Children of No One by Nicole Cushing is about an artist who has made an underground maze in Nowhere, Indiana. In this maze of complete darkness, he has imprisoned boys for ten years. All the boys know is the darkness and a bell that rings, signaling that the angels have left them food. One young boy may remember light or some previous life but his brother scoffs at him.

This surreal sadistic maze is a performance art project created by Thomas Krieg. Art Patron, and I use that term loosely, Mr. MacPherson, is willing to risk almost everything to be the first patron to experience this performance art project first hand. Working with Krieg is an occultist, nihilist artist, Mr. No One, who may have some other agenda for the performance of the art project.

Children of No One is creepy. It's not just "Oh, that's creepy." It's "OH! That is SO CREEPY!" It's Night Gallery Creepy. It's Twilight Zone Creepy. It's Tales From the Darkside creepy. It is the stuff of childhood nightmares creepy. And if that is not enough, it also has a message about art. If the art depends upon the misery and suffering of people and relies on man's inhumanity to man in order to exist, in other words, sadism, is it really art?

It is a very short novella at approximately 50 pages, and very disturbing. And did I mention creepy? If this were a television show I would have been cringing, covering my eyes and squirming, while saying things like "Ick....oooh... ugh... ohohohoh..."

Highly Recommended, and maybe even very highly recommended for those who enjoy being scared.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of DarkFuse via Netgalley for review purposes.
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