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Book Review: Walker’s Vale by John J. Zelenski

Walker’s  Vale, by John J. Zelenski

Peasantry Press, 2017 (original publication 2012 by Tate Publishing & Enterprises)

ISBN: 978-1-988276-19-9

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Walker’s Vale is a quick, 120 page religious horror novella that is a good story, and the first faith-based horror I have encountered. Zelenski’s use of religious faith in this story is not only unusual, it allows him to take the story in directions that most authors won’t try, and it allows for some unique character development.  Couple this with an entertaining plot containing demons, angels and a few nice corkscrew twists in the plot, and you have a winner.

James Cooper, his wife Maria and his autistic, mute daughter Maria have left the frustrations of city living behind to set up in the tiny township of Walker’s Vale, in the boonies of Pennsylvania.  James’s frustrations are twofold: he is unsatisfied with their lives, and he’s lost his faith in God (he’s at the stage of  “if there is one, how can so many bad things happen?”).  Odd things start happening quickly, and they are familiar elements to the horror genre: an eclectic, possibly nutty old preacher (who reminded me of Kane from Poltergeist II),  strange figures appearing in the basement, midnight ceremonies… all tried and true ways to scare people, effective when used correctly, and Zelenski uses them well.   The faith aspect adds a new dimension to what might otherwise seem like a standard story, and sets it apart from other books.

Occasional characters do appear in the story that might seem like they don’t belong, but when you add in the fact that Heaven and Hell are players in this story, it makes sense.  The religious influence on the story allows the author to turn the unbelievable into the believable for the characters, if they allow themselves to trust their own beliefs.  It also makes for a very good climax to the story, with the forces of good and evil slugging it out over the fate of one child, who may be important to the future fate of the world.  The epilogue does a nice job tying up all the story ends, and will leave the reader with a case of the warm fuzzies.  Walker’s Vale is a enjoyable romp through the world of good and evil, and certainly worth the time to read it, due to its short length.  Here’s hoping for more adventures from the town of Walker’s Vale; the backstory of the town would make for some good books in the future.  Recommended.

 

Contains: mild violence

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

 

 

Posted on March 17, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner

Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner

Vesuvian Books, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1944109363

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

Speak No Evil is an unusual book in that while it has some mild supernatural elements, is really about the often unspeakable horror of what humans do to each other.  Melody is a selectively mute 16 year old girl in foster care, going through court-mandated therapy after stabbing a popular boy at her high school. The therapist, Dr. Roger Kane, needs to get Melody to speak so she can make a statement about the events that led to the stabbing and the case can be resolved.

Melody has a gift with music that is almost supernatural, and a unique backstory. Her biracial mother and her family belonged to an evangelical snake-handling church, and her Cherokee father reached an agreement with Melody’s mother and the church’s pastor that he would care for the snakes, healing and releasing them when they were ill and replacing them with newly caught ones. Melody, while not allowed near the snakes, can charm them with her singing. When her parents die, she is removed from her uncle’s care after he threatens her with a rattlesnake, and she enters the foster care system. Melody has a loving, long term relationship with her Native American foster mother, a wise woman who encourages Melody’s singing. Unfortunately, her foster mother is elderly and becomes ill. Melody has to go to a different placement with a family that overlooks disturbing behavior on the part of their son that eventually results in violence towards her, and then a placement with a different family that results in even more traumatic experiences, bullying at school, and, after she tells her social worker what happened, a life-threatening assault. The icky, vicious, and vile things done to Melody are very convincingly written, a punch to the gut. This combination of circumstances over time has convinced Melody that every time she speaks up, something terrible happens, so she refuses to speak, even to defend herself. It’s a heartbreaking story.

Her therapist is able to get her to open up by approaching her through her love of music.  Choosing music that communicates her feelings from her MP3 player starts to get Melody to open up, bit by bit. Most of the music is original to the book;  it was written by Lucas Astor and is attributed either to Melody (such as “Rattlesnake Song”, which she sings spontaneously to charm snakes) or appears in the story as unnamed choices from her MP3 player. The lyrics are a perfect fit to the story, and I only wish that the music had been recorded.

Dr. Kane’s nonconfrontational approach to what are clearly symptoms of PTSD allows Melody to share at her own pace, building up her comfort level until she’s able to communicate verbally. Gardner segues smoothly between therapy sessions and Melody’s memories, but the memories are out of order chronologically, which makes it a little difficult to follow the story. While I found the therapist and his approach interesting, I was somewhat surprised by his level of informality with Melody and his strong dislike of  Melody’s foster mother (not the most insightful person, but obviously trying to make things work). Melody’s strong, positive relationship with her caseworker, Miss Prescott, was also surprising, as Miss Prescott left Melody in terrible situations, completely obliviously, two separate times.  Gardner makes it clear, though, that both adults are solidly in Melody’s corner.

In a note, Gardner writes that the story comes in part from her personal experiences, and her writing gives a powerful voice to Melody and other girls and women who feel they cannot speak to defend and protect themselves. Speak No Evil is certainly a novel for the #MeToo era. I’m not sure it belongs in the horror genre, but it certainly contains horrors, and it isn’t a book that will be forgotten easily.  Recommended for high school and YA library collections.

Contains: Violence, reptile torture and killing, child abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, attempted rape, bullying.

 

Editor’s note:  Speak No Evil was nominated to the final ballot of the 2019 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel.

 

 

Posted on March 15, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Eight Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds by Peter Adam Salomon

Eight Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds by Peter Adam Salomon

PseudoPalms Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1093780673

Available: Paperback,  Kindle edition, audiobook

 

 

Eight Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds has a fascinating concept, and turns out to be more relevant to our times than I’m sure the author expected. Taking place in the near future, I’d say this is more a sci-fi thriller than horror. Our protagonists are L and M, the only two occupants of a gigantic bunker on an Earth where all life appears to have been destroyed. Neither L or M have any memory of their lives prior to waking up in the bunker, and the parameters of the AI in charge are set to make it almost impossible to discover what happened and who they are. Their only escape is a drug that flatlines them for eight minutes and thirty-two seconds. During that time they “jump” into the minds of one of six gifted teenagers secretly working together on a complex, mysterious, and fatal project.  L and M are only able to get short glimpses, though, and have difficulty remembering what they’ve seen once they’ve been “brought back”. It takes an extended flatlining on M’s part, and rapid repeats of inducing her death on L’s part, to piece together the six teenagers’ terrifying plan and the consequences of its results.

While the idea is interesting, and puzzling the pieces together was enough to keep me reading, the lack of character development in this book is a serious flaw. Because L and M don’t have memories, and don’t seem to have much interest in even exploring much of the bunker, it is hard to get a sense of who they are and what they’re like. It’s unclear why they have to die repeatedly to learn about the past or why flatlining would specifically take them to random parts of these specific teens’ lives. Outside of all being genius-level intelligent, it’s also not really clear why these teens would choose to work together. While their leader is clearly alienated from humanity, others seem to have positive relationships, and their willingness to participate was confusing to me.  Although I ultimately found it to be unsatisfying,  I appreciated Salomon’s creativity,  and there were enough unexpected moments to keep me reading it all the way through in an afternoon.

 

Editor’s note:  Eight Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds  was nominated to the final ballot of the 2019 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel.

Posted on March 14, 2020 by , Reply
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