Horror World Book Reviews
November, 2010
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Draculas (A Novel of Terror) by J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and F. Paul Wilson, Amazon Digital Services; 2010; $2.99
It seems that with every passing day I become more and more jaded with the horror genre. What with once great authors publishing at best average books, great authors not getting the coverage and readership they deserve and the constant in fighting that appears to be rampant among some quarters of the small press. One of the first casualties was my love for the vampire novel. The once great vampire novel has been slowly but surely worn away to some sparkly whinny brat pining for some sad little emo bit of skirt.
Draculas, marks the first ever collaboration between four of the genres true experts. J A Konrath author of the Jack Daniels series of crime novels, Jeff Strand author of such classics as Dweller and Mandibles, Blake Crouch author of Abandon, and Desert Places and finally F Paul Wilson author of the brilliant Repairman Jack Series, and Midnight Mass, one of my favourite vampire novels.
So what happens when four genre heavyweights team up to write a proper vampire novel, is this going to be a rumble in the jungle or something more akin to a hobo fight?
The story kicks of with Mortimer Moorecook a millionaire who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He purchases a skull dug up from a field in Transylvania, purported to be that of a vampire. Once in his possession he proceeds to "bite" himself with the skull Which causes him to collapse and be rushed to the local hospital. Where all hell soon breaks loose. Within a short space of time nearly everyone has been turned in to an animalistic rampaging vampire.
Sometimes with collaborative novels you can feel the seams where the receptive author his stitched there part of the story into the narrative. This is not the case here, what follows is a seamless piece of fiction, that thunders along like a freewheeling juggernaut. The writing is tight, fast paced, full of action and horror, with a nice touch of humour running through it. One of my favourite characters Clay, the gun obsessed cop, could have, in lesser hands turned into a cliché ridden mess. However, the skill at which he has been written turns him into a sheer joy. yes he names his guns, yes he even modifies his guns and quotes lines from Dirty Harry movies, but this just adds to the fun of the character.
Beware, this is a gore ridden novel, these vampires for the most part are unthinking animals, only concerned with ripping the last drop of blood from their victims bodies. Finally the vampire novel has found its bite again.
In this day of digital, it is common practice to have added value, Draculas is brimming with it. The story only accounts for roughly half the page count, you also get bonus material by the bucket load
a clickable table of contents
- a round-robin interview with Strand, Wilson, Crouch, and Kilborn about writing Draculas
- deleted scenes
- two alternate endings
- four excerpts from the authors’ other works
- the short story “Serial” by Crouch and Kilborn
- the short story “Cub Scout Gore Feast” by Kilborn and Strand
- the short story “A Sound of Blunder” by Kilborn and Wilson
- author biographies
- comprehensive clickable bibliographies
- an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the writing of DRACULAS, delivered through a collection of over seven hundred emails between the writers as they were brainstorming and writing the book.
These extras are worth the meagre price of the book itself.
If you want watered down vamps then go somewhere else. If you want in my opinion the best Vampire novel of the last ten years, then buy this and devour it in one sitting. Find the time turn the lights down low and prepare yourself for one hell of a read.
--Jim Mcleod
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Secret Vengeance by F. Paul Wilson; Gauntlet; 272 pgs.; $55 Signed HC, THC $15.99
Sometimes the line between YA and “adult” fiction blurs so much that all the reader is left with is great storytelling. When that line disappears completely, chances are that the person holds a gem of a book in his or her hands.
F. Paul Wilson dove into the world of YA fiction with his young Repairman Jack trilogy, many fans wondered how the famed antihero would develop and how the character could still be a good role model for younger readers. Whoever felt concern quickly felt it fade away as Wilson crafted the young teen as a conflicted but good-hearted protagonist attempting to find himself amidst the struggles of beginning high school while finding himself to be a proverbial square peg.
Sounds just like the average teenager, doesn’t it?
Just toss in a little supernatural element and global conspiracy and one could see how a boy becomes one of the most identifiable series characters in fiction.
Whereas the first two installments (Secret Histories & Secret Circles) focused mainly on the “Secret History of the World” which comes to fruition in later Repairman Jack novels, this novel is decidedly a much more human entry. Secret Vengeance picks up after Circles left off, after friends Weezy and Eddie helped Jack uncover some more of the Ancient Septimus Fraternal Order Lodge mysteries while recovering a missing child.
Weezy calls Jack and needs to talk, in person, now. She tells him of the super jock who took her on a date, only to attack her in the middle of the Pine Barrens. She got away but won’t go to the police. Jack feels a “darkness” rising within him and wishes the guy hurt badly, or worse. The nice but tough boy readers fell for earlier begins to feel a transformation, both through his own urges and through destiny riddled encounters with Lodge members, mysterious townsfolk, and “Pineys” who give him cryptic riddles that RP fans might recall throughout the cycle of books. The vengeance he does seek against the brute rings both honest and what a clever teen could actually accomplish, as well as damn funny. The relationship between Jack and Weezy becomes heartfelt but also very age appropriate. Wilson knows teens and how they think – the dialogue and action emerge honest and without effort. Young Jack struggles, just as the adult Jack does, both with moral decisions and with his own feelings.
For those readers who have followed Repairman Jack from The Tomb all the way to Fatal Error, this book becomes a required staple in learning the character’s history and emergence into the man legions love and anticipate new adventures from. For those younger readers, it reads like a kind of young Indiana Jones, but in an everyday kid manner. Jack’s smart, but not infallible. He’s becoming aware of something much bigger than himself, but clouded by his humanity to not let it consume him. Wilson has become an icon by writing real people behaving in real ways even though they are put in sometimes extremely unreal situations. The prose, as always, cuts right down to the heart of the matter and brings the reader straight into the story.
-- David Simms
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THE SCREAM QUEEN’S SURVIVAL GUIDE, by Meredith O’Hayre; Adams Media; 2010; 211 pgs.; $12.95
A year or so ago I reviewed a little book by Seth Grahame-Smith Called How To Survive A Horror Movie. This new book by Meredith O’hayre reminds me a lot of that earlier book and that’s a very good thing. Scream Queen is pretty much the same idea; a humorous what to do, look out for, and how to list for you to follow if you should ever find yourself suck in a real life horror movie and want to make it out alive. This time around there is a slight feminine point of view, as befitting the Queen in the title, but for the most part this is a good guide for both sexes when facing drooling zombies, chainsaw wielding psychos, creepy little kids, and even the devil himself.
In addition to the expected funny survival tips to all the old tropes used in horror flicks, the book offers a few unique tidbits along the way that I really enjoyed. Scattered throughout are sections called “My Bad: F-ups on Film” where the author gives examples of gaffs and boo-boos from famous fright flicks. One of my favorites was one that I missed in the Amityville Horror 2005 remake where the stars drive over to Starbucks for a nice latte…despite the movie being set in 1975. And yet the book does make some boo-boos of its own, like when it lists Duel as Stephen King’s first movie, it was actually Steven Spielberg’s first. Turn about is fair play and all that. There’s fun and informative bits of Japanese remakes, slashers, vampires, and all sorts of bump-in-the-night-boogiemen, each accompanied by survival tips and a quite from the Scream Queen herself. Furthermore the sources are wide and deep for this book, from the creakiest of classics to the most current fright flicks like Daybreakers and HBO’s True Blood series. There’s even a nice appendix of “Must-see Scary Flick” at the end of the book, but with such films as Turistas and Urban Legneds: The Final Cut are on the “must-see” list I’ve really got to question the author’s horror street cred.
If you are a horror movie junkie like me you’ll love The Scream Queen’s Survival Guide, it’s a fun, and funny, quick read that manages to impart a fair bit of horror info and trivia along the way. If you are not a horror fan…then I don’t think you’re reading this anyway, but who knows, this book just might make you a fan. Hey, weirder things have happened after all.
-- Brian M. Sammons
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The House of Lost Souls by F.G. Cottam; Thomas Dunne Books; 352 pgs.; $24.99
Whenever a “haunted house” novel appears on the shelves these days, chances are that it’s a hackneyed effort, although a few have bucked the trend (Little’s THE HOUSE & Sokoloff’s The Unseen). Some have garnered excessive praise in the past year, yet again, have failed to live up to the standards set by Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, or Stephen King (the obvious classics of years past ala Poe are assumed here).
For those who happened upon F.G. Cottam’s debut, they know a diamond was found in the middle of a vast beach of sea glass. Arguably the best book of the year, at least in its genre, whatever that may be (literary, horror, historical), The House Of Lost SOULS defies first novel mistakes and reads like a classic. Gothic in tone, literary in scope, and obvious in his knowledge of the actual classics before him, Cottam has penned a tale which resembles a matryoshska doll. Usually, excessive backstories or flashbacks sink novels. This time, they make the novel. Three storylines, all related, yet standalone-worthy, are told in reverse, from current to past as the characters discover what evil truly is and how it relates to their lives.
Paul Seaton, middle-aged and damaged, is enlisted by Nick Mason to find out what happened to his sister. She participated in a college experiment in the Fischer House, a psychically alive dwelling which has ties to both Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley, both of whom have parts in this novel. She survived, but just barely. Don’t let the fact that Mason is a special ops expert turn your attention away; that skill doesn’t help one bit here. Psychological strength wins here at every turn.
However, Paul has been to the Fischer house once before. Asked by his girlfriend ages ago, he encountered something which shook and left the foundation of his soul cracked. In search of and enamored by the journal of photographer Pandora Gibson-Hoare, goaded on by the terrible mysteries left in her journal, Paul finds something that should have been left alone (Pandora’s box, maybe?)
In her journal, the oldest of the three threads here, the origin of the house is told. As the seemingly final “doll” is unveiled, Karl Fischer, owner of the house and tied to the Nazis, has quite a group of friends. Most readers will be familiar with Aleister Crowley, and most should be with Dennis Wheatley. There role in attempting to conjure up some serious business with entities which can empower them with riches of many forms.
How these stories intersect and build upon each other is nothing short of brilliant. A novel that finds itself at home both in present time and a century prior, House excels in characterization and setting. His painting of the relationship between Seaton and Pandora drives the entire story, in all three time periods.
This is what provides the scares which, given time to sink in, under the helm of Cottam’s writing, transfixes the reader and coaxes him or her to forget its only a story like the best books can do. Recommended as the best debut of this year, easily
--David Simms
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The Cannibal Within, by Mark Mirabello; www.amazon.com; 2005; $3.95
If you’re up for it, take a few minutes and try to think of some of the most disgusting, unnatural, and torturous things that someone, or something, is capable of inflicting on another human being. Let your imagination run wild and don’t limit yourself to any the scenes you may have read form a mass market or a small press horror book. Try to push yourself to think beyond those slasher films that are only shown late at night on pay cable (even the ones that promise a Director’s Cut), or those extreme Asian movies that you rent and watch when no one else is around. I would bet that even if you took a full 24 hours, chances are that you couldn’t come up with something as blatantly sick and nasty as the contents of this Kindle release.
The Cannibal Within begins with a young woman visiting a history professor and delivering to him a short, hand written journal. This journal turns out to be a chronicle of the physical debauchery and the mental anguish the woman had been subjected to over the last few years. Between her discussions with the professor and the contents of the journal, we read of her time spent with a special group of beings that are not only superior to all life on our planet, but in fact use us human beings for sexual fodder and snack food.
This woman relates the story of how when she was younger, she and her friend (both unattractive and socially abused loners) had taken it upon themselves to call up Satan and offer themselves over to him in the hopes of finally being accepted. Instead of Satan, what they conjure up is a different demon, a Transhuman, who immediately eats her friend alive and then rapes the young girl and enslaves her. Over the course of years, this young woman has no choice other than to satisfy this Transhuman sexually and to repeatedly birth his offspring. Which of course, are then used to feed the demon’s ravenous appetite. To say that this demon debases the young woman in the most sadistic and filthy ways does not even begin to do justice to how sick this book can get.
The story is broken up into two sections; the first is a straight narrative of the young girl’s tale, while the second is set up to explain rather clinically, what the Transhumans are and their history. The first part of the story bears the weight of the tale, is the most engaging, and for some readers, it might actually be considered titillating. But, I thought the last portion of the book rather boring and repetitive and I found myself skipping over major portions of it.
For those who might be thinking of purchasing this story but may not because they might feel a bit guilty reading it, you can always justify it with the fact that the author is a history professor as well as an instructor of Alternate Religions and Cults at Shawnee State University. That alone should convince anyone catching you reading it, that this story is basically an existential study of the human condition and not just an erotically charged, filthy horror tale. And for those who would pass on this story, I would tell them that they aren’t really missing all that much.
--T. T. Zuma
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Evolve edited by Nancy Kilpatrick; EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy; 352 pgs.; $39.99
Nancy Kilpatrick knows vampires. Her series “Power of the Blood” series hit the fourth volume mark earlier this year and eschews the tired clichés of the trope. She also knows Canadian writers, so the fact that Evolve consists of 23 short stories and 1 poem entirely by those north of the border is no surprise. What is surprising though is that most of the tales here work, and like Kilpatrick, shy away from the tried and true.
Some of the best entries here are by Steve Vernon, Bev Vincent, Gemma Files, Rio Youers, Heather Clitheroe, and Colleen Anderson. Those not mentioned do not mean they are not worthy here as just about all fit the anthology well and proves that Kilpatrick knows a good story. The main thrust of this collection is 21st century vamps – all set past Y2K – which forces the writers to leave most of the moldy conventions behind and face the fangs of the future (sorry for the biting punnery).
If you’re tired of the undead who have become too long in the tooth, too romantic, or too comedic, try a little northern exposure for a little frost-“bite.” My apologies for a review which bleeds from jokes that suck.
--David Simms
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Zombiewood Weekly, by Rob Sacchetto and Jeremy Walsh; Ulysses Press; 2010; 64 pgs.; $14.95
This odd little book looks like a tabloid magazine in both appearance and size, albeit one that would be printed in a world overrun by sentient, celebrity undead. Well as sentient as the usual Hollywood types are, at any rate. The whole thing is a showcase for artist Rob Sacchetto who became famous for taking celebrities, both past and present, and doing hyper-gory portraits of what they would look like if they were zombies. Based on that someone thought it would be a great idea to gather up some of those paintings, bind them, and catch the wave of zombie-love that’s all over the literary horror genre at the moment. Along with the silly, and more than slightly sickening, illustrations, author Jeremy Walsh adds some tantalizing, titillating text the likes of which you would expect to find in a checkout-line rag like The National Enquirer and Star, to name only a few.
Essentially a one-note joke, the book offers cool grisly pics of undead beautiful people looking not so pretty, and it does cover a nice wide array of celebrity corpses, from Elvis to Laday Gaga, Bob Hope to Tiger Woods, and everyone in between, but that’s pretty much all it has going for it. It’s a light, breezy read that zombiephiles may get a kick out of. If you are a true zombie lover then this might be a nice thing to flick through every so often when you need a gory giggle, but if you’re not a die hard undeadhead then there’s no real reason to get this.
--Brian M. Sammons
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The End of the Line; edited by Jonathan Oliver; Solaris Books; 2010; 374 pgs; £7.99
The subterranean world of the underground has provided the ideal setting for countless stories, novels and films. To prove that the subject is far from exhausted, here it comes a new horror anthology aimed to further explore the disquieting secrets of the London Tube and other similar places from all over the world (the Los Angeles metro, the New York Subway, the Paris Metro, the Liverpool underground system and so on).
The nineteen new tales assembled by editor Jonathan Oliver are penned by the likes of Ramsey Campbell, Christopher Fowler, Joel Lane, Gary McMahon, Conrad Williams, just to mention a few.
Predictably, while some stories really hit the target, other tales simply don’t work either because of the lack of originality or because of the excess of it, sometimes just scratching the surface of the theme (no pun intended), sometimes using it apparently as a mere pretext to follow other, more personal fictional avenues.
The volume, however, includes some beautiful stories which deserve to be especially mentioned.
In “”The Lure” Nicholas Royle reminisces about the past (including a short affair with an older woman) which led him up and down along the Paris metro, while in “23:45 Morden (via Bank)”, Rebecca Levene provides a gloomy example of urban alienation triggered by a ride on the wrong underground train.
Al Ewing (“The Roses That Bloom Underground”) contributes a puzzling tableau of London, in which, unaccountably, the Tube becomes a world of beauty and Adam L G Nevill ( “On All London Underground Lines” ) cleverly demonstrates how horror may simply arise from the nightmarish effects of multiple service failures making the underground a living inferno. Working on a similar note James Lovegrove pens the excellent, claustrophobic “Sliding 13” where the horrific, inevitable ending is nothing compared with the sheer horror of an impossibly overcrowded train.
“The Girl in the Glass” by John L Probert is the enjoyable report of a haunting by a girl not quite dead but staying in a ITU, who keeps appearing in the Central Line of the London Tube while “Bullroarer” by Paul Meloy employs the anthology theme to offer the vivid, pitiless portrait of a loser.
In Simon Bestick’s “The Sons of the City” the attempt to build an underground system in Manchester reveals a hidden underworld of mutants living in the city’s bowels.
“Missed Connection” by Michael Marshall Smith is a veritable nightmare in which a man gets lost and dislocated into a different dimension at a station of the London Tube.
Finally, to me the best story in the volume is the outstanding, terrifying “Fallen Boys” by Mark Morris, set in the heart of a disused mine, where a visiting class of schoolchildren has to witness a terrible vengeance from a dark past. Great stuff indeed.
-- Mario Guslandi
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The Best Horror Of The Year, Edited by Ellen Datlow, Night Shade Books, 310 pgs; $15.95
Beginning with her usual summation of all things Horror in the year 2009, which will be familiar to readers of the late Years Best Fantasy and Horror series, Ellen Datlow serves up 17 Horror stories that run the the stylistic gamut. No matter what your Horror tastes, there's bound to be something on the menu that appeals to you.
Datlow makes an interesting Editorial choice, bookending the collection with pieces that pay homage, in a very direct manner, to Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of The Red Death. The book opens with Suzy McKee Charnas' Lowland Sea, which revolves around a group of filmmakers trying to ride out an apocalyptic plague in an impenetrable mansion, and finishes with John Langan's Technicolor, about a College Professor teaching a very unusual lesson revolving around the deconstruction of Poe's classic tale.
Both are excellent, and they work perfectly as and entrance and exit points from the collection. In between those stories, it's somewhat of a mixed bag, with the good (And VERY good...) far outweighing the bad. Standouts include Reggie Oliver's bizarre, creepy Mrs. Midnight, an outrageous spin on the Jack The Ripper legends and Every Thing I Show You Is A Piece Of My Death, by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer, which would make a great "Found footage" movie. The premise alone is enough to cause some uneasy nights, and the execution is flawless. I've never read a story by Files that I wasn't blown away by. There are excellent contributions by Glen Hirshberg, Michael Marshall Smith, Kaaron Warren, Norman Prentiss (Who I think will wind up being someone whose talent bears serious watching....), and Stephen Graham Jones. Dale Bailey & Nathan Ballingrud's contribution, The Crevasse, is well-done, but it's such a pure Lovecraft pastiche that it doesn't deliver anything we haven't seen before by the master himself.
Overall, it's a solid collection, with a lot of stories that will be new to even the most well-read Horror aficionados. I can think of a few stories that I would have left out, and a few others that should have made the cut, but that kind of guessing game is part of the fun with this kind of anthology. Mileage may vary, depending on personal tastes, but chances are that something here will click with you. Datlow rounds out the book with a few pages of honorable mentions, which should give you a few other things to put on your "To read" list.
--Daniel Reilly
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Gardens of Night, by Greg Gifune; Uninvited Books; 247 pgs.; 2010; H.C. $60.00
I don’t know if I ever read a book where I found myself physically trembling as I approached its end, but Gardens of Night certainly had that effect on me. Gardens of Night is without a doubt one of his most harrowing and powerful books Greg Gifune has ever written. The novel is a dizzying account of a man who has experienced a tragedy so profound that it may have warped his reality. And Gifune’s accounting of this mans life after this tragedy is akin to documenting a hallucinogenic nightmare.
Something bad has happened to Marc and his wife Brooke. Something really bad. Though Brooke has been able to push the occurrence aside and go on with their lives, Marc has had the opposite reaction. Physically weak and psychologically disturbed, Marc finds himself at the mercy of his wife’s overbearing and protective nature, his doctor’s scrutiny, and the gaggles of medication prescribed to sedate him. Marc is confused and frustrated by his condition and even with the good intentions of his wife and friend, he doesn’t seem able to get it together to put himself right. And things seem to be getting worse for him.
Not only is Marc’s sanity coming into question, but his very mortality seems to be in jeopardy. He’s been having visions, terrifying and bloody ones, consisting of a group of nuns and unsettling violence. These horrible visions are counterbalanced by the soothing singing of whales and the unexplained relief they may bring him. He explains these visions and ghostly songs to his doctor who is trying, in vein it appears, to help him put them into some kind of perspective.
Worried about his health, Brooke and their mutual friend Spaulding decide a week spent in the country together, in a borrowed cabin, might help Marc relax and assist with his healing. This trip turns out to be a nothing like any of them imagined and becomes a discovery of sorts, and sadly, and epiphany for Marc.
Like the best of Gifune’s work, Gardens of Night explores the contradictory natures of religion and faith, juxtaposing them with the absolute truth of evil. The author has also done a stunning job of exhibiting how anger born of violence has the devastating effect of disassociating one from others, and its ability to define someone for the remainder of their lives.
Gifune takes his time in Gardens of Night, he’s in no rush to get to the meat of Marc’s story or the terror that in store for the reader. He also peppers the story with artifacts from Norse and Greek mythology, which are not only crucial to the plot line, but a metaphor for Marc’s dispirited nature. Gardens of Night works on so many levels and Gifune succeeds brilliantly on all of them.
And as I mentioned at the top of this review, I can’t remember when a book affected me as much as Gardens of Night has; this book is terrifying. The only other novel that I could compare this book to would be Gary Braunbeck’s, Prodigal Blues, and that’s one of the highest compliments I think I could give any novel.
This is the first release from Rob Dunbar’s new imprint, Uninvited Books, which has promised to publish intelligent horror that digs deep into a readers thoughts and root themselves long after the last page has been read. If Gardens of Night is any indication of what Uninvited Books has in store for us, plan on putting every release from this publisher on the shelf for safe keeping. Because if those future releases are anything like Gardens of Night, you’ll find yourself pulling these books out and rereading them, over and over again.
-- T. T. Zuma
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The Skull Ring by Scott Nicholson; Haunted Computer Books; 160 pgs.; $2.99 Kindle Edition
Scott Nicholson has found new life in the world of the Kindle, which gives inspiration to many horror lovers to break down and make the purchase. Author of the Stoker finalist The Red Church and brilliant novels such as The Home, The Farm, and The Harvest, Nicholson feels most at home when he sets his stories in Appalachian territory. He knows this land inside and out – the people, the myths and legends, the truth about what lies within the Blue Ridge Mountains – and how to lay it out in words so that he can scare the living crap out of even the most jaded reader.
The Skull Ring begins with Julia Stone in therapy attempting to work out her demons (no pun intended) after a childhood memory brings out images of black-hooded men, Satanism, and her father. Sound familiar? Cliched? Sure, but please keep reading. Nothing is simple in Nicholson’s hands and it sure isn’t in this case, either. Dr. Forrest, an overly aggressive psychiatrist with many issues of her own (big surprise there – shrinks can’t ever be normal, in fiction or real life, can they?), prods her patient into believing her father abused her on that fateful night when he disappeared.
Of course, it ain’t that simple. It never is, is it? A master southern storyteller flips his cards over only when he has to and does so here, beginning with what seems to be a simple tale of a cult, family issues, and bad therapy. As Julia digs into her past, everyone around her sheds their masks. Boyfriend Mitchell becomes a bigger prick than she thought. Police attached to the cold case suddenly arise in her small town. The nice neighbor and handyman isn’t what he seems but is he on her side or against her? The infamous Skull Ring, complete with the name “Judas Stone” written inside it, turns up and page by page, Nicholson twists the tension into a story that goes much farther than expected.
Scott Nicholson’s wit and coloring of characters is what sets him apart from most and The Skull Ring is no different.
--David Simms
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Endurance, by Jack Kilborn; Amazon Digital Services; 2010; $ 2.99
Are Leisure Book’s financial problems giving you Richard Laymon withdrawal pains? Well hang in there because a bit of relief may be just a mouse click away! And why is that you might ask? Because with Endurance, Jack Kilborn delivers the next best thing to a brand new Laymon novel than fans could ask for. Kilborn (a.k.a. J.A. Konrath) has written one hell of a fun and action filled tale featuring incest, murderous freaks, gory violence, bondage, mutilations, and over the top sex that mostly takes place takes place at a hotel in a woodland setting. Stir in some snappy dialogue and a man-eating creature into the mix and you’ve got all the ingredients for a great Richard Laymon-like novel.
Endurance is character rich, featuring several arcs with emotionally and physically strong women. These characters compete in a women’s triathlon held each year in a remote section of West Virginia, who, either by invitation or accident find themselves staying at a hotel called The Rushmore Inn located about 45 minutes away from the triathlon. It doesn’t take too long for readers to discover that every triathlon participant who has checked into the Inn has never been seen or heard from again.
In Endurance, we are first introduced to Maria, a young woman who is soon to be married as she checks into the Rushmore Inn. We follow along with Maria as we given a tour of the hotel and we soon discover that the Inn is as bizarre as it gets. The owner is a matronly looking woman who has a fascination with United States Presidents, whose pictures seem to occupy every wall and empty space at the Inn. Even the rooms are named after the Presidents and there are statues of them in the front lobby. The owner also names her children after the Presidents, all 40 plus of them (yes, you read that right). After the tour, when Maria has settled into her room, weird things start to happen to her. Before you know it, she is captured…and put to use.
A year later, during the next triathlon, we are introduced to a large number of people who will be staying at the Inn. These people include a family of three women, a legless athlete (and the reporter who is smitten with her), and Maria’s fiancé and brother who have come to the event to further investigate her disappearance. Soon after readers meet these characters, the action in Endurance throttles up and the blood flows easily and gruesomely.
As I mentioned at the start of this review, Endurance embraces many of the plot devices and eccentric character portrayals that Richard Laymon is so well known for. Whether he meant to or not, Kilborn has done an excellent job in capturing Laymon’s spirit and playfulness in this novel, making Endurance one hell of a exciting, extreme, and fun filled read. And for those that need an added incentive to pick this one up, Kilborn writes that Endurance was originally scheduled to be released as a mass market paperback this year, but the publisher, after reading the final version of the manuscript, refused to release it because it was so extreme. Because of that, Endurance is only available as an e book download, and at under three bucks its one heck of a bargain.
--T. T. Zuma
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In Sickness by Laura Coney & LL Soares; Skullvines Press; 196 pgs.; $14.99
Marriage. Over the course of thousands of years, it has been the source of many horrors. Most will only be known within the household where locked doors hide secrets that would provide toe-curling of the most heinous kind. Writers who are married can funnel that terror into their stories, providing a free, highly successful therapy with dividends which can lead to riches, awards, and bloodthirsty fans.
Then some have to go and light the fuse to a bomb unlike no other. Writer marries writer. Horrors ensue. Blood sheds. Demons spew forth curses unheard for millennia.
Then there’s the stories they create.
Cooney & Soares have been a growing force on the horror scene for some time – alone – but aside from the death wish of marriage, they team here together for IN SICKNESS.
Scary as hell, but damned good writing.
Cooney’s five tales have a distinctive taste to them with “Number 808” leading the quintet. Quite unsettling and full of revenge, she shows she can stand toe to toe with “The Hirstute You,” (I mean Soares). The previous title refers to a fine haiku, not her better half. “A Crown of Thorns” is her best entry here, a tale about Rasputin which showcases her lean, witty prose.
Then Soares makes his entrance with “Little Black Dress” which follows a young woman along her journey of self-discovery and transformation. “Private Exhibition” could be the strongest, and most disturbing story here as Soares seems to have no fears about going too far, or bursting through boundaries (quite a good trait to have in a writer). However, the deepest cut on this reviewer’s soul was rendered by “The No! Place.” It dares you to finish it without cringing yet also touches something else within anyone who has the unfortunate experience to know someone touched by abuse.
It’s a surprise to no one that the title novella brings home the bacon for the wedded couple. Darker than inside the closets we hide, afraid to rattle the bones within, it follows another married pair. Beset by their own demons, they fight for and against themselves in a tale that isn’t too far from the truth of what likely happens on many local streets in familiar neighborhoods. Collaborations usually elicit mixed results. Not here. These two talented writers could start a new trend. This reviewer will be waiting.
Along with strong illustrations by Valerie Dorato (cover) and Michael Sizemore (inside), this collection is something that has no peer.
All readers will be rewarded but those whose souls are bound forever will shiver long into the night.
--Dave Simms
* * * * * * *
The Wild Hunt, by James A. Moore; Side Show Press; 200 pgs.; $20.00
As he has done in the past, Eric Fulford decides to go to an outing with a small group of friends that he’s known for most of his life. And even though Eric had a petty good time with his buddies at this years outing, he thought it a pretty routine gathering with nothing about it particularly out of the ordinary. But then, later on, he discovers that a few of his buddies did something pretty horrible while they were there, something he knew nothing about. As a consequence, someone is now looking for Eric and his buddies…and that someone is looking for revenge. And even though Eric had no involvement with the incident, he has been found guilty by association. So, unfortunately for Eric, everyone he holds dearly in his life is now in danger of being slaughtered.
Eric finds himself in this predicament along with the four other buddies he was with on that outing, three of which who were directly involved with the incident. And as bad as all this sounds for Eric and his friends, it gets worse. It seems the incident involved the tortuous death of a female. A woman as it turns out who was not human.
And neither are the pack of men seeking revenge against Eric and his friends.
The plot of The Wild Hunt as outlined above may seem familiar to readers, but in James Moore’s hands it’s anything but. I can honestly say this is one of the freshest stories I’ve read in a long time involving human prey and the monster’s that hunt them. And like our most revered contemporary horror novelists, Moore’s plotting in The Wild Hunt delivers more than the obligatory thrills and chills; he gives us cause to pause between pages.
The Wild Hunt has a depth to it that belies its page count with Moore’s subtly introducing twin treatises on redemption and damnation. But the kicker is, is that the moral reasoning and value judgments that readers are presented with come from a unexpected source.
Long after they’ve turned the last page, readers will be reliving and dissecting this story. Would we have placed the same value on friendship as some of the characters did in this tale? Are we as capable of forgiving as some of those characters were in the story? That’s the great thing about The Wild Hunt…James Moore makes introspection so much fun.
-- T. T. Zuma
* * * * * * *
Fungus of the Heart by Jeremy Shipp; Raw Dog Screaming Press; 164 pgs.; $14.95
Jeremy Shipp. Sounds like a safe enough, normal enough name. However, for those fortunate enough to have read him, they know he harbors a very dark carnival in his soul, a bizarre circus midway between his ears that yields prizes of bittersweet fiction.
His earlier work easily fit the “bizarro” label, if someone can fit into such a subgenre. Novels like Vacation and the scary-freakin-good Cursed (which should’ve at least garnered a tie for the Stoker) took readers into places most authors haven’t gone before, at least successfully. Raw Dog is one of the few publishers brave, and smart enough, to gamble on such a talent. Yet the man is evolving, changing, even maturing. Whereas the excellent Sheep And Wolves gave the reader a more lighthearted approach to his stories, Fungus Of The Heart wipes away that awkward grin Shipp’s prose usually leaves his readers – at least somewhat.
The Fungus Shipp speaks of here refer to that which grows on the human heart. We’ve all been there, unfortunately. Even those of us who have found the ultimate happiness have scars which remind us of the dark past whose path we traveled. Love sucks, even when it works because of the rusty, uneven blade it wields. It leaves a greasy residue on what pumps our life and Shipp takes hold of that reality in a style that is all his – and more. It’s as if he was put through the wringer with a character, a love only he could create.
The only title needed to name here in this collection of 13 is “The Sun Never Rises In The Big City.” Of course, all are worthy of being “Shipp-ly” but this truly captures his intent, voice, and dirty, dark soul.
--Dave Simms
* * * * * * *
Little Drummer Boy by Scott Nicholson; Haunted Computer Books; 160 pgs.; $2.99 Kindle Edition
Scott Nicholson shows once again here that a Kindle only edition of a novel does not mean it’s a lesser effort. Not by a long shot. His voice, replete with a drawl smoother and with a bite as pleasurable as a long swig of Jack Daniels, sings here with a great tale steeped in southern mountain flavor.
Anytime there’s a Civil War re-enactment, not much good can come of it (in fiction, anyway) except for some fun and giving some good ole boys a little fun, thinking things might have come out differently south of the Mason-Dixon line (in the opinion of this Yankee reviewer). It seems that a garrison of Robert E. Lee’s finest deserters has been trapped in the “Jangling Hole” for more than four scores (actually close to 7) and thanks to developers, has been let loose.
A troubled sheriff, misfit kid, and knowing old man aim to end the curse once and for all. The story, if laid out here, doesn’t ring as complex or knotted, yet that’s what Nicholson does – taking a tale seemingly simple and with a voice both steeped in southern culture and a talent which reads like the best of his kind
Again, one can’t go wrong with anything written by Scott Nicholson. Download it.
--David Simms
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