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Halloween Nasties

October 30, 2018 by A.S. Van Dorston

I realize we’re staring a real-life extinction event crisis directly in the eye, and the real world is scarier than pretty much any horror movie. Nevertheless, Halloween remains the best holiday, and should be treated as such. Why we weren’t rewarded with the third season of Stranger Things yet is a mystery. Perhaps they’re going to focus on Christmas this time around? Santa as a grotesque extra terrestrial invader from the Upside Down?

No matter, there’s plenty more TV, movies, books and music to celebrate the season. In 2016 I kicked off Halloween Nasties with the Fox TV Series The Exorcist, which started out incredibly promising, and very scary. There was even a great tie-in with the original movie, Geena Davis playing the Regan character. The second season was disappointing, and the show was canceled. This year we have something even more entertaining, as Netflix has gifted us with 10 episodes of the highly bingeable Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Based on Sabrina The Teenage Witch, an offshoot from the Archie Comics, it has more in common with Riverdale than the original Sabrina series. However, since Riverdale kind of sucks, I’d consider it a more watchable version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which had some funny, clever lines, but was also incredibly stupid much of the time. Interestingly, both Riverdale and Sabrina were written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who re-imagined Archie characters in the comics Afterlife With Archie, (with zombies!) and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. So far in the three episodes I’ve seen, CAOS is darkly clever, with excellent writing, and a perfect balance of humor and terror. Much better than other recent attempts at comic horror, such as iZombie. If you have time to burn after scorching through CAOS, I can recommend catching up on Preacher, a much darker, adult comic adapted to TV, written by Garth Ennis. While the comic nearly measured up to the works of Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, the TV show and it’s stellar cast actually ads texture and emotional depth to the story, a rare thing.

For more effectively bone chilling, existential horror, The Haunting Of Hill House, also on Netflix, looks like a terrifying choice. I’ve only seen the trailer, but am familiar with the classic 1963 movie.

The big acclaimed horror movies this year are A Quiet Place and Hereditary. which I’m sure are worth watching, I haven’t seen yet. Since I’m no fan of slasher gore and torture porn, I went back to 2001 for a more traditional haunted house story, The Others, starring Nicole Kidman as a mother trying to look out for her sickly children in a large spooky mansion, her husband MIA after WW II. Thanks to the fact that I somehow never read reviews or heard spoilers in the 17 years since its release, I was actually surprised by the twist. So I won’t spoil it for you either, other than it’s a satisfyingly atmospheric period piece that is more about unease and tension than absolute terror.

Going through lists of recommended Halloween movies, when I’m not a fan of slasher/gore, it’s slim pickings. I don’t mind kid-friendly movies that are well done, but stay far, far away from Disney’s Halloweentown (1998). Don’t be fooled by the participation of Debbie Reynolds, this is complete garbage — the writing, acting, costumes and production are what you’d expect if a small town community theater decided to make  a no-budget Halloween movie for 4 year-olds.

Grady Hendrix – We Sold Out Souls (2018)

Hendrix’s previous titles about a haunted Ikea and 80s period exorcisms sounded interesting, but before I got to those, I bought this the day it came out because, well, I’m a sucker for any fiction that incorporates heavy metal. Each chapter takes it’s title from a classic metal album, including Powerslave, Reign In Blood, Destroyer, Holy Diver, From Enslavement to Obliteration, Countdown to Extinction, High ‘N’ Dry, Theatre of Pain, Don’t Break the Oath and even Sleep’s Holy Mountain. Fun!

The hero Kris, was the lead guitarist for 00s metal band Dürt Würk who were on the verge of some kind of success when they broke up, and singer Terry Hunt left them in the dust as a solo star as Koffin. Since then her life went to hell, and things get worse when she visits another former bandmate with horrifying consequences. The subsequent story is basically a supernatural horror/thriller, and should please fans of the genre.

I had hoped there would be more gleeful celebration of metal, along the lines of a literary fusion of Tenacious D and the epic adventures in Hell depicted in Rick Spears and Chuck BB’s Black Metal comic book. This is not that kind of book. While there is some triumphant metal moments, it’s more of a tortured, anguished story about suffering, brutal violence and revenge. Of course, that’s pretty metal too. So while it’s not what I hoped for, it was a good, satisfying book, recommended reading for the Halloween season!

Hari Kunzru – White Tears (2017)

This was supposed to be my Halloween season treat, worth splurging the, to be honest, ridiculous full price for the digital Kindle version. I realize the chances were low that, just because there’s some kind of ghost story involved, it would be fun. This is contemporary literary fiction that has gotten some acclaim. That means it must have some heavy handed allegories about cultural appropriation, racism, inequality, with extra helpings of anguish. And indeed it delivered that and much more. Much too much.

It starts promising enough. Misfit nerd Seth meets wealthy trustafarian golden boy Carter Wallace at college. They bond over music, which leads them to living together, building a studio together and producing music. Seth is the engineer who samples ambient sounds around the city using a sophisticated homemade mic and parabolic reflector, while Carter becomes obsessed with collecting rare pre-WWII blues 78 records.

While I get the feeling that Kunzru came at the music geek culture from his research and not a participant, the short excursions into it are some of the most enjoyable moments in the book, ones I would look back at with nostalgia a hundred pages later.

I’d grown up listening to a lot of seventies progressive rock, songs about space travel and chivalry with frequent changes of time-signature and bombastic effects. As a teenager it had seemed superior to me, evidence of my intelligence. I had begun to listen to sixties psych and garage, inching backwards through the years, but at a certain point, I’d decided there were certain echoes I couldn’t afford to hear, so I made a run for it, away from human history and its dark places, into techno, the aural city on the hill. Here was a shiny sound-world made of pure electronic tones, in which I could float free of all context, cocooned in the reassurance that yesterday was long gone, or perhaps never existed at all….

Electricity is not digital. It does not come in discrete packets, but floods the air and flows through conductors and shoots from the hands of mad scientists in silent movies. If it is futuristic at all, it is a past version of the future, temperamental, unstable, half-alive.

Seth is weaned from his desire to look only forward with music when Carter convinces him it’s worth exploring its past. However, in their case, there’s no difference between exploring and exploiting. While recording chess players in Washington Square Park, Seth learns he somehow recorded a man singing a blues song, though he was not aware he did at the time.

Believe I buy a graveyard of my own
Believe I buy a graveyard of my own
Put my enemies all down in the ground

Put me under a man they call Captain Jack
Put me under a man they call Captain Jack
He wrote his name all down my back

Eventually they clean up the recording, add a ghostly guitar track that showed up on a separate occasion that magically fit, made up the name Charlie Shaw, photoshopped a fake 78 label and uploaded it to the internet. Interest among collectors spread like wildfire, as no on doubted its authenticity. One person in particular, JumpJim, seemed particularly alarmed by this record’s alleged existence, and frantically tried to contact them. Carter thinks they might be able to buy some rare records from him so Seth meets with him. Not much came of the meeting, since neither brought any records, but this is the point where everything goes sideways into a confusing fugue of violence.

In this story, essentially everyone’s a villain, or at least an asshole. There’s no character arc for anyone, only sexual jealousy (in a completely unnecessary sidestory about Seth’s creepy infactuation with Carter’s entitled, talentless artist sister Leonie), fetish for authenticity and a widespread tone-deafness about white privilege. In a flashback, JumpJim tells the story of a roadtrip he took decades ago to Mississippi with another collector, going door-to-door buying 78s that people might have tucked away, ripping them off of valuable treasures with mere pocket change. Here, the book does make a poignant point about cultural appropriation, white people essential stealing the cultural legacy of Black people right from their homes.

Kunzru makes some stylistic choices that I suppose are meant to distinguish White Tears as a risk-taking, edgy literary book. He doesn’t indicate which character is speaking, and eventually the reader spends much of the last part of the book bewildered about what is happening because Kunzru flips back and forth between time periods without being clear which is which. It’s intensely annoying and patronizing.

Without giving spoilers, the result is that everyone suffers — the characters and the reader. It’s pretentious, and presumptuous that we need to be taught a lesson. At one point someone, we have no way of telling if it’s Seth or Charlie, have a black hood put over him and he’s tortured and beaten senseless by police, told in excruciating detail. That’s essentially what the entire last half of the book does to the reader. Abuses and punishes us, and once we are taught our lesson, we hang our heads under the weight of guilt, seeing our denial for our culpability, the hypocrisy of our white tears.

It’s sad that there is much truth to the fact that many people are ignorant of our dark history. We may acknowledge the reality of our racist past, but gloss over the details of what actually happened. Such as the connection between Shaw’s fate in the industrial-prison complex and the Wallace empire that provided Carter and his family and by extension his sidekick Seth the material comforts of wealth and white privilege. That’s some depressing shit.

What’s completely lost in the book is the power of music, the good things that can come from it, from listening to the stories it tells and participating in the culture in a positive way. In the notes, Kunzru said, “One of my best guides has been Christopher King, a collector who lives in rural Virginia. An evening drinking bourbon in his listening room is a pleasure and a privilege.” Yet he thanks him by portraying all collectors as villains, evil vultures who don’t give a shit about music or the people who made it. That is only one part of the truth, and the failure to portray the complex truth of it is a major failing of the book.

Vivian Shaw – Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1, 2017) & Dreadful Company (Dr. Greta Helsing, #2, 2018)

Sometimes you have to dig deeper than bestseller charts for some good spooky fiction. Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft were not considered respectable during their lifetimes. It took decades for culture to catch up and give them the respect they deserve. Now I’m not saying I’m discovering the next Lovecraft here, but among self-published genre fiction, there’s some excellent writers who don’t feel they have to have pretensions about their writing being symbolic of deeper meanings. A good story can be rewarding in and of itself. There are a number of writers who are taking characters from classic horror literature and repurposing them in hybrid mystery romances, and seem to be having a hell of a lot of fun with it. One of my favorites, Vivian Shaw, came from a fan fiction background, and I look forward to seeing her grow and evolve.

Dr. Greta Helsing’s London is modern, with occasional references to modern cars (Mini) and technology. Otherwise it feels out of time, like it could be anytime in the past century. Part of it is because much of the story takes place in the formidable yet cozy mansion of her friend, a 400 year-old vampire named Lord Edmund Ruthven who loves to shop. 34 year-old Helsing has a medical practice that treats non-humans (barrow-wights, banshees, mummies and a baby ghoul) who would be considered monsters to outsiders if they even knew they existed. But to Greta they’re just people. In turn, her core group of friends include Ruthven, a lunar vampyre named Sir Francis Varney, and an accountant named Frederick Vasse, known to intimate friends as the demon Fastitocalon, a fiend from Hell, or at least used to be “before a management shakeup in the seventeenth century.” Then there’s August Cranswell, a human who works at the British Museum and asks many awkward questions. Don’t mistake her alternative Addams Family as cartoonish however. For all the droll humor (with some nice nods to Hitchhiker’s Guide and Monty Python) found in the dialogue, there are evil doings afoot, and some relatively dark scenes.

A group of supernaturally juiced monks with glowing blue eyes and unusual cross-bladed daggers laced with a mysterious substance poisonous to most supernatural creatures are killing humans and monsters. Varney is one of the latest near victims who Greta nurses back to health. Together, they solve the mystery of who, or what, is controlling the monks and giving them power.

What may indeed be considered a cozy mystery series, is enhanced by a really interesting core group of characters who have a wildly diverse range of backgrounds, stretching back millennia. A theological discussion reveals the Devil is named Samael, and could appear in various forms, from a 30 foot white snake to gorgeous, louche human in a white suit. Will he make an appearance? Read and find out whether there really is a day spa in Hell.

The first book of the series, we get to know the ensemble of characters and fall in love with them, the mystery almost seeming like an intrusion. My main (minor) quibble would be that the titular character Greta, may be the least interesting of the lot (aside from the hapless Cranswell). Yes, she experiences a bit of an arc going from a single workaholic to a workaholic with an enriched life with close friends and possibly a love interest. But I’d like to see more.

A very satisfying follow-up to Strange Practice, the second in the Dr. Greta Helsing series takes place in Paris. Shaw’s writing is economical, keeping the action brisk while also managing to fit in plenty of literary and cultural references. The complex homage to Phantom of the Opera is particularly impressive. It makes me want to research more about the famous catacombs of Paris. On the surface, this may look like a lot of urban fantasy/mystery/romance hybrids, but this is definitely the cream of the crop. So far so good Ms. Shaw, more please!

Theodora Goss – The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1, 2017) & European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (Athena Club #2, 2018)

Like the Dr. Geta Helsing series, Theodora Goss takes liberties with immediate families of literary characters. Set in 1890s London, Mary Jekyll is alone after her father, Dr. Henry Jekyll, died 14 years ago, and her mother went mad and passed at the beginning of the story. On the verge of being destitute, a mysterious bank account leads her to discover a sister, Diana Hyde. She eventually collects other misfits with unusual pasts, including Catherine Moreau, Beatrice Rappaccini, and Justine Frankenstein, all daughters of scientists who were part of a secret society Société des Alchimistes. Together they form a unique alternative family.

While these literary figures borrowed from Stevenson, Wells, Hawthorne and Shelley might seem an awkward mash-up (Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson even get in on the action), Goss creates a cohesive story that’s compelling, original, haunting and whimsical. And while the mystery might seem confusingly complex, the pace moves briskly. While the book is mainly written in the voice of Catherine, notes from the other characters are often interjected in the text as if they are all in a room arguing about their different perspectives. It’s an unusual device that at first is annoying because it happens before the reader has even been introduced to all the characters. But further in the story it does help establish their unique personalities and voices.

While set over 120  years ago, the book takes an enlightened approach to issues like feminism and gender that ironically still challenge and confound people today. The women of the Athena Club self-identify as monsters. If only our real, present day monsters were like them.

Gail Carriger – Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1, 2013)

I only discovered this series last month when I saw a friend reading it via Goodreads. I bought the set digitally because it was on sale, and had a couple other things to read first. I was all set to read it after I finished Vivian Shaw’s Strange Practice. Coincidentally, there was a preview of Soulless at the end of tha book! What are the odds? Or was it fate engineered by supernatural forces? Given the similarities of the two — supernatural mysteries with classic literary monsters and strong female leads, it’s not that surprising.

I’ve seen wildly varying responses, with criticisms mainly being that it’s not the book that some wanted it to be. There is darkness, danger, and a fairly good mystery. But Carriger is also interested in making this believably set within the Victorian era. This means Alexia, the 26 year-old “spinster” whose mother “put her on the shelf” (rather than on the market for marriage) because she was too tall, with too big a nose, too curvy and too dark (her dead father, was, gasp, an Italian), has some limitations, and is not exactly a superhero kicking ass. Put down by her family and society, she has self doubt, while all the same being bold, brave and more intelligent than nearly everyone in her sphere except perhaps for her 400 year-old gay vampire bud. Then there’s Lord Maccon, alpha werewolf and head of a secret branch of supernaturals that reports directly to the Queen of England. She and Maccon spar throughout much the book with some of the wit of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, but with a bit more slapstick comedy involving incidents such as a hedgehog in the crotch. Alexia was also born without a soul, which gives her touch the power to neutralize abilities of supernatural creatures. This makes her formidable in some ways, but a target in others.

Some people have a problem with the romance portion taking equal part with the action in the second half of the book. While it’s not my usual bread and butter, it’s well written and executed, and pretty sexy in fact. It’s such a cliche that that sort of thing is only meant for women. The fact that ridiculous notion survives in 2018 goes to show that we have a ways to go to evolve beyond the Victorian era, let alone the dark ages.

Yes, it’s fairly light reading, though there are some dark moments indeed. But in its own way, nearly flawless. I’ll be reading the rest of the series for sure.

Slasher Dave – Frights (20 Buck Spin, 2018) + more horror synth

What’s a Halloween without a new release from Acid Witch’s Slasher Dave? Frights is his fourth solo full-length of horror synth. While it may not be quite as consistently engaging as Spookhouse (2013), it’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of John Carpenter, Goblin or the avalanche of recent horror synth artists such as Dance With The Dead, Stieglitz, Daniel Davies, Isidor and GosT.

Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Hymns (Suspect/Pirates Press)

Hailing from Bendigo, Australia, Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows aren’t the first band from Australia to explore Western noir and bluesy Americana (Birthday Party/Nick Cave, Scientists, The Moodists, Crime & The City Solution, The Dirty Three). However, their approach using heavy desert psych gives it a unique flavor, resulting in a slow but relentless creepy crawl that oozes menace and eerie atmosphere. Now this is a bandwagon I wouldn’t mind other bands hopping on, complete with guns, peyote and decomposing bodies.

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Wasteland (Rise Above)

Kevin Starr is a reclusive character who’d rather let his music do the talking, which is why for years there were no images of him and even live you could barely see him underneath his hair. Heck, I didn’t even know his name until shortly before their third album was released. Since then he’s relented to a few interviews and pictures, but is clearly happiest immersed in his sound worlds. That’s to all our benefit, as we get to enjoy the fifth installment of a really consistent run of great albums. A few years ago I positioned them as perhaps the epitome of psych noir in Kaleidoscopes & Grimoires: Psych Noir, and the proof has manifested in several bands who are clearly influenced by them (Ex: Satan’s Satyrs, Alastor, Alms, Magmakammar) . | Buy

The Exploding Eyes Orchestra – II (Svart)

What’s remarkable about this album is that these songs were recorded five years ago, at the same time The Exploding Eyes Orchestra recorded I. The alter-ego of Finland’s Jess and the Ancient Ones, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between the albums released by the main band. The songs are good enough to have easily been another admirable JATAO album. They’re just that prolific that they were okay just letting these gems languish for several years. Maybe they should branch out from occult psych prog and write songs for stars like Pink and Beyonce. I bet they’d make this crippled world just a little better.

Windhand – Eternal Return (Relapse)

I’ve been a fan of Windhand’s floor-shaking stoner doom from the beginning, but I admit, some of their longer songs don’t just lumber, they ooze. If you’re not in the patient state of mind to watch molasses, it can get boring. The band must have clocked folks nodding off at shows, and switched things up on their fourth album. Not only are the some quicker tempos and changes, but there’s even hooks, many of which remind me of bits from the grunge era, like early Nirvana and Tad as filtered through Snail, and a bit of the soulful, bluesy vocals of the late Mia Zapata of the Gits. The result is my favorite album that’s seen heavy repeated rotation on my playlists all month.

Castle – Deal Thy Fate (Ripple)

Castle has rated among my favorite touring metal bands since 2012, alongside more widely known and celebrated Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain and Windhand. Hopefully the Ripple label can help spread the word better than their previous four albums, which are all recommended by the way. The husband-wife team are true road warriors, so chances are you’ll have a chance to witness their glorious chemistry in person.

Alastor – Slave To The Grave (RidingEasy)

Swedish garage doomsters Alastor released two promising EPs last year. They definitely are down with being associated with Halloween, as they’ve timed the release of their first full length with the holiday. After a brief Swedish spoken intro, they get down  to business with the nearly ten minute long “Your Lives Are Worthless.” Once they’ve got their doom fuzz riffs sorted on the first few tracks, they make a kind of amazing departure on “Gone,” a melodic folk psych duet with a guest female vocalist, with a chorus that might haunt your dreams. The album ends with the 17:20 long “The Spider Of My Love.” Impressive!

Ripple music continues to be full of surprises (I highly recommend their $5/mo Bandcamp subscription, well worth it) with special Halloween singles from Sister Midnight (Steve Darrow of Sonic Medusa) with featuring two vampire themed covers, including Roky Erikson, and Salem’s Bend with their imaginary Italian horror soundtrack in single form “Carpentiere Rosso.”

Secret Chiefs 3 is an experimental avant art rock unit that’s hard to pin down. Their recent project Malkhut was part of John Zorn’s ten disc set, Book Beri’ah. Below is a reworking of their 2013 cover of John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” plus an arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ immortally bewitching black tone-poem for the undead, “Danse Macabre.”

Mansion – First Death Of The Lutheran (I Hate Records, Dec. 7)

Here’s an intensely foreboding video from the long-awaited album from Finnish occult psych noir group Mansion. Mansion have released a series of EPs since 2013, and already showed an impressive artistic progression that few bands achieve before their first full-length.

Alms – Act One (Shadow Kingdom)

The Necromancers – Of Blood And Wine (Ripple)

Magmakammer – Mindtripper

Nekromant – The Nekromant Lives (Ripple)

Spiral Skies – Blues For A Dying Planet (AOP)

Satan’s Satyrs – The Lucky Ones (RidingEasy/Bad Omen)

Happy Halloween!

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