The Hallow

by Keith Deininger

When James and his roommate Vance stumble home drunk, they find a young woman lying on their couch. Without a word, she walks into James’s room, lies down on his bed, and dies. After that, nothing is the same.

The streets, James discovers on his walks to and from the grocery store, are forlorn and empty.

His roommate, despite his loud and reckless nature, begins spending an unusual amount of time in his room with the door locked, strange shuffling sounds coming from within.

And his new girlfriend, the cute and free-spirited Allie, may know more about what’s happening than she lets on, and she’s about to take James on a surreal, drug-fueled journey to see the Hallow…and the horrors it has unleashed…

Genres: Horror, Dark Fantasy

54 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

Keith Deininger is an award-winning dark fiction author. His titles include WITHIN, MARROW'S PIT and A GAME FOR GODS. He is best known for blending elements of fantasy with horror in his surreal, literary style. He grew up in the American Southwest and currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife and daughter.

www.KeithDeininger.com

Reviews

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Deininger writes some seriously trippy fiction, if he doesn't live in the smoky confines of a wigwam in a hippy commune then he really ought to consider moving.
 
The Hallow is a cracking novella, full of intrigue, magic mushrooms and to be honest, even if I read it again, I still don't think I'd fully get it. It's that kind of read, there was no resolution or reason but it kind of fit perfectly and I really enjoyed it, in fact it's my favourite so far from Mr Deininger. A little bit creepy, a mite unnerving and there's definitely something afoot but finding it is like that elusive winning line, congratulations are in order if you get it.
Or it may just be me, it’s happened before.
 
Whether it's supernatural, drug induced hallucinations or tormented nightmare, or all three, that's up to you but it's certainly mystifyingly strange at times and perplexingly curious at others.
 
Very well written and it will leave you thinking, maybe even frustrate you a little but I really think you'll like it. No plot details after all it’s a short read and shouldn't be ruined in any way but I wholeheartedly recommend it.
 
I received The Hallow from Darkfuse & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and that’s what you’ve got.
 
A 4.5* Rating.

Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Deininger's newest novella from DarkFuse, THE HALLOW, was one that I enjoyed and appreciated more the longer I thought about it. Seen through the eyes and actions of our main character, James, this story is surreal in almost every conceivable way.

James lives a monotonous existence, working day-to-day at a menial job, and living with Vance--his roommate who seems to have no discernible job other tun to grow or supply hallucinogenic drugs. Their evenings are typically spent in a drink and drug filled haze, until James rises to go to his job each morning.

All of that begins to unravel when James is driving home one evening and spots a dark, long-haired woman at a bus stop--looking up at the sky with black eyes. Later, James' car breaks down for good, and he finds himself now a part of the world he used to drive by, instead of merely an observer. Subtle changes and decay begin to besiege him, until one day he and Vance arrive home to find that strange woman from the bus stop IN their home....

Form then, James meets his girlfriend, Allie, who takes him to the Hallow--their name for the location of a tree of colossal proportions. Part of the things James sees he initially chalks up to the drugs, until there are suddenly too many differences to ignore. A "fever dream" that he experiences when he was still in high school is suddenly remembered, and finally things begin to take on a horrifying new clarity and understanding.... My only complaint at this point was that I felt the ending could have taken a "stronger" turn, given a little more length.

THE HALLOW is a spellbinding ride into the darkest corners of fantasy and surrealism--a place that Keith Deininger knows so well.

Recommended!

*I received and advance e-version of this book through DarkFuse in exchange for an honest review.*

[Andi Rawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of The Hallow by Keith Deininger The Hallow by Keith Deininger is another trippy adventure from an author who should never do drugs, because he's already really far out there. One mushroom trip away from psychosis, The Hallow is a novella that I could read half a dozen times, enjoy every one of them, and still not be entirely certain what just happened. As always the writing is superb and the only thing I have to complain about is the fact that before Keith Deininger, I could swear that I was drug free...I received this book as an ARC copy from DarkFuse in exchange for an honest review.
 
© 2015 by Andi Rawson of Andreya's Asylum

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*
I received an E-arc from Darkfuse Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

James comes home drunk one night and finds a woman in his house, she goes through to his bedroom and dies shortly after they discover her. Once they get rid of her body, James starts to notice odd changes to his neighbourhood and to his roommate who has taken to staying in his room instead of being his usual outgoing self.

At a party, James meets Allie who takes him to a place where a huge tree stands, the Hallow. Is it James' drug fuelled lifestyle that is skewing his view on the world around him or is it something more sinister at play.

This was a cracking novella, surreal and trippy it seriously messes with your head as you wonder what is real and what is just in James' druggy imagination. Even though James is a difficult character to empathise with you can't help but feel pulled into this story and what is happening around him.

The pacing was spot on and the only thing I would say was that it lost me a little bit just right at the end but all in all a fantastic novella.

[Kenneth McKinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I purposely waited a couple of days to review Keith Deininger's The Hallow. I wanted what I had just read to sink in; to chew on it and roll it around. The Hallow is a trippy, drug-induced journey into the life of James after his car breaks down and he has to resort to walking everywhere. He begins to notice strange things that he never noticed while driving the same streets. His roommate Vance and him stumble home one afternoon drunk and discover a strange girl in their house. She gets up and goes into James's room and lies on the bed. When James goes in there, she's dead.

Things get really trippy after that and Deininger has a really staccato way of storytelling in this one where you go back and forth, starting and stopping that really makes it difficult to understand what it going on. This is my first story by Deininger and the guy can write, but the delivery, in an attempt to show the disjointed events transpiring for our protagonist, makes the story more muddy than trippy and prevents it from being enjoyable.

2 1/2 weird trees out of 5


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[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the fifth book I have read by Keith. Took a while for me to write a review, hard to do without giving away to much. The story main character is James. A twenty six year old collage dropout. Who lives with a roommate named Vance and has a girl friend named Allie. It starts out he sees this woman with dark black straight hair by the bus stop looking for something. After drinking beers and shots at the house he goes for a ride. Comes back to find the dark haired girl on their couch. She gets up and goes into his bedroom. He walks into the bedroom to find her not breathing. Not wanting to call the police because of the drugs. Vance and James decided to wrap the body in a sheet and dump it into the canal by the house. Will stop here, don't want to spoil the story. I have to say this story was a strange trip. Like all of Keith's books they are well written and have a nice flow to the story. I was going to give it 4 stars but the ending knocked it down a half of star for me. The Hallow is well worth a read, I gave it 3 1/2 stars.



I received an e-arc of this book from DarkFuse in exchange for an honest review.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take James, Allie, Vance, and a mysterious dead girl, pop a few mouthfuls of magic mushrooms and wash it all own with a half dozen tequila shots and what you have is The Hallow by Keith Deininger.

This is a trippy ride. It could be a ghost story, or a mystery, or it could just be the mushrooms. There is an underlining sense of darkness here and a progressive feeling of uneasiness as the story moves along. While it never completely brought these feelings out into the light for me, I nevertheless found myself turning the pages well into the night.

My only real gripe was I felt the ending was a wee abrupt and provided no real insights or closure to the story. Not that it was suppose to. The writing was good and balanced, just like all of Keith’s other works I have read, but there was just a bit too much “huh?” factor to really round it out for me. Still a good tale. 3+ Stars.

*As a member of the DarkFuse Publishing Readers Group, I received an advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

[Mommacat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another well written, thought provoking novella from Keith Deininger. Sometimes I wonder if Keith has the ability to remember his drug dreams and his books are the result. It may be easier than trying to make sense out of some of them at times. I feel like I may have missed a variable or two and that may indeed be the case...but I also seem to be right on the edge of grasping what Keith was trying to project. As another reviewer said, if it had just been a little bit longer...but that's OK. The writing pulled me along, and like all of Deininger's work, I want more.

I received an e-arc of THE HALLOW from the publisher in exchange for my review.

[Pamellia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hallow by Keith Deininger
January 15 to January 17, 2015
(Read twice)
Dark Fuse pre-released read

Well...let's see. When I saw the cover of this book, I thought “OK!! A big tree with a vortex!! I LOVE it!!”...and then I read it once and thought to myself, “Hmm, that did not make any sense to me.” After about 24 hours I decided to read the novella again, you know, give it another try, because probably it was just something I missed.

So I read it again and I really did not miss much, but I think I now appreciate the story more than the first time.

I'm still not real sure exactly what the author is trying to say in this book. I do know what he is saying as far as actions go in the book. It seems that some other-world creatures have taken an interest in the protagonist of this book.

I would like to discuss this story with someone if anyone wants to leave me a comment. I'm sure I'm just totally missing something that just hasn't slapped me in the face yet.

I'm even willing to read the book again. I did sort of like the story.

I cannot really recommend a book that I don't understand. But I might suggest it to a few people I know, just to see what they say about it.

I did not dislike this book, so I can't give it low stars. I'll have to settle for 3 stars.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Deininger's THE HALLOW is a quiet, psychedelic story of the world slipping out of place.

Early on, James and girlfriend, Allie, discuss the end of the world and how they think it will happen - a viral outbreak, a meteor crashing into Earth, a zombie plague. Allie warns him that when the end comes, it'll be subtle, and that most won't even know that it's happened. As this short novella progresses, we get hints that the end has, in fact, come and that Allie knows more than she has let on.

Deininger's story is subtle yet powerful. It's a character-driven piece, fueled by mushrooms and disjointed madness. Definitely worth a read!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hallow, the latest offering from Keith Deininger, is subtly hallucinogenic. Drugs play a significant role but they are not the sole cause of the shifting reality; in fact, they may be masking the true scope of the decaying landscape that James is trapped in.

Keith Deininger has in a short time proved himself a master of surreal weird fiction, and The Hallow continues that tradition. I was struck mostly by the realistic details of the story. James is one of the working poor. He has a dead end, low paying job, a worthless car he can't afford to fix, and a sleazy drug-dealing roommate. His daily torments and humiliations are horror enough for most.

Keith's previous works have left many unanswered questions, and such is the case here. For the first time I was bothered by this. Due to the short length of The Hallow I wasn't given enough to chew on to ponder the questions myself. It felt like just when I was starting to become immersed in the story it was over. I was vaguely unsatisfied at the end and wished The Hallow had been half again as long.

It may be unfair to give The Hallow only 4 stars, but I admit I'm grading it on a curve in comparison to Mr. Deininger's previous works. I'm sure it will be an easy 5 stars for newcomers to this exceptional author.

[Anthony Hains · Rating 4 out of 5]

James is kind of a loser. He’s a college dropout, works a dead-end menial job, and more or less spends free time getting drunk or high. Things begin to take on a sinister feel when he notices a young woman at a bus stop while driving home after work. His brief glimpse suggests she is behaving strangely and the image of her behavior is unsettling. He hasn’t seen anything yet, though, until he and his roommate come home one evening and find the young woman sitting silently in their living room. Upon their arrival, she gets up and goes into James’ room. Much to the young men’s dismay, the woman dies shortly afterwards. Things then get even crazier with mysterious objects and writings appearing on the street, James’ girlfriend vanishing during the week only to reappear on weekends, pieces of a dog showing up in a garden, and crowds were disappearing from public areas. None of these odd events are helped by James’ regular indulgence of narcotics. Soon the entire episode takes on the trappings of a drug-fueled hallucination. But is it all a hallucination? Is something supernatural occurring or are the events the disturbed ramblings of a drug dependent individual.
The Hallow by Keith Deininger is a short novella with a riveting story line. There are no neat conclusions, and the reader is left with trying to make sense of the plot and the outcome. There are multiple interpretations and I spent a fair amount of time over the next few days trying to tie things up depending on the theory I was entertaining. I enjoyed this process, for it kept the book alive. For those of you who cannot stand ambiguity in your books, this may not be the best selection for you. However, if a complex—and unnerving—plot is your thing, then The Hallow is a good bet.

[Kim (Wistfulskimmies Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of James. He lives with his best friend Vance and has a beautiful girlfriend, Allie. One day James sees a woman in the park, then she turns up at their house on their sofa. She gets up, and walks to James' bedroom, lays down and dies. Soon after, Allie takes him to a massive tree she calls The Hallow. From then on Vance stays in his room most of the time, making odd shuffling noises, and things around James start to get really odd....


This is another trippy, mind F@@k type story that this author is becoming famous for. I found myself thinking a lot about it for quite a while after I had finished it, and the more I thought about it, the more I understood what the author was trying to portray. The characters were ok, but I found it hard to care at all about Vance, he seemed so self-absorbed! The pace was cracking, I read this in two sittings. I think I will keep an eye out for more of this authors work, as I am enjoying his style more and more.

[Robert Mingee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really not sure exactly what was going on here, but whatever it was, it was compelling. Keith definitely writes weird and surreal fiction, and it doesn't always work for me, but this one did. James has a dead-end job and a "slacker" existence and a roommate with whom he does a fair amount of recreational drugs. Once his car breaks down he starts having to walk everywhere, and things begin to change, triggered by a woman he sees just before his car breaks down.

It's never really clear how much of it is drug-induced and how much is real, but there are some every creepy touches like an ever-increasing number of bird carcasses lying around, and a bizarre act by his girlfriend that is never really explained. My biggest beef is that the ending felt rushed and sudden, and I feel like it was trying to shed some light on what was happening, but if so, I'm not sure I fully grasped it. But for me, this one was all about the journey, and it was indeed a wild, weird, entertaining ride, that I probably will pick at in the back of my brain for some time to come.

[Oskar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to be honest.I've read The New Flesh, Marrow's Pit and Ghosts of Eden by this author and enjoyed them all.Plenty of creativity and originality,good stuff.This one is a total weird story and it's not a bad thing,obviously it shows that this author is not afraid of the critic's or reader's opinions,he writes what he wants to write and I appreciate that.In the other hand...I'm still scratching my head.I don't know what I've read,it's not dull or boring but I can't say I enjoyed it.So this time I'm not going to recommend it.Of course,read it if you're curious...your choice.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written. Mushrooms, a beautiful woman, a dead woman, tripping.... Still scratching my head. I'll have to give it another go.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confusing nightmare of a novella, I liked it for its imagery, definitely worth a reread but need to read this in one sitting without interruption.

[Vultural · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deininger, Keith - The Hallow

James is a soul adrift. College dropout, now laboring at a Thrift Town knockoff. After his car dies, he starts the whole take-the-bus then walk-the-rest-of-the-way thing.
Yes, been there, as many of us have and can identify with. Sucks, man.
James, though, cannot seem to set aside any wages to fix his car. Shoot, the money just seems to vanish without thought.

That, in a way, is the underlying theme of this novella. How things simply vanish, slip away. Quick one evening, dead the next. The invisible veil between.
A relationship with buddy Vance hurtles in one trajectory, while another with new girlfriend Annie goes in another.

Far be if for me to make such a comparison, yet there are echoes of Aickman in this overlooked DarkFuse release.