eBook Review - Torment by Greg Chapman

Published by Damnation Books, Torment is a first time novella by Australian author and AWHA member Greg Chapman.

The Story

As a young child, Jessica witnesses the murder of her mother at the hands of her devout father in an exorcism gone wrong.  He escapes prosecution and returns to his native Scotland and Jessica is left in the hands of relatives.

Fast forward 25 years and Jessica, in an attempt to lay to rest her childhood demons, travels to Scotland to settle her father’s estate.  Jessica must come to to terms with the monster she pictures juxtaposed against a devout and kindly gentlemen the village people saw her father as. What awaits Jessica,however, is a test of faith, as her family’s lives and her own sanity is put on the line.

What I liked

Chapman makes good use of flashbacks to the days after the death of her mother in order to quickly generate  empathy for the protagonist and to set the tone for the rest of the piece.  We are led to believe that her father was a madman, unable to handle his wife’s mental illness.

I also liked the scene where her son, alone in one of the rooms in the mansion, is contacted by an entity through his iPod.  This was the only part in the book that I began to get a slight chill.  Perhaps it’s to do with the use of the modern/technical by the spirit world, the invasion of our safe, ordered, structured world in such a subtle way that gave me a shiver.

Some slight annoyances

Perhaps I have watched too many episodes of Escape to the Country or Grand Designs, but I was thrown immediately by the mansion being described as having wooden steps leading up to the main door(I’m fairly sure that Scottish Mansions of built in the 1850’s would have had stone or slate steps).  A small thing, perhaps, but then in a novella it’s important to get small things right when you are trying to establish a certain ambiance.  This and a few other ill fitting word choices niggled at me.

Summary

I have spent a couple of days considering this piece to determine if its had a fairly hard run against my own biases.  I’m both an atheist and a skeptic, which while it doesn’t rule out my enjoyment of theologically based horror fiction, it does mean that the work has to be a bit unpredictable, or do the unexpected for it to tap into my psyche and give me a jolt.  I found the ending a little cliché – Jessica is saved by her faith, all she has to do is pray really hard. With my biases firmly in mind then I find that  Torment is good stock standard ghost/possession story with some promising passages. I’ll be keeping an eye on Greg Chapman.

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eBook Review - Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity by Shane Jiraiya Cummings is the second book that I have read in Shane’s Apocrypha Sequence series.  As Shane mentions in the foreword to each, some of these stories are found in other works. 

The idea of producing the Apocrypha series was to collect works thematically.  The works in Insanity are an ‘exploration of the human mind as it is pushed to breaking point.’

 

The Tales

1. Ian - The tale of a young women, brought up in an isolated and strict home in the wilds of Tasmania, every man she meets is named Ian.
2. Stop – A story that blends horror with being stuck in traffic
3. Itch- Ever had the urge to scratch just a little bit harder, or to enjoy that fine line between pleasure and pain. Itch takes the idea further
4. Song of the Infernal Machine – The relentless hum of the machine drives some to madness
5. The Black Door – A Hitchcock-esque tale of persuasion.

Favourite

I’d read three of the stories in this collection before, in Shards. It was, however,  Ian that messed with my head the most and thereby takes the title as my favourite.  It’s so maddening crafted that by the time that I got to the end of the story I began to feel sympathy with main character and dread the name Ian.  Shane displays very good use of repetition to develop a sense of unease in this piece. Itch was interesting, and maddening, as I read it while suffering from an a particularly persistent itch myself.  The power of suggestion?

Summary

In terms of the series I prefer Insanity over Divinity, it’s more psychological and suggestive horror, easier to suspend my disbelief and get drawn into the story. The collection has a distinct twilight zone or weird tales feel to it.

eBook Review - Apocrypha Sequence: Divinity by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Apocrypha Sequence: Divinity is another packaging of Shane Jiraiya Cummings short fiction and is included in his ‘Grand Experiment’ which you can check out here.

This book was provided by the author free of charge.

In Apocrypha Sequence: Divinity, the reader is treated to 5 short pieces of fiction (some of which can be found in his collection Shards) that are thematically linked with the concept of Divinity.  Indeed all the Apocrypha Sequence titles are constructed in this way i.e. they are themed.

The Tales

As the title indicates the stories all centre on the divine.  Cummings offers a diverse selection for the reader up first is a tale of Ancient Egypt.

In Sobek’s Tears the story centres around an Egyptian general pursuing the Hebrew slaves.  Its a tale of revenge and the extent to which one man can be prepared to go to carry it out.

The Virgin in the Mist(which appeared in Shards) was an interesting take on holy visitations.  It might make the religious think twice about hoping for an appearance from the Virgin Mary in their bathroom mirror.

Memoirs of a Teenage Antichrist was another tale that I had read previously.  A funny piece in the tradition of Adrian Mole with a dash of Good Omens. The diary of the teenage Antichrist as he comes into his powers.

Blasphemy on Eight Wheels  is fast paced military action, terrorists and transportation of dangerous cargo.

Genesis 6 was another story I had read in shards and presents us with the concept of another biblical catastrophe/genocide at the hands of Yahweh and the idea that all is not well in Heaven.

What I liked

It was hard to pick a standout story in this offering.  I’d previously read 3 of the stories so their impact was possibly lessened.  The humour present in Memoirs… probably puts it in front as the best of the bunch.

What I Didn’t

Nothing to dislike here. 

In Summary

A good buy if you are interested in reading  religiously themed horror writing - though there’s not much that is too horrific in this collection.  Cummings plays around with common tropes associated with divinity giving the reader some interesting twists.   Good concepts and a good value read  – currently available at 99c from Smashwords.

 

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