Pages

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Shattered by CS Kane...great horror debut :)

It has been a real pleasure to read this novella by a new and most certainly upcoming author in the horor/dark fiction genre. The story is essentially a haunted house tale, a young couple Stacey and Liam move into No. 24 Claremont Street a building with an evil and sad past. Stacey is particularly disturbed in this new environment and is experiencing frequent and violent dreams. So what makes a good horror story? We have a fast and well paced narrative that grabs the readers attention from the start and refuses to relinquish and in doing so we make the acquaintance of an eclectic mix of characters including Jake Clarke heartless realtor agent, Nora Aiken concerned neighbour with a story to tell, and Doctor McCabe a medical practitioner with a mysterious past....they all add to and make a very colourful spectacle as the story unfolds. The author smoothly blends 24 Claremont Street's bloody past with events happening in the present and it becomes clear that Stacey's life is in imminent danger. An intelligent reader also demands a memorable, poignant and thoughtful conclusion and it is here that CS Kane has excelled. As events draw to a close in just one paragraph the unexpected happens and the threads of the story are expertly drawn together. The "novella" presents different and at times difficult constraints for a writer who must create and conclude a story within a limited time frame. CS Kane has shown in "Shattered" that she is one capable and exciting new author and I look forward to her future publications.

Friday 15 November 2013

A life too short...the tragic story of Robert Enke

"People wondered why he saw everything in such a negative way, why he couldn't pull himself together. They didn't understand that he was powerless in the face of it. He could no longer control it. His brain function was altered; synapses inside his head seemed to be blocked. He found it hard to concentrate from day to day" This is such a depressing and yet a very important book to read as it deals with depression and the effect it has on the everyday life of the sufferer and his family. I have read this book and yet I still fail to understand why someone with so much to live for, someone who in material terms had a very successful career, could so easily take his own life. The author successfully argues and demonstrates through the sad life of Robert Enke that depression is an illness so misunderstood by the callous money grabbing society we as humans have chosen to create, it can strike at anybody and when it does the results are devastating. I cannot say I enjoyed this book, and I cannot say I fully understand how anyone could end it all by walking in front of a speeding train....but I am glad I read the sad words and images contained within it's pages and hope that in future I may have more understanding of a devastating state of mind.

Monday 11 November 2013

Burning the midnight oil.....

Allan leverone has managed to blend what is essentially a simple story into an incredibly exciting read. Cait was seperated from her twin Milo at birth and all her life has been plaged by images or "Flickers" as she prefers to call them. Milo is similarly affected but his images have much more senister undertones "He hated the visions, wished for the millionth time in his miserable life he could be a normal guy with a normal brain, unencumbered by the enending onslaught of mental pictures and snippets of the thoughts and conversations of strangers. Then maybe this compulsion to hunt and torture and kill would disappear. Maybe he could finally achieve some peace. Maybe." Cait, in an attempt to understand her strange affliction, resolves to find her estranged mother Virginia Ayers and closely assisted and accompanied by her understanding boyfriend Kevin embarks on a journey of discovery north from her home in Tampa..a journey that will alter her life forever. In the meantime Milo "Mr Midnight" is engaging in some rather unsavoury activities and soon their paths will cross in a violent and bloody conclusion. This story just rattles along, demands to be read in one or two sittings and concludes in a very satisfactory and surprising manner. It's good to read a horror story that starts well, continues at a great pace and finishes in an unexpected manner.