 A dead Doomsday cult leader calls to his flock from beyond the grave This past year has seen some outstanding fiction dealing with the evergreen subject of cults, highlights range from the supernatural horror of Adam Nevill (The Reddening) and Todd Keisling (Devil’s Creek) to the thrillers of August Norman (Sins of the Mother). Also, lest not forget LC Barlow’s mind-blowing Pivot, which has just had its sequel Perish released, combined the pair are unmissable. And should you be hungry for even more cults, keep your eye out for James Brodgen’s amazing Bone Harvest, which is released before the end of the year, probably the only horror novel ever set around the village allotment scene. With all this cool stuff already on the market could there possibly be space for yet more cult focused fiction? Hell, yes! Pulling in at a lean and slick 136-pages Thomas Vaughan’s trippy mindbender The Ethereal Transit Society wisely treads a slightly different path, throws the supernatural out the window and gives us a Doomsday cult which has more of a science fiction than demonic twang to it. Hell, if Mulder and Scully popped up, I would not have batted an eye! Admittedly, you might be scratching your head at the essence of what goes on, but it was still a well-constructed and beautifully crafted self-contained story which might make a cool episode of The Twilight Zone, other anthology show or short film. Novella length fiction give writers the opportunity to be as wild and off-the-wall as possible and, in that regard, The Ethereal Transit Society ticks every box. It is strange, oddly hypnotic, and is all the better for it. The action opens in deepest/darkest Arkansas with a group of three Californians looking for what they refer to as “Mecca”, however, the Mecca they are searching for is the grave of the (relatively) recently deceased cult leader Quintessence (shortened to Quint) whom they all refer to as “the greatest man I’ve ever known”. Quint died in a mass suicide, which was partially botched by the narrator Simon who now has a metal plate on one half of his face where he shot himself. When asked by a checkout girl why he is wearing a mask, his matter of fact response is “Because last year I shot half my face off”. Simon narrates the tale in the first person and since he is addicted to Oxycodone you might wonder whether he is the most reliable of storytellers, however, the reader quickly gets the vibe he is telling the truth, or at least believes it himself. As Simon was the most-high profile of the survivors he was hounded by both the police and media before dropping out of sight and hooking up with the other two travellers. However, we quickly find out that the Ethereal Transit Society (nicknamed ‘ETs’) was exceptionally well known, even if most people saw them as “just another bunch of dead, suicidal nuts” who preached about UFOs and the end of days, much of what is revealed in partial flashbacks. Much of the story takes the form of a road trip with Simon, Astra and Xi driving to Boatwright Cemetery, the remote location where the cult leader wanted his corpse returned to, which is also the area where he grew up. The three cannot believe their ‘Saviour’ spent his childhood in this backwater hillbilly dump and it is presented as an unpleasant and semi-threatening dump disconnected from the rest of the world. The deadbeat narration really does no favours for the Arkansas tourist board! Along the way, Simon reveals the innerworkings of the cult through his self-reflection and flashbacks, from the point Quint took him on as a disciple, to the unexplained cosmic energy Quint seemingly wielded which was a key part of the story. We quickly realise that the three are not following a traditional road map, instead they believe the dead body of Quint is radiating a ‘Transit Frequency’, a sound which is guiding them close to his grave. Why you may ask? This was a Doomsday cult, so you should not require too many guesses! This weird sound echoes throughout the local area and even unsettles the hillbilly non-believers, making them do irrational things such as drown newly born babies in buckets, with animals also going crazy. Although this was not a long read, you will be quickly pulled into the quest of the three to track down Quint’s final resting place and unlock the mysteries of the coming apocalypse before they become victims of it, throwing in a large dollop of undiagnosed cosmic horror. Some of it might not a lot of scene, but that does not matter, go with the flow, and follow the frequency! Part of the charm of The Ethereal Transit Society is the fact that every character is completely messed up, but my favourite was Caleb Starnes whom helps the three with directions before tagging along, and also knew Quint as a kid, revealing he was originally called Cody and notes in discussion: “you know how it is with messiahs. It’s hard to work miracles in your hometown” which I thought was a particularly funny quote. I had a lot of fun with this quirky and off-the-wall novella and cults aside I am not what it might be compared to, perhaps the works of Kirk Jones, author of the equally weird Aetherchrist. If you are after ‘weird’, Thomas Vaughan, an author I had not previously read before, is worth closer investigation. Tony Jones  Not all cults are wrong about the end of the world... Believing their late mentor is calling them from the grave, the last surviving members of a modern doomsday cult travel across the country to reclaim his body in preparation for the end-times he preached about. Tracing their leader's echo through a cosmic signal known to them as the Transit Frequency brings them to the rural outback of Arkansas, where its presence has drastic and dangerous effects on anything living. Time, though, is running out for the last of the remnants of the Ethereal Transit Society as they attempt to track down his final resting place and unlock the mysteries of the coming apocalypse before they become victims of it. The Ethereal Transit Society is the debut novella from Arkansas writer Thomas Vaughn, and brings readers a tense and authentic dive into the philosophies of modern doomsday and UFO cults while delivering a strong dose of cosmic horror fiction.   Comments are closed.
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