Horror World Book Reviews
January, 2010

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The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton; Bad Moon Books; 2009; 94 pgs; $16.00

What if everyone went to sleep, but kept walking around? And, what if they were dreaming, and not all the dreams were good? And you got mixed up in their dreams and they interacted with you in ways that might be good, might be bad? No, Lisa Morton’s upcoming Bad Moon Books release is not about corporate America.

The Lucid Dreaming has an interesting concept. Almost everyone has fallen asleep and is dreaming, but they’re still interacting with people and objects. The only thing that seems to stave off the dreams is a psych drug called Prolixin. Fortunately, Spike is a chick familiar with Prolixin because, well, she was in need of it before the world dozed off. With everyone asleep, she’s able to sneak out of the facility where she’s been held and spends a little time exploring a very changed Southern California before hooking up with Teddy, who is asleep too, but Spike finds him quite the tasty bit of man-candy, and he isn’t violent like so many of the others, so she takes him with her as she sets off across the country to demand answers from people in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, she has to cross the Texas panhandle. California girls who have earned nicknames like Spike aren’t going to get along with rural Texans during the best of times. When Spike shows up at a roadblock with her sleeping black lover and a staggering supply of the coveted Prolixin, well, things get ugly for a while. Spike and Teddy do get free and continue their journey, but I won’t spoil the ending for you.

The Lucid Dreaming is a fine little book full of action and excellent characterization. Morton’s writing is tight and her pacing impeccable. Both Spike and Teddy seem to be real, living people, and that’s saying something considering Teddy is asleep most of the time. Her Texas rednecks are a bit stereotypical, but Morton’s portrayal of their matriarch makes up for the blandness of the men. My only real complaint about this book is that it seems like there should be more to it. You know it isn’t really over when you turn the last page. I hope it’s a world Morton will explore again in greater detail.

-- Steven E. Wedel

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Worst Nightmares, by Shane Briant; Vanguard Press; 2009; 344 pgs; $23.95

Dermot Nolan is the current darling of the literary world. He’s written two critically acclaimed novels and is now enjoying the American dream, at least for the most part. He has a great best friend and a beautiful, smart, and loving wife, but despite all his success, and a million dollar advance on his next novel, he’s running low on cash and getting more desperate by the day. His woes come from a lack of any ideas for his next work and after many months of coasting on his laurels, his editor and publisher are starting to demand results. 

Enter an odd homeless man that practically forces a handwritten manuscript upon Dermot. The work appears to be the diary of a murderous psychotic who calls himself the Dream Healer. This killer lures people to a website promising to cure terrifying, recurring nightmares. In reality, once the Dream Killer learns the fears of a victim, he then sets about murdering them in sadistic recreations of those nightmares. Dermot, being an author of the highest mind, has a low opinion of “horror junk” and at first dismisses the manuscript and consigns it to the trash, but as pressures both personal and professional continue to mount, the idea of passing the book off as his own becomes more palatable. To Dermot the palatable becomes very possible one night after witnessing the death of the homeless man that gave him the manuscript, the person Dermot assumed was the story’s author. As you may guess, this assumption will prove to be fatally wrong and will come back to haunt him.

All the characters in this story are well written and fleshed out and most importantly, believable. Even when one of them does something stupid you can understand why he or she did it. To have this in a thriller is wonderful, as many fictional characters often do stupid things only for the sake of advancing the plot. Further more, the Dream Healer is a nice addition to the ever growing list of memorable murderers. Sometimes his methods can seem a bit unrealistic, like driving a person to bash their own brains in by only using the sound of crinkling paper, or having access to spiders that attack and bite when not provoked in the least, but for the most part he is a convincing killer with enough uniqueness to separate him from the blood splattered pack.

The overused cliché that best describes Worst Nightmares would be “thrill ride”. The book is filled with short, quick chapters that compel the reader to turn pages. The beginning of the novel flips back and forth between Dermot’s writing problems and the Dream Killer stalking and killing his victims. If there was a spot where the story should drag at all, this would be it, but even here the story progresses at a relatively brisk pace. That brisk pace becomes almost breakneck once Dermot starts to put things together and realizes not only that the manuscript he just plagiarized is real, but that its author is still very much alive.

Perhaps the hardest thing to pull off right in thrillers like this is the ending. Thankfully, Worst Nightmares doesn’t disappoint. With plenty of twists and turns, the revelation of the Dream Killer’s identity and an open-ended finale that begs for a sequel, this book cover all the thriller hot spots and does so well. No, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does give you one hell of a ride. 

-- Brian M. Sammons

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Ghost Monster, by Simon Clark; Dorchester Publishing; 2009; 326 pgs; $7.99

Simon Clark has penned over 20 novels during the last 15 years and has delighted horror fans world wide with his dark fiction.  In the process, Clark has become one of the more successful mass market horror authors having written several novels that are considered classics in the genre.  Novels such as Nailed By The Heart, Darker, Deaths Dominion, and his superb Night Of The Triffids, are excellent books piled high with either fresh ideas or great reinventions of older ones.  But unfortunately, Clark doesn’t always get it right.

In 2005, Clark released The Tower, which was to put it simply, awful.  The plot, which was about a group of young people stuck in a tower and unable to escape, was dull, unoriginal, and even nonsensical at times.  It also appeared to be written and published quickly without so much as a glance by an editor.   After its release, The Tower landed firmly on many readers “worst of” lists.  So the question begs, is Ghost Monster one of Clark’s better efforts or is it as bad or forgettable as The Tower?

I can honestly say that Ghost Monster is not as poor as The Tower as it does seem to have an editor this time around, but it comes close   The story, about a mosaic that has magical powers that keep the ghost of a madman and his disciples trapped within it, reads like one of those knock-off horror novels that were released in the 1980’s.   The story itself not only seems stale, it defies logic at times.  Clark seems to be making up the rules as he goes along to explain plot deficiencies, and then changes them again when he runs into others.   The ending contains a series of occurrences that are so contrived the reader can’t help but shake his head in frustration. 

Aside from its uninspiring plotting, the characters in Ghost Monster are not all that interesting, and their dialog reads at times as if it should be encased in a balloon.  Clark also has his characters constantly repeating plot points, which gets tiresome quickly.  There’s plenty of action in Ghost Monster, but often it’s relegated to vignettes where the horror is explained to the reader rather than giving a reader a chance to embrace it and make it their own. 

This reviewer has been a Simon Clark fan since the mid 1990’s and has always eagerly anticipated any new offering from the author, so it is with regret that I cannot recommend Ghost Monster. 

--T. T. Zuma

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R.I.P. by Terry Lamsley; PS Publishing; 63 pgs; $20.00
 
With R.I.P., his new novella from P.S. Publishing, Terry Lamsley once again shows why he's a master of the contemporary ghost story. Lamsley's tight, controlled prose is in full effect as he tells the story of Conrad and Gwillam, a pair of co-workers with a macabre hobby: They spend their spare time trying to contact the "Other Side".....For Conrad, it's just a hobby, something to do to escape his lonely, empty personal life. For Gwillam, it's a slowly blossoming obsession, which leads him to forsake his home and job, barricading himself into a seedy apartment with an array of computers in an attempt to break through to the afterlife.

Then one day, Gwillam disappears.

And newer, stranger, tenants take up residence in his apartment.

The distraught Conrad hires a Private Investigator, the mysterious Mrs. Holwig, to investigate the new tenants, and what she finds seems to confirm Conrad's worst fears...and leads him to take what may be a very disastrous course of action.

R.I.P. is a quick, unnerving read, and a prime showcase for Lamsley's razor-sharp prose. No one can turn an unnerving phrase quite like Terry Lamsley, R.I.P. won't take you long to read, but it'll stick with you for a good, long while.

--Dan Reilly

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By Blood We Live, edited by John Joseph Adams; Night Shade Books; 2009; 485 pgs; $15.95

What editor John Joseph Adams did for zombies with the anthology The Living Dead he now does for the rock stars of the horror world, vampires, with By Blood We Live. But do these fang-baring pretty boys and girls that have sat atop the terror food chain for so long need yet another anthology about them? Well now that most youngins think that vampires are emo whiners that glitter in the sunlight, yeah I think they could use all the good press they could get. Luckily Mr. Adams must have thought along similar lines because he’s dug up some of horrordom’s greatest bloodsuckers for one hell of a monster mash.

Master of the fantastic, Neil Gaiman starts the book off with a fang…I mean bang, with his dark, disturbing, and definitely not Disney-friendly take on Snow White with “Snow, Glass, Apples”. The rightful mistress of the vampires, Anne Rice, gives us the only short story she’s published; “The Master of Rampling Gate”. That story alone should be worth the price of admission of this book for true vamp fans. But as the ads always say: wait, there’s more. Joe Hill shows us the most famous vampire killer of them all, Van Helsing, with a total determination to never be named father of the year with “Abraham’s Boys”. From the master, Stephen King, comes a sequel to his classic novel Salem’s Lot. It’s a chilling tale called “One for the Road” and it’s about a cold-hearted little girl waiting on the side of a snowy road to say hello to lost travelers in her own, special way. The last story I’ll spotlight comes from another master of modern vampires, Brian Lumley. His story is “Necros” and it deals with more traditional undead rather than his famous cosmic vamps.

Now naturally with a book this big and with this many stories in it, thirty-three to be exact, the ones listed above are just the slimy, coagulated skin on a very deep pool of blood. Tanith Lee, Harry Turtledove, David Wellington, Garth Nix, Nancy Holder, and Kevin J. Anderson are just some of the big fish in that pool. There are plenty of other fat piranhas swimming around in this book to be sure, but enough names have been dropped, it’s time to lay this collection of vampire stories to rest. The last words to be spoken over this sealed coffin should be this; “Here lies By Blood we Live. It was a well loved book and will be fondly remembered by all that came to know it.” Make sure you become well acquainted with these gentleman ghouls and wild, sharp-fanged beast before it’s too late. You’ll be glad, if not a bit scared, for doing so.

-- Brian M. Sammons

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Vlad The Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon; Hudson Street Press; 115 pgs; $25.95

Vlad The Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula is an odd duck: An original hardcover graphic novel by a pair of aging comic-book creators about legendary historical figure Vlad Dracula, narrated by the fictional Vampire he inspired, Count Dracula.

Strange.

Yet, it works.

Jacobson is probably best known for creating Richie Rich and Wendy, The Good Little Witch, and his work for Marvel's Star Comics line in the 1980's, while Ernie Colon is remembered for his work on Arak and Amethyst: Princess Of Gemworld. They also collaborated on the New York Times bestselling 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. Their work on Vlad The Impaler is a mixed bag at times.....Colon pulls no punches with the art, delivering sex, graphic violence, and all the things you'd expect in a story about Vlad Dracula. Jacobson's prose, on the other hand, while not jarringly so, seems a little too jocular and modern for the subject matter. The Vampire framing device is cute, but also seems forced and out of place considering the tone of the rest of the book. Horror fans looking to expand into the realm of Graphic Novels will probably find a lot to enjoy in Vlad The Impaler, and I hope we see more collaborations of this sort from Jacobson and Colon.

--Dan Reilly

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The Resurrectionist, by Wrath James White; Dorchester Publishing; 2009; 324 pgs; $ 7.99

Of all the terrible things that can happen to a person, could you think of anything worse than experiencing a slow, painful death?  I’m not talking about a speedy stab in the heart type of death, or a gunshot to the head kind of killing, or even a death from a horrible car accident.  No, I’m talking about being flayed, raped, mutilated, and then gutted; where the assailant takes his sweet time torturing you and there’s absolutely no relief from the pain.  The type of death where you’d feel every agonizing moment as your flesh is ripped off, where every plunge of the knife into your body sets your nerve endings on fire, and when every brutal sexual penetration into your natural, and your newly created orifices, causes your brain to explosively short circuit.    Well, with The Resurrectionist, it appears that Wrath James White did think of something worse. 

There are less than a handful of author’s today who can pull off hardcore horror in the mass market successfully (J.F. Gonzalez’s, Survivor, may be the best example of this kind of success).  And while Ed Lee might be the most recognized practitioner of extreme horror and is considered the master of gross out fiction, Wrath James White may be his most apt pupil.  Between Wrath’s small press output and his prior mass market release, Succulent Prey, he is getting an awful lot of attention…and all of it good.  With The Resurrectionist, Wrath has written a novel that is not only hardcore and brutal; he’s also managed to make it entertaining, which is no small feat when you consider the subject matter.   And he does this with a plot that is not only original and clever as hell, but with characters that readers can easily relate to.

Wrath’s main protagonist, Sarah Lincoln, jumps off the pages with her freshness, intelligence, and sexual attitude.   Sarah is the type of woman that every man wishes his partner to be; loyal, smart, aggressive in bed, and grounded (I would also bet that she would be someone every woman would love to have as her best friend).  So when Sarah initially falls prey to her new neighbor’s lust, the readers feel as vulnerable and victimized as she does.  And then, when she is continuingly toyed with as a result of her neighbor’s ability to violate her and then kill her, over and over again, we become as outraged as she is. 

With Dale McCarthy, the Resurrectionist of the title, Wrath has presented a villain that is all too believable.  He could easily be someone you went to school with and took little notice of, or he could be that nerdy neighbor or co-worker you see everyday who’s all too easy to overlook.   It is Wrath’s portrayal of Dale as someone who blends into life inconspicuously, who doesn’t raise an eyebrow when seen, that makes him so brilliantly creepy. 

Though Dale’s actions are vile and the action is as bloody and squeamish as it gets, Wrath does a great job of balancing the carnage with an engaging plot, great leading characters, and just enough religious and social commentary to put Dale’s powers into perspective.  Even the most timid of readers will find themselves pushing through the gore in anticipation of what’s to come next.  Despite the extreme scenes of violence and sexual depravity in this novel, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Resurrectionist to all horror readers.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the ending of The Resurrectionist may be one of the most perfect endings to a horror novel I have ever read.  Simply put, The Resurrectionist is one of the best horror releases of the year.

--T. T. Zuma

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Apparitions edited by Michael Kelly; Undertow Books 2009; 208 pgs; $ 16.95

I love the dear, old “theme” anthologies where every writer tries his hand at developing a story revolving around a specific subject chosen by a devilish editor. Truth be told “apparitions”, the subject chosen by Canadian editor/publisher Michael Kelly, was not a difficult task, leaving plenty of room to the imagination of the contributing authors to interpret as they wished the general topic.

The results, as is customary with anthologies, are variable in quality (any anthology is, by definition, a mixed bag) and in quantity (longish stories and short tales).

With the exception of a couple of misfires (that I won’t mention out of respect for the authors) the stories are mostly of good quality, and, in some instances, quite remarkable.

 A gloomy Venice is the location for Joel Lane’s “High Water”, a hallucinatory, tragic return to the past for a man living a lonely, meaningless existence. A dark, hopeless atmosphere, typical of Lane’s fiction, pervades the story.

Michel Colangelo contributes “Behind the Black,” an offbeat, puzzling tale of murder  death and resurrection taking place  inside a rather unconventional family.

Barbara Roden provides “Home on the Range”, a nice but, alas, extremely short vignette featuring a ghost hiring a caretaker for his guest ranch.

In Gary Braunbeck’s “Coming Soon” a young widows, thanks to a good-hearted witch, manages to have sex with his prematurely deceased husband. Only Braunbeck’s narrative skill saves a story constantly on the verge of total implausibility.

By contrast Iain Rowan’s “There Stood the Dead” is a well accomplished, touching story where dead people appear to a man who has recently lost his young wife and longs to be reunited with her.

Another good story is Simon Bestwick’s “The Suicide Chairs” and insightful piece about love and death where old ghosts throw their shadows on the fragile soul of a depressed woman.

In the strong and vivid “Men of Old,” by the prolific Paul Finch, a former military man turned into a murderer and a fugitive has to face an unspeakable, lethal horror first encountered in his childhood nightmares.

Gemma Files depicts, in the emotional but solid “The Jacaranda Smile” a complex family arrangement spread between Canada and Australia.

Gary McMahon’s “Proof” is a splendid, quite disturbing tale in which a man obtains the proof that he’ll be able to meet his dead daughter beyond the grave.

My favourite story is Steve Duffy's “Certain Death for a Known Person,” a superbly told piece that will give you the shivers. What if another person’s destiny depends on your casual choice? What if you have the power to decree the death of another human being? But, beware, because a mocking outcome is waiting for you…

The various “apparitions” created by this interesting line-up of distinguished writers  ( ghosts, spirits, revenants, figments of imagination) will haunt you and entertain you for many winter nights.

--Mario Guslandi

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Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen & Ben Winters; Quirk Books; 2009; 344pgs; $12.95

What woman wouldn’t want to see a climax between a writhing sea snake and a hero replete with  well hung tentacles in a gothic romance?

After the success of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, one would think Jane Austen would be turning in her grave, tangled up in some Victorian gown, muttering curses at Mr. Winters.  Or maybe she has a sense of humor knowing that many readers who otherwise wouldn’t go near her work with a ten-foot pole are now flocking to the bookstores simply because Quirk books added a few “extras.”  Whatever the reality, the sensation has taken off and does seem unreal.  What’s next?  “A Tale of Two Werewolves?” “”War and Peace and Chucky”?

Regardless, anyone who is truly offended by this mashup of the classic which put so many myths, legends, tropes, and creatures into one novel needs to lighten up.  After reading it, one cannot take it seriously.  It’s a fun romp through a classic while never asking the reader to believe or dive into its original satiric slant on society.

The plot goes like this: An “Alteration” has occurred somehow and turned all sea creatures against humans.  From sharks to little fishies to strange monstrosities of all sorts, they’re pretty much pissed off and want all two-legged beings for fish food.  Winters creates some pretty fascinating beings here and the scenes in which the humans interact with them.  Mr. Dashwood opens the book by being torn apart by a mad hammerhead shark and signs his will in the bloody sand.  After he wills his fortune to his son, wife, and two stepdaughters, a nasty amalgamation of a dragon, sea snake, squid, and other “Nessie”-like qualities attacks their boat. However, the mom breaks an oar over her knee and pokes its eye out, thus saving the day. She likely didn’t even wrinkle her Victorian dress in the process. For those unfamiliar with the classic, the two sisters travel with their mom in search of happiness and love.  Of course, they head into the heart of the highest concentration of sea monsters to do so. Love kills, but the point of a swordfish stings a bit more.

Then there are the characters, the lovers with the the tentacles…Yes, tentacles.  It seems that Marianne, sister of Elinor who seems to have it all, winds up with two suitors for her affections. There’s the dashing Willoughby, who saves her from an octopus whose embrace just doesn’t cut it. He’s a typical hero-type, and he’s a diver.  While she’s waiting for him to submerge, she encounters Colonel Brandon, a fine man yet she a) doesn’t go for older men and, b) his face with covered with long, perky tentacles ala Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Who to choose? Which would please her more? Who would you choose?  Well, there lies the rub, no pun intended.  However, things go awry as they always do and Winters takes the reader to Victorian model of SeaQuest, a setting that Ms. Austen would never dream of, but should have. With more turns of lovers than a Jerry Springer show, “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters” leaves heads spinning in the riptide. Which man will wind up with which woman – and why?  And what’s with someone having an affair with jailbait and leaving her buried in the sand? Readers soon find out the Colonel’s tentacles have had a long history with the Dashwood family and even males will cry out for the help of Dr. Phil (ok, not really, but after awhile, the plot twist sound more TMZ and daytime drama than Victorian gothic.  There’s something wrong with the world when Lovecraftian values roll in to save the day.

There’s little Sense and Sensibility in the Winters/Austen Sea Monsters “collaboration/mashup/romp,” but who really cares?   Anyone who dares to take this effort seriously needs some therapy time with Freud’s “The Id, The Ego, and Alien Eating My Brain.”

For anyone who wants to check their intellect at the door but need a good laugh, for those who think classy comedy is Jeff Foxworthy, for those who normally believe seafood isn’t always a good idea, this book’s for you. 

-- Dave Simms

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Dark Delicacies III:Haunted edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb; Running Press; 2009; 338pgs; $15.95

From the only physical all-horror bookstore in the country comes the third anthology, Haunted.  Each story contains a haunting or somehow relates to the topic in a manner as fear did in the previous collection and while it’s a loose correlation, the stories for the most part are tight and focused, as well as interesting.  Keep in mind that while not all of these stories may qualify as horror, the darkness within each resonates so deeply that the reader may find him or herself checking for stains on fingers, palms, and souls.

Simon Clark kicks off this volume with “Children of the Vortex,” another chilling piece from an author who rarely disappoints.

Heather Graham descends into the darkness of the New Orleans swamps for a ride on the bayou with a twist that few will see coming.  It’s good to see her venturing into the shorter pieces like this as she discovers horror feels just as good as paranormal romance.  Where she lacks in the heart department is picked up by John Connelly. 

In his, “The Haunting,” a man laments his wife’s passing in a departure from the more suspenseful and horrific prose readers expect from the “Charlie Parker” novels.

Things get bleak whenever Gary Braunbeck churns out a tale and “Man With a Canvas Bag” is no exception. The man could turn a sociopath teary-eyed while disturbing him at the same time. 

John R. Little follows in his footsteps with “A Slow Haunting.” What is it about ghost stories and kids that freak readers out so much?

Thankfully, Chuck Paluhniuk could never be normal – his story includes a tennis ball as the main character – and works. 

Right before things become too touching, weird, or just plain eerie, Richard Christian Matheson takes on the writer’s life once again with “How To Edit.”  Burgeoning authors might take note with how his protagonist goes just a bit overboard with his obsession on how to trim the excesses of story. 

Finally, David Morrell closes out the anthology with a novella called, “The Architecture of Snow.”  Anyone familiar with Morrell’s darker side knows the short form is best for his tales. However, this story isn’t so much horror as simply amazing.  Not surprising, but a great way to finish.

Del Howison lives a charmed life as the proprietor of Dark Delicacies, entertaining the best celebs of the world of horror, stocking his shelves with some of the best, most frightening fiction, and churning out quality anthologies of his own.  Readers can only hope the next installment comes quickly.

--Dave Simms

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The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane; PS Publishing; 2009; $16.00

Joel Lane seems to be one of horror’s best kept secrets. After finding only a few short stories to read, The Witnesses Are Gone arrived and blew my mind away.  Razor sharp prose embedded within smooth as silk atmosphere makes for scintillating writing.  

The synopsis sounds familiar – too familiar.  A man moves into a new home and finds a videotape of something frightening and unique from a filmmaker who nobody seems to believe exists.  It sounds like a bad movie that has been made too many times.

However, Lane’s tale works – well. What begins as a tired trope twists and turns into something very different, with characters who are either incredibly real or psychedelically out there enough to enthrall the reader.

Martin Swann embarks on a journey that severs him from his life and reality. His girlfriend, already enmeshed in a strained relationship with him, joins him on a trek to Paris. A contact sends him on a drug trip over the edge which only brings him closer to the truth. A woman in Mexico leads him to the final destination, only to raise more questions and makes him question whether hell is present in the here and now.

Some say the novella is the perfect form for horror. Joel Lane adds to that statement here. Well worth the journey.

--Dave Simms

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The Hollows, by Ben Larken; LL Publications; 2009; 300 pgs; $14.99

Last year, Ben Larken seemed to have come out of nowhere with Pit-Stop, a rip roaring novel about a group of people who inexplicably find themselves in a diner awaiting a bus whose driver had plans to deliver them all to hell.  Pit-Stop was an easy reading, fast paced, and action oriented tale with enough graphic violence (balanced with a subtle intellectual bent) that made it appealing to all types of horror readers.   Part of Pit-Stops appeal was that it was simply plotted and it possessed just the right amount of moral questioning, you could say it had an almost a perfect Twilight Zone vibe going for it.  But as near perfect as Pit-Stop was, with this next release, The Hollows, Larken has decided to change it up somewhat and take his horror fiction into an altogether different direction.

Eschewing a simple plot with limited settings, this time out Larken has taken a more ambitious path.  The Hollows is the first of a three volume series with a decidedly broader cast of characters with quite an involved plot involving time travel. 

David Alders is an ex-detective who, having almost gotten over the disappearance of his wife ten years prior, has decided to rejoin the police force.  David sells his home in order to pay off some debts and then along with his daughter Melanie, he moves into an apartment complex called The Hollows.   It doesn’t take long for David and Melanie to discover that, besides some eccentric new neighbors, there is something very odd about The Hollows. 

Almost from the moment they arrive, Melanie hears a loud ticking, which David cannot, then Melanie begins to have strange dreams, like the one of a burning man in her room who tries to assault her.  Then, one morning when David wakes up after spending the evening sleeping on the couch, he hears a familiar voice talking to his daughter in his bedroom.  Investigating, he creeps up to the bedroom, looks in, and is stunned.  It is David himself in the bedroom that is talking to his daughter.  Fleeing the apartment in confusion, David runs into the buildings superintendent who sees David’s distress and then invites him into his office for a cup of coffee.  It’s during his discussion with the superintendent when David discovers that he is a time traveler, and that he has indeed just run into himself moments earlier.

Not even considering the science of the subject matter, time travel can be a difficult subject to tackle.  A writer can trip up the reader easily with too many time change threads containing too many characters if he is trying to be clever with his plotting.  Fortunately, Larken, in the first volume anyway, presents us with a somewhat uncomplicated plot by limiting the time travel involved to primarily three different dates; the present, 1999, and the late 1940’s.  The novel starts in 1949 where we share the terror of a young girl whose mother has disappeared (a young girl who figures prominently in the plot later on).  Then later on in the story after some exposition, we travel back to 1999 where we witness the inevitable reuniting of David and his wife just before her disappearance.  By limiting the scope of the time travel, Larkin has done a fine job handling these jumps in time and the reader is anything but confused.

One of Larkin’s strong suits is an ability to bring his characters to life.  He does an admirable job in The Hollows (as he did in Pit-Stop) by giving us fully fleshed out protagonists that are true to life and easy to identify with.   His supporting casts of neighbors in The Hollows, while odd, are not caricatures, and most of them cannot but help bring a smile to the readers when reintroduced.  Another of Larkin’s strengths is his penchant for writing extremely visual action scenes that are not only well scripted, but fluid enough for the reader to imagine that they are watching a good B-movie as the action takes place.

There are some faults in The Hollows though, but not enough of them to hamper the enjoyment of the story.  The time traveling device itself, an old grandfather style clock, is not all that scary despite the fact that Larken tries to give it a personality by having it drink blood and demanding the sacrifice of a family member (though this might change if the device is more fully explored in the next two volumes).   And while the action in the climax is superb, one or two of the antagonists involved is written a little bit too over the top making them seem more melodramatic than terrifying. 

Based on Pit-Stop alone, Ben Larkin shows that he has enough chops to be one of today’s more popular horror authors, and with The Hollow’s, his sophomore effort, he backs up that claim in spades.  For lovers of traditional horror novels that rely on good plotting and action scenes that focus on the supernatural instead of excessive gore, The Hollow’s is well worth seeking out.  I know I am looking forward to the next two volumes.

-- T. T. Zuma

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Mall Of Cthulhu, by Shamus Cooper; Night Shade Books; 2009; 235 pages; $13.95

This book was a total surprise for me. From both its title and cover; a painting depicting a man in an apron holding a pot of coffee in one hand and a fire axe in the other, complete with two pistol packing babes next to him and Cthulhu’s visage looming over everything, I was suspecting a comedic take on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. And upon thinking that right away I was filled with apprehension. Rarely does horror and humor mesh well together in print and rarer still when it’s about HPL’s cosmic creations. The only halfway decent book to combine the Cthulhu Mythos and comedy that comes to mind is William Browning Spencer’s often overlooked gem; Resume With Monsters. So it was with some trepidation that I began this book, but also I did hold onto some high hopes. If it turned out to be good then I’d be very happy indeed as I love humor mixed with horror when it’s done right. So at the end of this book was I disappointed or relieved?

Strangely I felt a bit of both.

I was disappointed because, much to my surprise, this book is not a comedy. My expectations were totally off on this one and I don’t know if that was a fault on my part or the publishers. While there is nothing on the front or back cover saying anything like “a hilarious Cthulhu romp”, the overall packaging, with its pun-ish title and silly cover art, does suggest that this book is not to be taken seriously. However with the exception for a few bits of dark humor dialog, there’s really nothing funny in this book. Well, nothing too funny, that is. No more hilarious than say parts of a story by Stephen King, Robert Bloch, or Joe R. Lansdale. Actually it’s not even as funny as any of Mr. Lansdale’s work, but then very few things are. What I’m trying to impart to you is if you’re looking for a humorous take on Cthulhu and Company you should really look elsewhere. However if you are looking for a darn good read, then you’ve come to the right place. That is why in addition to some disappointment at the lack of funny in this novel there was also some relief.

The story begins ten years in the past when college coed Laura is saved from a coven of sorority vampires by the overly nerdy Ted. The two become friends and while Ted may want a deeper connection, that will sadly never, happen because Laura also happens to like girls. This friendship and nothing more relationship was a nice change of pace from the usual “friends that secretly want to do each other” relationships found in many books. Jump ahead ten years and Laura is now in the FBI and Ted…well he just sort of follows Laura around from one assignment to the next, taking jobs at coffeehouses along the way. One night coffee-jockey Ted unwittingly crosses paths with the murderous Cult of Cthulhu. The cult has the dreaded Necronomicon, a shopping mall in Providence, and a plan to open a getaway to Big Daddy Cthulhu. Ted has his FBI gal pal Laura and the ability to whip up a mean latte, but will that be enough to stop the cult and save the world from squishy destruction?         
 
Mall Of Cthulhu is more of an action story than anything else. Its strengths are well developed characters and several unique takes on the well worn Cthulhu Mythos. Laura and Ted are both wonderfully complex and believable, although the supporting characters and sadly the villains are far less developed. The developments come quick and the situations feel fresh, as does Mr. Cooper’s use of familiar Lovecraftian tropes like the sunken city of R’lyeh. Overall I highly enjoyed this book, but will Lovecraft purists like it? No, probably not. How about readers looking for a Cthulhu Comedy Fest? Nope, this is not really for them either. On the other tentacle, if you are looking for a quick, fun, action packed read with great characters that just so happens to be set in HPL’s horrific sandbox, then this is the book for you.

--Brian M. Sammon

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A Blood of Killers, by Gerard Houarner; Necro Publications; 2009; 426 pgs; $21.95

Once in a while a book comes along where the author has managed to capture the true essence of evil.  Gerard Houarner has done this in A Blood of Killers with prose so bleak, and with characters so utterly brutal, that readers are convinced that they seen the darkest aspects of humanity.  A Blood of Killers digs deep into a reader’s conciseness searching for a buried memory of fear, or maybe a forgotten terror that has been safely tucked away somewhere in the farthest corner of our minds and delights in reawaking these revulsions, first amplifying them, then exploiting them.  The author’s goal in this book was to promote paranoia, fear, and excruciating dread in the reader, to the point where the reader is constantly uncomfortable while reading these stories, even after putting the book down. 

More often than not, death, and more specifically torture, are the tools Houarner uses to assault his readers psyche.  With his disturbing prose, the author forces us to feel his victims pain…we have no choice other than to put ourselves into their place and wonder what its like to die under these horrendous circumstances.  Fortunately for the reader, Gerard Houarner, like no other author that comes to mind, loves to remind us that are many painful ways to die.  And his fictional creation, Max the Assassin, is more adept than any other character in recent memory in demonstrating them.

A Blood of Killers contains 12 brand new Max stories that take place before the timeline of the first Max novel (for those unfamiliar with Max, no prior knowledge of the trinity of Max books is required before reading A Blood of Killers).  In these stories, which take place before Max found love with a pair of seductively deadly twin sisters and before Max gave birth to a son (yes, you read it right), Max knows little else other than how to kill.  Max’s every thought, every motivation, the very reason for his continued existence in A Blood of Killers is to kill.  And that’s because Max has a hunger….a need to feed a beast that resides in him…a beast that can only be satiated with carnage. 

Houarner’s prose in A Blood of Killers is dark, heavy, and intelligent; he doesn’t take the easy way out by presenting us with blood and gore for its own sake.   Max’s thirst for the kill, his every murderous craving, is carefully explained, dissected, and discussed.  Houarner makes us painfully aware of Max’s distain of life, be it men, women, children, babies, hell, even pregnant women with babies…for Max they are all nothing but cattle begging for a slaughter.  Houarner’s prose for the most part is also humorless, direct, and penetrating; there is no winking at the reader as Max tears open the chest of his kill and begins to feast on its entrails.  These stories cut to the bone, and then through it.

Along with the 12 Max stories, A Blood of Killers features an additional 13 stories that are not related to his Max character, but they are just a potent.  Every one of them bears Houarner’s signature dark and disturbing prose, and they stand admirably alongside the Max stories.  Highlights for this reader included “Say No”, about a boy discovering his powers over death; “Dead Mans Park”, about a young man who is pursued by drug dealers in a housing project; and the title story, “A Blood of Killers”, about a man’s introduction into a society of serial killers.

For those that loved the three original Max novels (The Beast That Was Max, The Road To Hell, and The Road From Hell), A Blood of Killers is a no brainer, this is a must read and a brilliant addition to the Max cannon of books.  For those who are not familiar with Max but enjoy the darkest of fiction and love that numb feeling you experience after reading a particularly brutal story, I can’t recommend A Blood of Killers enough 

-- T. T. Zuma

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Dracula The Undead, by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt; Dutton; 444 pgs; $26.95

Does anybody need a sequel to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula? That is a bad way to put it, need. How about this: Does anybody want to read a sequel to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula? Maybe so. The original characters were very compelling. There are a lot of loose ends fluttering about in Bram’s book, and a good number of inconsistencies, too. There is untapped potential here.

At the same time working over this material is a dangerous game because Dracula is literary sacred ground. A direct sequel might even be more risky than, say, a cinematic reimagining of the original. Ah, never mind the slings and arrows, this is too good to pass up. At long last, a sequel has been written and, I am here to say, it is pretty good.

There are a couple of hurdles that you must top in order to enjoy the novel, Dracula The Un-Dead. I nearly tripped over them so let me tell you where they are so you can skirt past. First of all, the book is written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, the former being the purported “great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker.” Now, see, that just makes me mad. Who cares whether that is true or not? Can we apply this axiom in other cases? Does John Steinbeck’s great-grandnephew have special writing abilities? The fact that this idea is being employed to sell books is insulting to readers so let’s just ignore it, shall we? Otherwise I will have to worry about my blood pressure. One hurdle successfully avoided.

The next hurdle is higher. The authors have piled too many associations and coincidences into this book. Elizabeth Bathory (look her up) is a main character here, and that is fine. But we also have Jack the Ripper (whose identity is revealed in the novel – I am not going to tell you who it is). And Bram Stoker shows up as a character. And the Titanic (the one that sinks) plays a role at the end of the book. It is all a little too much and entirely unnecessary. Given the interesting twists and turns the authors apply to the characters who inhabited the original book, this sequel would be very exciting without all the historical tie-ins. It is a bit annoying – it is a hurdle – but you can read around it and not let it ruin the nostalgic promenade with Mina and John and the rest. A third hurdle involves how the authors have changed a few of the facts from the original novel, most notably the timeline, mainly in order to accommodate hurdle number two. This, also is easy enough to ignore. Let’s not be purists, all right? Setting all these things aside and reading the novel for the writing, characterization, and plot, there is a lot here to like.

The writing (apart from the pointy plot issues mentioned) is quite well done. There is some attempt to mimic the structure of the original novel but, thankfully, not to the same extent. The fluid prose is consumed easily and the regular surprises make reading the novel a delight. I did not expect to like this book at all, but in the end I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is not Dracula, but it is very entertaining. Highly recommended.

--Wayne Edwards

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The Lost Sister by Megan Kelley Hall; Kensington Books; 288 pgs; $9.95

The new novel in Megan Kelley Hall’s “Sisters of Misery” series, The Lost Sister, roughs out the popular press issue of hazing in schools. The main character, Maddie Crane, fled her hometown to escape the memories of bad times but she did not run far enough. One fine day, she receives a tarot card in her dorm room that bodes frightfully ill for poor Maddie and she realizes she cannot get away after all. She decides to go back to where it all happened, seeking answers and resolution.

You might reasonably ask, Resolution of what? What happened? Well, presumably if you read the first book you would know, but I did not read it so I dug through the current one looking for clues. They were hard to find. Each chapter is titled after a tarot card (Rider deck, looks like) and offers a capsule interpretation of said card as a preamble. At first I thought this promising, but in the end, as interesting as this device is to those unacquainted with any form of tarot, the summaries offer no real insight to the action or characters. Worse yet, the narrative is stingy in that regard, too.

The writing is melodramatic and wrapped up in itself. The set-up seems never ending with incessant references to the horrible thing that happened on the island. At times it is excessively enthusiastic (“A secret door!”) and the situations come off a little too cutesy. Still, it is a Young Adult novel so, in context, these things play all right. Maybe this is the way teens think and relate to situations: all those moist glances and all that undulating biology. I found the narrative and action slow moving and the endless hinting and vague referencing more cloying than suspenseful. Still, the general message of the novel is good and the voice, as I have said, perhaps resonates with the younger crowd.

I recommend it for mid-teens despite the R-rated dialogue. More mature readers might very well find the novel a bit tedious.

--Wayne Edwards

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Trust Me by Peter Leonard; Minotaur Books; 290 pgs; $24.95

Peter Leonard is Elmore Leonard’s son (according to a Carl Hiaasen blurb). Tough act to follow? Oh, my. If it was me, I’d follow the example of some other children of prominent writers and write under a different name to avoid, at least initially, the inevitable comparison. Peter went the direct route instead. His first novel, Quiver, met with decent reviews, for the most part. His newest, Trust Me, has also received some good advanced notices and a few mixed responses. I think it is OK.

The plot is confusing and twisted, but sometimes that works. There seem to be dozens of characters to keep track of, all somehow involved with the (more or less) main issue of a proposed robbery of a guy named Samir by his former girlfriend, Karen. There is no point of trying to recount the numerous pitfalls, seedy characters, and peculiar coincidences and situations found in the narrative – I would end up quoting the entire book. It is easier for you just to read the novel yourself. But should you bother? Maybe.

Look, it puts me in mind of the snappily paced crime movies of a few years back like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch (notice how I cleverly avoided mentioning the film adaptations of Get Shorty and Rum Punch). Trust Me is not as jokey and comedic as these movies, although there is plenty of humor in there. No, it is the pervasive presence of buffoonery and treachery that makes me lump these works together. Everyone is out to get everyone else, and they all seem to have a hard time getting anything right. Sometimes that kind of thing is fun to watch. Or read.

The book is an enjoyable enough diversion if you are a fan of the genre. I’ll mark it down for a cautious recommendation.

--Wayne Edwards

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