NOVEMBER 2009 REVIEWS
(NOTE: The "smell ratings" at the end of some reviews rate the actual SMELL of the book and have nothing to do with the story. Smell Ratings: 5 = excellent, 1 = odorless, 2-4 = you figure it out. Book Key: hc = hardcover / tp = trade paperback / mmp - mass market paperback / rarer forms described. Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are by Nick Cato).
DEPRAVED by Bryan Smith (2009 Leisure Books / 324 pp. / mmp)
Smyth's 6th novel is a no-holds-barred entry into the redneck slasher genre. Like his debut, HOUSE OF BLOOD, some people get lost in a rural backwoods town, but this time instead of a single house we get an entire community (including two brawling, cannibalistic hick families) bent on collecting bodies not only for dinner, but for an annual sacrifice.
As Smith (and many other) authors have done, we're once again in ancent-evil-is-still-active territorty here. And while comparisons to Jack Ketchum's OFF SEASON novels and films like WRONG TURN and THE HILLS HAVE EYES come to mind, Smith throws in hints of a terrorist plot, a shadow-government conspiracy, and more strip-club antics than 100 80s hair-metal videos combined. There's even an little dip into bizarro territory (see chapter 35) which may seem out of place until you get to the end.
While this is standard 80s-styled pulp sleaze, Smith delivers it with gusto and isn't boring for a single page. Gorehounds are sure to eat this one up (full pun intended) as it makes even the aforementioned Ketchum classics seem tame.
Smell Rating: 5
DUBAKU by Edward M. Erdelac (2009 Damnation Books / 42 pp. / tp)
In 1760 Africa, Dubaku (a shaman) gives himself over to slave traders in the hope of finding his abducted wife and baby. When he's shackled below deck aboard the white man's ship, he begins to believe he was called here for a dual purpose.
Erdelac's voodoo-tinged revenge tale features some gritty depictions of slave life, loads of gruesome violence, and a "Death Ship" scenario that makes the two "Death Ship" films look like unaired episodes of the Love Boat. A quick, fun read.
Smell Rating: 1
THE WORLD IS DEAD edited by Kim Paffenroth (2009 Permuted Press / tp)
The World Is Dead is a 17-story zombie anthology in which all of the stories are set, for the most part, after the apocalypse has already taken place. Interestingly, all of the stories are grouped according to what they relate to-work, family, love, and life.
My two favorites were THE SONG OF ABSENT BIRDS by Mark Onspaugh. Society has survived in underground sectors, with the zombies migrating in large groups on the surface. We are given a peek into how life goes on in this post-apocalyptic world. We also meet Dylan Walsh, who lost his wife in the early days of the zombie apocalypse and what he did to keep her memory alive. It’s a touching story about love’s survival in a cruel world. The other is WHAT COMES AFTER by Kris Dikeman. The National Guard has left this fortified town, confident that their job of clearing out zombies was done. The new sheriff, George Reade, goes out to bring Mrs. Buren to the safety of town. She’s an old woman who was living by herself in a fenced-in house near a cemetery. Reade feels that with the absence of the Guard, Mrs. Buren is too vulnerable out there alone. He doesn’t know how wrong he is.
Some other standout stories include THE OFFICE PARTY by Walter Jarvis, about an office party that goes horribly wrong; BRIDGE OVER THE CUNENE by Gustavo Bondoni, that tells the story of an isolated African village and what one of their elders discovered about the zombies that enables the villagers to survive; CURED MEAT by Christine Morgan, which reminded me of a caveman tale with zombies living in groups and territories, and hunting for food; and GLORIETTA by Gary A. Braunbeck, about a man living in a house on the "surface" because the zombies, for some reason, aren’t interested in feasting on him
.Honorable mention goes to A BITE TO REMEMBER by Jennifer Brozek which tells a good story of a very tightly controlled post-apocalyptic society, and mentions zombie terrorists and religion without expanding on something I find potentially interesting; THE BLUE WORD by Carole Lanham which also tells an excellent story of "special" children living in an education academy in a chaotic post-apocalyptic world, but the reason for them being special was a bit far-fetched to me, even in zombie lit; and GENUFLECT by William D. Carl which I liked, but found it a bit predictable.
I wasn’t crazy about THE LONLIEST MAN IN THE WORLD by Bobbie Metevier. I thought it an okay story, but a bit too political for my taste. The character Stanley annoyed me-his situation didn’t completely make sense. THE NEW DUMB by Kyle S. Johnson I didn’t like at all. It came off as nothing more than an angry rant about a group of men wanting to play a baseball game at Fenway Park. All the author did was ridicule the men involved. He also threw in a rant about government conspiracy, and it went on too long.
With the exception of these two stories, I enjoyed this anthology. I definitely recommend it, giving it 4 out of 5 zombies.
-Colleen Wanglund
REVOLT OF THE DEAD by Keith Gouveia (2009 Coscom Entertainment / 112 pp / tp)
When high school buddies Barry and Shawn are kicked out of a Halloween party for fighting, they go to a local cemetery for kicks. Shawn begins to read spells from an occult book he had found in their school's library. Within no time the dead rise and take over Orlando. In a race against the clock before the city is nuked, Barry and a couple of other survivors attempt to get to safety, along the way fighting the undead as well as a thought-to-be-dead Shawn, who is now in control of the zombies.
Gouveia's short tale is standard zombie fare, although there's a slight twist on how one becomes a zombie. While the book is suitable for younger readers (so long as they don't mind the gore), I'm not sure how many seasoned zombie fans will find anything new here.
ENTER DEATH, STAGE RIGHT (MY SOULD TO TAKE PART II) by William A. Veselik (2009 Mundania Press / 189 pp. / tp)
In this second installment of Veselik's Victorian-era vampire saga, Professor Smythe (along with his friend, Scotland Yard Inspector Arthur Jenkins) are on the heels of a cult of vampires who hunt their prey around a local theatre. Smythe lets one of his students, percy, move into his attic to help out. When the vampire's lair is discovered (as well as a swere tunnel they use to move around), our protagonists devise a devistating trap . . . only to really tick off the leader of the cult.
For those not familiar with this series, it reads like a Christopher-Lee era Dracula film, complete with honor paid to all the classic vampire mythos, as well as something sorely lacking from many vampire novels today; class. There's also some interesting scientific discovery made into the bacterial-vampiric germ, and some well done gothic atmopshere.
I'm looking forward to the final chapter, 'The Vampire Lord Unmasked,' due out any day now. Veselik has a wicked grasp on Hammer Films-era vampires, and this series feels more like you're watching a classic spook film than reading a novel, which in the wake of countless sappy "Twilight" clones, is a breath of much needed fresh (or should I say, 'rancid') breath.
(Note to the people @ Mundania Books: PLEASE stop with the computer-generated cover art!!!)
Smell Rating: 1
DARK ENTITIES by David Dunwoody (2009 Dark Regions Press / 111 pp. / tp)
In a new series by Dark Regions Press called New Voices of Horror, the first installment is DARK ENTITIES by David Dunwoody. All of the stories deal with death in one way or another and Dunwoody does it well. The foreword, by James Roy Daley (The Dead Parade), is creepy as hell and made me a bit uncomfortable; a good start. The cover art and illustrations by Thomas Moran are fantastic.
A stand-out story is BROWNLEE’S BLUE FLAME, in which Death witnesses something never seen before, and in trying to find out what it means, sees how it will ultimately affect the human race. Another story I really liked is THE ABBOTT AND THE DRAGON, which takes a different look at the zombie apocalypse, in both how it started and where civilization has gone. BIRTHRIGHT takes an interesting look at Hell, the fallen angels, and demons, and A CARRION TO WOUNDED SOULS is a disturbing story involving a child murderer.
All in all, there isn’t a story I didn’t like. The only complaint I do have is that as much as I enjoyed the story SUNSET, I wish it had been a little longer. I would have liked more insight into the how and why of the circumstances of the islanders. Other than that, I think David Dunwoody is a top notch storyteller with a vivid imagination. I highly recommend this collection.
-Colleen Wanglund
EXPERIMENTS AT 3 BILLION A.M. by Alexander Zelenyj (2009 Ebionvale Press / 658 pp. / hc)
2 questions immediately popped into my mind when I lifted this hefty volume out of its box: Who in the world is Alexander Zelenyj? -and- A 658-page hardcover short story collection? Not that lengthy shorts collections are non-existent (i.e. Tom Piccirilli's DEEP INTO THAT DARKNESS PEERING), but one from a relatively unknown author is a kind-of ballsy move on the part of the publisher.
So I started with David Rix's brief Foreword (I had no idea who he was, either) before diving into the first story, 'The Potato Thief Beneath Indifferent Stars.' I was pleasantly surprised at both the writing and the unusually tender nature of what the editor chose for the lead off entry: this thing could go anywhere from here . . . and it does.
There's 40 stories, 20 published for the first time. Most deal with isolation and are hard to classify; Zelenyj jumps from sci-fi to horror to fantasy to bizarro, many times within the same story.
Highlights include 'Black Flies Inside,' a warped muse on obsession; 'Teenage Pirates and the Ghosting of Texas,' a wickedly fun pulp-style horror yarn; 'Let the Firefly Men Remind You,' a wonderfully eerie tale that puts a nice spin on the alien encounter thing, and 'In the City Where Dreams Wander the Sidewalks' where the author displays his skill of suggestion, here crafting a surreal tale of people's lives transformed by a mysterious man.
The final story (featured here in white font on black paper) is one of the best. 'Poppy, the Girl of My Dreams, and the Alien Invasion I can Detect Like Radar Through My Braces' is a quick yet fantastic apocalyptic, scifi love story with a genuinely heartbreaking finale.
EXPERIMENTS AT 3 BILLION A.M. surprised me from beginning to end. While it took me a while to get through its massive length (and the few head-scratchers), the majority of this fine collection is quite impressive, especially coming from an author I knew nothing about. Recommended.
Smell Rating: 2
AUDREY'S DOOR by Sarah Langan (2009 Harper / 412 pp. / mmp)
Langan (author of the excellent, Stoker-winning novel, THE MISSING), pens a haunted house story in the vein of such classics as THE SHINING and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. Unfortunately, this one is so similar to Jeffrey Konvitz' classic THE SENTINEL I had a hard time appreciating the fine writing and well-done suspense.
A trouble-infested woman named Audrey leaves her boyfriend and moves into The Breviary, an Upper West Side apartment building she discovers has a dark history. She's so determined to live on her own that she takes an apartment despite the super's mentioning a woman drowned her four children in its bathtub (yeah--okay!). From here the novel builds some decent tension, and the flashbacks of The Breviary's history are interesting and spooky. But it's the typical by-the-numbers conclusion (that REALLY reminded me of THE SENTINEL) that killed it for me and made me wonder why FANGORIA magazine named this their "Book of the Month" in a recent issue.
AUDREY'S DOOR, while seeking to pay homage to the haunted house genre, offers horror fans nothing new. Aside from a brief comment on modern society (something I think some will find unnecessary to the story), this is purely generic paperback pulp. I'm hoping Langan gets back on the killer track she started with THE KEEPER and THE MISSING.
Smell Rating: 4
RESURRECTION HOUSE by John Chambers (2009 Dark Regions Press / 177pp. / tp)
Book three in Dark Regions Press’ New Voices of Horror series is Resurrection House by James Chambers. In this collection of ten short stories, Chambers manages to turn the ordinary into something creepy, conspiracy into something scary, and history into Hell. The cover art and interior illustrations by Jason Whitley are dark and vague and fit the mood perfectly.
My favorite story, no surprise since I’m a raging zombie fan, is RESURRECTION HOUSE, about a house that brings back the dead if they are left on the property. A new owner brings a writer around looking to unlock the secret of the house. What they both find is not what either one expected. It’s a nice twist on the zombie story, with a little religious cultism thrown in for more creepiness.
Other stand-outs include TRICK, about an old man who believes children are evil—and will leave you wondering if he was right; FIVE POINTS, about the ghosts of history and the demons that use them in the old New York immigrant neighborhood; VICIOUS SWIMMERS, about sharks, secret government experiments, and what can really go wrong; and THE FEEDING THINGS, an erotic tale answering the age-old question "where do baby demons come from?"
THE LAST STAND OF BLACK DANNY O’BARRY was an okay story about the California Gold Rush and ancient Chinese beliefs about the dead that I thought maybe could’ve been a bit shorter. GRAY GULLS GYRE was a decent story about a man afraid to die and the girl who comes to help him, but I would have liked more insight into the girl and the tattoos that gave her the ‘power’ to help him in the first place. Overall, though, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it.
-Colleen Wanglund
SUPER FETUS by Adam Pepper (2009 Eraserhead Press / 87 pp. / tp)
White trash mother Sue Ellen reminisces about the three times she got knocked-up. Inbetween, she's abused by her live-in boyfriend, tormented by her bratty kids, and wonders what on earth all that rumbling is inside her womb.
The other viewpoint of this quick & sick novella comes from the Super Fetus, an aggravated pre-born who spends his days working out and building his young body into a mini-mountain of pure muscle. When his mother decides that she can't handle another kid and tries to abort him, Super Fetus gets ticked; when the doctors fail to do the deed after several attempts, Sue Ellen decides to take matters into her own hands.
And this is when Super Fetus REALLY flies off the handle.
Despite the author's note that this tale isn't meant to be any kind of social or political commentary, I think there's some good humor that will work with those on either side of the fence.
Leave it up to Eraserhead Press to publish a tale dealing with abortion that's as funny as it is demented. My only gripe is Super Fetus doesn't "come out" until the end; perhaps a sequel is in order?
Smell Rating: 0
THE PICTURE OF CONTENTED NEW WEALTH by Teriq Goddard (2009 O Books / tp) (www.o-books.net)
Billed as "a metaphysical horror" and described as "gothic tragedy," this book looks like something you might expect to see on a college reading list … unfortunately, it’d be the reading list for one of those upper-division Lit courses.
I don’t like giving negative reviews, but reading The Picture of Contented New Wealth did feel like a chore, a slog, a reading assignment that I struggled through because I needed the course credit.
Which isn’t to say that it was badly written. It could have used a good hard edit, to be sure. I spotted plenty of errors, some contextual, a lot of homonyms that would slip past the spellcheck. The author voice comes through loud and clear, often in the form of "telling" the reader, and feels both pretentious and condescending … but this could have been a deliberate thing done to fit the intended gothic old-fashioned genre.
Storywise, the basics are pretty basic. There’s a creepy old house, the family, the servants, the various doctors and priests and visitors when the wife falls ill. Something in the house, an evil force, a malevolent presence, demonic possession. As she deteriorates, she drags everyone else deeper into the madness right along with her.
It’s set in the English countryside and the 1980’s, not that the physical or temporal setting ever seems to matter. This is possibly meant to show that this is a timeless kind of tale, though the line between timeless and indifferent is blurred.
-Christine Morgan
BOOK OF THE MONTH:
UNWIND by Neal Shusterman (2009 Simon & Schuster / tp)
My daughter brought this one home from a high school book fair, and it’s stuff like this, books like this, being present in our schools that gives me hope we won’t entirely lose their generation to the sparkly vampires.
Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, is a wonderfully creepy and chilling vision of a dystopian near-future, when the pro-choice/pro-life debate has been settled. Abortion is illegal, but unwinding isn’t. And it isn’t murder, because 100% of the unwound person lives on. Just parceled out to wherever the pieces can do the most good.
Parents have from the time of a child’s thirteenth to eighteenth birthdays to decide … and if a child is a disappointment, a troublemaker, or just generally unwanted … then that kid can be taken away to a harvest camp. There, all his or her body parts will be made available for transplant. Saving lives, yes, with vital organs. Providing new limbs for those who’ve been injured. Giving others all kinds of cosmetic options. And so on.
Often, the donor’s skills or talents are transferred as well. Always wanted to be able to play the piano? Paint? Run a marathon? Have the applicable parts grafted on! Tired of that boring eye color? Want to get rid of that bald spot? And sometimes, especially when it comes to brain tissue, muscle memory isn’t the only aspect that gets passed on.
For some, the unwinding process is a religious rite. Meet Lev, the tenth child in his family, who’s been designated as a "tithe" since before he was born. For others, it’s the price you pay for mediocrity. Meet Risa, the orphan raised in a state home, whose grades and musical gifts are decent, but not great enough to warrant the continued cost of her care. But for some, it is all about parents making the decision. Meet Connor, who finds out that his parents plan to have him Unwound just before they take the rest of the family on vacation.
Not all of the Unwinds are ready to accept their fate, and that’s what this book is primarily about. The story follows runaway Connor’s efforts to escape and survive, which introduces him by a series of accidents and chance encounters to Risa (who was resigned to it) and Lev (who is appalled at the idea of failing to follow through with his entire life’s purpose).
This charming society also includes what’s known as the Storking Initiative, by which new mothers can leave their unwanted babies on doorsteps. Whoever finds it is obligated to keep it … this is called being "storked" … and sometimes the people who find these little presents on their porches don’t exactly do as they’re supposed to.
Unwind is scalpel-sharp social commentary, presenting a scenario at once horrific and all too plausible. The teen characters are very believably written, their actions and dialogue ring true. Some of the scenes – an actual unwinding in process most of all – gave me the serious heebie-jeebies.
The only thing about it my kid didn’t like was the use of present-tense; she said it was "harder to read"; I thought it worked exceptionally well. Shusterman’s storytelling put me in mind of Koontz back when Koontz was at the top of his game. There’s sly wit and humor underwoven throughout.
-Christine Morgan
COMING NEXT MONTH:
FEAR THE WOODS: BOOK ONE by Jerrod Balzer. FEEDING GROUND by Sarah Pinborough, BLUE CANOE by T.M. Wright, THE HAUNTING OF SAM CABOT by Mark Edward Hall, THE ETERNAL PRISON BY Jeff Somers, THE IRON GOSPELS by William Hache, and so many more our brains are starting to crack!
We've been hit with a flood of review material (both books AND magazines), so please be patient if you don't see your submission here. We WILL get to them. We'll have a large magazine review soon in our Odds and Ends section.