Home » Posts tagged "horror fiction" (Page 93)

Book Review: Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle

 

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle, illustrations by M. Wayne Miller

Ghost House, Dark Renaissance Books, 2015

ISBN: 9781937128753

Available: Hardcover, new and used. Currently out of print.

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate collects twelve original short stories by William Meikle, with William Hope Hodgson’s supernatural detective at the center. Each story centers on a dire situation: an imperiled individual calls upon the unusual expertise of Carnacki to get to the bottom of the occult goings-on and expertly banish the evil back to the Outer Darkness.

A few of the stories that are particularly well-written incorporate another Hodgson character, Captain Gault. These are some of the most interesting tales of the collection. While Carnacki is a great character, Captain Gault adds a bit more panache to the atmosphere. In “Captain Gault’s Nemesis”, the captain is carrying cursed cargo below decks of his ship, and Carnacki has to deal with the problem. In “The Blue Egg”, Carnacki is a guest aboard Captain Gault’s ship, and witnesses the effects a sliver from a rare gem has on the captain and crew. Everyone who is near it wants to possess it, and its power grows day by day.  In “The Gray Boats”, a strange fog emanating from two abandoned Navy ships destroys everything in its wake, including flesh and bone.

An admirable trait of Carnacki’s is that when children come to him with matters of the occult, he takes them seriously, investigates, and inevitably finds that the issues are real. In “The China Doll,” Lord Atwell of Belgravia calls on Carnacki to investigate his youngest daughter’s room, as she thinks it is haunted. When he is alone in her room, he discovers the china dolls are whispering. His investigation leads him to the manufacturer’s facilities, where it turns out that the manufacturer has a unique problem with the curing oven. In “The Black Swan,” a young girl arrives at Carnacki’s residence, distraught and pleading for his help, regarding a large black bird she thinks lives in her closet. He travels with her to her home, where, after a few minutes of terse conversation, her father relates the story of the black swan in the basement.

In addition to being a friend to the seafaring Captain Gault and children, Carnacki is popular among political figures. In two stories, he comes to the aid of a young Winston Churchill. He also helps the Home Secretary in an investigation of an occult ritual gone wrong.

Other exciting stories await the reader. Having recently revisited one of the original Hodgson books, I can attest that Meikle’s writing is in keeping with the overall tone and atmosphere of Carnacki’s adventures, and I appreciate that, as well as his blending in of the realm of eldritch horror.  The inclusion of horrific entities tormenting humanity and threatening to either kill us or drive us insane is a nice touch, and fit in well with the overall feel of the Carnacki stories. This is a great read that will appeal to readers young and old. Recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on June 5, 2016 by , Reply

Do We Need More Kid Horror?

Derek Faraci at Blumhouse.com has written an article titled “We Need More Kid Horror“He claims that today’s generation of kids will be the first to grow up “without nightmares caused by authors, artists, and filmmakers”. The world, he says, has decided it’s not okay to scare kids anymore.  Kids would rather watch Minecraft videos on YouTube than horror movies these days.

While it’s very possible that some kids would rather watch Minecraft videos on YouTube, that doesn’t mean they aren’t exposed to horror in its various guises. I have a 10 year old son who is obsessed with Minecraft, and that’s where he learned about slasher movies and horror video games. It’s where he learned about Slenderman. (thanks a bunch, Mojang, for enshrining a fictional character that inspired two girls to stab a friend multiple times into a children’s video game). If you want to learn about any kind of monster or cryptid, he’s your go-to guy. There’s no lack of resources to feed his nightmares. Visit the library and you’ll see.

According to Faraci, “horror is more than fun. It’s more than entertainment.” Parents should be using it to teach their kids lessons.

Gee, way to drain all the enjoyment out of the genre. You may have noticed that horror, as a genre, doesn’t get a lot of respect. A lot of kids who do read it are doing it under the radar, and they like it that way. In some of the research, they’re called “underground readers”. They don’t want horror to teach them a lesson. They get lessons at school. They want to read (or watch) something they actually enjoy. If, as a parent, you have a genuine love of the genre that you want to share, great. That’s what will engage kids. If, as a parent, you have grave reservations about sharing your love of the genre, you should probably know that eventually your kids will get into your stuff and decide whether they want to read or watch horror anyway.

I do agree with Faraci that horror gives us a way to experience fear in a controlled way– you can always close the book or turn off the television if things get too intense– but how many of us are thinking about that when we read? If it’s not fun, if it’s not entertaining, if there’s no suspense, why waste your time?

Do we need more kid horror? There’s definitely a place for it! A children’s horror novel, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, even won the Newbery Award a few years back. Is there a gap where kid horror used to be? I don’t think so. But there’s certainly room for more!

 

Looking for titles? Here are our reviews of scary (and not so scary) books for kids

 

Posted on May 19, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York edited by Jessica Burke and Anthony Burdge

 

Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York edited by Jessica Burke and Anthony Burdge
Myth Ink Books, 2016

ISBN: 9781500774844

Available: Kindle ebook, print

Burke and Burdge have curated a great selection of stories in this anthology. It contains nineteen urban horror stories set in New York City that take place in a variety of time periods. They explore the dark side of humanity and the supernatural, all framed in the five boroughs of this fascinating city.

As with all anthologies, there are some stories that stand out more than others. “Beautiful Dreams” by D. J. Tyrer and “The Professor’s NY Adventure” by Gordon Linzner take place in the distant past. In the first story, an attorney by the name of Chambers meets with a jailed criminal named Breton, on behalf of a client, to retrieve a stolen item. After getting the information he needs, Chambers finds himself in the Bowery. Posing as a doctor, Chambers gains entrance to the rooms of the man about whom Breton gave information to Chambers. He finds the man reading in bed, so distracted by what he is studying he doesn’t notice Chambers entering his apartment. It is in this man’s hand that Chambers finds the item for which he has been searching: L’Histoire d’Ys et Carcosa. “The Professor’s NY Adventure” is the tragic story of a Professor V, a famous vampire hunter, stalking his lifelong nemesis. In doing so, he accidentally causes on of the greatest tragedies in the history of the city. The vampire finds Professor V and poses the question as to who is the real monster.

Some stories have a very unique feel. “The Sixth Borough” by Gregory Norris is a frustrating story of a man who despises the city and is being pushed to the edge by his deceptive roommates who he discovers have been bleeding his bank account dry. He hears of the mythical sixth Borough, Bella Vista, where creatives and artists are welcomed. The story is very claustrophobic, told as the main character’s world is closing in around him as he tries to find this creative solace. Andrea Jane’s “Retro Viral” follows a group of partiers who hold a rave in an abandoned medical facility. The past and present merge as they relive experiences of some of the former patients. In between the scenes at the facility are conversations about a disease that should have been long dead, inflicting the party-goers. We all know someone who has horror stories of awful in-laws, but “The Vintner of Little Neck” by Chris Tithill takes it to a new level. The narrator’s brother-in-law, Dakota, and his family, comes to visit a few times a year, and he is a taxing person to deal with. How the narrator deals with his problem, and others, is quick and painless…for him.

“The Mad Monk of St. Augustine’s” opens in 1968 with the arrest of a monk who has been found to have murdered brother monks, and used their hearts in Satanic worship rituals. After being locked in a subterranean cell, he was found with his wrists chewed to ribbons, dead. Jump to 1986. A group of high school friends decide to kill their boredom with a nighttime trip to St. Augustine’s Monastery, which was abandoned in 1969 for “financial reasons.” After they laugh off the story of the haunted monastery, they are all met by something, just not what they expected. I have to admit this one held my interest more than others. I’m a sucker for a good mad monk tale. Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian and Matthew Lewis’ The Monk hold special places on my bookshelves.

There are also some humorous stories found in this anthology. “Now Departing” follows Melissa, a bookish introvert whose time has come as Death comes to take her. Melissa is not having any of it, and attempts to argue her way out of her final journey. “The None Percent” is a disturbing but funny story about a corporate businessman who discovers he’s dead. He ends up with other dead suits, a member of the elite None Percent bent on causing havoc in the business world for the living.

I haven’t even included all of the stories in this review. It was hard to select the ones I discussed because there are so many good stories in this anthology. Admittedly some of them start as a slow burn, but the reader is definitely rewarded in the end with little things staying with them for a long time after putting the book down. They all have a certain Lovecraftian feel, and each have something that lingers. Unfortunately the copy I had was released without the artwork by Luke Spooner, but having seen the cover art and some of his portfolio, you can be sure of quality work for this book. Highly recommended.

Contains: very little gore, but more psychological terror than anything else

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on May 11, 2016 by , 3 comments
First « 9192939495 » Last