Customer Reviews

Dark Faith

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Sometimes I think the only way you can tell if something has a soul is if they can still be sad." -'The Days of Flaming Motorcycles' by Catherynne M. Valente, from Dark Faith

That, right there, sums up the tone of Dark Faith, an anthology recently released by Apex. These are not stories to read before bed- they are insidious clusters of words that will keep you up all night.

The collection ranges from the dark and bitter to the wistful, but all the stories have one thing in common- they look at what makes us human and twist it into a flurry of weakness and strength, taking the human condition and churning out things that are so skewed, so painfully true, that it is impossible to look away.

There were some stories that were hard to read, topic matter-wise, in that hard to look in the mirror sort of way, but like with a particularly vicious traffic accident the reader is captured by a morbid sort of fascination that keeps the pages turning. It helps that each story is a gem of word smithing. There are some seriously talented writers in this anthology, and that in itself makes it worth the buy.

It is also one of the more unique anthologies I have hit in awhile. There is definitely a common theme, and in the first few stories seems a bit too pervasive to make anything stand out individually, but as you keep reading, you see that one basic theme mature and mutate off into directions I would never have expected.

It is definitely for those readers who are friendly towards the horror genre, but it was definitely enjoyable for a shameless scifi/fantasy addict such as myself. I have a deep love for the twisted and for stories that have the power to make me wince. That shows such skill on the part of the author, and this anthology definitely abounds with such talent.

The argument that 'genre-fiction is merely escapism' can be firmly put to rest with the debut of Dark Faith. It is real, present, in your face and not letting the reader go anywhere. Thirty-one stories of love and loss, faith, questions, anger, tests. This is horror as it should be: subtle one moment, punching the lights out the next. Brutal and delicate both.

It is dark, certainly. Dark Faith is not an easy read. It requires thought, processing and consideration. The stories do not preach, nor attempt to convert. Faith is examined from many angles and perceptions.

It is a star-studded table of contents. Co-edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, the authors include Tom Piccirilli, Catherynne Valente, Jay Lake, Wrath James Wright, Brian Keene and Linda Addison, to name just a few. With such a varied group of styles and a fairly tight subject, the possibility of staleness is a reasonable suspicion. However, there is not a sign of staleness in this book.

Instead, each author brings a unique voice and outlook to the book. A cohesive whole is formed, yet all the little parts are quite capable of being seen individually. It is not only Christian faith which is explored. The actions of faith are as varied as the believers.

The highlights were hard to pick out. However, a few of the darkest gems stuck with me well after reading.

Douglas Warrick's Gordon Drach and the Art of Zen has a slow, quiet intensity. The character had depth and history, telling a past story without wandering into info dump. And the portrayal of God was unique and memorable.

The first story, Ghosts of New York, tips the reader right off of the cliff. 9/11 and a ghost girl cursed to live the moment of her death over and over again. Eternal punishment for a necessary sin? While it is not a ground-breaking plot, author Jennifer Pelland handled it with a considerable amount of empathy and emotion.

The Choir, by Lucien Soulban is equal parts Llovecraftian horror, Nazi experimentation, and the awful prejudice and persecution suffered by men who dared to be 'perverts'. It is a sympathetic portrayal of men in the most desperate circumstances, and their determination to light a torch for others to follow.

There are a few stories in here that sometimes meander and lose focus here and there, but they are the minority.

At twenty-six stories and a handful of poems, stated by Apex to total over 130,000 words, Dark Faith is a hefty read. Its contents are equally hefty. Allow yourself a few days to read and process. It is worth the time, and many of the stories are well-crafted enough to not only stand up to multiple readings, but to reveal new things with each reading.

The crew at Apex can be proud of themselves with this one, and if its quality is any indication of the majority of Apex's anthologies, I will certainly have them front and center on my reading list from here on out.

REVIEWED BY THE FUNKY WEREPIG


What can you say about an anthology that dares to tackle a subject that most would consider taboo? Well, a lot actually. DARK FAITH is the product of co-editors Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon. Probably birthed by the heavy but always fun panel debates from their annual Mo Con convention, this is a project that invited writers to submit their own views on the elusive thing we call `faith'.

The result is often controversial and consistently thought-provoking. At a whopping 375 pages (and even more if you're able to get the special bonus chapbook), the points of view are as varied as they are telling. Broaddus and Gordon masterfully make sure the anthology never gets too one-sided on any belief.

Some of the stories need to be mentioned to properly cover just how much freedom was allowed in DARK FAITH. You have to start with Wrath James White's `He Who Would Not Bow'. If you're a fan of Wrath's work you'll expect the angry hard hitting story of a man who seeks to take down the vengeful God of Old Testament. Wrath does not disappoint and definitely draws a line in the sand. Equally rebellious in its raw and downright nasty voice is Lucy A Snyder's `Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects'. Both are powerful and I would be disappointed if the editors by-passed these tales of `anti-faith.'

Others add to the mix. `Ghosts of New York' by Jennifer Pelland is not afraid to address a wound that still hasn't had time to heal. Yet with `Go Tell It On the Mountain', Kyle S Johnson brings a refreshing blast of humor to the collection. I loved the ugly twists in Alethea Kontis' `The God of Last Moments'. And Douglas F Warrick shows a cocky intelligence that almost welcomes challengers with `Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation'.

Any of these stories are a reason to buy the book but if there is one that I think defines DARK FAITH it is Brian Keene's `I Sing a New Psalm'. I'm like every other horror reader; I'm a Keene fan and expect him to put out top rated work. But he knocked me on my ass with a brilliantly carved piece about a common man who comes to understand faith in his own way. It's a story I could read a hundred times.

My only curveball with the anthology is it appears that the definition of `faith' may have been stretched to allow a couple of the stories in. To be honest, compared to the rest of the book they don't really have much to do with the subject matter at all. But if the editors' greatest sin is to let great stories written by some proven talents slip onto the TOC, I can think of far worse critiques.

This anthology will piss off people who are cemented into a singular belief. And it will be applauded by people who understand the biggest positive part of faith is having an open mind. I didn't like every story and I certainly didn't agree with every writer. But I believe that was Broaddus and Gordon's goal- to open the floor for discussion. This is exactly the kind of book that invites intelligent debate. And any time people actually sit down to talk about faith, that's a good thing.

It's no secret, I love short stories, at all lengths and in almost all genres. That's why I started the [info]365shortstories community on livejournal, to talk about short stories. I was flattered when I was asked to review this new anthology before the publication date and talk about each story in the community. It's taken me a week, thanks to real life getting in the way, but I have finally finished reviewing all of the stories and posting about them.

How does the anthology hold up over all? As well as, if not better than, most of the multi-author anthologies I've read in recent years. Which is to say I enjoyed the majority of the stories in the collection, absolutely loved one or two of them, and of course had one or two that just didn't click with me.

Listen, honestly, pretty much any themed anthology is going to have one problem: the danger of reader burn-out by the end especially in a collection that is close to 400 pages long; stories and situations start to feel repetitious, etc. The reason I allowed myself to space the stories out over the slightly-more than a week was to try to avoid that burn-out so I could judge the stories at the end of the collection as fairly as I judged those at the beginning. I think it worked. Every time I thought the anthology was in danger of falling into a rut, the editors switched things up, showing just how broadly the word "faith" came be interpreted. Some of these stories seemed to have a tenuous connection to that theme, if any at all, but the majority of them touch on either spiritual faith, religious faith, personal faith (self-confidence) or faith in friendship and the ties that bind. It's about as diverse a set of stories as a themed anthology can manage to put together.

I definitely recommend picking the anthology up. The stories make it worth the cover price, AND you'll be supporting a small independent publisher!


For those interested in the individual story reviews (NO SPOILERS, promise!), here are the actual posts:

[...]

"Faith". For many it means a belief in the unseen. It can be a driving force behind daily decisions or a nostalgic affectation for appearances only. It can be leaned upon daily, or called upon only in times of need. And, without a doubt, Faith's power breeds as much violence and destruction as it does healing and comfort. Regardless of race or creed, faith's pull on human nature cannot be denied.

Apex's "Dark Faith" probes this human phenomenon and all its implications, both light and dark. Some stories approach faith from religious standpoints, others from myth and folklore, while others simply deal with "believing in something". Editors Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon have assembled a comprehensive collection, but the most impressive works are:

"Ghosts of New York", by Jennifer Pelland, a haunting story which suggests that remembering our deceased loved ones traps them in Hell; "He Who Would Not Bow", by Wrath White James, which focuses on a terrifying truth that most believers dismiss: if God exists and is merciful to His followers, by His own rules...He must punish and destroy His enemies; "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation", another skillfully crafted tale by the ever-impressive Douglas F. Warrick, about a man's road to enlightenment through Hell, and the possibility that "God" NEEDS us to believe in Him; "Go and Tell it on the Mountain", by Kyle S. Johnston, a darkly-humorous tale validating the existence of God, Jesus...and the futility of an imperfect race like ours EVER joining them in eternity.

"You Dream", by Ekaterina Sedia, a tale about how memory twists and allows us to forget things that have hurt us; "Mother Urban's Book of Dayes", by Jay Lake, where a boy dabbles in elemental powers far beyond his ken; "A Loss for Words", a tale warning against abusing one's "muse", because what the muse gives...she can always take away; "The Choir", by Lucian Soulban, a wonderfully Lovecraftian tale about World War II soldiers persecuted for their lifestyle, consigned to the dank hold of a cargo ship with something that slithers in the dark; and "Days of Flaming Motorcycles", by Catherynne M. Valente, a different kind of zombie story about a young woman who retains her faith in humanity, even as it crumbles around her.

The finest tales of this collection are "Paint Box, Puzzle Box" by D. T. Friedman and "For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer", by Gary A. Braunbeck. The former makes a wonderful connection between Art and Faith, that the Creator is an Artist, and that each work creates and opens doors to innumerable worlds and realities; the later takes place in Braunbeck's Cedar Hill mythos, where the ever enigmatic Reverend takes a heavy-hearted Bill Emerson on a reality bending journey to restore his sagging faith.

Faith. Light and dark. Terrible beauty and mind-shattering horror. It's all here, in what's sure to be one of the year's best anthologies.

I recently received a review copy of Dark Faith, an anthology which allows readers to "Step beyond salvation and damnation with thirty stories and poems that reveal the darkness beneath belief." Well, I have good news, and I have better news.

The good news begins with my observation that the production values of this volume are enviable. This point may seem small, but in the face of an industry-wide decline in the rudiments, I find the obvious care with which the editors and publishers of this book go about their work to be both encouraging and worth mentioning. And I have more good news. The quality of the work presented is commensurate with the presentation. While most of these stories are serviceable examples of the genre, they are all sufficiently well-written to engage any reader, even a devout Catholic who writes historical fiction. In reading this sort of story, one knows what to expect, and in reading these particular stories, one is never disappointed. And yet I have still better news. Several pieces in this collection go beyond that standard, and a few of them would even astonish T S Eliot with the way they "make it new".

I also want to point out that the four star rating I've given is only because of my tastes in reading. I'm sure that anyone who enjoys this genre would consider Dark Faith a five star collection.

I purchased this book primarily because of Tom Piccirilli and Gary Braunbeck, I will read anything I can get my hands on from those two authors. There were some good stories, some ok stories and some I hated. But that's usually what you get when you read a compilation of many authors. My favorites are "Ghosts of NY", "Different from other nights", "a Loss for words", "Scrawl", "First communions" and my favorite is "For my next trick....".