BenLockwood reviewed Haunted Ecologies by Corey Farrenkopf
Some pulpy New England horror
3 stars
This review was first published at BriefEcology.com
If you like good, old fashioned pulpy horror set in small seaside towns, this is the collection for you. More mysterious than horrific, Farrenkopf mixes ecological themes in with quasi-supernatural goings on in and around rural New England. He's an expert at crafting atmosphere, so these stories feel lived in. One of my favorites in the collection tells of a woman transporting the bones of the last specimen of an extinct species to an extinction alter of sorts. Think the bison skull pile, but add in some of nature's vengeance. Another great piece centers around mysterious plastic mannequins washing ashore.
What I appreciate most about Farrenkopf's writing is his willingness to play with ambiguity. These stories don't give you all of the answers to their mysteries, because the best horror writing primes our imagination to create something worse than anything that could appear …
This review was first published at BriefEcology.com
If you like good, old fashioned pulpy horror set in small seaside towns, this is the collection for you. More mysterious than horrific, Farrenkopf mixes ecological themes in with quasi-supernatural goings on in and around rural New England. He's an expert at crafting atmosphere, so these stories feel lived in. One of my favorites in the collection tells of a woman transporting the bones of the last specimen of an extinct species to an extinction alter of sorts. Think the bison skull pile, but add in some of nature's vengeance. Another great piece centers around mysterious plastic mannequins washing ashore.
What I appreciate most about Farrenkopf's writing is his willingness to play with ambiguity. These stories don't give you all of the answers to their mysteries, because the best horror writing primes our imagination to create something worse than anything that could appear on the page.