Customer Reviews

Northern Gothic: A Novella

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Northern Gothic is a good example. In many ways.

It's a good example of an interesting ghost story where the author actually has managed to create something that indeed does feel like a, more or less, unique angle of approach. The ghost genre is not what you'd want to call an easy genre to work with, and really, how many reasons can you come up with for having ghosts return to haunt the living? Not very many. Yet Mamatas has come up with a story that definitely feels quite fascinating.

Still, it's also a good example of a ghost story where reason(s) for the appearance of the ghosts feels somewhat unclear, even thought the whole thing remains - as mentioned above - very fascinating.

It's a good example of a story that's not very easy to understand, yet still manages to be attractive enough for the reader to keep reading. Even though one doesn't really know what's going on. One of the most boring things you can ever do in the world is reading a book you don't understand, but sometimes you find this book that you insist on keep reading, despite the fact that you don't know who's who, what's what, and why whatever is happening happens. The story in Northern Gothic is strange, to say the least, but will you be able to stop reading? I doubt it.

It's also a good example of a book with a title that remains a complete mystery.

And finally, it's a good example of a book that unfortunately ends just when you're beginning to understand it.

Nick Mamatas infuses this "weird tale" that intersects New York's Civil War Draft Riots with a contemporary gay black man's life in Greenwich Village with a smart, and clearly politicized viewpoint. The inexorable play of events seems pitiless on the surface, but the subtly creeping horror works so well because Mamatas refuses to make demons out of the people who are caught in this storm of events. Skip "Gangs of New York" (well, for lots of reasons), and read this instead. It will get under your skin and engage your mind for days afterward.

Nick Mamatas will probably gain popularity in increments and remain a cult writer for many years before achieving widespread recognition.

This is a more an interesting first novel than a great work of literature. It has its moments, but for the most part it's an interesting failure. The 1860s Draft Riot scenes deliver a nice tension. Will Patten is a scary character simply because you initially identify with him. Unfortunately Patten gets lost in the ghost story and the main character - Ahmadi Jenkins - gay dancer and victim of circumstances - takes over. Ahmadi is a dull character. He has no personality. Most of the book involves nasty things happening to Ahmadi and the lack of characterization undercuts any tension.

Buy this book if you're a diehard fan. If you're merely curious, buy another Mamatas book.

Nick Mamatas, Northern Gothic (Soft Skull Press, 2001)

More and more books from Soft Skull Press seem to be falling into my hands over the last year or so. You may never have heard of Soft Skull Press, but you will. They have a mission to publish the best indie authors they can find, and while they slip on occasion, they also uncover gems every now and then. Nick Mamatas, who's been steadily making a name for himself in the underground horror community for the past five years or so, is one of those gems.

That he's made such a name for himself intrigues me, as Mamatas' fiction runs counter to what seems to be the trend these days; rather than the extreme horror of such present hot young things as Charlee Jacob, Mamatas goes for the atmospheric. He doesn't tie up his loose ends, leaving the reader with more questions than answers; he's a lot more Stanislaw Lem than he is Brian Keene. And the horror here is almost a stretch to even call horror; it's more a quiet instensity.

Ahmadi Jenkins is gay, black, and living in New York City for the past three weeks, still getting accustomed to the world around him and his present state of out of the closet-ness. In a parallel story, William Patten, an Irish dockworker, is trying to scrape up three hundred dollars to buy his way out of the Civil War draft in 1863, but suddenly finds himself spearheading one arm of the Draft Riots. The two stories collide when an offhand comment Patten makes in a bar about not caring for the darkies finds its way onto Jenkins' answering machine.

Mamatas gives us just enough rope. He never comes right out and tells us that time's doing weird things, he just gives us enough hints through the action and setting that we know something really odd is going on. He's not going to tell us what it is, we have to fill in the blanks ourselves. This is the mark of great literature.

Not to say that Northern Gothic is great literature; there are a few too many holes for the work to come off a a great piece of impressionism (though given the choice, I'd much rather have too many holes than too few; horror is always better when you have to imagine it yourself), and Patten and Jenkins, despite being relatively well-drawn characters, don't really jump off the page at you. That said, it should be obvious to the discerning reader of horror that Nick Mamatas is soon going to be a force to be reckoned with, and wouldn't you like to say you knew that guy back when? Well, "back when" is fading rapidly. Read Nick Mamatas now. *** ½

Mamatas pulls your head under water, drowning you
in the Civil War draft riots in New York. The violence
and racism echo to modern times not just in historical
awareness, but into the life of a contemporary man who
has just moved to New York. His life falls apart as you
watch the city burn a century earlier.
The scenes in 1863 are so vivid,
believable, and pathetic that they will haunt you long
after you finish the book.

Mamatas is a stunning new talent; his prose is evocative and his turns of phrase alternate between horrifying and fall-down funny. When I finished Northern Gothic I wanted /more/. There's a verisimilitude to the scenes that make it clear that Mamatas has done his research and has a keen sense for the inside of his characters' heads.

Nick Mamatas is now officially on my ones-to-watch list...

This book really took me off guard. A friend recommended it to me, and I began leisurely reading it on a Sunday afternoon...the next thing I knew it was late evening and I had finished the book! It's tightly written and keeps you turning the page...

It's a gutsy book, and has one of the most original plot lines I've read in some time...Definitely one to read...