Poe | Musings of the Monster Librarian

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.

Women in Horror Fiction: J. Lincoln Fenn

Image of J. Lincoln Fenn

If you haven’t discovered J.Lincoln Fenn yet, you should check out her debut novel, Poe (2013, 47North). It’s got lots of dark humor, a great, quirky narrator, and while the story is firmly grounded in the present, it’s also a fantastical tale of insanity with a chilling, gothic feel. Poe also made the preliminary ballot for this year’s Stoker Awards. If any of that intrigues you, today Poe is available as a Kindle Daily Deal, so it’s a great time to check it out.

1.) Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

I’m just a white girl from Massachusetts who lives in Hawaii and writes dark things. My debut novel Poe won the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror, which led to its publication by 47North. A complete and utter surprise since about 10,000 people enter that contest each year.

Poe is a genre blend of horror/urban fantasy/dark humor, more along the lines of John Dies in the End than your standard horror novel. It centers on Dimitri Petrov, a 23-yr. old, snarky obituary writer who wakes up on a slab in the morgue after a Halloween séance gone bad. Things go downhill from there.

2.) Why do you write horror? What draws you to the genre?

Probably my Roman-Catholic roots and New England upbringing draws me to horror. Christianity is a religion based on one of the goriest books ever written, with a Sunday ritual involving the transfiguration of a wafer and wine into flesh and blood, which everyone consumes. And New England is just inherently spooky. Those long, dark winters with the wind howling around the eaves explain a lot about Hawthorne, Poe, and Lovecraft.

I write horror because I think it’s where we get to explore our darkest fears. Stephen King said, “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” The truth inside horror is our fear of death. Some cultures take this on more directly. In Tibet, they practiced ‘sky burial’ where a corpse was dismembered as an offering to the vultures, a more literal form of transfiguration except the deity is impermanence.

3.) Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?

I want to wake people up when I write. I want to them to read something and go, no, she didn’t just say that, did she? I want my words to do something. When I was writing Poe I was reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Great Expectations. Tonally there’s something gonzo-style about Dimitri’s voice, and the only better snark than Charles Dickens is George Eliot.

I also like playing disparate notes at the same time. The Prologue (to Poe) is horrific, with gory descriptions of the morgue, but the dialogue is funny, and there’s danger and threat too. Wakey wakey.

4. Who are some of your influences? Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?

Even though Poe has almost nothing to do with E. A. Poe, he is a big influence. My grandfather, who worked in a factory, was somehow talked into buying Poe’s complete works. A wonderful discovery one long, dull summer.

I have an altar to Margaret Atwood. She sets an impossible standard, but I forgive her for that. Other women writers I find inspiring are Gillian Flynn, Ann Patchett, Isabel Allende, Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, and Carolyn See. I had the good fortune to meet and take a course with See, who gave great advice on writing and the writing life.

5.) What authors do you like to read? Any recommendations?

I started reading Neil Gaiman after my PW weekly review said his fans would like Poe, and I thought oh yes, here’s a kindred spirit. The Ocean at the End of the Lane and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas were two of my favorite reads in 2013.

If it’s been a while since you read Frankenstein (probably high school), pick it up again. It holds up, and in these days of glow-in-the-dark bunnies and genetically engineered tomatoes, scarily prescient. Then read Oryx and Crake. And be afraid.
6.) Where can readers find your work?

For less than the cost of a latte and scone, anyone can pick up a Kindle version of Poe on Amazon. There’s also a paperback, which has a nice, waxy cover, and an audiobook. Readers can also find my most current musings on my blog at www.jlincolnfenn.com. Also I follow back.

Interested in learning more? Here’s a link to J. Lincoln Fenn’s Amazon page. You can access her most recent tweets and blog posts– they appear in the column to the right of the main page.

Have a great day, and check back soon to see another profile!