27 nasty stories by a very talented writer wasting much of his talent, alas. by "nasty" I don't just mean wall-to-wall gore and fucking, which would n27 nasty stories by a very talented writer wasting much of his talent, alas. by "nasty" I don't just mean wall-to-wall gore and fucking, which would not necessarily be an issue for me. these stories do have tons of gore and sex, and much that is graphically scatalogical as well. really sickening stuff at times. they also have a genuinely nasty sensibility: joyously juvenile, sniggeringly sadistic, viciously mean-spirited, not to mention misogynist and homophobic. I don't particularly admire contes cruel and so I didn't particularly admire this collection. yet it was all still... fun, in its way? McNaughton writes like writing is a breeze; he is almost casually masterful in his ability to toss off a cleverly ironic bit of dialogue or an elegant descriptive sentence, which can be startling when his tales are often so crass and so broadly horrific. and his narratives, even in the shortest of his short stories, are often surprisingly complex. he was an ingenious and very original writer. RIP!
there were three stories that I might read again. (in bold below.) the first two reminded me of his brilliant cult classic The Throne of Bones with their dark fantasy settings, plots that hinge on misuse of magic, and of course their cruel humor. the third is set in an aristocratic English milieu and is chock-full of clockwork automatons and sport-fucking.
okay time to take a shower, these stories made me feel unclean. so very nasty!
☢
"Conversion of St. Monocarp" - nasty Medieval body-switcher gets her just reward
"Nothing But the Best" & "Drink Me" - nasty body-switching wizard gets his just reward - twice!
"Interrupted Pilgrimage" - nasty Medieval illusion-caster gets his just reward
"The Hole" - nasty young voyeur gets his just reward
"Changes" - nasty normal reality gets turned into an even nastier abnormal reality
"Lovelocks" - nasty ninny in love gets his just reward
"Fantasia on 'Little Red Riding Hood'" - nasty author reimagines a classic fairy tale
"Water and the Spirit" - nasty warlord is the recipient of some nasty revenge from a dead water wizard; in the end, the nastier of the two will survive!
"Congratulations" - nasty tv grifter gets his just reward; nice witch is nice to her neighbors
"Why We Fear the Dark" - nasty cop is also a nasty cat
"The Disposal of Uncle Dave" - nasty husband is also a nasty toad
"Getting It All Back" - nasty parents falsely accused of sexual abuse by their nasty children; nasty daughter gets her just reward
"Undying Love" - nasty necrophiliac finally lays a live one
"Child of the Night" - vampire-seeking youth finds his questions answered by a nasty priest
"The Dunwich Lodger" - nasty motel manager versus his nasty father; abused wife meets nasty sorceror
"Annunciator" - cryo-frozen head awakens to a nasty future
"Rubber-Face" - nasty colonialist gets his just reward in the Congo; rubber magic is nasty magic
"Herbert West- Reincarnated" - nasty Herbert West finds new employment in nasty Nazi Germany; a nasty Jesus Christ is reanimated, nastily
"La Fille aux Yeux d'Email" - nasty English earl versus nasty French clockmaker; lots of nasty sex with a nasty countess and a nasty maid
"Star Stalker" - nasty supermodel hires some nasty cops
"Marantha's Tale" - nasty illusion-casting creature called a 'bog-losel' gets its just reward
"To My Dear Friend, Hommy-Bet" - nasty hack author receives a nasty fanzine and a nastier creature from a nasty amateur book reviewer. so much nastiness!...more
layers upon layers hidden in this thin, trim, tidy little work of Lovecraftian horror. pure nihilism, yet this sleek and snazzy number never bores, anlayers upon layers hidden in this thin, trim, tidy little work of Lovecraftian horror. pure nihilism, yet this sleek and snazzy number never bores, and is written with flair and wit. protagonist Amy expands upon her supporting role as survivor of the massacre of humans and dogs that ended the prior book and now takes center stage in her return to her hometown, 4 years later. it seldom bodes well to be the hero in a McNaughton novel. in less intelligent hands, she would have been portrayed as pure victim; the author instead gives her a lively, quirky personality, one that is defined by her solitary nature, the insecurities drilled into her by her now-deceased mother, and an sardonic, idiosyncratic perspective on her own life and the people in it. Amy is unimpressed by the urbane Satanist manipulating her, as well as by her co-protagonist, a true crime "reporter" who falls quickly in love with her and apparently thinks it is appropriate to run around shirtless with dickey under a cheap blazer. the book also features a fascinating couple, neighbors to Amy in the apartment complex built on top of a garbage heap slash graveyard: an insightful and slutty Marxist shacked up with a boyfriend who is both studly, bullying Neanderthal and ambitious, bookish aspirant to supernatural powers. there are fascinating layers to these two misfits who find themselves in over their heads. they may have to deal with manipulating poor Amy while trying to get over the latest traumatic sex & magic orgy gone terribly awry, but there are indeed worse things waiting for them (and Amy) when the graveyard one is living on top of holds a sadistic, long-dead sorceress eager to return to the world of the living and try on some new clothes. and by "new clothes" (her words, not mine), I mean "new human bodies" of course.
this is a sneaky, subtle, sly little novel. the Laughlins now live in an awkwardly converted mill, passed down generations to the mother in this familthis is a sneaky, subtle, sly little novel. the Laughlins now live in an awkwardly converted mill, passed down generations to the mother in this family of three. strange things are afoot: sensual yet horrible dreams featuring a beautiful woman plague and arouse father and son while the mother is figuring out her own life, and how much impact her cult-leader father has had on her. McNaughton excels in making all of them - and their neighbors, colleagues, and love interests - basically agreeable or at least very understandable people. and so it is a gradual process revealing the layers of disturbances beneath the surface, whether it's an obsession with the Lovecraft mythos displayed by the family lawyer, or a history of incest or a repressed desire for the same sex or actual powers displayed by the friendly and urbane Satanist next door, or most importantly, the subsuming of one character by his long-dead ancestor. the author's elegant but unpretentious prose makes the book move smoothly along, until we are in the middle of the novel's extended set-piece: a Halloween party that turns violent and horrific. and suddenly we are there, a light novel (in tone, at least) turned exceedingly dark, and then after the party we are suddenly in even deeper, down in the sub-cellar, in a battle taking place inside and out of the mental space, all the horror hinted at now made visceral, and all is madness and magic and murder, blood and guts and sadism, arcane books stolen and doorways smashed, bodies ripped apart, bones melting, everyone become victim or villain or both at once. and yet it still remains sneaky, subtle, and sly, as if the author always has still more tricks to play. it is like McNaughton was smiling when he wrote this, except that smile is not a very nice one.
the inhuman ghouls skulk about the graveyard at night, waiting for the humans to depart, scrambling atop the graves and scrabbling for purchase, tearithe inhuman ghouls skulk about the graveyard at night, waiting for the humans to depart, scrambling atop the graves and scrabbling for purchase, tearing the coffin asunder, ripping the rotting flesh from bone, slurping up the entrails and scooping out the brains, to relive the memories of tonight's tasty dish. the human ghouls would do the same, their heavy-breathing necromantic fantasies leading them to cemetery and tomb, to play with corpses, to dance with them, to copulate in now-emptied coffins, atop the drying fluids and writhing maggots. the sorcerer makes the dead alive again, he rapes and cavorts with his undead playthings. the living and the dead alike yearn for their one true perfect love, no matter the cost and no matter the body count. the young and the old alike live in the daydreams and nightmares of the dead, turned playthings. adventuresses and noblemen and woodcarvers alike shall be drawn into plots and magic and long-games played by Fate and other unkindly forces. shudder shudder toil and trouble/bodies burn and corpses bubble. and that's the synopsis!
I loved this horrible collection. Brian McNaughton exhumes the mind of Clark Ashton Smith to use as inspiration, his descriptions of a dark fantasy horrorland often voluptuous, a place of magic and monstrosities and little lives just tryin' to live their lives, you know? Don't judge them. McNaughton channels the spirit of Jack Vance in his prose full of dry nonchalance and sardonic wit, in his grouchy and self-absorbed characters trying to figure out who they are, or were, seldom looking at the big picture or the shape of the vaults they've trapped themselves in, rarely noticing paths of potential escape, instead making a home below. I smiled so much at the decadent cleverness, the cheerful audacity, despite the constant gruesomeness on display, the necrophilia and incest, brutality and morbidity, the dank festering horror of it all. a delightful book!
these are sometimes linked stories set in a bizarre and gothic, beautifully detailed fantasy world. I'm glad I didn't read this as a kid, it would have ruined me!
ladies, ever have that not-so-fresh feeling, a feeling of uncleanliness coming from the nether regions? the lovely and eerie Marcia and Melody, motherladies, ever have that not-so-fresh feeling, a feeling of uncleanliness coming from the nether regions? the lovely and eerie Marcia and Melody, mother and daughter, are quite familiar with that feeling. although in this case that not-so-fresh feeling is demonic possession and those nether regions are a gateway to hell. egads!
Brian McNaughton is rather a lost author. he won a couple prestigious awards for his ghoulish novel The Throne of Bones and has a bit of a cult following (I'm a proud member), but very little is said about him. sad! the man has talent. I hate to see good writing fade from public consciousness. if you are a horror fan who enjoys a style that is both classic and modern, that is often subtle and strange and ambiguous, you really need to read him. read him! my favorite McNaughton is the splendid, criminally unknown The House Across the Way.
Gemini Rising can be considered, I suppose, a rather familiar tale. one of satanic ceremonies, disturbing memories coming back to haunt the present, a demonic twin, ritual murders, a small town full of close-minded folk, a loveless marriage, and a dog named Lucifer who is more than he seems. but I don't mind familiarity, particularly when I am in a talented author's hands. he riffs on these familiar elements in enjoyable ways and the prose is always stylish . I didn't get a lot of narrative surprises out of this one but I did get that satisfying feeling of reading an expertly crafted tale that was short and brisk. the concept of the demonic twin who cannot find shape in our world was particularly well done. McNaughton also compellingly ties in satanic ritual with the Lovecraft mythos, which was a first for me in a horror novel and I appreciated the odd rightness of that. of course Cthulhu and his buddies are Satan and his crew. duh, mark!
sex and sexuality are central to this novel and are presented in striking, often graphic ways, moving from prosaic and unpleasantly honest to dark and horrific. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU CANNOT STOMACH RAPE SCENES. okay?
the novel was severely mistreated when it was first published under the ludicrous title "Satan's Love Child" in 1977: a bunch of pornographic interludes were tossed into the narrative to ramp up the supposed sexiness, ugh, and sell some books. the novel that I read clearly doesn't need those additions because it has plenty of sexuality present - disturbing and repulsive sexuality that would sit uneasily next to standard porn scenes. there's not a lot of sexy in McNaughton's sexuality.
Brian McNaughton is yet another lost, unsung author - a tragedy! although he did receive some recognition in his life, in the form of a World Fantasy Brian McNaughton is yet another lost, unsung author - a tragedy! although he did receive some recognition in his life, in the form of a World Fantasy Award for the story collection The Throne of Bones.
The House Across the Way - despite its faerie villains - is pure horror, set in the here-and-now. in many ways it is a precursor to Connolly's Book of Lost Things and Feist's rather feeble Faerie Tale. basically the story is about a few residents of a small college town learning how much the faerie world really wants to fuck over humans, in the worst possible ways. blood-sucking, co-ed murders, corpses walking, dreams of the future and the past, entrails strewn hither and thither, a sinister house-cum-demonic castle, a bizarre and upsetting faculty party, the Eldritch King and his vengeful but sometimes less-than-effective servants, a blind granny, a chase through dimensions and time, and a haunted playhouse are some of the items featured. the writing is fluid, equally at ease in detailing everyday details as well as clearly depicting the many supernatural, hallucinatory events. and dry, so very dry.
the elements that set this one apart from most horror novels are the structure of the narrative and the perspectives of the characters. the reader is plunged right into things - not in a way that inspires breathless page-turning, but rather one that keeps things constantly off-kilter: details parsed out slowly and ambiguously, versions of past stories differing surprisingly depending on the teller, the meaning of the events and mysteries surrounding the cast of players only becoming gradually clearer as events unfold. characterization is also fascinatingly conveyed: although the characters remain fully grounded in reality, they also exist on multiple levels, and somehow McNaughton is able to make them both very real and disturbingly mythic. another virtue: pulling away from the action or what may even seem like the climax of a key event, only to let that event be recounted through another character's perspective. the author is not afraid of graphic depiction, but even better, he is comfortable with meaningful ambiguity.
the first chapter, perfectly detailing a sad outsider's frame of mind and his disturbing transformation, is striking to say the least; the last three paragraphs - jaw-dropping, horrific. another chapter - a firsthand account of the long, terrifying night of a corpse that walks - is brilliantly unsettling and dreamlike, a grim and grotesque journey but also the second sympathetic portrayal of a terrible being's confused thought process. and another chapter, depicting the advent of a deadly home invasion while a blind grandmother struggles to come to terms with her simultaneous life in two different dimensions, starts out as compelling, almost amusing, and ends in one of the more gripping horror sequences that i've read in a while. the final struggle between granny and the Eldritch King is powerful, surreal, and really moving. the entire novel demands close attention and i found myself constantly flipping back and forth through the pages to re-read and puzzle over various clues and multi-leveled comments from characters. passive readers will not find much of value in the experience; i absolutely loved it....more
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