I'm not really up on all the subcategories of horror fiction. One I sometimes hear is "Literary Horror". I've discussed this before, but it comes up now and again. I guess to be succinct I could consider Literary Horror something that is better than most of the other stuff out there. If that is the case, Norman Prentiss is definitely Literary.

I've praised Norman before, most particularly with his novella, Invisible Fences. Also with the short story, In the Porches of My Ears. I was a prereader of both of these pieces of fiction, and I predicted great success for them. I'm not always right, but I was in these cases. Both were deserved recipients of the Bram Stoker Award.

Prentiss has other superlative works out in print, such as the themed collection, Four Legs in the Morning. The disturbing novella, The Fleshless Man. The media-savvy short novel, Life in a Haunted House. The Book of Baby Names. And a wild, calendar-themed series of flash short stories called Apocalypse-a-Day.

All terrific works of multi-layered fiction, all worthy of your time.

Today I am here to talk about an episodic novel called Odd Adventures With My Other Father.

I'm not sure I even consider Odd Adventures With Your Other Father to be horror fiction, even though it deals with the supernatural. There's a monstrous mannequin, a succubus, and terrifyingly deformed people. Not to mention extrasensory perception.

Like most of Prentiss's fiction, Odd Adventures deals in metaphor. The book, to me, is about the wonders and challenges of love and partnership, and the secret language lovers often adapt with each other. It also acutely looks at the notions of extended family, and all the joys and horrors that come along with it.

Shawn and Jack are two young lovers on a spree in the nineteen-eighties. They are traveling, seeing magic and marvels, as well as prejudice and homophobia. Their infectious enthusiasm, irreverent humor, and genuine love for one another prevent the bad things from discouraging them. Shawn and Jack share a preternatural form of communication in the form of telegraphed imagery from one to the other.

The tales are told in the form of stories from Shawn to their daughter, which take place in the present day. Tragedy and loss haunt the entire novel, even as ghosts from the past re-emerge to threaten the magic of the stories.

I cannot say enough good things about Odd Adventures With Your Other Father. It's a rich, wise story that will certainly appeal to gay readers, but I think everyone will be rewarded by its wonders. For who has not been in love and existed in a magical, mystical, secret world of two?

Written by Mark Sieber

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