Baltimore, Vol. 5: The Apostle and the Witch of Harju by Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck (Illustrations), Christopher Golden (Goodreads Author), Peter Bergting

Baltimore, Vol. 5: The Apostle and the Witch of Harju by Mike Mignola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume has a super high creep factor. Anything with secret/demonic cults I find very disturbing. We meet an order of Christian knights who are trying to do what Baltimore does, but they are quite in over their heads. We also learn the fate of one of Baltimore's greatest adversaries (not the Vampire he hunts, mind you). There's some werewolf thrown in and not a little bit of blood and gore. Definitely one of the darkest volumes in a series that ain't exactly light reading. It was very good, despite all that. I hope Mignola keeps writing about Baltimore.

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Baltimore, Vol 4: Chapel of Bones by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden (Goodreads Author), Ben Stenbeck (Illustrations), Dave Stewart (Illustrations)

Baltimore, Vol 4: Chapel of Bones by Mike Mignola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series definitely takes me to that classic horror mood that I enjoy. To me, classic horror is the best horror there is. The modern-style stuff doesn't do it for me. I think Mignola and I have a meeting of minds on that. It's evident in his work. Baltimore is a man on a mission, and nothing will divert him from it. There are revelations about Baltimore and this story takes us full circle as it revisits a crucial scene from Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. Again, it's an opportunity to see Baltimore through the eyes of others, and to try to understand his motivations. These books are very dark, but very fascinating. The artwork is excellent, even with the limited color palette.

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The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars


Overview


This was a really cool story idea and a fun read.  I'm a huge fan of classic horror, particularly really creepy ghost stories.  While this is a modern published book, it has a favorably classic vibe.  The ghosts in this book are portrayed in the most harmful of ways.  They aren't just shades who have forgotten they are dead and harmlessly roam the world of the living. Instead, they have great potential for injuring and even killing humans. As a result of the "Problem", a huge rash of ghost hauntings that no one can explain, a group of organizations have been created to confront this issue.  Because children have heightened senses and abilities to perceive the ghosts, they are used to do most of this dangerous work, under the supervision of adults.

Antony Lockwood has decided to cut out the middleman. He started an agency of his own, with no adult supervision.  His one partner is George, but he interviews and takes on Lucy as an assistant. Lucy has a troubled past work experience in the north, where most of her crew were killed in a haunting that turned out to be worse than it seems.  She decided to take off on her own and ends up in London to find a place with the big ghost-hunting agencies. She has gone from agency to agency, rejected as an employee, but finds a home with Lockwood and Co.

Each child has distinctive abilities.  Lucy is able to hear the dead, and she also can touch things and feel the emotions of the person who owned the object.  Lockwood can see death glows (where people were violently killed) and has very keen eyesight for spectral information.  George is a superb researcher. Together, they make quite a team. However, the government agency who oversees hauntings has it in for them, because they don't like the idea of children going off on their own dealing with ghosts.

Lucy forms a strange connection to the spirit of a murdered girl (a fifty-year-old unsolved murder case) in a local house. They barely escape her vengeful ghost alive, but the house is burned as a result.  The resulting fine and bill from the owners could put them out of business. When a wealthy industrialist hires them to investigate his very dangerous haunted mansion, they can't say no. Even if the whole situation seems mighty fishy.

My Thoughts

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by British actress Miranda Raison (she was on MI-5), and her voice was excellent. She has good pitch, and is talented at modifying her voice for both male and female voices. Also, able to convey anger, menace, age, pomposity, and humor by varying her voice. Each character sounds different.  I would recommend listening to this, because it feels even more eerie in the audio form. 

The writing is very good.  I am a big fan of juvenile/middle grade stories because they are imaginative and are designed to keep a readers interest (young readers tend to have a shorter attention span).  I especially like the ones that demand the attention of the reader, and stimulate their curiosity and intellect. Such is the case with this book. Stroud had taken the tried and true subject of ghosts, and given it a unique spin. I love the fact that he has created plenty of fictional references from the leading ghost hunters of the original time of the inception of Ghost Hunting.  The kids consult these books and apply the crucial knowledge gained to do their work and keep themselves alive.  Not only does Stroud add layers to the concept of hauntings, he gives it his own spin, with the idea of things like 'ghost-touched' and "death-glow".  I also like how he elaborates on the various accoutrements of ghost-hunting and protection against ghosts.

The tension is very well done. The encounters with ghosts build in such a way to keep the reader on the edge of her seat.  Each encounter is progressively more scary, and the trio's experiences in the haunted manor is not something you'd want to read before bedtime. It's kind of freaky and disturbing to think that children are put in these dangerous situations, while adults sit by on the sidelines and stay safe! But the kids are best equipped to see the ghosts, so they can act quicker and more decisively in hauntings.

I definitely recommend "The Screaming Staircase" to fans of ghosts literature of all ages. I think this book is intelligent enough to satisfy both an older and younger reader, and as I said earlier, it has a nice old school ghost story vibe that would make the Patriarch of the genre, MR James proud.

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.



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Hellboy Volume 5: The Conqueror Worm by Mike Mignola

Hellboy, Vol. 5: Conqueror Worm by Mike Mignola

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gee, I wish I'd had time to write this review sooner, because my brain can be like a sieve.  I'll do my best, two weeks down the road.

It's fairly obvious that I am a big fan of Mike Mignola, so the four star rating is not unexpected.  I love me some Hellboy, which sounds really strange to say, but there it is. 

Hellboy faces his past head on in this fifth installment in the series.  He is confronted with his identity and how others may see him as he becomes an advocate for Roger, a homunculus who is treated as much less than human by the brass at the BRPD. If they view Roger this way, then they must see Hellboy the same way. Is Hellboy more than just a demon spawn, a walking, talking weapon who can be used for the BRPD's purposes, until he outlives his usefulness? Despite the BRPD's definition of who he is, does that mean that Hellboy can't be more if he chooses?

Along with the exploration of identity, Hellboy comes face to face with a sinister Nazi plot to awaken a worm that will destroy the world.  I think Hellboy and I share a true abhorrence for Nazis, and not surprising at all.  This is one of the weirdest Hellboy stories thus far.  Killer giant worms, Nazi undead astronauts, killer monkeys, talking heads, ghostly crimefighters from the 30s, you name it.  At the core, another good volume full of Mignola's expert storytelling with its respectful nods at classic horror and weird fiction greats like Poe and Lovecraft.  Hellboy is a non-human who struggles with the essential elements of humanity, and it's appreciated by this reader.



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Baltimore, Volume 3: A Passing Stranger and Other Stories by Mike Mignola/Christopher Golden

Baltimore, Vol. 3: A Passing Stranger and Other Stories by Mike Mignola

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A good tertiary addition to the Baltimore graphic novel series.  Readers who love classic horror fiction can't help but enjoy this series, and this one just cements the classic horror sensibility of the work by Mignola and Golden.  Forgive the pun, but they are a bit of a Golden Team for me.  I think their writing is seamless where I can't figure out which part Mignola wrote and what was written by Golden. The artwork is sober and dark in color, matching the unrelenting darkness of the literary tone of the stories.  Baltimore is a lone hunter who travels with one goal in mind: finding Haigus, the vampire who turned him and destroyed his family. Along the way, he will destroy evil he encounters. His relationship with God is complicated. He still calls him Lord, but he has a palpable anger towards Him. Baltimore seethes with it. He shakes his fists at God, but doesn't curse him. He only asks that he be left alone to seek his vengeance. To my mind, God manages for him to be in the right place at the right time, a fierce warrior against darkness and evil creatures of all kinds.  I am not saying I like an invincible hero all the time, but I appreciate how Baltimore always ends up in tight spots where I would expect him to be a goner, but he manages to survive, even if he adds a few more scars to the landscape of his body and face.

It's hard to rate this as a good book, in the sense that it's not at all feel-good.  It's very depressing in a lot of ways. The vampire plague has left destruction in every place, and all manner of foul creatures prey on the humans who manage to survive the plague and aren't turned into vampires.  So, no, it's not an uplifting read. However, the writing and the artwork are beautiful and has a penetrating effect on me as I read.  An excellent example of how successful the graphic novel medium can be for storytelling.  And since I don't get to read much Gothic/classic horror, lately, it satisfies my palate for the stories in a quick reading format, and the art-lover/artist in me.

I'm ever so grateful that I am able to get this from my library. These volumes would cost a pretty penny to buy new.

So, yes, I do recommend it to readers who aren't averse to a dark read.  It's violent and at times visceral, but not at all over the top or graphic.  As I said earlier in the review, it has the Gothic and Classic horror sensibility that any fans of 18th-early 20th century horror will appreciate. 

Four well-deserved stars.



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A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Goodness gracious, I am super late writing this review.  My schedule just exploded after the middle of October, and I had no time. Because it's been nearly a month, I don't have the best memory of all the plotlines. But I promised I would write a review for every book I read, so better late than never, and my review will be of the more general sort.

I was fortunate to find this at my library and it fit very well thematically into my October Scare Fest reading.  I enjoyed it overall.  It's an odd little book, no question about it.  I would consider it a bit of a pastiche to the famous literary figures of Dracula, Frankenstein and his monster, Sherlock Holmes, Merlin-type druids, and the Wolfman. I rather enjoyed that about this book.  What I loved the most is that the narrators are the familiars, or animal companions of the human (or humanlike characters).  They all strike up a strange sort of friendship driven by mutual interest and that old adage that drives too many middle grade friendships, especially among girls:  better to be friends with someone than to have them as an enemy.

The story's chapters are broken down into each one representing a day in October.  They are getting ready for some very important magical event that will have seemingly profound consequences. It sort of reminded me of the Highlander movie where the various characters are pairing off against each other, but this was more of a semi-good versus evil sort of standoff. Just my take. Forgive me if I am way off here.  I didn't quite understand all of that, but I don't think it was as important as the unfolding paranormal mystery as various human (or humanlike) characters start to be picked off, one by one. The main character is a dog, who is the familiar of a male wizard.  He's an endearing narrator.  I liked how he plays dumb dog when necessary, but he's not the average canine (I truly feel some dogs are incredibly intelligent, so don't assume I'm picking on dogs here).  I liked his wry and atypical friendship with a cat, who is the familiar of a witch. Along with the fact that their humans are striking up a courtship that may not end well if they end up choosing opposites sides. There is also a bat, rat, snake, and owl character.  I'm sorry I don't remember all their names.  I do remember the snake's name was Quicklime, so go figure.  Strangely enough, the humanlike character who was most developed was Larry Talbot.  Classic horror movie buffs will recognize that name as that of the Wolf Man. He did have the tragic vibe of the character in the movie, but he was quite likable.

This book isn't that deep. I mean it's a short book and probably has some hidden meaning, and I think a very prominent satirical tone that some readers will pick up on immediately.  It's not super scary, it's a bit.  Enough to make for a nice Halloween read. 

I'd say this one is worth tracking down if you can find it at your library. Unfortunately, it's out of print. 

A good read for this time of year. And fun for animal lovers like myself.



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Afterward by Edith Wharton

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars


I read this as part of the Classic Horror Lovers group, Tales to Chill Your Blood series that we started in October.  A member reminded me that it was available in the Tales of Men and Ghosts collection, which is free on Kindle, so I was jazzed.

Overall, it didn't catch my interest. I found my attention wandering and boredom setting in as I read it. I think it was probably a situation where the writing style didn't work for me.  Wharton seems to have a sort of elaborate, flowery style, and I usually don't care for that kind of writing.  I didn't feel the tension build that much, even after the pivotal events occur.  I was looking for that moment, I'll call it the 'crunch moment', although that is probably not the best word, and when it occurs, I didn't feel anything.  I am a reader who likes to be involved in the story, and I felt detached from this story.  I really didn't care about the characters.  It's hard to feel horror or fear when you don't care and aren't drawn into the story.

While the idea was good, the execution didn't work for me.  I'm disappointed because I was definitely looking for a good vintage ghost story to get my October Scare Fest started, and this wasn't the one.

Edith Wharton is obviously touted  as a well-respected author, and I won't even try to dispute that. I do have to say she had quite a vocabulary, which is always enviable. Unfortunately, I'd have to say that this ghost story didn't work for me.  I read it late, late at night in bed on my Kindle with the lights off, and I didn't feel a single chill.  Not good for a ghost story.  I'll try her again though.

Overall rating: 2.5/5.0 stars.



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Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola

Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire uses the story within a story narrative very successfully.  Three of Lord Baltimore's close acquaintances, Doctor Rose, Demetrius Aischros, and Childress all meet at a pub, awaiting Baltimore.  They each tell their story about how they came to meet Baltimore and when they became aware of the unnatural evil that exists in the world around them.  Interspersed is the narrative about how Henry, Lord Baltimore, came to be the formidable vampire hunter who is nearly as frightening as the creatures he hunts.

As a huge fan of Victorian horror and ghost stories, I enjoyed the narrative device, which reminded me of MR James's ghost stories and William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki tales.  Except this is a lot darker in content.  Baltimore is a hero who lives in the dark, on the edge of despair, with everything he loved having been destroyed by the same vampires he hunts.  He is definitely a tragic figure, seething with anger and rage.  Yet, he's still sympathetic, which is a feeling underlined by the fact that three of the narrators are men who are still loyal to him, despite having seen him at his worst.  For all his rough edges, he is definitely needed in this world in which the Red King continues to afflict his deadly plague on humanity, and his minions go from town to town, spreading destruction.

The stories that each of the men told were creepy and disturbing, a melange of weirdness and horror, with a vintage feel.  They have an air of dark nightmares, in which you question the reality. However, you know that it happened, because that is why these men are meeting together.  They are survivors of those nightmares, and in different ways beholden or loyal to Baltimore.  Each character is distinctive, their narrative fitting their personality and worldview. 

As the name indicates, the story pays homage to the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  Baltimore saw himself as that soldier.  A man who had a loving family and a loving wife when he left home to fight in the Great War, but lost everything.  He is that soldier moved around a battlefield by an indifferent creator, who feels nothing for his suffering.  Like the soldier, his beloved is forever denied to him, but still he fights.  This allusion is achingly poignant and beautiful, a needed element in this story of unrelenting darkness and despair. That is not to say that good does not conquer, but the cost is extremely high for those who fight on the side of the light.

Baltimore, in the end, was a good book. Mignola illustrates it with his woodcut/engraving-styled, black and white drawings.  They add somewhat to the narrative, but they are so stylized, it's not the same as a graphic novel, in which the illustrations help to tell the story. However, they bring to mind the woodcuts you might see in a Fairy Tale collection, such as Andrew Lang's fairy books.  I could see that as a deliberate choice on Mignola's part.  One of the other things I really appreciate about this collaboration is that you cannot tell which author is writing which part. It's a seamless finished product, demonstrating much appreciated creative harmony between Mignola and Golden. 

Once again, I'm glad I was able to get this from my library, since these kinds of books are too pricy for my budget. It's definitely worth reading, especially for fans of the above authors and those who enjoy classic horror literature and fairy tales.  Although it's dark reading, it was imaginative and involving.  I'd recommend it.





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Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber

Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I am glad I finally read this one. I've had it in my pile for a while, and in my classic horror/fantasy reading quest, Fritz Leiber definitely is a must read.

So, let's get down to business:

Review of Conjure Wife

I read this out of the Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness duology, but I wanted to jot down my thoughts separately for this one before I finish the volume.

I found the writing clever. I was transplanted into the cutthroat world of college politics. Who knew that the wives could be just as fierce as their faculty husbands? And that they would resort to sorcery and witchcraft to keep their husbands (and themselves by relation) in power? Things get pretty nasty!

I think that there is some very interesting commentary about male and female relationships here. That old Venus Versus Mars argument. I felt at first that Norman was a rampant sexist (in a way that is very common even today). He had a superior attitude towards his wife, while simultaneously being in awe of her at the same time. He seemed to view her as an alien creature, constantly analyzing the way her mind worked, as if it was so different from his. I liked how his feelings of mental superiority over her backfired when he realized that she was in fact the one who was right about what was really going on, and how he had to rely on her knowledge of the situation. I liked how things turned around and it was clear how much he did care for his wife. How he fought for her well-being, willingly putting aside his hard-headed scientific skeptical thought processes to save her.

I feel that there is a heavy tone of satire cleverly mixed in with well-executed psychological horror. Norman's internal dialogue engenders a tone that is analytical and observational (although he doesn't seem to be as observant as one would think for a sociologist), wry and sarcastic at other times and quite laden with a menace that sneaks up on the reader. At first, I found him to be a bit of a pompous twit. I admit I can't stand when men treat women like their brains and mental capacities are limited. But I couldn't stay angry at him. He learned the hard way not to underestimate women, particularly his own wife. I think in this, Leiber is making a point. For all the men did have a tendency to view their spouses through a skewed lens, not realizing just how much power the women truly had in their lives and over them. Leiber seems to throw sexist ideas out with a wink and a nod, as if he expects the readers to reject those thoughts, or perhaps to poke fun at those who believe what he's saying. My take, anyway.

I wonder what the reception was to this book in the 1940s. The ideas of male/female relations are probing and insightful in a way that seems a bit subversive. But what do I know? At any rate, I liked this story very much. It's beautifully subtle in the slow building of menace and fear, and the ideas about society seem to be relevant today in how men and women and spouses relate to and view each other. Also it speaks to the often venomous way that women can sometimes turn against each other, belying what some (including myself) naively believe about the sisterhood of women. On the horror level, the truly heinous and scary nature of witchcraft used as a tool for power and control is enough to send a shiver down my spine. It makes you wonder just how much witchcraft may be going on behind the scenes today.

Overall rating: 4.25/5.0 stars.

Review of Our Lady of Darkness

In this story, Leiber demonstrates an incredible knowledge base about dark and supernatural fiction, going back into the 19th and early 20th century. He writes this story in the style of Lovecraft, or should I say Machen, since he wrote The Great God Pan long before Lovecraft, in which the unknown menace is slowly being revealed to the protagonist. This is a knowledge too terrible to behold. Many have been damaged and have succumbed to it in the past.

I liked the nod and the reference to all those various works of literature, and the inclusion of real life people in the world of the arts and science in this story. That was very cleverly done. This does a lot to create and flesh out the fictional world. As with the other book in the duology of Dark Ladies, "Conjure Wife", Leiber does do a good job of building menace and the tension level, and with using that thematic question ‘Is it real or am I losing my mind?

This story has an air of decadence I didn’t care for. You can see changes in the times, with the shift in values that occurred past the mid-20th Century, both good and bad. For instance, there is an air of anything goes sexuality, the rejection of anything good and decent for the sake of nihilism or the love of chaos/anarchy, and the liberal use of drugs and alcohol. The author doesn’t quite condone this in the story, but he is not shy about showing some of these aspects. Some of it gave me a bad feeling, but then I have never been one for sexual violence, darkness or depravity, in real life, or in my fiction.

Overall, I can’t say I liked this book that much. There were some appealing components, such as the literary nods and the clear evidence of Leiber’s extensive knowledge of classic dark fiction and horror, as well having his bibliophilia show through in his characters. As a huge fan of MR James, it was great to see more than a couple of references to him. Similarly, fans of Lovecraft will appreciate the nods to his pivotal work in 20th Century horror and supernatural fiction. I guess my big issue was the fact that some concepts were just too out there for me (and their explanations somewhat tedious), the overall level of moral decadence (not a big draw for me), and the slow unfolding of the plot. Sure enough, the climax is a good payoff (really quite scary), but not enough to elevate this book to a higher level. Especially after how much I enjoyed its sister story, “Conjure Wife" out of Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness. It's never a good idea to compare things, but sometimes the comparison is obligatory and that one thing fails to live up to its companion in the end. Such was the case with "Our Lady of Darkness."

I would still consider this semi-required reading for the 19th-20th Century classic horror scholar or devotee. You might like it more than I did, and that would be an a good thing in the end if you find another book you love.

Overall rating: 2.5/5.0 stars.

Well, there you have it. My thoughts on this volume. Leiber is a good writer. He knows what he is doing and has a way with telling a scary story. I will be reading more of his books!

Although my rating for "Our Lady of Darkness" is low, I can't give this less than four stars overall, because it has an impact and seems very canonical in the development of supernatural fiction and horror from the 20th century overall. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it!

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The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this story. It was multifaceted in that it was not just a haunted house story, but also a murder mystery.  Collins builds the suspense and the feeling of curiosity that keeps the reader engaged.  I found the writing to be far from dated. The language was not antiquated, but felt almost modern in some ways. The print for my copy is rather small, and that's the only reason I didn't read it faster.  Yesterday, I kept saying, I'll read to this point, and to that point, before I knew it, it was quite late and I had to put the book down to go to bed. 

I didn't find the prose melodramatic. Instead, I found that Collins is matter of fact in describing horrors. It's merely in reading of such things that the horror is evoked.  I was quite suprised at the horrible things that had occurred, and it wasn't do to that Campy Gothic or Victorian Penny Dreadful tendency to use outlandish language to evoke a dark, sinister tone.  I liked his subtle but hilarious humor, particularly in the part in which Francis Westwick goes to the room in question.  I was laughing out loud on that part.

The Haunted Hotel starts out in an curious manner, with a false narrator. Which is quite brilliant.  This beginning narrator never makes another appearance, and I was left to wonder how this plot thread would end up in the titular place.  Further reading shows Collins' tendency to continuously introduce new point of views, leaving it up to the reader to see how it ties together.  As I consider this novella, I wonder if this was not his way of revealing the intriguing character of the Countess through different eyes.  So one cannot easily make of their mind about her. (view spoiler)[ I have to admit that I felt sympathetic to her up to almost the end of the story. While what she does is completely heinous and terrible, I felt that her allegiance to her awful brother was no small factor in her moral failing.  In the end, she seemed to merely live down to everyone's expectations of her, instead of reaching higher.  Instead of staying true to what I felt was an inner cord of strength, she followed that fatal path to destruction. So I admit that in the end, I still pitied her despite her actions.  I was in no small way surprised that she actually was guilty. I thought perhaps she was just a victim of a bad reputation.  My feelings towards the Countess make me admire this story more for the clever way in which it was written.   (hide spoiler)]

Now an impatient reader will wish for Collins to get to the point, but I rather enjoyed the journey.  I found the characters interesting, all of which evoking sympathy to some extent (except the Baron, who I found totally repugnant).  Collins has a way of writing characters that is quite appealing to me. Even the lesser important characters come to life and earn their screen time when they come into the scenes.   I enjoyed the roundabout way of presenting a story that was actually quite chilling in parts.  I appreciated how intricately the mystery builds to a satisfying climax for this reader. 

In the end, I was impressed with this novella by Mr. Collins. I will read more of his work because I think he has a way of writing mystery and suspense that is timeless, drawing me into his writing and not easily letting me go. His characters have impact and come to life for this reader, not sacrificed to a greater goal of evoking horror or terror, as can sometimes happen in this genre. I for one recommend this story to fans of classic/gothic horror and suspense.

Read out of The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories.



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Marley- The Other Christmas Carol by Donald Allen Kirch

Marley- The Other Christmas Carol by Donald Allen Kirch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wish I'd had time to read this during the past Christmas season, because it would be perfect to get a reader into the mood, and to reinforce the deep meanings of this beloved holiday.

Mr. Kirch is on point with the meaning of A Christmas Carol in this novella, and he lovingly does homage to it, while he takes the story forward in time to a family that very much needs to be reminded about the importance of family and love.

For a while, I was quite worried. I cried bitter tears, but I kept hope alive in my heart that Marley would do his magic to help little Kathy, a young girl with two bickering parents who often forget she's around. Kathy, Marley, and Tobias make this story, while parents Dan and Beverly make for some frustrating moments. But one of the most important truths of Christmas holds true here, that love is a miracle. A light that can enter into the darkest abyss, and its miraculous ability to change a human heart will ultimately triumph over the most hopeless of situations.

I enjoyed this story very much, and I recommend it to readers who love A Christmas Carol, and readers who like modern gothics and horror that bring to mind the classics in these genres.

Thanks to Donald Allen Kirch for the opportunity to read Marley-The Other Christmas Carol.





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Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein

Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dark Gods is a collection of novellas that bring to mind something that I could imagine HP Lovecraft writing if he was a baby boomer. Or maybe that isn't quite right. Because I think T.E.D. Klein has a subtle, grounded approach that distances him from Lovecraft's style in a crucial way for this reader. Klein seems to eschew melodrama, and Lovecraft embodies it in his writing. The similiarities to Lovecraft lie more in his overall fatalistic viewpoint and his character choices. I had to say I wasn't quite comfortable with the way race is handled in these stories. Characters are labeled far too quickly by race and ethnicity, also by social status. That definitely made me think of how Lovecraft would view the melting pot of NYC in the modern age. I want to say that this was done on purpose. That these characters in the stories are people who don't see the world in a rosy way. They don't look past skin color, ethnicity, or social status. They are way too disenchanted, too immersed in the world's darkness to see things in a higher way. The worldview also brings to mind Lovecraft. His fatalistic view of the world, in which doom is certain, in which goodness cannot prevail, and mankind is merely going through the motions. And then there are the references to those in the know when it comes to the occult and the arcane, those who have pierced the veil. The doomed fate of those who seek to know more than they should. That's here as well.



How is this different from Lovecraft? Well, I touched on that in the writing style. Mr. Klein has a smooth writing style, a modern (well at that time, which is like the late 70s/early 80s or so?) feel to his work. His ideas might bring to mind some of the pulp notions, but they are entirely his own. I'm not much for the dark, sure doom approach when it comes to horror, but for that type of story, he writes it well. Mr. Klein has a way of building atmosphere in a very subtle manner. Before I know it, I feel my stomach tighten with unease, just by a mere sentence. Things seemed normal and 'okay', and suddenly there is that suggestion of dread where I didn't see it before. And before I knew it, the point of no return had passed for the character in the story. Maybe he didn't intend for some aspects to be funny, but they were. I guess it's my weirdo sense of humor at work, because I laughed out loud at some parts, and then I almost shuddered at some other part.



What I thought about each story



"Children of the Kingdom"



This story was just kind of twisted. Some aspects were pretty sick, but kind of absurd, in that way that has you wanting to laugh until the idea that this is not played for laughs hits you. It's not so funny if you're actually in this story, and this utter weirdness is playing out around you and involves you in ways you really don't want to be involved. This story makes me think that Klein writes in a subversive way to bring race relations to the reader's mind and to make one consider how absurd racism (largely due to unfounded fears behind it) is. In this case, the main characters fear the blacks and what they seem to represent (seen as the arbiters and cause of social decay) in the neighborhood. What they should fear is lurking in the sewers, and they aren't black, and hardly even human. They are a primitive version of humanity that could care less about race, other than furthering their own once great civilization. This was an eerie and disturbing, like a stomach ache, story.



"Petey"



"Petey" seems to be a look at the Yuppie drive to 'have' and to 'flaunt' what one has. In this case, George and Phyllis have gotten a huge mansion way out in the boondocks for a song, and they throw a party to show it off. Actually they got the mansion for a 'steal', and they will find it's going to cost a lot more than they bargained for. Klein shows just how different his writing is from Lovecraft, even with a story that could have come out of the master of horror's imagination. In this case, this story is so subtle, it takes some careful reading to look for the threads of threat and horror. (My personal opinion is that Lovecraft is not a subtle writer) They are there, but the social commentary seems to be more of a focus in this story. However, careful reading assures the reader that they are not mistaken about the wrongness of it all. This is definitely a horror story. I felt the ending was too abrupt, and that disappointed me. But it was a good story overall.





"Black Man with a Horn"



Definitely a story that could have come out of the pulps with the fears of the Yellow invasion and the antiquated views towards black people (bestial, subhuman, you name it), also that fear of native/tribal cultures. This story felt the most like Lovecraft to me, and probably in the ways that make his stories hardest to read as far as racist elements. What I liked about this story is that the narrator is a contemporary of Lovecraft, who was seen as a protege of Lovecraft instead of a respected colleague. That smarts, and you find out more than once as you read the story. He views the world through an aging lens. One gets the impression that his views on race are expected for a man of his age, even if they made me uncomfortable. This one is a double-edged sword for me, as I liked the pulpy feel, although not the undesirable aspects (see above sentences) of pulp literature. You have an idea of what's going on here, but there's still an ambiguity to the threat. And when the story ends, that is a huge component of the unease that is left behind. It's as though you can only see what you have seen, and no more, without losing your grip on sanity. That's very Lovecraft right there.



"Nadelman's God"



This story was the most interesting, and the most disturbing one in the collection. Heavy shades of black magic here. It makes one afraid of what lurks in your imagination. Could I create something with this malevolent force behind it? On one level, I could wonder if it's Nadelman's very lack of positive belief and optimism that created the spark that brought this creature to life. If religion is seen as an opiate, could it not also serve as a protective force against something much darker, much more detrimental to mankind? Instead of belief hurting, maybe belief could protect. And its absence opens a doorway to a dark force that hates all good in the world. When this story concluded, I felt that fear like a weight on my back that it left behind.



Dark Gods is a good book to read around Halloween. It will have you reaching for lighter fare afterwards, though.



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They That Dwell in Dark Places by Daniel McGachey

They That Dwell In Dark Places by Daniel McGachey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This nifty collection of stories by Daniel McGachey is just what a fan of old school horror stories deeply in the vein of Montague Rhodes James (who has rightfully been called the master of the ghost story) would clamor for once they have exhausted all the MR James out there on offer, or just as an adjunct to their classic horror reading. My tastes in horror are definitely in the old school vein, and I love when I am able to find newly written stories and novels that showcase the old school styles. My friend was kind enough to lend me her copy of this book, and I have spent the better part of this week and last reading and enjoying the stories on offer.



It goes without saying that this wouldn't appeal to readers who don't like the old school way of telling a story, and a reader who gets bogged down with antiquated description and language. However, if you are a big reader of classic horror, as I am, I think that you will find it enjoyable.



Admittedly, there were a couple of stories that were a bit on the dry side, and I found my attention wandering. But the truly scary, atmospheric, and just downright disturbing stories made up for it. I didn't try to read this one at night, except for when I read it one night on the elliptical at the gym. Yeah, that gave me a few creepy moments on the way home. Honestly, I would avoid reading this one at bedtime, because McGachey manages to get you where you live. For instance, he gave me that squirmy feeling of guilt at my penchant for loving tales of the macabre. Some might think it unsuitable reading for a 'good Christian'. I don't really think that intellectually, but there is a story that makes you wonder if you really should spend so much time looking into the dark, unless you want the dark to pay you a visit. Yeah, that's a disturbing thought. Not enough to put me off these types of stories, though. Just enough to raise some goosebumps.



I definitely have to give Mr. McGachey an A for his ability to write in the classic horror vein very authentically. I have read many stories from the Victorian and Edwardian periods with exactly the same language and style. He also develops atmosphere flawlessly. And I love his deft skill with a frame story, and how his stories seem to tie together in this volume. I liked Dr. Lawrence as his intrepid occult detective character, who reminded me of a more scholarly Kolchak. With the only negative being that some stories were a bit dry, I can't help but give this one a solid four stars. I will be looking for more of his stories to read in the future.



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