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High Midnight
High Midnight is a modern day supernatural Western set against a preternatural backdrop. It is a surreal trip into a world of fanciful cryptid-creatures-a menagerie of monstrosities that literally crawl from a crater perched at the mouth of Hell. The 'Devil's Outhouse' emits both a stink and an allure for vagrants, vagabonds and those wishing to be lost or forgotten-or simply left alone. It is the perfect place to build a nowhere town. Welcome to Unity, Texas. Population: Bizarre. The only thing protecting the residents of Unity from a stream of nightmares is Laredo Beaumont, the town's hard-drinking, ass-kicking sheriff, and Cicero, his knife-wielding chimpanzee deputy. It's a thankless job that leaves Laredo drained and nearly broken. The only solace he can find is in the arms of his beloved Sally Mae, a ghostly soiled dove from a phantom bordello where only the most daring of men would think to step foot. But midnight is fast approaching Unity, leaving Laredo to face not only creatures from Hell and the walking dead, but a band of homicidal clowns who have their own score to settle. A gonzo pulp Western for the 21st Century, High Midnight is a timeless tale of blood and redemption.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2010
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Rob Mosca
4 books11 followersBefore being gainfully employed as a mild mannered bureaucrat toiling mindlessly in the bowels of one of Corporate America's numerous cube farms, Rob Mosca was haunted by dreams of becoming an author. Envisioning a lush life of sleeping in until noon, courting delightfully sordid muses and growing a thick nicotine stained beard, he decided that the recent economic downturn was as good a time as any to quit his steady day job in order to write the Great American Novel. He has had no regrets in pursuing this new occupation save having to subsist on a steady diet of Ramen Noodles, Little Debbie snack cakes and copious amounts of Mad Dog 20/20.
High Midnight is his first novel, an homage to the Midnight Movies he grew up on and the gritty pulp men's magazines he would peruse in the back of his grandfather's closest as a child. Currently moonlighting as a night club door man for 'walking around money,' he occasionally DJs and frequently blogs under the nom de guerre of Jack Babalon, in his adopted home town of Terminus, Ga.
High Midnight is his first novel, an homage to the Midnight Movies he grew up on and the gritty pulp men's magazines he would peruse in the back of his grandfather's closest as a child. Currently moonlighting as a night club door man for 'walking around money,' he occasionally DJs and frequently blogs under the nom de guerre of Jack Babalon, in his adopted home town of Terminus, Ga.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 10, 2014
We've all heard that old saying about book cover judgments. Perhaps now it's time we block out blurb-based reckonings. Rob Mosca's High Midnight is bursting with criminally psychotic clowns, zombies with a twist, spectral prostitutes, and strange creatures. But it's also a prime example of good, at times strong writing.
I'm uncertain into which genre High Midnight ought slide. More than likely, it's a sub-subgenre. Something like Gritty Redneck Bizarro. In the beginning, the weird hyperbolic writing style and content is intriguing. When combined with crisp and skilled writing, you feel anxious and excited. Like a passenger on a hijacked locomotive, you feel your heart speed up to mirror the rushing landscape and you begin wondering where you're going, and what will happen when you get there. But as the story progresses, we climax, reaching a point at which we can go no faster, further, or weirder, and everything beyond becomes a repetitive flatlining disappointment due to the lack of contrast.
I liked how Mosca would introduce a character, and then immediately leap back in time to show a slivered piece of the character's history. This allows for a streamlining of exposition without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. But this approach comes with a price. The story's momentum becomes the engine, the driving force behind the storytelling. When this occurs, character submits to situation, preventing reader from forging strong bonds with character. Before we know it, and no matter how good the writing, the story is the situation acting upon character, rather than the characters reacting to situation. The result is uninteresting characters. And it's difficult to create tension when I don't give a damn if someone lives, dies, laughs, or cries. Situation will always grab our attention, but it is forever characters that maintain it.
High Midnight gets high marks for the audiobook. Bernard Setaro Clark is a name to remember. Clark narrates the audiobook, and captures the story's voice. Whether it's a clown's ghastly giggle, drawling redneck sheriff, or explicit ghostly fornication, Clark delivers a tremendous reading. If you're going to give this a read, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook.
I'm uncertain into which genre High Midnight ought slide. More than likely, it's a sub-subgenre. Something like Gritty Redneck Bizarro. In the beginning, the weird hyperbolic writing style and content is intriguing. When combined with crisp and skilled writing, you feel anxious and excited. Like a passenger on a hijacked locomotive, you feel your heart speed up to mirror the rushing landscape and you begin wondering where you're going, and what will happen when you get there. But as the story progresses, we climax, reaching a point at which we can go no faster, further, or weirder, and everything beyond becomes a repetitive flatlining disappointment due to the lack of contrast.
I liked how Mosca would introduce a character, and then immediately leap back in time to show a slivered piece of the character's history. This allows for a streamlining of exposition without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. But this approach comes with a price. The story's momentum becomes the engine, the driving force behind the storytelling. When this occurs, character submits to situation, preventing reader from forging strong bonds with character. Before we know it, and no matter how good the writing, the story is the situation acting upon character, rather than the characters reacting to situation. The result is uninteresting characters. And it's difficult to create tension when I don't give a damn if someone lives, dies, laughs, or cries. Situation will always grab our attention, but it is forever characters that maintain it.
High Midnight gets high marks for the audiobook. Bernard Setaro Clark is a name to remember. Clark narrates the audiobook, and captures the story's voice. Whether it's a clown's ghastly giggle, drawling redneck sheriff, or explicit ghostly fornication, Clark delivers a tremendous reading. If you're going to give this a read, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook.
September 20, 2012
When I first started reading this book, my initial impression was that it was the kind of book that Troma would publish if it were a publishing house rather than a film production company. As a big Troma fan, that was meant as a compliment. Now that I'm done with the book, that compliment still stands and I'll add that was a lot better than I expected to be.
It was clear from the start of the book that it was going to be ridiculous but fun. However, I didn't think I'd end up taking it very seriously. I initially took the characters to be amusing but shallow, often being introduce in a cartoonish fashion. However, the more time on the page each character got, the more interesting they became and while a few characters still came up a bit short changed on character, I found myself caring about what was going to happen in the end to most of the major characters.
If I have any complaint about the book, it's that I would have liked to have seen the villians get a bit more page time interacting with each other and gotten to know these murderous clowns better.
It was clear from the start of the book that it was going to be ridiculous but fun. However, I didn't think I'd end up taking it very seriously. I initially took the characters to be amusing but shallow, often being introduce in a cartoonish fashion. However, the more time on the page each character got, the more interesting they became and while a few characters still came up a bit short changed on character, I found myself caring about what was going to happen in the end to most of the major characters.
If I have any complaint about the book, it's that I would have liked to have seen the villians get a bit more page time interacting with each other and gotten to know these murderous clowns better.
November 15, 2011
Full review at AxelHowerton.Com
High Midnight is the debut novel from Rob Mosca, a vibrant new word artist with a taste for the bizarre and a talent for lean, mean action and Sergio Leone-style setups.
Jumping back and forth between a recent timeline and a near-future post-apocalypse where the world is rife with “walkers”, and the town of Unity, Texas is sitting on a fault-line to hell and overrun with cryptids, supernatural beasts, and the occasional murderous clown...
High Midnight is the debut novel from Rob Mosca, a vibrant new word artist with a taste for the bizarre and a talent for lean, mean action and Sergio Leone-style setups.
Jumping back and forth between a recent timeline and a near-future post-apocalypse where the world is rife with “walkers”, and the town of Unity, Texas is sitting on a fault-line to hell and overrun with cryptids, supernatural beasts, and the occasional murderous clown...
April 20, 2015
What do psychotic clowns, cryptid chimeras, drunk sheriffs, Russian novel reading monkeys, ghostly lovers, and zombies have in common? Not much beyond this book. Set in modern day, Unity, Texas is a place to the unwanted, drunk, and those not wanting to be found to disappear. Laredo Beaumont, the sheriff, takes his job seriously, especially the napping and drinking part. At least, until the day a murder of clowns shows up.
This is one of the oddest books I have ever read. I knew it was a mishmash of genres and plot devices going into it, but the various elements pulled in was beyond expectations. And the author made it all work beautifully. I was constantly entertained, usually surprised, and left wanting more. I hear rumors there is a second book in the making and I have my fingers crossed that is true.
The book starts off with psychotic clowns. Admittedly, it does jump around quickly from clown to clown, and often with swift punches of flashbacks showing a little bit of why that clown is now with a sadistic gaggle of clowns on a near deserted highway. Don’t be put off by this because the point of view settles down after that and gives a good story, with a few flashbacks here and there. The viewpoints do change throughout the tale, but we get to spend enough time with each character that the reader has time to connect with them.
I found Unity to be a fascinating town, especially all the problems they have with the cryptids such as the chupacabra and jackalope chimeras. The biologist in me wanted to do a summer study course in Unity. The half with the common sense knew we would have to get lost in a desert teeming with the shuffling undead. The zombies don’t feature heavily in this book, but do have a little key part to play.
Laredo and Sally Mae were my two favorite characters, one being a drunk authority figure and the other a ghostly bordello lass. They both kick ass in their own ways. And there is one sex scene. It is smoking hot, literally. There are flames involved. And a luchadero mask. Haha! Hooray for Mexican wrestling! That little detail gave me a good laugh, and yet, it really worked with the character.
Yes, there is a deputy sheriff. His name is Cicero, a chimpanzee. He wields knives and reads dreary Russian literature. Periodically, he smashes up the one and only bar, which is owned by the mayor of the town. She doesn’t appreciate such antics; hence, he has a job and has to keep it to work off his binges. Toss in the clowns (like Kiss me Kate) and some other town characters (the mayor’s bathrobe attired husband) and you have a very eclectic cast.
The plot was pretty straight forward. The clowns have been gallivanting about the country side looking for a specific person, someone they feel they need to payback (like by breaking said person’s kneecaps). In Unity, the sheriff struggles with the big question: why am I here? While he wrestles with that, all these other characters are just going about their lives, until some clowns with questionable makeup skills arrive in town. Really, the plot gave this backbone for all these character to play together on. I am fine with that because it was damn entertaining!
Narration: Bernard Setaro Clark was a good fit for this book. He had a variety of voices (and you definitely needed that for this book). His female voices were totally believable. Luckily, we weren’t treated to any monkey screeches. He had no hesitancy with the evil clowns or the love scene.
This is one of the oddest books I have ever read. I knew it was a mishmash of genres and plot devices going into it, but the various elements pulled in was beyond expectations. And the author made it all work beautifully. I was constantly entertained, usually surprised, and left wanting more. I hear rumors there is a second book in the making and I have my fingers crossed that is true.
The book starts off with psychotic clowns. Admittedly, it does jump around quickly from clown to clown, and often with swift punches of flashbacks showing a little bit of why that clown is now with a sadistic gaggle of clowns on a near deserted highway. Don’t be put off by this because the point of view settles down after that and gives a good story, with a few flashbacks here and there. The viewpoints do change throughout the tale, but we get to spend enough time with each character that the reader has time to connect with them.
I found Unity to be a fascinating town, especially all the problems they have with the cryptids such as the chupacabra and jackalope chimeras. The biologist in me wanted to do a summer study course in Unity. The half with the common sense knew we would have to get lost in a desert teeming with the shuffling undead. The zombies don’t feature heavily in this book, but do have a little key part to play.
Laredo and Sally Mae were my two favorite characters, one being a drunk authority figure and the other a ghostly bordello lass. They both kick ass in their own ways. And there is one sex scene. It is smoking hot, literally. There are flames involved. And a luchadero mask. Haha! Hooray for Mexican wrestling! That little detail gave me a good laugh, and yet, it really worked with the character.
Yes, there is a deputy sheriff. His name is Cicero, a chimpanzee. He wields knives and reads dreary Russian literature. Periodically, he smashes up the one and only bar, which is owned by the mayor of the town. She doesn’t appreciate such antics; hence, he has a job and has to keep it to work off his binges. Toss in the clowns (like Kiss me Kate) and some other town characters (the mayor’s bathrobe attired husband) and you have a very eclectic cast.
The plot was pretty straight forward. The clowns have been gallivanting about the country side looking for a specific person, someone they feel they need to payback (like by breaking said person’s kneecaps). In Unity, the sheriff struggles with the big question: why am I here? While he wrestles with that, all these other characters are just going about their lives, until some clowns with questionable makeup skills arrive in town. Really, the plot gave this backbone for all these character to play together on. I am fine with that because it was damn entertaining!
Narration: Bernard Setaro Clark was a good fit for this book. He had a variety of voices (and you definitely needed that for this book). His female voices were totally believable. Luckily, we weren’t treated to any monkey screeches. He had no hesitancy with the evil clowns or the love scene.
October 2, 2011
Click for Review
Click link to see my review on www.UFReviews.com
Synopsis: Ghouls, crytids, homicidal clowns, knife wielding chimps and the best damn phantom bordello north of the border… welcome to Unity, Texas! A gonzo pulp western for the 21st century, High Midnight is a timeless tale of blood and redemption set against a preternatural and pre-apocalyptic Texas.
Review: I am a very new reader to the horror genre. I think this may actually be my first horror book, but as a lover of books I figured I would give the genre a go. Mosca’s writing is really well done, descriptions are very vivid, and it is very easy for the reader to picture the scenes unfolding in their own minds. One of the first things I noticed when I started reading the book was how easy it was to follow even with the use of flashbacks, something I really appreciate in an author.
When you start reading this book it is clear you are entering a universe that quite different from your own: homicidal clowns, a sheriff drinking out of a bottle of liquor while on duty, and of course “sleep walkers” on a mission to devour anything in their path.
The story starts out introducing the main characters, and it ultimately comes down to the gang of clowns and the sheriff. The gang of clowns are clearly only interested in themselves and willing to do anything to get what they want. The Sheriff is introduced as a very flawed man, as law enforcement you would expect him to represent good, which while he ultimately does fight for good he has his own evils within him. In many ways this book is kind of a warped version of the classic good versus evil tale, with redemption of certain characters along the way.
While I don’t think this book is necessarily for me, I can think of at least five of my friends who would love this book. For that reason alone I am going to give this book a rating of “Like It” because even though it isn’t one of my favorites, it’s well-written, amusing at parts, and would clearly be a good read for fans of this genre.
Click link to see my review on www.UFReviews.com
Synopsis: Ghouls, crytids, homicidal clowns, knife wielding chimps and the best damn phantom bordello north of the border… welcome to Unity, Texas! A gonzo pulp western for the 21st century, High Midnight is a timeless tale of blood and redemption set against a preternatural and pre-apocalyptic Texas.
Review: I am a very new reader to the horror genre. I think this may actually be my first horror book, but as a lover of books I figured I would give the genre a go. Mosca’s writing is really well done, descriptions are very vivid, and it is very easy for the reader to picture the scenes unfolding in their own minds. One of the first things I noticed when I started reading the book was how easy it was to follow even with the use of flashbacks, something I really appreciate in an author.
When you start reading this book it is clear you are entering a universe that quite different from your own: homicidal clowns, a sheriff drinking out of a bottle of liquor while on duty, and of course “sleep walkers” on a mission to devour anything in their path.
The story starts out introducing the main characters, and it ultimately comes down to the gang of clowns and the sheriff. The gang of clowns are clearly only interested in themselves and willing to do anything to get what they want. The Sheriff is introduced as a very flawed man, as law enforcement you would expect him to represent good, which while he ultimately does fight for good he has his own evils within him. In many ways this book is kind of a warped version of the classic good versus evil tale, with redemption of certain characters along the way.
While I don’t think this book is necessarily for me, I can think of at least five of my friends who would love this book. For that reason alone I am going to give this book a rating of “Like It” because even though it isn’t one of my favorites, it’s well-written, amusing at parts, and would clearly be a good read for fans of this genre.
April 5, 2010
I had the privilege to read an earlier draft of this novel and it was one helluva good time then, so I'm definitely looking forward to giving the finished product a read. The Good Reads summery is spot on, though. If you're looking for a bizzaro, pulptastic Western journey full of clown thrill kills, luchador justice, unspeakable horrors, the loved dead and sprawling, breakneck brawls... well, then this here is your book. Buy it. Read it. Love it.
September 10, 2014
Loved this book. Bernie does an incredible job narrating.
Laredo and Sallie-Mae, well just check them out.
Laredo and Sallie-Mae, well just check them out.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews