SUMMER OF NIGHT SAYING GOODBYE TO L.A. BANKS O


n August 2, horror fiction lost Laurie Esdaile Banks (1959-2011), who died after a battle with late- stage adrenal cancer. Banks was best known to


horror fans as L.A. Banks, the pseudonym under which she wrote the majority of her genre output, including her popular long-running Vampire Huntress Legend series and the six-book Crimson Moon series. By her death, she had written more than 40 novels spanning multiple gen- res (horror, paranormal, romance and crime/suspense), numerous short stories (appearing in such cool collec- tions as the Dark Dreams anthologies, Dark Delicacies 2 and Hotter Than Hell) and even some non-fiction. Banks may have been felled by a rare form of cancer,


but in life she was quite a rare individual as well. Let me put it this way: name ten horror authors. Easy? How about ten female horror authors? Little trickier, right? Okay, how about ten African-American female horror au- thors? Didn’t think so. And that right there is what makes the loss of Banks so profound. She was a unique voice in a field that could use more unique voices – what Dave says in his sidebar to the cover story is true and doesn’t simply apply to zombie tales. All horror fiction must mine new territory if it is going to continue to be a vital part of pop culture, and the injec-


tion of different perspectives and ethnic viewpoints is ab- solutely crucial to its continued evolution. That said, we can only hope that Banks’ body of work and the recog- nition it won her (she was crowned Storyteller of the Year by the Essence Literary Awards in 2008) will encourage other women – from a variety of different backgrounds – to try their hand at writing horror. It’s a bit ironic that Banks’ death comes the same week


that a heated discussion about the importance of Women in Horror month exploded on the Rue Morgue blog, be- cause it’s obvious that horror is not yet an equal playing field for all genders, races and orientations. So while I agree that a good work should stand on its own, regard- less of who created it, I can’t help but think of all the unique terror tales we may be missing out on due to this unequal representation. Banks was one in the million, but she didn’t have to be. And while we’re reeling from the loss, let’s allow her work to be her legacy and use it (and celebrations such as Women in Horror month) to remind folks that there’s room for all types of voices within the genre. More than that, we absolutely need them. MONICA S. KUEBLER


RM56 T H E N I N T H C I R C L E Nothing beats the feeling of summer vacation stretched out in


front of you like a blank canvas, especially if you’re a twelve-year- old boy who spends most of his year cooped up in an ominously strange school that smells of coffin wood and 80 years of chalk dust. This is the mood that Dan Simmons conjures in Summer of Night, a mysterious, twisted novel about five boys in 1960s Elm Haven, Illinois, who witness the awakening of a slumbering arcane evil. On the last day of sixth grade, a young boy goes missing inside


Old Central School just as a wave of inexplicable wailing erupts from the building itself. The aforementioned quintet, which calls itself the “Bike Patrol,” decides to launch an investigation and begin to follow their main suspects – the school janitor, a teacher they have lovingly named “Double-Butt” and their principal Dr. Roon – all of whom seem to be somehow connected to the incident. Mysterious accidents, strange apparitions and burrowing beasts are just some of the mon- strosities the boys face as they load up their water guns with holy water and attempt to take on a force that could only have been sent by the Devil himself. Simmons manages to infuse each scene with tension and ominous overtones, even when


the characters themselves are more concerned with their next game of baseball. This mix of apprehension and nostalgia works well, inviting the reader to become ever more involved in the engaging locale and its evolving mystery. Summer of Night has spawned a few soft sequels since its original publication in 1991. As


with many authors of this calibre, Simmons builds upon his fictional universe over the course of several novels. If you are interested in continuing down this particular wormhole – and why wouldn’t you be? – A Winter Haunting, Children of the Night, Darwin’s Blade and Fires of Eden can all loosely be considered sequels, as they follow characters that you first meet in Summer of Night. Like Stephen King’s It, this novel has all the hallmarks of a modern classic. JESSA SOBCZUK


BIGFOOT WAR 2: DEAD IN THE WOODS What’s worse than a horde of angry Bigfoots ripping apart an entire


town’s population limb by limb? A Bigfoot massacre combined with a zombie apocalypse! It sounds crazy, but that’s what author Eric S. Brown levels against humanity in Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods. The book is a follow-up to Brown’s first man-ape-gone-wild tale, Big-


foot War, in which the small town of Babble Creek, North Carolina, learns that the legendary creatures are not only very real, but are also very pissed off after one of their brethren is killed. As a result, the beasts wage war against the town, brutally slaying the hapless residents until no one is left. Bigfoot War 2 picks up the story a few hours after the Babble Creek massacre, as the creatures’ rampage spreads further into the surrounding county of Jackson. As in the first book, Brown unfolds the “war” by telling it from the perspective of the various townsfolk who find themselves facing extremely deadly and powerful monsters. If that’s not enough, he gives the readers something new to chew on by working in a zombie twist. As the military seeks to contain the Bigfoot situation, they are confronted by another unexpected threat in the form of a virus that is transforming the war ca- sualties into the walking dead – regardless of whether they are human or sasquatch! There’s a fine line between cheesy and cool when it comes to Bigfoot, but Brown effectively


paints his creatures with a frightening realism. The beasts are intelligent, cunning and angry – extremely angry! – like man-apes on steroids ripping their way though the pages. The zombie angle, as well, runs the risk of becoming cliché, but in the context of this romping gorefest, Brown manages to make it creative and plausible. All in all, Bigfoot War 2 is a lean, mean, entertaining read. It offers plenty of fast-paced monster


mayhem, realistic characters, and enough blood and guts to fill a Bigfoot’s banquet hall. With the addition of the zombies, it’s a recipe that will no doubt satisfy any hungry gorehound in search of a fresh monster mash-up.


LYLE BLACKBURN


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