Condemned

by Scott Lefebvre

The Gate has served as a place to put the more inconvenient members of society. It was supposed to be a home away from home. The world moved on and The Gate was abandoned, taking on a second life as a home to derelicts and drug addicts.
Twenty years later The Gate still stands, a monument to what was once an attractive destination for the kids of the county to throw rocks and bottles at partly inspired by youthful rebellion, and partly inspired by an intuitive dislike for the building, because it’s hard to like something that doesn’t like you.
Jack, Jason, Nathan, and Dani are aspiring paranormal investigators with the best store bought equipment their part-time high school jobs could afford. Their intention tonight is to investigate The Gate and see if they can find any evidence of the afterlife. They are not alone.

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2014

About the author

Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
He is currently working on ten novel-length book projects which will be released in 2014.
He also publishes themed collections of interviews from his interview blog You Are Entitled To My Opinion.
His reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces electronic music under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
He is currently working on a novel-length expansion of a short-story titled, "The End Of The World Is Nigh", a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, post-apocalyptic, zombie epidemic project.
Check out the blog for the book here: theendoftheworldisnighbook.blogspot.com
Check out the Facebook Fan Page for the project here: www.facebook.com/TheEndOfTheWorldIsNi...
Check his author profile at: www.amazon.com/Scott-Lefebvre/e/B001T...
Follow him at GoodReads here:
www.goodreads.com/author/show/1617246...
Check out his publishing imprint Burnt Offerings Books here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burnt-...
And here: http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/
Check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here: master-control.bandcamp.com
Check out his videos at: www.youtube.com/user/doctornapoleon
Check out his IMDB profile here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3678959
Follow his Twitter here: twitter.com/TheLefebvre or @TheLefebvre
Follow his Tumblr here: thelefebvre.tumblr.com
Check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/shop/ScottLefebvreArt
Join the group for The Arkham Film Society here:
www.facebook.com/groups/arkhamscreenings
Stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
E-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com

Reviews

[Kit Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

Condemned is a tight, taut horror story that reads like a movie. In a good way.

Lefebvre has a prose style that is economic and sparse. He sets the scene with minimal fanfare or flourish, drawing you straight into the narrative. The use of present tense reinforces the feeling that you are observing the events as as they unfold, and the story and character pull you forwards. That same sparse style manages to be deeply atmospheric, creating very effectively a sense of building dread, with zero recourse to hyperbole or purple prose. Lefebve allows the 'facts' to speak for themselves. This is a very hard book to put down, and the feeling of fear has built long before events descend into chaos.

The exposition for the setting is deftly handled, and when the tension finally breaks into action, it doesn't disappoint. This is a deeply compelling and expertly paced horror story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[J.C. Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit that it took a little while to get used to how this was written, it was written in the present tense and was like having someone describe a movie to you whilst watching it, but it didn't prevent me from reading, and enjoying, the story.

I particularly liked how the author kept things close to his chest until the final section of the book, leaving the reader wondering if this was going to go down the path of real-world or supernatural horror.

The build up was strong with a good, well paced, pay-off at the end. In fact, when the book did end, I would have happily read more had the story continued or if there were an other stories to be read associated with The Gate.

Overall I would certainly recommend the book, and will read more by this author.

[MMReviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to give this a 3.5 but Goodreads doesn't allow it. This is a good story with a lot of promise and a great twist on the usual haunted hospital scare. If the author had perhaps allowed a bit more time to edit it he may have caught the run-on sentences and a few other issues which made the piece a bit confusing at times. I would have easily given it a full four stars if the editing was better. Unfortunately the editing problems are enough to take a reader out of the story which is why I rated it a 3.5. Still worth the read however, as it is a scary story exploring the horror of human depravity and the otherworldly.