Young journalist Daniel Finley goes undercover for six month living among the homeless under a bridge in Boston. He develops relationships with these people and develops an unanticipated sense of compassion and empathy for them. He also learns about a deranged cult of homeless individuals whose leader possesses a supernatural ability to control his followers. To make matters worse, the cult seems to be preparing for a massive apocalyptic event – which they will trigger. Daniel’s immersion into this subculture pays off for him personally as he publishes a riveting account of his experience. But, this sets things into motion including strange murders, a vicious run in with an Irish organized crime ring, and an unplanned return to the Boston underground.

The Vagrants is the second work I have read by author Brian Moreland. Like The Devil’s Woods, which I enjoyed tremendously, this novella is a multi-layered story which combines thoughtful character development, a believable backstory, and a jaw-dropping ending that keeps you glued to your e-reader. The pace is well done. There are enough chills in the early reading to cast the first part of the book in an eerie light. The reader begins to interpret seemingly neutral occurrences in a haunting way. I was roughly three-quarters of the way through the story, when I found myself being creeped out – which prompted me to read non-stop well past my bedtime. I thought I had this thing figured out when Brian pulled the rug out from underneath me and sent the story going in a direction that I didn’t see coming. The final action races along like a plunging roller-coaster, and I could only hang on and go a long for the ride. Thrilling, claustrophobic, and unnerving – The Vagrants is all these and more. A fine example of an urban horror story.  

I vacationed on the Outer Banks a few weeks ago - a regular family vacation location in August. For my next novel, I wanted the location to be the Outer Banks - that narrow ribbon of sand the extends into the Atlantic Ocean. The location if fabulous, but also fascinating in a haunting kind of way. OBX is prone to storms, is the location to an early English settlement that disappeared without a trace, was frequented by pirates, and is the location for numerous shipwrecks. Sounds like a good place for a psychological horror story.

I am in the process of editing the novel, which involves a young man with depersonalization disorder who is seeing things...

One passage involves a cemetery and I found a picture of one online that was located in Kitty Hawk. I based the description of the cemetery in the passage on this one picture. I wanted, however, to find the place on my own and take a look to see if it met my expectations. When I found the cemetery, I was thrilled. The setting looked exactly as I hoped. Not only is it beautiful, but mysterious in its own right. I am attaching a photo.

“When I’m home for the weekend, do you want to see the remake of Poltergeist?

This text was heartwarming news for a 61 year-old father whose daughter was planning to visit us a particular weekend in May – the same weekend that the remake was releasing. I worked hard during her childhood to make her into an honest-to-goodness horror aficionado. Our daughter is now in her twenties and I am pleased to say that my efforts have been fairly successful. While she isn’t drawn frequently to the genre, she has her favorite movies and is appreciative of certain formats and horror sub-specialties.

My efforts over the past twenty plus years proceeded along certain lines. First, I made good use of Disney movies. There are horrific elements to most of those films, and I always made it a point to comment on my enjoyment of the “bad guys/women” characters. Second, all kids like dinosaurs (myself included), and it isn’t too much of a leap to generalize from dinosaur movies (especially those portraying prehistoric creatures destroying Tokyo, London, and New York – all from my childhood in the 50s and the 60s) to other kinds of monster movies. Third, Harry Potter was a godsend. The first novel in the series became popular when she was in the first grade. We always read to her at bedtime, and I started with Sorcerer’s Stone at that time. She was hooked immediately – and the rest is history. When there wasn’t a Harry Potter story to read, there were other books with similar supernatural and thrilling themes. They didn’t have to be horror; there were plenty of thrillers, dark fantasy, and suspense books for kids that kept her on the edge of her seat. When she became adept at reading “chapter books” on her own, she chose comparable stories. (It wasn’t until college that other girls introduced her to chick lit. Sigh. I was hoping to keep her from that stuff forever. But, alas…)

There were a few mistakes along the way. I tried to introduce movies that were developmentally appropriate. For monster films, we tried the rampaging dinosaur movies from the 50s and 60s: Gorgo, Godzilla, The Giant Behemoth, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms…I even showed her Reptilicus. The latter was a weak moment, and capitalized on our Danish heritage. Unfortunately, my biggest mistake was showing her Jurassic Park too soon (I believe she was in the first grade). It was dumb, I know. For two weeks she kept waking up screaming thinking that there were Velociraptors in the basement. My wife had no sympathy for my plight and forced me to deal with every nightmare. The fears gradually subsided, and now Jurassic Park is one of her all-time favorites. We have our favorite passages from the movie over which we’ve bonded: the lysine contingency (she is a micro-biologist in training and has done research using lysine), I hate being right all the time (my favorite line which I repeat at every opportunity that she doesn’t take my always correct advice), clever girl, and a few others that aren’t coming to me at the moment.

Another bump in the road along the way: She also read and enjoyed all of the Twilight novels. I am not sure where I went wrong to foster this…

We are hit and miss on my favorite sub-category: supernatural tales and ghost stories. But, she will watch some with me – hence Poltergeist. We both felt it was so-so, by the way, not bad – just unnecessary.

A few weekends later she came home again for a visit which coincided with an appointment. It just so happened that it was the same release weekend of Jurassic World. We saw it together of course.

And we loved it. 

Searching for an atmospheric and creepy horror novel? Look no further than The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue. If you’ve read his previous novel, The Stolen Child, you have a sense for the author’s fiendish imagination – and it is on grand display with The Boy…

Ten-year-old Jack Peter has Asperger’s which is compounded by an extreme case of agoraphobia. He cannot leave the house for fear that monsters will get him – which makes him a virtual prisoner in his home (a beautifully described cottage right on the ocean in Maine). His parents are at wits end with how to deal with his disorder mostly because they disagree on courses of action. Jack Peter is fortunate in one regard, he has a close friend in ten-year-old Nick who is the child of family friends.

Without going too much into the story, Jack Peter has a knack for drawing monsters before other people see them – and see them they do (Nick, and Jack’s mom and dad are the prime witnesses). Needless to say, the plot becomes exciting with the appearance of the monsters, not to mention the introduction of terrific supporting characters, a blizzard, and a recounting of a historic shipwreck right off the coast from the family’s house.

The novel’s strengths are the portrayal of Jack Peter and Nick. These are unusual boys and they drive the story. Another key element is the gothic-like atmosphere. There is a weighty sense of dread the runs the entire length of the novel. Relatedly, the haunting elements are nicely written and the author keeps you on edge with his unusual narrative. One major negative is the depiction of the parents. They are both unlikable and their decision making is downright idiotic. This is a fairly significant drawback given the major role they play in the book. Given the cleverness of the plot, it is a shame that Mr. Donohue could not portray more interesting and intelligent adults. Still, despite this issue, this is a great horror read and I highly recommend it.

Sunblind by Michael McBride is a prime example of the exceptional dark fiction published by DarkFuse. The novel is both gritty and harrowing with its backstory, and when the supernatural elements are introduced the plot becomes downright unnerving. Two points of view propel the narrative. One is by a young border patrol agent in Arizona along the Mexico border. Within the first few pages, he finds a young woman barely alive on the US side of the border. She is clearly an illegal immigrant who has suffered massive injuries but somehow made it safely across brutal desert of Mexico. She is just barely able to tell him that he is in danger before she is whisked away for medical attention. He finds her cell phone, however, and sees terrifying pictures of numerous other individuals left behind in the desert who may still be alive. He and two other agents retrace her steps to locate and rescue these others.

The second point of view is the young woman mentioned above. Her account begins a few days earlier and describes her trek with twenty-five others in their desperate attempt to flee Mexico and make it to the US. Her sections are truly disturbing. The conditions of their journey are masterfully portrayed by Mr. McBride. The descriptions of unbearable heat and brutal sunshine are actually tangible. The sense of constant thirst and physical deterioration are painful to read. The interactions among these desperate individuals are beautifully depicted. The inner conflict of wanting to support others in the group versus guarding your own provisions becomes very clear.

When people begin to be picked off one by one by horrifying predators, the grueling narrative really gets kicked into high gear. The attacks by unknown creatures are thrillingly described and you begin to wonder what exactly is going on. I thought I had it figured out but the author had a number of twists which made the creatures (and their activities) highly unusual.

The story alternates between the two points of view – one working forward in time (the woman’s perspective) and the other backward in time (the border agent trying to piece together exactly what happened). This storytelling strategy is effective for this narrative. If I have one criticism it is the author’s tendency repeat himself with descriptions of the desert and the “lair” of the creatures. This is a minor quibble, however and does not detract from the story. Altogether a top-notch horror/monster story.

We’ve been out of town on vacation for nearly two weeks – one of which was spent at a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We had no Wi-Fi connection – which was wonderful. The downside was that I couldn’t post any blogs, but I wrote a few and will post them over the next few days. I could have gone to a Starbucks, I suppose, but I figured I was on vacation so why worry about it.

I read two outstanding horror novels: Sunblind by Michael McBride and The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue. I will post reviews on those two books shortly. They were both quite good by the way.

Sadly, I must have added an additional 5-8 pounds to my frame. If I put on more than that I will be quite disappointed.