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Book Review: Madhouse: A Shared World Anthology, edited by Benjamin Kane Ethridge and Brad C. Hodson

Madhouse: A Shared World Anthologyedited by Benjamin Kane Ethridge and Brad C. Hodson, and illustrated by Aeron Alfrey

Dark Regions Press, 2016

ISBN: 9781626411166

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition.

 

Madhouse is a shared world anthology set in the Behavioral Health Center in Golden Canyon, Arizona. The frame story is that a supernatural sandstorm hits the facility, rendering escape futile, and an infectious wave of madness begins to spread through the facility. As the contagion spreads, and the characters attempt to discover how the madness is being passed, staff and patients, each with their own story, are driven to unleash their personally harbored madness.

Several stories kept me awake at night peering into the dark corners of my house.  “Skating the Shattered Glass Sea” focuses on Lily and Timothy, twins who have an unusual ability. After a tragic accident at the age of twelve, Lily is committed to the Gold Canyon Behavioral Health Center, while Timothy goes on to have an acting career and a normal life. When he eventually visits Lily, well into his adult life, his mind starts to fall apart. They used to build lovely palaces in the air, visible palaces. What Lily creates with her broken mind is nightmare fuel to Timothy.

In “The Yellow Bug,” James, an Iraq war veteran, reveals some ugly truths about himself to Dr. Ruiz, who is suffering similar headaches to the ones James had  before he gave in to his desire to kill and let go of his fear. James explains he had help from God, in the form of  a yellow bug. The good doctor is harboring a frightening secret that the God bug helps him release.

“Heal Thyself” centers on the unique treatment offered by Dr. Edlehart in the facility: past-life regression therapy. He has used this treatment on many of the patients, and is mentoring Dr. Alice Jalbert on the practice. The treatment of patient  Jeffrey Jackson, reveals certain truths about the good doctor.

“Bathroom” is a story that stayed with me for some time. Something about it makes me a bit nervous about going into public bathrooms now. Claire fights crippling anxiety, fear, and fascination with drains. This makes trips to the ladies’ room difficult, but her usual escort, Bruce, puts her at ease. This trip, however, is different. She hears the faucet turn on while she is indisposed, and she feels the familiar gnawing at her brain. But what is that wet, sticky sound coming from one of the other stalls? What will she see when she pushes open the door?

“Drake’s Cake” follows one of the most notorious interns in the facility. He’s extremely hostile and regularly torments the patients with physical, psychological, or sexual abuse, occasionally in combination. Somehow, the staff is oblivious to his transgressions against the patients, and no one addresses his abuses against the patients. There is nothing likable about this guy, but he gets his comeuppance in the end, when he makes a disturbing and vomit-inducing error in judgement as the madness takes hold of his mind.

A few of the other stories stuck with me as well. “Birdman” is the story of a man who was institutionalized after his penchant for turning people into birds was discovered. In “Sky is Falling,” Skylar is trying to help evacuate her ward to the first floor, and walks into an unexpected surprise. Nurse Julie helps release the demons from Trisha’s skull in “Fraud.” Agnes is the chef for the facility, and in “Appetite,” she uses special ingredients for those she deems worthy. Her own appetite is sated by the strangest of things. These are the standouts: there are additional stories in this anthology of madness, as well. The short stories can be read as standalone tales, or, read together, can form a complete novel. I can’t think of anything about this book that isn’t compelling. The editors picked a number of amazing authors for this anthology, including Mercedes Yardley, Jeff Strand, John Skipp, Meghan Arcuri, and Rena Mason.

Two illustrators have been effective in scaring the daylights out of me: Stephen Gammell, who illustrated the famed Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz, and Aeron Alfrey for this anthology. There were a few pieces that I found myself hypnotized by, including those for “Skating the Shattered Sea of Glass,” “Birdman,” and “Drake’s Cake.” Several of the chapters also have art accompanying them.

This anthology will keep you up at night. Highly recommended.

Contains: gore, cannibalism, violence, rape, abuse, psychological terror

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Halloween Reads @ your library

Caught up in what Dr. Seuss’ Grinch calls “the trimmings and trappings” of Halloween (how is it there’s no Grinch Who Stole Halloween out there)? There are certainly lots of resources both on the shelf and online for recipes and party planning ideas, craft and decoration ideas, and costume ideas  (hello, Pinterest).  But Halloween is also a holiday for celebrating the things that go bump in the night, and there is plenty of both fiction and nonfiction for all ages that either take advantage of or explain its origins and mythologies. Looking for a good Halloween read as the holiday approaches? These certainly aren’t all of the ones available, and there are many excellent titles that aren’t listed below, but here are thirteen (plus one) titles that celebrate the Halloween season.

 

   The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. This is a good choice for reading aloud with your school-aged children.

 

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie. I know Agatha Christie’s books aren’t horror (mostly) but if you want to curl up with a mystery, you can’t go wrong with Hercule Poirot.

 

Halloween Man by Douglas Clegg. Douglas Clegg is a very talented horror novelist. I haven’t read his books, as his novels can be quite graphic, but this one has also been described as eerie and compelling.

 

The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief by Charles Day. This 2013 Bram Stoker nominee doesn’t appear to be easily available right now, so hopefully you already have it in your collection! It looks like a romance, but in actuality is more of a YA horror/mystery combination.Want a review? Find one here.

 

Hallowed by Bryant Delafosse. This is a YA paranormal/horror title, and I can’t claim to have read it, but I have heard good things about it. Yes, there are plenty of YA paranormal reads, but this one is set right around Halloween.

 

Halloween edited by Paula Guran. This anthology includes both reprints and original stories related to the holiday, including stories from such notables as Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe. One reviewer on Amazon noted that the Bradbury story does not appear in the ebook version of this book, as Bradbury was very opposed to ebooks, although I know he did release a book in ebook format before his passing… so I don’t know if that is still the case. It is well worth looking up!

 

Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre edited by Paula Guran. This is NOT the same anthology as the one I listed just above– it is more recently published. While the first one had stories by many of the giants of the genre, this one has a different collection of authors, who cover a wider breadth of the genre.  These include such excellent writers as Maria V. Snyder and Carrie Vaughan as well as authors more solidly identified with adult horror such as Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and John Shirley.

 

Black and Orange by Benjamin Kane Ethridge. Black and Orange is also the recipient of a Stoker Award. We reviewed it here, and it got a fantastic review!

 

Halloween by Melanie Jackson. Not every book about Halloween is a scary one. This one tells of the adventures of four ten year olds out trick or treating for Halloween. Set in the 1960’s, this is a book that might be enjoyed more for its nostalgia value (if you were a kid at that time) or for reading with an older child.
Mischief Night by Paul Melnizcek. This is a novella from Bad Moon Books’ series of Halloween novellas, now also available on Kindle. It’s a nice little haunted house story. You can check out our review here.

 

A Hallowe’en Anthology: Literary and Historical Writers Over the Centuries edited by Lisa Morton

Lisa Morton is a Halloween expert who has published both fiction and nonfiction, and this collects some of both, with sources documenting Halloween from its origins to the early 20th century. Certainly, this is a unique collection that will be of interest to anyone who prefers to learn about the historical holiday rather than today’s trimmings, trappings, and trick-or-treating. In the interests of saving space, because Lisa has written extensively on Halloween, I’m going to just list a few of her other titles worth looking into this holiday season: The Halloween Encyclopedia (nonfiction), Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (nonfiction), and The Samhanach (fiction– and a top pick for 2011 at Monster Librarian, reviewed independently by three different reviewers here).

 

Horrorween (Orangefield Series) by Al Sarrantonio.  Orangefield is a town inhabited by Samhain, Lord of Death.  Other books in the series include Orangefield, Hallows’ Eve,  and Halloweenland. We’re awfully close to the end of October to power through all of them, but maybe you can make a resolution to try them out next year…

 

Gods of the Nowhere by James Tipper. The protagonist here is a disabled teenager, which is pretty interesting, as you don’t find many disabled protagonists in horror fiction. And he has a Latina friend, also an unusual find in horror fiction. It’s been described as a creepy and original take on Halloween. This is not a children’s book– maybe an older teen would appreciate it, though.

 

Halloween Spirits: 11 Tales for the Darkest Night edited by Lisa Morton. I know I said I would only mention Lisa Morton once, but this is an interesting collection of short stories that (mostly) tie in to Halloween,  and are intended to get you into the Halloween spirit.  These are not (mostly) stories about trick-or-treating, which is what we normally associate with the holiday, but, especially if you’re short on time, this book is a nice way to give yourself small doses of holiday excitement throughout the month of October.  The authors include Kealan Patrick Burke, Scott Nicholson, John Palisano, Jeremy Shipp, and Nate Kenyon, to name just a few. It’s also an inexpensive way to get into the spirit– available only as an ebook, it’s just $2.99 at Amazon right now.

So there you have it… a list of all kinds of Halloween reads, for all kinds or readers. Check them out and see if one of them is a match for you! And a Happy Halloween to you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 Bram Stoker Winners Announced

The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of the 2010 Bram Stoker Awards.

The Stoker Awards are choice awards. Works can be recommended by any member of the HWA. Members then vote works onto a preliminary ballot. From there the field is narrowed to the final ballot. Active members of HWA choose the winner. I will say this- while we didn’t review all the nominees on the preliminary ballot, you can find reviews of many of the books on MonsterLibrarian.com, highly recommended. Congratulations to the many fine writers whose works were and are recognized as the winners of the Stoker Awards were chosen.

Librarians have a great opportunity to promote the horror genre and showcase nominees and winners of the Stoker Awards by consulting the HWA’s list of current and past winners and nominees. Lists going back to 1987 can be found on the HWA’s website. So go on, clear off some shelf space, and put these award winning books out where the public can see. I am sure most people are already aware of Stephen King, but there are a lot of names on these lists that should be better known. For your convenience, I’m listing the 2010 award winners below.

Superior Achievement in a Novel
A Dark Matter by Peter Straub (Doubleday/Orion)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel (Tie)
Black and Orange by Benjamin Kane Ethridge (Bad Moon Books)
The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton (Gray Friar Press)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Invisible Fences by Norman Prentiss (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
“The Folding Man” by Joe R. Lansdale (from Haunted Legends)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Haunted Legends edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (Tor)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (Simon and Schuster)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
To Each Their Darkness by Gary A. Braunbeck (Apex Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Dark Matters by Bruce Boston (Bad Moon Books)

Again, congratulations to the winners. Go check them out!