Splatterpunks II: Over the Edge edited by Paul M. Sammon

(pb; 1995: horror anthology)


Overall review:

Excellent, gory horror anthology. Of course, in a work featuring twenty-eight stories, there are bound to be a few stories I don't care for, but that is due to personal preferences regarding writing tenses, overwriting and other (relatively minor) issues. If you're a horror/gore fan, get this collection.


Standout stories:

1.)  "Accident d'Amour" - Wildy Petoud: Excellent, witty, cut-to-it tale about a woman's literally sick vengeance against an ex-lover. Memorable, vivid.



2.)  "Impermanent Mercies" - Kathe Koja:  A callous photographer (Ellis) witnesses an accident involving a little boy (Andy) and his unlucky dog (True). Bizarre, disturbing (for animal lovers) and excellent work.



3.)  "One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale" - Robert Devereaux:  Multi-layered, horrific and laugh-out-loud clever story about the conjoined reincarnation of a son and father and all the tragedies that stem from it. Great work, with a chuckle-worthy finish.



4.)  "Rant" - Nancy A. Collins:  A divine white supremacist being with conspiratorial leanings tells the tale of his undoing. Darkly hilarious and chilling (his rhetoric is disturbingly media realistic) piece.



5.)  "Heels" - Lucy Taylor:  A shoe fetishist-turned-serial killer (Theo) meets a woman (Jules) whose sexual predilections impact his own. Blunt read with concise and masterful explanations for why Theo and Jules are the way they are.

The resulting film short was released stateside on August 2, 2014. Jeremy Jantz scripted and directed it. Brian Adrian Koch played Theo. Julia Angelo played Felicia.



6.)  "Scape-Goats" - Clive Barker:  Two couples on an island-crashed sailboat quickly recognize that there's something wrong about the rocky mass their boat is abutting.

Atmospheric, solid read with an interesting island backstory.

"Scape-Goats" also appeared in the single-author anthology Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Volume Three.



7.)  "Cannibal Cats Come Out At Night" - Nancy Holder:  Two cannibals (Dwight and Angelo) who are also best friends approach a crossroads event which may undo their bond of amity. While the event itself isn't surprising, there is a well-foreshadowed twist to it, making this exemplary, fast-moving story even better.



8.)  "Embers" - Brian Hodge:  Entertaining, good read about an arsonist-for-hire (Mykel) whose reaction to a shocking, personal tragedy drives him to revenge.



9.)  "Xenophobia" - Poppy Z. Brite: Two Goths roaming through Chinatown find themselves working an unexpected, morbid job. Brite's deft writing keeps this dark-hued morality tale humorous and fresh.



10.)  "Calling Dr. Satan: An Interview with Anton Szandor LaVey"  - Jim Goad: Interesting, philosophical and provocative (in a productive way) conversation between Anton and Bianca LaVey and the author.



11.)  "Within You, Without You" - Paul M. Sammon:  A post-gig campfire hang-out with her favorite industrial-noise band (Detour) leads Reba down heady and dangerous by-ways.

The direction and ending of the story aren't surprising (nor are they meant to be). Sammon's worthwhile writing - with its theme-appropriate media-savvy references - renders the destination less important. This one is about experience.

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Please note that there are authors whose names are labelled at the bottom of this post but they are not actually mentioned in the review. This is because they have work published in this anthology but their work (in this instance), for one reason or another, didn't stand out for me. (This is not necessarily a criticism of their works.)

Caliban and Other Tales, by Robert Devereaux

(pb; 2002: horror anthology)

From the back cover:

"His mother was a sorceress, and his master is a powerful magician. His home is a dark, wild island of enchantment, spells. . . and evil. He is Caliban. Is he human, spirit or demon? Who can say? All he knows is that he burns with a lust for revenge and his growing powers may soon make it possible. But even he cannot predict the nightmarish shape his vengeance will take. . . or the tempest of terror it will unleash."


Overall review:

Most of the stories in Caliban and Other Tales sports the same audacious, carnal and maleficent spirit of Devereaux's genre milestone, Santa Steps Out.

This gleefully debauched and sometimes sublimely horrific anthology isn't for those who find Stephen King or Dean Koontz "too scary or gory" - those readers should not read this ferociously graphic and often-funny work; Caliban is for true, unrepentant, sex-and-gore horror fans.

Worth owning, for the aforementioned latter group.


Review, story by story:


1.) "Bucky Goes to Church": A shooting spree takes an even more disturbing plot detour.

Excellent, vivid, with its colorful and sometimes laugh-out-loud language: fans of a certain 1970's Larry Cohen film will probably enjoy this.




2.) "Ridi Bobo": Hilarious, ultra-violent, clown-centric piece about a cuckolded clown (Bobo) who takes revenge on his wife (Koko).

Clever, greasepaint-with-noir horror story.



3.) "Clap If You Believe": A young, philosophical man (Alex) tries to impress the parents of his fairy diminutive girlfriend, Titania Jones, at a get-to-know-you family dinner.

Solid, amusing, sometimes raunchy - like the other stories in this anthology - work.



4.) "The Slobbering Tongue That Ate the Frightfully Huge Woman": A back-office molestation of a female pharmacy employee (Sally Holmes) by her employer (Baxter) leads to a grotesque, lascivious and kaiju-eiga-esque confrontation.

Slobbering is a hilarious and ferociously anti-P.C.story that takes a morally icky subject and turns it into a gloriously salacious b-movie.



5.) "A Slow Red Whisper of Sand": Lust-, death- and greed-constant story about Los Angeles bloodsuckers. Solid, orgiastic and intense/emotive piece.



6.) "Caliban" (novella): Caliban, an ugly supernatural being, plots against Prospero, a magician who murdered Caliban's witch mother, as he grows in power and age.

The lead-in to this Shakespearean-sourced tale feels comparatively long to the other pieces in this anthology - logical, considering it's a novella, not a short story - but in the last quarter of its two hundred and twenty-two pages, it gets intriguing, its slow-build plots/motivations and character-based twists coming to devious, understandable and surprisingly sympathetic finishes.

Good piece, for those who appreciate a well-written, slow-burn work.

Santa Steps Out, by Robert Devereaux

(pb; 1998)

Review:

Santa Claus is corrupted by the wily and pernicious Tooth Fairy while making another toy delivery. This “accident” reawakens memories of what Santa was in an earlier age, before Xians boosted and sanitized pagan myths to their suiting – the seething, angry-at-God fairy points this out early in the book, thereby irrevocably altering everything that Santa, and those around him, knows or remembers.

The first part of this blasphemous fairy tale is filled with laugh-out-loud descriptions of pornographic sex and general nastiness. Nobody is innocent in this explicit tale, not even the elves and reindeers.

The second half lives up to the book’s "horror" label. Mutilation and necrophilia ensue, and other dark desires are borne out.

If you can deal with the above elements, seek this novel out. Most horror novels quiver in comparison, in terms of skewering precious childhood memories and our perceptions of why Christmas is, um, white.