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Book Review: Moonlight Serenades by Thom Carnell

Moonlight Serenades by Thom Carnell

Crossroad Press; Macabre Ink, 2016

ASIN: B01FX26OEA

Available: Kindle edition

Moonlight Serenades, Thom Carnell’s collection of seventeen short stories, is pretty incredible. I had to take a step back from the book a few times just to be able to savor some of the tales. In “Wedding Day”, a man in mourning proceeds with what is to be one of the best days of his life, in a very different way. “Another One for the Fire” is a retelling of the opening scene of Night of the Living Dead through the perceptions of the character of Barbara, and is quite beautiful.  “I Stand Alone” is written in screenplay format, from the point of view of, seemingly, the last man on Earth, watching the world from his window, and venturing out only to collect supplies. But things are not as they seem in this black and white world. “Canto Carnascialesco” is the story of Billy and Elena, two teenagers on their first date at the carnival. Unfortunately for them, and all of the other carnival goers, things turn into a bloody mess. “Retribution” is an incredible revenge story told in first person. The question I think the author poses here is, how far would you go to avenge, or revenge, the death of your child? Carnell also includes three stories about Cleese, the hero of his previous book, No Flesh Shall Be Spared.

Two other stories really sat with me. “When I Fall in Love…It Will Be Forever” actually made me cry. Gene and Dottie are trapped in their basement after their home is overrun by zombies. Unfortunately, Dottie did not come away unscathed, and has turned. Gene is doing his best to feed and care for her, while keeping himself safe, but he misses his wife, especially after he flips through one of their photo albums. After contemplating life without her, he makes a life-changing decision.

I wasn’t too sure about “Clown Town” when I started reading, but it turned out to be my favorite in this collection. The story revolves around the “moidah” of a member of the Harlequin family. Carnell uses 1940s jazz and circus slang in this mystery story, which follows Detective Bumpo and Inspector Garbo as they investigate the scene in Marceau’s club and question the suspects. There’s even a little bit of intrigue, and a love story between Bumpo and Josephine, an employee at Marceau’s. I found it interesting how Carnell writes the various types of clowns, by dividing them into cadres or gangs. The story reads very much like the old time radio shows of the 1940’s, and I couldn’t help hearing the voices of Philip Marlowe or Sergeant Joe Friday in my head as I read this story. I hated to reach the end, not because of the conclusion itself, but because I want to read more about this world. I kind of fell in love with the world of these clowns. The other stories in this collection are just as powerful as the ones mentioned above.

Recommended, especially for readers who are drawn to stories that make them sit back for a few moments before starting on another. It’s been a week or so since I read this collection, and there are still tales that I think back on, and have revisited.

Contains: blood, revenge

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 


Posted on September 4, 2016 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell by Paul Kane

Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell by Paul Kane

Rebellion/Solaris, 2016

ISBN: 9781781084557

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Sherlock Holmes and Cenobites sound like a combination that would be truly awful together, but I have to say, Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell blew my assumptions out of the water. With an introduction by Barbie Wilde, I was put at ease.

The book opens with a man solving the Lament Configuration. That man is Sherlock Holmes.

It’s 1895. Moriarty is declared dead, and Holmes miraculously survives the tumble off the cliff in his final adventure. Holmes and Watson are engaged by Laurence and Juliet Cotton, newlyweds with a strained relationship, to investigate the disappearance of Laurence’s brother, Francis. Their investigation leads them to look into a series of unusual missing persons’ cases, in which the missing parties vanish in impossible ways. One man disappears from a locked room, the only traces left behind being the faint scent of vanilla.

This is just the beginning of an investigation that will draw the pair into contact with an organization whispered about and known only as ‘The Order of the Gash.’ Clues lead the sleuth and the doctor to an underground club that services the most depraved of the upper crust of society, a sinister asylum in France, and the underworld of London. They encounter shady operators, meet old acquaintances in the strangest of circumstances, enter a world of depravity and pain, and make dangerous associates—the Cenobites, from hell.

Kane, previously editor of the tribute anthology Hellbound Hearts, clearly has a familiarity with and love of the Hellraiser universe. In this book, in addition to new Cenobites, Kane includes storylines and characters from Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart, as well as the Hellraiser films.  I was pleasantly surprised to also find an authentic Holmes feel and pacing that shows a familiarity with the characters and style of Holmes’ stories. Kane was able to keep with the atmosphere and period sensibilities of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style while still creating the feel of Clive Barker’s world of Cenobites–  and he makes it work. Recommended. Reader’s advisory note: Fans of both Sherlock Holmes and Hellraiser should enjoy this. Other horror/Holmes crossover titles include Sherlock Holmes: The London Terrors and others by William Meikle, and Gaslight Arcanum, edited by Kim Newman and Kevin Cockle.

Contains: mentions of body horror, allusions to sexual activity and gore

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on August 31, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Dead Souls by J. Lincoln Fenn

Dead Souls by J. Lincoln Fenn

Gallery Books, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1501110931

Available: Pre-order, paperback and Kindle edition

 

Fiona Quinn is having a bad day. She’s soaking wet, freezing cold, barefoot, locked out of her apartment without her wallet, and she just saw her boyfriend, Justin, take off in a taxi with another woman. It’s hard to believe that anyone would give her a drink, but her background in marketing makes her very convincing, and she’s busy downing mojitos when a man walks up to her, offers to buy her a sandwich and a drink, and asks her what it would take to convince her to sell her soul. Being an atheist, she says she’d trade it for the power of invisibility… but apparently lack of belief doesn’t invalidate the deal, and suddenly she owes the Devil, now called Scratch, a favor of his choosing– one that’s likely to be horrifying, graphic, and newsworthy.

As a damned soul, Fiona can identify others, and she meets Alejandro, who traded his soul to become a famous photographer. He  introduces her to a support group for those who have traded their souls and are now waiting for their favor to be called in, and lends her a book compiled over time by other damned souls seeking a way out.  Having traded her soul for invisibility so she can spy on her boyfriend, she then learns that, rather than cheating, he actually was planning to propose before he developed pancreatic cancer, and is leaving his estate to her. Feeling guilty, and wanting to restore him to health, she tries to figure out a way to change her deal with the devil to save Justin. Alejandro warns her that the devil is always a few steps ahead of what any of his dead souls may be planning, but Fiona is sure she can successfully double deal with the devil, escape her fate, and change Justin’s.

Much like the devil, J. Lincoln Fenn managed to keep a few steps ahead of me all through the book, with a twisty plot that somehow managed to tie together the beginning of the story with the end in a manner that is both ironic and truly gruesome. The favors Scratch calls in are turned against Fiona and her fellow dead souls, as he forces them to use the gift they bargained for in warped, grotesque, and graphically portrayed ways, both against humanity in general and each other.  Social media, photography, and marketing strategies all take prominent roles in the way the story plays out: Alejandro uses his images to capture souls, and Fiona uses her marketing talents to manipulate others, using her marketing trinity of novelty, misery, and desire.

Fenn’s writing is a trap: it starts out slowly, and the first quarter of the book creates unease, but there is no indication of the stomach-churning events to come. While I don’t think Fenn is aiming to be extreme, this is not a book for the squeamish. Some of the favors called in create images and visceral reactions that I won’t be able to let go of easily. Dead Souls is a well-crafted tale that, in addition to provoking unforgettable reactions in the reader, also provides food for thought, and it will disturb your thoughts next time you turn on the news. I won’t be surprised if it makes the shortlist for the Stoker this year. Highly recommended for public library collections. Reader’s advisory note: try recommending Dead Souls to readers who enjoyed Fenn’s debut novel, Poe, or Lauren Beukes’ Broken Monsters.

 

Contains: Graphic violence and gore, suicide, implied cannibalism, suicide, torture, mutilation, and descriptions and imagery depicting mass killings.

Posted on August 29, 2016 by , Reply
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