Death Nell is an erotic horror comedy (in the Beetlejuice vein) comic published by Bad Bug Media in early 2023 after a successful Kickstarter campaign of their first issue in the summer of 2022. Issue one is written by Bill Stoddard with Cammry Lapka (Cat Tails, Black Market Heroine) doing art, Bruna Costa on colours, and Erek Foster (The Surgeon)providing lettering.
Nell, her undead cat, and April.
The titular Nell is a twenty-two year old student at the Deus Mortem school for necromancers where she spends her time sleeping during class and fantasizing about her teacher, Professor Reinhart, instead of paying attention. At the suggestion of her best friend, April (who is a half troll), Nell visits the buxom school nurse (curse lifter?) Madame Flowers. It turns out that Nell’s sleeping issue is from exhaustion due to her insatiable desires despite a regime of self pleasuring. An alchemy spell later and the root cause is discovered: Nell is part Succubus and she needs to om nom nom on the sexual energies of others. Thankfully there happens to be a party coming up that promises lots of action…
Grave digging attire.
As a playful, lighter fare, Death Nell can be placed in a similar camp of monster-school stories such as Nicholas Doan and Gwendolyn Dreyer’s Monster Elementary, the Monster High media franchise, and even the prequel film of Monsters Inc., Monster University. Death Nell’s art reflects its comedic tone, as the colours are vibrant (the fun gothic colours of purple and black) and the characters realized in an anime/manga-inspired fashion (drool, bonks on heads, pursed lips, etc.). The women of Death Nell do adhere to a specific type of depiction: eye liner as big as bats and hips as thicc as gravestones. It’s a fun style that juggles sexy and cartoonish – Hot Topic patrons will definitely approve (and mimic!).
Madame Flowers.
Death Nell’s comedy falls in line with school sex comedies of the 80s and the 2000s. This can be both a blessing and a curse depending on perspective. Because she’s an attractive succubus, the faculty of Nell’s school begin to lust after her (the aforementioned Madame Flowers, the graveyard undertaker Edgar) with only professor Reinhart seemingly immune to her passive powers. In reality, this, of course, is a big no-no in classroom power dynamics, yet it is also an extremely common plot device in pornographic stories (“teacher, there has to be something I can do to pass this class!”). The tone of Death Nell is much too lighthearted to even approach levels like David Mamet’s Oleanna, but might find itself in “Penny Pax spends times in detention” territory. The nudity and sexual acts are presented in wanton abandon.
NSFW version of the issue one cover with art by Lapka and Costa.
As is SOP with mature comic books made possible via crowdfunding, the first issue of Death Nell comes in a variety of alternative covers, with nude variants of each. The campaign to fund issue two of Death Nell (which ends February 15th) follows suit.
There was also additional, fun swag that came with copies of Death Nell issue one:
Art prints
Art Prints that have a crossover with Bag Bug’s other erotic series, Vanya.
And cards.
The first issue of Death Nell is fun-n-flirty, school sex comedy. Nell has to deal with typical college problems of being socially awkward and get good grades, while also finding out who she is as a person. Er, succubus.
We’ve all been there.
For more information on Death Nell, check out these links:
It’s the summer of ‘92 and you’re off for a long break. You and your family live in the woods outside a small, rural town. Life consists of exploring the forest by day and staying up late playing Sega Genesis by night. It is the perfect time to be a kid before Eternal September. One night you catch an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, one where they are recreating encounters with Bigfoot. The iconic ominous music and real-world reenactments give you the heebie jeebies. You go to bed, turn off the lights, and look out your window to the dark, starlit forest outside. Eyelids heavy, you almost fall asleep –crash! What was that? You peer out the window. Was that movement just at the treeline? You think back to the show earlier that night. Could it be – a Bigfoot right outside your house?
Nocturnal Creatures cover.
If the above scenario ushers in a sense of nostalgia, then Robert P. Ottone’s short novel, Nocturnal Creatures, is a perfect flashback story for you. Set during the tail end of the Gulf War in rural New York, Nocturnal Species is a cryptid story with elements of the siege genre.
The story is told through the perspective of Cassie Albero, a middle schooler whose family owns an orchard. Hard times have fallen on the Albero family as an unseasonably cold late spring/early summer threatens their apple harvest. Their problems are compounded when their home is besieged by a family of Sasquatch-like monsters, who have been driven from their home in the nearby caves and woodlands.
Nocturnal Creatures is similar to the animals run amok narratives of the 70s: as civilization pushes into nature, nature fights back to survive. This puts Cassie and her family and the cryptids in the same moral boat as both groups are trying to survive each other, thrust into a situation that is neither’s fault. The Albero family, coming from a generation of immigrants, contrasted to the mysterious cryptids adds another level of complexity – strangers in strange lands trying to eek by in a rapidly globalizing world. Readers will certainly identify with the humans, and yet, while the cryptids are portrayed as menacing and near unstoppable, there’s a sympathy for them as well.
Taking place in the early 90s, Nocturnal Creatures has many callbacks to the era: a ChatBoy (a stand in for the TalkBoy from Home Alone 2), discontinued soda, listening to grunge bands on cassette, the Gulf War in the background, and no internet. These sentiments cater to the Oregon Trail generation, a refreshing break from the 80s nostalgia that has been enjoying a wave of popularity for the past decade.
The characters of Nocturnal Creatures are incredibly fleshed out with backstories, motivations, and worries. If anything, the Albero family embodies the idyllic nuclear family found in 80s and early 90s sitcoms. This is contrasted to Azura and her son, Darwin, immigrants from El Salvador, also chasing the American dream. Azura is a total James Cameron character, a cross between Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 and Vasquez from Aliens. She acts as a mentor to the Albero family, teaching them how to use firearms and survive the cryptid siege, but also as a role model to Darwin and Cassie. Everyone looks up to her.
The stars of a Bigfoot-style story are, of course, the cryptids themselves. In terms of placement on the Sasquatch spectrum, they are a little folky like the Fouke Monster from The Legend of Boggy, but much more cunning and violent like the Sasquatch in the 2006 film Abominable. They are completely believable humanoids that are also frighteningly strong, able to tactically plan their attacks, and near invulnerable due to their super thick skin. They are also presented as a family, functioning no different than the Alberos.
This is the heart of Nocturnal Creatures: different types of families, all looking to survive and make their way in the world, wrapped up in a cryptid horror story with a dollop of early 90s nostalgia and coming of age. The formula works, no doubt to its relatable and fleshed out characters along with menacing, multifaceted monsters.
The Clackity is the debut, middle-grade novel from Lora Senf, released in the summer of 2022. The book evokes shades of The Nightmare Before Christmas,Labyrinth, Edward Gorey, and 90s-era Nickelodeon.
Personal copy of The Clackity.
The story of The Clackity is centered on preteen Evie who lives with her aunt Desdemona in the town of Blight Harbor. When Desdemona goes missing in the town’s old and abandoned abattoir, Evie investigates with the hopes of rescuing her. She meets the titular Clackity, a nefarious shadowy being that is part Cheshire cat, part Oogie Boogie, and 100% can not be trusted. The Clackity tells Evie where Desdemona has been taken to, but in return she must venture into another world, with a black sun and purple sky, to visit seven houses, and bring back John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer from Blight Harbor’s past. Within each house is a test that challenges Evie’s wits and bravery. Aside from negotiating the houses, Evie must keep pace ahead of the pursuing Pope while also completing all her tasks before black sun down.
The Clackity is overflowing with vivid imagination, an amalgamation of child-like nightmares. Each house Evie visit has its own personality. One has a maze of repeating doors that must be entered in a certain order (think of those forest mazes in the original Zelda on the NES), another a gingerbread house, and one is even a house made from a witch who turns into a tree. There is a bag of holding, magical boats, distorted forests, enchanted flowers, birds that become shadow tattoos, infinity pits, and so on. If a child’s imagination can dream it, Senf grabs it, reworks it, and turns it into a wondrous component of The Clackity.
In addition to how varied and versatile The Clackity is, the prose is beautifully executed. Narrated in first-person perspective, Evie (by way of Senf) describes the world (both real and unreal) around her in a creative ways. Interspersed in the text of the book are black and white illustrations by Alfredo Cáceres that are a cross between Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Tony Di’Terlizzi. The illustrations capture Senf’s set pieces and underscore the novel’s atmosphere.
If there is a theme for The Clackity it is about bravery combined with a “fake it till you make it” ethos. Evie puts on the bravest face she can, and even changes her looks (hair cut, mascara, etc.) to give the impression that she is a warrior, even if she doesn’t feel it it. As she adventures through the seven houses, her bravery is put to the test, and often times she freezes with fear. The Clackity normalizes that it is ok to be afraid of big things, and that bravery isn’t sudden: it’s something to strive toward, mimic, and eventually you become it. It also underscores that even in moments that we lose our brave face, there is a safety net of others (shadow birds, witches, etc. in the case of The Clackity, but in real life, friends, family, etc.) to be there to be supportive. A person is never alone, there is always someone.
Even though The Clackity (book and monster) can be scary, the story is incredibly fun. Readers root for Evie in her highs and lows in her quest to rescue her aunt, feel and empathize with her emotions, but also have their imagination sparked by Senf’s descriptions of the unreal world. A creative and spooky endeavor, The Clackity is a fantastic dark, adventurous story.
When released in 1974, the erotic French film Emmanuelle became a worldwide sensation that topped box offices and garnered controversy. The movie would catapult its starlet, Sylvia Kristel, into the limelight, but at the same time it would overshadow her. Kristel became synonymous with the Emmanuelle character whose specter she could never escape despite efforts appearing in a variety of other films ranging from auteur-made art house movies to lifeless commercial fare. During her lifetime, few critics and scholars took Kristel seriously as an actress. Jeremy Richey’s book, Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol (SK:FETC) aims to rectify this oversight and help usher in a reassessment and a rediscovery of Kristel and her body of work.
Published in 2022 by Cult Epics after a successful crowdfunding campaign, SK:FETC focuses on Kristel’s career from 1973 to 1981, her beginnings to when she was at her height of popularity. The book is divided into seven sections covering twenty-three movies, with the final section devoted to unrealized projects. Richey sticks to a disciplined structure when discussing each film: background contextualization, production and musings, and performance assessment with contemporary reception. This structure makes SK:FETC easy to navigate, search, and enjoy.
Standard cover.
Starting each film’s chapter is a background to how the movie came to being, diving into literary sources, filmmaker and crew backgrounds, and even general societal hegemony. For example, before discussing Kristel’s first film, Frank and Eva, time is spent describing the general landscape of Dutch cinema of the era so readers will have the contextualization that Kristel’s movies operated in. Regarding filmmakers and the crew, SK:FETC takes an interconnected approach by highlighting who was in Kristel’s orbit and describing how they contributed to the film and her career.
Next, Richey focuses on the film’s production while adding his own musings, such as what scenes and sequences stand out, or detailing difficulties Kristel dealt with, such as egotistical directors and actors (see the entry on The Concorde … Airport ’79). There are some insightful observations within these film entries, such as when Richey points out that Naked Over the Fence captures a specific snapshot of early 70s Netherlands analog pinball arcades and the burgeoning European martial arts culture.
Finally, each chapter concludes with an assessment of the film and performances. For Richey, Kristel is the gold standard for performance and other players are held to this bar. Richey does counterbalance this inherent favoritism by including a plethora of quotations from contemporary film critics from all over the globe, both positive and negative reception. In addition to film critical quotations, Richey incorporates a great deal of other citations as well: texts from scholars such as femist academic Camille Paglia and cult film scholar Marcus Stiglegger; excerpts from Kristel’s autobiography, and interviews from cast and crew, some of them rare (such as the interview with Laura Gemser about Emmanuelle 2) and others conducted by Richey exclusively for SK:FETC.
If there is a fault with SK:FETC, it is a built in one that mirrors Kristel’s career. In her attempt to shake the Emmanuelle image, Kristel began appearing in films that would hinder rather than advance her career. These films are otherwise unremarkable, giving Richey less to work with in his writings. The chapters become shorter and contain less insight when compared to the first 2/3s of SK:FETC.
Example of interior with lobby card images.
Clocking in at over 330 pages, SK:FETC is a tome of insight, observations, and rare material about Kristel and her career. Care was not only put into the text but into the physical book proper as SK:FETC is a luxurious hardcover release. Aside from the standard edition of the book, there are versions with a collector’s box and others with dust jackets autographed by Richey. The book is presented in full colour and filled with numerous photographs and promotional materials, such as lobby cards and posters. Such inclusions greatly add to the reading experience while acting as a visual catalogue to Kristel’s career. The end product is a gorgeous edition matching – even surpassing – comparable efforts by similar publishers such as FAB Press or PulseVideo.
SK:FETC accomplishes its goal in reassessing Kristel and her films. The book acts as an authority on Kristel’s early career, and provides much needed contextualization along with performance observations and incorporation of a variety of rare, unique, and otherwise inaccessible sources. Kristel is portrayed in a positive and interesting light. Emmanuelle still remains the film Kristel is the most synonymous with, but SK:FETC demonstrates that there is much more to the legendary Dutch actress.
Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol book can be purchased at the following venues:
Released late in 2019, The Hollow in the Stone is American neofolk outfit Awen’s third and newest studio album since their 2014 release, Grim King of the Ghosts. Released right on the eve of Awen’s fifteenth year in operation, The Hollow in the Stone is the band’s most refined, polished, and ambitious album to date. The album is mixture of distinct, yet associated styles – neofolk, post-industrial, narrative spoken word – arranged on the release in a seamless, cohesive fashion. This balance of styles has not gone unnoticed by fans of the band, with Erin Powell, figurehead of Awen, stating “stylistically we have maintained a combination of folk and industrial elements for the last several albums, whereas some projects seem to just focus on an all acoustic instrument sound. I’ve had feedback from people over the years that they appreciate this mixture of sounds from us.”
The Hollow in the Stone contains thirteen tracks, two of them being intro/outros, with the rest being original compositions, with only “I am Stretched on your Grave” being a traditional song, rearranged by Katrin X. Guest appearances are a trademark of Awen, with long time alumnus b9 InViD of Et Nihil appearing once again, along with a first time appearance of Jerome Reuter from ROME. “Perversity of Joy,” “Brigid the Dark, Brigid the Light,” “Hawthorn Rod,” “The Death Of Reynard,” and “The Hollow In The Stone” constitute the album’s neofolk offerings. “Englyn for Blodeuwedd,” “In the Heart of the Corpseknot” and “The Sickle and the Setting Sun” are the industrial/martial-industrial tracks on the album while “I am Stretched on your Grave” adds an ethereal sound to the mix.
The neofolk tracks are exceptionally well executed, with Powell displaying a fondness for “Hawthorn Rod” that he feels shows all facets of Awen coming into play. The song is an excellent duet between Powell and Katrin X, with catchy and seductive guitars that lures a listener in. “Brigid the Dark, Brigid the Light,” which is about the Irish goddess Brigid, captures the same romantic neofolk elements.
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
“Morrigan” is an unexpected surprise on The Hollow in the Stone and a tremendous delight. A departure from traditional Awen songs of the past, “Morrigan” is a spoken word track. Awen has come close to flirting with the genre on prior releases in songs such as “Sacrifice” from The Bells Before Dawn, which is more akin to an NSK speech or a Praise the Fallen-era VNV Nation track, and “Dream of an Omen,” which also contains bits of the spoken word formula, yet still feels more like a song than a narration. Instead, “Morrigan” is a narrative, third person perspective, dark fiction, spoken word short story. In the tale, an unnamed protagonist travels though a dark forest with a sinister steed and happens upon the mysterious titular Morrigan at a stream. It is an encounter that will not bode well for the protagonist. “Morrigan” demonstrates that Powell is a master orator, and Awen should consider releasing more songs, or even a one-off album, of narrated stories. As Cadabra Records has shown with their luxurious vinyl releases of readings of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Thomas Ligotti, there is a niche market for dark spoken word albums set to ambient/industrial soundscapes. Awen, who have repurposed poetic works before (as “Empire, Night & the Breaker” from The Bells Before Dawn which uses the poetry of Breaker Morant) is the perfect outfit to release even more tracks in this vein.
For fans of ROME who are not familiar with Awen, but are interested in checking out the album due to Reuter’s appearance on the track “The Death Of Reynard” (or perhaps due to Awen’s appearance on ROME’s Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro), are in for a treat as Reuter’s distinctive, hypnotic voice is put to excellent use on the neofolkish song. The song showcases a great mixture of both ROME and Awen.
Excluding the outro “Cyfraith Dyn,” The Hollow in the Stone ends with “The Sickle and the Setting Sun,” and what a way to end. The song is an excellent representation of Awen’s aggressive-side of their music catalog, and if this were the 90s-2000s, “The Sickle and the Setting Sun” would be the album’s first MCD single, complete with remixes and multimedia tracks. The song is an apocalyptic-pop, bombastic tune. Powell’s voice booms over thunderous drums while Katrin X’s vocals seethe the song’s title in a call-and-response fashion. The opening lyrics “the symbol of the setting sun / cruel crescent that severs grain and chaff as one / the punishing steel / once cut, it’s done! / the sickle and the setting sun” sets the stage for the subject matter of the song, drawing imagery from neofolk tropes, and yet uniquely applying to Awen, creating an anthem of sorts for the band. The sickle has been an iconic implement used by the band, especially during live performances with Katrin X brandishing them, drawing parallels to, say, how Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle did during the May Day celebrations in The Wicker Man. Powell further elaborates on the meaning of the sickle to Awen:
“Katrin does use a pair of antique sickles with a contact mic on them in studio recordings and live performances. It is an interesting symbol to me. Agricultural, but also urban and modern in the context of 20th century political iconography. We read that the ancient druids used a golden sickle to cut mistletoe in their rituals. The shape of the blade is a crescent moon, which has many interesting connotations throughout the ages and different cultures. The severing blade, life from death.”
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
The album concludes with “Cyfraith Dyn: which echoes the sound of the album’s intro track, “Cyfraith Natur.” Both tracks act as opulent bookends to the album.
Though it has been five years between the release of Awen’s second album, Grim King of the Ghosts, and The Hollow in the Stone, those years were not idle ones for the band. The time period saw numerous live, split releases (such as 2016’s European Crusade 2015 with Et Nihil and 2017’s Abyssus Abyssum Invocat [Defiance in Dallas] with Boyd Rice) and a handful of tours and live appearances. Awen’s accumulation of prestige over the years is evident in the band’s new home on the legendary Trisol label, making them bedfellows with renown acts such as, ROME, Clan of Xymox, L’Âme Immortelle, and Project Pitchfork. Per Powell, the move to Trisol came about during their concert in Frankurt in 2017:
“Alex, the label owner of Trisol, was at our concert in Germany when we played with Boyd and played as Awen as well as Fire + Ice for Ian Read. Jerome Reuter was also there, and I invited him backstage to meet everyone and gave him his first Neofolk Bullwhip! He later recommended us to Alex, who was already impressed by our performance. We decided to make the move from OEC to Trisol then.”
The end result of Awen’s signing to Trisol is the release of a beautiful and ornate vinyl edition of The Hollow in the Stone. Matching the artistic acumen demonstrated in the music proper, the physical release of the album is equally lavish. Limited to 500 units, The Hollow in the Stone is pressed on transparent vinyl, with lyrics to all the songs printed on the inner sleeve, all housed in a sleeve with unsettling (in a Giger sort of way) artwork, adopted from photos taken by Powell. Those without a vinyl player are taken into consideration as a CD with all the tracks comes packaged with the album. All in all, a luxurious release, both in regard to the packaging, but also to the music within.
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
Post The Hollow in the Stone, the future looks as bright as the setting sun for Awen, with plans of a new albums already in the works. Powell tantalizes:
“We are working on a new album currently and have the foundations for ten songs so far. This record does not have a title yet. Expect several acoustic songs, but also an array of industrial percussion including oil drums and scrap metal. I have a concept in mind for the album, with a rambling piece of guitar music that runs like a river in between all of the other separate songs, like a subplot in a story. I think this element will only be heard on the vinyl edition, and the CD version should feature the tracks without it…making a different listening experience between the formats.”
The Hollow in the Stone Track List:
Side A
Cyfraith Natur
Perversity Of Joy
Brigid The Dark, Brigid The Light
Englyn For Blodeuwedd
Hawthorn Rod
In The Heart Of The Corpseknot
Side B
Morrigan
The Death Of Reynard
The Hollow In The Stone
Ravenna
I Am Stretched On Your Grave
The Sickle and the Setting Sun
Cyfraith Dyn
All photos provided courtesy of Erin Powell. Sincere gratitude for the quotations as well. Awen can be found at:
Severin Films are known for various versions of their DVD and Blu-ray releases, ranging from slipcases to ornate boxsets with exclusive features and small doodads while always delivering on content proper: best prints possible, commentaries, and other supplements.
Perhaps their most ambitious release yet, Severin released a boxset of folk horror films called All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror. The standard edition of this boxset houses fifteen discs along with a book and a soundtrack. Of course, for a few pennies more, one could have ordered The Witches’ Bundle of the release which contains a treasure trove of additional goodies.
Original advert for The Witches’ Bundle version
What follows is an unboxing of The Witches’ Bundle edition of All the Haunts Be Ours interspersed with interview segments with Howard David Ingham, a folk horror expert that has material in the release.
The parcel that The Witches’ Bundle came in was huge. Wide and unwieldy, but at least not super heavy. The exterior was printed with the All The Haunts Be Ours artwork in gold. Very classy.
Algernon (tabby) and Cecily (tortie). Cats also show scale.
Of course, my kitty familiars are intrigued by the parcel and what treasure lie within.
When opened the contents are covered a healthy amount of packing peanuts. This is good for shipping, but it will be a nightmare to get them all back in the box and be able to close the lid.
The first object pulled forth from the parcel was a grimoire entitled Of Mud & Flame. A thick book, this tome will make for great reading later.
Next up are a set of three stickers with some fantastic art. It’s a shame that special editions like these only come with one set of stickers as folks need at least two: one set to keep pristine and the other to put on things. The top right sticker is a Hand of Glory (as seen in The Wicker Man). The one on the left with the sickle makes me think of the song “The Sickle and the Setting Sun” by Awen.
There was a wrapped packet that felt incredibly heavy.
This image doesn’t do the pendant justice at just how big it was.
Carefully unwrapping it one comes across a replica of the pendant from Alison’s Birthday. This pendant was heavy and quite large.
And The Owl Service Melamine Plate! A bonafide plate! It’s a wee bit different than the advert (which shows a bumpy circumference while this one is a pure circle).
Served on the plate none-the-less!
Next up is a completely impractical keychain modeled from The Witchhhammer. This would not fare well to one’s leg if put into a front pocket.
A rolled scroll of incantations protected inside this tube perhaps?
Stunning.
Even better, a full sized movie poster of the documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. The art used on this poster (and subsequent packaging) is simply stunning. It will need to be kept safe inside its tube until a suitable frame can be procured.
Finally, the meat-and-potatoes of the whole package: the boxset of All Haunts Be Ours proper.
The boxset is housed in a sturdy box which allows the Blu-ray set and booklet to slip out easily.
The Blu-rays proper stored in an accordion-style package. Each page in the booklet houses a movie with corresponding artwork.
One of the films in this set is the aforementioned Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched documentary (which Severin sells by itself). One of the experts interviewed in the documentary is Howard David Ingham, author of the Bram Stoker nominated book We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror.
How did you come to be involved in the Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched documentary?
Back in 2018, Kier-La Janisse contacted me to ask if I’d be interviewed for a documentary about folk horror, and a very nice man named Neil Edwards came to ask me some questions. At the time the plan was to have it as a Blu-ray extra, but Kier-La’s project, unknown to me at the time, expanded in scope and became something bigger and more important. I thought no more about it until I saw my name on the Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched press release a couple of years later, and then suddenly I’m in a spectacular, award-winning documentary, which is pretty-mind-blowing, really.
What are your impressions of the documentary and what do you think it uniquely accomplishes?
I think the film is stunning, beautifully put together, exhaustive and it taught me stuff. I think the very best and most groundbreaking parts are in the sections about American and international folk horror – parts I’m not in, I might add, but I don’t think they’re the best bits because of that – which stake a very solid claim to be the first real authoritative document on what folk horror means outside of the UK.
Of all the movies presented in the All the Haunts Be Ours boxset, which is your personal favourite?
That’s a hard one to answer, because there are several I haven’t seen yet (and I don’t have my boxset yet!). Of the ones I have seen, I cannot recommend VIY enough. It’s a glorious, magical film and everyone should see it.
For someone new to folk horror, what film in the set do you think they should start with to ease into the genre.
That’s a hard one. But if you want a grounding in British folk horror, Robin Redbreast, the original Pagan Village Conspiracy film, is essential. For Americans, I would suggest starting with Eyes of Fire. But again it’s hard, because there’s a bunch of rarities I haven’t seen yet! Honestly, it might be just as good for you to dive right in and pick whatever film looks the most exciting to you!
If one needs assistance at grounding many of the folk horror films in the real world, The Witches’ Bundle comes with a map of folk horror!
The map is housed in a beautiful envelope depicting a sacrifice of a rabbit.
Housed inside is also a postcard with a floral stag. This reminds me of the song “The Wounded Stag” by Lux Interna.
Asking for directions.
The map proper is two sided. The front side shows Europe depicting where each folk horror film takes place.
The front and the back also contain a description of each locale.
An example of the entry for The Wicker Man.
And finally, the last object in the whole bundle is a set of tarot cards. The exterior box is thick and sturdy.
Inside one will find a set of tarot cards with unique art and names along with a guide book with a hypnotic cover.
The tarot guide book was written by none other than Ingham!
You wrote the booklet for the Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched tarot card set. What was that experience like and how did you go about writing the interpretations for each card?
I’d done some work on Tarot and alternative Tarot interpretations before, so I had a familiarity with the Tarot as a thing, and in particular Tarot writing. It was a lot of fun to take those folk horror classics and draw fortunes from them, full of dread and poetry.
Which card resonates the strongest with you?
Bagpuss, because I am saggy and loose at the seams, but I am nonetheless loved.
The Witches’ Bundle is an impressive and immersive release. Between the films, documentary, soundtrack, books, and other material, there’s literally weeks worth of subversive content to explore. Though The Witches’ Bundle has long sold out, the boxset of films proper is still available at the Severin website. For those who have only seen The Wicker Man or Midsommar, this release acts as a primer to get into the folk horror genre.
Sincere thank you to Howard David Ingham for his answers. You can find him at his Room 207 Press website.
If you liked this coverage of The Witches’ Bundle, check out my other Severin write ups: The Blood Island boxset in Exotica Moderne #3 and Horrors of Spider Island in Exotica Moderne #9. Next month Severin releases the Eurosleaze pepla films Caligula The Untold Story and Caligula and Messalina. I am extremely excited for both as I can put my sword and sandal scholarship to test!
If you enjoyed this unboxing article, check out these other ones:
Mists and Megaliths is Welsh dark fiction author Catherine McCarthy’s second short story collection after her 2019 collection, Door and Other Twisted Tales. Released in the Spring of 2021, Mists and Megaliths contains ten stories of McCarthy’s distinctive voice that draws from personal anecdotes and Welsh folklore. This is a unified, singular collection, with stories featuring coastal and maritime settings, with nods to mountains, mining, and rock formations, and a reoccurring theme of dealing with loss, be it personal or abstract. McCarthy eases readers into her stories by providing introductory commentaries along with definitions for Welsh vocabulary that appear in the text.
Many of the stories in Mists and Megaliths pair well with each other, with overlapping themes and settings. For example, “Cragen” and “The Ice House” are complimentary stories that deals with the abductions of ones daughter by malevolent forces. “Cragen” takes a patriarchal perspective that is sorrow in tone while “The Ice House” is from the matriarch perspective and has a vengeful element. Two different perspectives on similar subject matter, and both executed marvelously.
“Jagged Edges” and “Coblynau” are another set of stories that pair well thematically. Both are from the perspective of an old man, reliving or remembering signifiant moments of their past. Of the two “Coblynau” inches out as the superior story, and that is because of how multifaceted and finely crafted it is. “Coblynau” contextualizes itself within a historic event: the Aberfan avalanche disaster of 1966 where a landslide from a pile of mining remnants (a spoil) flooded the town, destroying a school, and killing many folks, mostly children. The story’s perspective is from a venerable former miner who is committed to a retirement home. “Coblynau” has shades of Joe R. Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-tep in that both stories are critiques on how society treats their elderly by not recognizing their voice and putting them in an institution to keep them out of sight. As in both stories, the main character knows bad things are going on (a mummy vs. another spoil that threatens the town) while the employees of the retirement home refuse to listen. Both stories also have a creature-feature aspect as well, Bubba Ho-tep with its mummy and “Coblynau” with its titular impish creatures that help out miners when left some food. “Coblynau” is the most ambitious and complex story of Mists and Megaliths.
“Retribution” is perhaps the most “Lovecraftian” story in the anthology. A tentacled monster is imprisoned under a church in a mining town that starts to become corrupt. The town’s church is overtaken by the mine’s operators, who rapidly grow prosperous and more malevolent, their power possibly linked to the shackled creature, who like the character in “Coblynau,” is kept out of sight. Cinematically, the story has folk-horror aspects as found in the Dan Stevens film Apostle which is also about a town with an entity lurking within.
“Lure” is the most experimental story in Mists and Megaliths in that it is told through the second-person perspective. As you, the reader, an intrepid fisher-person, read the story/fish in a lake, a horrible backstory unfolds as you, yes you, did something unspeakable to a younger lady. The story is interesting in that it is, theoretically, a gender neutral tale, so it breaks down expectations of what type of person commits (sexual-assault) crimes.
Mists and Megaliths is not all doom-n-gloom, however, with “Two’s Company, Three’s a Shroud” being a lighthouse of comedy in the darkness. An older husband finds himself dead after eating a cholesterol-laden breakfast and discovers that his afterlife is mainly confined to his coffin, atop another dead soul’s coffin. Embracing an indifferent, matter-of-factly, perspective to the afterlife as found in movies such as Beetlejuice and An American Werewolf in London, “Two’s Company..” brings on the chuckles as the story’s protagonist attempts to make friends with his ghostly neighbor, but his boisterous personality is at odds with his neighbor’s more refined demeanor. Of course, the story ends on a note that there are things much worse than death when you have to spend eternity with someone that drives you crazy. “Two’s Company..” gets special mention for also dropping cameo mentions of older darkwave and gothic music acts, such as Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins. A reminder that the cool kids who listened to cool kid music eventually get old.
Sporting a fun alliterative title and containing distinct, focused stories, Mists and Megaliths is an excellent representation of McCarthy’s style and author-auteur elements. For American readers, the Welsh voice present in the stories adds an aura to the stories, given them a charm not readily seen in stories written stateside. Fans of L. T. C. Rolt and Arthur Machen will definitely be intrigued by this collection.
Notes
Michele Brittany and I interviewed McCarthy on our HP Lovecast Podcast, specifically on episode 2 of our Transmissions show, which aired May 31, 2021. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.
On August 27th, Nia DaCosta’s sequel to the original 1992 Candyman, also titled Candyman, was released to commercial and critical fanfare. Opening with $22.4 million at the box office1, Candyman succeeded where many larger budgeted films could not during the COVID-19 Pandemic with its performance. Candyman also set a new milestone by becoming the first black female directed film to top the box office.2
As Candyman ‘21 continues be profitable at the box office, attention can be turned to the original Bernard Rode directed film. Fans of the original will perhaps want to revisit Candyman ‘92 or those only familiar with the new film may want to watch the original for the first time. For those lacking physical releases, Candyman ‘92 can be found on Peacock TV and other VOD services such as iTunes, Google Play, and RedBox.3
Hopefully with renewed interest, Candyman ‘92 will see a flux of such revisitation and even more positive reassessment. There’s a variety of ways to take in and appreciate the original film: essays, fan art, and even homage in other media. The original Candyman no doubt left its mark in cinema canon, but it also left an impression on other content creators (writers, directors, artists, etc.). One curious example of such inspiration is the world of sampling wherein a music group takes samples of dialogue (and other sounds and noises) from a source (such as a film, TV show, radio broadcast, video game, etc.) and incorporates them into their own compositions.
Candyman ‘92 has had the honour of being sampled numerous times by various underground musical acts that hail from a variety of genres: hiphop, death metal, industrial, and so on. These bands use Candyman samples in a variety of ways. Same incorporate Candyman’s (Tony Todd) opening narration of the film into the beginning of their songs, trying to replicate an ominous introduction to set a specific tone and mood. Some instances are used as outright homage in order to broadcast the music act’s appreciation to the film.
What follows is a list of music acts and their songs that sample dialogue from Candyman ‘92. In order to illustrate how each artist uses the sample, YouTube links are provided for each song along with (when available) a clip from the movie that contains the original dialogue. This way the song and the source text and be compared side by side.
Aborted
Belgian death metal act Aborted pulls double duty with the Clive Barker references in their song “Cenobites” which is the last track from their 2014 album The Necrotic Manifesto.
The title is, of course, a reference to the Cenobites that populate the Hellraiser films that are adaptations of Barker’s The Hellbound Heart. In addition to the Hellraiser connection, the song is also tethered to Barker’s Candyman via usage of sample dialogue. “Cenobites” begins immediately with a quote of Candyman saying “They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What’s blood for if not for shedding?”4
These lines are also the very first lines spoken in the film.5
By beginning “Cenobites” with this sample, Aborted accomplishes two things. First, it mimics the original film by settingthe tone that something unsettling is going to happen in the narrative . Second, it takes the acts described in the sample (shedding innocent blood) and relocates it from the Candyman character to the sadistic villain in the band’s official music video who kidnaps a young woman and proceeds to mutilate her.
Da Boy Tommy
Tommy Debie, better known as Da Boy Tommy, was a jumpstyle Belgian DJ who sadly passed away in 2013.
In 2000 he released a song called “Candyman” which appeared on its own CD-single as well as various compilation albums.6
The song begins with a sample of someone whispering “Candyman.” At the one minute mark of the song, a sample of Clara (Marianna Elliott) explaining who Candyman is to Billy (Ted Raimi) while repeating his name can be heard, interspersed with samples of Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O’Rourke) from Poltergeist saying “They’re here.” This combining of samples from two different sources and merging them together to create new textual play is a hallmark of the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
Darling Kandie
Darling Kandie is a side project of sorts of Groovie Man of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, a foundational industrial-disco act that long ago established themselves as auteurs of incorporating samples from exploitation and pornographic films into their music.
“People Next Door” from Darling Kandie’s debut self titled album is a song that is made entirely of collaged samples (constructed in the same fashion as the aforementioned cut-up technique), including “We need a new unity” which is from George Lucas’ THX-1138 (the sample also makes an appearance in the Laibach song “Regime of Coincidence State of Gravity” from their seminal Kapital album) and “Open your mind to me” which is said by the stomach mutant Kuato in the 1990 film Total Recall.
At the 2:00 mark of the song a sample of Candyman saying “I came for you” can be heard.7
The line comes from the scene where Candyman confronts Helen (Virginia Madsen) in a parking garage and hypnotizes her.8
The line appears once, briefly, before being lost in the sea of other samples in the song.
Deutsch Nepal
Deutsch Nepal is a Swedish industrial project spearheaded by Peter Andersson.
Their eighth album, ¡Comprendido!… Time Stop! …And World Ending contains the track “Gouge Free Market” which has the dialogue “I am rumor. It is a blessed condition believe me, to be whispered about in street corners, to live in other people’s dreams, but not to have to be. Do you understand?” repeated multiple times.9
The lines are spoken by Candyman inside Helen’s mind.10
This is unique usage of the sample, as the song dislocates the dialogue from its slasher-horror roots and, if going by the name of the song’s title of “Gouge Free Market,” applies it to the horrors of capitalism. Much like Candyman, rampant commercialism and capitalism can be inferred as an unseen, yet omnipresent, boogeyman.
Freakin’ Inglish
Freakin’ Inglish was a short-lived UK hip hop group that had only one release, The Rhyme Wrecka E.P.
The cassette contains a song called “Victim” that opens with a sample of Candyman saying “Be my victim.”11
The sample is form the same scene Darling Kandie sampled (see above) and is used to compliment the rapped lyrics “Be my victim” and “Look out, I’m coming to get you.”
Internal Error
Gabber/hardcore techno act Internal Error, operating under the alias Nyeṫ, took their homage of the Candyman movie to the next level by composing a track called “Candy Man” that appeared on their EP Party Madness as well as the compilations TrAUMa 2 (Nightmare On AUM Street) and Napalm Rave.12
The song contains multiple samples of dialogue taken from the film, such as “If you look in the mirror, and say his name five times, he’ll appear behind you, breathing down your neck,” “Be my victim,” and “Where they proceeded to saw of his right hand with a rusty blade.” As with Da Boy Tommy, Internal Error looks to be using these samples to show adoration to the original film.
JNyce
Canadian hip hop artist J Nyce’s 2008 debut Vaults of Horror has a song called “Satanic Rites” that contains a Candyman sample.13
As with Aborted’s “Cenobites”, JNyce uses the “shed innocent blood” opening lines from Candyman as the opening to this song in order to establish a horror-film mood. The dialogue also gets dissociated from Candyman and instead applied to Satanism, which of course conjures up imagery of sacrifices.
Mortician
Deathgrind metal band Mortician wears their affection for the horror genre literally on their sleeves – album sleeves that is. Their last produced album, 2004’s Re-Animated Dead Flesh has a cover reminiscent of the Re-Animator film, and songs that reference numerous horror films, such as An American Werewolf in London, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and The Hills Have Eyes.
The final track on the album, “Be My Victim,” is, of course, an homage to Candyman.14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN4QXAw-B-4
The track begins with a sample of Candyman saying “They’ll say that I’ve shed innocent blood. What’s blood for, if not for shedding. With my hook for a hand, I’ll split you from your groin to your gullet.” which is, of course, the opening lines of the film, and seek to replicate that opening much the same way Aborted and JNyce did. The song ends with a sample of Helen calling out to Candyman who suddenly appears and kills her psychiarist. These samples, coupled with the song’s title “Be My Victim” can be taken as another horror homage to the cult classic film.
[:SITD:]
German-based industrial act [:SITD:] (which stands for Shadows in the Dark) has an EP titled Snuff that contains a track called “Mortal.”
The remix of “Mortal” by Solitary Experiments is unique in that it contains Candyman samples from the German dub of the film.15
The track opens with “Fürchtest du den Schmerz oder das, was danach kommt? Der Schmerz wird von erlesener Qualität sein. Was unseren Tod angeht, vor ihm brauchst du dich nicht zu fürchten.” which is a translation of Candyman saying “The pain, I can assure you, will be exquisite. As for our deaths, there is nothing to fear.”
Near the end of the song the sample continues with “Lass uns unserem Leben ein Ende setzen vor ihren Augen und ihnen damit etwas geben, was sie für alle Zeiten verfolgt. Werde unsterblich! Komm mit mir.” which is a continuation of the above with “We shall die together in front of their very eyes and give them something to be haunted by. Come with me and be immortal.”
The song ends with “Man wird sagen, ich habe unschuldiges Blut vergossen” which is an interpretation of “They will say that I have shed innocent blood.”
All of these instances of bands and music projects sampling Candyman ‘92 not only solidify the original film’s legacy, but illustrate innovative instances of artists performing textual play to create a new texts with new meanings, or even pastiches in a post-modern sense.
Chopping Spree is the debut novella of Angela Sylvaine and the 27th entry in Unnerving Press’ Rewind or Die series. The novella is about Penny, a young teenager who works in a fashionable, 80s inspired mall in Eden Hills, Minnesota. After working her shift at a clothing store, she and her coworkers stay late in order to have a party. They soon become menaced by a wolf-masked murderer who chases them through the mall. The tables turn when Penny’s coworkers capture the wolf man and take him to a secret room in the mall in order to sacrifice him to the Greek god Plutus, who will in turn guarantee wealth to his followers. It is a night of terror as Penny has to not only survive a murderer, but cultists that count her own family in their ranks.
Sylvaine’s Chopping Spree is an ambitious novella that, much like a mall proper, offers up a variety goods for readers (consumers) in the form of genre blending. Overtly Chopping Spree is a horror novella, but it is a combination of two distinct forms of horror: the 80s slasher (such as Halloween and Final Exam) along with the occult/secret society genre (such as Rosemary’s Baby, but perhaps more appropriately, The Wicker Man). In addition, the novella dips a toe in the neo-peplum genre while at the same time, by virtue of its faux 80s mall setting, flirts with the 80s retrowave genre style without going full synthwave/outrun. These genre juxtapositions merit a closer look.
Firstly, and Chopping Spree’s strongest aspect, is its combining of the slasher/secret society genres. The first three chapters (first half) of the novella recreates the feel of being trapped in an 80s mall while being pursued by a masked killer. Penny, of course, is the virginal final girl, seeking acceptance from her friends and fawning over a coworker named Dirk. After vomiting from drinking whisky, Penny soon discovers a murdered pretzel store employee, which leads to the wolf man giving chase to the teens.
At this point in the story, Chopping Spree could run with the genre formula, have the teens get picked off one by one by the wolf man, with Penny performing some final girl trickery at the end to best the villain and escape the confines of the mall. Instead, it turns out that Penny’s friends/coworkers are all part of a secret cult that worships the Greek god Plutus. They take out their ceremonial daggers and more-or-less become slasher villains themselves. They apprehend the wolf man and take him to a secret chamber in the mall to sacrifice him. Chopping Spree has now left slasher territory and entered the niche horror subgenre that deals with secret societies and the occult. It is in this genre that folks sell their souls for power and prosperity. Rosemary’s Baby is a fine example of this type of genre, with Rosemary’s husband making a deal with the devil. However, Chopping Spree is much more akin to the classic The Wicker Man. Both Chopping Spreeand The Wicker Man feature communities that are down on their luck and turn to sacrifice to bring in prosperity: the cult of Plutus needs to sacrifice people to guarantee the mall’s prosperity while Lord Summerisle needs a sacrifice to guarantee a bountiful crop for the island. The fact that The Wicker Man contains diegetic folk singing while Chopping Spree peppersclassic 80s synthpop and new wave songs in its narrative further strengthens the connection making them both musicals.
What makes this genre turn so unique is the subject of the sacrifice: in these stories it is usually the protagonist (or final girl) that is to be the offered sacrifice. Chopping Spree turns this on its head by instead offering its slasher villain as the sacrifice.
With its mall setting, Chopping Spree joins the ranks of films such as Chopping Mall and Dawn of the Dead that offerscritiques on consumerism and capitalism, though Chopping Spree is a bit heavy handed at times. Employee bathrooms in the mall have motivational John Locke quotes scribbled on the walls, while characters robotically recite pro-capitalist verses. These moments are not so subtle and perhaps a bit handholdy, however there are other brilliant elements of the story that accomplish the critique in a much more creative and subtle fashion, specifically via Howard the wolf-masked slasher villain.
Howard’s donning of the wolf mask as his villain MO is multifaceted. At a base level, it is leveraging the 80s slasher trope of the masked killer (Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and so on), which of course, is appreciated by genre connoisseurs. Intentionally or not, there is also a Scooby Doo vibe with his character, manifested when his mask is removed (by meddling kids no less) to reveal “old man Howard.” As Howard pursues Penny and entourage he makes various references to “The Three Little Pigs” and “This Little Piggy,” which seems fitting for a wolf character, but it is when he is juxtaposed against another horror character that new meaning (specifically a critique on capitalism and consumerism) is taken on. In the film Motel Hell (another 80s cult horror film), the character of Vincent Smith is an aged farmer and butcher who also runs an inn. As with the cultists in Chopping Spree, Smith is an unabashed capitalist, and his ace in the hole to keep his business ventures afloat are to capture other people, plant them in his farm, and then butcherthem to create smoked meats. At the film’s climax, Smith gets into a chainsaw duel and dons a pig’s head as a mask. Smith’s pig facade and what it stands for (protecting business ventures built on murder [the very same as the cultists in Chopping Spree]) becomes a visual counterpoint to Howard’s wolf facade, aimed at tearing down those ventures. Chopping Spree is the ying to Motel Hells’ yang.
Leaving the horror genre, Chopping Spree flirts with the neo-peplum genre by way of having the cultists worship Plutus. Genre expectations would have normally lead to the cultists engaging in devil worship, but having them revere a Greek deity is a welcomed surprise (though the story sometimes conflates Greek with Roman, but this can be attributed to Penny’s educated guesses). Visually, the sword and sandal elements are presented in the story via Grecian decorations displayed on the hidden chamber’s entryway (“Dirk pushed open the wooden doors, which were carved with figures of ancient [R]omans in togas”) and stamped coins (“gold coins that looked ancient, their surfaces carved with the head of a Roman god”). Mythologically, however, Chopping Spree is brilliant by making the cultists revere Plutus. Firstly, the cultists thirst for money and power don’t make them ordinary run-of-the-mill capitalists, but full on plutocrats. Secondly, by having them in a secret cult, echoes Plutus’ own mother (Demeter or Persephone) who also have a secret cult as referenced in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
There is some subtle trickery here by having the cultists worship Plutus: at no point in Chopping Spree does anything magical happen. While films such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen depict supernatural and occult ongoings, Chopping Spree stays firmly in Wicker Man territory in that no overt divine intervention or miracles overtly occur. This begs the question: is Plutus actually granting favour? Depending on the answer radically changes the subtext of Chopping Spree.
Overtly, Chopping Spree shows the ends of the process: it is a contemporary setting book, with a hugely successful mall, which in reality, is hard to fathom as the mall has been a dying concept. Yet, here it is, alive, well, and extremely successful in Chopping Spree. For this end to happen, only one of two scenarios can be true:
A: The mall is successful because capitalism and the invisible hand of the market has actually granted it success. Despite all odds, this mall in Eden Prairie flourishes because of consumer want. If this is the case, that means (much like in TheWicker Man, where the destitute crop harvest is attributed to poor volcanic soil), that Plutus does not exist and therefore is not granting favours, and the cultists are simply murderers.
B: The mall is successful because of the (unseen) intervention of Plutus. This means that the cultists spewing of capitalist slogans and Locke quotes is hypocritical. The laws of capitalism have spoken and have determined that the cultists/their mall should fail, so the cultists must turn to corrupt/criminal/occult activities in order to survive. They are capitalists only when it benefits them. As soon as it does not, capitalism is just veneer they overtly tell the world while inside they are hypocrites and murderers. Which, perhaps on the path of creating a plutocracy, is expected.
Finally, Chopping Spree engages with the synthwave genre, albeit in a slightly different manner than genre expectations. Post Stranger Things, Drive, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, 80s retroism is big. Today, there are many stories that are set in the 80s and embrace the visual hallmarks of the genre: VHS tracking artifacts, VHS rental box recreations, neon pink and purple vector gridlines, the broken sun, palm trees, and so on. Chopping Spree eschews these genre tropes: it is retroism without being retro. The story is contemporary and not a period piece, yet it has 80s call backs that readers enjoy seeing in their retro texts, specifically the slasher and mall aspects coupled with the novella’s various name droppings of various 80s synthpop and new wave hits (such as Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” and Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon”). The 80s mall initially feels out of place in the story: why have an 80s throwback mall in the present day? Firstly, it is the 80s mall that helps ground the story in retroism, but secondly, and surprisingly, the 80s mall couples extremely well with the neo-peplum genre. If one is going to venerate Plutus, what better way to do so than with a mall, which of course, is a modern interpretation of the Agora. As to why specifically an 80s mall? The 80s (and early pre-internet 90s) was when the mall was at the zenith of its cultural dominance, and as the people of antiquity erected statues and created art to celebrate their deities and empires at their height, so too do the Plutus cultists seek to celebrate the mall at its peak.
Chopping Spree does not just feature a mall, it also acts as a literary mall of genres. Just as one can enter a mall and walk by different offerings: the sports store, the clothing store, the pretzel restaurant, and the bookstore, one reads through the pages of Chopping Spree and are treated to various horror subgenres, and differing genres in the form of pepla and retroism. The novella is successful in this regard, successfully blending genres while at the same time both embracing and subverting genre expectations to create a fun and frightening experience.
2024-04-21 – Addendum
The Unnerving Press edition of Chopping Spree is out of print. However, a new, updated editing with a brand new cover is being published by Dark Matter Ink on September 24th. The new cover art, by Dan Fris, looks like this:
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.
