WriterLaird Barronplunges his razor - crisp snout deeply into a Lovecraftian vein , with nine stories of brain - melting cosmic revulsion inThe Imago Sequence .
I do n’t scan much repugnance , but I enjoy it when I do ; I love the Great Old Ones such as William Hope Hodgson andH.P. Lovecraft , there ’s Clive Barker of course , Joe Lansdale and Dan Simmons have some powerful material too . I ’ve recently pick up Joe Hill and am entranced by his style . ( I understand his father has written some books as well . ) When a revulsion story really works for me , I throw the book against the wall with a shriek and hide behind the lounge . Then , tremble , and in rent I crawl across the level in supplication and pick up where I left off . Laird Barron does this to me .
It seems the ripe repugnance conveys an utter hopelessness against the Unknown . All the broad arcane traditional knowledge , mad skills , or big guns we might have is futile against that which lounge in our incubus . Lovecraft ’s Cthulu Mythos is fabled for its immense eldritch divinity brim with power , but broadly speaking unmindful to humanity ’s petty action . Woe betide the hapless mortals who opened the wrong Christian Bible or wandered through an innocently shambolic ruination . Like Lovecraft , that Eskimophobic shut - in from Providence , Mr. Barron ’s tales peel back the flimsy facade of reality and the Universe suddenly boil over in maggots , chitinous genitals , and bite eyeballs .
Although clearly a scholarly person of the master ’s topic , Barron has his own vox , which is about as far forth from H.P. ’s ill-tempered antiquarian style as you’re able to get . The authorship in The Imago Sequence has been hard - boiled in mescaline , like Jim Thompson spark off his ball off . Rather than take in Lovecraft ’s bestiary of unpronounceable space deity , Barron has devised his own collection of creepy beast . One major but as yet unobserved digit is the malign entity that some adoration with the name Belphegor . In at least three of the stories he use an interesting root word of Lovecraft’s : Scary Old People . They could be a symbol of ancient cognition and the and the at hand destiny that awaits us all , or just childhood memories of having to osculate despicable Great - Aunt Mildred . Either way Barron reminds us to respect our Elders , otherwise they will eat our brains .
Many of the stories take place in the present day in the American Northwest particularly around Olympia and Eastern Washington province . There are some illustrious exceptions . The antecedently unpublished “ Procession of the Black Sloth ” is a bleak disorient downslope into Hell coif in Hong Kong . A grizzled Pinkerton agent tracks down a vicious slayer to a Gold Rush township in “ Bulldozer ” , it could be described as Cthulu in Deadwood . “ Hallucigenia”is about a wealthy man endeavor to come to clasp with a bizarre and horrible incident that has go forth his biography shattered . It made me think of the best of Clive Barker , only better . The title story merit to hang up in the same nightmarish gallery as “ The Picture of Dorian Grey ” and “ Pickman ’s Model ” . “ The Imago Sequence ” is a notorious trio of photographs sought after by rich and gonzo collector . One of these sends his agent , an x - grappler change state kneecap - break debt collector , to hunt down the mysterious third image . His investigation uncovers a labyrinth of confederacy , crime , and macabre religious cult , or something even worse .
No wan , scholarly wonk here . Barron ’s champion are often bounteous Tough cat . These bruisers have seen hard time and done whatever it takes to survive them . Of course this ca n’t organise them for what the author has in store for them . From each opening line you know these guy cable are Doomed — but you ’re compelled to keep abreast them to their fate . And readers really will feel for them . These are n’t cooky - cutter macho sketch goons . Each one is a nuanced and complex graphic symbol with interesting backstories . manpower who struggle to make sense out of a world that ’s bigger and more dangerous than they realized , and then they end up in a Laird Barron account . Tragic really .
The imagination in The Imago Sequence is especially pictorial . Barron ’s speech can be disturbing brutal , but always quite lyric . He cites the poet Wallace Stevens as another influence . He claims to be working on a novel and I make love for a fact his publisher is eagerly await it . I am too . repugnance fans will enjoy these creepy-crawly , terrifying and beautiful tales of damnation . Certainly dash the crap outta me and I liked it .
you’re able to buy The Imago Sequence fromNight Shade Books
orsupport your local independent bookseller .
Commenter Grey_Area is known to the senseless gibbering dancers as Christopher Hsiang . He is kip with the Inner Light on although he knows it will be of no help when They issue forth for him .
book reviewHorror
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