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.
Chris Dauten, Horror Classics
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.
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