A review that originally appeared in Black Static #82/83:-
Steve Rasnic Tem has twelve Black Static appearances under his belt, including a story in this issue. His collection THE NIGHT DOCTOR AND OTHER TALES (Macabre Ink pb, 274pp, £13.97) contains twenty five stories, four of which first appeared in the pages of Black Static and two published for the first time in this volume. Four of the stories I’ve previously reviewed before and as regards three of them – ‘Lost in the Garden of Earthly Delights’, ‘Half-Light’, and ‘Domestic Magic’ – I’ll reprise those reviews on the Case Notes blog at ttapress.com rather than repeat myself here.
Opening story ‘Breathing’ tells of Charlie who is haunted by his wife, or believes himself to be so, the story a heartfelt eulogy for all the things we have lost by the time we have reached our own personal end days, that time when breathing is the only difference between the living and the dead, and even that barrier grows thin. After the death of his wife and end of his employment, Tom moves to a retirement complex and ‘Apartment B’, but his existence becomes increasingly meaningless to him. It’s a touching account of a man who has lost his will and his way, who feels so deeply that he no longer has any purpose that he begins to question if he ever did. Matt’s wife Clara keeps seeing a ‘Red Rabbit’, remains left by a predator, or perhaps just a premonition of her own self-mutilation, the story building gradually, the horror of dementia conflated with very real menaces in the real world, or perhaps not.
Roger in ‘The Hanged Man’ gets into the habit of hanging himself, his failure to die a mirror image of the failed relationship he has with his family, especially son Matt who he wants to protect but feels incapable of doing so. It’s an intriguing and sad story, one where the weirdness of what is happening only serves to emphasise the ordinary, the common humanity of the moment. Advised by his physician to take up fishing as a form of relaxation, Bishop finds ‘The Fishing Hut’ and its enigmatic occupants, with the suggestion that it is a halfway house between life and death. This was an unsettling story though nothing really happens that is overtly disturbing, so that the final twist when it comes is even more of a hammer blow. In ‘A Sudden Event’ married couple Roger and Ann are haunted by an elusive sound, one that he dreads hearing in case it alters their lives forever. This is another story that confronts the theme of dementia, an invisible thief that robs us of reason and understanding.
‘Paula Breaks’ is a tale of desperation and hope, the protagonist kept prisoner in their house by her husband for her own good, though there is a weird element to what takes place emphasising how unnatural it all is. One feels for Paula, wants her to escape, but the bittersweet ending is both the thwarting and culmination of these dreams of freedom. In ‘Blattidae Wine’ Scott’s wife Lisa is metamorphosing and he is having visions of a giant, talking insect. The story starts ordinarily enough, with Scott’s dissatisfaction with his life, then escalates taking in the truly weird things that he thinks are happening to him, learning to embrace the changes. A young man out campaigning for a politician is invited into the home of ‘Mister Ainsley’, who is far from being who (or what) he at first appears to be. This is a delicious story, one that starts grounded and then steadily escalates the amount of weird, but maintains a tone of propriety throughout. I loved it.
In ‘The Long Fade into Evening’ elderly Simon is allowed to stay in a property in a desolate part of town, but what he sees from his window and encounters on the streets only brings home to him that his life is as good as over. It’s another sad story, one where the sense of loss is palpable. Inanimate objects talk to Ed revealing ‘The Secret Laws of the Universe’ and cheering him on in his ambition to kill wife Jillian. Superficially this is a tale of someone who hears voices urging him to kill, but the droll humour of the situation, the dialogue with various domestic items and the way in which Ed keeps screwing up, all help to elevate it into something memorable, with a twist ending that is almost triumphant in tone. ‘The Man in the Rose Bushes’ is a homage to M. R. James, with American tourists on a coach trip round England’s stately homes subjected to a hellish visitation from the past. The story is an object lesson in the Jamesian, with so much unsaid that just adds to the strength of the piece.
Title story ‘The Night Doctor’ I reviewed when it appeared in The Spectral Book of Horrors and I had this to say about it – “Mental illness and the frailty of old age are at the heart of ‘The Night Doctor’ by Steve Rasnic Tem, as a couple in a new home find themselves cursed by illness, the man externalising his fears in the eponymous figure of a bogeyman from his childhood. It’s a fascinating account of reality refracted through the eyes of somebody whose sanity is out of alignment with true, and running under the narrative is a warm current of emotion that mitigates both the menace and the sadness of the situation.”
Inspired by Joel Lane, ‘The Enemy Within’ tells of the troubled relationship between Ian and Paul, with jealousy running amok. It’s a compelling ghost story, with subtle effects that help engender a feeling of dread, as Paul’s controlling nature becomes apparent. Asako’s mother has brainwashed her to the point that she is terrified of men, so much so that she has visions of pervasive ‘Stick Men’, in another story of mounting dread, all culminating in the final revelation of why her mother acts as she does and the underlying hypocrisy.
Hector in ‘Too Many Ghosts’ does wood carvings that unintentionally resemble dead people he has known. Set at Halloween, this is one of the best stories in the collection, with Hector’s resistance to his daughter’s religiosity and the sadness/anger he feels at the loss of his wife driving the plot forward, and an ominous note in the background courtesy of the explosions that keep occurring. ‘When You’re Not Looking’ is a homage to Robert Aickman, with definite echoes of ‘The Hospice’. Johnson is residing in some mysterious institution, but has no idea if he is undertaking a rest cure or something more long lasting, with his own sense of himself and of his world slowly fading. It is another story in which loss of control seems central, with the protagonist lacking agency, just someone who is acted upon, can embrace only small acts of rebellion as a way of asserting his individuality. Whitcomb, the protagonist of ‘Between the Pilings’, returns to Innsmouth where he had a family vacation when he was eight years old, and finds little changed, though the sinister place brings back memories of his mother that he would rather have forgotten. This is an entertaining foray into the realms of the Lovecraftian, with plenty of weird effects that cumulate to make you query the nature of the people involved, if they are fully human.
Roy finds his whole existence disappearing in ‘The Erased’, while friend Willem clings onto things as a way of maintaining corporeality, in a story that is weird and unsettling, that brings into being a strong sense of dislocation, for character and reader alike. Philip attends ‘The Wake’ of his father, but a chain of surreal events leave us wondering if he is dreaming or is actually himself the person who is dead. It’s an intriguing piece, with plays on the idea of being late for one’s own funeral, and an end twist that throws everything up in the air. In ‘The Weight Lost’ Clyde’s attempts to lose weight result in obsession and visions of body horror. The story takes a common theme and turns it on its head, showing how things can so often go awry. A man’s tales to his grandchildren results in their becoming monsters in ‘The Monster Makers’, the story building gradually, reinforcing the idea that stories shape the world in which we live, but giving that a monstrous twist. It’s a fine end to a collection in which impressionistic horror is centre stage rather than narrative driven fiction, and in which themes of dementia and loss dominate, the concerns of an author in his twilight years.
Trumpetville 