to write a book that he would enjoy reading as a fan of horror literature and the horror genre, rather than using the occasion to try and write the proverbial “Great American Novel” and prove that he’s the next John Steinbeck, Norman Mailer, or Ernest Hemingway. Deane sets out to entertain rather than impress or overawe, and he does a splendid job.
The Sticks introduces us to Deane’s decidedly blue-collar, likeable young protagonist, Brian, who has been having problems with his girlfriend, Alicia. Deane successfully presents Brian and invests him with a full and dense (especially for a relatively short horror novel) character. Brian isn’t any kind of superman, nor is he some sort of oddball or super-loser, he is someone that most people will be able to immediately relate to, human and fallible but who has innate intelligence and who is imbued with hopes, dreams, and problems like those of most of the rest of us. Brain and Alicia have a rather public fight at a party, and then Alicia disappears. Brian tries to find out what has happened to her, despite their problems, and in the process meets a new woman, Jess, who is yet another entertaining and interesting character with many possibilities.
If this is starting to sound as if The Sticks is some kind of supernatural romance with just enough weird goings-on to place it teetering gingerly and precariously on the very outer the horror genre, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Sticks is a hard-core werewolf novel that can easily lay claim to being within the contemporary splatterpunk sub-genre of violent and graphic horror. Author Deane also shows a great aptitude and flair for not only for inventive and entertaining ways of conveying intense and graphic scenes of gore and horror, but also in being able to subtly yet steadily ratchet up the book’s tension and plotline to a veritable thrill-ride of a last act that keeps readers on the very edge of their seats. Who, if any, will survive, and will any survive unscathed are questions that Deane utilizes expertly within the novel and keeps dangling until its very end. Deane makes interconnections between characters and introduces secondary characters throughout the novel that serve as far more than mere fodder for the monster(s) and provide wonderful touches of both humor and pathos.
Perhaps most importantly, in The Sticks, Deane gives us monsters that are truly horrifying and frightening, while also having their own point of view as well as mythology. Deane’s version of werewolves are contemporary as well as being steeped within a believable mythology and obeying a consistent set of rules. They are terrifying, rapacious, and deadly. They also make for very entertaining reading and keep readers turning the pages.
The Sticks is a truly compelling and engaging debut novel by Andy Deane and makes for a, if you’ll pardon the pun, “easy-to-swallow” and diverting read. A likeable, relatable protagonist, interesting secondary characters, a fast-paced plotline, loads of gore and hardcore horror, and really well executed and frightening monsters combine for a great debut novel of contemporary werewolf savagery at its best. Those for whom such a description sounds inviting will not want to miss this exceptional first novel by a gifted new author. Andy Deane is an emerging new talent in the hard-core horror genre and I’ll be looking forward to his next novel, based upon his accomplished premiere in The Sticks.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Isis by Douglas Clegg, Vanguard Press, 2009, 128 pages, $14.95
Isis is a novella written by Douglas Clegg. It was published in 2006 by CD Publications and now, in 2009, it is getting the deluxe mass market treatment from Vanguard in the form of a small, illustrated hardcover. If you have read anything by Clegg you know he is an exceptionally gifted writer. I have never been disappointed when I finished one of his stories or novels. But here, with Isis, Douglas Clegg has crafted a literary work for the ages. This story is Clegg at his absolute best.
The story concerns Iris Villiers, the youngest of four children. When her father is sent overseas to fight, Iris and her family leave the comfort of Long Island for the ancestral home in Cornwall. Her life in England is hit and miss; not so bad in summer but difficult in winter. Time passes until a singular event (depicted in the cover illustration which I will not reveal here) changes Iris forever. Her mind darkens and in her own estimation she is “Not too much all right.” Iris ignores the warnings she has heard about mystical places nearby and, in her rage and anguish, imagines only one solution. But everything has its price. “When the dead been promised, the dead be paid.”
The story is lovely and powerful and profound and, if it is possible to imagine, the tale is enhanced even more by the soft, feathery illustrations of Glenn Chadbourne. The contrast of the themes rendered in delicate strokes and touches is a rare accomplishment. In fact, the major drawback of the small size of the book is the necessarily small presentation of the artwork.
If you did not get a copy of the original limited edition of Isis you missed a grand opportunity to own a story that will live on for decades. Now, however, you have another chance because you can grab a copy of the Vanguard release. Highly recommended.
--Wayne Edwards
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The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 2009, 360 pages, $17.99
In the mood for some cotton candy? Kelley Armstrong has something that will melt in your mouth: The Awakening, Book Two of Darkest Powers. Armstrong is fantastically well-known for her Otherworld series of novels and stories. The Darkest Powers series is a new crack at the same nut. There is no reason to think the latter series will be any less popular than the former. From a marketing point of view it is a very good idea. The Young Adult market is very healthy. Armstrong has taken a well-developed world, Otherworld, and has written a Young Adult trilogy with new characters set in that world. Smart thinking.
This is a HarperTeen title so you will like it a lot more if you are a teenybopper. If you are not, the writing can be very annoying. Does the author write the narrative in questions? Yes she does. Repeatedly. It puts you perfectly in mind of a whiny teen with little imagination. That aside, the story is, overall, rather mundane but, in the particular, quite inventive. The protagonist, Chloe Saunders, is a necromancer. How about that? Not a teenage witch or a vampire, but a necromancer. That is not something you read about every day. The plot is all very X-Men in its set-up and yet the individual characters read as unique creations living in their own world. The challenges Chloe faces are more than a normal youngster could handle. Thank the spirits she is not normal. And besides, if nothing extraordinary happened there would not be any reason to tell the story in the first place.
The content is appropriate for teenagers. It is light on the sex and violence (compared with the Otherworld books) but the themes are not so much scaled down as they are alternately targeted leaving a full story with interesting characters. Interesting characters, especially if you are a teenager. The novel is short, typeset with wide-spaced lines to keep the page count up to average novel length. The reading of it is just a couple hours work. The website for the book is designed to be fun to use. The whole package, in fact, is very user-friendly and designed for short attention spans. Can movies be far off? The Awakening, with all its elements, is harmless fun. Recommended (for the younger crowd).
--Wayne Edwards
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Edgar Allan Poe Annotated And Illustrated Entire Stories And Poems edited by Andrew Barger, Bottletree Books, 2008, 828 pages, $49.98
Does anybody really need another collection of Poe’s tales and poems? Do we not already have enough of them? And, after all, it is not like there will be any new stories or poems. Well, maybe if the book included literary criticism it would add something to our understanding of Poe’s work. You know, long ponderous exposition about the intention of the author in placing the doily on this side of the table rather than the opposite side in an obscure previously unpublished and obviously unfinished literary fragment found tightly cribbed on the backside of struck-through revision sheets. On second thought, who would read that? Lit professors, sure, and Lit students with twisted arms, but who else? What about regular readers? Do they need another collection of the same old stories?
Maybe.
One thing I noticed immediately about Poe when I started reading his work as a teenager was I did not understand a lot of it. Some of the phrases and even whole sentences were not in English. Additionally, some of the words that appeared to be English were either archaic or simply beyond my experience. I am a more experienced reader now, but even now I find there is the occasional word or phrase I do not get right away. An annotated edition could really help out in these situations.
Andrew Barger has edited a new volume of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems that is comprehensive in its content and generous in its guidance. While I did not fact check the hundreds of footnotes, the ones I read were accurate, brief, and helpful. Sometimes they do go a little overboard. For example, I did not need “lute” defined for me, but then different people know different things and what to annotate is a judgment call. The notes are presented unobtrusively as footnotes for the fiction, but somewhat annoyingly for the poetry. For each poem where a word or phrase needs a note, Barger puts the word in bold type next to its modern definition separated by an equals sign and underlined: Gaoler=Jailkeeper. All the notes for the entire poem (or stanza in some cases) are piled up at the top of the work. The poem itself then begins on the immediate next line with no spacing break. It is rather unattractive even if the information is useful. It is not clear to me why footnotes, like those used in the fiction section of the book, were not used for the poetry as well. A curiosity.
Additional features of the volume include genre categorizing of the fiction in the table of contents, which is novel if nothing else, and illustrations by Gustave Doré and Harry Clarke. The illustrations are not spectacular but are generally functional. The exception, in my mind, is the excessive use of illustrations for “The Raven.” Barger dedicates forty pages to the presentation of Poe’s most remembered poem with each stanza getting its own page and twenty three full page Doré illustrations. It is a little much. Still, the positive characteristics of the book far outweigh the negative ones. Recommended.
-- Wayne Edwards
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The Shore, by Robert Dunbar; www.dorchesterpub.com; 2009; 319 pgs.; $ 7.99
The small town of Edgeharbor, hugging the New Jersey shore amidst the Pine Barrens, is a town that has certainly seen better days. If a visitor were to position themselves in the center of Main Street and peruse their surroundings, the view could be described as depressing. And if that onlooker had once lived in or had even spent some time in Edgeharbor during its heyday, a faintly whispered word might be heard passing from their lips, muttered on the tag end of a sigh…”heartbreaking”.
While surveying the area, the first building a spectator couldn’t help but notice would be the abandoned cannery. Once the main employer for many of the Barrens citizens, it is now sitting idle and imploding from a lack of maintenance. And not all that far from the cannery they would also observe that many of the town’s apartment houses, homes, and several of the storefronts are not only abandoned, but are withering from neglect; their windows boarded and their doors bolted shut. And then sadly, a view of the Boardwalk, built as an inducement to lure a tourist trade when the cannery failed, would reveal a wooden structure that has fallen into disrepair and is pocketed with rot. Finally, looking further to the east, the onlooker would discover a sandy beach whose surface was riddled with veins that are hued as black as the soul of a pedophile. This, a deliberate consequence of the town purchasing the sand to cover its expanse from a nearby iron ore mine.
And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, Edgeharbor has more than just a lack of economic prosperity and an exodus of its resident’s to grapple with. A brutal murder has recently taken place on its beach which has attracted a lot of unwelcome attention from the news media. It has also garnered the scrutiny of two men on the trail of a savage serial killer with neither man allowing anything or anyone to thwart their mission to capture the killer, including each other.
The Shore is a sequel of sorts of Dunbar’s earlier classic novel, The Pines. Plot wise, The Shore shares little with its predecessor other than proposing that the killer in either novel may be connected to one of the many myths surrounding The Jersey Devil.
Stylistically however, the two novels are structured similarly with Dunbar taking his time in the first portion of the novel for plot development and characterization which sets up an action packed second act where he plunges the reader into one hell of a who-(or what) done-it nightmare.
The Shore, much like The Pines, is also a throwback to the early horror novels of the 60’s and 70’s where plotting, back-story, and vivid descriptions of the action combine to allow the reader to form an emotional bond with the characters. As a result, we become so enthralled with his characters that Dunbar’s pages of exposition are as welcomed as his action scenes. Dunbar also makes every word count, and because of this readers may find themselves reading at a slower pace than usual, often stopping to marvel at the breadth of the author’s vision. For instance, Dunbar’s description of a devastating winter hurricane during the novels extended climax is so intense, that his portrayal of its destruction will cause readers to pause often and feel compelled to reread entire pages of his narrative.
With The Pines, and now The Shore, Dunbar is building a reputation as a literary and atmospheric horror writer. Comparisons could be made favorably to both Greg Gifune’s and Gary Braunbeck’s bodies of work. Like those two authors, Dunbar understands all too well that what’s going on in a characters mind can be just as potent a tool to horrify as is the actual monster under the bed or the knife wielding maniac in the doorway.
So don’t look for pulp exploitation, over the top gore, or sexually explicitly scenes in The Shore. Instead, be prepared to be entertained by Dunbar’s excellent characterization, suspense driven storylines, and an ending that is as terrifying as it is satisfying. This one is definitely highly recommended.
-- T. T. Zuma
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Benjamin’s Parasite, by Jeff Strand; www.deliriumbooks.com; 2009; 223 pages
Isn’t it amazing how one small problem can escalate into a progressively tragic series of events where everything we do is affected by it? And as we struggle to fight our way out of this predicament, the situation not only becomes more convoluted, but we find ourselves getting deeper and deeper in trouble. That’s when most of us will try anything to make things right. This could include asking others for assistance, begging for help, or even going back to Church to say a prayer. And if these tactics don’t work, those few of us who might be considered adventurous, desperate, or just plain crazy, may take action that could be labeled as drastic by doing something we would never have done if we were in our right minds. Unfortunately, these types of drastic measures only work in fiction, and it doesn’t take long to find out that we’d only made things worse.
And when we get to the point when our situation is so hopeless that we feel there is no way out of our dire circumstance and death begins to look like a reasonable option, Jeff suggests that there is one last thing we can do. We can laugh.
Strand has made a career of writing stories whose main characters usually find themselves in situations that are so bad they couldn’t possibly believe it could get worse. But in Strand’s stories they always do. In Benjamin’s Parasite, Strand has his lead character skipping the ‘worse’ part altogether… he has poor Benjamin going straight from bad to ‘catastrophic’.
Benjamin’s woes begin innocently enough while attending a wake for one of his students who was shot to death by a neighbor. It seems that Benjamin’s student had somehow gotten it into his head to cut up his own mother with a meat cleaver. Fortunately for her, she ran next door for help, and as the young boy discovered as he hacked his way into his neighbor’s home in pursuit of his dear old Mom, even the sharpest meat cleaver is no match for a bullet.
At the wake, while Benjamin is staring down into the casket while paying his respects, he is amazed when it appears that the dead student looks to be drawing a breath. When Benjamin lowers his head to check to see if the boy is actually breathing, a microscopic sized parasite leaps out of the dead boy’s mouth and into Benjamin.
It turns out that this is no ordinary parasite as it escaped from an experimental laboratory that was developing the creature to be used as a weapon. This parasite, much like a tapeworm, starts off extremely tiny then starts growing quite contently once inside a host. And as it grows, it develops sharp teeth and deadly claws (all the better to protect itself from being discharged from its host through vomiting or surgery). It also uses these claws to anchor itself in the host’s stomach when it’s feeding time. Though unfortunately for its host, the parasite’s favorite meal appears to be living flesh and the only way to reach this meal is to expel itself from its host’s mouth.
Aside from being able to violently project itself through its host’s esophagus the parasite has one other strange talent, it somehow causes its host to act on latent desires. In Benjamin’s case it makes him eat massive amounts of chocolate, feel so horny that he needs to screw his wife constantly, and compels him to go to the casinos to gamble (goodbye life’s savings!).
Once Benjamin checks into a hospital and discovers that his newly acquired vices and odd physical ills are caused by a parasite, he believes things couldn’t get any worse. And that’s when Strand amps up the action .
First, Benjamin is kidnapped from the hospital minutes before his parasite removing surgery by a woman who claims to be a bounty hunter. Then they are perused by two deadly but mentally challenged brothers who are the most idiotic and hilariously written characters you will ever read in fiction. Next, while trying to evade the brothers, he and the bounty hunter get abducted by some horny rednecks who want to have anal sex with him. Then a short while later, after a valiant attempt to protect his virginity, he is once again abducted and then forced to jump out of a high flying airplane. Then…well, you just have to read what Strand has in store for ole Benjamin, and let me warn you, it gets pretty damn ugly and awfully sickening.
Strand’s writing, though gore laden, is accessible and unpretentious, the reader’s eyes will flow fast, freely, and furiously through the pages. Benjamin’s Parasite is a fantastic blend of gross out horror and black humor, and as you will discover, it’s one of those rare novels that will make you laugh and vomit at the same time. The thing is, as bad as that may sound, you will find yourself sitting expectantly as you read (with a bowl and wiping towel by your side) waiting to do it all over again. So if you’re a fan of the Evil Dead flicks, have fantasized over the comic potential in the movie Alien, or enjoy your horror with copious amounts of over the top humor, then Benjamin’s Parasite is highly recommended.
-- T.T. Zuma
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Monsters Within: The Unofficial And Unauthorized Guide To Doctor Who 2008 by Stephen Fames Walker, Telos Publishing Ltd. (U. K.), 2008, 307 pages, $25.95 –Softcover
In the realm of science fiction and horror television series, one of the biggest stories of the first decade of the twenty-first century, and certainly one of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) biggest successes has been the re-introduction/re-imagining/re-launching of the Doctor Who television franchise in 2005. Doctor Who originally ran from 1963-1989. During this “original run” of the series, it was considered a “children’s” show by the BBC and scripted very much accordingly, though it quickly gained a large and ardent adult following in numerous countries, including the United States, where it was shown in over two hundred television markets, mainly on the American PBS network.
When the show was re-launched by the BBC in 2005, while certainly not as ‘adult” and sophisticated as a series such as the Science Fiction Channel’s brilliant and dark re-imagining of the Battlestar Galactica series, this new version of Doctor Who came with more sophisticated and adult-themed scripts as well as far better computerized CGI and other special effects than found in the original run of the series. Indeed, the new series, which has gone through four seasons thus far, along with two actors portraying the central character of “the Doctor” and three different actresses portraying the Doctor’s travelling companion, is a huge international hit, and routinely generates substantially higher ratings than the original series had ever accomplished. In the USA, the series is seen on the Science Fiction Channel as well as on BBC America.
In the recently completed fourth season of the “new” series, popular British actor David Tennant completed his third season portraying the central character of the Doctor, the last surviving member of the race of Time Lords from the now-destroyed planet Gallifry, who is able to travel through time and space in a contraption, the Tardis (Time and Relative Dimension In Space) that, from the outside, looks very much like a small, blue old-fashioned London Police Call Box, and which is significantly bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. He was joined in Season 4 with popular, veteran British comic actress Catherine Tate who played his current travelling companion, the contemporary London resident Donna Noble. However, throughout the season these two central characters were joined by two popular former female “companions” from seasons 1-3: actress Billie Piper, who plays Rose Tyler, as close to a true love interest as the alien Doctor has ever had, and also actress Freema Agyeman, who reprises her role as medical doctor and now UNIT employee Martha Jones. This season also saw the return of the character Captain Jack Harkness portrayed by actor John Barrowman, whose “Captain Jack” was spun off from Doctor Who into the lead of his own successful science fiction series, Torchwood, and also, similarly, actress Elisabeth Sladen who reprises her role from the “original/classic” series of Doctor Who of former companion and investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, who likewise saw her character spun off into yet another new series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
As it’s subtitle suggests, Monsters Within contains a comprehensive guide to virtually anything and everything one might care to know about the recently completed 4th season of the new Doctor Who television series. Author Walker, an acknowledged expert on all things “Doctor Who” and author of numerous books about the television series and the character, exhaustively recounts the season with essays concerning its history, filming, and behind—the-scenes background and anecdotes to full biographies of the main cast and creative team, to complete, detailed credits for each episode and all specials and a comprehensive episode guide to each and every episode comprising the show’s fourth season. Then the author adds numerous appendices delving into such things as the ratings and rankings for each episode’s original British airing, and lists of original fiction such as novels and comic strips published during the time in question relating to the series and its characters.
This is the fourth volume in a continuing series of books covering each season of the new Doctor Who television series. There are many things here to please both the casual viewer as well as the committed fan. The author has strong opinions about the various scripts as well as the cast and guest actors and the creative/production team and does nothing to hide his opinions, though he does make certain to try and mention differing points-of-view. For anyone seeking to familiarize themselves with the history of the new series, these books would prove an invaluable resource. Also for those committed fans who cannot get enough of the series and enjoy learning about all the little things that occurred in the course of filming and while the series was being marketed and promoted, Monsters Within makes for enjoyable and fascinating reading. While for some, merely viewing the episodes on television and/or on DVD will be sufficient exposure to the series. For those wanting or needing more, Monsters Within provides a thorough, entertaining, and even provocative compendium of information.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Sheep And Wolves by Jeremy C. Shipp, Raw Dog Screaming Press, December 2008, 161 pages, $13.95 –Softcover, $24.95-Hardcover
Sheep And Wolves is a collection of seventeen of noted author Jeremy C. Shipp’s tales of short horror and related Bizarro fiction. This collection should be an important must-read for all readers of horror fiction who wish to keep up with where the genre is going and being taken. This is because Jeremy C. Shipp is, at least in relevant part, the future of the horror genre - a Harlan Ellison for the twenty-first century (except, in fairness, Mr. Ellison has never left and is most decidedly still here and still writing.)
Shipp is an awesomely talented author who manages to constantly reinvent the horror genre. He is able to view the genre and it’s accepted paradigms and tropes through a unique and often bleeding edge (sometimes literally) perspective. Thus, the reader never knows just what to expect in and from a Jeremy Shipp story. The mundane becomes remarkable and the commonplace is transformed into the extraordinary. His stories are not to be described, rather they should be experienced. Each story in this collection is unique and idiosyncratic; as unexpected as they are inevitable. The stories are not all necessarily easy reads, but they are all, ultimately, very worthwhile and thought provoking.
For those who love the horror genre and also love to be challenged in their reading and are interested in reading one of the most creative new authorial talents of the new millennium, Sheep And Wolves should definitely appear at the top of their purchase lists and to-be-read piles.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Everdead By Rio Youers, Graveside Tales, 2008, 280 pages, $14.95 –Softcover
Like many of you, I’d thought that by now I’d read about every conceivable kind of vampire novel, and every believable kind of vampire that could be found within the horror genre. Over the years I’ve encountered scary vampires, funny vampires, horrible vampires, sexy vampires, powerful, brilliant, stupid, clumsy, weak, dimwitted, and even deviant vampires. Some have made for entertaining reading, others … not so much. I’ll admit that I therefore approached my newest assignment, to read and review a vampire novel from an author heretofore unknown to me, Rio Youers, with a bit of trepidation.
Well as it turns out, I needn’t have worried – and neither should you, if you are seeking an entertaining and refreshingly chilling contemporary vampire novel. Youers writes with poise and assurance and a style somewhat reminiscent of Jack Ketchum and Richard Laymon. The novel’s protagonist is young Toby Matthews who along with his two best friends the handsome and vain male-model wannabe Ben, and former-jock-turned-pot-head, Johnny, have traveled from the United States to the beaches and wild night-life of San Antonio, Ibiza. Toby is trying to get over a nasty break-up with his former first love and now ex-girlfriend. While there, their paths cross both with a quartet of beautiful young British women and also pivotally, with one of the nastier and well-developed vampires in contemporary horror literature, Luca Giancarlo Carzola.
Youers utilizes the very real location of San Antonio, Ibiza and adeptly coveys both the physicality and atmosphere of this oceanfront playground for the young. Youers also convincingly portrays his lead human characters, both male and female, as fully realized and sympathetic characters that readers both relate to easily and in whose future they become invested. The author similarly presents his lead vampire, Luca, as a convincingly intelligent and extremely dangerous predator. Youers further introduces a very interesting supporting character, the vampire known as The Vagabond, who is Luca’s mentor, as well as positing an interesting original, far older race of “original” vampires, the mysterious and deadly progenitors of the entire race of the more familiar formerly-human vampires of nightmare, folklore, and legend.
Everdead moves along briskly and capably and constitutes an interesting and easy read. The author’s vampires are crafty and intelligent as well as powerful predators; these vampires are killers not lovers, as with some other contemporary visualizations. The only two minor quibbles that I found were with the luck and coincidences that allowed the young human protagonists to manage to survive a couple of preliminary encounters with the otherwise overwhelmingly powerful and superior vampiric killing-machine Luca, and the, to me, rather too obvious and repeated presaging of an eventual, critical plot element. However, as we all know, crap does happen, and often at the most inconvenient of times, and Youers tries very hard to make the ways in which his young humans manage to survive encounters with the almost invincible Luca seem plausible. Similarly, with all the reading this critic has engaged in within the genre over the decades, it is unfair to assume that what might seem to me to be rather too-obvious presaging will be viewed as such by the vast majority of those reading the novel. Besides which, Youer’s writing is so accomplished that even if one does figure out what is coming, the reading experience itself is not materially lessened by such foreknowledge.
In conclusion, Everdead is a spectacular contemporary horror novel by talented author Rio Youers that showcases vampires as intelligent, extremely powerful and dangerous predators who view humans more as food than as love-interests. The novel’s exotic locale and strong character development combined with its fast pacing and constant ratcheting of suspense and tension make Everdead a highly recommended, especially compelling read.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cherie Priest, Tor Forge Books/Macmillan Publishing, October, 2007, 368 pages, $14.95 –Trade Paper
There are times, not many and not too often, … and therefore perhaps not often enough nor strongly enough, that I find myself contemplating the distinct possibility that worthy female authors who write within the horror/dark fantasy genres are not consistently enough afforded and accorded the recognition, appreciation, and acclaim that they deserve. Leaving for another occasion any detailed examination of the overall thesis, certainly one such example that readily comes to mind is Cherie Priest.
Ms. Priest is an exceptionally gifted author of the very first rank. Her characters virtually come alive for readers within the pages of her books, and she can make mere locations vital enough to become an additional character in their own right.
Priest’s talent as an author is very much on display in Not Flesh Nor Feathers, her recent stand-alone sequel to prior novels Four And Twenty Blackbirds and Wings To The Kingdom, all featuring her protagonist-heroine, Eden Moore. This series takes the traditional “Southern Gothic” novel and turns it into a captivating and terrifying contemporary horror thriller.
In Not Flesh Nor Feathers, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the river that runs through it become detailed characters that seem alive in their own right, lovingly and fascinatingly depicted by author Priest. The novel, while continuing the saga of her young heroine, Eden Moore, is completely self-contained and can be read with great enjoyment without having read the preceding two novels in the loose series and provides an excellent introduction to Eden, her friends, her problems, her special gifts, and her struggles. Eden has been born into a rather … unusual family, with relatives who possess strange and terrible powers and who, like her half-brother, think that there’s nothing wrong with using their powers to control or kill, like Eden herself. But then Eden, a rather reluctant medium who can sense and talk with the dead, has been discovering that she is a true member of her strange family and possesses her own arsenal of uncanny powers as a result.
Eden’s powers come in handy when after a continuing series of heavy storms, the river begins to flood both its banks and the city. An ancient evil has been released as a result and people are beginning to disappear. It starts among the homeless and unwanted, and thus the authorities are slow to recognize that any problem exists. But Eden’s friendships with some of the less fortunate who live near the river’s edge lead her to investigate the strange disappearances. As the waters rise, so does the evil, until the entire city is in danger.
Author Priest inhabits Not Flesh Nor Feathers with an engaging and likeable protagonist in Eden Moore and then surrounds her with a fascinating and well-developed cast of supporting characters consisting of friends, family, and colleagues and an antagonist that is also complex and even semi sympathetic as well as being absolutely terrifying. The plot moves forward at a brisk pace and the intermix of the various interesting sub-plots and people and problems Eden encounters in her everyday world are all expertly handled so as to make for a thrilling and entertaining reading experience. Readers of both sexes, from ages teen through adult will all find Not Flesh Nor Feathers a rewarding reading experience. For those already familiar with Cherie Priest’s work, and her prior two Eden Moore novels, this novel is a ‘must” read, while it also offers a chillingly delightful introduction to both the author and her protagonist Eden Moore for those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading Ms Priest’s work. In either case, reading Not Flesh Nor Feathers will prove an enjoyable and rewarding experience, and it is highly recommended.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Voyeurs Of Death by Shaun Jeffrey, Doorways Publications, August 2007, 131 pages, $14.95
Voyeurs Of Death is a collection of fifteen of British author Shaun Jeffrey’s tales of short horror fiction along with accompanying cover and internal art by the talented artist Zack McCain. The collection represents excellent value for your money in that the only criticism I found with the collection is that the font chosen by the publisher is a bit on the smallish-side so that while the book is certainly legible, those whose eyesight is not the best might find the type a bit of a strain. Conversely, this also means that the book contains more writing than the page count would ordinarily signify.
Shaun Jeffrey is a talented author who proves in this collection that he knows his way around the entirety of the horror genre. The fifteen stories contained within the collection run the gamut from witchcraft and spells through ancient gods and monsters awakened to terrify humanity (or some subset thereof), through ghosts, zombies, and other familiar tropes of the genre. However, Thomas manages to imbue his stories with assorted surprises and contemporary new twists that breathe new life into what might seem at the outset to be standard and well-known situations and/or characters. The book is conducive to both easy quick reads whenever you find yourself with a few minutes to spare with which to read one story, or to reading straight through the entire collection, assuming you have the free time in which to do so. Either way, the stories will keep you intrigued, chilled, and entertained from beginning to end. Voyeurs Of Death offers a great introduction to the contemporary horror fiction of talented author Shaun Jeffrey, and is highly recommended.
-- Norman L. Rubenstein
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Feminine Wiles – 16 Tales of Wicked Women, by John Grover; www.bluphier.com; 2009, 153 pgs; $12.99
Women…not only is it that men can’t live without them, it turns out as the old saying goes, we can’t live them either. At least not for long according to John Grover. Grover’s has penned 16 tales in this short story collection that will have all men looking at the fairer sex with squinty eyes and more than a modicum of fear. And for all intent and purposes, he’s done a pretty good job getting his message across. These 16 tales of ‘Wicked Women’ are stories written in the truest sense of old school horror as succubus’s, vampires, spider women, vengeful Goddesses, witches, hags, and others born into the more graceful gender, use their wily feminine ways to entice men of all types to their doom.
Grover’s narrative style in Feminine Wiles is simple and to the point, which serves his purpose well in this collection. Using a technique that’s heavy on dialog and light on exposition, the author primarily concentrates on the meat of the story, and as a result the horror comes quick. And I have to admit, once I got used to his style, most of these stories had my pulse racing and my eyes glued to the pages.
But as entertaining as these stories are, there may be a few quibbles that readers may find with the stories. For one, most of the plot lines are time worn or familiar, not to mention that the books title itself is a grand tip off on how these stories will take shape. For instance we all know that the intrepid explorer should not attempt to remove that giant obstacle that is obstructing his way into an ancient Princesses Mayan Crypt. Especially when the natives are restless and there are weird hieroglyphics surrounding it. And any time a man finds himself in a house with strange acting but attractive triplets and the rooms are stacked to the rafters with porcelain dolls, he should know he ought to be high tailing it out of there as soon as possible. And how about after your cold fish of a wife starts hanging out with your sexy and beautiful new neighbor, she starts to get horny as hell and suggests a visit to a bordello for a three way bondage session? Shouldn’t alarms should be going off somewhere? Despite the Deja Vu plotting of these stories, it is to Grover’s credit that with his narrative technique (along with a staccato writing style) he does manage to bring freshness to these tales.
The other fault that readers, including myself, may find with these stories is that the endings seem abrupt. It is reminiscent of those half hour TV. horror shows like H.B.O.’s ‘Masters Of Horror’ and the ‘Twilight Zone’ where the endings are usually relegated to a short scene or a few lines that are used to neatly tidy up the plot. In some cases this is warranted, but for readers who become lost in the action, this may jolt them out of the story and leave them a bit disappointed.
As I mentioned, Grover’s writing is solid enough where it’s easy to get past these gripes and enjoy his stories. Almost all of his tales in this collection are effective and with one or two exceptions, will provide any horror fan with delight. I would certainly recommend Feminine Wiles to any male horror reader who enjoys reading short stories that are well written, packed with action, and are frightening enough to cause your spine to stiffen while reading. As for female horror readers, I wouldn’t want them to read this one at all….it might give them some ideas.
--T. T. Zuma
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An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe, Tor, 2008, 301 pages, $25.95
Gene Wolfe’s writing career stretches back into the 1950s. Since then he has published more than 200 short stories, more than three dozen novels, a long list of poems, and even more essays and letters. He has won numerous writing awards, including the Nebula Award and the World Fantasy Award (several times). When I think of Wolfe’s work I always think of The Book of the New Sun novels, especially, perhaps inexplicably, The Claw of the Conciliator, but he has written four different novel series (if you count the Solar Cycle as one) and many stand-alone novels as well. He is a true, undisputed master of science fiction and fantasy.
An Evil Guest is a horror novel according to the dust jacket flap and that description surprised me a bit at first because much of Wolfe’s recent work has been fantasy-oriented (The Wizard, The Knight, Pirate Freedom). Things cleared up for me right away, from the first page: “…on Earth, this guest was known as Gideon Chase.” Ah, I thought to myself, science fiction. That doesn’t really catch it either. Still, “horror” seems peculiar even with all the “horrific” elements but I guess bookstores have to know what shelf to put it on so you have to call it something. The story takes place on a future and apparently alternate Earth where vast, brooding, Lovecraftian wickedness swirls just below the surface. Our heroine, Cassie Casey, not only has a funny name but she has big problems to boot. Hooking up with the aforementioned Mr. Chase (not exclusively) she seems initially to be a bit of an opportunist. Mainly, though, she comes off as naïve, but that could be because of the dialogue which has a distinctly 1930s feel to it. Wolfe’s writing tends to be a touch more challenging than the genre standard so the juxtaposition of romance, 1930s noir, and an alternate future reality comes from his hand as a matter of course. Cassie has a rough time, to be sure, and suffers more than heroines often do. The resolution leaves you feeling a bit withered, feeling her pain, and strangely hopeful.
Even after all these decades, and all the words he has already put down on paper, Gene Wolfe continues to craft elegant, complex stories that are thoroughly satisfying. An Evil Guest is no exception. This novel is worth every minute you spend with it. Recommended.
-- Wayne Edwards
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Some great review recommendations at our Hazy Days of Horror Partners:
Dark Scribe|Horror Fiction Review| Hellnotes|Monster Librarian
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