Glen Hirshberg

Completely mischaracterised as horror, these are in fact deftly-written contemporary short stories with varying degrees of eeriness. The title story, in which a breakdown on the autostrada exposes the fragility of an American couple's relationship, is particularly unsettling. The other stand-outs for me were "Safety Clowns" and "Flowers on their Bridles, Hooves in the Air" with its King-esque journey into a haunted amusement arcade and background love triangle. The last two or three tales show more didn't grip me as much but Hirshberg is clearly a talent. show less

Issue 65 (December 2011) of the always enjoyable "Cemetery Dance" is a Graham Masterton special and in addition to a long interview with the author and a number of overviews / thought-pieces on his work, there are two new Masterson stories: "Anka" and "Saint Bronach's Shrift". Both are solid and enjoyable, despite the first revolving around child neglect and the second involving warring brothers and incest. In addition to the Masterton stories there is plenty of other fiction on offer. show more Maurice Broaddus appears in the "New Voices" section and an interview with him is followed by his neo-noir story "Rainfall". Next up is "Afterwords: The Second Book Depository Story" by Glen Hirshberg, which is a strange, affecting story about the power of books, their drug-like qualities and the "diseases" they can spread. "Manskin, Womanskin" by Lisa Tuttle is a brilliantly creepy and fascinating story about two "skins" found in a garden and impact they have on the couple who wear them. This is a great story about the importance of love; the secrets within us all and the information we're willing to share and perhaps, more importantly, not to share within a relationship. Tuttle's writing is elegant and subtle, but with plenty of sting when required. Finally "The Town Suicide" by S. Craig Renfroe, Jr. is a weird, haunting and ultimately unresolved story about the small town of Summerville where people begin to inexplicably commit suicide. It is an evocative, symbolic story of a town being passed by and slowly choked by a changed economy and changed circumstances. It offers little hope even after the narrator saves the life of his girlfriend. The magazine also has a number interviews including with the increasingly popular Michael Koryta, which is followed by an excerpt from his novel "The Cypress House". Ray Bradbury, interviewed shortly before his death, is surprisingly conservative about e-books and even more surprising (and shocking) is his contention that the United States has never censored or banned a book. The interview with legendary editor Ellen Datlow offers a fascinating insight into her approach to the editing and putting together of themed collections. Whitley Strieber comes across a touch terse in his interview (which has a postal or electronic feel) and it is clear that he views the publication of "Communion" as a career error. The issue is also jam-packed with columns and review pieces, some of which read better than others, all of which make for another great issue – the Lisa Tuttle story on its own would make this a first class purchase. The cover is by artist Vincent Chong. show less

Review of eBook

A documentary [ghost-hunting] filmmaker finds himself tapped for jury duty where a strange fellow juror [who works night security] engages him in a strange conversation. And then the strange fellow, inexplicably excused from jury duty, wanders out of the courtroom looking forlorn.

A couple of weeks later, the filmmaker finds himself thinking about the strange almost-juror, tries to track him down. Eventually, Look Outs, Incorporated [where, according to the cursive name on the show more uniform shirt he’d worn] identified him as Bulan, and the filmmaker takes a trip to where the man was working.

An abandoned mall. In the dead of night.

After several missteps and a startled fright or two, he finds Bulan.

And something else.

This short horror story, dark and unnerving, is set, for the most part, in a gloomy, abandoned shopping mall . . . in the middle of the night. The filmmaker, recounting the story from memory, gives the reader enough information to create that creepy sort of tension that all good horror stories seek to bestow upon the reader.

The telling of this spooky tale is from the point of view of the never-named filmmaker. Bulan speaks with the filmmaker only in the jury waiting room, mentioning several eerie encounters he’s had during his nighttime work. But finding him at work turns out to be a difficult proposition for the filmmaker . . . and then comes the terror.

Highly recommended. show less

Review copy

Top notch writing, enjoyable prose, a twisted and demented story, but I was a bit lost at times. Seems Good Girls is book 2 in the Motherless Children Trilogy. Something the publisher failed to mention when promoting the book. Now that it's for sale to the public, I see that it's listed that way, but it's also being touted as a stand-alone novel. I, personally, would have preferred reading Motherless Child first.

That being said, there is some wonderful story-telling going on here. show more From the opening line, there's magic in the words...

"In the heart of the hollow, at the mouth of the Delta, the monsters were dancing."

There are some strange goings on in this story, with multiple story-lines tied together deftly, plus there's human curling. I'd love to see that as an Olympic event. It's got to be more exciting than the actual sport.

All-in-all, Glen Hirshberg has written a dark and disturbing tale. My kind of stuff. I'll just have to read Motherless Child before reading book 3 in this series.

Good Girls is published by Tor/Forge and is currently available as an e-book. If you're interested in reading this one, I'd highly recommend you do so after reading Motherless Child.

Glen Hirshberg has won three International Horror Guild Awards (including two for Outstanding Collection), and his novella, The Janus Tree, won the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award in 2008. He also has been a Bram Stoker Award finalist and a five-time World Fantasy Award finalist. While teaching at Cal State San Bernardino and at Campbell Hall in Studio City, he developed the CREW Project, through which he trains his advanced students to run intensive creative writing workshops for secondary and elementary schools that have no programs of their own. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, son, daughter, and cats. show less