Plot:
Ghost-hunter Tom Monaghan stops for coffee in a small roadside diner in Maine on his way to Boston. His ears prick up overhearing snatches of conversation among the local: “mutilated bodies,” “some kinda spooks,” and “I heard it was the Devil hisself!”
Sometimes you just get lucky, Monaghan says.
After getting directions, he heads up McGinney Road to find the (yep) Innsmouth House. By this time, he’s switched to “clericals” so he can present himself to the cops on scene as “Fr. Beauregard of Our Lady of the Snows” and ask about “an evil force at work in the house.”
He does indeed find three murder victims, each with a pentagram carved into their torso, with the apex star pointed to the “One below the floorboards.” His instruments detect electromagnetic radiation—which all spectral entities give off. This calls for the deployment of the Delving Industries model P-157 Plasmatic Cell.
Of course, not all is as it seems.
Thoughts:
Ghost-hunting, it seems, is a business with a bottom line. Whodathunk. Any trades-offs one might make to improve the bottom line is simply the cost of doing business.
The author explains the title comes from an old Army joke: “We have to get out of this hole, boys! Dig faster!”
“Innsmouth” is a fictitious town from the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, where all sorts of untoward things happened. The relevant allusion probably has to do with the religion that involved human sacrifice.
I enjoyed reading this story. The mixture of Satanism, cold-blooded murder, and corporate cynicism was perfect. However, the ending struck me as a little fuzzy. Even after several readings, I wasn’t sure precisely what happened, other than things did not return to normal, as odd as normal was to begin with.
Bio:
According to his blurb, author J.B. Toner studied Literature at Thomas More College and holds a black belt in Ohana Kilohana Kenpo-Jujitsu. He has published two novels, Whisper Music and The Shoreless Sea, and numerous shorter works. Toner lives in Massachusetts (not far from Lovecraft’s old stomping grounds of Rhode Island) with his lovely wife and two daughters.
“Dig Faster” can be read here.
Title: “Dig Faster”
Author: J.B. Toner
First published: Theme of Absence, July 24, 2020
Review of “Lump Sum Love” by Aliya Whiteley
Plot:
There isn’t too much of a plot here. This is written a final letter from a betrayed lover to her younger erstwhile beloved. She tells him (presumably “him,” though this is never stated), “I forgive you, and I love you, and I hope you are happy.” Isn’t that sweet?
Not exactly. The betrayal wasn’t for another lover, but to the “administrator.” The letter writer has been sold for a lump sum and will be “processed.”
Thoughts:
This is not a horror story in the same way that Soylent Green is. The horror is something more subtle and deals with human interactions and the uncomplicated acknowledgment of human selfishness, decline, and mortality. A lot is going on under the surface of the letter. Does the former lover buy the boat he wanted? What is the life of a human being worth?
Exquisitely crafted, this is a thoughtful, sad little tale.
Bio:
According to her blurb, author Aliya Whiteley has written more than one hundred published short stories that have appeared in Interzone, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Black Static, Strange Horizons, The Dark, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and The Guardian. Her work has also appeared in anthologies such as Unsung Stories’ 2084 and Lonely Planet’s Better than Fiction. She writes a regular non-fiction column for Interzone magazine.
“Lump Sum Love” can be read here.
Title: “Lump Sum Love”
Author: Aliya Whiteley
First published: Daily Science Fiction, July 20, 2020
Review of “The Wolf Man” (1941)
Saturday pizza and bad movie night. And Svengoolie! A classic. A howler. And the pizza wasn’t too bad, either.
Plot:
After the death of his older brother, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) returns from America to Wales to see his estranged father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). While helping his father install parts of a telescope—Larry has done some work on Mt. Wilson in California—he starts playing with the scope. He looks into the bedroom window of a comely local girl, Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers). So he’s a Peeping Tom before he’s a werewolf.
He notes the shop she lives above and goes in to meet her. He ends up buying a cane topped by a silver wolf’s head marked with a pentagram, even if he balks at the price. He offers to take her for a walk when she closes up shop at eight, even though she keeps up a steady chorus of, “No.” (Geez, she’s able to close up shop at eight?)
Larry shows up. So he’s a Peeping Tom and now a stalker? Maybe becoming a werewolf wasn’t be all that much of a change. But he’s in for a surprise. Gwen has a friend, Jenny Williams (Fay Helm). The three of them go to the gypsy carnival to have their fortunes told.
Jenny goes first, while Larry and Gwen for a walk. In the fog. Facing Jenny, Bela (Bela Lugosi), sees a pentagram in her palm. He begins to panic and says he can tell her nothing. She must leave and come back the next day. She flees.
Larry and Gwen hear a howl and then a woman’s scream. Larry goes to help Jenny. That silver wolf’s head makes a handy werewolf whacker. Just the same, he’s bitten in the struggle.
The next morning, he wakes up in his bed at Talbot Hall, with the authorities coming in. They ask if the cane they hold up is his.
“Sure,” Larry says. “I used it to kill a wolf last night.”
It was found next to the body of Bela the gypsy…
Uh-oh.
Thoughts:
While there were several werewolf movies before this one—even a couple before the talkies—this is the first biggie, the one that defined movie werewolves for a long time. Tall guy Lon Chaney, Jr. prowled around in the fog on the balls of his now hairy feet, growling looking for some innocent prey, ‘cuz, as we’re told several times in this movie:
Even a man who is pure in heart,
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the autumn moon is bright.
Even the most cynical viewer can’t help feel sorry for Larry. He’s lost his brother. He’s been on the outs with his dad for eighteen years, making his own way in the world, working with his hands. Now he’s making up with the old man. He’s acting pushy (to say the least) with Gwen, only to find out she’s engaged. When he does, he steps back and remains friendly with everyone. The lucky man’s dog doesn’t care for him, but that’s out of his control at that point. He gets his foot caught in a bear trap.
He is at first reluctant to believe the werewolf lore, even when a pretty girl tells him about it but comes to grips with the terrible things he’s committed and is willing to bear the consequences.
The gore is minimal to non-existent. Most of the handful of attacks that occur in the film take place behind trees in the dark, more suggestive of violence than actually portraying it.
Much of the movie is so serious that it is ripe for parody—particularly the pronouncements of the medical/scientific experts, who see lycanthropy as a manifestation of the dual nature of human beings, not mention all the things the wise old gypsy woman has to say. Nevertheless, this is fun.
Title: The Wolf Man (1941)
Directed by
George Waggner
Writing Credits
Curt Siodmak … (original screenplay)
Cast (in credits order)
Lon Chaney Jr … Larry Talbot – The Wolf Man (as Lon Chaney)
Claude Rains … Sir John Talbot
Warren William … Dr. Lloyd
Ralph Bellamy … Colonel Paul Montford
Patric Knowles … Frank Andrews
Bela Lugosi … Bela
Maria Ouspenskaya … Maleva
Released: December 12, 1941
Length: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Review of “Non-Existence Never Hurt Anyone” by John McLaughlin
Plot:
Brooks is up to the “Party Staff and Responsibilities” module of the new employee tutorial when his new supervisor comes in to check up on him. He has just started his job as a sensory technician. They don’t discuss the manual, but the merits of the new ruling Negative Utilitarian Party. The NUP (delightful acronym) swept global elections with their emphasis on pain reduction by providing an AI program that allows people to turn on retinal feeds in uncomfortable situations. In other words, to mentally check out at will.
Their predecessor, the Positive Utilitarians, are now seen as hedonists because of their emphasis on pleasure-seeking, an outlook now viewed as destructive. No amount of pleasure is ever enough.
Of course, there have been growing pains with the NUP plan. At first, deaths among the elderly and infants increased. Then the birth rate fell. The dolorimeters measured spikes and drops in pain and discomfort.
Thoughts:
This one was a little hard for me to get a handle on. The author seems to be poking fun at following extreme fads and the oscillating favor of the public. As stodgy as it is, the old Golden Mean remains a fair guide. (Now, Aristotle, you may have blown a lot of physics, but you didn’t blow everything.)
At one point, the supervisor asks Brooks, “Do you want to know the true source of all suffering?”(It is suffering, after all, that the NUP seeks to reduce by tracking through the dolorimeters)
It’s hard to read the question and not think the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism, that is, that suffering and frustration arise from desire and attachment. I won’t say what the story says—or doesn’t say.
As often with stories this short, the final sentence is a punchline. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. I enjoyed some of the play with language, as well—Negative and Positive Utilitarians, and the dolorimeters.
Bio:
According to his blurb and his site, author John McLaughlin’s flash pieces have appeared or are forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, The Drabble, 600 Second Saga, and Literally Stories, among others. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the City University of New York. He’s interested in science and science fiction and writes both fiction and non-fiction within those genres.
“Non-Existence Never Hurt Anyone” can be read here.
Title: “Non-Existence Never Hurt Anyone”
Author: John McLaughlin
First published: Theme of Absence, July 17, 2020
Review of “Hiring the New Staff” by Lynne Lumsden Green
Plot:
Twenty generations ago, human civilization collapsed. Those aren’t human generations—because who cares about that?—but cat generations. The oldest cats remember what it was like to have effortless food, to live without fleas, and to sleep on soft beds. The current situation, where they have to live on vermin, is not acceptable.
The greatest feline minds meet in the old stone church where they can bask in the sunlight of the remaining glass windows. They can also keep their distance from one another. They domesticated humans in a relatively short period of time, and now they need to domesticate someone else.
Thoughts:
As one who has been owned by a succession of cats for decades, I confess there is more truth to many of the things the author says than not.
The tale is told tongue-in-cheek, with cats going by such humble monikers as Aslan the Brave and Gloriana. We humans really let the cats down by destroying civilization. They won’t even hire apes anymore. That didn’t work out well, did it?
The solution to their problem does not come as a surprise, but this is a cute little read.
Bio:
According to her blurb, Lynne Lumsden Green is enjoying the aging process, contrary to all expectations. She writes both fiction and nonfiction. She has had stories and articles accepted by Queensland Writing magazine, Aurealis magazine, AntipodeanSF, and by over a dozen anthologies of fiction.
“Hiring the New Staff” can be read here.
Title: “Hiring the New Staff”
Author: Lynne Lumsden Green
First published: Daily Science Fiction, July 12, 2020
Review of “The Brides of Dracula” (1960)
Saturday pizza and bad movie night. Yummy pizza, with a bit of nice doughy crust. Thanks, Dominos! And, of course, Svengoolie.
Plot:
Student Teacher Marianne Danielle (Yvonne Monlaur) is on her way from Paris to a new job teaching at a girls’ school in Transylvania. When they stop at an inn for a meal, a shadowy figure pays the coach driver to abandon her, which he promptly does. No rest for the poor horses. And there’s no room at the inn.
Fortunately (heh) for her, the Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) stops in to harass the local varlet innkeepers and order a glass of wine. Upon hearing of Mlle.’s predicament, she offers the hospitality of her castle.
The innkeeper’s wife pulls on her husband’s sleeve. “Johann, find a room for the girl.”
Mlle. Danielle declines their sudden invitation and goes home with the Baroness.
The Baroness’ castle is full of candelabra, garish interior decorating, and only one servant, Greta (Freda Jackson). While Marianne is getting ready for dinner (getting ready with what? She doesn’t have any luggage), she looks out her balcony and sees a young man (David Peel) in another room. He doesn’t appear to be a servant, and, well, he’s not hard on the eyes.
When she asks the Baroness about him, she tells her most of the truth. Yes, there is a young man. He’s her son, who is “ill,” and whom she keeps locked up.
Of course, Marianne reacts to the idea of a young man being locked up—chained, no less—with compassion and brings about disaster that Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) has to take care of. He finds her lying in the woods the next day and escorts her to the school where she was about to start teaching. Such a gentleman.
Thoughts:
There is some enjoyable creepiness in this movie, but there is no Dracula. In fact, it’s never made clear how the vampire became a vampire. I loved both Martita Hunt’s portrayal of the Baroness and Freda Jackson’s portrayal of Greta, who is more than just a cook and chief bottle washer. Peter Cushing was enjoyable as Van Helsing. David Peel made a great vampire, mixing both the victimhood of an abused son with the predatory vampire unleashed later on.
The big disappointment was the ending of this movie. Van Helsing receives a non-lethal vampire bite, which he cures (I’m no making it up) by cauterizing with hot coals and then splashing his burned neck with holy water. Within seconds, not only does the bite disappear, so does the burn. This is the kind of stuff they teach you in vampire-hunting school, I guess.
The only thing more ridiculous is the method he chooses to dispatch the vampire. I won’t give it away. Suffice to say that if the Baron had taken a couple of steps to the left or right, he’d be free to suck another day. Another night.
And what is it with hiding out in abandoned mills? Do supernatural killers all read from the same scripts? If so, they really should read to the end. Especially the minions, because the endings turn our particularly bad for the minions.
Which brings me to Mlle. Danielle. She is the character we’re supposed to sympathize with, and she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Good thing Van Helsing comes along to save the day, or we’d all be deep in the good stuff. Helpless maiden? EGAD! Clueless maiden.
Overall, this is not a bad movie if you’re looking for a bit of fun. The end…I just wish they’d come up with a different ending.
Title: Brides of Dracula
Directed by
Terence Fisher
Writing Credits
Jimmy Sangster… (screenplay) &
Peter Bryan… (screenplay) &
Edward Percy… (screenplay)
Anthony Hinds… (uncredited)
Cast (in credits order)
Peter Cushing…Doctor Van Helsing
Martita Hunt …Baroness Meinster
Yvonne Monlaur…Marianne Danielle
Freda Jackson…Greta
David Peel…Baron Meinster
Released: September 5, 1960
Length: approx. 1 hour, 25 mins
Review of “The Exhumation of Commandant De Alvarado” by Richard L. Rubin
Plot:
Captain Julian Escobar leads a small detail, including his friend, Lieutenant Maria Bazan, on a mission to administer a dose of post-mortem justice. They have orders to exhume the remains of a war criminal, Commandant de Alvarado, confidante of the Fascist dictator of the former regime. The old Commandant has been lying in a mausoleum on his ancestral lands in this backwater village for some thirty years now. Escobar’s detail is to take the Commandant’s remains and deposit them in a pauper’s grave.
Escobar doesn’t relish the thought of disturbing the dead. He’d much rather be home, lying in bed with his wife. The rain isn’t helping.
As they approach the mausoleum, an old man approaches. He knows what they want and warns them to go away. He helped inter the old Commandant, and what’s in the mausoleum should stay there. After some back and forth, Lt. Bazan cold cocks him with the butt of her semiautomatic pistol.
Thoughts:
Suffice to say, poor Escobar’s detail finds more than they bargained for when they open the Commandant’s mausoleum, something none of them was looking forward to begin with. In many ways, this plays out similar to many supernatural horror stories, so there was little surprise there.
I can’t help reflecting, though, that the rise of Fascism is depicted as an outside force to which humans seem irresistibly drawn. Its emblem is a double-headed eagle, which is an ancient symbol, generally of empire, and used by various powers over the ages. Did the author have this in mind? I don’t pretend to know.
Escobar’s detail was warned. They had their orders, which, really, they had little choice but to follow. Following them came back to not only bite them in the ass but bring back an evil that they’d thought banished, so—they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Is there an answer?
I enjoyed this sad little tale, even if I sound like I nitpick.
Bio:
According to his blub, author Richard L. Rubin has been writing science fiction and fantasy since 2008. His short story sci-fi thriller “Robbery on Antares VI” is available on Amazon. Science fiction stories written by him also appear in Broadswords and Blasters magazine, The Weird and Whatnot magazine, the Aurora Wolf journal of science fiction, and Eastern Iowa Review.
In a previous life, he worked as an appellate lawyer, defending several clients facing the death penalty in California. Richard is an Associate Member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Susanne. Richard’s website is at:richardlrubin.com.
The story can be read here.
Title: “The Exhumation of Commandant De Alvarado”
Author: Richard L. Rubin
First published: Theme of Absence, July 10, 2020
Review of “Protocol” by Sean Soravia
Plot:
The unnamed narrator of this story is about to be sent one month into the future on a test mission. His mission is to wait for someone to open the door, check in with the technician, then press the yellow button to return. He is never to leave the machine. No words are to be exchanged. The less he knows about the future, the better. And he is never to tell what he sees.
He’d only have to keep the secret for a month.
When he arrives, no one opens the door. What’s wrong? Is he early? Did he land in the wrong place?
Thoughts:
This has the feel of an old-school hard science fiction tale. It is tightly told. The narrator tells the reader he has been chosen for what must be a dangerous assignment because he can keep his mouth shut. Bravery doesn’t matter, nor is there a hint of sentimentality. He does not write a last letter to his wife and children, assuming he even has a family. He simply shuts up and does as he’s told. In the few instances where he does act outside his explicit orders, it’s because he had no choice.
The narrator also doesn’t weigh ethical dilemmas. He has his orders, and he must follow protocol. Could he change anything if he’d made another choice? It’s impossible to know.
There is something unnerving about a person who consciously gives up all autonomy like this, but it is the type of thing necessary to complete such a mission.
I like this story. It is solid and good.
Bio:
I could find no bio info on this author. If this is his first published story, good for him! If not, it’d be fun to read more.
The story can be read here.
Title: “Protocol”
Author: Sean Soravia
First published: Daily Science Fiction, July 6, 2020
Review of “Just Before Dawn” (1946)
Saturday pizza and bad movie night. Yum.
Plot:
After hours inside the Ganss Funeral Home, two sinister-looking men meet. One hands the other what appears to be a kit containing a syringe and a small glass bottle marked “insulin.”
“It’s not what it says on the label,” one man tells the other.
In the next scene, the viewer sees Dr. Ordway, the Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) sitting at home, minding his own business. That can’t last for long. Dr. Ordway is a psychiatrist who seems to be forever getting involved with solving murders.
The new neighbor, Mrs. Travers (Mona Barrie) from across the street, who is hosting a house party, rings the doorbell and asks for his help. A young man (George Meeker) attending the party has lost consciousness. He’s diabetic, according to his sister (Adele Roberts).
After confirming with the lovely young sister, Miss Foster, that the patient keeps his insulin kit on him at all times, Dr. Ordway asks the hostess to send someone to find it in young Mr. Foster’s overcoat. He then injects Mr. Foster. Immediately, the young man’s eyelids begin to flutter, and he thanks Dr. Ordway. He also apologizes for interrupting the party. Dr. Ordway advises him to lie still for a moment, and he should be fine.
He then chats with some of those attending the party, including the real estate agent (Wilton Graff) who sold the new neighbors the house, and another young man who runs a fitness institute (Craig Reynolds).
Miss Foster screams. Her brother now lies on the floor, unmoving. He has time to mutter a cryptic last phrase, “hath given you one face,” and then expires.
The coroner later confirms young Walter Foster was injected with poison, but no poison was found in the insulin kit. It looks like the Armand (Ted Hecht), the servant (gods, people had servants?) who fetched the insulin kit and replaced it is going down for this. But what was his motive? And what do those last words mean?
Thoughts:
The character of the Crime Doctor was created by writer/director Max Marcin that appeared on radio broadcasts from 1940-1947. The character also appeared in ten films from 1943-1949, of which this is the seventh.
Of course, the first thing Dr. Ordway does upon hearing he himself injected the poison into a man it to try and find the guilty party. How did the insulin get switched? He soon discovers that nearly everyone has a motive. Foster has spent all $250,000 of his inheritance and is pressuring Miss Foster to turn over her share. She has a tidy income of $1000 a month but wants to invest in her dearly beloved’s fitness institute. Foster’s pestering his sister for money is getting in the way of her getting married.
Young Foster’s last words turn out to be not from the Bible, as everyone is advising Dr. Ordway, but from Shakespeare. The full quote is, “God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.” It’s from Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, when Hamlet is trying to drive poor Ophelia over the brink.
Miss Foster thinks she knows what it may refer to, but asks Dr. Ordway to come to her place, as it’s too complicated to explain over the phone. Before he can get there, the doorbell rings. No! No! Don’t answer the bell, Miss Foster!
The William Castle who directed this is the same William Castle who went on to make gimmicky films in the 50s and 60s such as The Tingler and 13 Ghosts.
I have no idea what relevance the title has, assuming it has any. To the best of my recollection, none of the action takes place just before dawn.
Several elements stretched credulity beyond the limit of “Yeah, it could happen.” The bad guys seem given to elaborate murder schemes—like switching bottles of insulin for poison—when simple, direct methods are readily available. The womenfolk do their proper screaming and recite, “What is it, doctor?” on cue. (*sigh*) The bad’uns get their comeuppance, and Crime Doctor remains free to Crime Doctor another day.
Having said that, this movie is fun. I liked it.
Just Before Dawn is available for free on YouTube.
Title: Just Before Dawn (alternatively, Exposed by the Crime Doctor)
Directed by
William Castle
Writing Credits
Eric Taylor…(story)
Eric Taylor…(screenplay) &
Aubrey Wisberg…(screenplay)
Max Marcin…(radio series Crime Doctor characters)
Cast (in credits order)
Warner Baxter…Dr. Robert Ordway
Adele Roberts…Claire Foster (as Adelle Roberts)
Martin Kosleck…Karl Ganss
Mona Barrie…Harriet Travers
Marvin Miller…Casper
Released: March 7, 1946
Length: approx. 1 hour, 5 mins
Review of “Fast Forgotten” by Ronald Schulte
Plot:
Sometime after being struck by a truck, the unnamed narrator suffers from retrograde amnesia. He remembers the rehab. Before the accident, he was a runner. He has no memory of running, or of anything that occurred before the accident. At home, he has a trophy room and a family to corroborate it, however. He runs now not because he likes it but for exercise. His doctor threatened to put him on insulin.
While he’s out running, he begins to see a woman running in the distance, who then disappears, as if into fog, even on the clearest days. She is always ahead of him. As his running improves, he can close the distance between them. He thinks maybe she can tell him something about himself, from the time he can’t remember. She might be connected with his running. He only sees her when he’s running, right?
The day come when he’s able to reach out and poke her in the shoulder.
Thoughts:
This is a wonderfully atmospheric little tale. I remained engaged in the mystery. Who is this woman? Is she real? Is she a ghost? How is she connected with the narrator’s unremembered past? Why does he see her only when he’s running? Why doesn’t she talk to him?
That the ending may not be a complete surprise, but it hardly matters. The reader is along for the ride.
I enjoyed this story.
Bio:
According to his blurb, author Ronald Schulte is an avid reader and writer of speculative fiction. His work has previously appeared in several online and print publications including The Literary Hatchet, Dark Fire Fiction, Bewildering Stories, and Fiction on the Web. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, son, and twin daughters. Facebook
The story can be read here.
Title: “Fast Forgotten”
Author: Ronald Schulte
First published: Theme of Absence, July 3, 2020
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 