Review Category: Books

When Obele’s disabled brother Kene mysteriously disappears, Obele’s inner voice – her ‘Mother Voice’ – tells her what really happened: Kene was taken to a Witchdoctor and ritually sacrificed, so that her cheating Papa’s girlfriend could bear him a son.

Obele knows ‘Mother Voice’ is true. She has seen Kene’s ghost herself, and the vision was truly petrifying.

Obele’s only comfort lies in the children’s stories she reads, but she discovers new friends when ‘Mother Voice’ leads her to the cursed house where no-one else in the village will go. Here she meets The Sleepless – the fish-skinned spirits of young girls who were once abused, tortured and murdered, and who now joyously take revenge upon their tormentors, both in life and in death.

As the Biafran War rages and the terrors of daily survival match the awful supernatural secrets ‘Mother Voice’ reveals to her, Obele begins to suspect that ‘Mother Voice’ may not be her benign protector after all. When a brutal exorcism fails to rid her of ‘Mother Voice’, Obele finally begins to realise what she is and the incredible powers she possesses. She sets out on a mission to free the spirit of her murdered brother.

Nuzo Onoh has been called ‘the Queen of African Horror’ and, on the basis of The Sleepless, it is easy to see why. This is a visceral body-blow of a novel, infused with the kind of graphic and emotional intensity that seeps off the page and is hard to slough off once you’ve read it. Much like listening to one of Obele’s beloved campfire takes, Onoh’s tone is almost conversational – but that’s a trap. From the powerful but difficult to read opening, which should definitely be avoided by those with a weak stomach (and especially if cruelty to animals upsets you), The Sleepless is a juggernaut, made all the more potent by Onoh’s own experience of growing up during the Biafran conflict and witnessing man’s inhumanity first-hand. As a detestable period of history examined through the prism of a horror story, this is a fascinating accomplishment and open to endless interpretation: how much of Obele’s story is real, or just the little girl’s inner voice trying to protect her soul from shattering?

Absolutely not for the faint-hearted, The Sleepless is a genuine powerhouse of horror storytelling.

THE SLEEPLESS / AUTHOR: NUZU ONOH / PUBLISHER: CANAAN-STAR PUBLISHING / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 28TH

 

Genres can be a bit of bother, sometimes. You’ll often hear authors comment about how labels such as horror, thriller or post-apocalyptic can hinder potential readers as much as help. The Fireman is all of those things, and should not be pinned down into one place. It’s simply too magnificent, too terrifying and too thought-provoking to be crammed into a single pigeonhole.

The Fireman tells the tale of e Harper Grayson a nurse who cares maybe a little bit too much. As the world becomes overrun by a disease known as dragonscale, she does what she can to stem the tide of devastation by helping those who need it most. The virulent fungus is particularly nasty; it causes the victims’ skin to be covered with grey, patterned mark. Slowly it spreads, gold and yellow glinting at the edges. Until one day, you simply combust, bursting into flame, leaving nothing behind. The world is quite literally on fire.

Harper becomes both infected and pregnant. As the world falls apart her husband, Jakob, simply cannot cope. Convinced that he has the disease, becomes unhinged and tries to kill himself, his wife and his unborn child. Fortunately for Harper, a chance encounter with the titular Fireman (who happens to have an English accent and loves to swear) sets her on a much more interesting path than self-destruction.

This is a very long novel and keeps the reader engaged by constantly shifting its approach, providing twists and turns along the way. Hill’s writing navigates this very personal Armageddon perfectly. We get the small-town perspective as well as a sense of global tragedy. Hill takes the time to send up human nature at various points and one of the main themes seems to be people’s unwillingness to think for themselves. As he juggles a large ensemble cast, we still get the feeling of personal tragedy throughout.

There are moments of genuine horror mixed in with the mystery and adventure. Hill’s style in reminiscent of both early Stephen King and early Ray Bradbury, but this is an unfair comparison; Joe Hill is a unique and powerful talent and The Fireman is an amazing book that showcases just how strong this author is.

THE FIREMAN / AUTHOR: JOE HILL / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Intestinal parasites, books bound with human skin, killer seaweed. Welcome to the twisted world of Amaranthine, the latest work by Erik Hofstatter. In his previous novella, Katerina, Hofstatter gave us a darkly disturbing tale of erotic horror, the promise of which is amply fulfilled in Amaranthine. Here are nine short stories that – like all the best dark fiction – grow in the mind long after they have been read. Amaranthine demonstrates Hofstatter’s ability to hook the reader in just a few short, tightly woven sentences – leaving a tiny seed of horror to germinate in the imagination.

Hofstatter’s stories in Amaranthine revolve around love, loss, and heartbreak; with instantly relatable protagonists who seem to be defined by their loneliness. Hofstatter immediately ties you into their situation and this makes even the most outlandish tales in the collection believable. ‘We all want to be loved’, Hofstatter writes about his opening story, The Birthing Tub, ‘You might reach out to your parents, siblings, sons or daughters, cats or dogs, but what if you had absolutely no one to reach out to? What then? Perhaps Eli would become your only friend, too’. While it would be giving too much away to reveal who – or what – Eli is or why Sean, the heartbroken man of Hofstatter’s story, gives birth to him, suffice it to say bodily abjection features strongly in Amaranthine. But Hofstatter never lets the Yuk factor overpower the human element of his stories – they are as much about emotional trauma as they are about body horror. Hofstatter keeps the horror realistic.

In the notes which accompany Amaranthine, Hofstatter discusses his influences, which range from H.P. Lovecraft to the Evil Dead franchise. These notes make a wonderful end to the collection, and give Hofstatter the opportunity to talk about his love of the genre and the writing process. It’s always intriguing to learn where an author gets his ideas and Hofstatter constantly surprises us with the sources of his inspiration. Like Stephen King and Clive Barker, Hofstatter has a voice that is distinctive and highly engaging, and, like those maestros, is certain to become a major writer in the world of horror.

AMARANTHINE AND OTHER STORIES / AUTHOR: ERIK HOFSTATTER / PUBLISHER: CREATIVIA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

We’re a few centuries into the future and humans live on different planets in an uneasy cooperation with other space races. And, who woulda thunk it, but it ended up being Cubans who pioneered faster-than-light speed travel in the form of the González drive. When he was young, Dr Jan Amos Sangan Dongo experienced a growth spurt due to weightlessness caused by the drive. Measuring seven foot eleven inches, Sangan decides to specialise in examining extra large animals for fun and profit – the bigger, the better. Eventually, by a quirk of fate linked to his two competing love interests, he is are offered the chance to get up close and personal with laketons: gargantuan amoebas. These are the “super extra grande” of the book; the largest known creatures in the galaxy.

Due to Cubans being the first humans to explore, the other sentient races have chosen “Spanglish” as the intergalactic lingua franca. (You may need a smattering of Castilian Spanish to understand some of Yoss’s and translator Frye’s clever word play, however, you will be able to follow the conversations and plot lines.)

You know that you’re in for a light-hearted and, dangerously teetering on the puerile, ride when the first few pages are spattered with rich descriptions of fecal matter. So don’t eat while reading!

Published by Restless Books, this is a handsome book with obligatry “cool points” coming from the quote from Vice. Yes, the story is quite achingly cool in places, and Cuban writer Yoss certainly knows his stuff having trained as a biologist. There are lots of references to classic travelling novels by Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain which is a nice nod. While Sangan is a likeable cad of a protagonist, and the plot line keeps you engaged; it’s not that challenging a read and, no spoilers here, you do get the feeling that it’s all gonna turn out peachy keen. Still, Super Extra Grande ‘s a fun romp, I just wish that it didn’t suffer from the old “too many knob gags” syndrome.

SUPER EXTRA GRANDE / BY: YOSS – TRANSLATED BY: DAVID FRYE / PUBLISHER: RESTLESS BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: JULY 2016 
 

Tastes appear to be changing in the volatile world of ‘young adult’ publishing. Futuristic dystopian adventures such as the Hunger Games and Divergent series seem to have run their course, replaced by tougher, more contemporary tales of human survival in the face of overwhelming catastrophe. Stand-out titles which have already found favour include Charlie Higson’s The Enemy series, Darren Shan’s Zomb-B books and Tim Lebbon’s tremendous The Silence, books which depict the collapse of Mankind seen through the wide eyes of a teenage protagonist, in a much more readily-recognisable real world setting. Now along comes ReMade by Alex Scarrow, previously best-known for his popular TimeRiders sequence (although he has already dabbled with the apocalypse in gritty titles like Last Light and After Light). Remade is, however, a more gruesome and occasionally disturbing affair altogether… and it’s apparently intended for kids.

Sixteen-year-old Leon is struggling to adapt to a new life back in London with his sister Grace and their mother who has split acrimoniously from their father back in New Jersey. Worrying reports of a fatal new virus in Africa – quickly dismissed as neither Ebola or Marburg or any of the usual exotic suspects – quickly escalate and it becomes clear that something is very seriously amiss. The virus rapidly spreads across Europe and society begins to collapse in on itself with a terrifying speed. But this is no typical plague-like virus; this new infection is sentient. It attacks its victims and breaks them down into their constituent elements – they literally dissolve into jelly and gloop – and then starts to recreate a new form of life from the genomes and DNA and assorted sciencey bits it has absorbed. Leon and his family decide to flee London as quickly as possible. But inevitably they’re not quite quick enough…

Remade is a tough and often stomach-troublingly graphic read. This is apocalyptic fiction resolutely not dumbed-down for its target audience; with its vivid and numerous descriptions of the agonies of the effects of the virus and the hideous liquefication of its victims this is not one for youngsters of a nervous disposition. It’s hard, uncompromising and it takes no prisoners in its descriptions of the world coming to an end in a very unpleasant manner. Leon and his family eventually find solace with another survivor in a nuclear bunker but it’s a short-lived respite and before long Leon and Grace fetch up at an occupied leisure park complex which initially seems to provide the sanctuary they’ve been seeking. But, as ever in these society-collapsing situations, sometimes sanctuary becomes a frying pan/fire situation…

Remade ends the world quietly – literally with a whimper – and the emphasis is on character over spectacle; there are no real large scale cinematic set pieces here, just frightened people left alive in a frightening world. The ending is genuinely shocking – some might suggest it goes a bit too far for a kid’s book – and the way is paved for the upcoming sequel which we await with some anticipation. Crisply and confidently written and never less than compelling even in its ickier sequences, Remade is unreservedly recommended – but for youngsters and adults with strong stomachs and sturdy constitutions only.

REMADE / AUTHOR: ALEX SCARROW / PUBLISHER: MACMILLAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Let’s face it, spiders are bastards. Regardless of any old hooey we might be fed about their vital place in the ecological pecking order they are, quite simply, nasty, beady-eyed, scuttling swine with four times as many legs as you or I and, for that reason alone, they are clearly not to be trusted. Edgy arachnophobiacs might want to give Ezekiel Boone’s brooding, if slightly pulpy, thriller a spider-swerve; those of a steelier disposition will, however, find much to enjoy in this sprawling, cinematic romp in which humanity is, once again, under threat from wriggling little things which swarm out from under the earth and threaten Mankind’s tenuous grip upon the planet.

The Hatching is in many ways a throwback to 1970s and ‘80s horror novels, spearheaded by James Herbert’s The Rats, in which rodents, slimy gastropods, wriggling insects and all manner of indigenous fauna rose up and decided to give humankind a good kicking. Most of these books were lurid, gory Penny Dreadfuls, throwaway holiday reading, but The Hatching reinvents the genre and attempts to give it a patina of respectability. It all starts with a party of American tourists coming a cropper in the Peruvian jungle, followed by unusual seismic activity in India and, most worryingly, the ‘accidental’ detention of a nuclear bomb on Chinese territory. It quickly becomes clear that something very odd is going on and soon the scientific community and the American Government, led by the unlikely-named President Stephanie, are working together against a terrible, scuttling threat which has emerged from the very bowels of the Earth and which has a very unhealthy appetite for living flesh. Yikes.

The Hatching is a rattlingly-entertaining read but falls some way short of greatness because of stuttering, stop-start pacing issues and a surfeit of underdeveloped or underused characters. The first seven or eight chapters fly by in a rush of new characters – some of whom become major players in the story, some who do little more than make a quick and rather pointless cameo – and the story’s momentum suffers because, whilst it deftly creates a sense of growing threat and deep foreboding, it keeps stopping to sketch in some unnecessary (and often uninteresting) character background of people we’re not destined to spend a lot of time with. There are a handful of genuinely-thrilling set pieces as this new breed of vicious arachnids overwhelm Delhi and a Chinese freighter and its unsuspecting eight-legged cargo crash into the port of Los Angeles – with devastating consequences – but we seem to spend a lot of time with people whose connection to the central narrative is peripheral at best. Who knows what purpose is served by the inclusion of a quartet of over-prepared survivalists in a one-horse Californian town or, worse yet, a bunch of woeful Scottish stereotypes on a remote island off the mainland?

Overabundance of characters aside, though, The Hatching is a great fun read – Boone’s writing is snappy and commendably visual – which doesn’t take the easy option and wrap things up in neatly in its closing chapters – there’s clearly a sequel being set up here. It’s not exactly a literary classic but it’s an enjoyable pot-boiler, a timely reminder of the blood-drenched glory days of creepy-crawlies vs us horror fiction.

THE HATCHING / AUTHOR: EZEKIEL BOONE / PUBLISHER: ORION BOOKS / RELEASE DATE:  JULY 5TH

 

Deep in a dark room within a hospital, there is a young woman whose name is Alice. She doesn’t know why she’s been put in such a terrible place, surrounded by padded walls and the screams of demented souls, all she can remember is the Rabbit, and those memories aren’t pleasant at all…

So begins Alice, by Christina Henry, who has taken the Alice in Wonderland story and manipulated it into a dark, brutal and often disturbing tale of her own. There have been many variations on the same theme over the decades, but Henry’s vision gets under the skin right from the start, creating a deep sense of unease within the first few lines. Her Alice isn’t the corn-haired innocent that Carroll readers will be familiar with; instead, she’s damaged and tormented by the events of her past, a woman who is forced to team with a homicidal maniac in order to escape their prison.

Many writers have imitated Carroll’s prose style with varying degrees of success, but Henry pays homage to Alice’s creator through seemingly familiar characters that, in her hands, become darker aspects of their former selves. Rather than curiosity, it’s a palpable sense of menace that pervades the book from start to finish; Alice’s escape from the asylum has also freed a monster, one that torments from afar, leaving bloody corpses in its wake, but gets closer with each turn of the page.

Author Christina Henry has created something incredibly unique here, a book that manages to respect its source material, while twisting it enough to make it unexpected. The story is by no means simple; it delves deep into the psychology of its characters, keeping Alice’s past a mystery until the very end, peeling away layers of clues to both protagonist and reader as the chapters fly by. It’s a book that insists on being read in a single sitting, packed with jeopardy and moments of emotion, a story that brings its characters to the fore, ensuring it’s their needs that drive the narrative, rather than plodding from one encounter to the next. Often violent, but always captivating, Alice is a dark delight that will leave readers satisfied, yet still longing for more from this talented writer.

ALICE (CHRONICLES OF ALICE 1) / AUTHOR: CHRISTINA HENRY / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 28TH

The first of a high fantasy pentalogy, Duskfall begins the saga of the Chaos Queen, taking us into a world of matriarchal religions, psychic assassins, mysterious monks, and fanatical fundamentalism.

The story is largely focused on Knot, an amnesiac warrior with a mysterious past, and Winter, a young woman of the tiellan (elf) underclass. After they eventually encounter the likes of Cinzia and Jane – sisters who are respectively a priestess and heretic – and snarky vampire girl Astrid, a mismatched fellowship eventually forms and embarks upon a lengthy journey to search for answers both personal and universal about the dark days that are soon to dawn.

Before the group comes together, they each begin their own stories that reveal more of the world at large, and by extension each of their places in it. Although it seems that the group formed by chance, there is the feeling that their positioning and actions are guided by the manipulation of some unseen hand, as though each character is merely a piece in some cosmic game of chess, the extent of which is yet to be revealed.

There are more than a few echoes of Jason Bourne in Knot’s characterisation, from his introduction as an amnesiac found floating half-dead in the sea to his possession of instinctive and lethal combat skills and intrinsic understanding of tactical situations without knowing where that experience comes from. Also, like Matt Damon’s super spy, the revelation of what happened to him is only part of the story.

Some of the explanations of magic mechanics and world history are thrust in at slightly jarring moments, the necessity of their explanation taking precedence over any finesse with which they could have been introduced, in particular with Winter’s developing abilities. That she requires a drug to access her latent psychokinetic powers prevents them from being a ready solution to any given problem, and the narcotic’s scarcity and addictiveness present an added danger every time she wants break out her mental tendrils. As the book progresses her swiftly escalating addiction becomes first a hindrance and then a liability, the justifications with which she deludes herself of her dependence mirroring those of real-world people with substance abuse problems.

Being the first of a planned series of five, Duskfall is read with the implied understanding that there won’t be much in the way of ultimate resolution at its culmination, and in this regard it performs as expected. Leaving people not knowing exactly what just happened and making them wait a year to find out might not seem like the most intuitive way to begin a novel series, but after everything has fallen into place it leaves the reader eager to discover how things are going to develop.

DUSKFALL / AUTHOR: CHRISTOPHER HUSBERG / PUBLISHER: TITAN / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 21ST

Don’t think about the film! Just don’t! Think Flash Gordon, think 1940s serials, but wipe the thought of Taylor Kitsch from your mind. This comic recaptures the breathless sword and sorcery magic of the original Edgar Rice Burroughs books with a lush, 1940s serial inspired look, not trying to expand on the imagination of the originals, simply to realise it as convincingly as possible with all the special effects available to technicolor comic book art.

The stories follow John and his Martian Queen missus as they travel out into the desert wastes of Mars/Barsoom searching for a means to restore its dying atmosphere. Each story is standalone and slots into Burroughs’ original continuity within Princess of Mars, thus each story can change little or nothing in grand plot terms. However, some big issues are dealt with, exciting baddies defeated and many tender moments enjoyed between John and wife, Dejah Thoris, as the testing journey deepens and proves the bonds of their love.

The art is lush, rich and cinematic, with huge cinemascope scenery and intricate background detail, from the Barsoomian wildlife to intricacies of architecture in desert ruins. The musculature on many of the men is fairly absurd (Carter himself is a hybrid of 1920s silent movie heartthrob and an early 2000s WWE wrestler, which weirdly really works) but entirely within the parameters of the wish fulfilment fantasy of the stories. So too is the over-spilling voluptuousness of the women, particularly the voluptuary of all voluptuaries, Dejah Thoris, John Carter’s Queen and spouse. 

For all the blatant objectification in the art (which we’re sure, for some, is a selling point) this depiction of Dejah Thoris is of a woman who wears the trousers in the relationship (not literally, of course, she barely even wears knickers) and who, independent of the super-strong John Carter, can also really kick arse in battle. Time and time again in this series of stories, Dejah saves John from death and John, in return, does his best to save Dejah from death (and worse), providing she hasn’t already saved herself.

That said, the whole volume is very nearly ruined by an unbelievably rubbish twist at the end but then subsequently saved by the fact that these standalone stories are such fun. These are the adventures of a super strong earthling who can jump really, really, really high and who bashes up alien baddies with cutlasses, broadswords, and radium rifles, accompanied by his equally kick-ass, essentially-naked, red-skinned Martian Queen wife. If that description leaves you wanting more depth or substance in the plotting then I suspect you’re missing the point.

JOHN CARTER: WARLORD OF MARS  VOLUME 2: MAN-MADE MONSTER / AUTHOR: JONATHAN LAU / PUBLISHER: DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

A collected graphic novel has been released of the four chapters from the Dead Vengeance limited comic books series. It is a fairly small collection at 100 pages but manages to keep readers entertained through its use of crossing genres, forming a tale which is part thriller, part horror.

It all begins in 1940, with a phony human body on exhibit in a carnival sideshow. However, this not-so-phony cadaver springs to life one day and stumbles away from the circus. The body belongs to John Doe, a former radio commentator. However, questions start arising to his past and how he ended up in an exhibit. Through the use of flashbacks, the story is unravelled as to the mystery that surrounds John Doe.

There are many twists in this comic series which are distributed throughout the series, which makes it hard to review without giving away potential spoilers. However, as John Doe overcomes his amnesia, it’s safe to say that there are many twists that readers will not see coming. It’s faced paced, with each chapter clearly having distinguishing elements which add the overall plot. Although the story does focus on horror elements, it also has a fairly humorous side, which really allows the reader to enjoy the tale without taking it too seriously. It also has classic thriller elements, with the mystery surrounding John Does origins and the quest he has set upon.

It is clear from the title that the Dead Vengeance is about revenge; so much more than a simple story. It is a dark and humorous tale with elements of love and loss, which makes this comic truly an original tale. The characters are clearly the main focus of the story with their strong development throughout the series. The twists throughout may seem quite obvious, but their even distribution and the fast-paced plot makes the series a great read.

DEAD VENGEANCE / AUTHOR: BILL MORRISON / PUBLISHER: DARK HORSE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW