Naima Haviland

Naima Haviland’s collection of horrific tales begins on a very dark and dramatic note: “It seems like yesterday that Téa carved a big circle out of her belly and tried to scoop her entrails into the toilet. Before starting, she’d put duct tape over her mouth so her screaming wouldn’t bother the neighbours.” In the opening story, Aunt Téa’s Addiction, Haviland writes about a woman addicted not to drugs or alcohol, but to something far more fundamental, and there are very few lengths to which she won’t go to get it. This is an original, and disturbing, story. The occasionally visceral content notwithstanding, it’s ultimately a story about the search for attention and approbation – the search, ultimately, for love.

He Dreams in Yellow is a story about a man haunted – not just by a ghost, but by the wrong turns he has taken in life, and the pain he has caused, to himself and others. Malcolm’s world is a drab, colourless place, apart from the bright yellow of his dreams or visions. This is a story about love beyond death; I was going to say unconditional love, but perhaps it isn’t that at all. Because the object of Malcolm’s love torments him mercilessly: she is always there, but cannot be kept, confronted, or held.

Sparky’s First Day is a story of confused perceptions and of a character trapped in his own mind. We travel with the protagonist through the winding, and occasionally horrific, corridors of his brain. The difference is that ultimately we learn the truth, whereas he does not.

The Entrepreneur is more bloody, and probably the most disturbing and effective tale in the collection. At first sight, you might be charmed, as the narrator is, by the man she goes to meet. He is a friendly, likeable guy; but he is not what he seems to be. And, more to the point, there are others like him: “They’re regular guys,” he explains. “You’d never pick them out of a crowd.” This is a tale of slowly mounting discomfort leading at last to absolute horror, and it is the stuff of nightmares.

Bedring, meanwhile, is a bizarre and thematically rich story about the darkness that lurks behind the facade of normality. Fittingly for a story of suburbia, it begins on a banal, and even rather benign, note: a man coming home to discover an empty house and an unmade bed. From there, it rapidly descends into a world of madness: a world where survival is paramount, and where danger lies in wait in the most ordinary surroundings. And it’s about the fight for survival, and how principles and even love can amount to little compared to the desperate, primal urge to survive. It’s also about the internal politics of the family, and how people slip into certain roles within a family which do not necessarily reflect their characters or wishes.

This is a nice collection of dark stories with supernatural twists, full of unusual angles on topics such as addiction and mental illness. Haviland’s writing style is dexterous, and able to evoke both beauty and horror. It’s occasionally gruesome, and not therefore for the squeamish, but if you’re made of sturdy stuff it’s well worth a read.
… (mer)

In Bloodroom, Julian Mouret is a powerful vampire who is required by the laws that bind vampires to kill Natalie, a ballerina, because she saw his true vampiric nature. The only problem is that Julian has fallen madly in love with Natalie. Even though he knows what he must do, he can’t get himself to kill his beloved as they start to develop a physical relationship. Meanwhile, as Natalie’s memory of the events leading up to this situation start to clarify, she starts to suspect something isn’t quite right with Julian. To make matters worse, one of her ballet partners is being visited/attacked by one of the vampires in Julian’s brood, and another goes missing.

Bloodroom presents some interesting elements in vampiric lore. One of them is the room that gives this novel its title, which is a room of people being cocooned by spiders, which allow the vampires to feed upon them. It was an interesting concept that I had not seen before. I’m not sure that the logistics would completely work in terms of secrecy and other aspects, but I applaud the author’s originality. Setting plays a big part in this novel, and I think the author really incorporates the setting well, creating atmosphere and soaking it into the fabric of the story. The characters were compelling. The parts that I thought could have used some work is that beyond the relationship between Julian and Natalie, the plot is a little thin, and the chase between the two main characters got a bit repetitive in spots. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable vampire novel that fans of paranormal romance will enjoy.

Carl Alves - author of Blood Street… (mer)

This is a vampire book which takes place in Charleston SC. The setting is wonderfully described, and the inclusion of the world of ballet was a nice touch. I am afraid I could not finish this book, however. I did not like any of the characters, and try as I might, I could not develop any interest in what happened to them. The story was mostly told from the perspective of the male vampire "hero". While I don't have a problem with anti-heroes in principle, he wasn't a character that I could admire in any way. The heroine seemed rather stupid and shallow. None of the other characters were likeable. I think this author shows promise in world building and descriptive writing.… (mer)