Alison Littlewood has written one of the better ‘atmospheric’ horror novels in recent years. A Cold Season tells the story of Gloria “Cass” Cassidy who moves with her young son to her childhood home in rural area of the UK. Her husband has been presumably killed in action in Afghanistan, and she is hoping to rekindle the carefree and charming experiences that she had in her younger years for her grieving son, Ben. From the very beginning, the idyllic memories of her hometown are nowhere in evidence as the village of Darnshaw is the epitome of creeping terror. She rents an apartment in an old mill that is in the process of being converted into condos and apartments. Trouble is, they are the only tenants and many of the units are not even completed – and the one below their second-story unit has no windows making it open to the elements. The townspeople are decidedly unfriendly, the kids are menacing, a series of crippling snowstorms knocks out phone and internet service (and this part of England seems to lack any kind of snow removal equipment), Ben is transforming from a grief-stricken kid to a malevolent presence, and the local school teacher (one of the two adult males seemingly in town) is downright weird.

There is much to like about A Cold Season. This is quiet horror at its best. The tension is subtle but chilling; Ben’s change from a sweet kid to something eerie is very frightening. In fact, this kid is a poster child for the ‘creepy-kid’ horror genre, and Ms. Littlewood is to be commended for this deft portrayal. There is one passage with the boy and rats in an unfinished unit that is unnerving as hell. The entire book is reminiscent of Rosemary’s Baby to some degree.

If I have one complaint, it is with Cass’ character. The woman is clueless at times. The evidence that something awful is happening continuously knocks her over the head and she discounts the evidence with frustrating regularity. The ending too was a little disappointing – part of which was due to the fact that the setup was very well done (and the reader is kept in the dark very effectively) so that the finale is kind of a letdown. Nonetheless, this is a great horror tale from a new talent.

Horror author Brian Moreland interviewed me for his blog. Here is the link. I am absolutely thrilled that he conducted the interview - and honored that he took the time. He is a great guy, and if you want some great horror reads, check out his novels.

Another zombie novel. Have we had enough, yet? After all, how many variations on the theme can you come up with? Yet, they keep on coming, with little surprises and very familiar plotlines. In recent years, the only fresh zombie novel was Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I thoroughly enjoyed his take on the zombie genre, and the novel was very well written. Well, I am happy to say that I found another one: Lesser Creatures by Peter Giglio. While not as impressive as Lindqvist’s work, this novella has features that help it rise above the standard undead fare.

The premise is this: zombies have been walking around for fifteen years. They’re called second-lifers and are protected from harm by a series of civil rights legislation efforts prompted in part by a new-age pastor named Stephen Lingk who sees them as something remarkable with hidden meanings for human life. Little does the world know that Lingk has a special interest in protecting the zombies – his high school sweetheart has become one and he wants to keep her “around. There is lots of talk about magic (Stephen and his love may have had something about the rising of the dead) and ‘the curse’ (if you kill a zombie you are in big trouble – you become one), but these elements are kept off-stage – a smart move by Mr. Giglio. He doesn’t have to explain all of this stuff. Meantime, Pastor Stephen conducts some wacky experiments to try and communicate with the undead girlfriend (and if you have read any horror novels at all, you know these types of shenanigans can’t end well).

Anyhow, the undead don’t really give a hoot because they don’t do anything except drain the resources of the country. They only eat fast food, and whiskey is the only drink that keeps them calm. Unlike all other zombies, Giglio’s creations are not violent. So, what do we do to keep these zombies happy? New ones join the ranks of the undead all of the time.  All human efforts to figure this out have been rather unsuccessful. Fast food sales are flat, and there has to be a better way to make money on these things. Someone has a bright idea to recruit and hire a fairly bright (for a zombie, anyway) second-lifer to be part of an advertising team within a multimillion dollar advertising agency. The only problem is that the second-lifer named Monika is the former fiancée of one of the lead team members on the account. Monika and Eric (the advertising exec) had been in an auto accident a few years before. She died, he was severely injured. The long and short of this is that Eric understandably takes a hit to his mental health, the pastor begins have his own psychiatric problems – and the whole zombie thing goes terribly awry.

The advertising agency-zombie storyline is actually quite fun. Mr. Giglio makes it convincing, and the plot has a number of twists. There is one passage where Eric and his mother go to visit her parents (Eric’s grandparents) - who are second lifers – at their assisted living home. Yes, you read that correctly, this is an assisted living facility for zombies. The entire section is both hilarious and creepy at the same time, and well worth the price of admission. Overall, the narrative kept me rolling along because this zombie spin is pretty unique.

While the plot is a winner, the characterizations were often one dimensional. None of the folks had any redeeming values or depth. In fact, Eric is supposed to be in his forties, but he thinks and acts like a guy who is twenty. The pastor is portrayed as a lunatic, and not someone who could have created this huge zombie ministry. The women don’t come off well either, they are either zombie-ish or bitchy.

In the end, Lesser Creatures is a fun, quick read provided you can live with non-characterizations. Then again, this is a zombie novella, so maybe having characters that are not quite alive is okay. 3.5-4.0 stars.

CS Kane’s novella, Shattered, is another edgy publication from the DarkFuse folks specializing in horror fiction. Stacey and her fiancé Liam have moved into a third floor flat in an old house located in an unsavory part of the city. The area is rundown with an unsafe track record and the local delinquents have a habit of trying to burn down abandoned structures. The young couple move there because the price is right and located near Liam’s new job and the university where Stacey is working on her master’s degree.

Immediately, Stacey starts to have horrific nightmares and she experiences feelings of dread while awake. Soon, she starts have glimpses of children and disembodied faces in the mirror – and then the tale takes on a pretty decent thrill ride. This is a ghost story, pure and simple. While there were no huge surprises, Ms. Kane has a knack for telling a good ghostly yarn. The spectral visits are slow in coming, and while some may grow impatient, I liked this approach. The exact causes of the haunting are kept from the reader until near the end, and the ride to find out exactly what is going on unfolded at a sinister place. I especially enjoyed the introduction of an elderly neighbor who helped Stacey understand the history of the house.

I did struggle with the characterizations. Liam barely came alive and I felt Stacey’s emotional portrayal stretched credibility at times. She was able to swing from full fledge panic attacks to screaming outbursts in an unbelievably short period of time. She also makes strange decisions related to her education and interpersonal relationships which don’t seem to logically follow – at least to me they seemed odd. I realize these things sound petty, but there are a couple of them in the story which interfered with my ability to suspend disbelief at times. Taken altogether, a cool ghost story but rather weak characters and situational descriptions. Still, I will gladly read the next offerings of Ms. Kane.

I've got to admit that I am both intrigued and excited about the new Godzilla movie coming out this summer. If you haven't seen the trailer or the pictures check out the Godzilla web site. This stems of course from my dinosaur days as a kid. People thought I was weird then - and they still think I'm a tad odd now, so admitting that I am looking forward to this movie is pretty low-risk. The 1998 remake was entertaining but fairly lame. This version has epic written all over it. I hope the filmmakers don't take themselves too seriously. The special effects containing flashes of Godzilla are breathtaking. The monster looks, well, extra gigantic. This will be good for some city crushing and a nice jolt of apocalyptic mayhem. I hope, anyway.  

Nobody can write about the psychological impact of fear better than Gary Fry. The fact that he has a PhD in psychology may account for a large portion of this skill, but his ability to turn out grab-you-at-the-throat fiction at the same time is probably due to whopping imagination that transcends his education.

Lurker, the second work of his that I have read, is a prime example. This novella concerns a wife, Meg, and husband, Harry, still reeling from the loss of their baby. They’ve moved from the city to a cottage on the northeast coast of England to flee the unpleasant memories related to the loss. This is true for Meg at least. Her grief is overwhelming, and while she has made progress in therapy, she is still troubled by intrusive thoughts and images regarding everything in her life. The descriptions of her hanging on to normalcy by repressing every thought that is the least bit threatening or out of character for her life and her relationship with Harry are both painfully touching and very troubling. You know that this thin wall she has built to maintain her mental health is going to crash down at some point.

Harry, on the other hand, is an unsympathetic jerk. He is more concerned with padding his business accounts and firing employees who are ‘disposable’ than meeting his wife’s emotional needs. His sole contribution to the relationship is the willingness to commute two hours each way so his wife can heal by the coast.

Of course, moving is not a good idea while struggling with a tremendous loss. Since Meg has no social supports in her new environment, she has to play hostess to the thoughts and images in her head. She begins to explore the cliffs and neighboring areas and fines an abandoned quarry mine. Troubling thoughts about whether Harry is having an affair transition into thoughts that maybe something horrible is alive in the mine… some kind of monster capable of severing heads and limbs of unwitting people and adapting its tentacles to assume the shape of the heads and hands of its victims. This is one cool monster.

Meg’s imagination starts running away with her. She sees a missing young woman who may or may not have been devoured by the monster, the town children may or may not be part of the monster, a lost traveler may or may not be the women with whom Harry is having an affair.

This is a tightly constructed novella. The sense of paranoia and descent into madness is very believable. Likewise, the sense of terror and impending doom grabs you and won’t let you go. Is Meg losing her mind? Is the monster real? What is reality? Who knows? But the ride towards the bizarre conclusion is well worth the confusion. Highly recommended.