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Reprinted from The Deepening’s Horror with Clayton Bye.
None So Blind
By Ian Faulkner
Ghostwriter Publications, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-907190-11-7
145 pages
Horror
ARC/PDF
Buy Now at Clayton’s Amazon.ca store
NONE SO BLIND
Fanatics are blind to the thoughts and beliefs of others. What place will they find in the afterlife? Will the veil of self-deception part, or will the tortured soul continue along its cloudy and tragic path?
REWIND
Step inside the mind of a serial killer. Will you feel sorry for him or will your skin crawl and your guts churn? I wonder…
COLD BIRTH
Our actions have consequences. This story gives us a graphic and uncomfortable look at why we should never forget this simple truth.
NON OMNIS MORIAR
(I shall not altogether die)
What would happen to you if you lost a son or a parent? Would you fold in on yourself, or would you join together with the surviving members of your family to face the future? A terrifying look at the inside of a grieving mind.
GRANDPA BILLY
Meet a boy living in poverty with alcoholic parents who finds refuge in regular visits to his grandfather’s home. One day the old man moves away, and the boy doesn’t see him again until one tragic night when he and his siblings face certain death. A story about the power love has to raise us from the squalor and dangers of our lives.
EMMY
A young man interested in developing serious relationships and starting a family strikes up a conversation with an old woman out for a walk with her granddaughter. But she tells him an ever darkening story which takes him somewhere he could never expect.
AND THE HUNTER HOME
Observe a complacent man who discovers his entire life has been manipulated by his family. Will his discovery of their secret be enough to spur him into action, or will he fall victim to his habit of going with the flow?
DINNER FOR ONE
Have you ever watched a cat play with a mouse before killing and eating it? This may not be a behavior limited only to the feline species. Read Dinner for One to find out what I mean.
THE REVIEW
Ian Faulkner has put together a dark collection of tales examining the underbelly of life. It begins in a somewhat stumbling fashion with a story in need of more editing (for example, he makes the common mistake of overusing the word “that”). However, the rest of his short stories stand up better. In particular, Grandpa Billy, the only tale in the collection with a “lighter” side, is a fine example of short story writing. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
None so Blind was a read that left me with mixed feelings. The stories don’t try to make you feel better about some nasty people and experiences. Faulkner lays things out, warts and all; he writes horror without pretension. And he does it well. Hence my conflict…
The stories are so interesting, I read one after another: I gobbled them up. But there is little room for pleasure. Faulkner appears to be a writer who wishes to disturb, and he does so successfully.
True horror buffs should be pleased.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009
This is a reprint of a review that originally appeared in out dedicated Horror section: http://www.thedeepening.com/horror/, reprinted on TD main for the benefit of our general audience.
Cursed
by Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
Release Date: Nov 01, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-933293-86-8
ISBN: 978-1-933293-87-5
Trade Hardcover/Trade Paperback
216 pages
Horror
Cicely and Nicholas have discovered they are cursed. Cicely must forever hold on to a tennis ball, which mysteriously appeared in her hand one night, or the world will end. Nicholas’s curse is seemingly more benign but actually has the power to estrange every person in his life: someone is fated to slap him in the face before the stroke of midnight each day.
When the two compare notes, they begin to suspect their invisible tormentor is someone they both know. As the behaviourally challenged couple embark on a hunt for the monster, we are continually stunned by the strangeness of their lives but are also drawn in by their valiant efforts to embrace life. Cicely lives in an ever changing, self-made fairy tale, while Nicholas struggles to rise above his less than admirable past.
Written in minimalist fashion and relying heavily on dialogue, Jeremy C. Shipp’s new novel will both terrify and inspire.
I love Shipp’s writing. I’ve done so since the moment I read his short story, Dog (http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/dog/). His imagination is bizarre, upsetting, often humorous and always brilliant. This strange and often hard to understand style of writing is what I expected from Cursed. Instead, I experienced a more balanced and quite understandable story. Perhaps it was the constant lists created by his protagonist; maybe it was the continuous dialogue between characters; it could even have been the structure imposed by the clear plot line of the novel. Whatever the reasons, Cursed manages to stay true to Shipp’s Bizarro roots while also demonstrating a more even-handed or, dare I say, mature approach.
If you want to experience a different kind of horror fiction, something fresh and interesting, this excellent novel would be a fine choice. I highly recommend it.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009
This is a reprint of a review that originally appeared in out dedicated Horror section: http://www.thedeepening.com/horror/, reprinted on TD main for the benefit of our general audience.
Dead and Alive, Book Three
Bantam Books, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-553-58790-6
352 pages
Mass Market
Thriller/Horror
Deucalion, the ancient, original creation of the crazed but brilliant mind of Victor Frankenstein is about to put an end to his creator. With the help of a couple of unusual detectives, an ensemble of quickly degenerating characters (part of Frankenstein’s terribly flawed new race) and a strange cabal of resurrected Frankenstein cast-offs, he rushes toward his creator’s final moments.
This final installment of Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein trilogy is sometimes entertaining and is definitely unique. But it also disappoints. Like many readers, I was enthralled by Book One of this series. Deucalion is a marvelous and complex character Koontz uses to securely hook you. The second novel, although nowhere near as good as the first, still managed to be interesting enough that I picked up Dead and Alive when it came out in paperback. I probably shouldn’t have done this. Koontz followed the same pattern as he did in Odd Thomas: a fantastic initial novel in an ongoing series that has subsequently disappointed and angered me with each new installment.
Deucalion is but a guest in the final novel. And the interesting police officers do nothing much but drive around and make quips. Frankenstein is the focus. As is Jocko, who readers of the second novel expect to be something new and terrible, but who ends up little more than a jester. And Werner, Frankenstein’s security chief, is turned into a frightening monster of incredible power only to be dispatched easily and off-page.
The whole novel is like this. Taken as a separate work, Dead and Alive has its merits. As the conclusion of a trilogy? I say shame on you, Mr. Koontz.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009
Continue reading about Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein, a Novel Review
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