After reading Staci Layne Wilson's Horrors of the Holy, I've come to the conclusion that Wilson is anything but shy when it comes to writing horror. She will gleefully sock it to you in the horror genre wrestling ring. Wilson holds nothing back in stories like "Cutting Room Floor" or her version of the spider and the fly scenario of "The Tooth Shall Set You Free." This author gets right down to the business of figuratively grabbing you by the eyeballs to insure you're paying attention. Wilson works under the assumption that she's a horror writer and that you're a horror reader so, "On with the show!" There is no hesitation here, no figgling about getting settled in and comfy before the reels start running past the introductions. Nope, Wilson comes right at you with her "Tales From the Crypt" brand of blunt and brutal horror. She'll throw a naked woman at you with ease just to make sure your image sensors are turned on. Yet Wilson doesn't simply rely on gore and violence to get you going. She's got the ending punch-line motif well in hand. She can toss in some real irony, as in "Slumber Party," with its appearance concerned zombies who love to get out on the town. Wilson can even make you laugh, as with "Anti-Christ Superstar's" cyberspace-challenged demons, or "Always Amber's" narrator's final dilemma. --
Eva Wojcik-Obert, Fantastica Daily / MerviusHorrors of the Holy is a collection by Staci Layne Wilson that takes readers on a journey through a world of supernatural strangeness.
Looking for the answers to all your problems and a sense of spiritual peace? You might find it with the Anti-Christ Superstar. Meet a woman whos had it with her husbands Cruelties and a director/producer of a different sort in Cutting Room Floor. Reflections of the Damned brings us in touch with an alternate reality and purgatory, and Always Amber allows us to see life from a truly unique point of view. Zombies are more than mindless creatures stalking the night in Slumber Party and meet up with your favorite rock n roll icon in Goddamned Rock Star. Thought the tooth fairy was all sugar and spice? Think again in The Tooth Shall Set You Free.
Horrors of the Holy is entertaining throughout. Wilson displays a knack for the genre, particularly in Reflections of the Damned and Always Amber. Both are original plots that explore different worlds and perspectives.
Staci Layne Wilson is definitely a writer to watch for.
(reviewed by Michele Patterson) -- Michele Patterson, Painted Rock
Reading this book much like eating ice cream straight from the carton: a guilty pleasure. After all, some books, like Horrors of the Holy, encourage you to devour them. The stories range widely in subject matter, dealing with such diverse topics as the night life of zombies, vampires being trapped in mirrors, and monsters that make old movies come alive again. In other words, to take the ice cream metaphor a bit farther, the title suggests you're getting vanilla and you end up with Neapolitan instead. The anthology is whipped-together by a consistently competent and quirky writing style, and a serious helping of the bizarrely humorous. Don't get me wrong; the antho is dark. Still, in many of the stories, you are not only waiting for the "monster" to pounce, but laughing at the victims as they wait with you - not because they are weak or lily-livered, as so many of today's film victims seem to be, but because they have been trapped in situations that are you find truly strange. How else could you describe a monster that quotes Rhett Butler and attacks you in the bathroom? It's just a little ab! ! surd... and different enough from the horror norm to keep the pages turning. Quickly. -- Janice Kirkwood, BoneTree Magazine
There is nothing more delightfully gothic than the short story. This format, much-ignored today, was a mainstay of gruesome Victorian age literature. With the recent publication of Poppy Z. Brites Wormwood collection, and now Staci Layne Wilsons Horrors of the Holy, mayhaps the raising of the long-mouldering corpse of the short story is at hand. I certainly welcome it. Of course, novels have their place, but sometimes one simply wishes to read a story from start to finish in one sitting.
Wilsons collection (subtitled 13 Sinful, Sacrilegious, Supernatural Stories) present s a wide variety of horror short stories on a religious theme. Some of these stories are humorous (NIGHT SCHOOL), and some are pure, traditional horror (REFLECTIONS OF THE DAMNED). Either way, Wilsons stories are creative and entertaining. Her characters, be they mortal or otherwise, have a depth that is comfortable to the reader. This is especially true of the stories that are told in the first person, such as ALWAYS AMBER... Wilson has a knack for that particular kind of character presentation and the result is most appealing. -- Chris Dauten, Horror Classics
Staci Layne Wilson is the eclectic author whose short stories have appeared in the books, Horses & Their Women (Little, Brown 1994), Seductions: Tales of Erotic Persuasion (Dutton, 1999), Nasty Snips (MT Productions, 1999), I Am Dragon (Eternity Press, 2000), and many more. Ms. Wilsons fiction and nonfiction has also been featured in magazines all over the world.
