The Gray Zone

By John R. Little
Bad Moon Books
2009; $

The follow-up to John R. Little’s award-winning novella for Bad Moon Books, Miranda, is another very solid effort. This time using the mysticism of Egypt as his background, John weaves a compelling tale of a man named Henry, who bounces back in forth in time to relive portions of his life. There are some startling revelations along the way, and the story ends very fittingly. Not a word is wasted in this interesting character study.

Little seems to have found his niche with time-travel stories. With The Memory Tree, Placeholders, Miranda and now The Gray Zone, he has shown a knack for weaving haunting, thought-provoking plots and creating strong characters around the fragile fabric of time. Miranda is still probably his strongest (with a compellingly unique backward plot), but this is another solid entry into his cannon.

One last aside: Dark Discoveries readers will likely recognize John from the pages (I’ve published three of his stories in the magazine and collections I have done). I always feel fortunate that DD was one of the first places he submitted to in his comeback a few years back. I have always liked his stories (that were featured in the pages of Twilight Zone magazine and Weird Tales back in the eighties) and was glad to see him making a go of it again. John has continually grown as a writer and will only continue to improve. If you haven’t yet read anything by him, The Gray Zone is a good place to start!

Reviewed by James R. Beach

Midnight Walk

Edited by Lisa Morton
Darkhouse Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-578-02162-1
2009; $15.95

From a new publisher, Darkhouse, comes the anthology Midnight Walk. Ably edited by Bram Stoker award-winning author Lisa Morton, it features 14 original stories by relatively new writers. But don’t let that stop you as it has some very interesting and unconventional offerings.

Armand Constantine kicks it off with a strong tale of magic and revenge set in the slums of India in “Monsoon Devil”. Next comes John Palisano who tells us what’s really behind those wildfires around L.A. in “The Tennatrick”. Lisa Majewski touches on voodoo in “Inside Out”, and Richard Payne offers up an interesting take on demon possession in “Eddie G At the Gates Of Hell”. Lisa Morton herself contributes a great piece based in Chinese Mythology as does Jodi Kaplan Lester. Vince Churchill of Dark Scribe Press warns of the hazards of staying at motels off the beaten path. Richard Grove bases his story in Irish folklore, and even Del Howison – the man behind the great Dark Delicacies store (as well as 3 anthologies that have sprung out of that wonderful shop of all things horror)- joins in for the fun. There’s also stories by Mike McCarty, George Willis, Kelly Dunn, Jason M. Light and Joey O’Bryan.

Overall, a mostly solid book. Up and down a bit storywise, but I give extra points for it trying to break past the some of the well-rehashed horror conventions.

Reviewed by James R. Beach

Kelland: A Novel

by Paul G. Bens Jr.
Casperian Books, 2009;
252 pages; $15.00

A journey to the truth is described in the novel Kelland by Paul G. Bens Jr. The road taken by five strangers is long and full of conflict; their guide is a supernatural being named Kelland who appears in various forms to become close enough to these people to be their confidant.

Bens doesn’t follow a direct timeline – he bounces back and forth over a period from 1975 to 1998 to reveal a character’s flaws and strengths. This technique draws the reader into the tale with great effect. By not telling the story in chronological order, Bens sets up a shocking truth in all their lives at the end.

These characters are relatable, even Minh and Toan from Vietnam. Bens balances vivid description and omissions left to the imagination of the reader very well. The various settings from Vietnam, Kentucky, and California add to the richness and depth of the story. Bens avoids stereotypes which focuses the reader on each individual. The author is masterful in switching points of view from the boys George and Lucas, the woman Melanie, and Toan and Minh, both as boys and men.

Bens’ style of writing seems to flow across the pages and his use of language and strong characterization is reminiscent of Stephen King. The horror in Kelland is ripped from the headlines, yet is presented in a fresh, original manner. The supernatural being Kelland is left as an enigma, part of the symbolism used to enhance the story. Bens’ immense talent is showcased in this outstanding novel and he is an author to watch.

Reviewed by Karen L. Newman

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He Is Legend & The Twilight and Other Zones (The Matheson Companion)

HE IS LEGEND
Edited By Christopher Conlon
Gauntlet Press
ISBN:978-1-887368-10-0
2009; $60.00

THE TWILIGHT AND OTHER ZONES:
THE DARK WORLDS OF RICHARD MATHESON
Edited by Stanley Wiater, Matthew R. Bradley and Paul Stuve
Citadel Press
ISBN: 978-0-8065-3113-7
2009; $19.95

First off, on a personal note, Richard Matheson has long been one of my favorite authors – one that I discovered (along with Ray Bradbury, William Nolan, and Harlan Ellison among others) as a kid. A tribute to the man and his work in fiction (I am Legend, Bid Time Return, Shock (1-4), Hell House, etc.), TV (The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Star Trek, Night Gallery, Lawman, Night Stalker, Dracula, Trilogy of Terror, etc.), and Movies (The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Fall Of the House of Usher, Pit and The Pendulum; Burn, Witch, Burn; etc.) as well as a companion to his vast catalogue – is long overdue. It has long been a crime that Matheson is not a “household name“ such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz or Bradbury. As both this limited edition tribute anthology, and a nonfiction companion for him have arrived around the same time, it seems fitting to combine the reviews as they both “bookend” each other nicely.

So onto the tribute to Matheson, He Is Legend , featuring work by contemporaries as well as writers strongly influenced by the man.

After a forward by Editor Christopher Conlon (a long-time devote to the California Writers Group Matheson was part of) and an Introduction by Ramsey Campbell, the collection leads off with a highly anticipated collaboration between Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, “Throttle”. A sequel to “Duel”, the Kings pit an aging biker gang against the faceless, demonic trucker. For the most part, a pretty good action filled tale, with great characterization, but a little disappointing as they reveal who the driver is and provide a motive for his actions that I think take the wind out of the sails a bit. The strength of the original tale is you never see who the trucker is, and in my opinion makes it scarier.

Continuing on with some of the stronger stories, F. Paul Wilson helms a sequel to “The Distributor” (a personal favorite of mine) called “Recalled”, which tells the fate of the protagonist from the original tale. Although Wilson’s short fiction is a bit up and down for me usually, this one works very well. In this case, seeing the human side of the main character adds to the tension rather than taking it away. William F. Nolan clocks in with a great sequel to “The Children of Noah” titled “Zachary Revisited” which takes us back to that small town that built itself on a very unseemly foundation. The ever-steady Gary Braunbeck offers the answer to Matheson’s “Button, Button” in his wonderfully poetically titled “Everything Of Beauty Is Taken From You In This Life Remains Forever”, and John Shirley rides in with a great western story in “Two Shots From Fly’s Gallery”, his time-travel riff on “Bid Time Return”. Joe Lansdale attacks with a strong sequel to “Prey” – “Quarry”. Whitley Streiber’s tale “Cloud Rider“ – while being purported as story influenced by the body of Matheson’s work – doesn’t seem to have much to do with Matheson in general, but is a wonderful, inventive story that definitely ranks amongst the best in the book and one of the best Strieber has written. Capping it off is a collabrative Screenplay between Matheson and Charles Beaumont – Burn, Witch, Burn – based on Fritz Leiber’s novel Conjure Wife.

A couple were a little bit weaker such as Michael Arnzen’s “Screech Like Me” (a sequel to “Born Of Man and Woman“) – which isn‘t badly written, but doesn‘t really add anything new to the tale, John Maclay’s “The Case of Peggy Ann Lister” – A sequel to the early crime/pulp novel Someone Is Bleeding, which is decently written story, but I felt the characterization was a bit weak. Nancy Holder‘s prequel to Hell House is also mostly good, but doesn‘t really add much to the story and has a major fault of historical research which distracts from the tale. So not really bad tales per say, but not as strong as the others.

So overall the collection holds up very well. Certainly one of the better anthologies of late for sure and highly recommended.

*

The Twilight and Other Zones is the mass-market release of The Richard Matheson Companion, which came out from Gauntlet Press a while back (in slightly different form).

It features wonderful personal tributes, insight and background on Matheson by writers Dean Koontz, William F. Nolan, Harlan Ellison, Joe Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, David Morrell, George Clayton Johnson, Brian Lumley, Dennis Etchison, Jack Ketchum and Gahan Wilson (some reprinted and some new for the collection); family members – wife Ruth, sons Richard Christian and Chris and daughters Bettina and Allison; as well as editors, screenwriters, publishers, artists, interviewers and experts that have worked with Matheson like Barry Hoffman, Greg Cox, Harry O. Morris, Gary Goldstein, Stanley Wiater, Paul Stuve and Matthew Bradley.

This is an exhaustive look at Matheson’s career that also features photos of the man, his family, and acquaintances and a huge bibliography that takes up a little over 1/3 of the book. This is everything you wanted to know about the legendary writer and more. The only thing that could have made this awesome book just a little bit better was more photos (especially of covers of books, magazines, movie posters, etc.). But a minor quibble and highly recommended nevertheless.

- Reviewed by James R. Beach

Other Gods

by Stephen Mark Rainey
Dark Regions Press
2008;

For both the horror professional and the horror connoisseur, the name Stephen Mark Rainey immediately brings to mind the decade-long run (1987-1997) of Deathrealm, a magazine that proclaimed itself “the land where horror dwells.” As editor of that publication, Rainey consistently presented a variety of dark, disturbing tales penned by well-known authors as well as newcomers to the field.

After shelving Deathrealm, Rainey embarked on his own career as a writer, authoring several novels including Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark (with Elizabeth Massie), Balak, The Lebo Coven, The Nightmare Frontier and Blue Devil Island.

In Other Gods, Dark Regions Press has collected Rainey’s short fiction. Boasting 16 tales, the collection includes the never-before-published story “Antidotes.”

Massie, who wrote the introduction for this collection, sums up Rainey’s style succinctly when she says the author “is a master at giving us the everyday and then pulling away the comforting light.” The characters that populate Rainey’s tales are uncomfortably recognizable. The settings – whether it happens to be a remote mountain town in Virginia or a seedy neighborhood in Chicago – are familiar.

Leading off this harvest of horrors is “Fugue Devil,” a crafty little yarn that exploits the power of folklore and evokes fear of the wilderness. Set in an Appalachian college town, two boys set out to challenge a local legend and face the grim consequences.

Next, “Rapture in Black” stands in stark contrast to the preceding tale with its urban setting. In this unsettling vignette, Rainey assures the reader that busy city sidewalks and heavily trafficked shops provide little security when the dominion of nightmares seeps into reality.

Two tales in the collection offer a pleasant surprise: “Sky of Thunder, Island of Blood” and “Epiphany: A Flying Tiger’s Story” show that Rainey is not only a master of horror, but a gifted composer of riveting action sequences. Both stories are set in the World War II era and feature wonderfully descriptive aerial battles.

The new story, “Antidotes,” involves a cutting-edge biotech project to rid the world of vampires. Using the world of the undead as an allegory, it draws a poignant distinction between soldiers and mercenaries, wars and crusades.

“The Fire Dogs of Balustrade” and “The Transformer of Worlds,” presented one after another, fit snugly together and offer an engaging, modern look at H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands. Make no mistake, though: When evoking Lovecraft, Rainey does it right. The reader needn’t be a devotee of the Cthulhu Mythos to enjoy Rainey’s fiction – his allusions to Lovecraft’s creations are not central to understanding the plotline.

“Signals,” a story which will appeal to fans of The X-Files, marvelously depicts humanity’s interminable obsession with the unknown and the sacrifices made to satisfy curiosity.

“The Devil’s Eye” closes the collection and reintroduces the reader to the demon presented in “Fugue Devil.” It’s a compelling extension to the original concept, deftly placed as to allow the reader ample time to grow comfortable with the lingering memories of initial encounter. This time, overconfident adults set out to test the fable.

Rainey’s horror fiction can accomplish many things: It can astound readers, portraying glimpses of fantastic unrealities; it can edify, revealing the significance of myths; and it can even sermonize, warning against obsessive behavior.

What it does best, of course, is leave you shuddering in fear.

- Reviewed by Lee Clark Zumpe

Orgy Of Souls

by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus
Apex Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9816390-4-8
2008; $13.95

Orgy of Souls, written by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus, might well be classified as spiritual horror.

The two writers are as different as the novel’s two main characters. White is a professional fighter and a writer whose gritty fiction is known for habitually ignoring taboos. Broaddus is an environmental toxicologist and the facilitator for the Dwelling Place church. As a horror writer, Broaddus describes himself as a traditionalist on his website, seeking to let the horror in his stories arise from the mundane.

Though their styles seem incompatible, together they have crafted a seamless and chilling exploration of two brothers and their contradictory perceptions of faith.

In Orgy of Souls, Samuel is a priest who is infected with AIDS through a blood transfusion received during missionary work in Africa. Sampson, his brother, has made a modest fortune despite a lack of talent and intelligence – he cashed in on his extraordinary good looks as a successful male model.

Samuel suffers as he continues to live his life in “a gray, contemplative way,” waiting for his disease to run its course and sporadically questioning God’s plan. Sampson, “a beautiful piece of nothing” who enjoys his hedonistic lifestyle, struggles with his brother’s demise and seeks to end his torment.

Sampson makes a deal: Samuel’s life will be spared in exchange for 20 souls.

It is presumably White who provides the more graphic, explicit details of how Sampson gathers said souls. The episodes are meticulously gratuitous as scene after scene offers a cornucopia of literary splatter with an equally disquieting side dish of philosophical rumination.

One of the most enthralling aspects about Orgy of Souls is Samuel’s relationship with Nkosi Bhengu, a South African student also dying of AIDS. The priest visits her intermittently at Matthew House, a hospice. Their conversations give voice to greater theological underpinnings driving the plot.

Ultimately, the beauty of Orgy of Souls is in the many layers that went into its composition. On its surface, it is visceral horror with splashes of blood spraying off the page. Upon deeper inspection, it is a character-driven narrative involving two brothers with conflicting worldviews trying to protect one another. Driving it all is the religious conundrum, a subtle spiritual theme that the authors skillfully leave vague and ambiguous.

- Reviewed by Lee Clark Zumpe

Midnight In New England

By Scott Thomas
Published by Down East Books; October, 2007
ISBN 0-89272-732-2 $15.95

A collection of tales of the strange and mysterious. Set in times when restless spirits may have roamed more freely, these eighteen elegantly spellbinding tales are nothing short of spine tingling.

A wonderful collection of stories set in good old New England. Spanning many decades from the 18th Century, this collection of short, and they are short stories in the main, are chillingly vibrant. Evoking the atmospheric background of this still relatively new and colonised country, full of it’s own mysteries and dangers that stand side by side with the less supernatural discoveries the fledgling colonists are making.

They’re eerie for the most part, and thought provoking with an intensity that commands you to turn the page and wonder at the events as they unfold.

The brevity of the majority of the stories is not though a disappointment. Scott Thomas really gets under the skin of the tragic and haunted inhabitants of this state and the unfortunate towns therein. Thomas goes straight in with his vibrant and enthralling prose. Not a wasted word or nuance in this collection, that succeeded on several occasions in taking this reviewers breath away, and on others, going back to re-read what had already passed across my eyes to actually confirm what I had read, and digest the richness and splendour of the horror in front of me.

Subtle at times, yes. Gripping, without a doubt. A wonderful piece of work that moves through history at a pace, confounding and startling you as you make your way through this twisted little world that Thomas has homed in upon and extracted the mystery and horror lying just beneath the surface of that world.

Scott really transports you back in time with the vivid settings he lays out before your eyes, and characters whose complexity and at times naivete twist and turn as the events impacting upon their lives take strange and dark shape around them. He grasps the period in question with skill, weaving in the subtle nuances of the actual colloquialisms, atmosphere, dialects, phrases and background of the time with sheer eloquence. You could imagine his characters actually existing, living and breathing back in those halcyon days of the founding fathers. A whole new country to be built, and there behind that, these dark and malevolent spirits and creatures determined to bring down the fabric of this sparkling time for their own grim satisfaction.

Some can write historical horror fiction, some can’t. This is not a problem for Thomas as his characters weave their ways through the strange and macabre path he has paved for the inhabitants of his fiction with ease.

Not by any stretch of the imagination are any of these tales gory or gruesome. They rely on the readers own imagination to visualise and digest the terrible occurrences that snake their way into your psyche and chill your bones. And chill you they will.

What Washington Irving did for New York State over 150 years ago, Scott Thomas has refined and surpassed, bringing the genre of vintage horror fiction well and truly into the 21st century and beyond.

- Reviewed by Kevin Etheridge

Like a Chinese Tattoo

Edited by Bill Breedlove and John Everson;

Dark Arts Books, 2008;

226 pages; Trade Paperback $17.95

 Like a Chinese Tattoo is the fourth four-author collection of short stories offered by Dark Arts Books and is the second anthology in the series published this year. This book features well-known and relatively new authors Cullen Bunn, Rick R. Reed, David Thomas Lord, and K. A. Konrath. Each author contributes three stories each. The cover page states that the stories are twisted, and I wasn’t disappointed upon reading the collection. The stories ranged from elegant to gross, but all were entertaining.

     The anthology starts out with stories by Cullen Bunn, who is my favorite author in the collection, followed closely by Konrath. First off is “Tomorrow, When the Demons Come”, which is about a young man’s relationship with a wealthy man named Marco. Everything is fine between them until the secret of Marco’s locked room is discovered. The story is well-crafted, the descriptions highlighting the depravity of a relationship doomed from the start, and the ending is unexpected.

     “Remains” is a haunting tale about a hired man who arrives at a farm with a terrible secret. The story is told by a young boy named Seth, the eldest child of a farmer, who senses something is wrong with the man his father hires, but can’t do anything about it. The horror builds gradually, with an unexpected twist that is well-done, even if the ending is rushed.

     “Granny Kisses” is an example of why Bunn won the Gross-Out contest at the World Horror Convention. It is the grossest thing I’ve ever read and I know gross – I used to work at a sewer plant. The story’s about a yeast infection that doesn’t die. I laughed and gagged at the same time.

     The next author in the book is Rick R. Reed, known for his gay horror. However, that doesn’t appear in this book. His first story is “Purfleet”, a fictional name of an insane asylum where a woman seeks refuge from her husband. This tale is hard to follow and the characters are wooden, in my opinion. The twist at the end is good, however.

     “Moving Toward the Light” is reprinted from The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams and is a tale of depravity that starts with a teenager named Miranda, whose nightmare turns out to be true. To ease her pain, she tries to get drunk, but what happens to her next is worse than her nightmare. She almost dies, but a former friend from beyond the grave helps her return to Earth and get even with her tormenters. This story reminds me a lot of the Crow movies, which is its only flaw. Reed showcases his expertise as a topnotch horror writer, as the story chilled me hours after reading it.

     “Stung” is a hilarious story about a middle-aged woman’s day at her boss’ lake house. She’s stung, by both a wasp and her mother, whom she brings as her guest. This tale is very inventive and entertaining, so gross it’s funny.

     The third author featured is David Thomas Lord, known for his highly-acclaimed vampire novels. None of his stories in the anthology are about vampires, however. His first tale is “The White Room”, which was previously published in the short-lived horror webzine, Feral Fiction. This is a cerebral story about a man in a white room where everything is white, including the man. The writing is crisp and the ending unexpected.

     “The Great White Ape” is set in Victorian England where a colonel and his newly-hired assistant meet for a trip to the African jungle. The story is richly detailed and the ending is a complete shock. Lord’s writing style here reminds me of that of Edgar Allan Poe.

     “Da’s Boy” is about a boy and his relationship with his grandfather. The dialect is good, but the subject matter is tired and clichéd. This is the weakest of his three stories.

     The final author featured is K. A. Konrath, who writes the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels novels, each named for a mixed drink. His first story is “The Confession”, written entirely as a conversation between a man and a woman. The tale is fast-paced and the confession is shocking.

     “The Necro Files” is based on Konrath’s Jack Daniels novels. Instead of Daniels, the main character of the novella is Harry McGlade, a private investigator. Harry’s client is an ugly woman who thinks her husband is a necromancer. Harry takes the case, which turns out to be more bizarre and twisted than he expected. This story is gross, in a good way, and is laugh-out-loud funny. The dialogue is crisp and the plot a mixture of chain-of-consciousness and action, which puts the reader inside the PI’s head, thus enhancing the overall horror of the story.

     “Punishment” is about a young boy named Dominick who, through minor infractions, is sent to the Punishment Room for discipline gone wild. It harkens back to the days of corporal punishment in the school system, where boys were paddled as hard as possible by the male principal outside the classroom door of his classmates; at least that’s what happened where I attended elementary school in the seventies. Only here there are no paddles, but tools of torture you’d find in a medieval dungeon. The story does have a feel-good ending, albeit haunting.

     Like a Chinese Tattoo is well worth the money. I was familiar with Konrath’s work before, but even if you’re not already a fan of one of the authors, you soon will be.   

- Reviewed by Karen L. Newman

The Not Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & the Currently Accepted Habits Of Nature

By David Niall Wilson

Published by Bad Moon Books

Limited Edition of 100 Copies

 When Cletus J. Diggs gets a visit from his buddy Jasper and learns about, the dead man sticking boot-first out of the fishing hole, he has no idea what it will lead to. How could he? Old Mill is famous for a lot of things – good fishing, barbecue, over-sized satellite dishes and disappearing beer; it is not known for genetic research, ancient rituals, or alien abduction. From the moment Cletus and Sheriff Bob drag the corpse from the fishing hole to the final moments of terror, the action is non-stop, tense, and filled with surprises. Between the Reverend Dozier and his church, the swamp witch, the albino twins, and the local lodge’s well-hidden secrets, the strange events in Old Mill, NC are pretty much out of control. Only Cletus, ordained minister, common law attorney, journalist, private investigator and jack of all trades can draw together the people and resources necessary to set things right. The question is, can he do it before it’s too late?

 An interesting piece of fiction to say the least. Horror? It has it’s horrific elements to be sure. Some just plain downright nasty and worrying in this new frontier of genetically engineered wonders. And wonder you will.

Cletus J. Diggs is a funny guy. The master of all he surveys in small town America. Wilson’s beautiful portrayal of all the nuances and affectations of the town and area that Digg’s calls home and sets up shop in is wickedly marvellous. The stereotypes of his characters fill this novella from top to bottom with their humour, sarcasm and most wonderfully at times, their small-mindedness in the face of what appears to be overwhelming odds.

 There is no clear cut path to the end in this story, as at each turn of events, you are left even more bewildered as to what is actually going on. Aliens? Men In Black, religious nuts or just plain nuts. Deranged scientists and their wonderfully weird creations and cohorts. As the events of the novella moved apace, at the end of each chapter, this reviewer found himself wondering just exactly what HAD Cletus gotten himself into.

This is the art and talent of a true story teller, and Wilson really hits the nail on the head with this piece of wacky fiction. The horror is not overt, the sex scenes handled with skill and amusement, and the offbeat humour that runs through this novella does so with wonder. All the variations on the themes of weirdness and wonder complement each other perfectly.

 The X-Files has got NOTHING on Cletus, Jasper and Jaspers beer swilling gun-toting father. Or even the weirdness of the Church of Light and Starry Vision. A meeting of minds, a meeting of faiths and religion. The not quite right Reverend Digg’s against the  REALLY not quite all there Reverend Dozier.

 The only disappointment with the novella? Nothing whatsoever to do with the fiction at all. Really to do with the fact that as a limited edition, it’s not going to be readily read by the many lovers and readers of horror / humour fiction who would appreciate it as much as this reviewer  did. Come on Roy, you know that Bad Moon wants to do a trade paperback of this…….

 -  Reviewed by Kevin Etheridge