A Head Full of Horror

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…

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…

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…

“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…

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…