Michael Laimo
Author of Deep In The Darkness
About the Author
Works by Michael Laimo
Scarred For Life 2 copies
Night Of The Rage 1 copy
To Be 1 copy
Contact Lenses 1 copy
The Layover 1 copy
Partners In Crime 1 copy
"Bloodtype" 1 copy
Aus tiefster Nacht 1 copy
Pool 1 copy
Dance: The Devil's Orgasm 1 copy
Raingods Dancing 1 copy
Aftermath 1 copy
The Chicken Man 1 copy
I Exude In Partials 1 copy
And Yet, Still He Screams 1 copy
Last Resort 1 copy
Contents 1 copy
Snakes 1 copy
Till Death Do They Part 1 copy
Comforts Of Home 1 copy
End Of The Line 1 copy
Something In The Air 1 copy
The Rash 1 copy
Summer Fling 1 copy
Banalica 1 copy
Soils Of The Witch Garden 1 copy
Associated Works
In Delirium — Author — 11 copies
A Haunting of Horrors, Volume 2: A Twenty-Book eBook Bundle of Horror and the Occult (2014) — Contributor — 9 copies
Noctum Aeternus 1 — Contributor — 3 copies
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Statistics
- Works
- 45
- Also by
- 11
- Members
- 548
- Popularity
- #45,524
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 16
- ISBNs
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7:05 pm 14 October 2016
Splatterlands: Reawakening the Splatterpunk Revolution - A.A. Garrison, Michele Garber, Michael Laimo
This collection reminds me why I read horror: I want to be freaked out, even squeaked out, to explore the kinds of violence that I can't contemplate. I can't deal with it in real life, so it's something I deal with through fiction.
Still, I can't remember reading anything quite this disturbing. I probably have in the past, but not lately. It hit upon visceral fears and runs with them.
It's bloody and gory, or quiet and chilling, but all these stories are horrific. The more I looked at the art versus the stories, the more conflicted I felt: the art was sketchy, raw, and didn't feel quite up to the stories in quality. But there was something almost, sickeningly charming about the art that paired up to each story: they held a ragged, uneven quality that mimicked the violence lurking in the stories themselves.
I still don't know how I feel. Flipping through the book at first look, I was more pleased with the art than I was reading the stories. However, this wouldn't have even made me drop half a star: the art was decent, and as I said, I felt it fit the stories in many ways. I did knock half a star off in conjunction with the slight unevenness of the stories. The majority were merely brilliant, leaving me shocked at the content and in awe at the audacity of the authors combined with their skills.
Horrible things happen, sometimes in graphic detail, sometimes to children. Sometimes things are about to happen but don't quite in the timeline of the story, but these could be the most chilling. Some had loud, flashy endings, and some were left with a sense of quiet disturbance.
All were excellent - or nearly so. I found one story near the end to be a bit bloated, the purple prose at times convoluted enough that I found it distracting. The last story started out with what I felt were too many details that could have easily be edited out, but ended up being my favorite because of the character interactions and the ending, which I found interesting even though I suspected it might come to that ending. There were enough small surprises to leave me satisfied, and to tell the truth, it was the way the characters worked together and the main characters determination that got to me. I really liked the secondary character as well, despite not knowing him quite as well.
I haven't read horror, much less splatterpunk in a while. This was an excellent reintroduction: it was a kick in the pants. I will be reading more soon. But if I read it right now, I'll need brain bleach, for real. And I've never met a book that made me want brain bleach (that wasn't full of typos and grammatical errors.) Impressive on multiple levels!
Despite the shudders, and yeah, I'm still shuddering a little, I loved this. I need some comics to keep me grounded, though. Comics, now, please.
Thank you to my bookish box buddy who picked out this perfect book for me!
Horror read in 2016… (more)