Graphic Novel Review: Lot 13 by Steve Niles, art by Glenn Fabry

Lot 13 - Niles, Steve

Lot 13 by Steve Niles, art by Glenn Fabry

Dark Horse, 2023

ISBN: 9781506734484

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.orgAmazon.com

 

 

The story opens in 1670, in Fairfax, Virginia. The bodies of the Wyatt family are on trial. The father, Robert, stands accused of murdering his family before committing suicide. The court ultimately finds him guilty of mortal sin and cast their bodies into unhallowed ground for eternity.

 

Time switches abruptly to the modern day. A married couple are finally ready to move into their dream home. Their three children aren’t as ready as their parents to leave their friends and apartment, but they will get used to the idea in time. The family load up into the moving van, and head to their new home in Fairfax. Unfortunately, when they arrive, the house isn’t ready to be occupied, and the cozy family has to find other accommodations. After an accident on the road, they come across an apartment building, where they are welcomed by an elderly man. When they start seeing things, the secrets of the mysterious building emerge, and they find themselves fighting for their lives.

 

The story is okay, but not great. It is good if you just need some gore. Some things don’t line up or even get addressed. For instance, when the family hits what appears to be a child in the middle of the road with the moving van, gore is all over the front of it and the road in one panel, and in the next it is gone. There is no viscera on the hood, no body parts littering the road. There is also no discussion over what just happened, just the son pointing at a random building nearby advertising apartments to rent for a night to a year. The family just appears to forget what they just saw. The incident is never spoken of afterward. Weird things happen in the building, and some of it is treated in a similar manner. It makes me wonder if the family often has mass hallucinations to make them just gloss over such things.

 

It took me a minute to remember the name Glenn Fabry. I admit I am really bad with names. As soon as it hit me, I knew the art was going to be intense. His covers for Preacher are incredible, and his art in general is fantastic. Fabry goes above and beyond with the amount of gore in this one. Highly recommended, more for the art that the story

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Book Review: Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror edited by Robert Lewis

Just in time for Pi Day, we have a special treat: David Simms reviews a brand new anthology of mathematical horror,  Arithmophobia!  Now that I think about it, I’m shocked that I haven’t seen more come my way: centuries ago poets were writing about “fearful symmetries”

Speaking of Pi Day, the Monster KId thought ahead and brought home a banana cream pie to celebrate. We’ll see how long it lasts.

 

cover art for Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror edited by Robert Lewis

Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror edited by Robert Lewis

Polymath Press. 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1961827042

Available: Paperback, KIndle edition

Buy: Bookshop.orgAmazon.com

 

Many people simply hear the word “math” and their anxiety spikes. Can you blame them? Just the thought of algebraic equations, functions, or those concepts that blend numbers, letters, words, and scientific terms often causes math-phobes to twitch, sweat, eyes to roll, and worse. Yet somehow, somewhere, there exist creatures who do enjoy this discipline. They find comfort in the numbers, patterns, and alchemy that math holds.

 

Some believe that the subject can conjure up darker solutions. No, it’s not calculus or the dreaded word problems on the SAT. Robert Lewis has collected some of the finest, fiendish minds to pen thirteen tales on this realm of academic hell, along with a poem to alleviate the fears of the triskadekaphobics out there. It’s not much of a comfort, except for those who find it in the numbers.

 

The stories within are worth the adventure, although some will be loved by those in love with mathematics more than those who fear it. Still, each one has some allure for various readers.

 

While this reviewer finds all things mathematical  horrendous and spawned from the depths of Hades, that is a bias which yields some pleasures in this book. Four stories particularly stand out. Elizabeth Massie, a former science teacher, opens the anthology with “One Two, Buckle My Shoe”, a short, but effective opening story which discusses Janie, a woman stuck caring for her ailing mother. Her only escape is a part-time job at the dollar store, unless you count her love of numbers. It’s an obsession given to her by her mother, for reasons made clear as the story creeps by. Massie has a great skill in marrying the frightening with the absurd, which is on full display here.

 

“Manifold Thoughts”, written by physics teacher Patrick Freivald, creates math that communicates with the characters– and much more, something that is incomprehensible.

 

Sarah Lazarz’ wonderful “They’ll Say It Was the Communists” is likely the most intriguing of the lot, Its tone harkens back to the 20th century (the decade is unknown, but the protagonist, Leslie, works in an office building and payphones are still a thing). To rise up in the company, math problems must be solved – yet what’s on the other side? This one sticks.

 

“Trains Passing,” by Martin Zeigler, becomes the centerpiece, in a way. It’s the ultimate word problem. Those who have lingering nightmares about the SAT or other ignorant standardized tests will fall headfirst into this tale of a passenger dead set on solving the ultimate practical math problem. She’s joined by another, who happens to have her own reasons for solving the traveling train dilemma. This should make it onto the next big exam.

 

Overall, Arithmophobia is a fun, intriguing read that will remind the reader how terrible those math classes were– or inspire number lovers to keep swimming through  formulas and equations that, hopefully, don’t lead to the dark solutions found between the covers of this book. .

 

Book Review: Passing Through Veils by John Harrison

cover art for Passing Through Veils by John Harrison

 

Passing Through Veils by John Harrison

Wordfire Press, 2023

ISBN-13 : ‎ 978-1680574234

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.orgAmazon.com

 

Sometimes, the best stories have the worst narrators, at least in reliability. Spending time with the character who we travel through the book with, wondering how much is accurate versus that person’s perception, makes for an intriguing read-– if written well. Passing Through Veils has been compared to Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House, but John Harrison has penned a novel that forges its own path in Passing Through Veils, constructed with skill and insight, into a mentally unstable mind. Harrison has plenty of experience in entertainment, from writing episodes of Creepshow, to directing Tales From the Darkside, and the horror miniseries Residue, on Netflix.

 

The novel opens with a vicious murder, witnessed only by a young boy, and is seemingly unconnected to the rest of the novel.

 

The reader is then introduced to Kathryn, once a promising star in the legal field until a complete breakdown sends her to a psychiatric ward for six months. When released, she secures a job with a friend’s firm, and purchases a townhouse with her mother. She hears music and other noises through the walls, but just as she is about to relapse, she punches through the wall – and discovers a secret room with a vanity, o ther items, and the source of the music.

 

As Kathryn investigates who used to live there, possibly the murdered woman from the scene at the beginning of the book, reality begins to unravel in front of her. Visions of a strange woman plague her, and she is having bouts of dissociation when in the house or with items left behind. She meets an intriguing man with a connection to the house and his odd brother, both who have integral roles in the story. How the story is resolved is worth the read. Recommended to fans of ghost stories and unreliable narrators-– or simply well told tales.

 

 

Reviewed by David Simms