The Night’s Neon Fangs by David W. Barbee

Eraserhead Press, 2015

Available: New Paperback

ISBN: 9781621051756

The Night’s Neon Fangs is a collection of four novellas of horror/weird fiction. Barbee writes beautifully, telling emotional stories and drawing sympathy for the protagonist from readers. The titular novella is about Buster Wade, an electric werewolf who works as a bodyguard and general muscle for a company that cleans up after mummy storms in the future. A giant and dangerous cloud of mummies began in the wake of a disastrous gathering of international gods, and roams the country dumping thousands of pounds of mummies onto the public below. I loved this story for the simple fact that it has mummies, something that you don’t typically see too much of in horror fiction.

Noah’s Arkopolis is about a weird amalgam of a city, built up over time, after God left Noah and the animals adrift with no land in sight. Mating over the generations created many new species of animal/human hybrids. The city is now in danger of being destroyed by whales, so Noah’s ghost enlists the help of Gren, an average citizen of Arkopolis to save the city. This is one of the most imaginative stories I’ve ever read and I loved it. Gren is a sympathetic character, while I wanted to strangle Noah’s ghost at times.

That Ultimo Sumbitch is a surreal, steampunk, sort of story. Ultimo, a mechanized soldier who thinks he is human, is roaming what is left of the Australian outback, in the wake of an alien invasion of Earth. This story just about brought tears to my eyes. Although the main character isn’t even human, the story is gritty and emotionally charged.

Finally, Batcop Out of Hell tells the story of McNulty, a batcop in Guano City who is murdered along with his wife and daughter. He ends up in Hell, but is given a choice by a batdemon. McNulty takes the deal, and is sent back to seek revenge and save his family from Limbo with a skin of special Hellfire. In the process, McNulty discovers things about his former co-workers and himself. This is another story that had me practically in tears, with sympathy for McNulty and the horrible position he has been put in through no fault of his own.

The stories are dark, gritty, and emotionally driven. Barbee is a fantastic writer and I look forward to reading much more by him in the near future. Recommended.

Contains: graphic violence and adult language

Reviewed by: Colleen Wanglund