31 Days of Horror: Day 21-- Horror Links Round Up 3

Here is another round of Horror Links from the past 10 days or so.

• Flavorwire had this "high brow" horror reading list.
• Flavorwire also had this essay positing why The Walking Dead is so darn popular.  I love when other people besides me talk about why something appeals to readers or viewers. 
• JournalStone published Parts 2 and 3 of the Hallmarks of Horror.  Part 2 is isolation.  Part 3 is language.  I had previously linked to part 1, location.
• Check out this zombie preparation infographic.
• Criminal Element had this report from New York Comic Con's Walking Dead panel.
• The Evil Dead film is being remade.  io9 had reports here and here.
• GalleyCat is interviewing horror authors this Halloween season.  Here is their interview with Jonathan Maberry.
• From io9 here, Anne Rice confirms that Louis and Lestat are a same sex couple, but we all sorta knew that already.
• Literary costume ideas for Halloween.
• Finally, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, friend of RA for All: Horror on "The Ten Movies That Should Always Haunt Your TV on Halloween."

31 Days of Horror: Day 20--Review of Bottled Abyss

On Thursday, I had this guest post by horror up an comer Benjamin Kane Etheridge.  After winning the Bram Stoker Award for his debut novel, he came back earlier this year with his Sophomore effort, Bottled Abyss.

Talk about an uneasy opening, one of the two main characters threatens to kill herself in the first paragraph.  Things are not going well in this home.  But that is okay because we are reading a horror novel, and setting up the anxiety from the first lines it what the best writers do.

So how bad is it here? Well, Bottled Abyss opens with Herman and Janet Erikson who are barely hanging on after the tragic death of their daughter due to a hit and run.  They have both given up, on each other, on life, on everything. But then, Herman goes into the woods to look for their missing dog and finds a stranger who has a bottle with a liquid that can bring things back to life.  Herman and Janet get obsessed with this bottle and, Janet in particular, wants to use the powerful liquid to hurt those responsible for their daughter's death.

Turns out the liquid is from the River Styx which according to Greek myth marked the line between the world of the living and the dead.

Bottled Abyss is more of a literary horror novel than an action oriented one.  The menacing atmosphere is intense and never lets up.  It simply goes from bad to worse.  This dark atmosphere is tempered a bit though by the lyrical writing. The lyrical language underscores the mythology frame well. But the sense of dread is unrelenting which is something horror fans pine for.

The point of view shifts frequently, but the shifts are marked with a skull graphic so following these changes in perspective are easy for the reader.  This shifting narrative also speeds up the story.

It is character development that is king here.  Personally, I prefer that in all of my leisure reading, so I was happy.  But depending on the reader's personal tastes, this could be a problem.  Just don't expect big chase scenes here.  The tension comes from watching the characters make bad decisions and then watching the consequences unfold.

Ethridge's storyline for Janet is the most interesting here.  In fact, she is one of the better horror protagonists I have read in a while.  She is seriously flawed but fascinating to watch.  Unlike a book like The Donors (reviewed here on Day 11) where the good guys are white knights, Janet is a mess.  Her storyline is complex, psychological, and constantly shifting.  I never want to meet her, but I really liked watching her.

The Greek myth angle introduces a unique evil element. Our monsters are ancient gods who hold a dangerous power in the water from the River Styx.  They are not benevolent gods either.

This is a horror story for fans of intense psychological drama.  It is also a great option for people who are bored of the boil plate storyline.  Anything can and will happen here, and the ending is perfect--uneasy, upsetting, unsettling, and unresolved.

Ethridge has proven that he is a writer to keep an eye on.  This book is both beautiful and disturbing, an uneasy combination that works perfectly.  This is a second great novel in a row for a horror author I will put on the must buy list for our library.

Three Words That Describe This Book: psychological, character centered, tense

Readalikes:  Another book that is getting a lot of attention this season for being "literary horror" is Victor LaValle's Devil in Silver.  As I said about that book in Library Journal:

"...might be described as Ken Kensey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Frank Peretti's Monster.  Unjustly committed to a mental hospital, Pepper quickly realizes that not only are the inmates more sane than the staff, but that an animal-headed monster is killing the patients at night.  Character is king here as the action comes in quick spurts between Pepper's interactions with others and his internal struggles..." 

Janet also reminded me a lot of Ig from Joe Hill's Horns.  In fact, the flow and appeal of these two novels is very similar.  And both involved the death of a loved one.  Click here for my review. Horns is one of my all-time favorite horror novels because of Ig.  Janet is similarly as fascinating.

For a non-horror suggestion, Bottled Abyss also reminded me of Gillian Flynn's Dark Places.  Again we are dealing with characters who make terrible choices, and as readers we just sit there watching everything go from bad to worse, to unthinkable.  The storyline also involves death of family members.  Click here for my full review of that psychological suspense novel for more details.

*Full disclosure: Etheridge sent me a free copy of this novel for my library.

31 Days of Horror: Day 19-- My 2012 Reading Suggestions as Published in Library Journal

I was very honored to be asked to take over Neal Wyatt's popular Reader's Shelf column in the October 15, 2012 issue of Library Journal.  My piece, entitled, "New Horror for the Haunting Season" highlights some new horror titles that might appeal to nontraditional horror readers who are looking to sample the scary this Halloween.

I will also be featuring guest posts by 3 of the authors included in the column on the blog.  But you will have to keep following 31 Days of Horror to find out who and what they have to say.  One of them has even offered a collection of books for giveaway.  Oooh, the suspense is killing me.

Here is the direct link, but you can also find the entire column posted below.  It's like I wrote a guest post on my own blog.

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Halloween is coming, and so are many readers who do not normally enjoy the horror genre but who want to give it a try. Of course, there are the “old standby” authors like Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub and new best sellers like Joe Hill and Jonathan Maberry. But if you are only relying on these writers to help your once-a-year horror readers, you may be missing a better match for their specific tastes. Consider these six 2012 titles that illustrate how easily horror can cross over into other popular genres.

Brett J. Talley’s The Void (JournalStone. 2012. ISBN 9781936564439. pap. $16.95) harkens back to the sf-tinged horror of H.P. Lovecraft. Enter a world where people easily travel through space while sleeping. There is a catch: travelers are held hostage to their nightmares while in flight. When six travelers encounter an abandoned aircraft, bad things begin to happen, but is it a dream, paranoia, or a monster? Talley creates a creeping sense of unease from the start, an anxiety that continuously builds, leaving readers to look over their shoulders while frantically turning the pages to the end.

For literary horror, Victor LaValle’s The Devil in Silver(Spiegel & Grau. 2012. ISBN 9781400069866. $27) might be described as Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets Frank Peretti’s Monster. Unjustly committed to a mental hospital, Pepper quickly realizes that not only are the inmates more sane than the staff but that an animal-headed monster is killing the patients at night. Character is king here as the action comes in quick spurts between Pepper’s interactions with others and his internal struggles. This novel is terrifying, but it also asks you to ponder larger societal questions of race, class, and madness; just keep the lights on while thinking about it all.

What about mystery lovers? Steer them directly to Gregory Lamberson and his “Jake Helman Files” series about a New York City police officer–turned–PI specializing in supernatural crimes. These are gory and horrific novels, but they are also imaginative and original, with a strong investigative story line. InTortured Spirits (Medallion. 2012. ISBN 9781605424064. pap. $14.95), Jake’s quest to save a colleague who has been turned into a raven by a witch doctor leads him south, where he uncovers an army of zombie slaves harvesting drugs for evil mastermind Malvado.

Speaking of zombies, readers remain hungry for the shambling undead. Joe McKinney has successfully parlayed his experience as a police detective and disaster migration specialist into his terrifyingly realistic and award-winning zombie plague novels. InMutated (Pinnacle: Kensington. 2012. ISBN 9780786029297. pap. $7.99), Ben has survived in a zombie-infected world by staying alert and avoiding trouble. When a nasty leader begins to gather the living, Ben decides to trade his solitude for refuge on an abandoned farm. Things are tough, but manageable, until Ben notices that the zombies are getting smarter and faster. How can this be? McKinney fills his thriller with realistic details of how the plague spreads, convincing dialog, superior characterization, and, of course, awesome zombie battle scenes.

Almost as popular as zombies these days are novels by Nordic authors. Not to be left out is John Ajvide Lindqvist, also known as Sweden’s Stephen King.Little Star (Thomas Dunne: St. Martin’s. 2012. ISBN 9780312620516. $27.99) begins with a family raising a young girl they found abandoned in the woods, until horrible circumstances lead her brother to take her to Stockholm. After he enters her in a TV show similar toAmerican Idol and another young girl sees her performance, a frighteningly evil team is born. As in his previous novels (Let the Right One In), Lindqvist uses compelling YA characters to portray the horrors that lurk in the shadows of the everyday world. It is scarier because it seems so normal.

Finally, for nonfiction fans, Lisa Morton’s Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Reaktion, dist. by Univ. of Chicago. 2012. ISBN 9781780230474. $29) covers the history of Halloween from its ancient Celtic roots to its stunning growth in global popularity in the 21st century. Morton is an accomplished horror short story writer, and her ability to draw readers in quickly and keep them turning the pages shines through in her nonfiction as well. Lavishly illustrated, this solidly researched and concise work is fun to read and a great choice for readers who want to know why we seek out the scary each October.

This column was contributed by Becky Spratford, a Readers’ Advisory Librarian, Berwyn Public Library, IL, and Adjunct Faculty, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University, River Forest, IL, She is the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, 2d edition (ALA Editions, 2012; LJ 9/15/12). For more horror suggestions from Becky, visit raforallhorror.blogspot.com.

31 Days of Horror: Day 18-- Guest Post by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

The guest posts are coming fast and furious now.  I can't believe that we are in the home stretch to Halloween.  Well check that, I can believe it as the media requests for my "expertise" are beginning to reach the overwhelming point.  It is always frustrating that we are all ignored for 11.5 months a year, and then October 15 comes and everyone starts clamoring for our attention.  Even though I know it happens every year and I plan for it, it still irks me a bit.

Just a reminder that I talk about horror all year long right here. But I digress...

Today, I am honored to offer you an award winning author who is just at the start of his promising career--Benjamin Kane Ethridge.  His novel Black and Orange won the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for best debut novel.  He has since published, Bottled Abyss (June, 2012), which I will review on Saturday, and is due to have a new work, Dungeon Brain, come out at the end of this month.

I asked Ethridge to tell me why he writes dark fiction.  He has shared an honest story of his process from evolving from the writer he thought he was going to be to the one he was actually meant to become. And good thing for us readers that he allowed his darkness to shine through.

Read on and look for a review of Bottled Abyss this weekend.

Why I write Fantasy o’ Dark

By Benjamin Kane Ethridge

It happened much like a well-performed magic trick occurs. That is, I never saw it coming, never saw which hand manipulated what and created such a surprising outcome. When I started out, I only desired to write fantasy and science fiction. I enjoyed horror immensely but that wasn’t what I was trying to do with my career. So I started submitting stories and receiving rejections. Submitted more, got rejected more. Submitted more, got an acceptance. Hold up though—this was fantasy, but it was pretty well grim subject material. I noted that and continued on. More submissions, more rejections, and then another acceptance. This one was straight up Horror. Unconsciously I think I wanted to replicate that first sale and it worked.


I got the picture and I’m sure you do now as well. My writing was most successful when I turned up that darkness dial. Thing was, I still wanted to write fantasy and science fiction, but all wasn’t lost because such a combination is completely viable nowadays. The dark fantasy writer, probably more than the dark science fiction writer, has that opportunity, but build a name and you can probably have it anyway you slice it.


So here I was, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, once open to everything speculative, but I’d not yet been defined. I’d become a Dark Fantasy writer. I have no shame in wearing the Horror badge or the Fantasy badge, but being called one or the other just isn’t at all honest. I write horrific, fantastical things, and that’s what I’ve become. For me this accident was like slipping and springing an oil well. It’s difficult to find your feet as a novice scribe; there is much to read and much to write about and therein lies a decision for every upstart writer. Building a brand means putting your marbles in a particular basket, at least during the audience building stage.


The easiest thing to say was that I didn’t choose Dark Fantasy, it chose me, but that isn’t accurate. I came to a conclusion based on my past successes and my own personal tastes for storytelling, which is how I ended up pulling free a scale-covered, fang-bearing rabbit from the magician’s hat. How cute! I think I’ll keep her.

Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Bram Stoker Award Winning Author of BLACK & ORANGE and BOTTLED ABYSS

www.bkethridge.com

31 Days of Horror: Day 17 Review and Giveaway of Wood

Yesterday, Robert Dunbar was guest on the blog.  Today I will offer a review of his novella, Wood.

But first, Dunbar is offering a free ebook of Wood to readers of this blog.  If you are interested, please email me at zombiegrl75[at]gmail[dot]com with "Wood" in the subject heading and you will be entered to win.  Deadline for submissions is Saturday 10/20 at 5 PM cdt.  I will notify the winner Saturday night and Dunbar will get in touch with you to send you the book.

Now the review...

I am a big fan of Robert Dunbar, and here is why.  He consistently writes tales that are high in fear and not gratuitous in gore.  He also employs a conversational style with humor, even when characters are in a fight for their lives.  But it is in his descriptions that Dunbar excels. He sets the stage so well, describing everything and every character with detail that somehow does not come off as wordy.  This description adds to the anxiety and eerie frame that take over his stories.

Dunbar also probes the idea of "the monster" in all his works.  He does not have zombies, vampires, or werewolves.  His monsters are almost more frightening because they are not easily identifiable.  He also often looks to myths and folklore for his monsters.  For example, in his first novel, The Pines (a must buy for every public library) he looks at the mythological New Jersey Devil for inspiration.  From my book:

In the mysterious and desolate New Jersey Pine Barrens, a legendary monster, the Jersey Devil, is on the loose.  This is a traditional story of a monster on the prowl in an isolated setting, but Dunbar manages to keep the plot and action fresh, frightening, and fun.  Do not go camping soon after reading this book.

Wood is true to Dunbar's proven style as outlined above.  Wood is also a novella which means it is shorter than a novel, but longer than a story.  The novella is a great format for the horror story.  First, it is long enough to develop meaningful characters that the reader cares about; characters they don't want to see die; characters that when they are pursued by monsters, the reader gets afraid. This is the key to creating an atmosphere of terror in the story, but it is sadly something many horror authors are not very good at.  Second, it is short enough that you can't get too scared.  You can read it in one sitting, close the book, shake off a few shivers, and go back to your day.  A perfect taste of the terrifying.

For the public librarian during the Halloween season, novellas (and to a lesser extent short stories) are a great option for our patrons who do not usually read horror, but want to try something scary this month to get into the Halloween spirit.  Stories often lack the character depth that novel readers are searching for (this is a common complaint I get at the library), but with a novella, a horror novice will get the character depth and the scares he or she is looking for.

Back to Wood in particular. The set up is classic for the monster story: a girl, just escaped from a juvenile detention center encounters a monster while on the run.  She seeks shelter from another outcast, Dick, who lives on the edge of the woods.  Together, these well developed characters, outsiders both, battle and control the monster.

The multiple points of view here include the monster's.  The shifting narration adds to the unsettling atmosphere which is one of the main reasons people read horror in the first place--to feel unsettled.  Seeing the monster's thoughts is a great addition here.

There is an overriding message of environmentalism is the story too.  Maybe we humans are encroaching too much on nature and as a result, we are disturbing things that are better left alone.  The ending definitely underscores this.  The immediate threat of the monster has been handled for now, but in the woods, there may be a new threat rising.  May be we should just stay where we are.

The Woods may be under 100 pages, but it packs a punch.  I would highly suggest it for anyone who wants to try Dunbar for the first time or for anyone looking for a terrifying story that they can read in a sitting or two.  Just don't plan any excursions in the forest preserve anytime soon.

Three Words That Describe This Book: unsettling, shifting point of view, humor

Readalikes: I want to begin with 2 books I thought of right away:

• Castaways by Brian Keene because of its tongue in cheek humor, monster's point of view, and ominousness.  Click here for a full review.
• Pine Deep Trilogy by Jonathan Maberry because together, the three books in this series make up the most compelling and terrifying monster story I have ever read.  The series tells the story of the residents of Pine Deep, PA, who thirty years ago vanquished a serial killer known as ‘The Reaper.’  Since then, the town has seen peace and fame as the Halloween capital of America. But as the series opens on another Halloween season, a new supernatural evil lurks on the outskirts of town, waiting to finish what The Reaper began. Click here to access a review of the first book in the series-- Ghost Road Blues.

A few of my other monster favorites that are described at length in the book and would fit as readalike suggestions are:

• Dweller by Jeff Strand (monster in woods befriends a young boy)
• The Woods Are Dark by Richard Laymon (much more violent, but a classic horror tale of the monsters that lurk in the woods)
• Ancestor by Scott Sigler (for those who like the environmental themes; this one is a cautionary tale about biotechnology)

31 Days of Horror: Day 16-- Robert Dunbar Guest Post

Today I am happy to welcome one of my personal favorite dark fiction authors, Robert Dunbar.  On top of writing entertainingly creepy books, Dunbar is also a big library supporter. In my book, I included Dunbar as a must have author for public libraries (in theHorror 101 Chapter), as well as including annotations for some of his work in the chapter on monsters [discounted copies of my book are still available].

Tomorrow, I will have a review of his novella, Wood, which, along with all ebooks under Dunbar's Uninvited Books imprint, is only 99 cents this month.

And now here is Robert Dunbar talking about why he writes dark fiction.

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When did the horror genre become so reactionary? Where did this mandate come from? The one stipulating that plots must concern vanilla families menaced by the unknown? I can't be the only one less than fully invested in the spectacle of the status quo being maintained.

True art seldom celebrates conformity. Literature should transgress, not reassure.

This is probably why I write about the most threatening kind of darkness … and the things that lurk within that darkness. It's the kind of reading material I've always been drawn to.

For me, the monster is always the lonely one, the unloved and unwanted. The outcast. And even as a child I knew where my sympathies lay. Always. Dracula wasn't a monster so much as a villain out of Victorian melodrama - foreign and sinister - a stale template even then. Of course, the hero would rescue the damsel. Was there ever any doubt? Ah, but with the Frankenstein monster … nothing could be certain. Adam was soulful. He was abject. He remains the classic outsider, the suffering archetype at the heart of so many truly great books. What could be more terrifying than all that pain? Even now the monster is among the most supremely tragic - and most intensely human - of literary characters. All he wants is to belong.

And he never can. No one will ever acknowledge his humanity.

He suffers because he's different.

Some of us can relate. Rarely are protagonists in real literature presented as idealizations of the average. That trope reigns only in the realm of the manipulative and the sentimental. You have to wonder how devotees of this type of fiction feel when encountering a work like my MARTYRS & MONSTERS with its queer hustlers and gallant junkies. Small wonder I'm forever hearing from consumers - I can't bring myself to call them readers - who say I shouldn't be allowed to write like this. (They say a lot of other things too.) Personally, I believe that if a book doesn't challenge preconceptions and stereotypes, even monstrous ones, the writer has failed. The role of art is to illuminate.

Our monsters are among our most important icons. Perhaps that's where the genre lost its way, this strange shift of allegiances, this veneration of the normal. How odd that one scarcely ever hears young writers discussing the supernatural tales of writers like E. M. Forster or Willa Cather. Rarely is there a mention of Gustav Meyrink or Franz Kafka or Yukio Mishima.

Perhaps if they'd written zombie romances …

No, let's not even go there. (My nerves can only take so much.)

This is why I started Uninvited Books. A chasm yawns between brilliantly cerebral dark fiction and manufactured product. Of course, it's not only my genre that's impacted. Take a writer like Ursula K. LeGuin, whose many fine Science Fiction novels have often been lambasted for being "too literary," a deadly offense apparently. Recently, I read an essay by Ms. LeGuin in which she lamented the fact that most science fiction fans read nothing but science fiction. "And many," she added, "read nothing at all."

I so get that. I've always been extremely lucky in the response from critics, but the reader comments on sites like Amazon or Goodreads can be very revealing. The woman who complained that my novel WILLY was too complicated to read in front of the television spoke unwitting volumes. So did the poor soul who bitterly resented that it took him over a year to wade through THE SHORE (not a particularly long book). And what's to be made of a statement like this one?

"I hate all that prose and literary stuff. I just wants me some horror."

So disheartening.

Yet I choose to interpret it all as a sort of reverse testimonial … because some of us don't hate all that literary stuff. Small wonder so many serious writers are prone to depression.

Still … rewards exist. When more evolved readers discover that my work speaks to them, their responses can be passionately appreciative. Over and over, I hear from readers who 'had just about given up' finding dark fiction intended for intelligent adults. This resonates. How could it not? I mean, what else does a writer live for? On so many occasions, I've been moved by these comments, and my feelings are only enhanced by the fact that such people tend to be articulate and sensitive - exactly the readership I've always sought. Sought? More than sought. Conjured. Evoked. Believed in as an article of faith. These are the readers I picture when I sit down to write. Whenever one of them declares some novel of mine to be the finest book they've ever read, it constitutes validation on a profound level … if only because there's not a vanilla character to be found anywhere in my work. It gives me hope.

 Such readers are a gift in my life. How fortunate I am. Perhaps the genre isn't as reactionary as it seems. Perhaps culturally we are emerging from a dark time, like some noble monster groping toward the light.

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Robert Dunbar has been called "the catalyst for the new literary movement in horror" by Dark Scribe Magazine, and his novel THE PINES has often been described as "a classic of modern horror." His most recent work is the novella WOOD. Learn more about his books by visiting his personal site at http://www.DunbarAuthor.com.

31 Days of Horror: Day 15-- What's Your Favorite Scary Story

Today 31 Days of Horror is over on RA for All as part of the popular Monday Discussion.

Please feel free to participate on either blog in the comments.

Monday Discussion: What's the Scariest Book You Ever Read?

 

Today marks the middle of October. We are smack dab in the middle of the time of year when even the timid try out a scary book. Today I want to know what the scariest book you ever read was. I would also like to know about any movies or tv shows that freaked you out too.

Feel free to share an experience from when you were a kid too. I have found that those "scary" memories from horror books or movies that we encountered as children stay with us longer. In fact, last night, my sister-in-law was sharing a story about how even remembering watching Amityville Horror (the movie) at a birthday party stills scares her.

 

In 2010, I went on the record over on Shelf Renewal answering the question this way:

“The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. It feels so real, like it could actually happen, and even though I do not believe in possession, I can’t shake the feeling that it could be true. That is terrifying. A close second would be Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. This one is scary because of the sense of dread that permeates the book from the start. The tension never lifts and you are in a permanent state of fear and anxiety while reading it, and even long after you finish.”

Last year I also asked this question in a series of Monday Discussions. These links include my answer to each question and the full comments with your responses.

• Click here to see the discussion on people's favorite scary stories. 
• Click here to see the discussion on people's favorite scary movies.
• Click here to see the discussion on people's favorite scary TV series.

This year I have condensed the multi-week discussion into one. Even if you particiapted last year, add to this year's discussion.

 

Here are my new additions to scary stories:

• Book: The zombie novels of Joe McKinney are terrifyingly realistic, mostly due to the fact that McKinney is a law enforcement officer and disater migration specialist. He knows exactly how a zombie plagues could spread and destroy civilazation. I talked about his linked zombie novels at PLA; here is a link.
• Movies: The Final Destination movies are the most scary I have seen in a long time. People, you cannot cheat death. If death wants you, it will get you. Another thing I have learned form these movies, death is creative.
• TV Series: Last year's American Horror Story was so great because of how unsettling it was. Click here to see more about what I had to say last year. I cannot wait for the new season to begin on Wednesday.

Now it is your turn. Let me know your favorite scary stories in any format.

 

For past Monday Discussions, click here.