Justina Malvern. When she eventually tracks them down, it culminates in a battle involving the state troopers, witches, a guy with a tree for an arm and a SWAT team – helicopter and all. This book also finally gives us the notorious back story


of the series’ villain, Justina. Turns out, she was already pretty evil during her human life. She not only got her dad to kill his brother on some hopped-up molestation charges, but she later whored out her own mother – all before meeting the vampire Vincombe, who completed her transformation into an unstoppable undead so- ciopath. The richness of this tale lies in its flashbacks, where


Wellington reveals all the moves Justina made in the previous novels to avoid termination by Laura and how all these pieces fit together. For the loyal reader, this is the blood-red cherry on top of the immortal sundae. It should come as no shock that the final showdown


is between nemeses Laura and Justina, but the body count is so high that you may find yourself questioning the point at which the end stops justifying the means. That said, if you prefer your vampires to be truly monstrous and the carnage to be gory and over-the-top, you won’t be disap- pointed with how Wellington wraps up his five-book yarn. Absolutely blistering. BRENTON BENTZ


THE FLAME ALPHABET Need proof that children are evil incarnate? Then look no further than The Flame Alpha-


bet, an unusual story from avant-garde writer Ben Marcus that depicts a dystopian society where the language and voices of children are physically debilitative to adults. Set in a small Jewish community in the suburbs, narrator Samuel and his wife Claire


have discovered the root of their failing health is related to their teenage daughter Esther. The mean-spirited girl, realizing her power, goes out of her way to drain the life from her parents as prolonged exposure to her vocal presence renders them increasingly gaunt, frail and unable to function. In her absence the couple begins to rebound, but they can’t bring themselves to be separate from Kid Kryptonite. Samuel desperately employs myriad electronic de- vices, seeks answers in pirate radio broadcasts and vaguely religious secret societies, and concocts home remedies – anything that might slow the ef- fects of Esther’s poisonous speech on himself and Claire, who is fast deteriorating. With the child-driven threat reaching epidemic proportions, Samuel sets out to create a new language that won’t sicken those who hear it. Given such a promising, nightmarish premise, it’s


disappointing that The Flame Alphabet’s synthesis of body horror and the “bad seed” subgenre is ham- pered by the dizzying amount of detail Marcus in- cludes, effectively rendering the ominous storyline somewhat obtuse. Add to it the slug-like pace at


which the guts of the story are rationed out and the inability to discern what information in a given chapter, if any, is vital to the plot, and you’re left with an intriguing but frustrating read. Yet it’s not hard to imagine that a stripped-down version of this novel could make a


glass-slipper fit for David Cronenberg to adapt into a film. Not unlike William S. Burroughs’ The Naked Lunch – as difficult a text as any, and one which Cronenberg successfully brought to the screen in 1991 – The Flame Alphabet runneth over with similarly arcane biological and technological language that is, if nothing else, endlessly inventive and uniquely descriptive. Should he straighten out, Marcus has the potential to be an important voice in whatever genre he chooses. For now, there’s a crippling irony in a story about the toxicity of language that’s ultimately less readable due to being excessively intellectual. TREVOR TUMINSKI


WEB OF FEAR I


t’s been years since I’ve had to actively seek out horror fiction – save for the rare tomes I wish to acquire for my library. It finds me, from the mounds of books that


cross my desk here at Rue Morgue to the unpublished pieces that appear in my small press’ inbox. While working on my own web serial, I recently discovered the robust reading/writ- ing community that thrives online. And I’m not talking about the professionals, but rather the sites that beckon to the yet- to-be-discovered and those who want to tell stories more for fun and feedback than for profit (yes, they really exist). Not that everything warehoused in these places is brilliant, but just like watching no-budget films, there are rewards for those who have the inclination to search out the gems. Let’s take a look at four such destinations and what they offer the horror fan.


Wattpad.com Heavily populated by teens and young adults, genre is a prominent fixture here in all its forms. The site’s message boards not only include forums for horror and fantasy, but also more specifically for vampires and werewolves. The community-driven voting/reads system makes finding quality tales less of a slog and the nifty mobile/tablet app is perfect for reading on the go.


Scribd.com More a file-sharing site than a writing community. Horror does not get its own category, meaning stories are split across “Science Fiction & Fantasy,” “Thrillers” and “Young Adult.” Using the site search for “horror” is not particularly helpful either as it only retrieves works that feature the word in the title, not in the tags. One plus: a lot of publishers such as Ran- dom House excerpt their new releases here, so it’s a decent place for sampling, if not consuming wholly.


Authonomy.com This HarperCollins-branded site is more about critiquing and prepping books for submission than reading for pleasure, though the works that appear on it tend to be more polished as a result. Horror has its own category, but many of the tales in it cross-pollinate with other genres. If you like the idea of helping to shape stories, this could be a good fit for you, though the writ- ers constantly begging for reads/backing can get annoying.


Figment.com Founded by an editor and a writer from The New Yorker, Fig- ment recently swallowed up YA fiction/critiquing site Inkpop.com and is a cross between Wattpad and Authonomy. Horror is well-represented and the site uses a rating system similar to that of Wattpad (hearts/comments) to direct you to more polished stories. Figment utilizes user-created groups for its community, and searching for “horror” dredges up roughly 25 of them dedicated to various topics.


Not sure where to begin? My favourite is Wattpad, as it’s fun, rewarding and easy-to-use for readers and writers alike, and the ability to subscribe to and download your favourite tales to your mobile device for quick access is a huge perk. And who knows, you might just discover the next Stephen King before anyone else does!


MONICA S. KUEBLER T H E N I N T H C I R C L E 51 RM


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64