Victoria Dalpe

This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com, I received a copy of this book for review consideration

There was a great deal that I liked about ‘Parasite Life’ but the quality of the writing never quite keeps up with the freshness of the ideas. It’s a different take on the teen vampire novel, that has more in common with George A Romero’s excellent movie ‘Martin’ than it does with the likes of ‘Twilight’. Aside from their taste for blood, the vampires here are indistinguishable from humans. The challenges they face are emotional, social and practical. There are no villagers marching to the gates with flaming torches, just moral unease and problems of finding a fresh supply of blood.
To even use the V-word is slightly spoilery, but it’s pretty obvious right from the start why teen protagonist Jane feels so different from here peers, and why her catatonic mother is covered in tiny wounds. Jane’s path through the novel is one of self-discovery, as she gradually uncovers the secrets of her origins and her mother’s mysterious illness. She shares narrator duties with her mother, whose diaries flesh out the back story. The secrets those diaries reveal are wonderfully macabre, and evidence that author Dalpe has an entertainingly twisted imagination. This is a very personal kind of horror. The horror of the fluid contents of our slowly decaying bodies and of the power our instincts have over our rational minds. There are scenes and images here which linger long after the page has been turned.
‘Parasite Life’ is marketed as a YA book. I’ve long struggled to understand exactly what gets a book that classification, other than a teenage protagonist. The book has that, but the horror is full bloodied, and I’d certainly not recommended it for very young readers. In line with other YA books I’ve read, Dalpe explores coming of age themes like teenage alienation and the relationship between parents and children. Indeed, Jane and her mother represent a horrific and desperately bleak vision of motherhood. The handling of the teenage elements is particularly sensitive, and Jane’s problems make her an appealing and sympathetic character. She is easy to relate to if you’re someone who has ever felt that they don’t quite fit in. Her growing friendship with new girl Sabrina is also well done. It’s convincing and a reminder of how intoxicating new relationships can be.
The richness of the ideas and themes makes it all the more disappointing that the story is weak. The problem is that it’s all self-discovery with no real plot to back it up. Loner Jane befriends the new girl at school, things get weird between them, Jane finds out the secrets of her past. That’s basically it. The resulting lack of tension and drama meant I found myself reading the book because I wanted to see what Dalpe did with the concept, rather than because I was gripped by the story. What’s more, things feel a bit padded given the lack of incident. I can’t help feeling that there’s a great short story or novella in here, but at nearly 300 pages the book is too long. The writing can be pretty turgid too, it’s not bad, it just never crackles.
For all that, I think the book is worth reading. It’s original and often thought provoking, even if it lacks a compelling plot to pull the reader through it.
… (meer)

WICKED WEIRD is a fun anthology of weird tales, all written by authors from New England. I enjoyed the hell out of it!

I can't go into each and every story, so here I'm going to stick to the ones that I thought were wicked good. (Here in the northeast, when we use the word WICKED we mean extraordinary. For example: Dunkin' Donuts coffee is wicked good. Dunkin'? I'll be waiting for my check!) With no further ado:

A STRANGE HAZE by Matthew Bartlett. For those of you that can identify with feeling like an outsider, always saying the wrong thing, and often saying it in the wrong tone of voice. 4*

A SONG OF WAR AND DEATH by Errick A. Nunnally. My notes say "Reads like a Twilight Zone episode." 4*

(The above two authors I've heard of and I was happy to find that I own books by both of them already! I need to get some reading done!)

SALT CAVE by Morgan Sylvia.
Here's one line from the story:
"The spiders sing madness into my thoughts."
I was not previously aware of this author and now I just want to hunt down everything they wrote. 5*

THE SWEETNESS AND THE PSYCHIC by LL Soares. Two words: Basement. Cockroaches. 4*

A FEAST OF FLIES by Steve Van Samson. A stranger visits the camp of starving men. 4*

THE MASS OF THE GREATEST SIN by Trisha J. Wooldridge. I really dug the narrative voice in this one, and I definitely could relate to a lot of the protagonist's feelings. 4* (I'll be searching out more work from this author as well.) 4.*

THE PAINTED GIRL by Paul McNamee. Native American Cosmic horror. How could it not be good? 4*

RECLAIMED by William D Carl. I feel like this story could have been written by Lovecraft himself, but I like this author's writing style better. 4.5*

STARRY NIGHT by Jason Parent. Features Merle Haggard, (no lie), AND it has creatures. 4*

SANGUISUGA by Kate Moulton. I'm not saying anything to ruin this, but it kicked all kinds of ass. 5*

THE LOST MINE OF ST. ELOI by J. Edwin Buja. Intense tunnel action in WWI. 4*

THE PROMISED DEATH OF ZEBEDIAH DEWEY by John Goodrich. When even the devil doesn't want you, you're in trouble! 4*

THE PERFECT PARENT by Peter N Dudar. Twisted and a little hilarious all at once. 4*

YOUR EMERGENCY RESPONSE GUIDE by Jeffrey Thomas. This was an excellent little tale, well told and left me wondering for long after. 5* (I am already a fan of Thomas' work and own several of his book that I haven't read yet. Story of my life!)

I found WICKED WEIRD to be an above average collection and I have no reservations about saying:

Highly recommended!

Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2NZAtrv

*Thanks to Scott Goudsward for providing an e-copy of this anthology in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*… (meer)