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Dark Shadows on the Moon
Stories
Only in the Night with the Dead (introduction by Simon Clark)
The Strangest Interview
My Other Self
In the House of the Chained Souls
The Curse
The Eternally Descending Blade
The Maze for Jaded Brains
The Infection of Time
The Rose of Lamia
The Enemy Within
The Superintendent of Death
The Illusion of Death
The Church of Unholiness
Love Hearts
The Sea of Strangeness
The Midnight Caller
The Things in the Weed
The Dead of the Night
Within the Sea of the Dead
Strange One off the Rails
The Man with the Electric Balls
Behind the Painted Face
Soul Light
Transfiguration
The Dark-Minded Mother of Death
Black Roses and Reputations
The Man Who Drank Death
The Keeper of Souls
The Fortune to be Found in Death
A Force of Evil
The Darkest of All Healings
The Lady of Starlight
A Visit to the Gooja Bird
Earth Spirit
Doctor Klemm and the Angel of Death
The Cemetery and the Ocean
Only in the Night with the Dead (introduction by Simon Clark)
The Strangest Interview
My Other Self
In the House of the Chained Souls
The Curse
The Eternally Descending Blade
The Maze for Jaded Brains
The Infection of Time
The Rose of Lamia
The Enemy Within
The Superintendent of Death
The Illusion of Death
The Church of Unholiness
Love Hearts
The Sea of Strangeness
The Midnight Caller
The Things in the Weed
The Dead of the Night
Within the Sea of the Dead
Strange One off the Rails
The Man with the Electric Balls
Behind the Painted Face
Soul Light
Transfiguration
The Dark-Minded Mother of Death
Black Roses and Reputations
The Man Who Drank Death
The Keeper of Souls
The Fortune to be Found in Death
A Force of Evil
The Darkest of All Healings
The Lady of Starlight
A Visit to the Gooja Bird
Earth Spirit
Doctor Klemm and the Angel of Death
The Cemetery and the Ocean
- GenresHorror
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
58 people want to read
About the author
John B. Ford
25 books10 followersThere is more than one person in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for John ^B. Ford, horror writer.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 24, 2020
real rating: 3.25 stars
This collection is obscure even to some who would consider themselves lovers of underground horror fiction. While such readers often attribute this kind of obscurity to the bland taste of the general readership, sometimes other factors must be considered; John B. Ford's work thoroughly proves this to be true. Bloated with many trifling sketches of dread and despair yet sometimes gleaming with a dark brilliance, this Hive Press book both frustrated and fascinated my consideration of Ford's ability as a conjuror of nightmares.
Even if the storytelling here is too succinct to tire even the least attentive reader, consuming thirty-five stories by any author would be overkill for anyone other than a true fan(atic); this isn't even counting the cleverly sardonic "The Strangest Interview"--essentially a poem formatted as dialogue--and the useless though, thankfully, brief introduction by Simon Clark. Yes, the sheer bulk of stories here is a lot like the average buffet: loaded with mediocre fare yet worth browsing for the good stuff.
Ford's dark magic works best when distilling the kind of pitch-black atmospheres that pervade "The Rose of Lamia" and "The Darkest of All Healings"; the former being an elegant, myth-like variation on the old theme of forbidden knowledge, while the latter slowly and masterfully reveals a confused character's more-than-human identity. Through surprisingly refined prose and effective pacing, the author's best pieces strike a rich balance between traditional horror and a very personal originality. Though flawed with an ending predictably played out by an amoral doctor stereotype, "The Maze for Jaded Brains" features a character who is outwardly imbecilic yet inwardly intelligent; the majority of the story focuses on the haunted man's attempt to redeem his inner life, punctuated with episodes of perceptual distortion and mistreatment by both medical staff and the general public. This largely interiorized narrative makes for some of the book's most powerfully evocative passages; an excerpt follows:
Then, as though suddenly instilled by some freak electronic impulse, I thought to myself, I would like to see this maze I am trapped within! In that very second commenced a chaotic display of crimson thoughts upon a tapestry of total darkness....Endless red waves were frantically darting about me, and in their movement i saw a terrible confusion.
With the exception of the uncommonly poignant ghost story, "Strange One off the Rails, and the extremely brief, almost prose-poetic piece, "A Visit to the Gooja Bird", the remaining works feel more like juvenile exercises in horror rather than fully fledged stories. The lowest points have to be the unfortunately-titled, "The Man with Electric Balls" and the abounding camp of "The Church of Unholiness"; Ed Wood could have easily turned the latter into a b-grade horror movie. Other failures, though not so obvious in their flaws, do not have enough rich concepts or mature craftsmanship to interest the more-demanding readers of this genre.
Considering Ford has been very quiet for the past decade, available collections continue to rise in price. I doubt that anyone other than obsessive collectors of obscure horror fiction would find this book--or his other publications--worthy of justifying an exorbitant purchase. I cannot deny, however, that many of the stories feature what Lovecraft deemed mandatory for any truly effective work of either horror or weird fiction: an inescapably oppressive atmosphere. This is a literary aspect which Ford obviously mastered and, consequently, remains the sole reason for reading his work.
This collection is obscure even to some who would consider themselves lovers of underground horror fiction. While such readers often attribute this kind of obscurity to the bland taste of the general readership, sometimes other factors must be considered; John B. Ford's work thoroughly proves this to be true. Bloated with many trifling sketches of dread and despair yet sometimes gleaming with a dark brilliance, this Hive Press book both frustrated and fascinated my consideration of Ford's ability as a conjuror of nightmares.
Even if the storytelling here is too succinct to tire even the least attentive reader, consuming thirty-five stories by any author would be overkill for anyone other than a true fan(atic); this isn't even counting the cleverly sardonic "The Strangest Interview"--essentially a poem formatted as dialogue--and the useless though, thankfully, brief introduction by Simon Clark. Yes, the sheer bulk of stories here is a lot like the average buffet: loaded with mediocre fare yet worth browsing for the good stuff.
Ford's dark magic works best when distilling the kind of pitch-black atmospheres that pervade "The Rose of Lamia" and "The Darkest of All Healings"; the former being an elegant, myth-like variation on the old theme of forbidden knowledge, while the latter slowly and masterfully reveals a confused character's more-than-human identity. Through surprisingly refined prose and effective pacing, the author's best pieces strike a rich balance between traditional horror and a very personal originality. Though flawed with an ending predictably played out by an amoral doctor stereotype, "The Maze for Jaded Brains" features a character who is outwardly imbecilic yet inwardly intelligent; the majority of the story focuses on the haunted man's attempt to redeem his inner life, punctuated with episodes of perceptual distortion and mistreatment by both medical staff and the general public. This largely interiorized narrative makes for some of the book's most powerfully evocative passages; an excerpt follows:
Then, as though suddenly instilled by some freak electronic impulse, I thought to myself, I would like to see this maze I am trapped within! In that very second commenced a chaotic display of crimson thoughts upon a tapestry of total darkness....Endless red waves were frantically darting about me, and in their movement i saw a terrible confusion.
With the exception of the uncommonly poignant ghost story, "Strange One off the Rails, and the extremely brief, almost prose-poetic piece, "A Visit to the Gooja Bird", the remaining works feel more like juvenile exercises in horror rather than fully fledged stories. The lowest points have to be the unfortunately-titled, "The Man with Electric Balls" and the abounding camp of "The Church of Unholiness"; Ed Wood could have easily turned the latter into a b-grade horror movie. Other failures, though not so obvious in their flaws, do not have enough rich concepts or mature craftsmanship to interest the more-demanding readers of this genre.
Considering Ford has been very quiet for the past decade, available collections continue to rise in price. I doubt that anyone other than obsessive collectors of obscure horror fiction would find this book--or his other publications--worthy of justifying an exorbitant purchase. I cannot deny, however, that many of the stories feature what Lovecraft deemed mandatory for any truly effective work of either horror or weird fiction: an inescapably oppressive atmosphere. This is a literary aspect which Ford obviously mastered and, consequently, remains the sole reason for reading his work.
Displaying 1 of 1 review