What do you think?
Rate this book
California Gothic
Dan and his wife Evie had buried the past a past in which Dan was a poet and a member of a radical cult which the FBI eventually hunted down and destroyed. Now in a world without a past, in a land of celluloid dreams, what was once killed has come alive again...Jude - his lover, his inspiration, his past has returned. But Jude has been dead and buried for along time. Now she has come back for his family and his soul. And as the hot winds blow down the mountainside, the flames begin to lick at the California sky. SALES Etchison's previous novel from Raven, SHADOWMAN, received wide coverage and critical acclaim; Etchison is a contemporary of Stephen King, James Herbert and Clive Barker. Acclaimed for his short stories, the author has now turned his talent to novels and should receive the attention and readership he deserves; In the US Etchison's sales are on par with Robert R McCammon and Dan Simmons. THE AUTHOR Dennis Etchison is a multiple winner of the World Fantasy and British Fantasy Awards. He has been called "America's premier writer of horror stories".
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Etchison
180 books114 followersaka Jack Martin.
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. He is a multi-award winner, having won the British Fantasy Award three times for fiction, and the World Fantasy Award for anthologies he edited.
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. He is a multi-award winner, having won the British Fantasy Award three times for fiction, and the World Fantasy Award for anthologies he edited.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 11, 2021
This is a very densely written horror novel, full of horror and family values and misdirection. Some of it is told in the form of a movie script, same as The Blood Kiss, with very good result. It's a spooky return to California in the '90's, a creepy story that demands your attention...or else.
August 17, 2014
The mind often plays tricks on the body – fertile imagination goading the eyes to surreal visions, shadows of the past lending credence to an otherwise unthinkably outrageous perception of the present. Dennis Etchison takes the reader on such an unsettling trip in California Gothic, where the initial mile of beaten path leads to the veritable slippery slope of morbidly suggestive imagery, self-conscious, guilt-ridden brow beating and second guessing in an insane reality where said behavior is not necessarily justified but IS oddly redundant. California Gothic is a dark time capsule of sorts, its apt description of the San Fernando Valley of the 1990s sprinkled with an almost absurd paranormal flavor setting the distinct tone and color of the novel.
Perhaps Mr. Etchison’s point is that you can truly never go home again, or home is where the heart is, or the heart is, indeed, a lonely hunter. Whatever the underlying message may be, it is impossible to pin the author’s intent down and each reader will draw her or her own conclusions from this troubling tale. Beautifully spun novel from a master of the short story - psychedelic, revelatory, foreboding and treacherous. Watch your step on this one; things are never quite what they appear to be.
Perhaps Mr. Etchison’s point is that you can truly never go home again, or home is where the heart is, or the heart is, indeed, a lonely hunter. Whatever the underlying message may be, it is impossible to pin the author’s intent down and each reader will draw her or her own conclusions from this troubling tale. Beautifully spun novel from a master of the short story - psychedelic, revelatory, foreboding and treacherous. Watch your step on this one; things are never quite what they appear to be.
November 9, 2011
I heard Dennis Etchison read his marvelous short story, "Red Dog Down" at World Horror in '08. I later got my hands on this book, and recently completed reading it.
This is a psychological horror. Emphasis on the psychological. The narrators in the book are seriously unreliable, to the point that you only *believe* you really know what happened. (That was my experience, anyway).
This is sort of a multi-media story, too. There's quite a good chunk of the book told through the envisioned screenplay of one of the characters. There's also a bit of poetry. I always like experimental stuff, and I generally sailed through this little book with dispatch, but I was left, well, not quite satisfied. In my continuing lament for half stars on Goodreads, I will say that I would give this one 3.5, were I able to do so.
There are flashes of fantastic writing in here, and it's a generally serviceable horror, but I feel that it's not Etchison's best.
This is a psychological horror. Emphasis on the psychological. The narrators in the book are seriously unreliable, to the point that you only *believe* you really know what happened. (That was my experience, anyway).
This is sort of a multi-media story, too. There's quite a good chunk of the book told through the envisioned screenplay of one of the characters. There's also a bit of poetry. I always like experimental stuff, and I generally sailed through this little book with dispatch, but I was left, well, not quite satisfied. In my continuing lament for half stars on Goodreads, I will say that I would give this one 3.5, were I able to do so.
There are flashes of fantastic writing in here, and it's a generally serviceable horror, but I feel that it's not Etchison's best.
October 27, 2009
Typically dense, beautiful writing from Etchison as he weaves a complex plot with narrators who might not be always telling the truth. As atmospheric as they come, you can almost feel the dust and the winds as you read.
May 22, 2023
Dennis Etchison seems to have noble intentions with his short novel California Gothic. He tries to combine the sunny world of suburban California with the ethereal trappings of the classic gothic tale. And he is talented at imbuing the quotidian aspects of life with something more cryptic–trash bags always have the potential to contain festering bodies and the crunch of a leaf could always be a discarded animal skeleton.
But while he does succeed in limited ways in making light the new dark, he fails in too many others. The current lives of the characters and their sordid histories never gel, and by the halfway point, the story begins to amble away from its main focus.
Similarly, there are details of real and imagined horror movies worked into the narrative. They can be fun little digressions. American Zombie, the fictitious teen-oriented gore flick, might as well be a David DeCoteau film, coming replete with reference to Michelle Bauer. And while these cinematic nuggets open up an avenue for fiction to spill over into reality, Etchison doesn’t utilize them for much, so they end up seeming like even more filler in a novel that already feels incomplete.
But while he does succeed in limited ways in making light the new dark, he fails in too many others. The current lives of the characters and their sordid histories never gel, and by the halfway point, the story begins to amble away from its main focus.
Similarly, there are details of real and imagined horror movies worked into the narrative. They can be fun little digressions. American Zombie, the fictitious teen-oriented gore flick, might as well be a David DeCoteau film, coming replete with reference to Michelle Bauer. And while these cinematic nuggets open up an avenue for fiction to spill over into reality, Etchison doesn’t utilize them for much, so they end up seeming like even more filler in a novel that already feels incomplete.
June 30, 2022
This book, in a way, reminded me of the movie “The Happening”, meaning that the dialogue in it was so very very very very (and did I mention “very”) awkward and unrealistic that it just felt off. The characters made such completely odd and irrational choices when speaking or acting “normally” to each other that it just left me scratching my head.
The thick, wordy, over the top similes and metaphors used to express the every day California environment drowned the writing in ways that left me gasping for air or chuckling to myself.
The best parts of the book were the portions written out like a movie script for a bad zombie horror movie that was playing in the mind of the main character’s young son. That movie… would be a freaky flick that I would definitely watch because I do so love bad horror movies. Bad writing however… not so much.
Perhaps it is supposed to be more of a surreal piece and it was more conceptual. Living not quite in the real world.
But… I am still thinking about this book. If anything, it wasn’t boring. Confounding yes, but not boring.
The thick, wordy, over the top similes and metaphors used to express the every day California environment drowned the writing in ways that left me gasping for air or chuckling to myself.
The best parts of the book were the portions written out like a movie script for a bad zombie horror movie that was playing in the mind of the main character’s young son. That movie… would be a freaky flick that I would definitely watch because I do so love bad horror movies. Bad writing however… not so much.
Perhaps it is supposed to be more of a surreal piece and it was more conceptual. Living not quite in the real world.
But… I am still thinking about this book. If anything, it wasn’t boring. Confounding yes, but not boring.
November 12, 2023
This started off well, but then it lost me for the most part. Lots of wordy digressions and changes of scene break the flow of the plot. Weird scenes are just... weird, with the atmospheric effect they should have being replaced with confusion. That said, it's an intriguing enough book that I finished it. The good parts are good. Overall it feels a bit dated, more in style than content, but I've certainly read worse books.
March 17, 2025
2,75 en vrai parce que c'est très court et que j'adore le personnage du fils Eddie et toutes ses scènes. Mais Dan (le daron et personnage principal) et tous les adultes se comportent et parlent de manière tellement bizarre que j'étais complètement détaché de l'histoire (peut être que la traduction n'aide pas aussi c'est possible)
July 19, 2024
Dennis Etchison was an absolutely brilliant writer, and I love this book.
November 14, 2019
This is my second time through this novel, and I can't say I can make any more sense of it now than when I did ... twenty-three years ago.
(Jeezum CROW, twenty-three years? The gap between these two readings is old enough to go to a bar.)
I like Etchison's writing style. It's clean and precise, straight-forward and direct. I wish he could be the same with his plots, or his characterization, or even his atmosphere. I couldn't get a good handle on the story or the mood, and the characters ran together so much that I kept confusing them. They all felt bland and lifeless to me.
The theme feels like it's about family. At least, a family and its issues feature prominently in the story. Beyond that, though, I'm not sure I could tell you the point of the whole thing.
Etchison was apparently the master of the short story, and I ought to read one of those collections, because I can see how that would be the case. In a shorter format, I can see his stories having a lot of power, thanks to his style. As far as novels, though? Eh. Neither this nor Shadowman made much of an impression on me.
On the bright side, this book has one of my favorite quotes (which I wrote down and saved the first time I read it):
Abyss #46
(Jeezum CROW, twenty-three years? The gap between these two readings is old enough to go to a bar.)
I like Etchison's writing style. It's clean and precise, straight-forward and direct. I wish he could be the same with his plots, or his characterization, or even his atmosphere. I couldn't get a good handle on the story or the mood, and the characters ran together so much that I kept confusing them. They all felt bland and lifeless to me.
The theme feels like it's about family. At least, a family and its issues feature prominently in the story. Beyond that, though, I'm not sure I could tell you the point of the whole thing.
Etchison was apparently the master of the short story, and I ought to read one of those collections, because I can see how that would be the case. In a shorter format, I can see his stories having a lot of power, thanks to his style. As far as novels, though? Eh. Neither this nor Shadowman made much of an impression on me.
On the bright side, this book has one of my favorite quotes (which I wrote down and saved the first time I read it):
“The trouble was that there was no foolproof way to tell the difference between Zen emptiness and just plain empty.”
Abyss #46
August 13, 2024
It has been a long time since I read this book so it isn't super fresh in my mind. I love the feeling of this book. It was teetering between supernatural and real the entire time. I don't really remember a time I was as creeped out by a book. Great stuff.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews