It Was... Vaguely Blunt?

My mom has been attending writing conferences for a few years now. Remembering my strange obsession with Horror, she’s usually brought me back a few books to check out. One of them was Vanish by Tom Pawlik. Unfortunately, I never got around to reading it. By the time I had the time to read it my mom had given it to someone else.

I wasn’t too heart broken, because later on I bought it on my Kindle.

Yet… As usual, that didn’t help much and I never ended up reading it.

Finally, my mom (once again) came to the rescue, bought me another copy of the Vanish, which ultimately convinced me I needed to read this book.

Three short days later, I had.

If you’re following me on Twitter, you would have seen that what did break my heart was having to put the book down to sleep and eat. I mean, I know people miss those basic actions all the time. But if anyone has ever seen me running on a lack of sleep or food… They’d have no option but to agree that I should never miss those basic necessities.

Even with my mandatory breaks, I don’t think I’ve been that addicted to a book in a long time.

Vanish begins in Chicago. Conner Hayden, a high-end lawyer, starts his day feeling just a little strange and it only gets worse from there. After recent events, Conner is only trying to make life as normal as he can. While he thinks he may be doing at least a decent job, the world around him begins to seem like an extremely different place.

I felt a little silly because I honestly could not figure it out until Pawlik revealed what was going on. I had my guesses (and I think at one point I did guess the right answer) but I was so unsure I didn’t allow myself to think I was right. Then my mom asked, “Have you figured it out yet?” I panicked for moment thinking, have I missed something? Did I skip over some giant clue that was obvious to everyone else who’s read it?

I calmed myself by saying, “Eh, he’s gotta tell me at some point.”

This book is good because it’s a new look at something people have been guessing about for centuries. As usual, I don’t want to focus too much on the plot because that’s the magic of books, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

So in this review, I’ll try to stay on track and discuss Pawlik’s writing. What this review contains is my personal experience with the book; I picked out what made the story good for me. Mainly because I’m a little stuck for what to say about it.

Pawlik is certainly good at creating last-minute twists. The type of twists that haven’t truly been developed throughout the entire book. But show up randomly and throw off any stability you had managed to aquire. Then, looking back, you’ll see that there was that one small, tiny clue a few chapters back. However, the hint was hidden so well you didn’t bother to think much of it.

When reading Vanish I would have to say do not get too comfortable in one reality. It’s bound to change in the next chapter.

I appreciated one moment of description in particular. Authors use analogies, metaphors, similes, and other tricks to describe characters’ emotions and thoughts. 

A lot of them work, some crash and burn, and others just make perfect sense.

In Vanish (don’t worry, I’m only going to tell you the description side of the analogy), Pawlik has Conner think over an experience and recall it as getting into your own car after having used a rental for a while. Pawlik writes,

“His head was spinning as he tried to make sense of the images he had seen. No, they weren’t images. They were real. He had felt like a stranger in his own body. It was thick, awkward, and cold. Yet it had an odd familiarity, like the sensation he would have after driving for a long time in a different car, only to return to his old vehicle. It was familiar though still a little awkward.”

When you read Vanish, you’re probably going to do the same thing I did. Be amazed at how this simple analogy works so perfectly. In the context of the scene and the experiment, it made absolute sense. It feels silly to highlight this one little piece, but for some reason it stood out to me as I read.

Besides the best placement for analogies and metaphors, Pawlik’s use of doubt created, for me, the need to keep reading. Readers watch characters, who are hiding from their unrevealed pasts, put in a position where all they can do is face the truth. Truth about themselves, the world, and their current predicament. Vanish is layered and layered with battles physical and spiritual.

Pawlik dangles the answer right in front of you until the characters finally begin figuring it out.

Throughout most of the book I struggled fully letting myself accept that I knew what the story was about. The answer played in my mind, but, as I said, I wasn’t confident enough to state it for sure. There were a lot of elements and I wasn’t sure how they all fit my conclusion.

This toying created an interesting feel to the story. Kind of like another layer of depth. On one hand, the book seems pretty easy to figure out, and then you’re wondering if it’s got that mysterious pull to it. While on the other hand, you can’t be sure if your theory is correct… And it attracts you; it keeps you reading. 

The only way I could describe it is that in some strange way it was vague and blunt all at the same time. 

Crafting the Creeps through Fiction: Questions for the Authors Who Do It Best

In 2011, the third author in this series published his first novel, and then in 2012 he published his second. Mike Duran has written The Resurrection, The Telling, as well as a novella titled Winterland. I’ve read The Telling and will most likely be purchasing the other two in the near future.

The Telling is not a Horror novel with undertones of Christianity. The story depicts a blunt battle between good and evil. As strange things begin to happen in his hometown, Zeph Walker, a childhood prophet, must decide whether or not to admit the truth he’s been hiding from for years.

Duran regularly posts on his blog, and also has various other types of work that you can find under the Books tab. I’ve read some of his posts and posts he’s written for other sites, and they’re not to be missed. Recent articles have been creating quite a stir for some readers. I definitely suggest you check them out.

Mike Duran was gracious enough to send some great answers for Crafting the Creeps through Fiction.

1) As a writer, do the voices in your head ever overwhelm you?

“Ha! I think that's called "schizophrenia," isn't it? I've heard it said before that writers need to develop a kind of multiple personality syndrome. In other words, we need to learn how to actively cultivate the voices in our heads. I know, that sounds weird. But when it comes to creating characters, the author is the first and best prototype. Most of your better characters will be culled from yourself. But if it's true that we need to cultivate these fictive persons, then it's also necessary to assign rooms for them, so that at the end of each day we can lock them there.”

2) What's something no one will ever say about you?

“Interesting question. I hope no one would ever be able to say I'm boring, uninteresting, or dispassionate. I'd rather have folks say I'm intense, I think too much, and enjoy deep conversations.”

3) What is your least favorite interview question to be asked?

“What's you're favorite color, food, or something like that. Those kinds of questions always seem so lame to me. It's almost like the interviewer did not want to exert the energy to research their subject and ask some provocative, informative questions. You'd think if someone was interesting enough to be interviewed, what their favorite color was would be way down the list of questions one can ask. (And, by the way, my favorite color is green.)”

4) What is your earliest memory of being afraid?

“It probably had less to do with fear than being profoundly disturbed about the nature of the universe. I was probably 5 or 6 years old. My dog, Daisy, was my best friend. She slept at the foot of my bed every night. We had a very close relationship. Well, my mother brought home some chicks one day and we kept them in a little pen out back. I was mesmerized over those little yellow fuzzballs. Until one day I came home and found that Daisy had slaughtered all of them. The back yard was strewn with chicken guts. perhaps the most disturbing element of the event was having to reconcile how the dog I loved could massacre such innocent little things. It scarred me for life.”

To find out more about Mike Duran and his writing, I recommend following his blog. You can also like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.

Blog: http://mikeduran.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cerebralgrump

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/cerebralgrump

Biblical Themes and Horror Fiction Don't Mix, Huh?

As the readers of this blog have probably noticed, many of the authors I review classify themselves as Christian authors. Even some of the ones who don’t openly market themselves as such, are in fact Christians. Recently, Mike Dellosso tweeted an article from CNN Belief Blog. The article, written by John Blake, focuses on the Biblical themes and trends through out the novels of the one and only, Stephen King.

Don’t believe me? Check out the article for yourself:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/02/the-gospel-of-stephen-king/

Now, whether or not I’ll be chilling with King in Heaven is not the main point of the article (or this blog post), but it does make an appearance. Blake notes that, “King…has talked about his faith before. He describes himself as a Christian on his website and elsewhere has said he was raised as a ‘hard-nosed’ Methodist taught to believe in the Antichrist.” However, as far as King’s personal beliefs, that’s about all that’s mentioned. What is discussed is how Biblical thoughts and beliefs are blatantly evident in many of the novels by one of the most-famous Horror Fiction writer’s…ever.

Blake writes that as hard to believe as it is, “…there is an actual body of literature devoted to King’s religious sensibility. Several pastors and authors say King displays a sophisticated grasp of theology in his books, and his stories are stuffed with biblical references and story lines taken straight from the Bible.” King is quoted from an interview in 1988 saying “I’ve always tried to contrast that bright, white light of real goodness or Godliness against evil.” The quote continues stating that King actually despises “organized religion” and believes “it’s one of the roots of real evil that’s in the world.”

While I don’t agree with that last statement, the article gives some pretty secure, solid evidence of the Biblical references in King’s work.

Blake focuses on the words of the now retired Episcopal priest, Reverend Paul F.M. Zahl. Three themes are pointed out: “A child shall lead them,” “God can be cruel,” and “‘God chose the weak things’.” Zahl backs each of these ideas with the story lines of some of King’s most famous works. The first, “A child shall lead them,” is supported by the novels Salem’s Lot, The Talisman, and It. The next, “God can be cruel” by Desperation and The Green Mile. Lastly, “‘God chose the weak things’” is supported with The Stand.

For the details of each claim, you’re going to have to read the article yourself. But I do urge you to read it. Especially if you doubt how Christianity and Horror Fiction can mix, and even more so if you are a fan of Stephen King.

While I wasn’t completely aware of how deep the religious references ran in King’s work. Although we cannot be sure if these themes are truly what King had in mind when he wrote each book, I’m not going to be surprised if they are. Many authors (Horror Fiction and other) draw from the Bible for their own writing (positively and negatively).

In the two King novels I’ve reviewed for this blog, God seems to play a role. No, the characters are not portrayed as devout Christians, but the question of God, religion, the goodness behind it all, seems to always be looming in the background.

So, as John Blake says, “The best way, though, to understand King’s faith is not through his words, but through his stories.” You can judge for yourself whether or not you agree. But as I said, I’m not surprised at all.

There are probably a lot of people saying a lot of things about this article. The point I want to get across here is that even the author who has been distinguished by and famed for his ability to create works that scare, disgust, terrorize, appall, and horrify readers has found ways to incorporate subtle and not-so-subtle Biblical themes into his writing.

So those of you doubting the possible collision of the two seemingly opposite worlds… Read this article. It might give you something to think about.