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“The Return of the Sorcerer” A Retro Review
In my ongoing quest for enrichment activities, I thought about the British tradition of A Ghost Story at Christmas. What could be more of an enrichment activity than starting a new tradition? The notion of reading a classic horror story on Halloween came to me like a revenant. There’s a wealth of material to choose from, and it’s always good to take a fresh look at those tales that have haunted us for years. For the first installment of this annual ritual, I’ve chosen a yarn set in H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmology. Written by Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961), “The Return of the Sorcerer” was first published in…
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I’ll Be Waiting
I’ll Be Waiting (St. Martin’s Press) by Kelley Armstrong is problematic. Like many other novels I’ve recently read, it rivets in its first half. Then comes the inevitable letdown. Labored twists and turns of plot. Characters whose actions become contrived. A protagonist, who veers from appearing shrewdly analytical and self-aware, to being a possibly unreliable first-person narrator whose evolving paranoia may have merit. Sigh. To accentuate the positives, the protagonist has a warped sense of humor that most horror readers will find accessible. Nicola Laughton is a 38-year-old survivor. She’s lived beyond the predicted lifespan of someone who was diagnosed at a young age with cystic fibrosis. She had adapted to…
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Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror
The supernatural is a mainstay of horror fiction. Yet in the reality of the darkest recesses of our hearts, we know that lots of fears stem from the potential of human perpetrated horrors. Be it the concern of our chances of being gunned down by an anonymous shooter at a public venue or awareness of horrific genocides, fear of dangerous human beings quietly lurks in our subconscious. Editor Ellen Datlow explores this in the aptly named Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror. The anthology contains 21 previously published stories that focus on deadly aberrations of character. Serial killers are well represented, and revenge is a thematic staple in some of the yarns. The…
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Horror Show: A Tribute to Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn (July 10, 1949 – August 13, 2024) was known primarily as a rock musician and radio DJ. He also wrote horror fiction. His debut novel in the genre was Horror Show (1996), which received a Bram Stoker award nomination in the Best First Novel category. Kihn’s recent death prompted me to re-read the book. Its narrative is temporally bookended in the year of the novel’s Tor Books publication. However, the midsection bulk of the plot is a lengthy set piece flashback to 1957. In its modern-day sections, a newshound for a horror movies publication scores an interview with a notoriously reclusive director. The apex of the director’s career was a…
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Longlegs
Horror film plots do not fare well under scrutiny. There’s a willing suspension of disbelief as soon as one buys a ticket and sinks into their theater seat armed with popcorn and the hope of being scared out of one’s wits. Longlegs is a low-budget film that defied box office expectations. It is chilling in terms of atmosphere and quite stunning in the performances of its actors. The story is a few notches above the standard horror flick, owing to stylish homages to two of the great ones: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Se7en (1995.) Unlike those suspense classics, Longlegs segues into supernatural territory thereby teetering on the ludicrous. It is to writer-director Oz Perkins’s…
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Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil is a crafty collection. It is a tapestry of tales that have subliminal links to each other while gleefully playing with meta and the metaphysical. Even before opening the unconventionally structured book, there’s a thematic hint of what’s inside. The brilliant jacket design by Jamie Stafford-Hill informs the reader that author Ananda Lima’s stories which await within are part of a larger whole. Lima incorporates her Brazilian background and time spent in New York City into the into the narratives, often fusing the experiences with phantasmagoria. Any attempt to categorize this holistic amalgamation of yarns is futile. With adroit precision, the volume presents a…
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Dr. Krusadian’s Method: An Appreciation of Ray Garton
On April 21, 2024, the horror community lost another revered member. Ray Garton was a respected and beloved writer whose upbringing played an important role in his choice of genre. An adopted child, he was sent to religious schools and brought up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Sermons about the apocalypse instilled in him a fear that segued into exploring horror fiction and films as an outlet: a facing of fears in a comfortable and removed setting. He indicated that it wasn’t his intent to write horror but accepted it was highly compatible with his history and sensibilities. In essence, Garton related aspects of his life under a genre umbrella.…
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Late Night with the Devil
Recently, I went to the multiplex to see the horror film Stopmotion. It is wonderfully artistic, has some excellent performances, and an intriguing premise concerning an adult daughter being controlled by her celebrity filmmaker mother. The narcissistic mother suffers from acute arthritis in her hands which makes her unable to finish what will likely be her last stop motion film. She therefore requires her daughter to be literally hands on to complete the film, but satisfying a demanding artiste proves demoralizing and untenable. Those intense interpersonal dynamics and gripping stop motion visuals appeared to be laying the groundwork for potentially riveting psychological horror. Unfortunately, the movie veers into the standard clichés…
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Diavola
“French Provincial” and “Southern Gothic” are well known geographically inspired terms. “Toxic Tuscan” will no doubt be added to the list by those who read Diavola. Jennifer Thorne’s gripping horror novel is predominantly set in Tuscany but the toxicity in the relationships between the protagonist, her parents and two siblings has no borders. Central character Anna Pace is in her mid-thirties. An underachiever who suppresses her obvious talent as an artist, Anna opts instead for the steady but uninspiring security of creating visuals for a New York city ad agency. She is acerbically observant regarding ambience and demeanor, and therefore has no illusions about the prospect of sharing a rental…
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The Wolfe at the Door
There comes a time in a reviewer’s life to rectify some wrongs. Gaps in one’s readings and viewings abound and should be addressed. One of my gaps concerns the writings of Gene Wolfe (1921-2019.) I was aware of the author’s respect within the community. Renowned speculative fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin famously pronounced, “Wolfe is our Melville.” He has also been compared to other icons of literature and the arts. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to score the recent Tor publication The Wolfe at the Door I jumped at the chance. The bulk of the stories can be classified as fantasy and/or speculative fiction; Wolfe was best known for…
