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305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 27, 2014
”Creatures…
infinity…
our minds have ceilings, Malorie...
these things...
they are beyond it…
higher than it…
out of reach…
out of--
BUT HERE”
My big introduction wasTwilight Zone: the Movie,the first horror movie I ever saw. After that cameSaturday Shockersand sneaking in whatever I could at a friend’s house (Faces of Death, Psycho… Blacula…Prom Night.) I was also reading a lot. There’s a great period of horror fiction history, before the novel-boom of the 70’s spearheaded byRosemary’s Baby,The Other,andThe Exorcist,in which the short story ruled the genre. That period is golden and completely bursting with ideas. I read M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Blackwood, Bierce, et al. When you first approach it, the genre, it feels infinite, but it’s not. So, come high school, I was trying to write my own scary stories, weird poems, strange tales.(from Detroit CBS Local news interview)He likes to write with horror movie soundtracks on. And he is a musical sort as well, singing and playing in the bandThe High Strung.In fact, fans ofShameless,on Showtime, have already been exposed to Malerman’s work, as the writer and performer of that show’s theme song.
She thinks of the house as one big box. She wants out of this box. Tom and Jules, outside, are still inthisbox. The entire globe is shut in. The world is confined to the same cardboard box that houses the birds outside. Malorie understands that Tom is looking for a way to open the lid. He’s looking for a way out. But she wonders if there’s not a second lid above this one, then a third above that.You really want Malorie to reach safety with the children, but there is a gauntlet to be run, and there is no certainty that any of them will make it. The dangers are human, natural and eldritch, and I mean that in a very Lovecraftian way.
Boxed in,she thinks.Forever.
I think some horror authors are trying to scare you, but with me, I’m as scared as the reader is of the story. I’ve always been that way, since watching theTwilight Zonemovie — watchingFirestarterwhen my parents were out, or sneaking out to watchA Nightmare on Elm Streetat a friend’s house because I couldn’t watch it at my house. That makes you doubly scared — of the movie, and of the possibility of Mom finding out.(from Metrotimes interview)A generic problem I have with the book is that the dark elements here sometimes tend to step back when they have decided advantages, failing to make the most (or worst as the case may be) of their positions. It was not obvious to me that there was some point being made by these unexpected choices. Nevertheless, Malerman takes the notion of the unseen and pushes readers to create the scariest thing of all, that which lurks in the imagination.
Huffington PostJM onFB
Detroit CBL Local News
Metro Times
“It's better to face madness with a plan than to sit still and let it take you in pieces.”
the regret and bitterness -‘how can she expect her children to dream as big as the stars if they cant lift their heads to gaze upon them?’
the hopelessness -‘she was saving their lives for a life not worth living.’
the trust and reliance -‘your child is smarter than you think.’
The Written Review
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