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A Gathering of Vultures
MURDER, MUTILATION, CARRION...IN PARADISE?
"There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate."
- ISAIAH 34:15
Professional ballroom dancers Terri and Rick Hamilton aspire to be world champions. Unfortunately, Terri's recurring back and health problems place that goal well out of reach.
They travel to Terri's birthplace, Florianópolis, on the scenic island of Santa Catarina off the coast of Brazil to vacation and visit their best friends and mentors.
Along the picturesque beaches, dead penguins and eviscerated bodies wash up on the shores of paradise, and Antarctic blasts play counterpoint to the tropical storms that rock the island. The scenic wonder is home not only to urubús, a unique sub-species of the black vulture, but also to a clique of mysterious women who offer Terri perfect health and the promise of fame--at a terrible price.
Rick fears Terri is being drawn into a cult and that his own life may be in danger. Will it be too late when he discovers something even more terrifying lives beneath the tranquil, tropical veneer of the island?
Idyllic one moment and nightmarish the next, you never know what you'll encounter in the city of Florianópolis--murder, mutilations, carrion, or the lure of eternal youth.
"Discovering a truly different sort of horror novel is a rare pleasure... and cause for much rejoicing. Donald Michael Platt's A Gathering of Vultures provides a glimpse of singular evil. Even the exotic Brazilian locale and the backstory--involving competitive ballroom dancing--may be unique within the genre. This is the darkest of dark fantasies. Through fevered imaginings of the first rank, coupled to macabre yet erudite prose, Platt crafts an unusual and involving nightmare." --Robert Dunbar, author of THE PINES and THE SHORE
About the Author ABOUT DONALD MICHAEL
The experiences Donald and his wife Ellen had while living in Florianópolis, Brazil, and their adventures in ballroom dancing inspired him to write A GATHERING OF VULTURES.
In Hollywood, Donald sold his writing to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, and worked for and with diverse producers. After moving to Jupiter, Florida, Donald co-wrote VITAMIN ENRICHED for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE'S DISEASE for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.
Born and raised in San Francisco and a graduate of Lowell High school and U.C. Berkeley, Donald also has taught History, English, and Creative Writing. An Adjunct Professor of Writing at Polk Community College, he currently resides in Winter Haven, Florida, where he is polishing another dark novel and eagerly anpticipating the publication of his historical novel set in 17th century Spain and Amsterdam. ROCAMORA will be published by Raven's Wing Books in 2008.
"There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate."
- ISAIAH 34:15
Professional ballroom dancers Terri and Rick Hamilton aspire to be world champions. Unfortunately, Terri's recurring back and health problems place that goal well out of reach.
They travel to Terri's birthplace, Florianópolis, on the scenic island of Santa Catarina off the coast of Brazil to vacation and visit their best friends and mentors.
Along the picturesque beaches, dead penguins and eviscerated bodies wash up on the shores of paradise, and Antarctic blasts play counterpoint to the tropical storms that rock the island. The scenic wonder is home not only to urubús, a unique sub-species of the black vulture, but also to a clique of mysterious women who offer Terri perfect health and the promise of fame--at a terrible price.
Rick fears Terri is being drawn into a cult and that his own life may be in danger. Will it be too late when he discovers something even more terrifying lives beneath the tranquil, tropical veneer of the island?
Idyllic one moment and nightmarish the next, you never know what you'll encounter in the city of Florianópolis--murder, mutilations, carrion, or the lure of eternal youth.
"Discovering a truly different sort of horror novel is a rare pleasure... and cause for much rejoicing. Donald Michael Platt's A Gathering of Vultures provides a glimpse of singular evil. Even the exotic Brazilian locale and the backstory--involving competitive ballroom dancing--may be unique within the genre. This is the darkest of dark fantasies. Through fevered imaginings of the first rank, coupled to macabre yet erudite prose, Platt crafts an unusual and involving nightmare." --Robert Dunbar, author of THE PINES and THE SHORE
About the Author ABOUT DONALD MICHAEL
The experiences Donald and his wife Ellen had while living in Florianópolis, Brazil, and their adventures in ballroom dancing inspired him to write A GATHERING OF VULTURES.
In Hollywood, Donald sold his writing to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, and worked for and with diverse producers. After moving to Jupiter, Florida, Donald co-wrote VITAMIN ENRICHED for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE'S DISEASE for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.
Born and raised in San Francisco and a graduate of Lowell High school and U.C. Berkeley, Donald also has taught History, English, and Creative Writing. An Adjunct Professor of Writing at Polk Community College, he currently resides in Winter Haven, Florida, where he is polishing another dark novel and eagerly anpticipating the publication of his historical novel set in 17th century Spain and Amsterdam. ROCAMORA will be published by Raven's Wing Books in 2008.
280 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2007
14 people want to read
About the author
Donald Michael Platt
8 books55 followersBorn and raised inside San Francisco, I graduated from Lowell High School and received my B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley. After two years in the Army, I went to graduate school at San Jose State where one of my short stories was published in the college’s literary magazine, THE REED, and I won a bathch of awards in the annual SENATOR PHELAN LITERARY CONTEST.
After teaching English and Creative writing at Los Gatos Union High School, I moved to southern California and began my professional writing career. I sold to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, ghosted YOUR HAIR AND YOUR DIET for health food guru, Dan Dale Alexander, and wrote for and with diverse producers, among them as Harry Joe Brown, Sig Schlager, Albert J. Cohen, and Al Ruddy as well as Paul Stader Sr., dean of Hollywood stuntman and stunt/2nd unit director. Also, options were taken on my unpublished WWII fighter ace novel and several treatments.
While living in Hollywood, I taught creative writing and Advanced placement European History at Fairfax High School where I also was Social Studies Department Chairman. After living in Florianópolis, Brazil, setting of A GATHERING OF VULTURES,* DarkHart Press, 2007,we moved to Florida where I wrote as a with: VITAMIN ENRICHED, pub.1999, for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE’S DISEASE, Finding a Cure for Your "Lost" Love Life, pub. 2002, for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.
My other four novels are ROCAMORA,* set in 17th century Spain and Amsterdam during their Golden Ages, it's sequel
HOUSE OF ROCAMORA, CLOSE TO THE SUN,* a WWII fighter ace novel, and BODO THE APOSTATE, an Editor's Choice for the Historical Review. Those with a * have been FINALISTS in Book Awards Contests.
After teaching English and Creative writing at Los Gatos Union High School, I moved to southern California and began my professional writing career. I sold to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, ghosted YOUR HAIR AND YOUR DIET for health food guru, Dan Dale Alexander, and wrote for and with diverse producers, among them as Harry Joe Brown, Sig Schlager, Albert J. Cohen, and Al Ruddy as well as Paul Stader Sr., dean of Hollywood stuntman and stunt/2nd unit director. Also, options were taken on my unpublished WWII fighter ace novel and several treatments.
While living in Hollywood, I taught creative writing and Advanced placement European History at Fairfax High School where I also was Social Studies Department Chairman. After living in Florianópolis, Brazil, setting of A GATHERING OF VULTURES,* DarkHart Press, 2007,we moved to Florida where I wrote as a with: VITAMIN ENRICHED, pub.1999, for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE’S DISEASE, Finding a Cure for Your "Lost" Love Life, pub. 2002, for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.
My other four novels are ROCAMORA,* set in 17th century Spain and Amsterdam during their Golden Ages, it's sequel
HOUSE OF ROCAMORA, CLOSE TO THE SUN,* a WWII fighter ace novel, and BODO THE APOSTATE, an Editor's Choice for the Historical Review. Those with a * have been FINALISTS in Book Awards Contests.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 12, 2012
Originally published at Risingshadow.
A Gathering of Vultures was a nice surprise for me, because it's an interesting and original combination of dark fantasy and horror elements. It can be categorized as dark fantasy and horror, but it's mostly weird fiction, because it contains plenty of elements which are associated with weird fiction.
It's always a pleasure to find new and talented authors who write fascinating horror and weird fiction, because there can never be too many talented authors. Donald Michael Platt is definitely one of these new and talented authors, because A Gathering of Vultures is "something different" and it offers lots of thrills and entertainment for horror readers.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
The events take place in Florianópolis. Terri and Rick are professional ballroom dancers who travel there to visit Martin and Irene, who are their mentors, friends and Terri's surrogate parents. When they meet Martin, Irene isn't with him and he doesn't talk about her. Another strange thing is that Martin's appearance has changed a lot. Everything else also seems weird to Terri and Rick, because things aren't exactly as they should be. Florianópolis seems to be a beautiful and ideal paradise, but danger and fear lurk beneath the beautiful surface and vultures can be seen everywhere...
The author writes amazingly well about the characters, their lives and their fears. For example, Terri's back pains are totally believably and the stress that it causes Terri feels realistic, because she feels that her health prevents them from becoming champions. Reading about Rick and his feelings is also very interesting (I'll write more about this later).
Another good example of the author's writing talents is that he wrote interestingly about Terri's father, who was a murderer. What happened to Terri's father and how he lost his sanity will be explained by the author, but I won't reveal what caused his insanity, because I want to avoid writing spoilers.
I was amazed how convincingly Donald Michael Platt wrote about ballroom dancing. He wrote how competitive and brutal dancing can be and how much work the dancers had to do in order to work their way up the pecking order, and showed that success doesn't come easy to them.
The prose in this novel is so good that at times it is almost lyrical in its descriptiveness, which is very nice, because I appreciate authors who write this kind of prose. I like the way the author writes about the happenings and keeps the story flowing, because his writing feels effortless, inspired and energetic.
Donald Michael Platt manages to create a nice sense of dread with his elegantly flowing prose. The feelings of fear that Rick begins to have are handled nicely. It's interesting to read how he notices changes in the people around him and in his wife, and begins to wonder what's going on and what's causing the changes.
The strange deaths and eviscerated bodies that wash up on the shore add a nice element of dread and weirdness to the storyline. The atmosphere is strangely melancholic, gloomy, weird and threatening - this kind of a combination is seldom found in modern horror novels. (The atmosphere in this novel reminded me a bit of the atmosphere in Laird Barron's The Croning.)
Donald Michael Platt writes believably about Brazilian way of life and manages to convey the atmosphere of a tropical paradise to the reader. It's easy to believe that the characters are spending time in Brazil.
The author also has a way of adding tension and weirdness bit by bit, which is very nice, because this kind of storytelling is addictive to horror fans. I think that readers, who are familiar with the works of old masters of horror and their way of writing about horrible and unmentionable things, will love this story. (Because I've always loved horror stories, which unfold slowly and gather momentum towards the end, I was impressed by the author's writing style. I'll write more about this in the next paragraph.)
Because I'm a big fan of quality weird fiction and dark fantasy, I was captivated by Donald Michael Platt's descriptions about the threatening atmosphere and the weird happenings. It's simply amazing how easily he builds up tension by writing about little things and makes the reader wonder what is happening and how the story will end.
The sub-species of black vulture, urubús, is an interesting sub-species. The vultures add a wonderfully unsettling element to the story, because they seem to be watching people. I was fascinated by what was revealed about the vultures, because the myths concerning vultures are fascinating. The strange scent of decay and rot, which hangs in the air, also adds a nice element of dread.
In my opinion, the ending of this novel was a bit different kind of an ending. I loved it, because it was a satisfying and imaginative ending.
A Gathering of Vultures contains echoes of Lovecraftian weirdness (the story starts normally, but then it takes a fantastic plunge into the realm of dark fantasy-based weird fiction). I think that H. P. Lovecraft's stories have been a great source of inspiration to the author, because there's similar kind of threatening and unsettling weirdness in this novel as there is in Lovecraft's stories. The author mentions certain Lovecraftian and Lovecraftian-like terms, which will delight fans of weird fiction. I think that readers, who have read Lovecraftian stories, will recognize these Lovecraftian terms and will be impressed by how easily the author uses them to his advantage.
I think it's good that there's a map in this novel, because it's useful to the reader. I also liked the vulture alphabets by Peter Szmer, because they looked great.
I sincerely hope that Donald Michael Platt will write more horror novels, because A Gathering of Vultures is one of the best horror novels I've ever read. It gets full five stars from me. (Because A Gathering of Vultures was a good horror novel, I became interested in the author's historical novels. I think I'll read them in the near future.)
A Gathering of Vultures is a gem among modern horror novels. It will be of interest to dark fantasy and horror readers, because it's a deliciously macabre and entertaining reading experience (fans of weird fiction will be pleasantly surprised when they read this novel). If you like good and well written horror novels, do yourself a favour and read this novel.
Highly recommended!
A Gathering of Vultures was a nice surprise for me, because it's an interesting and original combination of dark fantasy and horror elements. It can be categorized as dark fantasy and horror, but it's mostly weird fiction, because it contains plenty of elements which are associated with weird fiction.
It's always a pleasure to find new and talented authors who write fascinating horror and weird fiction, because there can never be too many talented authors. Donald Michael Platt is definitely one of these new and talented authors, because A Gathering of Vultures is "something different" and it offers lots of thrills and entertainment for horror readers.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
The events take place in Florianópolis. Terri and Rick are professional ballroom dancers who travel there to visit Martin and Irene, who are their mentors, friends and Terri's surrogate parents. When they meet Martin, Irene isn't with him and he doesn't talk about her. Another strange thing is that Martin's appearance has changed a lot. Everything else also seems weird to Terri and Rick, because things aren't exactly as they should be. Florianópolis seems to be a beautiful and ideal paradise, but danger and fear lurk beneath the beautiful surface and vultures can be seen everywhere...
The author writes amazingly well about the characters, their lives and their fears. For example, Terri's back pains are totally believably and the stress that it causes Terri feels realistic, because she feels that her health prevents them from becoming champions. Reading about Rick and his feelings is also very interesting (I'll write more about this later).
Another good example of the author's writing talents is that he wrote interestingly about Terri's father, who was a murderer. What happened to Terri's father and how he lost his sanity will be explained by the author, but I won't reveal what caused his insanity, because I want to avoid writing spoilers.
I was amazed how convincingly Donald Michael Platt wrote about ballroom dancing. He wrote how competitive and brutal dancing can be and how much work the dancers had to do in order to work their way up the pecking order, and showed that success doesn't come easy to them.
The prose in this novel is so good that at times it is almost lyrical in its descriptiveness, which is very nice, because I appreciate authors who write this kind of prose. I like the way the author writes about the happenings and keeps the story flowing, because his writing feels effortless, inspired and energetic.
Donald Michael Platt manages to create a nice sense of dread with his elegantly flowing prose. The feelings of fear that Rick begins to have are handled nicely. It's interesting to read how he notices changes in the people around him and in his wife, and begins to wonder what's going on and what's causing the changes.
The strange deaths and eviscerated bodies that wash up on the shore add a nice element of dread and weirdness to the storyline. The atmosphere is strangely melancholic, gloomy, weird and threatening - this kind of a combination is seldom found in modern horror novels. (The atmosphere in this novel reminded me a bit of the atmosphere in Laird Barron's The Croning.)
Donald Michael Platt writes believably about Brazilian way of life and manages to convey the atmosphere of a tropical paradise to the reader. It's easy to believe that the characters are spending time in Brazil.
The author also has a way of adding tension and weirdness bit by bit, which is very nice, because this kind of storytelling is addictive to horror fans. I think that readers, who are familiar with the works of old masters of horror and their way of writing about horrible and unmentionable things, will love this story. (Because I've always loved horror stories, which unfold slowly and gather momentum towards the end, I was impressed by the author's writing style. I'll write more about this in the next paragraph.)
Because I'm a big fan of quality weird fiction and dark fantasy, I was captivated by Donald Michael Platt's descriptions about the threatening atmosphere and the weird happenings. It's simply amazing how easily he builds up tension by writing about little things and makes the reader wonder what is happening and how the story will end.
The sub-species of black vulture, urubús, is an interesting sub-species. The vultures add a wonderfully unsettling element to the story, because they seem to be watching people. I was fascinated by what was revealed about the vultures, because the myths concerning vultures are fascinating. The strange scent of decay and rot, which hangs in the air, also adds a nice element of dread.
In my opinion, the ending of this novel was a bit different kind of an ending. I loved it, because it was a satisfying and imaginative ending.
A Gathering of Vultures contains echoes of Lovecraftian weirdness (the story starts normally, but then it takes a fantastic plunge into the realm of dark fantasy-based weird fiction). I think that H. P. Lovecraft's stories have been a great source of inspiration to the author, because there's similar kind of threatening and unsettling weirdness in this novel as there is in Lovecraft's stories. The author mentions certain Lovecraftian and Lovecraftian-like terms, which will delight fans of weird fiction. I think that readers, who have read Lovecraftian stories, will recognize these Lovecraftian terms and will be impressed by how easily the author uses them to his advantage.
I think it's good that there's a map in this novel, because it's useful to the reader. I also liked the vulture alphabets by Peter Szmer, because they looked great.
I sincerely hope that Donald Michael Platt will write more horror novels, because A Gathering of Vultures is one of the best horror novels I've ever read. It gets full five stars from me. (Because A Gathering of Vultures was a good horror novel, I became interested in the author's historical novels. I think I'll read them in the near future.)
A Gathering of Vultures is a gem among modern horror novels. It will be of interest to dark fantasy and horror readers, because it's a deliciously macabre and entertaining reading experience (fans of weird fiction will be pleasantly surprised when they read this novel). If you like good and well written horror novels, do yourself a favour and read this novel.
Highly recommended!
August 16, 2011
A Gathering of Vultures is that rarest of beasts: an erudite horror story without flawed logic. It begins with the suspense of a suspicious death and a sense of the urgent need to flee, proceeds with more deaths and an unfolding mystery and culminates in true, relentless horror. The exotic setting is clearly well known by the author and authentically portrayed. The writing held this reader’s interest throughout, surprising with passages that were almost lyrical. A thoroughly engaging and very enjoyable read, this book highly recommended for discriminating readers of horror.
November 23, 2013
This was an amazing book! The characters were developed well and very believeable! I don't think I will be able to look at a vulture without thinking about this book!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews