A Strong, Diverse Collection of Horror and Psychological Intrigue

Source: Author Website

The Carvings Collection: Ten Stories of Horror and Suspense by Drake Vaughn (Dead Orb Press, 2013, 220pp.)

A self-righteous vigilante determined to punish a man for a mercy killing. A giant flying cockroach that terrorizes and decapitates hapless high school stoners. A salesman who puts his marketing skills to the test when confronted by a cannibalistic rock star diva of Faustian proportions. A gang of bullies that run amok in a vampire brothel. All this, and more, can you find in Drake Vaughn’s new short story collection, The Carvings Collection. 

Sound varied? It is. It’s kind of like your little chocolate box o’ horrors: it simply runs the gamut when it comes to the genre. It opens with the nursery-time tale of terror, “Dolls,” and follows up with the high school slasher story, “Master Key.” Next, is a Hostel-like tale of revenge and captivity (“In the Chair”), a tale or two of black magic (“Carvings,” “Sales”), a cautionary tale for young people about trespassing (“The Garden”), a few surprising pieces of social commentary (“Driver’s Seat,” “The Test,” “Trip to V-Town,”), and last but not least, the parasite-ridden sci-fi creep-fest, “Flatheads.”

While I certainly savored some stories more than others, this is, overall, a strong, diverse collection of horror and psychological intrigue. I would recommend it for any fan of the horror genre, and for fans of Vaughn’s earlier novel, The Zombie Generation.

For Lovers of the Creepy, Surreal, Unconventional, and Strange

A Satan Carol by Alan S. Kessler (Wild Child Publishing, 2011, 257pp.)

In Kessler’s A Satan’s Carol, Satan was always God’s favorite son—that is, until his annoying brother, Jesus, came into the picture. Now he spends most of his time in the world of his own creation, a bizarre facsimile of Earth called Shinyland 7 where his human subjects do what humans do best—make each other totally and completely miserable.

Even though he’s been cast aside in favor of the “Chosen One,” Satan still has hopes to please his father and convince him that he, too, is capable of doing good. As Jesus Christ was mankind’s savior, Satan plans to father a son who will become the messiah for Shinyland 7. In his efforts, Satan manages to produce one son, Pal, but the child is soulless and inanimate, hardly worthy of catching God’s attention, let alone capturing the attention of the unwashed multitudes. To secure his son’s rightful place as messiah, Satan next searches for the Golden Soul, a singular, special soul that will, in essence, make Pal a “real boy.”

Free will plays a big part in the story. In Kessler’s fictional universe, free will belongs to everything—including the Golden Soul. So, naturally, even Satan’s best laid plans go awry. The Soul has no interest in Pal, but instead sees greater promise in the unborn child of Katie Katz, the spoiled daughter of a lawyer. This puts a slight hitch in Satan’s plans, but it’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before—after all, he can be very persuasive with people when he wants to be.

Instead of giving his story a fast-paced plot, Kessler slowly, but carefully, traces the psychological paths of a group of characters who are pawns in the devil’s master plan.

I’ll just go ahead and say it: Everyone in the story is pretty much damned, or is otherwise in serious danger of becoming damned. Most are just plain, ordinary people who fight against Satan’s influence: the girl, Katie, who is considering an abortion; her father, a repentant criminal attorney who considers suicide after a lifetime of wrong-doing; a pesky, deeply religious farmer who keeps muddling with Satan’s plans—just to name a few. Others have become Satan’s willing minions, including a seriously creepy abortion doctor who sold his soul in exchange for acceptance into medical school.

It’s not a story for everyone, but for lovers of the creepy, surreal, unconventional, and strange, definitely an original and interesting read. Recommended for fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.

“Supernatural Noir” is a Little Too Light On the “Noir”

Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse, 2011, 336pp.)

“Supernatural” and “Noir.” Not two genres you would normally put together—especially since one deals with witches and magic and the other deals almost exclusively with the detective story sub-genre. Put them together and you get Supernatural Noir, a collection of 16 stories that attempt to examine the human condition by placing their subjects in mysterious, fantastical, and quite often horrifying circumstances. The trouble is, each author interprets this new genre differently. All pieces contain noir to some degree, but the genres of the collection overall aren’t well balanced. Some stories lean more towards fantasy/horror, while others are so bare of these elements that you almost miss the required “supernatural” aspect. The best stories, in my opinion, are the ones that focus more on what makes these characters human than the fantasy/horror elements. Some in the collection do this quite well. Others are more intent on fleshing out plot-driven tales. It’s really up to the reader to decide who hit the nail on the head, and who missed completely. A word of warning: this is not for the casual fan of dark fantasy and horror. Some of the pieces are very strange, and more than a little morbid. Recommended for mature readers, as some pieces may contain adult themes.