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.

Equal Parts “Omega Man” and “The Postman”

The Zombie Generation by Drake Vaughn (Dead Orb Press, 2012, 238pp.)

Plunk a man down in the middle of a nightmare zombie scenario, then arm him with only a Glock, a bottle of whiskey, and several dozen Furby-like children’s toys to defend himself with, and you’ve pretty much summed up Warner’s situation. To his knowledge, he and his girlfriend Pam are the only two people left in the world. An infection has spread, turning the rest of mankind into zombies. These despicable hordes share the genre’s normal hankering for brain matter, but Vaughn has made a few interesting additions to how his monsters behave. “Buggers,” as they’re referred to in the story, are more alive than undead. They’re also much less intelligent than the average person, and are easily distracted by obnoxious electronic children’s toys, such as the Googriff, a close cousin of the Furby. Although scientists claimed that the infection was not spread through blood or saliva, Warner’s pretty sure that’s not the case. After he’s scratched by one of the buggers, he immediately begins having blackouts and unusual cravings. Determined to hold on to his humanity, he frantically begins searching for a cure that may or may not exist. While the story’s pacing drags a bit in places, Warner’s plight—equal parts Omega Man and The Postman—is still interesting enough to hold the reader’s attention to the tale’s gory conclusion.

Similar Books:

• The Postman by David Brin

Interesting Relic from the Cold War Era

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (1959; Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005, 352pp.)

If you grew up during the Cold War Era, chances are you remember practicing the “duck and cover” method - crawling under your desk at school and covering your head - to protect yourself from a nuclear blast. Although that may sound ridiculous to us enlightened twenty-first century folk, this era of human history was a time of very real fear - fear of being overrun by Communism and of sudden annihilation by nuclear war. In fact, it was this fear that drove many novelists to document their anxieties through post-apocalyptic scenarios. Alas, Babylon is one of the many modern classics to emerge from this period.

The story is this: Mark Bragg, older brother to the novel’s main protagonist, Randy, is with SAC intelligence in the US military. With tensions rising between the US and Russia, Randy has agreed to take in his brother’s wife and kids, who live on a military base in Omaha, Nebraska, should things escalate to a full-scale nuclear war. The private code phrase agreed upon is “Alas, Babylon,” taken from a verse from the Bible’s Book of Revelations about the destruction of an ancient city marked by its population’s iniquitous behavior. When Randy receives a telegram ending with those two words, he knows the end is near. Fortunately for him, however, he lives in Fort Repose, a small, out-of-the-way town in Florida. While the Russians are certain to bomb major cities and military targets, little towns like his lose their electricity, but manage to avoid major damage to their infrastructures. Once all military targets and major cities have been reduced to radioactive dust, it becomes a story of a town’s fight for survival as society as we know it creeps back toward the middle ages. Highwaymen prey on travelers, and stealing community livestock becomes an offense punishable by death. Paper money no longer has value - instead, people trade for goods like coffee, soap, whiskey, etc. While the town is not troubled by radioactive fallout, looters foolish enough to wander into contaminated “hot” zones bring about their own demise when they steal radioactive jewelry and valuables from abandoned stores and stash them in their homes.

In other words, Frank maps out his premise well, and builds an interesting story about life in a small town after the apocalypse. So for those interested in great plots and big ideas, this relic from the Cold War Era is worth checking out - although if you’re not a member of the Baby Boomer generation, I would definitely suggest talking to someone who lived during this era to fully appreciate Frank’s work.

A Cautionary, Contemplative Portrait of Mankind Faced With Its Own Mortality

On the Beach by Nevil Shute (1957; Vintage, 2010, 320pp.)

What would you do if you only had six months to live? Unfortunately, this is a choice that some people face on an everyday basis, due to cancer or some other illness. In the case of Shute’s novel, the characters find themselves faced with a rather messy, prolonged death by radiation sickness. One of the several post-apocalyptic classics to emerge form the Cold War Era, this is a very humane, compassionate look at a group of people living out their final days in a major Australian city after a series of nuclear wars wipe out all life in the Northern hemisphere.

The characters’ reactions to their impending doom make it a very British book, reminiscent of the old World War II slogan, “Keep calm and carry on.” While every now and then someone reacts with intense despair, most of the citizens of this Australian town come to accept their fate and instead see it as a blessing that they are able to die together with their families. One character even reasons that it’s better to take your own life while in your prime—albeit in unfortunate circumstances - rather than to linger into old age in a nursing home.

There are some moments of mild, if sometimes shocking humor. An instance of this humor is Shute’s narration of Australia’s last Grand Prix race, writing of how people come out to the races to compete in their Bentleys, Ferraris, Jaguars, Maseratis, and Thunderbirds (including a car I’ve never heard of, called a “Gipsy Lotus”), only for half of the contestants to die mangled in wrecks. “He got it the way he wanted it to be,” the wife of one crash victim serenely comments. “None of this being sick and all the rest of it” (217).

The ultimate conclusion of the novel is that if humanity is capable of such atrocity, then perhaps the race isn’t worthy of the planet it so eagerly destroys. A cautionary, contemplative portrait of mankind faced with its own mortality. Highly recommended.