Horror World Book Reviews
March, 2010
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MISTER SLAUGHTER by Robert R. McCammon, Subterranean Press; 440 pgs; $24.95
I find it interesting that one of the very first novels I reviewed back during the mid-eighties was Mystery Walk by Robert R. McCammon and that one of my final book reviews, after twenty-five years, is Mister Slaughter by the same author. I suppose you could say the circle is now complete.
I’m guessing most young readers today don’t know who Robert R. McCammon is, but I remember buying his first horror novel, Baal, when it was originally published in 1978 as a paperback original. I know the author hates this, but Mr. McCammon was so good, it was like having two Stephen Kings to look forward to each and every year. No other author could come close to King at that time, except for Robert R. McCammon, and he took a lot of negative flack from many of King’s fans, which was a no-no in my opinion. You simply don’t blast another writer for being as good as your favorite author. What you do is jump up and down with excitement, thankful you have two excellent authors to read and enjoy.
Anyway, I’ve been reading Mr. McCammon’s fiction for half of my life. During the 1980s and early 90s, he was at the top of his career having written such horror novels as Bethany’s Sin, They Thirst, Mystery Walk, Usher’s Passing, Swan Song, The Wolf’s Hour and then a number of suspenseful mainstream books like Boy’s Life, Mine, and Gone South. The author then wrote a historical novel, Speaks the Nightbird, which was the first in the “Matthew Corbett” series and dealt with a young law clerk (think of actor, Tobey Maguire) who travels with his employer and mentor to Colonial North Carolina in the late 1600s to hold a trial for a woman accused of witchcraft. What Corbett encounters is possibly an innocent woman and a town filled with the most evil secrets, not to mention physical dangers lurking around every dark corner of the village. Strange as it may seem, no publisher was interested in this masterpiece of fiction, and it is a masterpiece in my opinion. It’s so good I wish I’d been able to buy the signed, limited edition when it first came out. It seems as though all the publishers wanted Mr. McCammon to go back to writing straight-out horror novels. They didn’t think his fans would buy an historical novel. Wrong! That’s how little the publishing industry knows about what’s going on and what the readers actually want. They are totally clueless. Because of this frustration, Mr. McCammon stopped producing fiction for nearly a decade, deciding that if he couldn’t write what he was passionate about, then he wouldn’t write at all.
Fortunately for his fans, a small independent press decided to give Speaks the Nightbird a shot in 2002 and published an extremely nice trade hardcover of it, as well as a beautifully made signed, limited edition. The response from the readers was so enthusiastic that the author decided to write a sequel, The Queen of Bedlam, which was published five years later and continued the adventures of Matthew Corbett after his experiences in North Carolina. This time around, the young clerk changes jobs and joins the first detective agency in the Colonies to become a problem solver with its other member, Hudson Greathouse (Corbett’s mentor in fencing, shooting, hand-to-hand fighting, and on how to stay alive while doing the job), whose brother co-founded the agency and was later murdered on the orders of the infamous Professor Fell. In fact, it’s this novel that introduces Matthew Corbett to the international crime cartel, which is led by the professor and has its tentacles stretched throughout England and Europe, as well as the American colonies. And, it’s Professor Fell’s accomplices who nearly kill Corbett at the end of The Queen of Bedlam and set the stage for exciting things to come in future novels.
The third book in the series is Mister Slaughter, which picks up a few months after The Queen of Bedlam. Matthew Corbett is now a celebrity in New York City after his harrowing experiences in the second book and the newspaper articles that were done about them. He has also been marked for death by the notorious Professor Fell. To add to the mix, both Corbett and Greathouse are hired by the local authorities to escort a prisoner from an asylum outside of Philadelphia back to New York so the man, Tyranthus Slaughter, can be shipped to London to stand trial for several murders he committed. It seems like an easy task for the two men, but Slaughter is quick to figure out the weaknesses of each one and to put them to use as he entices the gentlemen with the prospects of acquiring a hidden cache of money. Their greed causes them to make a very serious mistake, which eventually leads to Slaughter’s escape. Greathouse is seriously wounded during the prisoner’s run for freedom and Corbett blames himself for the entire fiasco, knowing that if he had made a decision based on wisdom and common sense, Slaughter would still be in chains and on his way to face the hangman. Of course, then there would be no story.
With the help of Seneca Indians from a nearby village, Greathouse is able to find medical attention, while Corbett goes after Slaughter with the assistance of Walks in Two Worlds, a Native American warrior who has his own demons to deal with, but decides to help Corbett in his quest to capture the escaped prisoner. This is when the adventure really begins as Slaughter leaves a trail of blood and the bodies of innocent adults and children in his wake for Corbett to follow. You see, Slaughter is no ordinary killer. He’s a psychopath who thoroughly enjoys the destruction of everything he encounters. Nothing makes him happier than butchering an entire family with his large knife or sharp hand razor. In fact, Slaughter makes Hannibal Lector look like a Boy Scout with the amount of carnage he leaves behind. At first, Matthew is determined to capture the killer alive and to take him back to New York, but as time passes and more people are murdered, he gradually changes his mind, realizing that this person is an actual monster in disguise. The only way to stop a monster is to kill it like you would a rabid dog. It’s in this journey of chaos and mayhem that Matthew will slowly become a man as he witnesses the death of new friends and eventually has to kill another human being in self-defense. His whole outlook on life, however, changes when he encounters an evil so pure and vile near the end of the novel that it leaves him stunned as to man’s inhumanity to his fellow brethren.
Suffice it to say that the author, Robert R. McCammon, brings all of his talent and creativity as a writer to play in this grand adventure. His characters and scenes are vividly drawn and come to life in ways that profoundly touch the reader. The New York City of the early 1700s is described in such detail that you feel as if you’re actually living there yourself. Also, I’ll always remember the scene where the character of Tom is holding his wounded dog up to keep the animal from feeling the pain of its broken back, due to Slaughter having hit the animal with a chair, or when Walks in Two Worlds realizes the time has come for him to walk with the spirits, hoping Matthew will be able to carry on without him, or the scene where Lark and her mother attempt to give Matthew the opportunity to kill Slaughter by sacrificing their own lives. This is writing at its absolute best, and few can do it as well as Robert McCammon.
Though I’m not a reader of historical novels, I am addicted to the “Matthew Corbett” series and find it extremely difficult to wait for each new novel to come out. That’s your fault, Mr. McCammon! At my age and health, I don’t know if I’ll be around to read the fourth one in the series when it finally does appear. Needless to say, I have nothing but high praise for this wonderful series and its main character. I keep hoping Hollywood will do a theatrical film of Speaks the Nightbird with Tobey Maguire playing the role of Corbett. This would be a great series for the actor to do after his three Spiderman movies. Okay, enough said. Well, what are you waiting for? You can order this directly from Subterranean Press, or go to Amazon.com to get a copy of Mister Slaughter. Trust me on this, Mister Slaughter is definitely a novel you’ll want in hardcover to keep on your bookshelf for years to come.
-- Wayne C. Rogers
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SILVER (An Ogmios Team Adventure) by Steven Savile; Variance, 2010; 430 pgs; $25.95
Reading Silver is kind of like stepping in a time machine to right before The DaVinci Code was published – yet in an alternate universe where someone else wrote it and damn well, with intriguing characters, a plot without holes so big trucks could drive through, and prose which flowed as smooth as the Tigres River (well, at least as it flowed 2000 years ago).
Steven Savile has written a novel that deserves the accolades which Dan Brown garnered but he will likely be called another clone – until the reader sinks into the writing and realizes that this is the religious thriller that should have been the blockbuster. Rather than take on the Jesus/Mary Magdalene theme, Savile goes for the wild card, the dark side – Judas and Mary. It’s sure to piss off just as many diehard Catholics – hopefully, it will get just as much attention as The DaVinci Code – it deserves it.
Noah Larkin belongs to a special group of operatives who deal in “special” situations. He’s called in this time to watch a video of a woman setting herself on fire in Rome. So what? A religious fanatic, right? Except there are 13 of them who commit suicide at the same time – and all are academics who have worked on the same archeological project. They warn that the Disciples of Judas, an actual cult, will unleash 40 days and nights of terror upon the world. Their message? Everything you believe in will be proved wrong. Everything you hold true will fail. Sounds similar to another novel, doesn’t it? True, but this is the way it SHOULD be done. Noah and his team lead by an “X-men” type brainiac set out to stop this conspiracy supposedly born by Judas Iscariot’s grandsons and might be focused on assassinating the Pope.
The pacing is just fast enough, peppered with enough historical detail that intrigues (not overwhelms and stops the narrative dead) and told by characters who actually breathe on the pages. Their actions matter and create empathy – something that’s part of most credible novels but was missing from its famous “relative.” This should be a breakout book by Savile. Hopefully, the public will have the insight to see it as it truly is and not another knockoff.
--Dave Simms
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YUPPIEVILLE, by Tony Richards; Screaming Dreams; 2010; 81 pages; £ 5.99
By now, everyone is supposed to know that Tony Richards is a hell of a writer, a skilled storyteller, one of the today’s masters of dark fiction.
So much so that he kept me glued to my sofa for a whole evening, tasting chapter after chapter of his new novella Yuppieville, begging for more until the very last sentence.
So, what’s is the novella about?
I’d hate to be a spoiler, so I’ll tell you no more than what strictly necessary to give you an idea of what you’re going to miss if you’re not smart enough to secure a copy as soon as you can.
There’s a happy couple (Frank and Joannie), living in Los Angeles but somehow longing for somewhere else, especially the wife who’s planning ,of course, to raise children and dreams of a more suitable place than the big city. So, winning the slight misgivings of the reluctant husband, they move to Nevada, in a small town called Youngesville. Oddly enough, all the inhabitants seem to be nice people , approximately of their same age, moved there quite recently.
On the surface, everything seems to be perfect, although maybe slightly boring.
Yet Frank feels that there’s something wrong behind the pristine façade of this small community. A couple of women, for instance, behave in a bizarre fashion, even if, on the other hand they act as the irreprehensible leaders of the town’s well organized , conformist life.
The truth of the matter emerges gradually, thanks to Richards’ ability to unroll the events in a thrilling, enticing way and to guide his characters as an expert puppeteer.
For someone like me ,who always prefers short fiction to novels, the only disappointment was that the novella only lasts 81 pages. This fact alone speaks volumes.
--Mario Guslandi
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WATCHLIST: A Serial Thriller by Jeffery Deaver, Vanguard; 2010; 416 pgs; $25.95
The days of the serial have been long over, at least in the thriller genre. Stephen King sort of resurrected it for The Green Mile (6 pieces) and Doug Clegg had a phenomenal experience with Naiomi, and then tried it a couple times since, but rarely has it been touched by other genres.
Jeffrey Deaver concocted a very intriguing idea by which he provided a skeletal plot, and then wrote the opening and closing chapters. He gathered up fifteen talented authors in the thriller field and let them loose, one chapter at a time. In 2008, the first of the two stories here, The Chopin Manuscript, was released as an audiobook in true serial fashion – one chapter a week. It garnered an “Audie” award for best audiobook. He then added the second story, The Copper Bracelet, and are combined here in one volume which reads like a bullet through a greased barrel.
The authors included, besides Deaver, are Brett Battles, Linda Barnes, Lee Child, David Corbett, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, John Gilstrap, James Grady, David Hewson, David Liss, Gayle Lynds, John Ramsey Miller, PJ Parrish, and Ralph Pezzullo. Surprisingly, the writing is even throughout yet not remarkable as the style is forced to stay similar throughout. This isn’t a bad thing, though. Also, the characters can’t fully be fleshed out, either, as each will have a different take on them. However, they still manage to add something unique to each major player which is quite impressive, given the constraints of the format.
The first of the two stories, The Chopin Manuscript, deals with a lost song which may or may not contain instructions to set off a dangerous weapon. Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton comes into possession of the lost piece and a chain reaction of events, mostly murders, first one at a time, then the possibility of a mass event by the hands of a terrorist named Faust.
The second, The Copper Bracelet, delves deeper into the character of Middleton and some of his fellow agents but is no less engaging. An assassin is threatening to start a nuclear war between India and Pakistan with the key being the titular object he wears.
The result? Two intriguing and satisfying thrillers which display how a group of talented authors burn through stories with ease while keeping the pace fast and the interest high.
Recommended for any fans of espionage thrillers or for writers looking to see how 15 styles can coexist within the confines of one plot.
--Dave Simms
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MR. SHIVERS, by Robert Jackson Bennett; Orbit Books; 327 pgs.; 2010; $19.95
What if someone did the unthinkable to a member of your family? Consumed with regret, would you abandon what’s left of your life and roam the country looking for the man that did this to exact revenge? And if you did decide to go after him, would you continue your search if you discovered along the way that it was the devil himself you were stalking?
These are the circumstances that befall Marcus Connelly, whose young daughter was brutally slain by a tall man in a grey coat and a horribly scarred face. At the time of the murder, the country is in the midst of the Great Depression, and Connelly doesn’t own much more than the house he lives in and the car his wife takes when she leaves him. But possessions and love are not what drives Connelly since his daughter was snatched away from him, only revenge matters now. So Connelly leaves his home in search of the evil that slaughtered his daughter, not realizing to his dismay that he will find it everywhere he travels. He will also find that he is not the only one searching for the scarred man.
During his travels Connelly meets up with a small group of people who are also searching for the man in the grey coat and disfigured face, who they call Mr. Shivers. Led by a former preacher, the group, which includes a young woman, reveal that they also have lost someone they love to Mr. Shivers, and they too are hell bent on tracking the man down and then killing him.
Most of Mr. Shivers focuses on Connelly’s relationship and adventures with this group, and Bennett takes his readers on one hell of a wild journey along with them. When concentrating on the exploits of the group, from their discovery when hitching a ride on a freight train, to the numerous beatings in the Hoovers (shanty towns), to an early encounter with Mr. Shivers in a dust storm, when being tortured by a sheriff in a small town, and finally, after entering a town that just might be paradise, Robert Bennett keeps a tight hold on the reader with his sparse prose and vivid imagination, and he never once loosens his grip, right up until the ending.
Bennett’s simple narrative in Mr. Shivers shines with its desolate imagery. When he has Connelly visiting the numerous Hoovers that spring up all over the country that house desperate men and displaced families, our own stomachs ache from the starvation they face, we itch along with them in their filth, and our shoulders grow heavy with the despair these men grapple with in finding employment. All these poor people have is hope and wishes, but as one character states in the novel, when you wish for something long enough you start to lose parts of yourself, and in the end, there is no more of you left to lose.
Mr. Shivers is a deceptive novel. The narrative as told from Connelly’s perspective is simple, much as the man himself, but it does manage to stimulate the readers mind by presenting its story line as a metaphor for our country’s history. Bennett explains to us that in order for evil to live, something has to die, and that evil cunningly embraces the old while spreading fear of the new. While this certainly holds true for Connelly and the plot points in the story, it can also be taken in context to this time period in our countries history with the war that is raging around the world and in the tragic results of the plummeting economy.
I enjoyed Mr. Shivers tremendously; I found it to be one of the most exceptional novels by a first time author that I have ever read. However, I have one complaint about Mr. Shivers and that is that the ending was predictable. To give Bennett his due, the ending is still very good, and there will be those who will not see it coming, but I thought it was telegraphed at one point about mid story, and after that, it seemed to become increasing more certain how the story would end as we read further on. Though it is not a minor point, and if a reader does guess how the story will end, they will not be disappointed in the telling. Bennett’s prose is strong, his descriptions are vivid, his plot is engaging, and his characterization is powerful. Mr. Shivers is highly recommended.
--T. T. Zuma
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SPELLBENT by Lucy Snyder, Del Rey; 2010; 368 pgs; $7.99
Lucy Snyder first hit the horror ground running with her stellar Sparks And Shadows collection, garnering a Black Quill Award. Now here she comes with a dazzling first novel that reads so well, one has a hard time believing she’s treading virgin territory. It’s possible the magic she built around her hometown of Columbus, Ohio isn’t so fictional with the way her narrative flows, often blending humor, darkness, and romance within the same chapter, all without apparent effort.
Young, beautiful mage Jessie Shimmer finds her world shattered, literally and figuratively when her boyfriend and sorcerer, Cooper, seemingly casts the mother of all “oops” spells. A hole straight to hell gapes into her reality, sucking her man deep into its maw while spitting out some nastiness that she pray stayed swallowed in the belly of true evil. She winds up alone with her familiar, a funky ferret named Palimpset (Pal) whose wit adds a sidekick humor which offsets her mental and physical injuries. It seems that every denizen of the magical world has an animal familiar who fits the character’s personality and needs. What’s more lovable and witty than a ferret? Certainly not the dragon and hellfire excrement shot out of the opening which leaves Jessie without an eye or right arm, not to mention the ton of help she’ll need to save her lover. Typical bad guy and leader of the local magical world, Jordan, appears more right-wing heavy than spell caster. He strips Jessie of all resources, most of which are her friends and adopted family in a move that reeks of bad politics, sending her on a quest to find not only Cooper but her true history and purpose in this world.
Urban fantasy often yields hit or miss results due to many factors, mostly the cumbersome task of world-building, plotting, and characters who too often seem to be rip-offs of either Harry Dresden or Harry Potter. Snyder deftly sidesteps the pitfalls here with a character which is drawn too humble, honest, and human to be a carbon copy. The ferret foil serves to bring out more of the true Jessie while keeping the familiar “real” and not a cartoonish nuance as in so many other efforts. The supporting cast, mundane and magical, further add to Jessie’s character while she helps to flesh them out into true three dimensional people the reader will be hard pressed not to root for (with the exception of Jordan). Snyder builds her version of Columbus around the plot and action, not the other way around which yields a fast pace that keeps the reader turning as well as learning without getting bogged down in setting or terminology. Who would’ve thought Columbus could actually be this interesting? Maybe all it needed was a little magic here or there, a little spellcasting to chase away the doldrums. It seems the true talent here is in Snyder’s imagination as she takes this small-big town and turns preconceptions on their ears.
Spellbent ends on a pretty cool cliffhanger, which works in Snyder’s favor as it is the first of trilogy. Again, this can be a tricky move for a debut novel, banking on readers coming back for more, yet in her hands, the characters clamor for more and beg for their dilemmas to be resolved. Her world succeeds and prospers due to the realism of the characters and emotions more than the magic and creatures. Sure, those elements are innovative and intriguing, yet that’s probably not what will get her fans to buy the next two books. Highly recommended for any fan of urban fantasy or for those who love losing themselves in a good story.
--Dave Simms
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SCISSORS, by Ray Garton; Leisure; 2010; 322 pgs.; $7.99
Scissors by Ray Garton is delightfully different from most of Garton’s recent mmpb releases that have focused on Vampires and Werewolves. Not only is it a great, mesmerizing tale, it’s really creepy. This is horror fiction that will set every male to grimacing while cupping their genitals, and having every female reader thanking God that this time, it’s a man, not a woman, who’s on the wrong end of a maniac’s blade. So when you crack open Ray Garton’s Scissors, depending on your gender, be prepared for a long night of squirming…or snickering.
In Scissors we meet poor Stuart, who as a child, was brought to the doctor to have the head of his penis examined. His physician, Dr. Ferguson, immediately decides that the opening of Stuart’s urethra is too small and it needs to be widened. Even now, as an adult, Stuart remembers all too well what happened next. Without the benefit of anesthesia, and in the cold confines of the doctor’s office, good old Dr. Ferguson whipped out a pair of scissors and lopped off the tip of Stuart’s penis. To this day, Stuart can hear the sounds of those scissors going snip,-snip, and the pain and humiliation of that act still haunts him to this day.
But did it really happen? As positive as Stuart is that the incident occurred, his mother remembers it differently. She recalls that it was done while Stuart was under sedation, and that it was a scalpel used, not a pair of scissors. So, is Stuart to be believed and pitied? Or do we take his mothers version of the operation and think that Stuart might be a little mentally unbalanced?
Complicating matters for the reader is that Stuart’s mother has memory retention issues, so her version of the operation is suspect in Stuart’s eyes. In addition, we find out that Stuart has been running into Dr. Ferguson lately in some really odd places, like Stuarts back yard and in a near-by video arcade. And both times when Stuart has run into the good doctor, he has his scissors with him, and Dr. Ferguson has made it known to Stuart in those odd encounters that he wants to perform the same operation once more, this time on Stuart’s son. Snip-snip.
Think you can guess where this one is heading? Well guess again. Even reaching the half way point in this novel, readers will be scratching their heads wondering where the heck this story is going. As it turns out, it has one of the most bizarre and entertaining plot lines I’ve read in years and Scissors wound up being the best Ray Garton novel I’ve ever read.
As an added bonus, there’s no anti religious ranting in Scissors (as has been Garton’s want with his past few releases), it’s almost all action. Garton’s characterization in this tale is so strong and so well written that readers will have no problem accepting all the really strange twists and turns this story takes. And holy cow, there are some really weird plot turns in this one.
If you’ve been put off on Garton’s latest releases due to his anti 7th Day Adventist rants, fear not, he’s back to form and it is a joy to read. So for those who enjoy their dark fiction mixed with a healthy batch of surrealism, Scissors comes highly recommended.
--T. T. Zuma
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CURSE OF THE SHAMRA: Life Lessons Stories/Crystal Cave Stories by Barry Hoffman, Gauntlet Press 2010; 68pp; $3.99/$5.99
There’s gotta be a nice, comfy place for Barry Hoffman in the afterlife. With His CURSE OF THE SHAMRA young adult series, he began the 10,000 Book Giveaway – not contest, but just giving the books away to schools who could and would use them. Now, if they were some throwaway idea slapped between two covers, one could understand, but the SHAMRA world rocked (see the full review of the first book in the archives here). Now two companion pieces, Life Lessons Stories And Crystal Cave Stories arrive and are also part of his giveaway. Beyond that, he supplies teachers and parents tools to drive the points he makes home. If only other writers of YA could tap into this as well as Hoffman does…
When he completed the trilogy, he realized he had more to say about Dara and also about The Crystal Cave she explored in the novel. Here are four stories which further delve into her mind and the world Hoffman has created. The final story, “Glimmer” is also available as a free download on his website.
The deeper and more important companion piece is Life Lessons Stories. Each of the three pieces tackles an important issue: selfishness, spousal abuse, and obesity. Both adults and kids can learn a thing from the manner in which Hoffman deals with each. Never preachy, he tells his tale and give each one an alternate ending, allowing the reader to choose their way. Even better yet are the comprehension questions and discussion ideas included at the conclusion of each story. Perfect for any classroom or family, Life Lessons truly are that and suggest solutions but only point readers and families in a direction. Hoffman makes it very clear he only wishes to give ideas for solving these problems which are too prevalent in today’s society.
Extremely recommended reading for students of any age.
--Dave Simms
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KAIKI: UNCANNY TALES FROM JAPAN. Volume 1: Tales of Old Edo selected and introduced by Higashi Masao, Kurodahan Press; 2009; 271pgs; $16.00
Believe it or not, Japanese horror did not begin with “The Ring” or “The Grudge.” Yes, that’s a sarcastic statement but it’s amazing how Americans believe Tokyo just decided to jump on the horror bandwagon, post “Halloween.” Of course, Asian horror has flourished for likely a couple millennia (at the very least) yet has remained largely unheard of by the Western world due to the difficulty in translating the tales properly.
Higashi Masao, a noted Japanese anthologist, critic, and founder of Fantastic Literature Magazine, the country’s first and only to research strange fiction from his homeland, culled together these wonderful and spooky, but at times more fascinating than frightening stories for a trio of books to showcase its vast history of horror. Tales Of Old Edo (what would come to be known as Tokyo is first) begins the procession, with Country Delights And Tales Of The Metropolis rounding out the trilogy, taking readers into the backcountry and ancient villages deep into centuries past before returning them to modern Japan, where technology coexists with a shadowy past full of secrets which refuse to die.
While Robert Weinberg presents the anthology in fine fashion and Lafcadio Hearn (from 1898) introduces weird fiction in a heavy handed manner which seems out of place here, it is Higashi Masao who draws the reader in with “The Origins of Japanese Weird Fiction,” a history of Japanese horror which for the lack of a more superlative term, downright amazing in scope and information. He explains that this collection of Kaiki Shosetsu” (uncanny/strange/fantastic fiction) in a way that separates it the way Americans might separate James-ian ghost stories from Stephen King and Shakespeare’s Hamlet-type horror.
“In a Cup of Tea” begins the anthology, an innocuous title about a samurai who finds the image of a face in his tea followed by the visitation of a warrior. Subtle, but unsettling, which serves as fine introduction to this taste of horror. With story titles such as “The Chrysanthemum Pledge,” “The Futon Room,” and “Here Lies A Flute,” a reader might be quick to write the tales off as fluff without any scares. That would be a huge mistake. True, the horror is quite different than what occurs in American, Italian, or Spanish films or stories, but if expectations are set aside, one will find great treasures within these pages. The collection concludes with a short manga to demonstrate the scope of what’s popular in Japan (and the states).
A fine and welcome taste of horror from another culture – horror readers should definitely take a look for a different view on what scares us (and how).
--Dave Simms
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BLIND PANIC, by Graham Masterton; Leisure; 2010, 326 pg.; $7.99
If you’re an avid horror fan, chances are that you’ve read at least one Graham Masterton novel in your lifetime. And, if you are a Graham Masterton fan, there is a high probability that you’re ecstatic when ever his reoccurring character, Harry Erskine, makes another appearance.
Harry Erskine is a physic, well, a fake physic to be more accurate, who delights in bilking unsuspecting people, mostly old ladies, as to his physic abilities. Erskine is a loveable scamp; he’s extremely charming and affable, and only interested in taking money from those who can afford it. You could say he was a scoundrel with a heart of gold. Harry’s always running into problems in his scam business though. The biggest one is that he continues to run into situations where real supernatural incidents not only intrude into his scheming, they are often bad enough to threaten his life, not to mention all of mankind.
And when Harry gets into these kinds of situations, he finds himself seeking assistance from real physics and shaman, and that’s when the fun begins.
This time around, in Blind Panic, Harry finds himself fighting an old foe, and once again seeking help from a physic friend (whom Harry loves, but she is married to someone else), and from his old pal Singing Rock, a Native American Indian who had died several stories back.
The first chapters in Blind Panic may just be the best opening act not only in any Masterton novel, but also in any horror novel in the past year. For some reason, random people in the United States are suddenly going blind, causing the kind of calamities that every American dreads reading about in the headlines. All over the U. S., planes are falling from the skies and smashing into the ground, and cars are crashing on highways and secondary roads everywhere causing deadly pileups. The casualties are stunning, and the blindness epidemic appears to be spreading with no natural cause or cure. Masterton’s depictions of these disasters are so realistic, you feel like you are in the middle of the carnage. Readers will find themselves chilled to the bone, and in some cases, feel their hearts wrenching from outcome of the devastation.
We soon discover that Harry’s old nemeses, Misquamacus, a long dead Native American Indian, has once again figured out a way to come back from the dead to get his revenge on the White Man that had killed his people and taken over their land. This time, Misquamacus has the help of several demons who are responsible for the blindness that is sweeping over the United States.
While all the trappings are here for a typical Harry Erskine adventure, Masterton has mixed it up a bit for Blind Panic. For one, Erskine is merely part of an ensemble cast; he’s used mostly to drive the plot to its hallucinogenic ending and to provide some humor to ease the tension. Blind Panic features an unusually large of amount of supporting characters for an Erskine novel, with each of them an integral part of the plot. As an example, Masterton has included the President of the United States as one of his main characters, and wait until you read what Misquamacus does to a couple of his secret service agents.
Masterton’s Harry Erskine adventures are usually over the top, balls to the wall, violent tales with no literary pretension. The stories are wild and unbelievable, but somehow he makes them work as great entertainment. They are a simply a lot of fun to read. Readers can’t help but marvel at his imagination as we find ourselves laughing at his black humor and cringing in terror at the horrors he presents us, no matter how wacky the plotline is.
For those old enough to remember the first Harry Erskine novel, The Manitou, released in the 1970’s, it’s refreshing to see that Harry hasn’t changed a bit since saving the world back then. And for those who managed to see the movie version shortly after the novels release, it’s still impossible to imagine anyone else but a middle aged Tony Curtis as Harry Erskine while reading Blind Panic (and for this reviewer, it only made reading Blind Panic that much more fun).
Blind Panic is highly recommended.
--T. T. Zuma
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REUNION by Rick Hautula, PS Publishing; 2009; 119 pgs.; $19.20
In the afterword to Reunion, F. Paul Wilson explains that Rick Hautala couldn’t have pulled off this story back in his horror heyday back in the 1980’s boon. After reading it, readers will likely concur with the statement. The man had to live in order to reminisce, to regret, to wonder “what if?” probably a thousand times about childhood, loves had, lost, and never found. It was worth the wait for this bittersweet coming of age tale that is and isn’t at the same time.
John heads for his fortieth reunion back in his hometown of Rockport, Maine with a feeling in his gut he can’t escape. He made a promise long ago and doesn’t plan on screwing it up now. Teens Jackie and Chris play a dangerous game with cars on their way to crash the reunion, sure to be full of food and drink to be taken. Yet when they cross the treacherous bridge on the way, a mysterious fog rolls in and leaves Jackie with an odd feeling that won’t go away.
What ensues will leave anyone over 30 (okay, maybe a little older) with a nostalgic knot in their soul for the good old days of when freedom meant the summer and the future truly was something amorphous ahead in a fog. Well written and told in a manner that will leave many aching for dimestore candy, games that were created in their imaginations, and friends who truly were.
-- Dave Simms
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THE DEATH PANEL, edited by Cheryl Mullenax; Comet Press; 2009; 207 pgs.; $14.95
If you had to think about it, which genre of literature would come to mind when you read stories containing the following: brutal gangsters, beautiful dames, over the top violence, double bourbons, betrayal (see: beautiful dames), revenge (see: beautiful dames), or wisps of cigarette smoke hovering over the occupants of a corner bar (or even better, an occupied bed)?
If you are a regular reader of crime fiction, the term “noir” would have popped into your head immediately. Now, imagine those same noir scenes intertwined with surreal or horror plot lines consisting of flying monsters, the undead, and other creatures (both human and imagined) that are just as deadly as a pissed off lover with a gun in their hands. If this commingling of genres sets your mouth to watering, the results of this fictional hybrid can be found in The Death Panel.
This mixture of noir, surrealism, and horror fiction is not new. Novels by the likes of Tom Piccirilli, Greg Gifune, and too many others to mention, have mined this sub genre in the past with spectacular results, but for the most part, you just don’t see that many short stories combining these genres. And while The Death Panel leans more heavily toward straight noir or crime fiction, it does contain a healthy dose of noir-surrealism and noir-horror to offer its more extreme, dark fiction readers. And the best part is, is that all 13 stories in The Death Panel are extremely effecting; they will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.
The first four stories in the books line up are without a doubt the highlight of the anthology. Randy Chandler’s, “Lipstick Swastika”, is sex-laden romp about a hotel detectives bid to cure his impotence with a woman who escaped Nazi prosecution (her nickname is The Beautiful Butcher of Auschwitz). And Tom Piccirilli is in brilliant form with his tale, “Blood Sacrifices and the Catatonic Kid”, about two men who break out from a mental hospital, and, like the best of Pic’s stories, you’ll never see the end of this one coming. Brandon Ford’s tale, “The Neighbor”, about a woman who is looking to have her serial killer neighbor knock off her obese husband, is extremely violent, and satisfying. And, “What Makes an Angel Cry” is a brutally bizarre tale of a man’s duel with an angel over their shared love of a demon. This story is so over the top violent and gory, you’ll have to force yourself to keep your eyes on the page for this one.
There are other stories in this book that are also fantastic reads. As usual, Tim Curran is delightful with his tale of gangsters selecting the wrong shipment to hijack, consequences they pay dearly for in “Fly by Night”. And two other tales that are pure noir, “The Hooker In The Backseat” by Eric Williams, and “Detail” by Fred Venturine, are both visceral, punch-to-the-gut tales of revenge.
These noir themed plotlines in the stories presented in The Death Panel are like a deep breath of fresh air; it’s nice to break with convention occasionally and these stories do so wonderfully. I found myself glued to this book, and when finished, I wanted to read more, it was that enjoyable. So if you’re looking for something a little different to read in your horror fiction, a book with stories that are edgy and cool as all hell, then pick up The Death Panel, and then be prepared to be blown away by some of the best genre short story fiction written in the last few years. Yes, this book is that good.
--T. T. Zuma
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SILENT WEAPONS FOR QUIET WARS by Cody Goodfellow, Swallowdown Press, 2009; 195 pgs; $11.95
I must admit that at first I didn’t like Cody Goodfellow. Now I had never met the man, nor at that time had I read any of his stories, but he was just simply getting too much good press, too much praise and I am one of those malcontents that if everybody is raving about a thing I must not like it on principle. Now I don’t know if that is due to me getting burned one too many times listing to the masses or if it’s part of my individual nature I pride myself on having. I do know it’s a rather adolescent reaction and one that I am working on overcoming, albeit very slowly. Case in point, some time back I actually broke down and begrudgingly read one of Mr. Goodfellow’s stories and when I was done I said to myself, “I guess that was ok.” After reading a second story by him I recall thinking, “Wow, that was pretty good,” and after the third Goodfellow tale I found myself thinking, “Damn, he is good.” From that moment I was officially a fan. The reason I mention all this is because Cody Goodfellow won me over despite my initial feelings and that is a remarkable thing. Ok, the personal introspective moment over, so let’s dive into this new collection of fifteen stories by the man that forced me to like him.
This new anthology reprints fifteen of Mr. Goodfellow’s short stories from various sources. The tales are usually set in southern California and Goodfellow does for SoCal what King did for Maine, or more aptly what Lovecraft did for New England. I say the comparison to H.P. Lovecraft is a more apt one because when reading through Cody’s work you can see the Grand Old Gent’s influence throughout. However these tales are not simple pastiches like many “mythos” tales. In fact, they are usually not recognizable as such; instead they take the best part of Lovecraft, his otherworldly feeling of wrongness, and filters that through Cody’s own weird, warped psyche. The horrible, pulsating offspring from that unholy union is repulsive to be sure, but like any good circus freak, or a particularly mangled auto accident, it’s impossible to take your eyes off of it. That is the strength of Goodfellow’s stories. They are very strange, usually a little bit icky, but also so damn compelling.
A far as classification, Cody’s works usually fall under the category of “bizarro”, a subgenre that the always information and highly accurate Wikipedia describes as; “A contemporary literary genre noted for its focus on ‘high weirdness’." Boy, “high weirdness” doesn’t even begin to describe most of the stories contained in Silent Weapons. Perhaps my favorite of the book is “Magna Matter” about a magical video porn booth in a dirty corner of the world and while at first you may think you know where this tale is going, you would be wrong and probably surprised at how touching it turns out. “A Drop of Ruby” starts off with a badly abused twelve-year-old girl found locked in a basement of a burning house. If you think that’s bad things only get worse as the girl’s bewildered psychiatrist begins to investigate history of the very strange girl. “Batteries” is a tiny terror tale that I found to be terrific. It’s about an alternate energy source and while horrifying, don’t worry, it’s 100% green friendly. On the other end of the size spectrum, “Losers, Weepers” is one of the longer stories in the book and is about a couple of garbage men, a very special landfill, a man called The Loser, and the nature of things and people both lost and found. For a tale from another time and place there’s “Feast of the Ixiptla” a fanciful Aztec story about sacrifice that came as a nice diversion from the modern, creepy California stories.
That is only a third of the twisted tales to be found in Silent Weapons but it gives a good cross section of the diversity of odd morsels served up with a smile by Mr. Goodfellow. I highly recommend that you sample them all. Yes they are an acquired taste, but then many exquisite things are. So delay no longer. Get this book today and be prepared to be packed till bursting with the bizarre. Bon appétit.
-- Brian M. Sammons
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DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN by Brian Keene, Leisure; 2010; 264 pgs; $7.99
Brian Keene appears to be a machine, cranking out quality horror at a pretty solid clip, both for Leisure and for the small press, most of which are gobbled up by the horror readers before they can gather dust at the printers. Now that he has begun to stray from the zombie fare which seems to have chewed up most of mainstream horror, he can get back to more creative ideas.
Darkness On The Edge Of Town, obviously named for the Bruce Springsteen song, brings little creativity into the genre and has been released at one of the worst times. Stephen King’s Under The Dome, released just a few months ago, treads the same waters but with about a thousand more pages, and obviously more depth. Now, of course, if a reader wants a similar experience but without the unedited excess, Darkness might be just the prescription for their apocalyptic jones-ing. It seems that the little everyday town of Walden, Virginia sudden is surrounded by an all-encompassing darkness. Robbie, an everyday pizza delivery guy, his girlfriend, and upstairs wacky neighbor, set out to investigate when the town drags their heels. Everyone who ventures into the “darkness”, or deep mist, is never heard from again, unless screaming counts. Nothing is truly explained here but that seems to be Keene’s intention, focusing more on the townspeople than on the nothingness outside of the town limits. Seemingly, whatever’s in the darkness affects the people, bringing out the worst in them, not in a campy, cartoonish manner, but rather by tapping the feelings the characters have but keep at bay, hidden beneath social graces. Keene’s always been adept at turning everyday people inside out and while this novel feels complete, it’s more accessible than King’s monster and easily read in one day.
So while the Darkness is not the deepest of Keene’s work, it still packs a scare and hits readers where they live and feel most comfortable – always a good thing in horror fiction.
--Dave Simms
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COPPING SQUID by Michael Shea, Perilous Press; 2009; 209 pages; $32.95
Michael Shea has been writing wonderful stories set in H.P. Lovecraft’s horrific universe, collectively known as the Cthulhu Mythos, for years and it has been for years that I’ve come across his stories in various magazines and anthologies. However never did I get a big dose of Shea, only delectable, but teasing tidbits. Thankfully Perilous Press, a publisher I have never heard of before but one I plan to get better acquainted from here on out, have decided to rectify that injustice with Copping Squid, a collection of eight of Mr. Shea’s best, and rather lengthy, mythos tales. This book was along time coming, so when I got my grubby little tentacles on it I dove in quickly and happily, but did I enjoy my swim with the Squid or was I left all inky and disappointed? Let’s find out.
The first thing you’ll notice bout this book (and by that I mean the limited hardcover edition) is its look and feel. It measures six by nine inches and has a cover by Steven Gilberts who is well known amongst fans of the Cthulhu Mythos. It has the overall look and feel of an old Arkham House book and that is just fine by me. So just on presentation alone, this collection gets an A+.
However good looks alone will only get you so far, unless you’re in Hollywood, so it’s time to get to the meat of this tome, its time to talk about the stories. The majority of these tales are set in San Francisco, transforming that beautiful city into a west coast version of Lovecraft country. This gives Shea’s tales a feel all their own even if many of the horrors he writes about have been written about before. As for those horrors, he tackles the Great Old Ones head on with his “Tsathoggua”, a tale about the famous fury toad-god-thing first dreamt up by Lovecraft himself and “Dagoniad”, a very good story about a group of people noticing, and being noticed by, the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos for the first time. “Copping Squid” was one of the more interesting and original tales in the book. It draws parallels between drug addiction and getting involved with cosmic horrors. “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit” was not my favorite story of the collection but it does offer a nice selection of famous mythos monsters in it. “The Pool” is about one of my favorite Lovecraftian critters and this story is one of the best tales about this somewhat overused monster. Both “The Battery” and “The Presentation”, while being different enough, do share similar glimpses of what it would be like on the other side of the old “evil cultists worshiping the Great Old Ones” tale. Last but not least there’s “Fat Face.” This was the first Michael Shea story I ever read and it is still by far my favorite. It is a very modern look at Mythos horrors that walk among us with us being none the wiser to their presence until it’s too late.
Michael Shea is a master of writing modern Cthulhu Mythos stories. More than creating simple pastiches, Shea crafts tales that are much more accessible than Lovecraft’s rather dated prose but with frights that are no less chilling. If you have friends who just don’t get your weird fascination with a sleepy squid-headed beastie from below and say that they don’t like reading H.P.L. then give them this book. If they can’t get into these wonderful stories then there’s just no hope for them. As for you if you do “get it”, if you would consider yourself a true Cthulhuhead, then you must get this book. Until the time when the Stars at long last become Right and the Old Ones come back, this book is the next best thing.
- - Brian M. Sammons
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