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Multiplex Fandango
A collection of macabre, strange, and horror short stories by Bram Stoker Award-Winning and Pushcart Prize-nominated author Weston Ochse. Sixteen short stories.
285 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Weston Ochse
129 books295 followersThe American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21 st Century.” He has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, Publishers Weekly, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Jon Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, and many more of the world’s best-selling authors. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico Arizona Book Awards.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 26, 2011
There are names in the field of horror literature that everyone knows. Names like Barker, King, Lovecraft, and Straub are firmly implanted in the collective consciousness and most people can tell you who they are. Then there are names that you instinctively know you've heard, know you should know, yet can't remember why. These names include some of the best writers that the genre has to offer. In the sphere of horror authors, these guys are at the top of their game, even if mainstream success hasn't caught up with them yet. Such a guy is Weston Ochse, and while you might not have heard of him, he's considered a writer's writer, damned fine at his craft, and someone the rest of the horror loving world should be reading. Here's an example of why.
Multiplex Fandango bears the legend "A Weston Ochse Reader" on the front cover. It is, in fact, a collection of sixteen stories of the macabre, weird, and horrifying, written over a span of fifteen years and selected from Ochse's more than 100 published works. Beginning with "Tarzan Doesn't Live Here Anymore," Ochse turns the readers inside out emotionally. Among the many themes visited in this volume are regret, loss, grief, murder, insignificance, religious fervor and psychotic breaks. One story stars Carey Grant while another ("City of Joy") stars a radioactive Mickey Mouse and a mutated Goofy.
There is not a single weak story in the sixteen, which makes picking the best of the bunch something of an exercise in futility. However, if one had to narrow it down, it might break down thusly: "22 Stains in the Jesus Pool" is a twisted story that continues to resonate and haunt long after the page is turned. "Fugue on the Sea of Cortez" manages to disturb, and work in a nod to Lovecraft while it's on the way. "High Desert Come to Jesus" is a darkly humorous tale of reluctant revenge, and "The Smell of Leaves Burning in the Winter" contains some seriously horrifying details. Every story, however, has its own merit and grace.
Multiplex Fandango is a brilliant introduction to Weston Ochse's writing, for those who've never heard of him. After reading it, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you'll be a fan of his work. No word yet on when it will be available from Amazon, but it is currently available through Dark Region's website.
Multiplex Fandango bears the legend "A Weston Ochse Reader" on the front cover. It is, in fact, a collection of sixteen stories of the macabre, weird, and horrifying, written over a span of fifteen years and selected from Ochse's more than 100 published works. Beginning with "Tarzan Doesn't Live Here Anymore," Ochse turns the readers inside out emotionally. Among the many themes visited in this volume are regret, loss, grief, murder, insignificance, religious fervor and psychotic breaks. One story stars Carey Grant while another ("City of Joy") stars a radioactive Mickey Mouse and a mutated Goofy.
There is not a single weak story in the sixteen, which makes picking the best of the bunch something of an exercise in futility. However, if one had to narrow it down, it might break down thusly: "22 Stains in the Jesus Pool" is a twisted story that continues to resonate and haunt long after the page is turned. "Fugue on the Sea of Cortez" manages to disturb, and work in a nod to Lovecraft while it's on the way. "High Desert Come to Jesus" is a darkly humorous tale of reluctant revenge, and "The Smell of Leaves Burning in the Winter" contains some seriously horrifying details. Every story, however, has its own merit and grace.
Multiplex Fandango is a brilliant introduction to Weston Ochse's writing, for those who've never heard of him. After reading it, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you'll be a fan of his work. No word yet on when it will be available from Amazon, but it is currently available through Dark Region's website.
February 22, 2012
Multiplex Fandango is a sixteen-story, 283-page collection of fiction spanning over a decade of Weston Ochse's career. The stories, six of which were written specifically for this book, are each preceded by a movie-style introduction of the main characters (or elements of the story) and a quote, generally from a movie or book.
Weston Ochse is the real deal: a military veteran and former intelligence officer whose resume is no doubt peppered with events he can't talk about, who travels to exotic locales on government business to this day and lives with his wife in the American desert Southwest. So when he writes about places like China, Japan, the Mexican desert, the streets of Los Angeles and New Orleans during Mardi Gras, there's a sense of authenticity that you'd typically only find in an anthology featuring several authors from different walks of life. Ochse's work has received high praise from genre stalwarts like Joe Lansdale, Ed Lee, Brian Keene and the late Richard Laymon, and Ochse himself cites Cormac McCarthy as an influence. In fact, Ochse's short stories channel McCarthy's enviable skill at painting pictures and setting scenes with mere human language.
“Tarzan Doesn't Live Here Anymore,” Fandango's opening story; “High Desert Come to Jesus,” about a man involuntarily seeking penance from his victims; “Hiroshma Falling,” about a melted man's struggle to find his family in the aftermath of America's nuclear strike on Japan and “City of Joy,” a heart-wrenching science-fiction story, are personal favorites and are all worth the cover price individually, but only comprise a quarter of the book's material. Even the one story that missed the mark in this humble reviewer's opinion, “The Crossing of Aldo Rey,” was unique and tense and didn't quite resonate simply because it was written from a perspective that is sometimes hard to digest. The short notes from Ochse at the end of each story, detailing their origins and inspirations, are a welcome addition and all part of the Multiplex Fandango experience.
Weston Ochse is the real deal: a military veteran and former intelligence officer whose resume is no doubt peppered with events he can't talk about, who travels to exotic locales on government business to this day and lives with his wife in the American desert Southwest. So when he writes about places like China, Japan, the Mexican desert, the streets of Los Angeles and New Orleans during Mardi Gras, there's a sense of authenticity that you'd typically only find in an anthology featuring several authors from different walks of life. Ochse's work has received high praise from genre stalwarts like Joe Lansdale, Ed Lee, Brian Keene and the late Richard Laymon, and Ochse himself cites Cormac McCarthy as an influence. In fact, Ochse's short stories channel McCarthy's enviable skill at painting pictures and setting scenes with mere human language.
“Tarzan Doesn't Live Here Anymore,” Fandango's opening story; “High Desert Come to Jesus,” about a man involuntarily seeking penance from his victims; “Hiroshma Falling,” about a melted man's struggle to find his family in the aftermath of America's nuclear strike on Japan and “City of Joy,” a heart-wrenching science-fiction story, are personal favorites and are all worth the cover price individually, but only comprise a quarter of the book's material. Even the one story that missed the mark in this humble reviewer's opinion, “The Crossing of Aldo Rey,” was unique and tense and didn't quite resonate simply because it was written from a perspective that is sometimes hard to digest. The short notes from Ochse at the end of each story, detailing their origins and inspirations, are a welcome addition and all part of the Multiplex Fandango experience.
August 25, 2023
My friend gave me this book and said it was weird. It is weird, and most of the stories have sad endings. A great collection of weird tales. Sci-fi, horror, and some Lovecraft.
February 8, 2024
One of the best collections I've read in awhile. The stories run the gamut from horror to sci-fi, the whole book reads like a good season of the Twilight Zone.
May 26, 2012
Over the years I have heard nothing but good things about the works of Weston Ochse. Having never read anything by him, I was looking forward to having the opportunity to check out his collection, Multiplex Fandango. I was happy to discover that everything I had heard was accurate. Multiplex Fandango is a collection of sixteen of Ochse's short stories and not a one is disappointing. Reading through this collection, I could easily see that Ochse cares about what he writes, as his feelings pour out onto the pages. Some of the stories that truly stuck out to me were: “22 Stains in the Jesus Pool”, in which a hotel has a painting of The Last Supper painted at the bottom of their swimming pool that is stained by what appears to be blood; “The Crossing of Aldo Ray”, in which pretending to be a zombie allowed some to last a little longer; “Catfish Gods”, where two young boys set out on an innocent fishing trip, but learn so much more; and A Day in the Life of a Dust Bunny, which started out seemingly light but took an extremely dark turn. I'm sure favorites will vary by reader, but there is something for everyone in this stand-out collection. This was my first, but definitely not last, adventure into the mind of Weston Ochse. Highly recommended!
Contains: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations
Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian dot com.
Contains: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations
Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian dot com.
October 2, 2015
Quite possibly the darkest & more amazing collection of short stories I have read this year.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews