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Book Review: Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 edited by Brian James Freeman

Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 edited by Brian James Freeman

Hydra, 2017

ISBN: 9780399182037

Available: Kindle edition

Halloween Carnival, Volume 1 is the first of five collections of five Halloween-themed stories, with each story by a different writer in the horror genre. Curated by Brian James Freeman, the short collections were published as individual ebooks in a series, with one releasing in consecutive order on each Tuesday in October of 2017.

Robert McCammon’s “Strange Candy” is a bittersweet ghost story. A father finds an odd piece of unwrapped candy is found in the bottom of his child’s candy bag, and when he doesn’t heed the kidding chides of his wife about eating tampered candy. and consumes it, he is visited by a spirit for each of the gnarled peppermint shaped fingers. Each one brings him urgent messages to deliver to the living. When he receives his own visit from a very human messenger, he knows what he must do.

Kevin Lucia’s “The Rage of Achilles, or When Mockingbirds Sing,” returns readers of his previous books to Clifton Heights. Father Ward volunteers to hear confessions on All Hallow’s Eve. The father of a dead boy apologizes for what he is about to do after delivering his story. Will Father Ward be too late to stop the distraught father, or is there something more to the events of this strange night?

In John R. Little’s “Demon Air”, Halle is headed to Australia on the cheapest flight possible. When the stewards and pilot get in on the Halloween fun, it seems like all fun and games, until the danger becomes too real on the long flight.

In Lisa Morton’s “La Hacienda de lost Muertos,” Trick McGrew, an old-time cowboy star of the silver screen, is thrown into a real ghost story when he walks onto the set of his new film in Mexico. He discovers the sad La Llorona, searching endlessly for her lost children, is more than just a legend. He also discovers the truth behind her death, and what became of her babies.

Everyone is using hashtags these days. What happens when someone takes it too far? That’s the question Mark Allen Gunnells poses in “#MakeHalloweenScaryAgain.” Dustin, an author working on his next novel, starts the infamous hashtag that will change the town he lives in forever. When journalist Shawn befriends the author, and the major suspect in a grisly chain of events, things get even stranger. The use of social media in this story adds to the intrigue the author sets. Who is using the author’s hashtag to drive his push to make Halloween scary again?

I enjoyed this short anthology very much. The stories are short, entertaining reads, especially appropriate for the most wonderful time of the year for those of us who love Halloween. “The Rage of Achilles” is a particular favourite. The story is subtle in its horror, and the author’s treatment of a child with autism is very real, well-written, and sensitive to the fact that not every person with autism has every single marker of the spectrum. Recommended.

Contains: some violence

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 13, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Little Heaven by Nick Cutter

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter
Gallery Books, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1501104213
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible

Nick Cutter is one of the hottest names in horror fiction, and for good reason. I have read all four of his books now, and I the praise for each was certainly warranted. I enjoyed The Deep and The Acolyte but his debut novel, The Troop, is outstanding. At a time when major publishers were shy about hardcover horror, this wicked intense, character-rich, body horror novel was a major hit. It worked in part because, despite a modern setting, it felt retro in all the right ways, like a a golden age of horror paperback classic. People rightly compared to it to classic Stephen King. I thought it was an effective and disturbing horror novel that made the best of a lean prose style.

Little Heaven, Cutter’s fourth book, is a masterpiece of horror fiction, and a tribute to the 1980s, even more so than The Troop did. As good as his last two books were, they missed the retro feel that made The Troop special.  Although some readers have compared Little Heaven to classic King, it’s more influenced by the work of Clive Barker and Robert McCammon. The setting and characters suggest that Cutter was also influenced by Cormac McCarthy, and the structure and dialogue are reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino. Take all this narrative chemistry, and it adds up to a novel that feels like others, but is actually like nothing I have read before (it’s also nice to see that he has escaped the Bentley Little title disease– finally, a novel that is not The ___ Whatever “.)

Little Heaven is the story of four trained killers given the mission to rescue a young boy whose father has taken him to a compound called Little Heaven, in the New Mexico desert. Cutter clearly has fashioned the cult after real-life cults. We soon learn that the killers are not normal humans. The supernatural elements have a surreal quality that brings to mind early Clive Barker. Monsters, such as the Long Walker, were disturbing in how unnatural they were, yet described so well you can see them in your mind. It’s nothing short of creepy.  Cutter creates vivid landscapes, and the horrors pop off the page, causing several cringeworthy moments of supernatural horror.

The narrative switches back and forth from the mid-60s to the 80s, and the structure unrolls the story in an unconventional but very effective manner. We know the four mercenaries survived something which changed them, and they are haunted by what they have seen. As in Robert McCammon’s Gone South, the characters are both scary and hilarious at times. The prose itself is excellent. This novel delivers exactly the feeling of the classics, and causes me to turn the pages, and that’s all I’m asking for. I think this is the best Cutter book to date, and the best horror novel in years. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by David Agranoff

Here’s an audio review David did of Little Heaven with fellow author Anthony Trevino.

 


Posted on May 5, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon

Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon

Subterranean Press, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-59606-738-7

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition.

 

Whether it is straight-up horror, historical thriller, coming-of-age story, or tale of suspense, readers know what to expect from a Robert McCammon novel—a great story. McCammon hits the target here in Last Train From Perdition, the follow-up to the entertaining I Travel By Night.

 

The opening recaps the story of vampire Trevor Lawson and his human sidekick Ann Remington, bounty hunters seeking vengeance  LaRouge, the vampire who turned Lawson into a creature of the night, and took Ann’s father and sister, is still lurking in the shadows, awaiting her chance to kill her protegé if he refuses to join her clan.

 

Lawson is summoned from New Orleans to Omaha to retrieve a wealthy businessman’s rogue son. The son joined up with a gang hell-bent on wreaking havoc in the Wild West of 1886, but now he wants out—a wish that can’t be accomplished without serious help. Lawson and Remington, forever dealing with the Dark Society, the band of creatures who reign in the night, know no job is simple. When a shootout in the saloon goes awry, Lawson needs help to save a young woman’s life.  The pair of hunters jump the titular train, headed for Helena, Montana, along with those they’re responsible for, and ride off into a winter storm. What they find may end all of them.

 

This is a tight, slam-bang read that readers can knock out in a night or two. McCammon writes in a no-nonsense manner that still manages to leap off the pages with crackling dialogue, action, and description. Hopefully, Lawson and Remington will be back for another tale, as the author has a created a worthy hero to continue the series. Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on September 29, 2016 by , Reply