Review by Wrath James White

BAD SEED - 2001 Harry Shannon Medium Rare Books PB $13.99 ISBN: 0-9711162-0-2

It begins with the sound of snapping bones as a child abuser is folded up and sucked between the floorboards of an old shack by a vengeful spirit in "Them Bones". I cringed and rubbed down the goosebumps sprouting on my arms when the more than deserving victim's femur snapped in half and a lascivious grin ripped across my face as I settled down to read the rest of the stories in this collection. These, apparently, were going to be my type of tales. I love it when the guy who most deserves it, gets it and gets it good! Get past the few typos that will no doubt be corrected in the second printing. Get past the one or two stories that this collection could have really done without ("Head Trip" and "House Call" can safely be eliminated from Stoker contention) and you have one hell of a short story collection!

BAD SEED, flows easily back and forth between horror and crime noir. Occasionally I found myself wishing it wouldn't. "Along Comes Mary" and "Thumbs" being the exception, and perhaps only because they came so early in the book and seemed fresh and original (and perhaps because "Along Comes Mary" completely freaked me out!) I found myself wanting more of the horror and less of the Mickey Spillaine stuff. I think Shannon handles horror fiction amazingly well but, and maybe I just don't know enough about crime fiction to appreciate it, I found some of the hard-boiled detective stuff a little predictable.

Now for my glowing endorsement! I'm generally a pretty hard sell when it comes to vampire tales. I think that, for the most part, all that can be done with them has been done. And no this story didn't give us any new take on the vampire mythology. What it gave us is a very real, sympathetic, believable character. What it did was suck you right into the mind of a frightened eight-year-old boy named Timmy and make you share his terror as his loved ones turned into blood-drinking "Vampers". This story scared the hell out of me not because the monsters were so scary but because little Timmy was so helpless, and innocent, and real. Shannon somehow makes you feel every second of Timmy's fear as he cringes alone in his bedroom waiting to confront his undead sibling with nothing but a croquet mallet. I did not sleep well after reading this. Being of the sound-bite, news flash, fast edit, low attention span generation, it almost feels blasphemous to say it but, I wish the story were longer. Damnit, I really want to know what happened to Timmy! I love that kid!

Also, be sure to check out "She Who Is Kali", a disturbing little tale about a man who discovers the Hindu death goddess in old news photographs. These two stories alone more than make the $13.99 price tag a bargain.

BAD SEED is packed with fast paced, "go for the jugular" type writing. Harry Shannon builds characters and atmosphere with subtle and powerful skill. Many of the horror stories in this collection stayed with me all day like a good story should. "Along Comes Mary" did this as well but some of the other crime noir tales felt a little like filler. "House Call", yet another predictable hit-man story, definitely had no place here in such an otherwise standout collection. I think much of the "Guy hires assassin to kill his wife but gets more than he bargained for" stuff could have been eliminated and more horror tales like "She Who Is Kali", "Quickie", and "Echo", all of which have received Stoker recommendations, added. Even the title story seemed to pull too many punches to really do it for me.

BAD SEED is a standout collection of horror tales and a fair collection of crime fiction. I for one can't wait to see more of Harry Shannon's work as he continues to grow and develop and I will definitely be in line for his next book. I give it three bookwyrms.

This review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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