Lynette McClenaghan

Only Lovers Left Alive

Check out Squrl who perform on the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive. You might like to know that Jim Jarmusch, the director of this film is also a member of Squrl.

Since watching the film Only Lovers Left Alive I bought the soundtrack, which complements the film. Film and music generate a dark mood and atmosphere. The music is psychedelic/Gothic and creates a unique and distinctive sound.

Only Lovers Left Alive is a must see for those who are seeking an intelligent and thought provoking Gothic tale and mood piece. It’s not a traditional vampire story that relies on blood-sucking horror and violence to sustain an audience. The mood, tone and music create a film that relies more on atmosphere rather than drama. It’s a thematically complex piece as well as including traditional Gothic themes, such as the romantic outsider. It also interweaves modern concerns, such as urban decay and climate change. I gave this film a five out of five. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston’s performances were impressive.

I have posted 23 reviews on Amazon and my recommendations have helped 33 readers.

Here’s another review:

Killing Sam Knight – a confronting and compelling read – not for the faint- hearted

Wow. Killing Sam Knight delivers on the promise of its subtitle: “dark, erotic thriller”. To be honest, this kind of horror is not my thing and I found a number of scenes in the book, confrontingly sexual, violent, or both. That said, it is to John Cassian’s credit and skill as a writer that I kept reading until the end. Cassian’s portrayal of his two profoundly flawed and disturbing protagonists is compelling. As in American Psycho, we are given confronting depictions of aberrant psychology, which, in Cassian’s hands, is interestingly both horrifying and fascinating.

Even the most lurid gore and perverse sexual behaviour can pall with repetition. But here, again, Cassian deals with his subject matter with flair and imagination – perhaps too much for readers like myself. The novel moves at a cracking pace. It is one of the few books I’ve read recently where I have not felt the need to skip a few paragraphs until the action picks up again. This is a non-stop thriller. The plot has some amazing twists and turns and some mind-blowing moments. For instance, I was particularly struck by the introduction to the plot of the serial-killer fan websites and the content therein.

Four stars for Killing Sam Knight because it was, at times, a bit too graphic for me. This is of course a matter of personal taste, other readers may be more comfortable (!?) with this. I look forward to the next book in the series.
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The Resurrectionist by James Bradley is described as a “Gothic chiller” and “thrilling horror story” on the back cover, so with this review I will have a look at what makes the book fit such criteria. In particular I will look at Bradley’s writing style, which is powerful and atmospheric and vividly conveys the novel’s themes and concerns.

The main character, Gabriel Swift is living in 1820s London, apprenticed to Edwin Poll, an anatomist. Poll, and others in the story, exemplify science without conscience or morality.  Gabriel is a promising student, but in the course of the story he persistently falls prey to the worst aspects of his character. Anatomists need bodies and much of the novel is located in the grim world of the resurrectionists. Chief of these is the malevolent Lucan, who wields a lot of power as the city’s chief body-snatcher. Lucan is a classic character from a Gothic tale. Gabriel is fearful of him, yet drawn to him.

One daunting task for writers of dark fiction is to convincingly depict moments of horror. I recently read a novel where the writer seemed to think that a list of gruesome details such as eating entrails from a steaming corpse was enough to constitute horror. Unfortunately, the effect was about as horrifying as a shopping list. Bradley, however, is a master of the effect. This was, for me, the best aspect of the novel – its powerful, atmospheric writing. Some scenes are viscerally moving. For example, here is part of a depiction of monstrosities preserved in jars: “…a line of larger jars, each holding a child deformed in some dreadful way: one’s head an empty sack which billows on its neck; another made as a mermaid is, its back and legs disappearing into serpent coils; the head of the next turned inside out, the teeth growing in concentric rings through the exposed meat of the palate as if the inverted hole sought to consume the face in which it sits from chin to brow”. This writing is visually arresting and disturbing. Gabriel is a gifted illustrator, so notes what he sees with an artist’s eye; the detached narrative voice takes in, dispassionately, without any sense of straining for effect, the dreadful details, making the writing chilling, the scene grotesquely immoral, an early glimpse into the ghastly world Gabriel is drawn into. It also picks up a key Gothic theme, the nature of monstrousness; and it alludes to the kind of society we see Dickens trenchantly critical of.

The Resurrectionist is a master-class in writing. Bradley is skilled in drawing the reader into an utterly repellent environment by making it both fascinating and appalling.

I recently read The Diary of a Drug Fiend, written in 1922 by the infamous Aleister Crowley. Although it is not strictly a horror story, it is a horrifying story, and Crowley’s reputation as an occultist means that it may be of interest to other readers here. Not to mention the fact that Crowley is an excellent writer and the story is drawn from his own experiences. Crowley became a heroin and cocaine addict in the early twenties and remained so for the rest of his life. However, the book is not a moralistic tale about drugs and how bad they are. Rather, Crowley examines addiction as a form of thwarted spiritual search. The suffering endured by the main protagonists becomes a kind of extended ‘dark night of the soul’, where they are forced to confront the best and worst of themselves before emerging redeemed at the end of the story. Drugs per se are neither good nor evil, Crowley suggests, but rather, it is our attitude to them and how we use them in our lives, which matters. It is a contentious viewpoint, not one that I would endorse.

The story centres on Sir Peter Pendragon, a wealthy Great War flying hero and his wife, Louise (Lou) Laleham. The story depicts in dreadful detail the couple’s introduction to cocaine, then heroin and the awful effects this has on their lives as they degenerate into addiction. The novel, in this, is truly a horror story: “…before I reached the street I realised with desolate disgust and despair the degree of my degradation, of my damnation; and I hugged desperately my hideous perverse pride in my own frightful fate, and rejoiced as the horrible hunger for heroin made itself known once more, gnawing at my entrails.”  A good literary analogy would be with Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a book which also portrays harrowing psychological and existential experiences.

Along the way the author provides insights into the mind and behaviour of an addict: “We lie about and look at each other; but we can’t touch, the skin is too painful”. Pendragon is in part based on Crowley himself. The book also presents some of Crowley’s unique views, so that as we follow Laleham and Pendragon we are also offered Crowley’s thoughts on a diverse range of topics. “Sympathy with universal suffering brings one into a certain sombre serenity.” The book contains many reflections of this kind, not merely to create sympathy for the characters but to see their struggles as emblematic of humanity’s spiritual struggles.

The other main character is the magician, King Lamus, who keeps appearing throughout the story, attempting to guide the wayward couple to spiritual fulfilment. He, too, is based on Crowley.

The supernatural element in the story is subtly used. Crowley sees this as a natural part of our lives and our thinking about existence, so is not there to frighten the reader but to encourage the reader’s philosophical thinking: “The Devil, of course, needs a human interpreter if he is to communicate with this world, and so he took possession of Peter”.

It also has to be said that Crowley can be wickedly funny – there are some very humorous comments in the book, and that he is a terrific writer of memorable phrases: “The first of these women was a fat, bold, red-headed slut”. Many scenes in the novel are powerful and dramatic and Crowley’s imagery is often startling. Here he describes Pendragon’s impression of Lou’s hair: “It reminded me of the armature of a dynamo”.

The Diary of a Drug Fiend is highly recommended. It is an intense and gripping read. It also shows, as I try to do in my own writing, that horror is not always frights or gore, but also lurks within the mind, our fellow humans and in the chaotic universe around us.

Quotable quotes from horror

It’s difficult to put together quotes that truly reflect the craft of horror because the stories generally depend on the slow burning build-up of atmosphere.

Here are a few

‘That was when Timmy walked over to us… And he stank of the grave. It was a black smell, like everything inside him was just lying there, black and festering and spoilt.’ Stephen King – Pet Sematary

‘A hideous mewing sound now arose, and for a moment all of Jud’s bones turned to white ice. It was not Louis’s son returned from the grave but some hideous demon.’ Stephen King – Pet Sematary

The novella A Christmas Carol is Dickens’ most obviously Gothic tale. However, many of his works feature Gothic overtones. This tale is laced with black humour and enough creepiness to make you shiver and like other works of horror you need to read the whole story to be gripped by that spooky quality that chills.

‘Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.’ A Christmas Carol

‘…with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost , could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.’ A Christmas Carol

I first read Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde a number of years ago. Until I became a writer I didn’t appreciate the richness of the story, its mastery of foreshadowing and the subtlety of its horror. These are some of the qualities that feature in my own work.

The premise of this Gothic tale is about a young man who makes a Faustian pact by selling his soul. This story echoes my work in that it has an absence of gore and the horror is psychological and existential. Dorian Gray is a highly literary text. I define my work as mildly literary.

This story also doubles as crime fiction in the same way that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde does.

Feminist writer Camille Paglia, coined a term the Dorian Syndrome, where a person is obsessed with being forever young.

‘The picture had not changed. It was folly to think so. Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile.’ Oscar Wilde

‘Gradually white fingers creep through the curtains, and they appear to tremble. In black fantastic shapes, dumb shadows crawl into the corners of the room, and crouch there.’ Oscar Wilde

‘Christ! What a thing I must have worshipped! It has the eyes of a devil.

Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him…’ Oscar Wilde

M R James’ ghost stories make compelling reading, however his writing is verbose and somewhat wooden.

Many of his stories have been filmed in a compilation of his best tales where they have come to life in a way that the written versions themselves lack.

And finally for today’s entry

The Loves of Lady Purple by Angela Carter is a tale about how a man becomes so enchanted by a puppet that he unwittingly breathes life into it.

‘ …had the marionette all the time parodied the living or was she, now living…? …young and extravagantly beautiful, the leprous whiteness of her face gave her the appearance of a corpse animated solely by demonic will.’

Professional Reading

These days most of my reading is professional reading. Reading prolifically and widely is essential to my own writing. Working as an English teacher has forced me to work closely with texts. Close analysis of fiction has served as an intense study of character, plot, genre and ultimately the craft of writing. These processes have been my best teachers.

A number of years ago I completed a Professional Writing and Editing course over two years and this has also been a key influence on my fiction writing. At the time being a prolific reader didn’t qualify me well enough to write. I have revisited the dos and don’t of writing which are essential to both fiction and non-fiction writing and offer great guidance.

As well as reading for entertainment I have developed the necessary practice of analyzing and deconstructing the texts that I read. I do this to give my writing the best chance to be fresh and relevant.

Recently, I have been entertained and inspired by a number of Gothic and Horror anthologies featuring classic and modern writers of these genres, historical fiction and I enjoy other classic and modern literature.

Recent favourites have been Guy de Maupassant, Truman Capote and a compilation of stories titled The Macabre Megapack. A review of the megapack and reviews on other books I read on kindle can be found on Amazon.