Customer Reviews

Florida Gothic Stories

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Vicki Hendricks' Florida Gothic Stories is a treat for anybody who likes noir, erotica and Florida. Set in various locations in the state, from the Everglades to the Keys, these stories ooze the flora, the fauna, the floozies and the crackers of that state in a way Carl Hiaasen would find admirably familiar. "Gothic" is a great word to describe these stories, full of horror and romance, the greed of the human heart, and the just plain weird. The story "ReBecca" involves the rivalry of two Siamese twins joined at the head; "Stormy, Mon Amour" is about the love between a woman and a dolphin - and their offspring; "Cold-Blooded Lovers": a man and his iguana.

As may be gathered already, Hendricks has a sly sense of humor that's also gothic with its implied sense of awe and mystery. Take the opening line of "Cold-Blooded Lovers." "The day he flushed his meds and bought a dress for his iguana, Gregory Waxman's real problems were over." How can you read that line and not feel a dark chuckle in your throat?

Hendricks is also known for her erotica, and these stories are fine examples. "ReBecca" was previously anthologized in Best American Erotica 2000," but I found the most erotic writing involved the love between the protagonist and her dolphin lover in "Stormy, Mon Amour," and if that isn't a trick of gothic legerdemain I don't know what is. The noir tale called "The Big O," featuring the 2006 Tropical Storm Beryl, is a noir tale of murder and jealousy set near Lake Okeechobee, from which the story takes its title -
and there's no need to spell out the other meanings of "Big O," is there?

Read these stories for their humor, their intrigue, their hot sex and Florida atmosphere. Just don't read them for moral lessons and any sense of justice!

The author, Vicki Hendricks, must have a sicko imagination to have come up with these stories but yet, they seem so real. Is this fiction or this stuff really happened? I was scared to read about the character named Rex since that is my name too; I won't say more; you must read it yourself, ohh!

I've been a huge fan of the Queen ever since Miami Purity, her first and possibly best novel. This gal is in a class by herself. Megan Abbott and Christa Faust do noir. Vicki is the Queen of Noir. She's at home in Noir, Mystery, Gothic Contemporary Horror, and especially Black Humor. The later is an essential part of her "Comedy of Weird Manners". But she really excels at Erotica. She would whip my narrow little ass for saying so but she writes "the dirty parts" just like a man. And I would add; like a man only wishes he could. I'm getting randy just writing about it.

Vicki's stories will literally make you sweat, as the visions careen from mere surrealistic setting to hyper surrealistic setting with no stopping for rest. No rest for the wicked, no rooms for the weary, no rest for the rest. Humans couple feverishly with the most unlikely of sex partners creating a kind of Gothic Hell that could only exist in Florida. Or could it? Could a similar nightmare be happening in your town, on your street, next door perhaps? Maybe even in the next room? I believe Vicki believes so. And I believe so too.

But within this unique vision of Hell exists an unexpected redemptive heaven as a forgiving God assumes most unlikely shapes. And redemption equally unlikely forms. That's the beauty and the uniqueness of Miss Hendrick's particular vision. Like all great artists and all great art there is room for the grotesque.

James Ellroy called Iguana Love, my favorite Henrick book, "an instant red-neck idiot savant classic". And these stories are the hard boiled little brothers and sisters.

This is a collection of 11 Short Fiction Pieces with an Afterword by Michael Connelly. Many are reprints from places like Tart Noir, A Hell of A Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir, Dying for It" Tales of Sex and Death, Best American Erotica etc. Two have never been published before. I won't relate second hand details from these stories as the sweat would dry in the retelling. The smell of sex might drift away in a breeze of second hand words.

If you'd like to take a Walk on the Wild Side, a wild side where Lou Reed would get his New York Ass thoroughly kicked and perhaps become a participant in a particular Gothic Hell even he never dreamed of, these stories are right up your dark alley. Just hope Miss Hendricks is waiting there. With a butt plug.

I have read all of Ms. Hendricks' books and each one is a treat. She has an original mind and writes beautiful prose. I loved these stories because of their unpredictability. But also because there is a beating heart in each one. And Miami Purity has to be one of my ten top favorite books of all time.

Another knockout book from Ms Hendricks. This is a short story collection that wanders into the most bizarre corners of human imagination, while staying true to its noir roots. A kind of melodic prose carries the reader through these twisty tales, all of which are set in Florida, and before you know it, you're sweating right along with the characters.

Ms. Hendricks joins Mo Hayder and a few other women at the top of my tough guy list. She is a noir author, a horror author, hell...just a damned good author.