It's 12 O Clock Somewhere: Midnight Somewhere (Johnny Compton)

                                                                                    

I've mostly avoided doing single-author collections on here, which is mainly so I can maximize variety. I love short story collections of every kind, but anthologies provide  which is mainly for variety. Short story collections are a shotgun shell versus the concentrated single rifle bullet of a novel. But even with shotguns, you have choke tubes, which concentrate the shot into a tighter group over a longer range. If a multi-author collection is open choke/cylinder bore (no concentration, with a wider spread), then single-author collections are like a full choke with a tighter pattern. 

That can be nice for a more consistent reading experience, but for writing about stories, it's fun to have a wider array of styles and perspectives and even quality to discuss. 

But I'm making the first of three NECON related exceptions this year (four, if Lisa Springer comes out with a short story collection in the near future!) Johnny Compton is coming to NECON this summer, and I have yet to read any of his stuff, so what better way than to dive into some short stories? I'm glad I did, because these are great. 

Ffuns

Synopsis: What could be more hardcore than a snuff film? The reverse. Welcome to the underground world of 'ffuns flicks.'

Thoughts:  An incredible gut-punch of creativity and brutality. There's a scene a third of the way in that's as grueling and unsettling as anything I've been reading lately. I don't want to spoil that, so I'll make a structural comment: While our protagonist's plotline follows a straightforward crime story twist, it works because it gives Compton something to write about other than the "ffuns" industry itself, which allows him to keep the details suitably vague. It also allows him to keep the real enigma--the sort of high-rollers who want to watch the mix of beauty and torment that a ffuns film entails--lurking off stage for us to ponder (and be creeped out by) their possible motives. 

The Death/Grip Challenge

Synopsis: "It's not me, it's the Death/Grip!" The movie adaptation of the cult horror novel Death/Grip was a massive flop, but at least everyone can have fun with the "killer hand" memes. Chief among them, Alicia's one-handed father Benito. But the memes are getting darker. . .

Thoughts: Hand-gone-wrong stories are always fun, especially when it's more than just one pair of hands. Maybe my favorite Clive Barker story is "The Body Politic," in which a man's hands rebel, sever themselves, and then incite a bloody uprising among their fellow body parts. 

Fundamentally, I love this story--but, I have reservations. There's really two tracks of storyline here: There's the background about Death/Grip (I love that slash in the middle--it's so stupid and offensive to look at, even though it's theoretically kind of cool, that it somehow captures the essence of an inept horror movie) and the progression of the Death/Grip meme, and that stuff's funny (including the inevitable dirty jokes) and then creepy. 

The other is the stuff with Alicia and Benito and the rest, and while it's not badly written (and it builds to a wallop of an ending), it feels a little like it's treading water until we get to that point. Still, I think it's necessary to keep the story grounded and give us some human interest (and not get lumped in with all the other 'haunted movie' stories out there). 

Also, while Compton being an American is yet another feather in the United States' cap of "great horror writers," I wish he were French, or at least Canadian, just so I could make a "New French Extremity" joke here. 

Safety in Numbers:

Synopsis: A low-level low-life is in over his head and about to eat a bullet when he gets help from the only person willing to bail him out. . . himself.

Thoughts: A fun little crime story that reminds me of George Clayton Johnson's "The Four of Us Are Dying". Compton does hard-boiled well, not over-writing anything but keeping it terse and mean. There's not a lot to this story, but there doesn't have to be. Sometimes the best crimes are just quick smash-and-grab, in-and-out affairs. 

Monster Bites

Synopsis: Elisa is walking Dandy the dog when a monster from her past attacks. 

Thoughts: The same problem I have with "Death/Grip" comes up here--the family backstory is too convoluted. However, while family drama in "Death/Grip" at least provides an important narrative backbone for the great concept, and has a great payoff, the most we get here is an explanation for the nature of the threat (which we probably could have got otherwise). We just wind up getting bogged down in backstory when this could be even leaner and meaner. 

The meat of the action, though--Dandy vs. the monster--is fun. I like the idea of a dog's barks in this context being magic spells, and the ending has a fun Goosebumps vibe. 

A Story Overheard in a Room

Synopsis: A man with an early morning flight gives up on sleep and pulls an all-nighter with the help of some dodgy old British exploitation films. But he isn't alone. 

Thoughts: Serious Ramsey Campbell vibes here, which is one of the highest compliments you can give to a horror story. Some of it is just surface level--Campbell sometimes incorporated video nasties into his work, and some of the scenarios here seem like they could be from his jagged, edgy early collections like The Height of the Scream. 

The more important part is the way that this acts with the logic of a nightmare--it doesn't make sense, but it makes an odd sort of sense. That's present in Campbell's best work. In addition, the part where our hero is accused of committing some offense he didn't commit is pure Campbell--it works to stir up guilt, confusion, and resentment and heightens the psychological pressure on the protagonist. 

A clever idea, and a scary story. 

A Devil We Used to Know 

Synopsis: The changing fortunes of a monster that lures people to their doom. 

Thoughts: We covered this one months ago, when we looked at Tom Deady's fantastic anthology The Rack. I liked it then, but I don't think it's as good here out of context. At the time, I wrote that it worked like a sort of thesis statement for The Rack's project of digging up the good old monsters and paperback scares, and setting them loose on a new generation of victims--er, readers. Here, though, just plopped down in the middle of stories with characters where things actually happen (and note that it's sandwiched between two of the scariest stories in Midnight Somewhere).  This is still a story that's more telling than showing, and while it isn't bad, it can't hold a candle to this next one. 

No Hungry Generations

Synopsis: Mabel's family Thanksgiving takes a dark turn after a late addition to the dinner menu.

Thoughts: Scary and grim; most of the other stories in here have at least a little bit of humor, even if they're scary or unpleasant. Everything keeps getting worse and worse, and the events have the sickening feel of inevitability even though there are constant twists and surprises. 

There does seem to be an element of social commentary here, although it's subtle--I think the point is that the family, despite having secured themselves financially (they have land, and plenty to eat), are still vulnerable to want. One of the strongest (and bleakest) stories in the book. Highly recommended. 

The Genie and the Inquisitor

Synopsis: A man. A genie. Three wishes. You know the story--but this time, it's different.

Thoughts: A lot of fun, which we need after that last story. "Be careful what you wish for" stories are a horror and fantasy staple, and there are more stories than you'd think about trying to outthink the djinn or the monkey's paw or what have you (for example--the superlative "Wish You Were Here" from Tales from the Crypt). Those stories are still fun, but they all have humanity playing defense. Not so here--our protagonist's on the offensive. It's clever and a good example of how to thoughtfully subvert a speculative fiction chestnut.

Every Time You Look Away

Synopsis: Lincoln saw his first ghost at fourteen, and he's been obsessed with seeing them again ever since.  He's about to get more than he bargained for in the haunted hotel room 414.

Thoughts: Gun to my head, the scariest Stephen King story is "1408," and it's the way that damn hotel room warps reality that freaks me out. I've read that story a bunch of times, and I always start feeling uneasy when we're meeting with the manager, and by the time the phone starts saying "every friend is now dead" and the lady in the painting starts exposing herself and leering, I'm in full-on heebie-jeebies mode. 

This story isn't as scary as "1408" (few things are, so no points off there!), but it scratches the same itch: A place so haunted that it reshapes reality in all sorts of kooky, terrifying ways. 

One (by "one," I mean, "me, before I gave it more thought") might argue that there's a disconnect between the two high-concept elements of the story--"Guy who experienced a ghost and now tries to seek out the same experience again and again" has a kind of Chuck Palahniuk protagonist dark oddity to it, whereas the reality-shifting that happens in (and out) of Room 414 is its own thing. And, sure, maybe having two sets of ideas tends to dilute the 'unity of effect,' but so what? We have a strong set up and a strong payoff.  

When You Put It That Way:

Synopsis: Jerry always tries to see the bright side of everything--if for nobody else than the approval of the audience in his own head. Usually, this defuses marital tension. Usually. 

Thoughts: It's filler, which isn't a problem per se ("Paranoid" was supposed to be filler, and look how that turned out). The problem with this story is that it sets up some interesting depth to the characters. In some ways it's a victim of it's own success:  I am interested in the problems with Jerry's daughter, as well as the odd, potentially unpleasant relationship he seems to have with his own mind (I'm reminded of "Dirty Pain" from Women of Darkness II). But all of that gets cut off in a bit of second-degree murder (I'd say it's a spoiler, but it's easy to see where this is going). 

The Ref

Synopsis: Boxing referee Laz Marron let the count go too long, and now Scotty "All Heart" Harper's dead. He blames himself, even though plenty of people think it wasn't his fault. Laz's best friend, for one. The hitman Laz hired to kill himself, for another. 

Thoughts: It's clear very quickly where this story's going, too, but I doubt it's meant to be a surprise. We're back in macabre crime territory, with additional points for having a story revolve around hitmen that actually acknowledges that murder for hire just i) isn't that common and ii) is almost always some sort of pathetic amateur job and/or law enforcement sting. All of which makes Compton's version of the "hitman with a code of honor" trope more palatable. And the, ahem, execution, is very well done. 

Doctor Bad Eyes Is at the Top of the Stairs Again

Synopsis: Kelly knows she's living in a haunted house, but it's not that bad, and the school district is good. Her daughter's insistence that "Doctor Bad Eyes" is waiting on the top of the stairs, though,  

Thoughts: This is a funny one, with good social commentary (doubling as a reason why the characters can't leave).  And, while I don't know just how many deaths you need for a massacre, I agree with Kelly that three probably isn't enough, especially given that it's "half as many as were killed in the 'Bludgeoning Event of '33."

However, once the true nature of "Doctor Bad Eyes" is revealed (let's just say it'll leave you with a burning desire to rewatch Terror Train), the threat that had been counterbalancing the humor leaves the story, and much of the burgeoning conflict evaporates. Compton tries to swap in some pathos for the ghost to make up for the lack of horror, and it's not bad, but the story just peters out. 

Everywherever

Synopsis: Upstart ride-app Wherever hasn't been around for long, but it already has its own urban legend. The right prompt can take it to wherever you want to go, be it the middle of the Amazon rainforest--or your worst mistake.

Thoughts: A good modern-day Twilight Zone story, both in terms of themes and structure (there are particular similarities to the episode "You Drive"). It's touching, it's spooky, it's a creative idea intelligently done. Recommended.

Charakakon

Synopsis: Ivan's family is cursed by demons known as the Charakakon--evil entities which stalk them  and tell them the worst thing they could possibly here. Ivan's managed to dodge the demons so far, but now a jilted lover's using them as leverage. . .

Thoughts: One of the strongest stories in the book; intelligent and well-written. This is maybe the first story here to mine the "something's inexorably closing in on you" vein of horror story (there are strong tones of It Follows. Also, since I've harped on not liking the interpersonal plot lines for some of these stories, I should give credit where it's due--the Ivan/Carter relationship is well-written and realized, and supports the grim progression of events. 

Not that it's all doom and gloom--Compton has time to have a little fun with relating how various members of Ivan's family have tried to outsmart the Charakakon and escape their fate (sometimes successfully, other times not so much). 

The One

Synopsis: Arrogant NBA all-star Justin Bliss's quasi-Messianic self-image runs into trouble when his game starts to slip. A mysterious hooded figure makes things worse.

Thoughts: So, here's something that doesn't happen to me much: I thought this story was scary, but I didn't really like it. Not in the sense of something like, oh, Goodnight Mommy or The Dark and the Wicked, where the horror's effective but the whole thing feels so needlessly unpleasant that it puts me off, and not like something with cheap jump scares where it works but it feels, well, cheap.

No, I don't feel this totally "works" as a story--it seems disjointed--but the scary parts are scary. The first time Justin turns around and sees the evil figure at the practice court, I was on edge (and this was in daylight on an airplane surrounded by people!). And the mayhem the figure wreaks is good. But the rest of it doesn't hang together for me.

I get why the ominous figure is connected to Justin, and the notion of a star being so arrogant that a malefic force fastens itself onto him is a cool one (I think that's what's going on?). But it could use some tightening. 

My theory? The hooded figure is an egregore based around the faceless "And One" guy. 

The Merge Monster Incident: One Year Later

Synopsis: A journalist investigates the origins and aftermath of the Merge Monster Incident, in which a roller coaster walked off from an amusement park, leaving bodies and questions in its wake.

Thoughts: Ever read a story that's so good it makes you mad? That's how I feel about this, in part because I've been kicking around a carnival ride-based fantasy or horror story, and then I read this, and not only does it capture some of the same territory, but it does it so much better and funnier and smarter and scarier. 

There are lots of surprises in this story, and I won't spoil them all, but I want to focus on two points. The first is that the structural device of what I assume is a magazine article works really well. It allows the fictional to assume some familiarity on the part of the fictional reader with the Merge Monster Incident, which justifies the real writer (Compton) withholding information from the real readers (us) until he deploys for maximum effect. The structural device also justifies the various musings on truth and denial and conspiracy and evidence in the modern era--they feel like they belong here and aren't just spoken by hand-puppet characters. 

Those musings, by the way? They're excellent. Instead of regurgitating buzzwords about 'fake news' etc., Compton combines the normally rational-sounding criticisms of skeptics about UFOs and Nessie (for example, why are there no good pictures or videos?) but flips things so that they're coming from the mouths of conspiracy theorist types. Meanwhile, the (sometimes plausible, sometimes flimsy) reasons that true believers give for the lack of good evidence for anomalous phenomena are expressed by the representatives of consensus reality. It's very clever.

The second is a high-point of wonder and fear, where airline passengers look out the window as they pass the Appalachian Mountains and see the Merge Monster "walking" through the trees.  It's like the dinosaur sighting in "The Odyssey of Flight 33," but even more bizarre and unnatural and creepily beautiful.  

Probably my favorite short story I've read so far this year. 

I Caught a Ghost In My Eye

Synopsis: A skeptic comes away from a haunted house with a bad case of ocular haunting. 

Thoughts: Very funny, and terrifying. Lures us in with a sort of Jeff Strand goofy sorta-bizarro premise with plenty of laugh lines. My favorite is the narrator explaining why he doesn't care about the details of the incident which led to the haunting: "I ought to remember those names, but I don't. I could probably look them up, but I can't be bothered to care. I'm only concerned with myself, because I have a goddamned ghost in my goddamned eye." 

"Something bad is getting closer" is a fundamentally scary concept and it's one of the first things we introduce kids to in horror (probably because it allows for repetition). Think about "The Golden Arm," The Judge: An Untrue Tale and even parts of "The New Mother."  It's this stuff that Bryan Prince's excellent Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark riff "I Am The One"  nails as well. But it's not just for kids! M.R. James famously invoked it with "The Mezzotint" (as well as "The Haunted Dolls'-House") but the problem with that story, shudder-inducing as it is, is that the horrible thing isn't really near the protagonists (and, by extension, the reader). Stephen King's "The Road Virus Heads North" threw it into the narrator's reality with great results; Compton maybe goes one step further and throws it, well, in our faces. Day by day the threat gets closer, and there's no escape. 

All this build-up, of course, demands that you stick the landing, and Compton does. This is a nerve-jangling one. 

He Used To Scare Me By Accident:

Synopsis: Stephen never meant to scare Olivia as much as he did, and she certainly didn't mean to stab her husband to death. But that isn't the end of it. . .

Thoughts: Another story where some of the character work doesn't totally work for me. The problem is that, as told, the whole relationship (including its untimely end) seems to revolve around Stephen i) accidentally scaring his wife and then ii) trying to not scare her by announcing his presence (which only scares her more). There's not much reason to care about the characters.

What does work here is, again, the focus on an ever-approaching threat. Stephen's announcements that he's getting ever closer are effective, no matter how many times you read them.  I also get a kick out of the non-lethal, but torturously effective, manner of Stephen's revenge. It reminds me of Eric LaRocca's "The Sickle-Shaped Claw" from The Rack II. 

Whatever Happened To Crash Test Chris?

Synopsis: The rise and fall of "Crash Test" Chris, who used his ability to dislocate and heal his body for a professional wrestling career. 

Thoughts: Grisly splatstick. Professional wrestling with all of its politics and argot is always a colorful setting, and Compton resists the temptation to lard on too much zaniness beyond the basic premise. It's a fun ride, the "rules" of how Chris's ability works are clear, and the ending is goofy, wince-inducing fun. 

The Happy People

Synopsis: The doctor figured out how to secure immortality. Unfortunately, the process requires three things: 1) happy thoughts, 2) a genetically-compatible partner and, 3) years of violent experimentation. This third hasn't endeared him to his test subjects.

Thoughts: Splatter time, baby! There's more body horror here, and it's a sort I'm a sucker for, where there's a sort of logic or sympathetic magic to what causes the gore. Think of voodoo dolls, or of the psychoplasmic manifestations in The Brood, or other instances of one-to-one correspondences that play out on the landscape of the flesh. 

The action is good and exciting, although I didn't find the gore here as impactful as the stuff that happens in "ffuns," for example. A larger problem is that the concept behind the process is too confusing and fiddly (for me, anyway) in the face of the fast pace of the story. Compton does keep the story coherent, but only through introducing massive dollops of exposition throughout. The idea is cool, but it needs fleshing out. 

Major points for name-dropping one of my favorite Robert McCammon stories, "Something Passed By." It's a great story, and a fitting reference: Even if this story isn't as Twilight Zone-y as "Something," this story does tap into the bloody, crowd-pleasing action that propels McCammon's books like They Thirst, and stories like "Doom City." Stay tuned--McCammon's coming to NECON this year which gives me an excuse to reread Blue World.

Dead Bastard Revival Services

Synopsis: Pastor Jackson's congregation has suffered some grave setbacks. First, the afterlife was scientifically proven in a way that, while not necessarily inconsistent with Christian dogma, poses some serious challenges. Closer to home, Lyle Lee Everly murdered nine children, and then shot himself in the woods, permanently avoiding justice for his crimes. Or maybe not so permanently--because in the brave new world of a perceptible afterlife, death's no longer an escape from punishment. 

Thoughts: An interesting bookend; very similar to "ffuns," both in terms of premise (underground crime rings offering science-based immortality), and horrific content. It's hard to say which story is better. 'ffuns' is more mysterious, and feels dangerous, but it winds up going down a well-trod path and gives us some (macabre) catharsis. By contrast, this story goes down the route of  The Last House on the Left and David Morrell's Testament, in which revenge, even the most righteous kind against the most deserving victims, leaves everything and everyone emptier than before.