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Book Review: The Night’s Neon Fangs by David W. Barbee

The Night’s Neon Fangs by David W. Barbee

Eraserhead Press, 2015

Available: New Paperback

ISBN: 9781621051756

 

The Night’s Neon Fangs is a collection of four novellas of horror/weird fiction. Barbee writes beautifully, telling emotional stories and drawing sympathy for the protagonist from readers. The titular novella is about Buster Wade, an electric werewolf who works as a bodyguard and general muscle for a company that cleans up after mummy storms in the future. A giant and dangerous cloud of mummies began in the wake of a disastrous gathering of international gods, and roams the country dumping thousands of pounds of mummies onto the public below. I loved this story for the simple fact that it has mummies, something that you don’t typically see too much of in horror fiction.

Noah’s Arkopolis is about a weird amalgam of a city, built up over time, after God left Noah and the animals adrift with no land in sight. Mating over the generations created many new species of animal/human hybrids. The city is now in danger of being destroyed by whales, so Noah’s ghost enlists the help of Gren, an average citizen of Arkopolis to save the city. This is one of the most imaginative stories I’ve ever read and I loved it. Gren is a sympathetic character, while I wanted to strangle Noah’s ghost at times.

That Ultimo Sumbitch is a surreal, steampunk, sort of story. Ultimo, a mechanized soldier who thinks he is human, is roaming what is left of the Australian outback, in the wake of an alien invasion of Earth. This story just about brought tears to my eyes. Although the main character isn’t even human, the story is gritty and emotionally charged.

Finally, Batcop Out of Hell tells the story of McNulty, a batcop in Guano City who is murdered along with his wife and daughter. He ends up in Hell, but is given a choice by a batdemon. McNulty takes the deal, and is sent back to seek revenge and save his family from Limbo with a skin of special Hellfire. In the process, McNulty discovers things about his former co-workers and himself. This is another story that had me practically in tears, with sympathy for McNulty and the horrible position he has been put in through no fault of his own.

The stories are dark, gritty, and emotionally driven. Barbee is a fantastic writer and I look forward to reading much more by him in the near future. Recommended.

Contains: graphic violence and adult language

Reviewed by: Colleen Wanglund

Posted on June 24, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle

 

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle, illustrations by M. Wayne Miller

Ghost House, Dark Renaissance Books, 2015

ISBN: 9781937128753

Available: Hardcover, new and used. Currently out of print.

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate collects twelve original short stories by William Meikle, with William Hope Hodgson’s supernatural detective at the center. Each story centers on a dire situation: an imperiled individual calls upon the unusual expertise of Carnacki to get to the bottom of the occult goings-on and expertly banish the evil back to the Outer Darkness.

A few of the stories that are particularly well-written incorporate another Hodgson character, Captain Gault. These are some of the most interesting tales of the collection. While Carnacki is a great character, Captain Gault adds a bit more panache to the atmosphere. In “Captain Gault’s Nemesis”, the captain is carrying cursed cargo below decks of his ship, and Carnacki has to deal with the problem. In “The Blue Egg”, Carnacki is a guest aboard Captain Gault’s ship, and witnesses the effects a sliver from a rare gem has on the captain and crew. Everyone who is near it wants to possess it, and its power grows day by day.  In “The Gray Boats”, a strange fog emanating from two abandoned Navy ships destroys everything in its wake, including flesh and bone.

An admirable trait of Carnacki’s is that when children come to him with matters of the occult, he takes them seriously, investigates, and inevitably finds that the issues are real. In “The China Doll,” Lord Atwell of Belgravia calls on Carnacki to investigate his youngest daughter’s room, as she thinks it is haunted. When he is alone in her room, he discovers the china dolls are whispering. His investigation leads him to the manufacturer’s facilities, where it turns out that the manufacturer has a unique problem with the curing oven. In “The Black Swan,” a young girl arrives at Carnacki’s residence, distraught and pleading for his help, regarding a large black bird she thinks lives in her closet. He travels with her to her home, where, after a few minutes of terse conversation, her father relates the story of the black swan in the basement.

In addition to being a friend to the seafaring Captain Gault and children, Carnacki is popular among political figures. In two stories, he comes to the aid of a young Winston Churchill. He also helps the Home Secretary in an investigation of an occult ritual gone wrong.

Other exciting stories await the reader. Having recently revisited one of the original Hodgson books, I can attest that Meikle’s writing is in keeping with the overall tone and atmosphere of Carnacki’s adventures, and I appreciate that, as well as his blending in of the realm of eldritch horror.  The inclusion of horrific entities tormenting humanity and threatening to either kill us or drive us insane is a nice touch, and fit in well with the overall feel of the Carnacki stories. This is a great read that will appeal to readers young and old. Recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on June 5, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville

The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville
Magic Carpet Books, 2003 (reprint edition)
ISBN-13: 978-0152047054
Available: New and Used 

    The Monsters of Morley Manor isn’t as much of a scary book as an adventure book with monster characters in it.  In the book, Anthony and his little sister Sarah buy a box filled with five miniature monster figures: a lizard man, a medusa, a wolfman, a vampiress, and a hunchback. When one of the figures gets wet. it starts to come alive, and thus begins an adventure involving aliens, giant talking frogs, and ghosts.  Coville fits a lot into this book and while it works just fine, it seems like it would have been possible for him to have a book just with the five monsters and without the alien story line.  A good book for monster loving kids.    Ages 9-12.

Reviewed by Dylan Kowalewski

Editor’s note: This review first appeared on our main site in 2006. I very much still recommend it for monster-loving kids.

Posted on May 15, 2016 by , Reply
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