Jeffrey Thomas
If you're reading this review, you are probably the sort of reader who does a little bit of investigating before committing to read an author with whom you're not familiar. It may sound like a boring exercise to some, but with so much to read and a mere mortal's allotment of sand in the hourglass, the serious reader is often forced to do a little research to ensure that time is not wasted on incompatible books. Even more fundamentally, though, the truth is that the hunt for new authors and quality works is as much a part of the reading experience as the reading itself is.
It was on one of these periodic hunts in the jungles of the internet that I stumbled across Beyond the Door by Jeffrey Thomas. The awesome cover art by Zach McCain ensnared me immediately and the story looked interesting enough for me to take the plunge and purchase a copy even though I had never read anything by Mr. Thomas before. As it turns out, I was right to trust my gut in this case: Beyond the Door is an unheralded gem of weird fiction.
As the novella opens, we find the protagonist, Ware, attempting to enter a bathroom stall in Boston's South Station--"a hub from which so many other directions and destinations might be taken"--only to find that it is occupied and the occupant has not locked the door. Returning to wait in line, Ware says "Where I come from, people lock the toilet stall door." The man in the stall responds, "Well where I come from, people knock on the door before they open it." Thus begins a back and forth exchange between the two strangers that proceeds along similar lines until Ware realizes that his overreaction might have been a result of a memory from his youth. So after his next "Where I come from...." he proceeds to tell the stranger beyond the door the story of what happened.
The stories that each relates to the other become stranger and stranger, concerning such things as a neighborhood haunted house with a real horror in it, a fleetingly present carnival that seems to claim the same casualty every time it's in town, an ill-fated sanitarium, and more. For those who enjoy strange tales, these stories are worth the price of admission in and of themselves. They are truly excellent and memorable. But what slowly emerges is more than just a collection of weird vignettes. It is a celebration of the role of the weird itself in the lives of those who possess imaginative dispositions:
"Every town had such stories, Ware reflected. Not that the incidents they had shared thus far were universal, by any means, but stories of unique interest, stories of abnormalities, deviances from the cicada drone of the mundane that blanked the mind of most...the subconscious-yet-deafening buzz that drowned out the imagination and soothed the inner robot. For a more sensitive soul, however, a brightly inquisitive mind, that ceaseless drone of mediocrity might drive one mad were it not for accounts of frogs falling from the sky, an unidentifiable blob washing up on a beach, demonic claw marks spontaneously appearing on a troubled girl's tender flesh." (p. 80)
These weird vignettes, in other words, turn out to be not just unexplained abberations but also the ingredients that make up the proverbial spice of life. And as each man relates additional tales to the other, he is able to connect with both the other person as well as is his own past.
In the end, therefore, Beyond the Door is a novella that is not only an outstanding collection of almost nostalgic weird tales but also a celebration of the importance of the weird itself. I am a little surprised at the lack of buzz that the book has generated. I know that I will definitely be checking out more of the work of Mr. Thomas in the future.
Rating: 9/10
The True First
Beyond the Door was first published in April of 2011 by Delirium Books in an edition limited to 150 copies. The books is also available in eBook format.
[This review was not based on a review copy]
19 comments:
I've been a fan of Thomas's work for several years now and was wondering when you'd get around to his stuff. I recommend either Unholy Dimensions or Letters from Hades as your next stop.
@Donald: thanks for the recommendations. I will definitely follow up on them!
Compelling review of an author I've never heard of. I'm very happy to see a $4.99 ebook price. Why not give it a shot when it is that affordable? My only regret is that I will not have that awesome cover in a colorful hard copy.
@Chris: copies are going for relatively little on eBay (i.e., less than $20) so you might be able to snag on of the hardcovers if you act quickly. Good luck!
I've never heard of the author before, but after reading the review I feel like I've been missing out. thanks for the headsup!
Hey Ben, great review.
I'm glad to see you are back posting reviews after what appears to be a brief hiatus. I felt very similarly about this little novella too... just a wonderfully told weird tale. Thomas has a nice collection of short stories recently published by Dark Regions Press called "Dooms Days". Are you on goodreads? I posted a brief review of this novella there.
@Ryan G: Even though I haven't read anything else by this author yet, I hope the rest is as good as this one was!
@Benjamin U:Just read your review on GoodReads (I'm a Library Thing user myself) and I'm intrigued. I have to admit I'm a little worried that the other books reviewed by Mr. Thomas seem to be reviewed less favorably than this one. Hmmm....
Oh, and regarding the brief hiatus: I just had a ton of things going on during the past few months, including getting married (!), working a lot of ungodly hours, etc.
When I returned to blogging after a real hiatus a while back, I told myself that when life called, I'd not worry about the blog too much. That seems to have been a good decision for my sanity :)
Hey Ben,
Are you still reading any Ex Occ titles? Btw, Dan's shipping has gotten way better as of recent (so far 2/2 on the last two parcels he has sent out to me). I know that has been an issue in the past. If you are, I would highly highly recommend Berguno's, Son's of Ishmael. If you want a sample of his work to whet your appetite, Absent Willow Review has a free Berguno short story on-line. Having read many of your reviews, I think this story and this author would be right up your alley...
Check it out:
http://absentwillowreview.com/archives/the-sad-eyes-of-the-lewis-chessmen
@Benjamin U: I am still reading Ex Occidente titles. Currently I'm looking forward to the Charles Schneider book arriving in my mailbox.
I actually read the Berguno book and wasn't really taken in by it. It was alright but not too memorable for me personally. I do appreciate the recommendation though!
So glad to see you reviewing again!
I was a big fan of Jeffrey Thomas about a decade ago, when Punktown was the new big thing, but somehow, around 2003 or 2004, he became one of those authors whose works I continue to accumulate out of habit even though I'm not actually reading them anymore. Not because I stopped liking them but because there's just always so much to read! Now it looks like I have more than a dozen novels and collections of his lined up unread on my shelf!
But this review has rekindled my interest. Time to dive back into his work!
@Nathan: what do you think of the Punktown books? I've not read them obviously but they look interesting.
Hey Ben,
Speaking of other EO titles, have you had a chance to read Marvick's STAR USHAK?
@Benjamin U: nope, and I don't know anything about it...
Its really something incredible. I don't think I have really read anything like it before. A few folks on TLO have read it. I think some have taken it to be a homage to fin de siecle dectectives. Its really not... but each reader will take what they want from this novella. Like many EO titles, its very intellectual, and there are many interesting layers upon layers to peel away.
Sounds great, but my expensive book budget is all used up at the moment :(
As a speculative fiction author, I love your blog and would like to pitch my book for a potential review here. Fistful of Reefer is a dieselpunk, weird Western pulp featuring goats, guns and the camaraderie of outcasts. Marijuana was the plan, liberty the dream, revolution the result. It lives somewhere between No Country for Old Men and The Three Amigos.
I couldn't find an email, or any other means to contact you, thus the comment. If interested in hearing more just let me know.
The cover alone is worth the price of the book. What genius created it I wonder?
@mountain-lord: Zach McCain is the cover artist and I agree that it is 100% awesome.
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