Book Review: And Falling, Fly by Skyler White

And Falling, Fly is a beautifully poetic work by author Skyler White. I first became acquainted with Skyler through Women in Horror Month and her intriguing interview made me want to check out her novel.

And let me say, as much as I was impressed by her interview I was doubly impressed by And Falling, Fly!

The description from the back cover:

In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels-turned-vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must pit medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts…but at what price?

Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless…and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O’Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L’Otel Matillide – a subterranean hell of beauty, demons and dreams – rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.

In this fractured Hotel of the Damned, Olivia and Dominic discover the only force consistent in their opposing realities is the deep, erotic gravity between them. Bound to each other finally in a knot of interwoven freedoms, Dominic and Olivia – the vision-touched scientist and the earthbound angel, reborn and undead – encounter the mystery of love and find it is both fall…and flight.

And Falling, Fly is captivating and masterfully written by author Skyler White. In fact, writing is so fluid, graceful and imaginative that I just couldn’t put the novel down! I am usually one that loathes too much romance in books I read, but I actually enjoyed the love story between the two leads and it fit quite well into the over-arching story. With elegant prose, amazingly complex characters, intriguing forays into neuroscience, magical surroundings and even some nice philosophical and religious ponderings, and Falling, Fly is a wondrous book to have the pleasure to read!

Of course, this is a dark fantasy novel so besides the love story it features its fair share of bloody action – usually revolving around a clan of vampire sisters (whom Olivia belongs to). Their beauty is sharply contrasted against their ferocity as they feed on others’ desire and fear. In actuality, these vamps are actually fallen angels, but plenty of other demons haunt the pages (and other characters) of the book. The novel also takes place in a hotel otherwise known as Hell run by a kindly old man named Gaehod. Here he tries to help those that have fallen, but most don’t want the assistance and are content to do nothing but to waste away their eternity there.

I loved White’s description of the otherworldly L’Otel Matillide – it’s unlike any other Hell I’ve ever read about. Instead of a gigantic pit of fire, the Hell in and Falling, Fly is quite well-appointed and set up like a hotel. Though deep underground, it has a garden (complete with an apple tree and a serpent) with a river running through it, a night club where “guests” can indulge their every desire and endless rooms to explore. Sure, it might sound more like heaven, but it is a self-imposed prison for the lost and forsaken. There are also achingly beautiful descriptions of the Irish countryside, and White’s writing style and voice brings anything she describes to vivid life!

Like the setting, the story is just as complex. The backstory of Dominic being a “Reborn” (or one that is reincarnated but is cursed to remember his past lives) and trying to block his memories with neuroscience was extremely interesting. I also like how this tied into the ending of the book and how his desire to lose his memories threatened to defeat him in the end. The backstory of Olivia is just as thought-provoking – she desired to be loved and accepted just as she is so that she might re-gain her angel wings.

From its sophisticated, intelligent writing style to its compelling characters to its reinvention of vampire lore, And Falling, Fly had me hooked from page one. It’s a book that’s hard to put down once you start reading and extremely rewarding once you reach its end.

And Falling, Fly is a gorgeously penned dark fantasy novel that has piqued my thirst for more novels in this vein from Skyler White. It’s the perfect novel for hopeless romantics, sinners, saints and those in the mood for a completely different vampire novel.

Highly recommended!

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Book Review: One if by Heaven, Two if by Hell by Rick Maydak

Boston barkeep Ethan Reyes has the disturbing ability to read minds. To him, this ability is more of a curse than a gift as people’s private thoughts assault him day in and day out. Ethan numbs himself against the onslaught with copious amounts of alcohol, but people’s thoughts keep worming themselves into his head anyway.

Ethan has had his ability all his life, but a frightening encounter with an ugly, toad-like demon when he was a child had made him keep quiet about his mind-reading. It now appears that the demon is back and not only is it killing people around Ethan, but tempting him to join him. When Ethan doesn’t give into temptation, the demon makes a mental prisoner out of Ethan’s object of affection, Taylor, after she is the victim of a brutal gang rape and slips into a coma. The demon hopes to force Ethan to do his bidding in bringing about the end of the world, but Ethan is more powerful than he believes himself to be.

Can Ethan defeat the demon or will the world be lost?

Combining a Biblical background of angels and demons with bloody passages, One if by Heaven Two if by Hell is a pretty intriguing read. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down by inadequate editing, some unbelievable actions by the lead character and a rather rushed ending. This didn’t completely ruin the novel for me, but nonetheless the flaws were glaringly evident.

The film jumps right in and introduces us to lead character Ethan Reyes, but I never felt a connection to him. Also, some of his actions just seemed ludicrous, like when he watches the woman he loves get gang raped and does nothing to stop it. After that, he came off as more and more unlikable as he seemingly bumbles through scene after scene, until, of course, he goes through a “transformation” that makes him into a seemingly braver, stronger badass. This radical change in character was just a bit too much for me to believe.

While the book overall felt dragged out, the ending felt both rushed and yet like the author was still trying to drag out the action. Even though Ethan is sure the demon is harming Taylor, it seems like he feels no sense of urgency in getting to her. He even stops to remove one of the demon’s dead victims from the ceiling where he has been pinned…like the police wouldn’t track down Ethan now that his fingerprints and DNA are all over the place?? Plot holes like this spoil the book in certain parts, but like I said before they don’t make the novel completely irredeemable.

I especially enjoyed the passages where Ethan entered into Taylor’s head while she is in a coma and got to explore her own personal sanctuary where she was hiding from the demon. These very descriptive passages really kept me reading. The descriptions of bloody violence that pepper the pages were also very gruesome and really made you feel like you were there, smelling the freshly-spilled blood and slipping on its coagulating puddles.

For a debut novel, author Rick Maydak certainly could have done worse, but One if by Heaven Two if by Hell still falls into the middle-of-the-road category. I enjoyed the overall story of good vs. evil, but I just had to suspend my belief a bit too much for some of the actions that the lead character took (or didn’t take, as it may be). The book also needed much more editing, as typos and grammatical mistakes pulled me out of the story. Still, I’ll look forward to Maydak’s next novel as he hones his craft a bit more and hopefully gets a better editor.

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Fallen Angels (2007)

Fallen Angels falls under the category of the worst type of horror films – one that starts with a great premise but squanders its potential in the execution. Fallen Angels had plenty of promise, but it is riddled with bad story writing and poor pacing, which leads to a very dull movie.

An old and foreboding prison is slated for demolition to make way for a shopping mall, but construction is halted when a secret sub-chamber containing the remains of many long-dead children is discovered. A special forensic team from the FBI is called in to investigate the bodies and perhaps find their killer. Meanwhile, a local teen is found dead while another girl is missing. The investigative team finds that strange murders have plagued the small town for 150 years. They soon discover that seven demons, or fallen angels, each representing the 7 Deadly Sins, hold dominion over that particular town and are responsible for the town’s gruesome and grisly deaths. Can the FBI team, along with the mother of the missing girl, stop the killings?

Like mentioned before, the premise for Fallen Angels sounded very promising, but unfortunately its execution made for a very dull horror film. Not even the familiar faces of Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Kane Hodder, Reggie Bannister (Phantasm), Ruth Buzzi or David Hess (Last House on the Left) in lead to cameo roles could help this floundering flick.

The film starts off weakly by not laying some kind of groundwork for what we are about to witness. The characters and story are not introduced clearly enough, which starts the film off on the wrong foot. The narrative is disjointed, confusing and leaves the viewer bored instead of intrigued. Things go downhill from there with unnecessary characters, too many plot points and not enough time spent on the real mystery at hand.

I will say that it is refreshing to see something other than the usual hack ‘n’ slash flick, but the story (written by Jeff Thomas, who also directs) is just poorly crafted. I did enjoy how the religion aspect was presented and how it really gives viewers something to think about. The ending of the film will be a let down for most genre fans, though I enjoyed its exploration of faith and religion. Still, it seems an easy and far too tidy way of wrapping things up. The rest of the script just seemed convoluted and cluttered. There are a few glimmers of greatness, but unfortunately it is too dull to really sparkle.

The wonderfully creepy setting of the film also felt misused to me. The prison where the film was shot is the supposedly haunted Mansfield State Reformatory in Ohio, which is spooky without the benefit of set dressing. Its cobwebbed cells and long, dark hallways make the Reformatory a very foreboding place. Yet, in Fallen Angels the prison setting doesn’t come alive as much as I’d hoped. The atmosphere just doesn’t drip dread like in other haunted institution flicks such as the spooky Session 9.

The acting was not bad for a low budget film. I especially enjoyed seeing Bill Moseley in the role of a crime scene investigator. Genre fans out there will be disappointed if they expect to see much of anyone else of note, though. Hodder, Bannister and Hess are in blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em cameos, while Berryman, McCarthy and Buzzi are relegated to one scene each. The rest of the actors, including reality “star” Adrianne Curry, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Michael Dorn, Daniel Zacapa and Farah White, do a decent job as well.

The special FX, done by Bob Keen (who has worked on makeup and special FX for Hellraiser, Candyman, Isolation and Dog Soldiers), are very well done. The demons do look a bit silly at times and don’t seem to really fit their 7 Deadly Sins alter egos. Besides that, the gore looks great! There is one terrifically terrifying teeth pulling scene and a few inventive kills, but those didn’t make up for the lackluster storyline. I was expecting to see more of the seven demons and learn more about them, but they were never properly introduced or given much screen time. The story behind the seven demons isn’t even explored that much. Instead we focus on far too many investigators tramping around the prison looking for answers. Besides these unnecessary characters, we also have the mother (played by Farah White) searching for her missing daughter. She doesn’t add anything except dead weight to an already precariously overburdened storyline.

Despite a few moments that seemingly shine in Fallen Angels, all that sparkles is not gold. If you are searching for a creepy horror flick of the demon persuasion, Fallen Angels is unfortunately not your best pick. It is a poorly written, lackluster and dull. Despite claims that it has an intelligent, solid story, the only intelligent thing about this film is that they cast a bunch of genre favorites so that eager horror fans like you and me would be tricked into dumping our money in this poorly executed film.

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Masters of Horror - Cigarette Burns (2005)

This film is part of Showtime's Masters of Horror collection and is directed by John Carpenter, and Cigarette Burns is probably one of the best in the series.

A struggling theater manager (Norman Reedus, who played one of the brothers in Boondock Saints) is hired by wealthy Mr. Ballinger (Udo Kier) to track down the print of an infamous film called La Fin Absolue du Monde (The Absolute End of the World). It seems this film was only screened once, which resulted in a bloodbath at the festival where it first played.

Mr. Ballinger is a collector of rare films and various "props" from these films, and is obsessed with finding the only print of this film. The theater owner, Kirby Sweetman, agrees to find the film for a fee of $200,000. This is how much he owes the theater owner, who also happens to be his dead girlfriend's father. In flashbacks, we see that Kirby's girlfriend Annie committed suicide. He is still haunted by her death and Annie's father blames Kirby for her death.

Kirby is a discerning theater manager, and only screens rare and fine films such as Argento's Deep Red (which I was delighted to see up on the marquee as Profundo Rosso) He is soon obsessed with finding such a rare film as La Fin Absolue du Monde. He tracks down people who have seen the film or know about the film. Most of them are obsessed with the film and yet others are secretive about it, that is, unless they are dead. All people who have come in contact with it have been profoundly changed, such is the power of the film.

**CAUTION - SPOILERS AHEAD**

As Kirby gets closer to it, he begins to see things, specifically a circle with images of his dead wife in them. These circles are "cigarette burns," which indicate a reel change in a movie. He eventually begins seeing other images, images that are directly from the film. He learns that the film shows a divine being, an angel, being sacrificed. He is told that the act is so intimate and brutal that it changes everyone who is connected to or watches the film.

He finally tracks down the director's wife, Katja. She speaks of the power it has over people, and how her husband tried to kill her and then committed suicide after watching the film one too many times. Katja gives Kirby the film, telling him she wished it was never made.

Kirby delivers the film to Mr. Ballinger, who watches it with champagne until he eviscerates himself and loads his intestines into the projector. His butler also watches the film, and cuts up his body before stabbing himself in both his eyes. Kirby ends up watching the film as well...

**END SPOILERS**

This was a thoroughly disturbing and unsettling movie. I wasn't sure how the 1 hour time constraint would suit Carpenter, but he handled it expertly. I liked how Carpenter tackled the idea that films really do have the power to change us. Though many deny it, films can have a profound impact on the audience or certain individuals.

I haven't seen any other installments of the Masters of Horror, but I do hear that Carpenter's Cigarette Burns is the best in the series. This film will haunt me for a while.

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