Sunday, October 31, 2010

One More for the Road

Here's one last plug for scary reading:

Mercedes Lackey is a famous fantasy author who alone and with others has written more books than I've had time to keep track of, let alone read.  Three of them, though, are outstanding blends of magic and horror that make them perfect Halloween treats.

Diana Tregarde is a modern Renaissance woman - martial artist, romance novelist, empath and practicing witch.  In the battle of good vs. evil, she's firmly on the side of the angels.  That's fortunate, because the baddies just keep coming:

Children of the Night  - Gypsies, vampires, and a Japanese gaki make New York City even more dangerous and surreal than usual.

Burning Water - A string of ritual murders takes Diana to Dallas.  Who's to blame - a run-of-the-mill psychopath, a local Satanic cult, or an ancient Aztec god mysteriously restored to power?  Or all of the above?

Jinx High - Sex and Blood Magic wreaks havoc in a Tulsa High School, and Diana's spending her vacation tracing the psychic backtrails.  To quote the tagline on the back of my copy: "Teenage passion meets centuries-old magic...Prom Night's going to be Hell!"

These books have a higher "ick" factor than the others I've reviewed this week - some of the victims' fates are described fairly graphically - but they are intelligently plotted and eerily suspenseful.  Guaranteed to make the hair raise on the back of your neck the next time you hear footsteps behind you in the dark.

"One might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilization represses and oppresses." ~Robin Wood (An Introduction to the American Horror Film)

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