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Sorting the Dead
Old sins die hard. Four hundred years ago, the thirteen founding families of Sententia, Massachusetts burned Patience, De'ath, a witch, at the stake. With her dying breath, she cursed their descendents to watch their loved ones die without being able to stop it. One man, a librarian from Texas, is trying to stop the curse before it's too late.
112 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 30, 2017
C.L. Bledsoe’s “Sorting the Dead” is not your typical horror story. There’s a dry, biting humor (sometimes literally) to the narration that feeds and underscores plot and the characters, delivering an fascinating look into a darker realm.
Bledsoe crafts the tale of Sententia, Massachusetts, a town with a dark past that is about to come back to not just haunt them, but to start bleeding, killing and eating them. A man known only to the reader as “the Librarian” seems to know exactly what’s going on, and how to stop it. The trick is going to be if he can survive long enough to do so.
Bledsoe creates a tapestry of characters and interlocking plotlines of “normal” people in what is clearly an anything-but-normal town. Most of them appear to be overly ambitious, vengeful, or simply over-sexed—but all of them are about to pay for the sins of their ancestors. Bledsoe’s humor bleeds through each interaction along with the viscera of his many, many victims, revealing not only the dark history of Senetia, but also the darkness of each character.
In “Sorting the Dead”, Bledsoe deftly weaves a darkly funny horror story, although there is really only one main character through the plotlines. That’s the biggest shame, as there were some interesting inhabitants of the town who might have made for worthwhile protagonists—even if they simply tagged along with the Librarian. There’s plenty of horrifying moments, a clever dark humor, and no end of overt sexual encounters (a few gratuitous ones), that make this story an enjoyable read for fans of the genre.
Bledsoe crafts the tale of Sententia, Massachusetts, a town with a dark past that is about to come back to not just haunt them, but to start bleeding, killing and eating them. A man known only to the reader as “the Librarian” seems to know exactly what’s going on, and how to stop it. The trick is going to be if he can survive long enough to do so.
Bledsoe creates a tapestry of characters and interlocking plotlines of “normal” people in what is clearly an anything-but-normal town. Most of them appear to be overly ambitious, vengeful, or simply over-sexed—but all of them are about to pay for the sins of their ancestors. Bledsoe’s humor bleeds through each interaction along with the viscera of his many, many victims, revealing not only the dark history of Senetia, but also the darkness of each character.
In “Sorting the Dead”, Bledsoe deftly weaves a darkly funny horror story, although there is really only one main character through the plotlines. That’s the biggest shame, as there were some interesting inhabitants of the town who might have made for worthwhile protagonists—even if they simply tagged along with the Librarian. There’s plenty of horrifying moments, a clever dark humor, and no end of overt sexual encounters (a few gratuitous ones), that make this story an enjoyable read for fans of the genre.
Displaying 1 of 1 review