Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Martyrs & Monsters runs the gamut of this extraordinary author's narrative range, embracing vampires and sea serpents, werewolves and swamp creatures ... as well as a host of nightmares for which no names exist. Whether set on an orbiting space station or within a haunted tenement, these terrifying tales are steeped in a passionate intensity that renders them all but unique within the genre, and all boast a sophistication that qualifies them as that rarest of rare commodities: horror for intelligent adults.

"Gritty and savage ... profound and quietly devastating ... as much intellectual as visceral. Despite all the mayhem, a consistent humanity manifests itself, a glimmer of hope in all the madness. Quite simply, this collection represents dark fiction as it should be-chilling, entertaining, intelligent." ~ From the introduction by Greg F. Gifune

BOOK REVIEW:
This is a really creepy book, and I say that in a good way. Robert Dunbar has written a collection of dark stories about which he says: "MARTYRS & MONSTERS is a collection of my short fiction. The stories embrace horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy ~ all with a decidedly queer edge. There are gay phantoms, lesbian ghost hunters, bisexual witches, vampires, werewolves, old boyfriends ... and other nightmares."

It's not a book to read lightly. Some of the stories will leave you shuddering and some will leave you with the odd feeling that something awful is outside the window. Robert Dunbar has a talent with words, with images, and he uses them with surgical skill. There's a very Gothic texture to the stories, which have titles like "Are We Dead Yet?" and "Killing Billie's Boys". Their very placement in the reading order of the book is designed to keep the reader on edge. The first story, "Getting Wet," is a sequel to a later story. As you read the stories ~ all very different ~ you sense connections, and considering the variety of subtexts, that's not always a comfortable thing.

If you crave horror, this is your book. If you aren't afraid of stories that tickle that part of your brain that tells you "run, run, run", this is your book. If you like stories written beautifully and aimed at the intelligent but quirky reader, this is your book.

The title comes from Beaudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal:
"Virgins, demons, monsters, martyrs, all Great spirits scornful of reality..."

You won't forget Martyrs & Monsters. Read it if you dare.

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