​Just Kids is not my usual reading fare. But, being a member of two different book clubs, I find myself reading many works outside my favorite genre of horror and suspense. This nonfiction work is a memoir from poet, artist, and rock-singer Pattie Smith and recounts her relationship with photographer/artist Robert Mapplethorpe. There is much to like in the book, but I was also frustrated quite a bit by her writing style and lack of openness. First, as numerous reviews have stated, she is an unabashed name-dropper—almost to the point where the mere frequency of it is cringe worthy. Second, Smith can spend paragraphs talking about what clothes she wore or what foods she ate some forty-odd years ago, but she seems unwilling to disclose the hurt she must have felt when Mapplethorpe began having sexual relationships with men—while the two of them were involved romantically and sexually. She writes this was no big deal, but her reaction seems disingenuous. Finally, Smith hints that Mapplethorpe was conflicted about his sexuality. He was raised Catholic, and the time frame of their relationship was in the late 1960’s – which meant that the climate for gays was still quite hostile. This exploration of Mapplethorpe would have been fascinating (Smith and Mapplethorpe remained trusted friends until his death from the AIDS virus in 1989 – so she knew him very well), but Smith barely goes there. This is most unfortunate because she otherwise portrays this controversial man in a very intimate and human manner.
I indicated many there were spots in the work. First and foremost, Smith’s love and dedication to Mapplethorpe is clear. As he is dying of AIDS, her grief is understated yet emotionally on-target. This section is heartfelt and authentic and does not rely on sappy tear-jerker prose. Smith’s words are brilliantly evocative at this point. There is also a section when she and Mapplethorpe lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York. That section was fascinating, and she made this odd setting come alive with a diverse group of real-life characters. 

How far has the GOP fallen?
Choker
Wimp
Con-artist
Liars
Pants-wetter

This is how far they've fallen. How many school yard taunts does it take to prove that none of these people are qualified for the highest office of the land? And these are terms for each other. They don't include the brutal and creepy terms for our fellow citizens.

​Abraham Lincoln is turning over in his grave.  

​I’ll admit something up front … I tend not to be a fan of Fantasy novels. I suppose “Dark Fantasy” is okay, although I am not entirely sure what that is. If it has horror components, then I’m in. Horror, to those who keep score on these things, is my favorite genre. But, if I find myself reading about cute elves or dragons, my interest wanes rather quickly (Harry Potter being an exception.)
With a little apprehension, I began reading the dark fantasy novel The Godgame by Keith Deininger not knowing what to expect. I’ve read multiple novels and novellas by Keith and thoroughly enjoyed them. He is a true rising star in speculative fiction. When I picked up The Godgame (figuratively speaking, that is-it was on my Kindle), I noticed the F-word and thought, “oh no, Keith has gone over to the dark side.”
I didn’t need to worry. The Godgame is no tiresome fantasy with elves. Granted the story takes place in an alternative world. But the world was the same one Keith wrote about in two of his previous works that I’ve read: Shadow Animals and Marrow’s Pit. Both were chilling and gripping reads (I liked Shadow Animals a tad better), so I settled in for a great read knowing I was in safe territory.
The action takes in two neighboring communities: the city of Talos and a small village in Nova. Talos is depicted as a decadent, depraved, and narcissistic community. Nova, however, contains multiple small idyllic villages that somehow have escaped the cynicism of the larger city. The leader of Talos (who is called the Archon) is readying his city and army for an attack on the small village of Fallowvane.
There are a number of subplots which are too difficult to describe here, but within the course of the narrative the strands become tied together quite well. There are also a ton of characters, and Keith manages to juggle them all well – giving them independent lives and characteristics which help the reader not only tell them apart but also imbue them with three-dimension personalities.  For instance, a chief aid/assistant for the Archon named Trevor is a standout. This conniving character has disturbing intentions, and his maneuverings for power and privilege keep the action rolling. The hero of the tale (at this stage at least) is a 12-year old boy named Ash who evidently has supernatural skills and abilities. He is unaware of these skills – as is the reader - but the scheming Talosians are certainly knowledgeable of them and want to capture him for exploitation. Ash is nicely rendered by Keith – his actions, thoughts, and dialog ring true for a 12 year old. Ash’s mother, Lena, is deathly ill for the first 70% of the novel and does not get much screen time. But when she comes to the forefront in the later sections, she establishes herself as a fascinating character in a manner that I didn’t see happening.  Others like Embra, (Lena’s sister), the Anchon (a distasteful character – think of a human sized bag of pus), and Ash’s little sister (who has a bright future in episodes to come) are also dazzling when the reader experiences their point of view.
When the invasion of Nova by the army of Talos occurs, the portrayal is riveting and ghastly. The tension is relentless and the grip of the narrative is unyielding. This was one of my favorite sections of the book.
My one relatively minor criticism occurs sporadically in roughly the first 30% of the novel. Since Keith is creating his own world, he has to help his readers catch up on whatever is going on by providing brief summaries of history and back story. The result is an occasional slippage into “telling” the story as opposed to Keith’s typically skillful “showing” the story. While this slows things down a bit and can overwhelm the reader, it occurs infrequently so is not a major flaw.
Overall, The Godgame is another dynamic piece of dark fantasy from Keith Deininger. This book is part of a larger series and represents an exciting entry into the land of Talos. Highly recommended.

​I watched the midseason premier of The Walking Dead last night, and found the episode thrilling – one of the best in recent seasons. I haven’t read online discussions of the show in the past for the sole reason that I have a life that I must attend to. But, something made me check today to see the comments and reviews. There was a wide range of opinions; most loved it, others really disliked it. Some of the latter reactions were due to plot holes and inconsistencies. I find these criticisms amusing. I mean, we’re talking about a show that depicts a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, some people were troubled by head scratching moments. (Okay, I’ll give them one. When Sam was frozen in place due to panic, instead of trying to talk him into moving, Rick--or any of the cast--could have just picked the kid up and continued on…). More intriguing, though, were those individuals who were troubled by the on-screen death of a ten year old kid. TWD has never hesitated to kill a child character. I thought the episode where Carol “executed” Lizzie was a dynamic, and intense plot development – and solely necessary given her psychotic behavior. Yet, within short order during the midseason premier, a little boy was eaten alive on-screen and then his mother suffered the same fate seconds later. The boy’s older brother was then stabbed with a machete to avoid his shooting of Rick, our main character. Graphic and unnerving for sure. But, highly “believable” within the context of a random series of events that could happen within a zombie apocalypse. Not to be outdone, Rick’s teenage son was shot in the eye in the melee. When Carl turns toward the camera with a mangled face and a hole where his eye should be, the shock of the scene is complete. All-in-all, this was a three minute segment which was gripping and devastating. And, it worked.

​I recently watched two stunning European horror movies: Goodnight Mommy and When Animals Dream. Both have a genuinely subtle and creepy air about them. They are not examples of the rapidly edited scenes and tired scares of American films. Even though I found When Animals Dream increasingly conventional as the movie progressed and I was able to see the plot twist of Goodnight Mommy almost immediately, I still enjoyed the chilling atmosphere and character details. Both are nicely done. Fans of gore and cheap thrills will probably be disappointed, though. These are cerebral horror films.

​            When I was in college, I made my first effort at writing fiction. I took a short fiction writing class and enjoyed it. I had fun, and I thought I did a pretty good job. That effort, however, was also my last attempt for decades. Over three of them to be exact.
            I resumed writing fiction in earnest when our daughter was preparing for college. I never thought I would actually try and publish anything. In fact, my first effort was to find out if I could actually do it. After completing a short story and then a novel, I was ready to try peddling the latter around. I was accustomed to the academic writing process which meant I was used to being rejected. All by way of saying, I expected rejection. Well, I got rejection, and rejection, and rejection. Agents were either non-responsive or sent nice form rejection letters. Then I tried small presses. Same responses. Reject, reject, reject. Finally, an acceptance from Damnation Books for my debut novel, Birth Offering.
            Did academic writing and publishing in scientific journals prepare me for the rigor of fiction? The answer is a general “yes”. Yes, there is a submission process. Yes, there is a review (and rejection) process, and an editing process that often includes major revisions. Unlike fiction review, which is often the decision of one person, research articles undergo a blind review conducted by two to three independent scientists who specialize in similar areas as the author of the manuscript. Reviewers provide their review to the editor of the journal who makes a decision based on the reviews.
            I thought I was immune to the distress of submitting and resubmitting, but alas…no. The more I got into the life of a fiction writer, I wanted to be successful. When it started happening… well then, phew. In all honesty, “successful” in my mind was not financial (that’ll never happen), but turning out stories that people might enjoy. Of course, I was incredibly surprised that not everyone liked horror. Imagine that. What’s the matter with these people?

​My writing has taken multiple forms over the past 30 years. For the first 25 years, my writing has been strictly academic and psychological in content. I’m a university professor and a psychologist, so I was trained to communicate in a stilted professional fashion. That was fine, and I proved to be a better than average writer when it came to empirical research articles for psychology journals and the occasional psychological report (although those days writing the latter were early in my career).  
While writing fiction has always been a dream of mine, I had little time to branch out seriously into this domain. I dabbled every now and again, as far back as the mid-90’s, but didn’t take it up in earnest until five years ago.
When writing a research manuscript, psychologists (and many others) use APA format (APA = American Psychological Association). The format has a distinct style for organizing manuscripts, citing references, displaying figures and tables, and so on. When completed, the author—or more likely authors—submit the manuscript to a journal for blind review. The title page with author names is removed, so the reviewers, who are established experts in the same or related fields, provide critical feedback and recommendations to the editor on whether to accept or reject the manuscript or return the manuscript to the authors for revision. If authors decide to revise the manuscript based on the reviewers comments, then they do exactly that and resubmit it to the journal—where it is sent out again for review.
The process is arduous and the acceptance rate for top-tier journals (and even many mid-tier journals) is low. I have been living this life for nearly 30 years and have gotten used to it. If you have ever heard the phrase “Publish or Perish”, then you have an idea of the stress level. University faculty members only have about 5 or 6 years to generate research which has an impact on their field. That is, they need to establish a track record of a research publication pipeline which includes developing, ongoing, and submitted/published research to justify their employment. If they do not show regular yearly publication of multiple research articles, they are out of a job.
Does this process prepare an individual for other types of writing careers? I’ll talk about that in my next blog.

I’ve only read a couple of books by Ronald Malfi, but I do have a number of my to-be-read pile. Most importantly, I am looking forward to reading them. His works that I’ve read have been masterful – written with smooth prose and unique storylines. A Shrill Keening, my latest read of this author, was another fine example of his narrative abilities. Carl Thompson is in long-term psychiatric care after murdering his girlfriend. However, Carl has no recollection of the event or the aftermath that included his arrest and trial. One minute he was home with his girlfriend and the next he remembers is waking up in the institution. His days are spent in a haze, broken up only by therapy sessions with a strange psychiatrist whose therapy skills leave much to be desired (and I thought this portrayal of the psychiatrist was not particularly believable). The nights though, are altogether different. Carl experiences dreams that are so vivid that he wakes up exhausted. The dreams include his exploration of an eastern seaboard community and patrols of a boardwalk – and this setting has been devastated by some kind of apocalyptic event. Only a handful of people are around and the area is populated by small, blue lizards with orange stripes.
To elaborate any more on the plot would do a disservice to a reader. Suffice it to say, the alternative reality that Carl experiences at night may not be part of his psychosis (or maybe it is) – and there is a real purpose for him to end up in this seaside local.
Many reviewers have compared this to a Lovecraft tale. I am not a fan of Lovecraft and I have not read many of his works. Therefore, to me, the story was quite unusual. The settings portrayed are unusual and haunting in their own right. Carl is richly drawn, and his actions and emotions ring true within the plot. The portion of the narrative that involves the “shrill keening” is absolutely spellbinding – and I thought that part of the story was gripping. In fact, I was disappointed that this section did not remain “on stage” for a longer period of time. I wanted to know what was happening in greater detail. On the opposite side of the coin, I felt the hospital sequence went on a tad too long (but this is a minor quibble). Overall, this is a solid 4-star review. Strongly recommended.

Kealan Patrick Burke has a fiendish imagination – which is great for his readers who enjoy his jolting horror fiction. His latest work, Sour Candy, had me transfixed from the outset when our protagonist, Phil Pendleton, has a chance encounter with a disheveled woman and her six year old boy. The woman appears traumatized beyond repair and the boy is capable of an unearthly and brain-shattering scream which sends all the other shoppers scrambling. Phil isn’t so lucky, and through a series of events he becomes the identified father of the child. What transpires is a novella of incredible ingenuity and gut-wrenching horror. You feel all of the shock that Phil feels as he finds himself trapped within the clutches of this kid.
My favorite horror sub-genre is the “creepy-kid” horror tale. The little boy in this book, who goes by Adam, is a devilishly creepy (and fun) character who hits all the right notes for unsettling your nerves. The story has a brisk pace accompanied by twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I was swept up with the story, and couldn’t help wondering (with a certain amount of envy) how the author came up with this riveting plot line.
For heaven’s sake, read it. And stay away from little kids and their stressed out parents in the candy aisle of Walmart.

​The Exorcism of Sara May is a startlingly good demonic possession novel. This is the first book I’ve read written by author Joe Hart. He’s been on my list of “authors to read”, and I took a leap at The Exorcism… and I’m thrilled that I did.
Hart provided a setting and characters that I love in a horror story: supernatural goings-on and creepy kids. The first person narration of fourteen year old Lane Murphy (actually Lane retelling the tale looking back seventy years) captures the essence of depression-era rural Minnesota quite well. Lane’s young adolescent viewpoint is realistic for the most part (there are only a few times that the mental activity is too sophisticated for a boy this age). He sees wonder in the woods near his house, the animals on the farms, and most importantly the pretty girl, Sara May, to whom he is attracted. Lane hangs around his best friend, Jones, and does typical boy stuff when he isn’t dreaming about Sara may. A sense of sadness permeates his life, however. His younger brother died a few years ago from a fever, and while the family has rebounded, the loss is still very real.
Terror creeps into Lane’s life – and the life of his friends and family – possibly related to a decades old evil presence. Folklore of a past possession is whispered about in town and a pattern of events suggests the presence is coming back. The first, and in many ways most, chilling event is the birth of a two headed kid (baby goat, that is) that is observed by Lane. His father is the county’s vet, and he brings Lane with him during a ferocious storm in the middle of the night to aid in the birth. The description, setting, and actual birth are positively unsettling. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing by the time I reached the end of the passage. Additional terrifying passages suggesting haunting, evil predators, and possession kept me on edge. Lane experiences and witnesses all of these, and his friend Sara May is the target of many of the attacks.
This story deftly combines coming of age and supernatural terror. I was hooked from the beginning. There was only one passage towards the end that took place in a general store involving a huge confrontation that rang false to me. Otherwise, the story was riveting. And, the exorcism section is a blast (along with a nifty twist that I saw coming, but was still deftly handled). I strongly recommend this story, and I plan to read more of Joe Hart’s work.