Eric J. Guignard’s Dark Moon Books has been establishing itself over the last few years as a premiere publisher of dark fiction anthologies. Having recently acquired the Horror Library series that was originally published by Cutting Block Press from the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s, Dark Moon Books looks poised to increase its esteem even more.
Even with an upcoming roster of Horror Library re-releases, one should not overlook one of Dark Moon Books’ most prestigious endeavors: its series of primers that focus on horror and dark fiction writers. These primers, complete with comprehensive bibliographies, commentaries and essays by Dr. Michael Arnzen, act as accessible gateways for readers who have been curious by acclaimed, cult authors with large bodies of work, but unsure where to start. The first three primers released by Dark Moon Books were dedicated to Steve Rasnic Tem, Kaaron Warren, and Nisi Shawl. Book four of the series focuses on Jeffrey Ford.
A Primer to Jeffrey Ford contains five previously published short stories: “A Natural History of Autumn,” “Malthusian’s Zombie,” “Boatman’s Holiday,” “The Night Whisky,” and “A Night in the Tropics” along with one exclusive story, “Incorruptible.”
The first story, “A Natural History of Autumn,” has a Japanese-folk feel to it, as a young Japanese businessman takes a possible romantic interest to a forested retreat with a hot springs. The idyllic getaway turns south in the night as ghostly dogs with human faces set upon the duo along as some business double crossings come to light. A fun and frightening story.
“Malthusian’s Zombie” is about a nuclear family that takes in a hypnotized zombie (not an undead one) into their home. The setup for this story is perfect: the family takes care of the zombie as it regains its memories. The story flirts with some of the themes of humanity in zombies, as with Bub in Day of the Dead, the film Warm Bodies, and Fido in Fido. The narrator, the father of the household, even remarks about his daughter’s relationship to the zombie: “Throughout the ordeal, she proved to be the most practical, the most caring, the most insightful of us all.”
Here is were the story diverges from its setup and instead beelines straight to a twist ending. Granted, the twist ending no one could possibly see coming: it is completely inventive and clever, yet it comes at the expense of what Ford was building up in the story. The final reveal nullifies the humanist elements that the story had began exploring.
Story three, “Boatman’s Holiday,” succeeds where “Malthusian’s Zombie” failed. This story is deep, multilayered, entertaining with hints of comedy of the absurd, yet introspective. The story has shades of the neo-peplum as it is about Charon, the mythological boatman of Hades that ferries the dead down the River Styx. Charon is cast in an overt blue collar role, with him ferrying the dead day after day. However, perhaps due to his employment contract, he is granted a short vacation every few hundred years. For his vacation in this story, Charon seeks out the island of Oondeshai, which only gained existence because a living person made it so by writing about it in a book translation.
“Boatman’s Holiday” is first and foremost darkly funny. Imaging Charon as a worker bee more-or-less doing a 8 to 5 for eternity points out the absurdity that movies such as Office Space have illustrated. But, there is a Marxist layer here. Even though Charon is subservient to the lords of the underworld, he doesn’t quite realize how much power he wields. He is the only one who can do his occupation, and the underworld would crumble without him. Aside from the Marxist tones, the story recalls some of the work of Italo Calvino, particularly in regard to conjuring meaning. The creation of Oondeshai because someone simply willed it into existence is totally a Calvino move, echoing his story “A Sign in Space” from Cosmicomics. “Boatman’s Holiday” is the stand out story in the primer.
“The Night Whisky” is a great followup to “Boatman’s Holiday” and even continues to explore the themes of that story. This story, too, features a blue collar job for outlandish occupations: a kid who is learning to poke people with sticks who are sleeping in trees because they are in a mystical sleep trance from drinking a magical brandy made from a plant that grows from dead corpses. Also prevalent is the want to escape from one’s own reality/small town. This is an inventive story as Ford puts so much world building into the story’s small town and yearly libation practices that a reader is 100% sold on the premise.
“A Night in the Tropics” is a story that is not quite what it seems to be: it’s a story built on illusions. The titular bar in the story sounds like a tiki bar, but it’s not. Sure, it has a giant tropical mural, but it is more akin to a dive bar that just threw up one or two exotica embellishments in order to call themselves. The name is a fraud, yet the tropical mural inside enchants the narrators, much like the various fountains and foliage that adorned the now defunct Don the Beachcomber’s. Just like tiki culture, this is a story about digging up [an imagined] past. “A Night in the Tropics” is not even about the narrator as the actual story is told by an old school acquaintance who lived a criminal life who is now the bartender at the Tropics. The story is actually his story, but filtered through the narrator, much like the telephone game, where meaning is transformed in the telling. It’s an interesting way to tell a story, and ultimately Ford is successful.
The final story, “Incorruptible,” has a Tales from the Crypt feel to it. A painter happens upon a paintbrush that is made from the public hair of Jesus Christ. This, of course, attracts the wrong type of attention from a couple of ne’er-do-wells. This story continues the themes from “A Night in the Tropics” as it explores the effects of magical artifacts and how theyimpact the folks who happen across them.
Between each story in the primer, Dr. Arnzen provides a page or two of commentary. Compared to prior primers, Dr. Arnzen’s musings seems a bit more general and not as insightful. However, his essay on why Ford matters is superb and significant as it points out many of the reoccurring themes in Ford’s body of work and identifies the auteur elements of the writer. There’s a colloquial interview between Guignard and Ford, followed by an essay by Ford on the importance of conducting historic research and integrating the findings into one’s fiction.
As with the other primers in the series, A Primer to Jeffrey Ford is an excellently compiled short story collection that has selected some choice cut’s from Ford’s canon, and presented them in a palpable fashion. Intrigued readers who have not explored Ford’s repertoire will greatly benefit from this collection while Ford enthusiasts will appreciate the supplemental material and exclusive story.