Temple Library Reviews: Dead Souls

Showing posts with label Dead Souls. Show all posts

Friday, April 23, 2010

[Anthology Reviews] Dead Souls Part 4

Title: Dead Souls
Editor: Mark S. Deniz
Pages: 286
Genre: Horror / Dark Fiction
Anthology: 25 Stories
Publisher: Morrigan Books

Dead Souls contains twenty five stories that will only ensure the darkness without enfolds you in its cold embrace…beware…be ready…be damned! Before God created light, there was darkness. Even after He illuminated the world, there were shadows — shadows that allowed the darkness to fester and infect the unwary. The tales found within Dead Souls explore the recesses of the spirit; those people and creatures that could not escape the shadows. From the inherent cruelness of humanity to malevolent forces, Dead Souls explores the depths of humanity as a lesson to the ignorant, the naive and the unsuspecting. God created light, but it is a temporary grace that will ultimately fail us, for the darkness is stronger and our souls…are truly dead.

CONTENTS

Bernie Mojzes	The Collector
T. A. Moore	Licwiglunga
Carole Johnstone	The Blind Man
Tom English	Dry Places
Sharon Irwin	Begin with Water
Robert Holt	In the Name
William Ward	When they Come to Murder Me
Chris Johnstone	The Unbedreamed
Elizabeth Barrette	Goldenthread
Catherine J. Gardner	When the Cloak Falls
Anna M. Lowther	The Price of Peace
James R. Stratton	Your Duty to your Lord
Kenneth C. Goldman	Mercy Hathaway is a Witch
Lisa Kessler	Immortal Beloved
Lisa Kessler	Subito Piano
Michael Stone	The Migrant
Robert Hood	Sandcrawlers
Reece Notley	Tatsu
L. J. Hayward	Wayang Kulit
Rebecca Lloyd	Contaminator
Ramsey Campbell	The Dead Must Die
Stephanie Campisi	The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank
Paul Finch	June
Gary McMahon	A Shade of Yellow
Kaaron Warren	The Blue Stream

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“Dead Souls” does a follow-up on humanity and civilization. Each section examines a slice of the human condition and its fears in context of the literary form of the day; myths, fairy tales, urban legends and so on.

“The Beast Without” returns the reader to the familiar present with the drone of technology in the background and the emotionally barren silence within the cacophony and daily rush. Here the fears are closer to the reader, perhaps, hiding in our own closet in numerous variations and all sizes. “The Beast Without” is also the thickest segment with seven stories in total, and as such has proved to be a mixed bag of blessings.

"The Dead Must Die" by Ramsey Campbell, although competently executed, from what I read, pushed the wrong buttons, because of the fanatic Christian element. The concept behind the deformation of faith into something inhuman and monstrous has always fascinated me, but at the same time makes reading any story with it grossly uncomfortable. "The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank" by Stephanie Campisi did not capture my interest. I couldn’t establish any connection with the prose and my reading was a dotted line of stutter starts and pauses.

"Contaminator" with fears of invading the personal space and the paranoia associated with diseases and "A Shade of Yellow", the post-traumatic stress of war, both fit the segment concept-wise and do so with a great understanding of how modern society has evolved into. Both stories have no faults in the prose department. I was impressed with the prose in "A Shade of Yellow" & Gary McMahon has morphed the consequences of the negative social opinion into a frightening meltdown, but both stories did not evoke an emotion in me. Maybe, because I thought "Contaminator" would be speculative fiction, but the mysterious narrative did not deliver, and maybe because "A Shade of Yellow" centered on modern warfare.

"Tatsu" shines as an exceptionally concept piece, observing a human behavior, all too familiar not to recognize. The protagonist is empty. He is misguided hunger, avarice and ambition to surpass himself. He fills the void through a whole body tattoo, turning his skin into a canvas in hopes to become something more through something, which does not come from within. His end is most deserving and though quite bloody in the story, the protagonist’s death serves as a metaphor for what happens to these people on a pure emotional level.

"June" is the longest piece. A plot driven, fast paced stomper, taking place in a no-go riot zone in the UK, where aggressive and violent behavior from the youth is a real problem. Violence has taken a more physical shape and the reader is treated to the best elements of the cop under genre along with gothic, almost Lovecraftesque supernatural dealings, which lead back to certain human sacrifice practices performed in June.

"Wayang Kulit" brings the reader back to the realm of myth, this time in exotic India. What starts as an innocent puppet show, imbued with religious mystery and charm, morphs into a life imitates art situation, where the narrator is treated to an ultimatum and a chance to reach spiritual revelation and alter his own behavior. This is an obvious story, but the beauty comes from the anticipation, the language and the satisfaction from the deserved fate to a conceited, materialistic person.

The anthology ends with "Blue Stream" by Kaaron Warren, an author I respect for her creativity. She looks ahead into the future, where teens are forced into the Blue Stream, where they hibernate until they reach adulthood. The story follows the integration society of the first Streamer generation through as witnessed by a young girl. It is a numbing journey, through a dystopian utopia of stale politeness, depriving the youth of life, leaving hollow men and women in the process. But it also ends on a positive note, which adds a power to the story.

Verdict: [B+] Diverse, well arranged and edited. You can’t make a wrong decision with this anthology.

Friday, March 19, 2010

[Review Anthology] Dead Souls Part 3

CONTENTS

Bernie Mojzes	The Collector
T. A. Moore	Licwiglunga
Carole Johnstone	The Blind Man
Tom English	Dry Places
Sharon Irwin	Begin with Water
Robert Holt	In the Name
William Ward	When they Come to Murder Me
Chris Johnstone	The Unbedreamed
Elizabeth Barrette	Goldenthread
Catherine J. Gardner	When the Cloak Falls
Anna M. Lowther	The Price of Peace
James R. Stratton	Your Duty to your Lord
Kenneth C. Goldman	Mercy Hathaway is a Witch
Lisa Kessler	Immortal Beloved
Lisa Kessler	Subito Piano
Michael Stone	The Migrant
Robert Hood	Sandcrawlers
Reece Notley	Tatsu
L. J. Hayward	Wayang Kulit
Rebecca Lloyd	Contaminator
Ramsey Campbell	The Dead Must Die
Stephanie Campisi	The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank
Paul Finch	June
Gary McMahon	A Shade of Yellow
Kaaron Warren	The Blue Stream

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As ‘Dead Souls’ progresses, the reader steals through the streams of time and leaves the years of fairy tales and fears of the external behind to immerse himself in the horror that originates from within. As humanity builds upon civilization and catalogues explanations of everything that transpires, the horror does not come from the environment from the people, surrounding us. The Beast Within submerges the readers in this fear and in five distinct exposés stays true to the theme of the anthology, while casting limelight on the internal bestiary humans hide inside their ribcages, both metaphorically and literally.

In Mercy Hathaway is a Witch by Kenneth C. Goldman the reader is whisked away to Boston during the Salem Witch Trials, when women were feared, suspected and accused as vessels of Satan himself. The protagonist is a young Jonathan Browne, who is soon to inherit his father’s practice and marry his sweetheart Miss Amelia. However, his life is altered severely, when he escorts Amelia’s seamstress Mercy Hathaway. Though it starts off straightforward and rather predictable, Goldman has taken the witch theme and ran wild with a twist ending, which is most satisfying and grim.

The highlight in The Beast Within stems from Lisa Kessler’s involvement in the anthology. Her Immortal Beloved and Subito Piano are sibling short stories, which recall Anne Rice in setting, atmosphere and the sophistication of vampires rather their sexual objectification in recent years and novels. On the surface there is not much to these stories. The elements are all the same everywhere. Vampires with tortured pasts, humans who want immortality and angst bred with melancholy. However, only when read together as they are listed in Dead Souls can the reader appreciate the artistry and the play between works. Subito Piano acts as an echo as well as a sequel to what happens in Immortal Beloved, while in the same time the pianist, who unifies both pieces remains offstage and yet the reader can feel her presence.

The Migrant by Michael Stone offers supernatural insight as to how Adolf Hitler transformed into the monster Europe suffered under for so long. Considering Hitler’s personality I bought the concept Stone presented. The creativity and attention to detail invested in The Migrant as to mold the supernatural into historical reality as well as the use of Christian Mythology and black irony, impressed me. On the other hand, I never fancied World War II as a setting or as a theme, so I didn’t experience this story the same way as a World War II enthusiast and SFF enthusiast would.

Sandcrawlers by Robert Hood is bereft of speculative fiction. At least I would never classify it as speculative fiction and that almost made me drop it completely, but since it took place in the UK I pushed on to see what actually transpires in between the pages. Fine, so I established Hood’s story is not spec-fic, but still fits perfectly in the theme of the anthology and this segment. Because there’s no evident supernatural foul-play the horror here is starker, since all the atrocity and cruelty stems from an average, middle-aged man. It does not take too much to conclude that middle-aged males are quite common as a demographic and it is that realization that gives the extra punch.

Friday, March 12, 2010

[Review Anthology] Dead Souls Part 2

CONTENTS

Bernie Mojzes	The Collector
T. A. Moore	Licwiglunga
Carole Johnstone	The Blind Man
Tom English	Dry Places
Sharon Irwin	Begin with Water
Robert Holt	In the Name
William Ward	When they Come to Murder Me
Chris Johnstone	The Unbedreamed
Elizabeth Barrette	Goldenthread
Catherine J. Gardner	When the Cloak Falls
Anna M. Lowther	The Price of Peace
James R. Stratton	Your Duty to your Lord
Kenneth C. Goldman	Mercy Hathaway is a Witch
Lisa Kessler	Immortal Beloved
Lisa Kessler	Subito Piano
Michael Stone	The Migrant
Robert Hood	Sandcrawlers
Reece Notley	Tatsu
L. J. Hayward	Wayang Kulit
Rebecca Lloyd	Contaminator
Ramsey Campbell	The Dead Must Die
Stephanie Campisi	The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank
Paul Finch	June
Gary McMahon	A Shade of Yellow
Kaaron Warren	The Blue Stream

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If ‘Dead Souls’ had a strong and enchanting gravity to lure the reader in with Genesis, which was inhabited by ghoulish and true to authenticity myths and old legends, then One Upon a Time will suck you in this quilt of nightmares, sorrows and surprisingly a few happy endings along the way.

As you might have guessed, Once Upon a Time has a fairy tale ring to it, but leave your tiaras and white ponies at home, because the five stories hosted are far from innocent and far from glitter, sparks and colors. In this segment we behold fairy tales with their original voice and intended for their initial audience and namely adults.

We begin our exploration with ‘The Unbedreamed’ by Christopher Johnstone, who takes on a small scale quest in Scotland, where Dughall, a hunter and peasant, sets to liberate his dreams and free will from a wicked warlock. What I liked here was the accidental nature of how the protagonist discovers the plot that has been executed by the warlock and his misshapen non-human henchman. This story reads like an old wife’s tale so to say, where the man uses his cunning wit to ensnare the dream thief and trick the warlock to his death.

Next up, we have ‘Goldenthread’ by Elizabeth Barrette, who sees in the stereotypical ‘dragon slayer, stalking in the dragon’s den’ trope an opportunity to insert magic and a disarming tale equivalent of a tear jerker ballad. The story does not feature action and does not have a point per se, but acts as a tragic memoir filled with pain and atrocities done upon the woman turned to a harp, telling her story to the one, who has come to slay the dragon. Enchanting.

‘When the Cloak Falls’ by Catherine J. Gardner is my least favorite from this lot, because it is rather vague and quick paced, which does not bode. I think that this is the story about a hunt for werewolves and ends in a death match between a werewolf and a nightmare, or possibly a kelpie. Although an interesting sequence of scenes to behold, the story bulleted through the events with little background or foreword.

‘The Price of Peace’ by Anna M. Lowther is longest and my top pick, because it takes a rather pleasant and optimistic story from my culture. This is the story about the snow girl, who from a human-shaped snow figure became a real girl as a gift to a couple, who couldn’t conceive a child of their own. This is a very sweet story, the way I have been hearing it since a child, but Lowther has taken it and run a ‘When Happy Endings Go Horribly Wrong’ and the snow girl becomes from a blessing to a primordial evil.

‘Your Duty to Your Lord’ by James R. Stratton exemplifies Japanese culture delivered with a dose of uncontrived realism and dimensions to it. I’ve a fondness for settings. So the diversity in the culture portrayed kept my interest to see where this one leads. There are no speculative fiction elements, if you don’t count the obsessive and ritualistic relationship Japanese have with honor, loyalty, debts and vows. The protagonist is a nobody, who has been granted a life by a Lord and in return, she sacrifices her life in order to preserve the history of the clan of her Lord from a fire. A really solemn story.

Friday, March 5, 2010

[Review Anthology] Dead Souls: Part 1

CONTENTS

Bernie Mojzes	The Collector
T. A. Moore	Licwiglunga
Carole Johnstone	The Blind Man
Tom English	Dry Places
Sharon Irwin	Begin with Water
Robert Holt	In the Name
William Ward	When they Come to Murder Me
Chris Johnstone	The Unbedreamed
Elizabeth Barrette	Goldenthread
Catherine J. Gardner	When the Cloak Falls
Anna M. Lowther	The Price of Peace
James R. Stratton	Your Duty to your Lord
Kenneth C. Goldman	Mercy Hathaway is a Witch
Lisa Kessler	Immortal Beloved
Lisa Kessler	Subito Piano
Michael Stone	The Migrant
Robert Hood	Sandcrawlers
Reece Notley	Tatsu
L. J. Hayward	Wayang Kulit
Rebecca Lloyd	Contaminator
Ramsey Campbell	The Dead Must Die
Stephanie Campisi	The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank
Paul Finch	June
Gary McMahon	A Shade of Yellow
Kaaron Warren	The Blue Stream

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Anthologies, always give me a run for my money, when I sit down to write review, because I am usually left with more to say than the review as a format allows before it struggles to reach a conclusion. I seek ways to segment the anthology and then dissect the segments. With ‘Dead Souls’ this process is obsolete, since all the stories are arranged, according to topic, which is both helpful and speaks about the great care editor Mark Deniz has arranged the material in order to give the anthology an overall storytelling frame. The segments are Genesis, Once Upon a Time, The Beast Within, The Beast Without and Then…

This post will be dedicated to Genesis. The stories here develop at the dawn of civilization in general and use world mythology as a foundation, which in turn gives these stories a myth-like essence. I am especially impressed with the diversity of lore and mythology to be found. We have Slavic, Biblical, Norse, Arabic and Sumerian cultures, with which the authors here enthrall, disturb or chill.

‘The Collector’ by Bernie Mojzes is the perfect opening story. It features the infamous witch Baba Yaga, who is an everlasting figure in Slavic folklore and incidentally indigenous to my country’s culture. It was a most pleasant surprise to see a name from my childhood envisioned as a story collector, which puts a dark twist to her role in this story, where Byzantium soldiers lay waste to a Slavic village.

‘Licwiglunga’ by T.A. Moore captivates with lyrical prose and a journey that takes the reader to Yggdrasil, the World Tree, where the old nun Gutrid, former spae-wife, must bargain with Loki himself for a soul. Heavy with mythological facts and a cold beauty, evoked by the prose and Moore’s creativity, this story is a breath-taker, especially with its ending, where the guilty receive their punishment.

The opening stories speak of dead souls in a more literal sense, ‘The Blind Man’ by Carole Johnstone decides to explore the dead soul in a more metaphorical sense, while holding on the supernatural element. In this story Duncan’s family is plagued every night by a dark being, which rapes and hurts his wife, but disappears at dawn, when Duncan returns from fishing trips with his ship. The revelation, where the darkness comes from, is interesting, although I am not particularly fond of nautical themes.

‘Dry Places’ by Tom English continues the metaphorical trend with a Christian tale, where I believe the dead soul stems from unbelief in the mythology that comes with Christianity. The setting is a desert journey with an important mission, carried by the Church’s holiest warriors, who become attacked at night by unholy forces. Not sure what’s the story’s message was by leaving the sole non-believer in the demonic Mateo alive, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

‘Begin with Water’ by Sharon Irwin gauged my interest with a mysterious Arabian setting, but I am not sure what this story was completely about. The ending read like a very different version of the great Biblical Flood, which started as childbirth. If I had better understanding of the lore, perhaps this wouldn’t perplex me so.

‘In the Name’ by Robert Holt and ‘When they Come to Murder Me’ by William Ward are the shortest among the stories in Genesis. Holt presents a rather brutal insight to Sumerian human sacrificial rituals, which although a few pages long is a punch to the gut with a twist ending, which is most unpleasant. Ward’s story, however, was not my cup of tea. I was not pulled in as much as I would have liked to and the protagonist does not make much sense to either.

So far, ‘Dead Souls’ has had a terrific start with Genesis as a solid foundation.