Many horror stories that feature youthful characters portray the kids as honorable, valiant, courageous monster hunters. That's all right. Sometimes. Stephen King's It is among my favorites in the genre. I adore Summer of Night. Boy's Life, The Bottoms, The Monster Squad, Ghoul, December Park; these are all worthy of your time. I have very mixed feelings about Stranger Things, but that's for another time.
Then there are other views of childhood. Ones that show kids as angry, resentful, lost and confused. Making serious mistakes and engaging in reprehensible behavior. Growing up is tough, in case you forgot.
Bent Heavens is the latest novel from an extraordinary writer named Daniel Kraus. Maybe you are familiar with his work. It's not as well known in horror circles as it ought to be. But that's all right, because the term, Horror Writer, is too constrictive for someone like him.
I discovered the writing of Daniel Kraus with a ghoulish book called Rotters. Rotters is a young adult horror novel that is more original and effective than 99% of the genre materials I read. I went on to other terrific Kraus books: The Monster Variations, Scowler, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Blood Sugar. All first rate, all unique.
Daniel Kraus is a writer who seems to eschew genre pigeonholing. He has written for teens and adults. He has done straight-up horror, but he also has a Hard Case Crime novel. He has dabbled in dark fantasy. Like Joe R. Lansdale, Daniel Kraus is a genre unto himself. No one writes like him, and he isn't copying any style or trend.
Bent Heavens comes out on February 25, and it is easily my favorite Daniel Kraus book.
The story deals with Liv Fleming, a girl with more angst than your average high schooler. Her father recently had some sort of humiliating breakdown and is now missing. Her best friend is the school weirdo. Her Mom is a practicing alcoholic.
Liv's father believed that aliens were coming for him, and so he built traps for them in their expansive back yard. Even though the man mysteriously disappeared a couple of years beforehand, the traps remain set and Liv's friend Doug obsesses on checking them every Sunday.
One day something is found in a trap. Angry over the unresolved fate of Liv's father, Liv and Doug seek to find out what happened. In doing so they discover terrible things about their own capabilities, and even worse things about the world they believed they knew.
Horror fiction usually doesn't disturb me, but Bent Heavens got under my skin. It is an uncompromising look at the dark side of humanity, and the devastating effects of being an outsider.
Brimming with blistering insight, awash in bleak emotion, heartbreaking in its depiction of corrupted innocence, Bent Heavens is a Lord of the Flies for the social media age.
Daniel Kraus has a lot more in store for his readers. This summer will see the hotly anticipated posthumous collaboration between Kraus and George Romero, The Living Dead. After that comes a series for younger readers about vengeful teddy bears.
Written by Mark Sieber
Then there are other views of childhood. Ones that show kids as angry, resentful, lost and confused. Making serious mistakes and engaging in reprehensible behavior. Growing up is tough, in case you forgot.
Bent Heavens is the latest novel from an extraordinary writer named Daniel Kraus. Maybe you are familiar with his work. It's not as well known in horror circles as it ought to be. But that's all right, because the term, Horror Writer, is too constrictive for someone like him.
I discovered the writing of Daniel Kraus with a ghoulish book called Rotters. Rotters is a young adult horror novel that is more original and effective than 99% of the genre materials I read. I went on to other terrific Kraus books: The Monster Variations, Scowler, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Blood Sugar. All first rate, all unique.
Daniel Kraus is a writer who seems to eschew genre pigeonholing. He has written for teens and adults. He has done straight-up horror, but he also has a Hard Case Crime novel. He has dabbled in dark fantasy. Like Joe R. Lansdale, Daniel Kraus is a genre unto himself. No one writes like him, and he isn't copying any style or trend.
Bent Heavens comes out on February 25, and it is easily my favorite Daniel Kraus book.
The story deals with Liv Fleming, a girl with more angst than your average high schooler. Her father recently had some sort of humiliating breakdown and is now missing. Her best friend is the school weirdo. Her Mom is a practicing alcoholic.
Liv's father believed that aliens were coming for him, and so he built traps for them in their expansive back yard. Even though the man mysteriously disappeared a couple of years beforehand, the traps remain set and Liv's friend Doug obsesses on checking them every Sunday.
One day something is found in a trap. Angry over the unresolved fate of Liv's father, Liv and Doug seek to find out what happened. In doing so they discover terrible things about their own capabilities, and even worse things about the world they believed they knew.
Horror fiction usually doesn't disturb me, but Bent Heavens got under my skin. It is an uncompromising look at the dark side of humanity, and the devastating effects of being an outsider.
Brimming with blistering insight, awash in bleak emotion, heartbreaking in its depiction of corrupted innocence, Bent Heavens is a Lord of the Flies for the social media age.
Daniel Kraus has a lot more in store for his readers. This summer will see the hotly anticipated posthumous collaboration between Kraus and George Romero, The Living Dead. After that comes a series for younger readers about vengeful teddy bears.
Written by Mark Sieber
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