The catalyst for Austen’s trip comes directly from his need to find out what the hell is wrong with him. The journey is both physical and figurative, and hopefully subjective and organic to the character. Road trip stories, properly done, provide a great backdrop for character transformation. Kathe Koja broke that ground in horror fiction first, laying the map down for transgressive fiction before that term was even a thing. Take the same story and publish it today and I feel most readers would feel right at home with Austen’s journey, probably more so because we’re accustomed to tales like this now. The Dell Abyss line was all about taking risks, providing cutting edge horror to escape the mundane. The typical horror novel of that time followed the tropes to the letter because that was what was expected, by both the publishers and the readers. The story was certainly ground-breaking, published at a time when experimental fiction was, well…more experimental. The structure tends to follow that formula, but by coinciding with the time-worn plot device of character transformation, it may have thrown some readers off from what they expected. I feel a lot of criticism stems from the book’s ebb and flow framed within a ‘road trip through hell’ story.
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Our protagonist, Austen Bandy, is an artist, one who wins the Most Tortured Artist in the World Award if there is such a thing, and his journey is transformative, flowing through a viscous ooze of despair until finally coming full circle, returning to that which torments him so completely: Art. To be fair, there is a plot to the story, a plot so primal we miss it if we stare too long. Perhaps it’s best to start with some of the criticism I’ve read about the book, claiming it’s a great read, but a story that lacks a real plot. Desperate, Austen finds himself face to face with his loveless ex-wife and a strange doctor who can not only see what Austen sees, but who also thinks he can help Austen learn to deal with it through art. The tried and true methods of mental health care cannot quench the seepage of liquid chrome that compels him to acts of violence. As he heals, the silver comes, first just in the corner of his eye, but soon it starts violating his world, consuming his sanity, controlling his life.
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A random accident sends him to the hospital to recover from a cracked skull and a scarred and frazzled brain. So, if you’ve never read Bad Brains, shame on you, read it now, and consider yourself warned if you proceed past this point.Īusten Bandy: Artist, divorced, barely existing, tortured, and starved for something other than the life he’s living. The best way to explore this novel with you is by spoiling it. The book wrestled me down to the mat instead, which was exactly what I was hoping for. Considering so many years have passed since my first read, I figured it was the perfect Tattered Tomes book for me to tackle. I’ve only read it twice when it was first released, and more recently for this review. When her second novel, Bad Brains, hit the stands, it was an instant purchase. It would be months before the library would carry any of her books, so I plopped down my money and the world has never looked the same to me since. The local strip mall installed a Hastings and they had the best selection of new horror titles in the world.
I first heard of her work reading a horror lit zine in the early 90s in a promo article touting her soon to be released novel The Cipher. If you’re a fan of horror fiction, surely you know the work of Kathe Koja.