reviews

In the introduction to Poe’s Children, Peter Straub is at great pains to explain that horror should not be banned from the literary table in the great cafeteria of writing. He seems to think that those who read Proust and Kundera and, I don’t know, Kierkegaard, should stop looking down their noses at those who choose to write about ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night.

The argument that genre fiction—be it horror, fantasy, or sci-fi—should be considered literary seems to crop up periodically, both on the Internet and in print. In truth, I always end up kind of confused when I find them. I guess it’s never clear to me who this shadowy “them” is that declares horror (or sci-fi, or whatever) to be a baser kind of fiction. If it’s the general consensus of the public, it should be remembered that the public seems to care a lot less about literary merit than about whether or not Robert Langdon can work out the latest historical conundrum. So if it’s not the public, then who decides these things? The people who write high school reading curriculums?

The other thing that bugs me is that I’ve never seen a hard and fast definition as to what literary is supposed to mean. I guess it refers to some elusive standard of quality, though where one finds a rubric for this is a mystery to me.

And I think we really do need a hard and fast definition, because several of the authors in Poe’s Children have decided that literary stories are stories that are as vague as possible. I’m not kidding, here. I’d be hard pressed to explain the plot of some of these stories, and in a few I was completely lost, waiting desperately for the author to throw one clear, declarative sentence my way, the way you’d throw a life preserver to save a drowning person.

The tone of the anthology is somewhat Poeish and somewhat Lovecraftish, in a kind of one man, staring at the ocean, contemplating his own madness kind of way. Lest you think me too uncultured to appreciate this collection, however, let me hasten to say that there are some undeniably incredible stories here. “The Bees” is haunting like only Dan Chaon can do it. I’d also wholeheartedly recommend Kelly Link doing “Louise’s Ghost” and Benjamin Percy’s “Unearthed.” My favorite, though, is “Plot Twist” by David J. Schow. Schow writes with a postmodernist sensibility and the characters are pitch perfect in their roles. As advertised, it has a wonderfully nasty little twist at the end that is pure horror.

There’s a story each by Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Neil Gaiman here, all of which you’ve probably seen in their collections already (Skeleton Crew, 20^th Century Ghosts, and Fragile Things, respectively). I’m always amazed how stories you’ve already read can take on a different tone and meaning when discovered in a new context like this.

I hate to harp on this point, but how much you enjoy Poe’s Children will depend on what defines “literary” writing for you. What fits the bill for me will probably not do it for you. Likewise, what Peter Straub decides is literary may not be your cup of tea, either. The good thing about short story collections, though, is that you can handpick what you like from what you don’t—and what you don’t, you won’t have to suffer through for more than a few pages. Poe’s Children has enough variation in style and subject that everyone should find something here that they like. I leave it up to people who know better than I do if any of them are literary or not.

REVIEW BY ALLISON BOHAC

First: "You know what?" "What" "We're in trouble."

Second: "Did Peter call?"

Third: "Let's get the f@#$ out of here!"

First, this is not a zombie movie; it is an "infected" movie. Cool, no worries there. Second, this is not a splatter movie; it's a thriller/horror kinda thang.

I believe that for some people, they are going to walk into this movie, and expect 28 Days Later or some other variant thereof. I also believe that many will also expect to see gore and guts all over the place - I know I kept expecting it at several key points. There is blood and guts throughout the movie, but they are used as plot points rather than shock points. I thought they were very well done and effective. However, I do think that the marketing team aimed the wrong arrow for this one.

I know of at least two people who said to me they did not like this movie, and I believe very strongly that it was due to having a different set of expectations in walking into the flick. I know "Hollywood" likes to encapsulate and "package" the celluloid product into nice, neat, tidy and tiny packages of tidbit info, but they should probably have re-thunk the means of the message. Sure, there are similarities between "The Crazies" and "28 Days Later" but they are truly completely different messages.

I liked the basic concept of this movie. I also liked a number of the components of the movie as a whole, I was a little let down by the ending and I also thought that it was remarkably predictable. However, as it depicted the story, I liked the look and feel of how it did so. I liked a number of the shots, and I really loved how they did NOT use the combine to splatter the woman in an early sequence. I kept expecting it, I kept expecting it, and lo, something different. That was really cool. (I also don't know if it was deliberate or not, but it worked nicely.)

I had a couple of issues with the story, one of course being in the ending; you should be able to figure out what when you see the movie (if you haven't already.) (Hint: It involves an explosion.) I also thought that the Sheriff, at times, acted a tad not too much "small town Sherriff" like (either too smart, or too not emotional enough about his wife.) Final item, regards the gestalt of the movies main premise, the plane crashes for over a month, and the military doesn't go out to find it earlier than that? (Ohoho, if the element of "conspiracy to test the product deployment on home ground" was a part of the story, then that would have been a cool element; but that never came up.)

So, as to the premise of the movie, basically, a chemical compound (i.e.: "biological weapon of mass kill 'em all") that was "on it's way to an incinerator plant for disposal" when the plane fell out of the sky and crashed in swamps of a small town. The material leaks into the water system. It contaminates the inhabitants of the small town. The effect of the chemical is to essentially push all of a person's buttons and make them become psychotic. One of the things that I liked about this "infection" is that the infected retained some degree of intelligence and could rationalize and use things (like cars and guns and such.)

Fun and hilarity ensue, as our intrepid protagonists try to both survive and escape the bad things that happened.

Overall, I thought this movie was OK. Not great, not terrible; had some good ideas, but felt like it wasn't sure if it was going one way or the other.

REVIEW BY ZOMBIE ZAK

Having only fully embraced horror fiction in the past few years, there are still quite a few great writers in my ‘To Be Read’ pile. One is James A Moore. Always heard good things, seen the list of accolades and accomplishments, but just haven’t gotten around to grabbing any of his work. So when I was wandering around the bookstore saying to myself ‘Werewolf, no. Vampire. No. Zombie. Zombie. Zombie. No. Serial killer demon vampire zombie. No.’ I found a novel about one of my favorite forgotten monsters. It seemed to center around a Creature of the Black Lagoon-type horror. I grabbed DEEPER.

It didn’t take more than a chapter to be pulled into the dark adventure Moore creates. The stage is set in classic form- a local captain, despite the frightening campfire stories about a cove off the New England seacoast, agrees to take a group of researchers out for a diving expedition. They are determined to find- something - that would prove all the nightmares and cursed history of the cove true.

And there is no curveball surprise. It’s as subtle as an anchor to the forehead. The team does find it. And when they do, all hell breaks loose. It’s absolutely heart pounding ‘look out, look out!’ fun. It’s vengeful deep sea creatures. It’s a first class ghost story. It’s human betrayal and buried secrets biting them in the ass.

Moore’s mastery of first person writing puts the reader right in the driver’s seat mentally and emotionally. His main character is as engaging as he is flawed and it’s easy to see through his eyes. When he is suspicious of the research team’s intentions, so are we. As the story unfolds, we predict the same mistakes in their planning that he does.

By the time the creatures-that-lurk-below-the-cove make their presence known to everyone, we’re in deep danger just like the rest of the characters in the book. We unravel their mystery as the captain does, usually a little too late. The monsters are vicious, plentiful and not so ignorant of their place on the food chain. They do not play fair.

Moore also doesn’t cut any corners. He is dedicated to hitting the reader with every sucker punch he can. There were a few times I dared him to go to the worst places and he sprinted past me, completely calling my bluff. No one is safe and its effect definitely made me uncomfortable, shocked and at times even angry. All of this is a testimony to Moore’s talent with character and dialogue. He gets you emotionally invested in every aspect of the tale.

DEEPER also brought out one other emotion in me. It made me aggravated that I waited so long to read Moore’s work. I won’t be making that mistake again.

REVIEW BY GREGORY L HALL