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Mastery
Once a year those who thirst for blood come together to display their mastery of the killing art--a matter of passion, practice, and precision--until one of them breaks the rules.
Austin Blacke is the renegade whose death lunge is the last sight to grace his victim's eyes...the blond lover some call "Sundance"...wingbeats of dark freedom in the night...
Down the speeding track the California Zephyr streaks west, its passengers fleeing the past, seeking mastery over their hapless lives. But mayhem knows no timetable. This ride is heading off the rails into the kind of havoc only the most exquisite vampire can create. On a train of fools and dreamers, the thirst explodes. And time is in the hands of the master--the master of death and dying.
Austin Blacke is the renegade whose death lunge is the last sight to grace his victim's eyes...the blond lover some call "Sundance"...wingbeats of dark freedom in the night...
Down the speeding track the California Zephyr streaks west, its passengers fleeing the past, seeking mastery over their hapless lives. But mayhem knows no timetable. This ride is heading off the rails into the kind of havoc only the most exquisite vampire can create. On a train of fools and dreamers, the thirst explodes. And time is in the hands of the master--the master of death and dying.
450 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 9, 2018
Moving along in my Abyss reading project, Mastery is the next book in publication order. This is also a re-read for me, and I remember a handful of things about the book, but what stands out the most is Wilde's obsession with lavender in this story. He uses it as an adjective to describe things like sounds and smells. I'm not even sure this is supposed to reference the color.
Wilde is a poetic writer, enough so that when I was thinking back to Kathe Koja's unusual style, what I was actually remembering was Wilde's style. He doesn't paint a perfect picture with his prose; instead, he describes it more abstractly, making you pay closer attention to what he's writing. The good thing is the style means he shows more than he tells, which is a nice alternative to some of the books I've been reading lately.
I'm a function-over-form reader, so I expected to be more frustrated with Mastery than I was. Maybe it was because it was in the middle of some other poorly-written books in the line, but I found myself enjoying it. It wasn't easy getting into it, but I did end up hooked, and was interested in seeing how it played out. It's a werewolf/vampire story (it feels more like the former, but other readers consider it to be the latter), set amidst a time-travel story set in early 20th-Century San Francisco, but it seems inconsequential against Wilde's style, which is the real star of the book. It's not the tightest book I've read, but I enjoyed Wilde's imagery and themes enough to make it a solid middle-of-the-road book.
I would recommend Mastery, but with hesitation. Horror readers would probably get the most out of it, but readers who like stories that are told non-traditionally might enjoy it, too. I don't think readers of Faulkner or Joyce would like the story that much, but Wilde's style reminds me more of their styles than, say, Stephen King's.
Wilde is a poetic writer, enough so that when I was thinking back to Kathe Koja's unusual style, what I was actually remembering was Wilde's style. He doesn't paint a perfect picture with his prose; instead, he describes it more abstractly, making you pay closer attention to what he's writing. The good thing is the style means he shows more than he tells, which is a nice alternative to some of the books I've been reading lately.
I'm a function-over-form reader, so I expected to be more frustrated with Mastery than I was. Maybe it was because it was in the middle of some other poorly-written books in the line, but I found myself enjoying it. It wasn't easy getting into it, but I did end up hooked, and was interested in seeing how it played out. It's a werewolf/vampire story (it feels more like the former, but other readers consider it to be the latter), set amidst a time-travel story set in early 20th-Century San Francisco, but it seems inconsequential against Wilde's style, which is the real star of the book. It's not the tightest book I've read, but I enjoyed Wilde's imagery and themes enough to make it a solid middle-of-the-road book.
I would recommend Mastery, but with hesitation. Horror readers would probably get the most out of it, but readers who like stories that are told non-traditionally might enjoy it, too. I don't think readers of Faulkner or Joyce would like the story that much, but Wilde's style reminds me more of their styles than, say, Stephen King's.
September 30, 2015
I picked up the original edition of MonsterTime when it first came out in 1991. By that time, I was slowing wandering away from horror, so popular in the 1980s (for the ‘90s were upon us!), but was intrigued by Dell Publishing’s new Abyss horror line. The back cover blurb also promised something more than the usual horror fair, and small town secrets. Curious, I picked it up from the shelf of my local bookstore. I’m glad I did. The novel delivered in spades.
MonsterTime is a strong and delightfully eclectic novel of horror, time travel, dark fantasy, and historical fiction. With a pulp fiction meets literary writing style, the story is always energetic, sometimes scary, at other times funny, with enough forward momentum to keep the story moving, and enough twists to keep the reader guessing.
MacRath has tightened the prose to great affect and tamed down some of the taboo subjects, at least as I remember them, but that’s not to say that you won’t find your share of controversial scenes in this book. They’re just handled now with a little more eloquence, by the deft hand of a writer who has 25 more years of skill under his belt.
MacRath would later reexamine some of the themes and elements presented in this book in his more recent novels: trains, time travel, Alcatraz (The Rock), and martial arts, all appear and are important to the plot, along with the man on the run, and man out of time/without a country motif. His non-horror books Red Champagne and (his semi-autobiographical) The Vanishing Magic of Snow immediately come to mind. I believe MonsterTime is heavily autobiographical; no matter how far out some of the scenes might seem to be. I even noticed at least one possible revenge killing in this book. Yes—don’t anger an author. You will be killed off in his book in some horrible, horrible way!
MonsterTime was ahead of its time when it came out, and I think it will remain so even now, and for many years to come. If you haven’t read it, you’re in for a treat, and if you have, it’s well worth the effort to read again. I can safely say you will read nothing quite like it in your lifetime. It’s an underrated masterpiece that’s impossible to pigeonhole, hard to put down, and not easily forgotten.
MonsterTime is a strong and delightfully eclectic novel of horror, time travel, dark fantasy, and historical fiction. With a pulp fiction meets literary writing style, the story is always energetic, sometimes scary, at other times funny, with enough forward momentum to keep the story moving, and enough twists to keep the reader guessing.
MacRath has tightened the prose to great affect and tamed down some of the taboo subjects, at least as I remember them, but that’s not to say that you won’t find your share of controversial scenes in this book. They’re just handled now with a little more eloquence, by the deft hand of a writer who has 25 more years of skill under his belt.
MacRath would later reexamine some of the themes and elements presented in this book in his more recent novels: trains, time travel, Alcatraz (The Rock), and martial arts, all appear and are important to the plot, along with the man on the run, and man out of time/without a country motif. His non-horror books Red Champagne and (his semi-autobiographical) The Vanishing Magic of Snow immediately come to mind. I believe MonsterTime is heavily autobiographical; no matter how far out some of the scenes might seem to be. I even noticed at least one possible revenge killing in this book. Yes—don’t anger an author. You will be killed off in his book in some horrible, horrible way!
MonsterTime was ahead of its time when it came out, and I think it will remain so even now, and for many years to come. If you haven’t read it, you’re in for a treat, and if you have, it’s well worth the effort to read again. I can safely say you will read nothing quite like it in your lifetime. It’s an underrated masterpiece that’s impossible to pigeonhole, hard to put down, and not easily forgotten.
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July 21, 2011Stephen King endorsed the entire Dell Abyss Horror line. Here is his blurb:
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
December 24, 2023
I'm giving this 2 stars only because the author has the imagination of someone who has done entirely too much LSD but can still function enough to write a book.
That's it.
That's the only reason.
I was confused for at least 75% of the entire 450 pages.
No idea what was going on.
Not a clue.
If the author knows, I wish they would've shared that valuable information.
I cannot believe this got published. I cannot believe an editor didn't send it back soaked in red paint because there aren't enough pens in the world to correct all the hullabaloo going on.
Read it at your own risk. Or maybe don't. Maybe pick a different book. Literally any other book.
That's it.
That's the only reason.
I was confused for at least 75% of the entire 450 pages.
No idea what was going on.
Not a clue.
If the author knows, I wish they would've shared that valuable information.
I cannot believe this got published. I cannot believe an editor didn't send it back soaked in red paint because there aren't enough pens in the world to correct all the hullabaloo going on.
Read it at your own risk. Or maybe don't. Maybe pick a different book. Literally any other book.
January 11, 2015
Unreadable crap. The first Abyss title I haven't liked.
August 26, 2024
Way too hard to understand, because of the way that it's written
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews