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Book Review: Things Slip Through by Kevin Lucia

Things Slip Through by Kevin Lucia

2013, Crystal Lake Publishing

ISBN 978-0992170707

Availability: paperback

 

In the small Adirondack town of Clifton Heights, four friends have gathered for their weekly poker night. Chris, the town sheriff, has decided he’d rather have answers than play cards. There have been strange disappearances since Chris came to Clifton Heights a year ago, disappearances that he has been unable to solve. Gavin, a teacher and former writer, is the one who will give Chris the answers he seeks. Gavin hands over a journal with short stories he has written about the strange happenings, from the original shooting that brought the four friends together, to Gavin’s story of alcoholism and redemption, as well as what happened to those who seemingly disappeared into thin air. As Chris reads through the stories, he ends up with even more questions.

Things Slip Through is a short story collection brilliantly disguised as a novel. Kevin Lucia spins an entertaining tale that allows the individual stories to seamlessly coalesce into one story of a very weird and creepy little town and some of its odd residents. The characters are well-developed, and I really empathized with Chris and his unique situation. Lucia’s prose is dark, sharp, and inventive and kept me hooked– I read the book in two sittings. I, for one, hope to see some of these characters again, especially the villainous Dr. Jeffers and his disturbing hospital. I highly recommend Things Slip Through. Highly recommended.

Contains: some blood and gore, adult language

Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund

Posted on April 16, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Hideous Faces, Beautiful Skulls by Mark McLaughlin

Hideous Faces, Beautiful Skulls by Mark McLaughlin

Wildside Press, 2014

Available: New paperback

ISBN-13: 978-1479401888

 

Hideous Faces, Beautiful Skulls is a wonderful collection of horror and the bizarre that spans the author’s career of original and compelling storytelling.

Among my favorites are “The Final Broadcast of Sugarville’s Channel 7 Action News,” an entertaining take on global warming and the destruction of the planet told in its entirety through the station’s final news broadcast; “Drool Tool: The Meltdown Mix”, about a band’s weird music that has a catastrophic effect on the people who hear it; “Agatha Says”, which deals with the weird changes taking place at a nursing home recently bought by an eccentric resident; “Claws of the Internet Witches”, which follows the internet chat room of a coven of witches out to destroy humanity; and “Soft Bones”, about a young man with a debilitating disease, and how one woman tries to help him.

 

There isn’t a bad story in the collection. McLaughlin’s style of writing is weird, quirky, and at times squirm-inducing; a very entertaining read. What I really like about McLaughlin’s writing is his ability to inject dry humor into even the most horrific of tales. If you like your horror weird, bizarre, and funny, then Hideous Faces, Beautiful Faces is right up your alley. Recommended.

Contains: blood and gore

Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund

Posted on April 4, 2015 by , Reply

Help a Reader Out: Supernatural Fiction Collection With An Orange and Yellow Cover

A reader over at Too Much Horror Fiction is looking for this one:

I am trying to identify one in particular published in the early-mid 1970s. It featured cover art with bright orange and yellow flame and background hues, with illustrations of skeletal and spirit figures with a castle. The collection was really presented as a genre study of sorts, and was very well organized around the nature of the supernatural threat: psychological threat, physical threat, etc. The collection was broad but included many classics in gothic, Victorian and early 20th century fiction.

 

Can anyone figure this one out?

 

Edit: The book has been identified. It is Ghosts, Castles and Victims Tales of Gothic Horror edited by Jack C. Wolf and Barbara H. Wolf.

Posted on November 13, 2014 by , Reply
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