The World House by Guy Adams

NOTE: The World House was a free review copy provided to Luke Reviews by Angry Robot Books.


Between Trevis Powell’s Gran’s Secret, Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, the original anthology Death & Dishonour, and Call to Arms by Mitchel Scanlon, Luke Reviews has seen a bit of a Fantasy reviewing renaissance. When I saw The World House show up in my mailbox, I decided to keep it up. Guy Adams has created a bit of a name for himself with his popular tie-ins, and I was curious to see how his first creator-owned work turned out.

Miles, heavy in debt and on the way to a beating from the man he owes money, disappears from his living room and reappears in a house like no other, where he is immediately attacked by an ostrich, a raccoon, and a tiger. Or is he? And after the shock of his first room, he sets out to try to find a way home, gathering more of a crowd as he goes. Meanwhile, two other groups begin their treks through the house, all searching for a way home. However, the house is far more than just a house, and its darkest secrets begin to unveil themselves as each group falls into deeper and deeper danger.

Adams does a lot well with this one. He uses an above average number of characters, yet never lets them become alike enough to be confused, each with a distinct and important personality. He makes his house sufficiently moody. He plays with setting without forgetting that it is, indeed, a house. And the exploration of the house by the characters is the highlight of the book, with each group finding more bizarre rooms, each with an imaginative set-up that works far better than it would seem it should on first glance.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this one ends on a cliffhanger, setting itself up for a second book (like we saw in Kell’s Legend, another book out from Angry Robot, which has a sequel due out at the end of April). While this can be frustrating, as a sense of closure can be nice, this book does seem to wrap its initial plot up, all while leaving many threads hanging for the second novel, Restoration. And, like with Kell’s Legend, I refuse to miss the sequel.

8/10

Friday Night in Beast House by Richard Laymon

I am a huge Richard Laymon fan, and I suppose that should be taken into account when you read this review. However, it is undeniable that Laymon is one of the best overlooked horror writers of all time. His ability to make you care about his characters in a scant few pages, as well as his using violence to increase the horror (as opposed to the book reviewed before this one), and his original plots, make him worth reading every time. And his pinnacle of horror writing is the Beast House Chronicles, which started with The Cellar, continued in The Beast House, and for the most part wrapped up in the brilliant The Midnight Tour. However, Laymon wrote one more tale of Beast House, the long novella Friday Night in Beast House. Out only in limited editions or out of print since it first came out, it has finally come out in mass market paperback, and I dove at the chance to grab a copy. This new version of Friday Night in Beast House is a collection of two novellas, the title story and “The Wilds,” Laymon’s tribute to Algernon Blackwood.


Friday Night in Beast House: Mark likes Alison, and so when she agrees to go out with him, he doesn’t think twice about her one condition: he has to help her sneak into Beast House overnight. But what starts out as an innocent quest for young love turns into a grueling day of hiding and an even darker night of danger.

The Cellar, as the first book in the series, stands alone quite well. While The Beast House and The Midnight Tour are sequels, they very much stand by themselves, and are just as enjoyable with no prior knowledge. Each book acts as a separate chronicle in the history of Beast House, so while they may have one character become a minor character in a later book, no main characters overlap and each story is self-sustaining. Friday Night in Beast House, acting as a coda of sorts to the saga, doesn’t stand alone nearly as well as the others. While it could be read with no prior knowledge, a lot of the little details mentioned will be completely missed, and the climax of the tale would likely be a bit confusing without having read at least one of the books. This one is for fans of the series.

However, for those fans, this is a wonderful treat. Is it as gripping as the first three books? No. It does, however, serve as a nice wrapping up of the world of Beast House. One final adventure, more light-hearted than the others, with its own bizarre twist in the final, makes this a great look back at a great series. You get to see the beasts one last time, before the door is closed, and one of the best tourist attraction-type horror series ends. Very fun, and a great way to end the Chronicles.

“The Wilds”: After a rough break up, Ned heads out for a solo camping trip in the Lost River Wilderness Area. However, the longer he stays out, the more reclusive he becomes. As he embraces his wild side, a few people invade his solitude, and he strikes out for his freedom.

A theme that Laymon works on a number of occasions is having his narrator slowly devolve into an antagonist. This is seen to full effect in one of his longer novels, Island, but it is also worked at here. The character of Ned starts out as a very sympathetic character coming off hard times, and gradually changes into a violent creep as he loses himself to his wild ways. A very solid story, well written and realistically portrayed emotionally, this story is a winner.

This newest collection of Laymon’s work, although very brief, is a nice place to stop for a couple days. Especially for fans of Laymon’s other work, this one will give you both a nice return and cap to his greatest story, but also a fun, quick stand alone piece. The two novellas go together well, and after going through a number of longer books, make a nice change up.

8/10

The Hualapai Cycle by Jason Walters

After the great result’s from BlackWyrm’s previous book, Gran’s Secret, I couldn’t wait to dive into another book put out by them. The next on my shelf was The Hualapai Cycle by Jason Walters. This is a themed horror collection, focusing on horror stories taking place in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. I looked forward to diving in.


The series of stories in The Hualapai Cycle, while they could stand alone, are very much interconnected and inter-related. The first few stories (featuring a man who breeds monster dogs, and hunt for a legendary mountain lion, and a self-conscious horse) featuring some reoccurring characters, as well as one common theme: these stories aren’t really that good. While the second story, “Phat Albert,” had occasional moments when it was good, they were drowned out. After the third story, I couldn’t continue.

Each tale tried to use graphic violence instead of horror, and failed. While violence can be used with, and in some cases is inextricable entwined with, horror, when it is presented in the wrong way it doesn’t do anything to the reader. To add on top of that the absurdity of the stories, which were bizarre in all the wrong ways, and the collection falls to pieces. While some very neat things could have been done with the setting and reoccurring characters, it just wasn’t well meshed into something that could be enjoyable. I have a feeling I will steer clear of Jason Walters’ work from here on out.

1/10

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

NOTE: This review is brought to you in part by the kind donation of Luke Reviews site member Daniel Swiecki. Thank you, Daniel!


The third book in my look at Victorian genre fiction is Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is by far the shortest, but also most famous, book I’m looking at. While the story itself is a novella and thus not very long, I have the Norton Critical Edition, which gives very helpful annotations, particularly on words that have become archaic, or changed in meaning in the 125 years since the story came out.

Mr. Utterson is a local lawyer who happens to be good friends with both Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll, both of whom he has known since childhood. However, into their daily lives another man, Mr. Edward Hyde, becomes embroiled, and with each passing day seems to be more entwined than anyone ever suspected. And when Dr. Lanyon dies, Mr. Utterson is left with a complex web of terror that involves his dearest friend, Dr. Jekyll.

While the story itself may seem very familiar to modern readers, those who have never read the novella before will be in for a bit of a surprise. The story varies dramatically at times from that of popular legend. Stevenson’s characters feel incredibly real and human, and his evil Mr. Hyde becomes horrific not out of visceral violence and gore, but out of his deep uncaring for his fellow man.

An easy day’s read, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not just worth the time it takes to read it, but is far more than that. As far as early horror stories go, this one works because it relies not on the gross-out but on the psychological suspense. A wonderful tale.

9/10

On Writing Horror, Revised Edition edited by Mort Castle: Part 1

I am fascinated by books such as On Writing Horror, Revised Edition. As an author working on his craft and who isn’t widely published, one would think I get writing books to help me better my writing, and in part that is likely the case. However, the biggest reason is that they present a way to talk about writing with myself. An internal dialogue forms, and the interesting ideas the authors of this volume throw out makes for fun food for thought. As I normally read solely fiction, reading non-fiction is quite the cnage up, and so I decided to break up the book into pieces, and share it with you piecemeal while I stop to think about certain sections. This review will cover up through Part Three.


The forward gives a brief introduction to the Horror Writers Association (HWA). After an introduction to the text by editor Mort Castle, we dive in.

Part One (“Horror, Literature, and Horror Literature”) contains three essays, one each from Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and Michael McCarty, on what horror fiction is, and why it is important. Stephen King’s piece, a transcript from his National Book Award speech, takes the top spot in this section, giving a very human view of the whats and whys of horror fiction, as well as his personal inspirations.

Part Two (“An Education in Horror”) contains a series of essays by Robert Weinberg, Ramsey Campbell, Tom Monteleone, and Michael A. Arnzen on both what you need to know about the horror genre and how to learn it. Weinberg gives a list of 21 classics of the genre any writer who wants to write horror should read, while Campbell discusses genre clichés. The other two discuss workshops and college programs that emphasize creative writing. The second two weren’t as exciting, but Weinberg and Campbell make for very interesting reading.

Part Three (“Developing Horror Concepts”) begins to get to the meat of the book. The underpinnings of horror fiction and how to use them well are explored by J. N. Williamson (how to formulate your ideas), Wayne Allen Sallee (finding horror in the everyday), Michael Marano (writing about things that scare you), and Richard Gilliam (on the accuracy of historical detail). These items are things that can make or break a story, and all four authors break down their topics into very well described and uncomplex pieces. The Gilliam piece in particular has a lot of things to offer that the starting author likely wouldn’t think of.

The next part of the review of On Writing Horror, Revised Edition will delve into sections on the more nitty gritty details of horror stories and art and innovation in horror.

This book is far more than a “How To” book. It contains a plethora of ideas just waiting to be thrown into stories, and it will incite excitement in any author to dive into a new horror story. This new author looks very much forward to using the excitement generated from On Writing Horror, Revised Edition in his next horror story. More news to follow, both on that front as well as continuing On Writing Horror, Revised Edition.

The Next Ten (II)

Now that the first list from “The Next Ten” is wrapped up, it is time for the sequel, “The Next Ten (II).” There are some exciting things on the way. Below are the next ten (Title by Author (date of publication of edition read/publisher of edition read), but don’t forget that other little surprises will pop up in between. Enjoy!


On Writing Horror, Revised Edition edited by Mort Castle (2007/Writer’s Digest Books)


The Hualapai Cycle by Jason Walters (2010/BlackWyrm)


The World House by Guy Adams (2010/Angry Robot Books)


Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (2010/Black Library)


Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (2003/Harper)


The Holler by Marge Fulton (2010/BlackWyrm)


Edge by Thomas BlackThorne (2010/Angry Robot Books)


Flesh and Iron by Henry Zou (2010/Black Library)


The Breach by Patrick Lee (2010/Harper)


Millennium Falcon by James Luceno (2009/Del Rey)

Call to Arms by Mitchel Scanlon

NOTE: Call to Arms was a free review copy provided to Luke Reviews by The Black Library.

Of the admittedly small amount of Warhammer Fantasy fiction that I have read, I’ve seen elves and monsters of Chaos, demons and dwarves, but beyond some of the stories in Death & Dishonour, there has not been a lot about humans. Warhammer’s Empire Army series is rectifying that, putting out stand alone novels that focus on the soldiers of the Empire (similar to Black Library’s SF-nal Imperial Guard series). Call to Arms is the third book in the series, although they are all self-standing and don’t need to be read to enjoy the others.


Dieter Lanz is on his way to join with the 3rd Hochland Swordsmen, known as the Scarlets, when an orc army begins to march through the countryside. Arriving just in time to join the Scarlets in a crushing defeat, Dieter and his new comrades fight to stay one step ahead of the oncoming orc army, hoping to survive long enough to find a way to stop them.

Mitchel Scanlon begins his story with a bang, and the action never lets up throughout. His battle scenes feel realistic in their lack of romanticized maneuvering, and instead focus on the mindless pushing and surging of army against army. Dieter gets lost in the waves of battle, and only figures out what is going on after the confusion of combat dissipates. Fancy swordplay is not the mode of the day, but using what you have to stop your enemy any way you can.

Dieter, along with his companions Holst, Grier, and Gerhardt, are very well developed. In between battles soldiers tell stories, and we get to see a lot about each as they interact, along with how they think before, during, and after they fight. The ending is also well done, climaxing with a large battle, but not seeing the end of the war.

Scanlon crafted a wonderful novel with Call to Arms. While it is an entirely different story from The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade: Volume Two by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee, it sits up with it as the best Warhammer Fantasy and the Black Library have to offer.

9/10