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TROLLEY NO. 1852 by Edward Lee (2009 Bloodletting Press / hc)
Have you ever wondered: "What would it be like if H.P. Lovecraft had written smut?"
If you hadn’t wondered that, and now you’ve had to, and your brain went places Man Was Not Meant To Know, leaving you curled up in a ball whimpering … sorry.
If you had wondered it, well then, wonder no more! Because Edward Lee has given what’s got to be pretty much the most decisive answer to that question.
Lee, drawing upon his incredible knack – or curse – for vivid description, may be the only one who could have taken such a notion and done it justice.
Squishy justice. Utter, eldritch, squamous, cyclopean, cthonian, rugose justice. And lewd, perverse, freakishly-titillating, disturbing justice.
Trolley No. 1852 is set in 1930s New England, with Lovecraft himself as the protagonist. Though, in true Lovecraftian form, the book takes on a nesting-doll kind of aspect, tales within tales.
So, the outermost nesting doll begins with the talented writer is in dire financial straits when he receives an invitation to contribute to a "privately-circulated periodical" titled Erotesque. It’s smut … but it is smut that pays well … and with the buffer of a pseudonym, he chooses practicality over any sense of prudish pride.
The piece Lovecraft devises to submit to this magazine is "Trolley No. 1852," by ‘Winfield Greene.’ This brings us to the second nesting doll, the story itself. It’s a first-person accounting from the point of view of one Morgan Phillips, who ventures into the sordid underbelly of New York life in search of his sister.
The quest eventually leads him to ‘The 1852 Club,’ an exclusive brothel reached by private trolley car. It’s like no house of ill repute he’s ever heard of before. The whores are young and beautiful, their services are entirely free, and the mysterious madam has the peculiar habit of collecting all the used prophylactics.
Mr. Phillips, proving to be a man of unusual endowment and stamina, is an instant hit with the working girls. But when he stows away on the trolley instead of going obediently home like the brothel’s other patrons, his continued efforts to find his sister lead him to discover the madam’s secret, and the otherworldly beings the madam serves.
Just about every act, combination and position imaginable – and some that probably would be better off left unimagined – are described in great detail. The style and language throughout are eerily true to Lovecraft’s own, no mere imitation or even homage.
Trolley No. 1852 is exactly what H.P. Lovecraft would have written, if H.P. Lovecraft wrote smut. And that, really, says it all. If such an idea appeals to you, you’ll want this book.
-Christine Morgan
.VICIOUS VERSES AND REANIMATED RHYMES: ZANY ZOMBIE POETRY FOR THE UNDEAD HEAD edited by A.P. Fuchs (2009 Coscom Entertainment / tp) Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes is a collection of over ninety poems on the fear, gore, pain, and horror that are zombies. Edited by A.P. Fuchs for Coscom Entertainment, this is a must-read for any zombie fan. It’s a quick read with poems ranging anywhere from two lines to four pages. The poems run the gamut of emotions, from funny, to sad, to scary. Some are from the standpoint of the zombie and others from their human victims. I’ve never been a big poetry fan, nor do I understand its "rules," however I enjoyed this collection so much I read it twice. Some standouts include EVOLUTION OF THE DEAD by Sheldon S. Higdon, ROMERO BOUQUET by Zed Zefram, and THEM by Eric Ian Steele, all homages to the Romero films; I, ZAMBI by Kyle Hemmings with it’s twist on the Frankenstein theme; DEADLY RELATIONSHIPS by Patsy Collins which deals with "real" zombification in Haiti; and BED AND BREAKFAST by Joe Nazare with it’s hilarious tale of a morbidly obese zombie. Some other favorites of mine include THE VIRUS and THE DAY OF REBIRTH by Sheri Gambino, SLOW BITES by Steve Vernon, THE END IS COME by Zombie Zak, ECHOES OF IDENTITY by John R. Platt, and DEVOLVEMENT by Ginger Nielsen. There really isn’t a poem in this collection that I didn’t like. -Colleen Wanglund
HIS FATHER'S SON by Bentley Little (2009 Signet / 384 pp. / mmp)
Steve Nye's father is sent to a psychiatric ward after assaulting his mother. While Steve has never been close to either of his parents, he still feels the need to visit them and find out what's going on. The doctors think Steve's dad is losing his mind, especially when he starts saying strange things that make little sense. When Steve's dad dies, he begins to dig into his family's past and discovers that his old man has left a trail of bodies in every town they had lived in.
For its first 100 pages, HIS FATHER'S SON reads like a standard mainstream suspense story; but this is exactly where Little lets you know this is going to be anything but. We see Steve become twice the monster his father was, at times told from some wickedly head-trippy viewpoints, and much of the violence is genuinely disturbing (especially one scene in a backyard where Steve is trying to escape from the police). Chapter 22 is arguably the spookiest thing the author has written to date.
Although I liked how Little branched out from his standard style with his 2005 release, DISPATCH, this time he managed to keep his classic macabre voice, yet in a fresh way. HIS FATHER'S SON is one of the more original and bizarre serial killer novels I've ever read, and is a fine example of why Little has been my favorite horror author for quite some time.
Add two pluses here for the creepiest use of Clowns in years, and for a nod to one of my favorite bands, Missing Persons!
A must read.
(NOTE: This page updated on 9/30/09. The '2007' below is the copyright date of the site hoster.)