Scott's Brain Meat: Paranormal

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Book Review: Dark Entries by Ian Rankin

There had been talk for awhile about Tartan Noir crime novelist Ian Rankin taking on the character of

Constantine for Vertigo, the prospect of which had a lot of Rankin and Constantine fans alike excited. Now that the waiting is over, the final product has turned out to be somewhat underwhelming. Rankin knows how to write, and his take on paranormal detective John Constantine is well within line with what regular fans would expect. But when it comes to the actual story, there is a lot in Dark Entries to leave the reader wanting.

Preaching the inherent evils behind the culture of reality television is nothing new, and has been almost as popular as the shows themselves since Survivor started taking over broadcast television back in 2000. Countless authors have used that type of setting as a springboard for mystery, thriller and horror novels /short stories since then. While this doesn’t mean there still isn’t fresh material to be found there, Rankin’s approach can’t help but feel a little stale. The fake shows mentioned throughout are meant to be exaggerated examples of the inanity of reality programming, but their similarity to actual shows takes the bite out of these quick swipes at social satire.

The disappointment is even greater when Rankin seems to completely ignore the existence of actual ghost-
hunting and supernatural based reality shows, and instead chooses to involve Constantine in a rather mild fear-based version of Big Brother. Things turn demonic and spiritual, of course, but in a far more contrived and roundabout way than if he had merely been tagging along on an episode of Ghost Hunters or during the filming of Paranormal Activity 2. This doesn’t seem like an unfortunate oversight as much as it does a tragically missed opportunity.

The midway twist regarding the true nature of the show would be impressive in another comic series, but unfortunately for Hellblazer fans, the reveal (not to give anything away) doesn’t take them or John Constantine anywhere they haven’t been dozens of times before. Again, it is admittedly hard to take a character from such a long-running series in a completely new direction, but when it comes to the Hellblazer franchise, the oft-visited destination of Dark Entries tends to feel more like a fallback than a plot twist.

Add to all of this Vertigo’s release of the comic in a minimalist black-and-white manga-style paperback, which feels more like a cost-savig gimmick more than an esthetic choice, and despite the talents of the author behind the book, Dark Entries ends up feeling like a rather unsatisfying light entry into the Hellblazer series.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Book Review: The President's Vampire by Robert Damon Schneck

In the past, I have often found that many books and anthologies on unexplained phenomena and bizarre events are either sensationalized accounts with vague descriptions and no concrete details, or dry and inspirational regurgitation of other source materials with more footnotes than original material. So it was with great pleasure that I discovered Robert Damon Schneck's book The President's Vampire.

Schneck's approach is far from exploitational. His attention to detail and devotion to searching out the truth behind the sensational and unverified leaves no doubt to the author's curiosity or credibility. Exhaustive and well-documented historical research is devoted to every subject, even when possibly debunking an even more remarkable aspect to a story. But neither is his writing boring or overly-clinical. Schneck's academic yet personal approach to his subject matter does not hide an almost uncontainable passion for the unusual and unexplained phenomena he writes about, and more importantly, it does not detract from how fun and compelling his writing is.

Most chilling and disturbing is the final chapter, Bridge to Body Island, an examination of a

Image via Wikipedia

friend's recollected close call with a supernatural bogeyman. Many authors would present the tale on its own with perhaps a few embellishments for dramatic effect. Schneck, however, tells the story (which is genuinely creepy and unsettling) and then proceeds to examine the possible explanations for the events that took place, including research into possible real-world connections. His historical and scholarly comparisons and explanations are as captivating as the story itself, and do nothing to prevent readers who have used a Ouija board in the past from losing sleep.

That is where Schneck's approach to such Fortean tales as God Machines and Presidential Pardons for Vampires is a step above other authors in the field. He might not hold a flashlight under his face while leaning over the campfire to tell a spooky story, but that is because more often than not, the facts are far more disturbing. Robert Schneck delivers them, and thankfully so.