From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Nov 30 17:05:03 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!newsfeed.tip.net!cph-2.news.DK.net!dkuug!dknet!cph-1.news.DK.net!dkuug!dknet!icl.icl.dk!sw0198!seunet!news2.swip.net!mn6.swip.net!news99.sunet.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.kei.com!uhog.mit.edu!news!nobody From: rickk@emu.com (Rick Kleffel) Subject: The Bile File -- Horror Fiction Reviews Message-ID: <9511171418.AA21206@virgil> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Keywords: author= Rick Kleffel Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 22:00:28 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 162 [This is a nice collection of reviews. I've moved all the bibliographic info to the bottom of the article for easier reading. --AW, moderator] Nocturne Mark Chadbourne New Orleans seems to be a staple for horror writers who live or have lived there. Poppy Z. Brite and Anne Rice use their familiarity with the city to evoke those steamy nights, labyrinthine mansions and shadowy residents with consummate skill. British writer Mark Chadbourne takes a decidedly different approach to The Big Easy in 'Nocturne.' He doesn't evoke New Orleans -- he tours it, from the perspective of a lonely, tortured young British man who wakes up on a New Orleans trolley with no memory of how he got there. As David Easter gathers his memories, he gawks and gapes at his peculiar American surroundings, tries to fit in and gets a job in a New Orleans bar. The change of perspective from what we've come to expect in a New Orleans horror novel is refreshing, and the opening sections of the book evokes a nicely alienated sense of mystery. Unfortunately for David, and the reader, David discovers that he's come to find the Great Love of His Life, the Eternal Passion For Which He Would (Will?) Sacrifice Himself. That's Fermay, the mystery woman, whose association with some unsavory Occult Criminal Types condemns David to see dead people all the time, in crowds, museums and skankin' jazz clubs. Unfortunately, the dead people seem like refugees from a bad Romero movie. And then there's the other Thing that's pursuing him, the bird thing, a cool monster that is chilling and yet somewhat restrained. Much of this book is far too mild for its own good, and then, by the time the mildness itself becomes charming, Chadbourne puts in some horrific scenes, that are not particularly shocking. It's rather a nice touch. But he follows this up with some standard splatter that seems very out of keeping with the rest of the book, and the revelations that follow seem unrevealing. Chadbourne does write some nice prose, but his characters seem to be on the trite side, searching for the meaning of life when they should be looking for a job. 'Nocturne' is a readable novel, but it's not likely to set any fingers on fire turning the pages, and its depths are still, for the most part, child-safe. Candlenight Phil Rickman The paperback racks of your local grocery store are no longer the haunt of quality original horror that they used to be. One might see the latest novel by ubiquitous best-selling authors, but not much more. That's part of what makes Phil Rickman's 'Candlenight' an unusual grocery store find. But Candlenight shines on its own, with the soft light of a full-blown novel of whisper-quiet horror. 'Candlenight' is a novel notable as much for what isn't there as what is. 'Candlenight' is another entry in the 'town with a secret' genre, the town, in this case, being Y Groes, a small village in Wales. For a 'quiet horror' novel, 'Candlenight' is quite briskly paced. But even in the first few pages, where a priest dies investigating a tomb in one of the local churches, Rickman shows that he's going to work the horror angle with atmosphere and suggestion, not gore. Unfortunately, over 500 pages of suggestion can lead even the most patient and squeamish reader to wonder when something is going to happen. Atmosphere is thick and heavy in this novel, and Rickman sometimes seems to think that readers can live on atmosphere alone. Fortunately, he supplies the reader with interesting, entertaining characters to stroll through his ghoulish weather. Claire and Giles are the sacrificial innocents who, upon inheriting an Y Groes house, move to the village. In spite of Giles' attempt to learn the Welsh language so that he can better fit in, things go pretty miserably. But this gives Rickman a chance to describe the fascinating politics of Wales, with its ingrown home favorites and violent thugs looking for a reason to beat up outsiders. Guto and Bethan are the villagers who haven't succumbed to whatever it is that makes Y Groes idyllic and dangerous. They supply the insight into Welsh version of 'locals only' with a good deal of wit and entertaining dialogue. And finally, Berry and Miranda, Giles' friends from his days in the London press, supply the quirky American outsiders' point-of-view. Once Rickman gets the ball rolling, slowly, it's a treat to watch each of the characters move in the predictable round-robin description of their escapades as they slowly but surely converge upon the final scenes in the novel. 'Candlenight' is a big, safe, enjoyable horror novel. Rickman's prose is evocative, his characters entertaining, and his situations are mildly dangerous and slightly weird. In 'Candlenight', Rickman offers a heaping dose heavy breathing and thick fog, good characters and bad vibes. Too late for the beach, but just in time for your first big fire in the fireplace, 'Candlenight' will keep the lights on and the pages turning. Nailed by the Heart Simon Clark What the vampire is to horror novels -- incredibly common and increasingly tired -- the zombie is to horror movies. But there's no corresponding collection of zombie novels in horror. Of course, the zombie lends itself to cinematic treatment. Throw some stage blood on an extra, let him grimace and voila, instant zombie to get you. But zombies, by definition are dead and mindless, and dead, mindless beings don't lend themselves particularly well to the process of literary characterization. In 'Nailed by the Heart', British writer Simon Clark succeeds at translating a low-budget Italian zombie movie into a novel set in an English seacoast village. This success is a mixed blessing. Clark's supernatural premise is as old as the legends it describes. Chris and Ruth Stainforth, with their son David, are moving into the ancient Roman 'sea fort' that lies derelict in Manshead. They've saved and scrimped, and they're going to turn the fort into a hotel. The first time the locals hear of this is, naturally, when the Stainforths show up to move in. Out in the waves, they see shadowy figures that they think must be seals. The reader knows better, as do the townspeople. Yes, it's the village-with-a-secret novel, with zombies. Chris and Ruth are believable characters, and quite well drawn, as is their son David. And some of the more subtle effects that Clark tries are quite effective, as when David sacrifices his favorite toys, putting them in a small, orderly pile and letting them be taken out to sea. The villagers are a more predictable and sketchier bunch, with a drunken priest, senile general, all-knowing villager, and displaced American straight out of Zombie Movie Character Casting. Eventually, those shadows start coming out of the sea, and the old god who really runs the joint begins to make himself known to the characters. The 'zombie lurking and threatening' scenes are readable but too familiar. Clark has a penchant for putting his characters into situations that make the reader want to scream "You MORONS!", which is as annoying in print as it is in a movie. He does get in some interesting cancerous gore, but it seems more like a last minute injection of big-budget special makeup effects than an integral piece of the plot. Clark's real strengths are in mixing his characters' fear and desire of the power that is running the whole shebang. Though he does his best to make this an all-out 'zombies shredding' festival, his most effective scenes are those in which the Chris, Ruth and David feel the almost tidal pull of the old god, the need for sacrifice. There is some excellent writing in here, and if you don't mind yelling at the novel occasionally, 'Nailed By the Heart' is a pleasant enough diversion, with some nice grace notes that keep it from being just another uncredited zombie sequel. %T Nocturne %A Mark Chadbourne %I Gollancz Paperback %G ISBN 0-575-05793-9 %P 398 pages %D 1992 %O UK paperback; US $13.95 UK5.99 %T Candlenight %A Phil Rickman %I Jove Horror %G ISBN 0-515-11715-3 %D 1995 %P 463 pages %O US paperback; $5.99 %T Nailed by the Heart %A Simon Clark %I New English Library %G ISBN 0-340-62573-2 %P 360 pages %D 1995 %O UK paperback; US$13.95; UK 5.99