The Fire Within

The Rise of the Sixth Sun #2

by Graham Watkins

An all-expense-paid vacation to a sun-drenched paradise is shared by a group who all have had bloody nightmares all their lives, and the initial fun is soon replaced by forbidden urges, human sacrifices, and worse

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

556 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1991

About the author

Graham Watkins, a former researcher in parapsychology, has been publishing fiction since 1989. His works, available in 6 languages, include novels Dark Winds, The Fire Within, Kaleidoscope Eyes, Virus, and Interception; film script Hillbettys (Roger Corman, producer); and numerous short stories.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This loose sequel to Dark Winds defies easy description, although a horror/fantasy romp perhaps fits it best. As in Dark Winds, Watkins blends pre-Columbian mythos into a contemporary setting; this time in 1987, some 20 years after the first installment. The first part of the novel, 'New York', introduces the seven main characters either in NYC or on their way. All seven are exceptional in some bizarre way; David can make plants grow/return to life with a drop of his blood, Danny has psychic powers, etc. What 'unites' them is some 'scam' they all receive in the mail for a trip to 'South America' somewhere if they will come look at some housing development on Long Island. There, they all 'win' the jackpot-- a trip to 'South America'! The second section concerns their stay in Tlillan Tlapallan, an ancient mesoAmerican city where their 'resort' is located. The third section takes place in the mesoAmerican underworld, although Watkins feels free to incorporate Nordic, Greek and other ancient mythology here.

Billed as erotic (rightly so!), Watkins builds the story on the mesoAmerican idea of various 'worlds', each emerging from the ashes of the last. Currently, the '5th' world (ours) is in progress, but the '6th' is nigh. Obviously, our main characters will play some role in this, as they were not 'recruited' at random for the trip south. The first part contains many aspects of horror, with strange events, but this quickly turns into more an epic fantasy, with the ancient gods playing a role.

Not exactly sure what Watkins was going for here; a modern recasting of ancient pre-Columbian lore? An erotic, steamy tale with supernatural elements? I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the novel to some degree, but the last, fantasy part felt like a bad LSD trip; it just went on and on with one bizarre event after another, and yet failed to reach any sort of conclusion. There are other books in this series, but this is enough for me. 2.5 stars, rounding down for how this went from being decent/good to exasperating.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is one of my favorite late 80s/early 90s horror books. I was inspired to read some horror again and figured it would be a good starting point, even if I worried that it would not really measure up to my memories of it. I did however, but only in parts. Great and classical build-up of a horror story with a some supernatural parts and a lot of "what is going on really"? A number of people interconnected in different ways get lured to an isolated vacation resort in a remote Mexican area. Lots and lots of explicit sex (so much it feels squeezed in for notoriety value almost) and descriptions of violence and gore. Loses pace in the middle, but grabs the readers (or mine, at least) attention later. The final chapters could easily have been edited down to a couple of pages without losing any explanations (of which there are few: we kind of get to know what and who everybody is, but as to the whys, and reasons for most actions throughout the book, nothing is revealed) or end punch. "

[Horror Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts out with a very promising start and well-done scenes of erotic horror (I can see why Richard Laymon enjoyed it), but gradually gets tiring with the epic amount of lore packed in.

[Don Olivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't wait to finish it only because I was so damn tired of reading it already.

[Mark Masters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned this book for years and just recently decided to pick it up and read it. Great book. The author has a great imagination and mixes horror with the erotic perfectly. He apparently did his homework or already had extensive knowledge for the religion of the ancient people in this story. I had a hard time keeping up with some of the names and the climax got a little crazy but pulled together nicely by the end. I'm surprised that Graham Watkins isn't more popular, I really enjoyed this and will read more of his work.