Bryan Smith (1) (1965–)

In Bryan Smith's latest novel, "Darkened" (Formerly titled: “Deadworld,” Bitter Ale Press, February 2011), Yin and Yang are having an earth-shattering domestic dispute—literally. The primordial forces of good and evil, light and dark, God and Satan, however you label them, have ripped through the fabric of reality and entered our world to vie for dominance.

Flying reptilian demons, disease, and the general sociopathic nature of humanity combine to eliminate all but a handful of show more survivors—and even they are distilled down to two by the end of the novel.

Smith successfully weaves humor, horror, suspense, and revulsion in this gothic gross out, achieving what eventually becomes a dark social commentary. And Smith is no amateur when it comes to writing good stories in pulp fiction. He has nine other novels to his credit including "Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies" and "The Dark Ones," but "Darkened" is the first put out by his own publishing company, Bitter Ale Press, and unlike his other books this one is available only through Amazon as a Kindle e-book.

Regardless whether it's in print or e-ink, I found myself wishing I could see a movie based on this story. Smith's brilliant hell-on-acid descriptions of the world's demolition belong up on the big screen in modern CG. But inasmuch as this novel surpasses the shock and horror of William Blatty's, "The Exorcist," moviegoers may not be ready to dig into the popcorn for this one just yet. It's a bit too x-rated for Cinemark.

Not only is there a lot of blood and guts, but the sex is pretty much in your face and in all five senses as well—most of it in the form of rape. In fact the book borders on a theatre of the misogynistic. Granted, a balance is struck by the brutal treatment of Zeke the newscaster at the hands of the psychopathic femdom Mary Lou, but even that sex-and-violence fest may be just another way of placing women in a bad light.

Yet in spite of the violence, graphic sex, and people eating their own appendages, a truly disturbing truth is revealed as the pages flip by. We are never given a reason why all the buildings, cars, and non-organic objects of the world are deteriorating at an accelerated rate once the action begins, but in a statement the evil god character makes near the end of the book to Emily (the songwriter/bartender), the mystery is revealed.

In one of the more viscous gore/sex scenes, he thunders at her when she won't submit to him saying, "I am the destroyer of worlds and the lord of the wastelands! You will not mock me!" This is an obvious reference to the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna begs Krishna to show him his universal form, and Krishna says, "I have become Time, the destroyer of worlds."

Thus in Smith's story we read a hidden parable showing us the evil humanity constantly battles is really time, and time is in fact the destroyer of all worlds—eventually. Just as in the end, when the narrator questions his reason for even writing a book chronicling the events of a dead world, so we must question our daily reason for doing anything in the face of advancing time, which ultimately destroys us all.

Given the deep theme, moral, and symbolism inherent in "Darkened," it would have been nice to see a master storyteller like Smith treat it more literarily instead of as a voyeuristic sex and violence pulp show. Nevertheless, you get what you pay for when it comes to "Darkened."

If you want suspenseful, fast-reading gothic gore, you've got it. If you want to contemplate the story for its deeper allegorical meaning, you've got that too. Either way, you'll be holding your breath for his next novel and reading all his others while you wait.

Reviewed by Edward Gordon
The Gordon Composition Gothic Novel Review show less

“He was in no hurry to go to his grave at the hands of a bunch of reanimated dead things, but he preferred it over being sexually violated and brutalized by a gang of demented, meth-addicted hillbillies.”

Yeah, it’s that kind of book! The quote comes from the title story, which is the first third of the book. A really good story, with an ending that I was not a fan of.
The second story has Satan-worshipping cheerleaders bringing dead Nazi soldiers back to life!?!?!? The fourth tale is show more titled “Chainsaw Sex Maniacs From Mars”! And, they are redneck aliens to boot! Plenty of zombies in here, aliens, and loads of serial killers. And “...lesbian nun vampires. Didn’t see that one coming.” No, Bryan, no I did not... especially as they also turned out to be satanic on top of all that.

This is just such a crazy-ass collection, that I'm giving this five stars because it entertained the hell out of me! show less

An exceptionally nasty, degrading, horrific little bastard of a novel here. Sizzling heaps of brutality, depravity, sex, carnage, and mean-spirited examples of man's inhumanity to man. Clearly, I loved it.

This was my first Bryan Smith book and I tore through it like a razorblade through the soft underbelly of a dozing hooker in a roach-infested roadside motel. It was tautly written, perfectly paced, and thoroughly engaging from its disarming intro to its gut-churning conclusion. I'd show more probably turn right around and read it again if I didn't have an entire shelf full of Smith's novels to dive into.

If the prose had been a little less raw and a touch more elegant, I would have honestly felt like I'd tripped and landed in the midst of one of Big Jim Thompson's dizzying fever dreams. The strains were all there. The half-smart, beaten-down, lust-driven protagonist, the poorly-orchestrated criminal enterprise that always ends up going south, the abyssal bad luck, the bevy of aggressive, manipulative, sleazy, batshit-crazy women to lure the poor schmuck astray...all present and accounted for. One of my favorite experiences is a novel whose characters are all so wretched and depraved that you don't even have it in you to root for any of them and eventually wind up rooting for the downtrodden protagonist just because anyone who gets THAT much shit heaped on them needs all the pity they can get. Needless to say I felt perfectly at home here.

I have no idea who I would even recommend this book to. Most of my friends would take far too little joy in the unpleasant proceedings here and would probably chuck the book aside in disgust. But if you're reading this and happen to be the sort of extra-bleak noir enthusiast who can really sink their teeth into a nasty-tasting sandwich of human suffering and depravity, 68 Kill is your baby. Dig in, start chewing, and watch out for the goddam bones! show less

Yikes. Smith is typically a 4 or 5-star writer for me. I find his writing to be tight, concise, and brutally unrelenting. Gutter-noir in the spirit of a latter-day Jim Thompson.

But this, his debut novel, is a whole different ballgame. Tiresome, incongruous, bloated, and throwing out similes like George Brett hitting home runs. Seriously...there is one in almost every paragraph.

Unlikable characters doing inscrutable things for obscure reasons. So many different, contrasting horror tropes show more that you think you might choke on them. I LOVE Bryan Smith's writing, but if this festering dungheap of a novel landed on my desk from a budding young author, I'd probably burn the MS. Truly unreadable garbage. And this from a diehard fan of the author and the genre.

Stay clear if you have any respect at all for Smith's (otherwise remarkable) body of work. show less