Review: Literary Horror
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 27, 2013
Fowler’s collection of seven short horror stories was a complete surprise to me. Instead of the typical slash and gore fare, each story delved into buried places in the human psyche -- dark, tangled, yet completely human places. Each story was more about the inner torments of the characters than their external challenges. Not that there aren’t some horrific stories in there, like “You Kill Me,” where the survivors of an apocalypse must fight the walking dead as well as other survivors and the narrator of the story must come to grips with the fact that in some situations, there’s no way to win even if you do your best. Even if you love beyond all reason. Even if you would sacrifice yourself to save another. Sometimes, it’s not enough.My favorite story was “A Monster By Any Other Name,” where Jimmy, a little kid, is in the predicament of knowing things the adults around him refuse to believe. He warns them, but there’s nothing he can do but sit back and watch as reality rears its ugly head. I loved the premise of this one as it's easy to understand that frustrating feeling of trying to give others advice who just aren’t open to it.The stories are a rare blend of literary and psychological horror, certain to make you re-examine your views of what makes up true horror.