Everyone can appreciate a good pun; it’s when a writer goes overboard and tries to stretch the wordplay too far, making the tongue-in-cheek feel forced, that ruins the wit factor. Despite a whopping thirty-one stories, Rock & Roll Nightmares, edited by Staci Layne Wilson, achieves the perfect balance of paronomasia in its arsenal of music-inspired horror tales titled after classic tunes from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. From “Papa’s Got a Brand-New Body Bag” to “Shivin’ on a Prayer,” each installment in the series nips at nostalgia while dishing out balanced plates of fear and dark humor. The techniques and subgenres are as varied as the musical stylings of the three decades, and a reader will be hard pressed to not find a bevy of stories inside to enjoy. In Along Comes Scary, the 60s tome of the trio, Shane Bitterling’s “Daydream Bereaver” opens with a film crew discovering the disembodied head of a musician on the beach. They are shooting a Beach Blanket Bingo-esque flick, one in which Patty, a diehard fan of the starring band, has wriggled her way into nabbing a walk-on role. Events take a turn when a mysterious femme fatale emerges into the camera’s frame, giving “screen siren” a whole new meaning. In the same collection, Jeff Strand’s “Do You Believe in Tragic?” serves splatter with a well-earned laugh track in the rock ballad of Susie and her propensity for selecting lovers who die horrifically gruesome (and delightfully described) deaths. In the 70s volume, Do You Fear Like We Do, the variety and quality continues, but the beehives and Beatles are replaced with disco balls and shock rock. In Dr. Oolong Seemingly’s “Love Dies Bleeding,” Amber is recruited from her Catholic school talent show to become the lead singer of an all-girl horror-show band set to open for Alice Cooper. When a bandmate shows up at her door with a Ouija board to help her write a few songs for the upcoming tour, inspiration comes from a nefarious source. In “Comfortably Dumb” by LeeAnne Rowe, Rebecca mans the merchandise stand outside of the local arena where traveling bands play. Instead of just t-shirts, however, the newest tour provides her with free, unusually-themed stickers to distribute to attendees, along with clear instructions to scratch and sniff the decals during the encore, and Rebecca’s curiosity is piqued. Editor Wilson’s own ditties appear throughout the three volumes, but my favorite of her stories has to be “Don’t Stand So Close to Meat,” the leading entry in Gory Days. In it, a personal chef lusts after her employer, a guitar legend, and sets out to woo him using delicious dishes containing some very unique ingredients. “Don’t” is the perfect pairing of body and psychological horror seasoned with just enough progressive madness to horrify and enthrall, and it sets the tone perfectly for the 80s installment of the Rock & Roll Nightmares trilogy. Following Wilson’s story is—like the previous volumes—a bumper crop of stories I had difficulty putting down. In V. Castro’s stand-out “Pour Some Sacrificial Blood on Me,” Nima slaves each day in a dead-end hospitality job, barely making ends meet in the hope of hitting the big time with her music, but when hard rock’s It Boy checks into the hotel, Nima takes a chance and passes along her demo tape. Anyone who spent their youth enamored with 80s pop metal will take particular joy in this tale with its references to Def Leppard, Poison, Warrant, and most importantly, Lita Ford. Whether you select one of the three volumes or invest in the whole trilogy, Rock & Roll Nightmares is certain to bring you on a rollicking ride of time-bending terror tales. Staci Layne Wilson is a savvy curator of selections that prove both smart and entertaining. The plays on words may draw you in, but it’s the creativity level on display that is certain to make you stay. As a character in one story so accurately professes, “The title has something to do with it for sure, and the lyrics are appropriately saucy, but it’s the guitar break that gets me going.” Rock on to that.
|
Archives
May 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|