Where Evil Grows

by S. Lawrence Parrish

It's 1976. The rock group KISS is cool. Every teenager alive wishes they could be so cool. So what would you be willing to do to hang around with the cool kids? Pretty much anything. . . .
Justin Foley has cool new friends; they smoke dope and everything. And now that Justin is just as cool as his friends, an evil and malignant entity as old as time and space also wants to be his friend. And more than that, while it gestates in the service tunnels beneath Justin's school, the thing wants Justin to be its mentor. It wants Justin to teach it all about life and what it takes to be a success in this world.

What better place to learn than in a school? And what better measure of success than in taking control of your own destiny? Of course, along the way you might also learn how to assume control of everybody else's destiny. . . .

Where Evil Grows: Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. . . from Hell.

350 pages, ebook

First published May 31, 2012

About the author

S. Lawrence Parrish has been writing weird and twisted tales for many years. He's had many short stories published in small press 'zines (Dread--Tales of the Grotesque and Uncanny, Carpe Noctem, Not One of Us, Sepulchre, Mindmares, Agony in Black, Stigmata, Night Terrors, etc.). He's also written several novels, all of which will soon be available as e-books. For the past two years, he has been busily turning into podcasts many of his novels and stories, available at Podiobooks.com and on iTunes. To date, they include two novels: SHAT (a post-apocalypse tale with a feline twist) and Shape Shifters (a werewolf tale with NO vampires). And also Chicken Pi, an ever-growing collection of short stories. Mr. Parrish lives in the foothills of Alberta, Canada with an amazing wife, three stellar children, one Jack Russell terrier and one schnoodle, two cats, a chameleon named "Gus", a salamander, a tarantula, a frog, many fish, and at least two escaped crickets chirping from the furnace vents.

http://www.podiobooks.com/title/chick...
http://www.podiobooks.com/title/shape...
http://www.podiobooks.com/title/shat/

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The summary says it all.I especially liked the setting. A slow built up but never boring. Its darker than then Mr. Parrish`s Shapeshifters or Shat. Its more akin to his Short Story Collection "Chicken Pi". If you liked Chiken Pi you will also like this book. You can get both audiobooks at podiobooks.

I greatly enjoyed it and hope to hear more of this author.

MFG

[Jason Riou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy SLP's books. He has a million realistic and relatable characters bouncing around in his head, all of them people you might know. He takes them and throws them into the craziest shit you can imagine.

Where Evil Grows is HP Lovecraft crossed with mid 70s sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What an awesome mashup. I would have been 7 or 8 during the events of this book but it really brings me back. Teenagers then were cruising around in their hot rods or clustered by the community hall passing joints and beer around. There was such a cool rock and roll vibe, a f-u to the grown ups (and a meh, whatever from those grownups). Parrish captures that feel perfectly. Want to travel back in time to that golden age? This is the book to take you there.

Otherwise, the story is about a gestating evil force in the school that destroys the inhibitions of the students. Chaos, insanity, and hilarity ensue. And of course, Rock and Roll reigns supreme.

The ending was good (and too juicy to spill), but I think Parrish could take the events after the birthing scene and write a sequel for what happens next. He kind of glosses over a lot of stuff and the plot really changes direction.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where Evil Grows is a great audio book that is available for free at podiobooks.com. This story is brilliant and well written and read. I found the chapters totally absorbing and engaging. I was reminded of much of the pain and discomfort felt during my teenage years. Yes, I had few friends, was small for my age, shy, introverted, and fearful of addictive drugs that permeated my school environment. This book brings up vividly many bad memories I have of high school. I could well relate to Justin who wanted desperately to be friends with Jerry and Matt who he saw as the popular people. I can well understand why my parents sent my two younger sisters to a private school to shelter them from negativity, bad influences, and self-destructive behavior. The writer describes well my early experience in a record store in the 70s. The place was always busy. There were so many choices and money was always the limiting factor.

As a parent I am reminded of how relieved that in high school my younger son hung around with the straight nerdy high achieving students. He looked down with disdain upon his “druggie neighbors”.

The bullying behavior described in many scenes was very real and disturbing. This book was enthralling. The guinea pig stories were intentionally troubling and sinister. Many scenes were very vivid and creepy such as those involving Seymor. This was certainly a weird and twisted tale. I thank the author for his sharing spirit with creating many interesting characters in this memorable audiobook.

[James Hasser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it but it just didnt really explain enough about what was going on and it left you hanging at the end.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark and eerie story. Reminds me of Dean Koontz or Stephen King. Enjoyed also listening to the author read. Entertaining.

[Daryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent, aside from one of the ending scenes dumbing it down. parrish is a great storyteller, and his writing is top notch. the story was great, but when you stoop down to a borderline porn level, it kills the story's fluidity and drops it more than a few IQ points, or this would have been an easy 5 stars.