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Eidolon Avenue #1
Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast
Eidolon Avenue: where the secretly guilty go to die.
One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards.
The First Feast. A retired Chinese assassin in apartment 1A fleeing from a lifetime of bloodshed. A tattooed man in 1B haunted by his most dangerous regret. A frat boy serial killer in 1C facing his past and an elderly married couple stumbling and wounded from fifty years of failed murder/suicide pacts in 1D. And, finally, a young girl in 1E whose quiet thoughts unleash unspeakable horror.
All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every deadly mistake, every drop of spilled blood is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue.
One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards.
The First Feast. A retired Chinese assassin in apartment 1A fleeing from a lifetime of bloodshed. A tattooed man in 1B haunted by his most dangerous regret. A frat boy serial killer in 1C facing his past and an elderly married couple stumbling and wounded from fifty years of failed murder/suicide pacts in 1D. And, finally, a young girl in 1E whose quiet thoughts unleash unspeakable horror.
All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every deadly mistake, every drop of spilled blood is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue.
- GenresHorror
Unknown Binding
First published January 6, 2016
10 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Winn
19 books48 followersJonathan Winn is a screenwriter as well as the author of Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read…powerful and jarring,” Cemetery Dance), the full-length novels Martuk…the Holy (A Highlight of the Year, 2012 Papyrus Independent Fiction Awards), Martuk…the Holy: Proseuche (Top Twenty Horror Novels of 2014, Preditors & Editors Readers Poll), the upcoming Eidolon Avenue: The Second Feast and Martuk…the Holy: Shayateen as well as The Martuk Series, an ongoing collection of short fiction inspired by Martuk…
His work can also be found in Horror 201: The Silver Scream, Writers on Writing, Vol. 2 and in Tales from the Lake, Vol. 2 with his award-winning short story Forever Dark, all from Crystal Lake Publishing.
His work can also be found in Horror 201: The Silver Scream, Writers on Writing, Vol. 2 and in Tales from the Lake, Vol. 2 with his award-winning short story Forever Dark, all from Crystal Lake Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 20, 2019
"There was another world here. Between the dark only she could see and the cold rain running over the brick. A world of hidden things. Of things that moved slow. Like her. A world of lost things. Lost dreams. Lost loved ones. Lost lives. Lost hopes. A place of regret and misery. A frightening world of shadow where things wandered and reached, always searching, never finding."
Welcome to the rotting tenement on Eidolon Avenue, where a dark cloud always hovers. A little girl who lives in the building is determined to learn its secrets.
"“What is this?” She placed her hand on the door. My skin."
"“And these people, these ghosts. Everyone here, are they you, too?” My blood."
"“This wall, what is this?” My bones."
"“This brown stain, here, is it . . . ?”"
"My heart."
"“Are you hungry?” Yes."
The tenement has five storeys, with five apartments on each floor. Each tenant has a horrifying story to tell. We are now on the first floor. Come closer. Can you hear the voices?
Welcome to the rotting tenement on Eidolon Avenue, where a dark cloud always hovers. A little girl who lives in the building is determined to learn its secrets.
"“What is this?” She placed her hand on the door. My skin."
"“And these people, these ghosts. Everyone here, are they you, too?” My blood."
"“This wall, what is this?” My bones."
"“This brown stain, here, is it . . . ?”"
"My heart."
"“Are you hungry?” Yes."
The tenement has five storeys, with five apartments on each floor. Each tenant has a horrifying story to tell. We are now on the first floor. Come closer. Can you hear the voices?
December 24, 2019
Eidolon Avenue. Where “[the] wind... [is] like the gentle sigh of something lonely and longing.”
It is a place of dark secrets and nightmares. The first-floor inhabitants of the building will face the hungering darkness—the evil within—as they reap what they have sown and come to terms with the errors of their ways.
Firstly, the writing was exceptional. What I enjoyed most is the vivid imagery the author’s brilliant figurative language evoked. I was a quiet observer to the madness, watching the mayhem unfold.
The first story, that of Lucky, the Chinese Assasin, was a bit confusing at times but that air of uncertainty only served to add to its allure and mystery. It was wildly imaginative and engrossing—by far the deepest, most profound story in the lot.
In comparison, the remaining stories were far simpler to digest, which isn’t at all a criticism. They were all equally as creative, compelling and well-written. I am looking forward to the Second Feast and discovering what’s in store for the unlucky second-floor inhabitants.
It is a place of dark secrets and nightmares. The first-floor inhabitants of the building will face the hungering darkness—the evil within—as they reap what they have sown and come to terms with the errors of their ways.
Firstly, the writing was exceptional. What I enjoyed most is the vivid imagery the author’s brilliant figurative language evoked. I was a quiet observer to the madness, watching the mayhem unfold.
The first story, that of Lucky, the Chinese Assasin, was a bit confusing at times but that air of uncertainty only served to add to its allure and mystery. It was wildly imaginative and engrossing—by far the deepest, most profound story in the lot.
In comparison, the remaining stories were far simpler to digest, which isn’t at all a criticism. They were all equally as creative, compelling and well-written. I am looking forward to the Second Feast and discovering what’s in store for the unlucky second-floor inhabitants.
March 11, 2016
There is a stain darkening the halls of the Eidolon Avenue apartment complex. It drapes the building with a curtain of despair. It whispers thru the walls and feeds off the lies and misery of the residents. It is hungry…always hungry.
I’m not entirely sure how I ran across this one in the first place, but am sure glad I did. A very good collection of 5 shorts from Jonathan Winn all connected under the brick façade of Eidolon Avenues most unique building. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author. 4+ Stars and Highly Recommended.
I’m not entirely sure how I ran across this one in the first place, but am sure glad I did. A very good collection of 5 shorts from Jonathan Winn all connected under the brick façade of Eidolon Avenues most unique building. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author. 4+ Stars and Highly Recommended.
January 20, 2016
Review copy
2016 is only a few weeks old and already it's showing signs of being a banner year for horror.
Whether you're snowbound or it's too cold to venture outside or you're just looking for a great read, Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast will keep you warm and entertained for hours.
From the description of the book on the publisher's website. "One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards." If that's not enough to drag you through the front door, kicking and screaming, let me introduce you to the tenants on the first floor.
Apartment 1A - Lucky A powerful and jarring story of a Chinese child named for a silent screen goddess, who ended her life with a fistful of sleeping pills, at the too-young age of twenty-four. Little Ruan would grow to become a legend known as Lucky. "Lucky the Killer, Lucky the Devil, Lucky the Shadow." Now in her eighties, the story is told in retrospect as Ruan interacts with the ghosts of her past.
Apartment 1B - Bullet A story of a man with a new tattoo which leads to all kinds of problems. Here's just sample of what Jonathan has to offer here. "'I do tats,' she'd said. Goth chick with a Daddy's Girl Gone Bad vibe. Hair fifty shades of black. Bangs chopped with a razor. Big eyes rimmed with black. Skin whiter than rich kid coke. Dark blue smeared on her lips. Metal in her ears, nose, chin. Her small bright teeth chewing dollar store blue from her stubby nails." This story reads like a very strange trip, indeed.
Apartment 1C -Click This apartment is occupied by Colton Carryage, son of a wealthy Senator. Wealthy enough to get his son off from some very nasty business that occurred during Colton's time at college. Unfortunately, Colton didn't seem to learn his lesson, if anything the experience has turned him into something even more twisted and disturbed.
Apartment 1D - Anniversary This line pretty much says it all. "I met my beloved Benjy one month, married him the next, and then we spent the following fifty years happily trying to kill each other. By choice." This is a somewhat lighter tale of the various failed attempts over those fifty years.
Apartment 1E - Umbra After sorta accidentally wishing her folks dead, Umbra is dropped off to live with her Gran on Eidolon Avenue. We learn more about the building through this story as Umbra seems to develop a relationship with a stain on the wall in her room
Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast is not for the casual reader. This is a series of stories which require the reader to become immersed in the writer's world or risk becoming lost with little hope of finding one's way home. This is a very disturbing building, occupied by the most depraved tenants, each worse than the last. Often times the line between reality and insanity becomes blurred to the point of being gone completely.
If anything, Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast left me wanting more and from what I understand the author is planning to deliver just that with the second feast.
From Crystal Lake Publishing Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast is available now in both e-book and paperback formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge. Also, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, you can read this one for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
Strongly recommended, but with a cover warning for mature content.
Jonathan Winn is a screenwriter as well as the author of Martuk … the Holy (A Highlight of the Year, 2012 Papyrus Independent Fiction Awards), Martuk … the Holy: Proseuche (Top Twenty Horror Novels of 2014, Preditors & Editors Readers Poll), the upcoming Martuk … the Holy: Shayateen, and The Martuk Series, an ongoing collection of short fiction inspired by Martuk …
2016 is only a few weeks old and already it's showing signs of being a banner year for horror.
Whether you're snowbound or it's too cold to venture outside or you're just looking for a great read, Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast will keep you warm and entertained for hours.
From the description of the book on the publisher's website. "One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards." If that's not enough to drag you through the front door, kicking and screaming, let me introduce you to the tenants on the first floor.
Apartment 1A - Lucky A powerful and jarring story of a Chinese child named for a silent screen goddess, who ended her life with a fistful of sleeping pills, at the too-young age of twenty-four. Little Ruan would grow to become a legend known as Lucky. "Lucky the Killer, Lucky the Devil, Lucky the Shadow." Now in her eighties, the story is told in retrospect as Ruan interacts with the ghosts of her past.
Apartment 1B - Bullet A story of a man with a new tattoo which leads to all kinds of problems. Here's just sample of what Jonathan has to offer here. "'I do tats,' she'd said. Goth chick with a Daddy's Girl Gone Bad vibe. Hair fifty shades of black. Bangs chopped with a razor. Big eyes rimmed with black. Skin whiter than rich kid coke. Dark blue smeared on her lips. Metal in her ears, nose, chin. Her small bright teeth chewing dollar store blue from her stubby nails." This story reads like a very strange trip, indeed.
Apartment 1C -Click This apartment is occupied by Colton Carryage, son of a wealthy Senator. Wealthy enough to get his son off from some very nasty business that occurred during Colton's time at college. Unfortunately, Colton didn't seem to learn his lesson, if anything the experience has turned him into something even more twisted and disturbed.
Apartment 1D - Anniversary This line pretty much says it all. "I met my beloved Benjy one month, married him the next, and then we spent the following fifty years happily trying to kill each other. By choice." This is a somewhat lighter tale of the various failed attempts over those fifty years.
Apartment 1E - Umbra After sorta accidentally wishing her folks dead, Umbra is dropped off to live with her Gran on Eidolon Avenue. We learn more about the building through this story as Umbra seems to develop a relationship with a stain on the wall in her room
Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast is not for the casual reader. This is a series of stories which require the reader to become immersed in the writer's world or risk becoming lost with little hope of finding one's way home. This is a very disturbing building, occupied by the most depraved tenants, each worse than the last. Often times the line between reality and insanity becomes blurred to the point of being gone completely.
If anything, Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast left me wanting more and from what I understand the author is planning to deliver just that with the second feast.
From Crystal Lake Publishing Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast is available now in both e-book and paperback formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this book at no additional charge. Also, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, you can read this one for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
Strongly recommended, but with a cover warning for mature content.
Jonathan Winn is a screenwriter as well as the author of Martuk … the Holy (A Highlight of the Year, 2012 Papyrus Independent Fiction Awards), Martuk … the Holy: Proseuche (Top Twenty Horror Novels of 2014, Preditors & Editors Readers Poll), the upcoming Martuk … the Holy: Shayateen, and The Martuk Series, an ongoing collection of short fiction inspired by Martuk …
February 10, 2016
Review pending
December 3, 2019
This is exactly what I have been waiting for, new Jonathan Winn fiction. It is a cause for celebration. It is also a reason to cower behind a heavy piece of furniture, or under a thick warm blanket. Anywhere that will provide you with a sense of security. Spoiler alert, that feeling of safety, will be ripped away soon. Don't worry honey, it's only fiction, right? ...Right?
Jonathan Winn's prose is venom laced confectioners frosting. It is dense, rich and delectable, hypnotic almost. Then the toxin hits. Not enough to cause death, oh no. Mr. Winn wants you incapacitated, but totally lucid while he taunts you with his horror show vignettes.
These five shared-world stories are Freudian fever dreams, populated with four dimensional characters living varied nightmares. A painted canvas so vivid it's haunting.
I sincerely hope that this book finds its audience. It deserves to be seen, read, experienced. It's tales handed down generation to generation as a warning. I have a desperate need to know what resides on the second floor, up that flight of discolored stairs and beyond. I, for one, hope the stories get darker, even more wicked, as you ascend the building on Eidolon Avenue. What does that say about me?
This is what horror should be, at least, it's what I like my horror to be. Not only graphic and lurid, but beautiful, jarring and unnerving as well. Weighing heavy on the mind and spirit. Violently abducting you from your safe place, shattering your comfort zone with a wrench to the skull. Applying a constant pressure on the (constantly constricting) boundaries of what is deemed socially acceptable.
This is my horror. And like a pastor in the church of horror, this is the book that I'll be preaching to my congregation.
P.S. Don't take the warning label lightly. Eidolon Avenue means business.
Note: I received a review copy of this book from the author on the promise of an honest review. Then I purchased a copy because one must support the art that moves them. Otherwise that art goes away. Nonetheless, these are my unbiased feelings.
Zakk is a big, dumb animal.
The Mouths of Madness Podcastshow
Www.facebook.com/themouthsofmadness
Jonathan Winn's prose is venom laced confectioners frosting. It is dense, rich and delectable, hypnotic almost. Then the toxin hits. Not enough to cause death, oh no. Mr. Winn wants you incapacitated, but totally lucid while he taunts you with his horror show vignettes.
These five shared-world stories are Freudian fever dreams, populated with four dimensional characters living varied nightmares. A painted canvas so vivid it's haunting.
I sincerely hope that this book finds its audience. It deserves to be seen, read, experienced. It's tales handed down generation to generation as a warning. I have a desperate need to know what resides on the second floor, up that flight of discolored stairs and beyond. I, for one, hope the stories get darker, even more wicked, as you ascend the building on Eidolon Avenue. What does that say about me?
This is what horror should be, at least, it's what I like my horror to be. Not only graphic and lurid, but beautiful, jarring and unnerving as well. Weighing heavy on the mind and spirit. Violently abducting you from your safe place, shattering your comfort zone with a wrench to the skull. Applying a constant pressure on the (constantly constricting) boundaries of what is deemed socially acceptable.
This is my horror. And like a pastor in the church of horror, this is the book that I'll be preaching to my congregation.
P.S. Don't take the warning label lightly. Eidolon Avenue means business.
Note: I received a review copy of this book from the author on the promise of an honest review. Then I purchased a copy because one must support the art that moves them. Otherwise that art goes away. Nonetheless, these are my unbiased feelings.
Zakk is a big, dumb animal.
The Mouths of Madness Podcastshow
Www.facebook.com/themouthsofmadness
September 19, 2020
Review to come
September 1, 2020
All the characters/stories live in an apartment building on Eidolon Avenue. This place is dark and festering. I read this book and gave my summarization and feelings of each story as I read them.
Apartment 1A
From what I gathered, after I finally read the synopsis. She was an assassin which I didn’t get from the story but I can see that now. She died when she sold her soul to be able to live without pain, regret, or consequences. She was set on revenge and killing all the men who reminded her of her dad. The shadow that was attached to her killed when she told it to. It was hungry and needed to be fed and she didn’t mind because she was on a path of vengeance. The shadow’s hunger never stops. This story was so sad. I was emotionally invested by the end of it and I hope the other stories live up to this one. There is no life without consequence or pain. 5 ⭐️
Apartment 1B
This story made me sick and anxious. A complete jackass of a guy, obsessed with his tattoos and deep seeded hate for women, goes on the trip of his life. Body horror to the extreme. Now, count with me “five blue, seven red, four yellow” and play that on repeat. 4 ⭐️
Apartment 1C
A frat boy quarterback with money falls from fame and lives in a dump on eidolon Avenue. He wants to feel powerful again so he preys on women. This story was good but it was too predictable. 3 ⭐️
Apartment 1D
An elderly couple with a murder/suicide pact tells their story with their years of failures. Real messy stuff. This story kinda cracked me up with how the wife is telling the story. She’s blaming it all on her husband. I dunno why that made me laugh. That ending was wow! 4 ⭐️
Apartment 1E
A young girl ,that is living a life of misery, talks to the walls like an old friend. This story is so bleak. I really felt bad for the little girl and the cards she was dealt in life. I think this was an amazing story to end this collection with. The ending to this story was great! 4 ⭐️
Apartment 1A
From what I gathered, after I finally read the synopsis. She was an assassin which I didn’t get from the story but I can see that now. She died when she sold her soul to be able to live without pain, regret, or consequences. She was set on revenge and killing all the men who reminded her of her dad. The shadow that was attached to her killed when she told it to. It was hungry and needed to be fed and she didn’t mind because she was on a path of vengeance. The shadow’s hunger never stops. This story was so sad. I was emotionally invested by the end of it and I hope the other stories live up to this one. There is no life without consequence or pain. 5 ⭐️
Apartment 1B
This story made me sick and anxious. A complete jackass of a guy, obsessed with his tattoos and deep seeded hate for women, goes on the trip of his life. Body horror to the extreme. Now, count with me “five blue, seven red, four yellow” and play that on repeat. 4 ⭐️
Apartment 1C
A frat boy quarterback with money falls from fame and lives in a dump on eidolon Avenue. He wants to feel powerful again so he preys on women. This story was good but it was too predictable. 3 ⭐️
Apartment 1D
An elderly couple with a murder/suicide pact tells their story with their years of failures. Real messy stuff. This story kinda cracked me up with how the wife is telling the story. She’s blaming it all on her husband. I dunno why that made me laugh. That ending was wow! 4 ⭐️
Apartment 1E
A young girl ,that is living a life of misery, talks to the walls like an old friend. This story is so bleak. I really felt bad for the little girl and the cards she was dealt in life. I think this was an amazing story to end this collection with. The ending to this story was great! 4 ⭐️
September 9, 2020
Eidolon Avenue is a collection of shorts that follows the secret and dark lives of residents of five of its apartments. Each apartment has its own past, its own ghosts, and its own horror. What I find most captivating is Jonathan Winn's ability to vividly detail what is going on. The imagery is spot on and the prose almost reads like a dark dream. The first story of Apartment 1A is my favorite story. While slightly confusing as it kicks off, it follows a retired Chinese assassin and all the ghosts of those she's killed. It is truly difficult to explain how it reads, but "fever dream" of past and present is not an understatement. I left that story feeling truly gutted, haunted, but simultaneously wowed.
The other four stories are equally as well-crafted, but there is something about what's behind the door in Apartment 1A that is always going to stick with me, as if I would turn around some dreary day and see a physical manifestation of it in my own reality. It really got under my skin.
Winn's creativity shines in Eidolon Avenue as each tale brings a uniquely haunting, sometimes violent, story to the forefront. Before this collection, I really never wondered what goes on inside those old, dilapidated buildings. And if real life is anything like Eidolon, then maybe I am best not knowing! But let's just say I will definitely take a pause and be reminded of this book when I see one.
"There is a place on Eidolon
that stands five stories tall.
Beyond locked doors,
dreams dreamt no more,
the tenants await their fall.
And on this day
on “Eye-da-lon,”
which waits five stories tall,
vindication sweet
feeds the hunger replete
as the walls inside whisper
Let’s eat."
There are even more doors on other floors in this broken building that we did not get to open and investigate, so I am hoping there will be more "feasts" as this title indicates is the FIRST. 4 stars! Thanks to the author for this review copy in exchange for honest feedback.
The other four stories are equally as well-crafted, but there is something about what's behind the door in Apartment 1A that is always going to stick with me, as if I would turn around some dreary day and see a physical manifestation of it in my own reality. It really got under my skin.
Winn's creativity shines in Eidolon Avenue as each tale brings a uniquely haunting, sometimes violent, story to the forefront. Before this collection, I really never wondered what goes on inside those old, dilapidated buildings. And if real life is anything like Eidolon, then maybe I am best not knowing! But let's just say I will definitely take a pause and be reminded of this book when I see one.
"There is a place on Eidolon
that stands five stories tall.
Beyond locked doors,
dreams dreamt no more,
the tenants await their fall.
And on this day
on “Eye-da-lon,”
which waits five stories tall,
vindication sweet
feeds the hunger replete
as the walls inside whisper
Let’s eat."
There are even more doors on other floors in this broken building that we did not get to open and investigate, so I am hoping there will be more "feasts" as this title indicates is the FIRST. 4 stars! Thanks to the author for this review copy in exchange for honest feedback.
June 1, 2021
Having read (and loved) Eidolon Avenue: The Second Feast first, I was compelled to go back and find and purchase and read Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast. No regrets. Jonathan Winn’s writing style is as enthralling in the first as it is in the second. But I do dare say the stories in First Feast are more … unnerving … than those in Second Feast.
The tales in The First Feast might be considered by some to cross the line over into the realm of Extreme Horror due to some graphic and gory sequences and extreme subject matter. These stories cross boundaries. The first story is (to me) the least extreme, though it does have some bloody scenes, but it is still a disturbing tale with some intense content. These are not stories for the very squeamish or easily offended. I personally would not necessarily call them Extreme Horror from their graphic nature, but then I read a lot of Extreme Horror. The subject matter, however, is beyond mainstream, much more intense and potentially triggering to some readers, so there is that element of extreme. To me, that makes the stories good. The unapologetic presentation of the horrors of humanity shown for what they are is daring, and Winn does it well.
Pro Tip: pay attention to the headers. All becomes clear and connected with the final story, which is haunting and impactful in ways different from the others. No spoilers, but … wow.
The stories of Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast are about choices and consequences, self-awareness, and that point beyond redemption. This is horror at its finest: brutal, impactful, lingering. Highly recommended for discerning horror fans.
The tales in The First Feast might be considered by some to cross the line over into the realm of Extreme Horror due to some graphic and gory sequences and extreme subject matter. These stories cross boundaries. The first story is (to me) the least extreme, though it does have some bloody scenes, but it is still a disturbing tale with some intense content. These are not stories for the very squeamish or easily offended. I personally would not necessarily call them Extreme Horror from their graphic nature, but then I read a lot of Extreme Horror. The subject matter, however, is beyond mainstream, much more intense and potentially triggering to some readers, so there is that element of extreme. To me, that makes the stories good. The unapologetic presentation of the horrors of humanity shown for what they are is daring, and Winn does it well.
Pro Tip: pay attention to the headers. All becomes clear and connected with the final story, which is haunting and impactful in ways different from the others. No spoilers, but … wow.
The stories of Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast are about choices and consequences, self-awareness, and that point beyond redemption. This is horror at its finest: brutal, impactful, lingering. Highly recommended for discerning horror fans.
September 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this collection of stories! The first was a 5⭐️, one in the middle was a 3⭐️, and the others were all 4⭐️. Not bad at all for a short story collection!
I love the concept of each story being set in the same otherworldly building. Though Ediolon Avenue works it’s demented machinations a little differently in each tale, these are all stories of people having to deal with the ghosts of their past in varying bizarre and vicious ways. I loved the grotesque imagery (lots of Clive Barker and Silent Hill vibes) and the writing is excellent! In fact the writing is so vivid it made some of the scenes hard to read because they were almost too much (I’ve also never seen so much vomit in a collection of stories haha).
Overall Eidolon Avenue is a fantastically brutal, weird, and mournful collection of dark mortality tales. I don’t think the term “fever dream” has ever been captured so well in literary form. It’s a phantasmagorical blend of human monsters and the ghosts that haunt them, and I certainly hope there will be future feasts to enjoy!
I love the concept of each story being set in the same otherworldly building. Though Ediolon Avenue works it’s demented machinations a little differently in each tale, these are all stories of people having to deal with the ghosts of their past in varying bizarre and vicious ways. I loved the grotesque imagery (lots of Clive Barker and Silent Hill vibes) and the writing is excellent! In fact the writing is so vivid it made some of the scenes hard to read because they were almost too much (I’ve also never seen so much vomit in a collection of stories haha).
Overall Eidolon Avenue is a fantastically brutal, weird, and mournful collection of dark mortality tales. I don’t think the term “fever dream” has ever been captured so well in literary form. It’s a phantasmagorical blend of human monsters and the ghosts that haunt them, and I certainly hope there will be future feasts to enjoy!
February 20, 2016
Some times a reader will connect with a book and some times that connection will be missing. There's no reason for this, no formula, that's why it's art and not science. In this case that connection wasn't there. I struggled to get through the stories and had to force myself to finish.
The stories are a series of tales connected by a shared building. There's a sense that potentially the building itself may be the source of some of the situations, or perhaps that the characters have been drawn to the building, but nothing conclusive. Overall this felt like staring at a series of abstract paintings and trying to decipher what they were saying.
The stories are a series of tales connected by a shared building. There's a sense that potentially the building itself may be the source of some of the situations, or perhaps that the characters have been drawn to the building, but nothing conclusive. Overall this felt like staring at a series of abstract paintings and trying to decipher what they were saying.
January 16, 2016
This is really good. I hate to sound typical, but it was an un-put-down-able book. I blew through the book in a couple hours. I almost stayed up past my bedtime to do it.
Anyhow, it's a book about a bunch of f'ed up people who live in a broken building on Eidolon Avenue. A lot of these people are pretty awful. Some of them do awful things. Some of the awfulness is supernatural in origin, some of it seems like a hallucination.
I enjoyed reading what was behind the doors of the tenement. I hope there's more to come.
Anyhow, it's a book about a bunch of f'ed up people who live in a broken building on Eidolon Avenue. A lot of these people are pretty awful. Some of them do awful things. Some of the awfulness is supernatural in origin, some of it seems like a hallucination.
I enjoyed reading what was behind the doors of the tenement. I hope there's more to come.
November 18, 2021
Jonathan Winn's first book in the Eidolon series concerns itself with an apartment block, each room a tale in itself, beginning with Apartment 1A and ending at Apartment 1E. I was given a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Apartment 1A: Lucky
The longest tale, or at least it felt like the longest, was the first. A tale about a Chinese assassin, a dark spirit, and a lifetime of bad decisions, all that - I have to admit - ultimately left me cold. The story itself is a good one, a winding tale of a young woman born in a place and time where being born a woman was nothing less than a curse. A life of hardship led this woman to a place where hardship was all she could perceive from the world. She looked out over her future and saw nothing but toil, until an encounter finds her that offers a surprising choice.
Lucky, as this young woman is called, chooses poorly and begins a series of events that threatens to rob her of everything. Love becomes something to scoff at, raw power replaces it, and to gain this power she must embrace destruction and cruelty. At first her acts of violence are hidden in backstreets, her victims those who would not be missed, but slowly she rises in stature until she threatens those who can rob her of her abilities.
The story takes place over a long period of time, moving from simple communities in mainland China to the hustle and bustle of Toronto. Time is fluid in the tale, as is location, slipped back and forth as memory's become ghosts in the small apartment on Eidolon Avenue.
This is a story that appealed to me, as I hope it appeals to you, but its execution left me far less engaged than I would have hoped, and a great deal of this may be due to Jonathan Winn's writing style.
A lot of what makes entertainment entertaining is taste. Some people like Godzilla movies while others like Tarkovsky. Some - like myself - manage to like both, but are still mystified on how such a thing could be. Taste is a funny thing, and often doesn't even make sense to the person who expresses it.
What I am saying here is that my thoughts concerning Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast, and - specifically in this part of the review - the story Apartment 1A: Lucky is almost solely based on taste, and I have to stress this because, in spite of me not liking the story, I instantly thought of Jonathan Winn as a good writer.
I know that sounds like a contradiction, but please bear with me.
Whether you like this first story or not will depend on what attracts you to an author. If you like detail, long passages of text with carefully constructed - almost poetic sentences - then Winn is a good choice. Some of his descriptions are very arresting, conjuring up almost microcosmic detail in a scene, some of which is sure to stay with you. If - on the other hand - you prefer writing which is more direct, then you may find this story more of a difficult read. It all depends on whether you prefer the author or your own imagination to do the heavy lifting of a tale.
If your tastes make you one of the former, then go read this story, you'll like it a lot.
If you are of the latter, you may want to give it a miss, or give it a go - with reservation.
Ultimately I'm of the opinion that Apartment 1A: Lucky requires some editing to reduce what I see as verbosity. I think there's a great story hidden away under a lack of verbal restraint. The literary moments of gymnastic detail would've, in my view, served the story better if it was used sparingly. Giving the story the peaks and furrows necessary to pick out those moments the author wanted to remain in the readers mind after the final page was turned.
This is my first audiobook narrated by Kristina Rothe, and at the time of writing I see she has about half a dozen books on Audible, two of which are in the Eidolon series.
At a guess I'd say this is one of the earliest ones she recorded, I may be wrong, but it feels that way. There's a slight unevenness in this tale, here and there I get the impression I can hear where retakes have been dropped in the mix. It may be my imagination though, and it certainly didn't distract from her performance, which was good. She has a nice voice, and her pronunciation was clear with only a hint of an accent here and there (to my English ears). I have to admit a good narrator can make all the difference, and I'm not sure I'd be so eager to start the next story in this book if it was a different narrator doing it.
Apartment 1B: Bullet
Bullet lives for tattoos, if living is the right word. Apartment 1B is not exactly the Ritz, water stains decorate the walls and excrement fills the toilet bowl, but Bullet doesn't care. Nights flow together, the girls and the booze might change, but Bullet doesn't notice because nothing important to him does. That is until he wakes with the tattoo, the one he didn't remember getting. Then the memories, the girl with the blue lips, then his mother, and the track marks on her arms.
Though it uses many of the same techniques as the first tale, Apartment 1B: Bullet manages to pull everything together in a far more appealing package than the first. Well, if "appealing" is the right word. The amount of profanity in this story would make Joe Lansdale blush, and much of it would probably offend a sensitive reader. Usually I shy away from books with heavy profanity, not through any sensitivity, but rather because I often consider them to be wasted space that could be better filled. But with Apartment 1B: Bullet the use of profanity seemed the right choice, and it would've been strange without it. Bullet isn't a nice character. In fact he was familiar to me, unfortunately I'd met men like Bullet in my youth, he's quite well drawn and easily recognisable.
The story arc of Bullet is a smoother curve, the time slips more fluid, and the excessive description I felt marred the first story is absent here. It also worked better that I never felt like I'd left the apartment, those moments outside its walls felt like memories rather than shifts in location. This kept the Eidolon front and centre, making the apartment, and the block around it, far more of a character that oppressed Bullet, and through him the reader.
Kristina Rothe is wonderful in this story. Hearing a barrage of profanity from her made me smile rather than grimace, perhaps giving the story a darkly comic twist for me it may not have on the printed page. This isn't to say its a funny tale, far from it, its pretty grotesque in places, but I do think it makes Bullet more palatable as a character than he might have been.
Apartment 1B: Bullet is a great combination of narrator and story. The editing, of both story and audio, seems spot on and the whole things flows very nicely.
Apartment 1C: Click
Women fall at Colton Carryage's feet, drawn in by his handsome face and easy smile, oblivious to his history, unaware of the trail of destruction he leaves. Colton can no longer rely on the handouts from his powerful father, an ex-senator, and has fallen on hard times, but hard times can't tame the darkness he feels whenever he sees women. Especially a certain type of women, one that he finds alone, and one he finds vulnerable.
The third tale from the apartments on Eidolon Avenue sits somewhere between the first two in quality, but its easily the nastiest tale so far in the collection as Colton rapes and murders his way through a collection of victims. As the tale unfolds and we learn of Colton's past, and his current behaviour, it grows more and more of an unlikely tale, bordering on absurd. After a while I wondered if there would be any man in this collection who wasn't an unredeemable monster. What is worse is that at least one woman in this tale shows a remarkable lack of common sense when she actually voluntarily walks into Colton's lair after knowing a surprising amount about his activities.
Ultimately Colton himself sums up my feelings towards Apartment 1C: Click, when he says, "I wanted a better end, one not so predictable." I have to admit I agreed with him a lot on that one. The story is simplistic and somewhat obvious, the end telegraphed by a rather clumsy conversation halfway through its length. It does move though, roaring through its two hour or so length with little to no dead air.
Kristina Rothe didn't have a lot to work with in this story, that was apart from relating a series of rapes and general depravity. Again the presentation is top-notch, with smooth narration and fine editing.
Apartment 1D: Anniversary
Marta and Benji needs Mr. Peabody. They just can't do it alone. They are at an age where the little things are hard enough, much less those things that take strong hands and firm backs. Things like repairing the plumbing, or clearing out the trash that accumulates in the garage, or committing a murder/suicide. They didn't even have a good track record for that even in their younger years. She lost her leg on one try, another put him in a wheelchair, and try as they might it didn't get any better even with practice. So enter Mr. Peabody, handsome - and useful - Mr. Peabody.
Apartment 1D: Anniversary begins with the audience believing they know it all, told the story from the lips of Marta herself, but Marta isn't quite the person she portrays. She is the quintessential unreliable narrator, but that's okay, because everyone else seems just as unreliable in this tale. You may suspect the end before it comes, but that's okay, the journey here is worth the effort regardless. Slow reveal stories are dangerous ones, the author relying on a good understanding of how quickly an average reader will put together the pieces they present. They can't put it all together too quickly, but they also have to manage to do it well enough that when the author presents the answers the audience is only the barest step behind.
Jonathan Winn does a good job with this tale, even if you put together the clues faster than most it is still a good enough story to be a fulfilling read. Anniversary is a well constructed tale, as good - maybe better - than Bullet because it is a tale of just desserts that could have almost graced the pages of Tales From The Crypt.
Kristina Rothe seemed to have a good understanding of Marta, she managed to get under her skin a little, and through her under the audience members skin in the process. She managed the character very well, presenting us with a woman who always manages to say more than she intends to, much of it in not what she says but how she says it. So far - when you include Rothes performance - this is easily the stand out story of the book.
Apartment 1E: Umbra
Little Umbra wouldn't choose to live on Eidolon Avenue, she wouldn't choose to live with her grandmother either. She didn't like the way her grandmother looked at her, and the strange things she said sometimes. Little Umbra wouldn't make any of those choices, but Little Umbra didn't have any choices, not after her father had been crushed under a car and her mother had made a lunch of a drinking glass.
Thankfully Little Umbra had a friend she could rely on to listen. Listen was all it could do because stains couldn't talk, and the wall beneath the stains couldn't talk.
Could it?
Remember how only a few moments ago (by your time, it was a few hours ago in my time) I said that Anniversary was this books stand out tale? Well, I was wrong on that one, Apartment 1E: Umbra is this books stand out tale. The bulk of over description is gone, allowing the main character just to speak for herself, detailing a life of neglect that perfectly isolates her, setting her up for what comes.
The story is written as an explanation of sorts, a framing device in which the other stories gather greater depth. In this I wonder if its placement was correct in the book, whether it should have come first, or if the other stories should have emphasised certain elements more. In many ways this story (alongside Anniversary and Bullet) only goes to show how missed an opportunity the remaining tales were in this collection.
Kristina Rothe was made for this particular story, her warm voice perfectly portrays this delicate girl who has only barely dodged some true horrors in her life, while burying others so deep they might only influence her nightmares, if she is lucky. It might be fair to say that the greatest addition to this collection was the selection of Rothe as its voice.
You know what they sometimes say, it is the teller not the tale, and a narrated book is the result of the mixed parentage of author and narrator. Sometimes the narrator only manages to present the story, other times they transform it. It might be a little much to suggest Kristina Rothe does the latter, this I cannot say, I would have to read the written word to ascertain that, but she certainly does far more than just lend it her voice.
Last Thoughts
I found Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast a mixed bag, mostly this mix leaned towards the positive, with only a couple of true negatives. In my view it started with its second weakest tale, and a long one at that. But it was worth persevering with as it kept its strongest tales until the end.
There is a second book, Eidolon Avenue: The Second Feast. Will I read it?
I think I will, though my opinion of the first book may not be as glowing as some (I seem to be a tiny minority, which may indicate how much attention you should pay my opinions), I didn't once consider putting the book aside and reading something else, and as the book continued I did become far more engaged and began to enjoy the later tales a great deal more.
Jonathan Winn I'll read more of in the future, I'm sure, but whether I'll seek out his work is yet to be seen. Kristina Rothe on the other hand is a bit of a find, I'm certain she'll be a name I'll pay more attention to in the future.
Apartment 1A: Lucky
The longest tale, or at least it felt like the longest, was the first. A tale about a Chinese assassin, a dark spirit, and a lifetime of bad decisions, all that - I have to admit - ultimately left me cold. The story itself is a good one, a winding tale of a young woman born in a place and time where being born a woman was nothing less than a curse. A life of hardship led this woman to a place where hardship was all she could perceive from the world. She looked out over her future and saw nothing but toil, until an encounter finds her that offers a surprising choice.
Lucky, as this young woman is called, chooses poorly and begins a series of events that threatens to rob her of everything. Love becomes something to scoff at, raw power replaces it, and to gain this power she must embrace destruction and cruelty. At first her acts of violence are hidden in backstreets, her victims those who would not be missed, but slowly she rises in stature until she threatens those who can rob her of her abilities.
The story takes place over a long period of time, moving from simple communities in mainland China to the hustle and bustle of Toronto. Time is fluid in the tale, as is location, slipped back and forth as memory's become ghosts in the small apartment on Eidolon Avenue.
This is a story that appealed to me, as I hope it appeals to you, but its execution left me far less engaged than I would have hoped, and a great deal of this may be due to Jonathan Winn's writing style.
A lot of what makes entertainment entertaining is taste. Some people like Godzilla movies while others like Tarkovsky. Some - like myself - manage to like both, but are still mystified on how such a thing could be. Taste is a funny thing, and often doesn't even make sense to the person who expresses it.
What I am saying here is that my thoughts concerning Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast, and - specifically in this part of the review - the story Apartment 1A: Lucky is almost solely based on taste, and I have to stress this because, in spite of me not liking the story, I instantly thought of Jonathan Winn as a good writer.
I know that sounds like a contradiction, but please bear with me.
Whether you like this first story or not will depend on what attracts you to an author. If you like detail, long passages of text with carefully constructed - almost poetic sentences - then Winn is a good choice. Some of his descriptions are very arresting, conjuring up almost microcosmic detail in a scene, some of which is sure to stay with you. If - on the other hand - you prefer writing which is more direct, then you may find this story more of a difficult read. It all depends on whether you prefer the author or your own imagination to do the heavy lifting of a tale.
If your tastes make you one of the former, then go read this story, you'll like it a lot.
If you are of the latter, you may want to give it a miss, or give it a go - with reservation.
Ultimately I'm of the opinion that Apartment 1A: Lucky requires some editing to reduce what I see as verbosity. I think there's a great story hidden away under a lack of verbal restraint. The literary moments of gymnastic detail would've, in my view, served the story better if it was used sparingly. Giving the story the peaks and furrows necessary to pick out those moments the author wanted to remain in the readers mind after the final page was turned.
This is my first audiobook narrated by Kristina Rothe, and at the time of writing I see she has about half a dozen books on Audible, two of which are in the Eidolon series.
At a guess I'd say this is one of the earliest ones she recorded, I may be wrong, but it feels that way. There's a slight unevenness in this tale, here and there I get the impression I can hear where retakes have been dropped in the mix. It may be my imagination though, and it certainly didn't distract from her performance, which was good. She has a nice voice, and her pronunciation was clear with only a hint of an accent here and there (to my English ears). I have to admit a good narrator can make all the difference, and I'm not sure I'd be so eager to start the next story in this book if it was a different narrator doing it.
Apartment 1B: Bullet
Bullet lives for tattoos, if living is the right word. Apartment 1B is not exactly the Ritz, water stains decorate the walls and excrement fills the toilet bowl, but Bullet doesn't care. Nights flow together, the girls and the booze might change, but Bullet doesn't notice because nothing important to him does. That is until he wakes with the tattoo, the one he didn't remember getting. Then the memories, the girl with the blue lips, then his mother, and the track marks on her arms.
Though it uses many of the same techniques as the first tale, Apartment 1B: Bullet manages to pull everything together in a far more appealing package than the first. Well, if "appealing" is the right word. The amount of profanity in this story would make Joe Lansdale blush, and much of it would probably offend a sensitive reader. Usually I shy away from books with heavy profanity, not through any sensitivity, but rather because I often consider them to be wasted space that could be better filled. But with Apartment 1B: Bullet the use of profanity seemed the right choice, and it would've been strange without it. Bullet isn't a nice character. In fact he was familiar to me, unfortunately I'd met men like Bullet in my youth, he's quite well drawn and easily recognisable.
The story arc of Bullet is a smoother curve, the time slips more fluid, and the excessive description I felt marred the first story is absent here. It also worked better that I never felt like I'd left the apartment, those moments outside its walls felt like memories rather than shifts in location. This kept the Eidolon front and centre, making the apartment, and the block around it, far more of a character that oppressed Bullet, and through him the reader.
Kristina Rothe is wonderful in this story. Hearing a barrage of profanity from her made me smile rather than grimace, perhaps giving the story a darkly comic twist for me it may not have on the printed page. This isn't to say its a funny tale, far from it, its pretty grotesque in places, but I do think it makes Bullet more palatable as a character than he might have been.
Apartment 1B: Bullet is a great combination of narrator and story. The editing, of both story and audio, seems spot on and the whole things flows very nicely.
Apartment 1C: Click
Women fall at Colton Carryage's feet, drawn in by his handsome face and easy smile, oblivious to his history, unaware of the trail of destruction he leaves. Colton can no longer rely on the handouts from his powerful father, an ex-senator, and has fallen on hard times, but hard times can't tame the darkness he feels whenever he sees women. Especially a certain type of women, one that he finds alone, and one he finds vulnerable.
The third tale from the apartments on Eidolon Avenue sits somewhere between the first two in quality, but its easily the nastiest tale so far in the collection as Colton rapes and murders his way through a collection of victims. As the tale unfolds and we learn of Colton's past, and his current behaviour, it grows more and more of an unlikely tale, bordering on absurd. After a while I wondered if there would be any man in this collection who wasn't an unredeemable monster. What is worse is that at least one woman in this tale shows a remarkable lack of common sense when she actually voluntarily walks into Colton's lair after knowing a surprising amount about his activities.
Ultimately Colton himself sums up my feelings towards Apartment 1C: Click, when he says, "I wanted a better end, one not so predictable." I have to admit I agreed with him a lot on that one. The story is simplistic and somewhat obvious, the end telegraphed by a rather clumsy conversation halfway through its length. It does move though, roaring through its two hour or so length with little to no dead air.
Kristina Rothe didn't have a lot to work with in this story, that was apart from relating a series of rapes and general depravity. Again the presentation is top-notch, with smooth narration and fine editing.
Apartment 1D: Anniversary
Marta and Benji needs Mr. Peabody. They just can't do it alone. They are at an age where the little things are hard enough, much less those things that take strong hands and firm backs. Things like repairing the plumbing, or clearing out the trash that accumulates in the garage, or committing a murder/suicide. They didn't even have a good track record for that even in their younger years. She lost her leg on one try, another put him in a wheelchair, and try as they might it didn't get any better even with practice. So enter Mr. Peabody, handsome - and useful - Mr. Peabody.
Apartment 1D: Anniversary begins with the audience believing they know it all, told the story from the lips of Marta herself, but Marta isn't quite the person she portrays. She is the quintessential unreliable narrator, but that's okay, because everyone else seems just as unreliable in this tale. You may suspect the end before it comes, but that's okay, the journey here is worth the effort regardless. Slow reveal stories are dangerous ones, the author relying on a good understanding of how quickly an average reader will put together the pieces they present. They can't put it all together too quickly, but they also have to manage to do it well enough that when the author presents the answers the audience is only the barest step behind.
Jonathan Winn does a good job with this tale, even if you put together the clues faster than most it is still a good enough story to be a fulfilling read. Anniversary is a well constructed tale, as good - maybe better - than Bullet because it is a tale of just desserts that could have almost graced the pages of Tales From The Crypt.
Kristina Rothe seemed to have a good understanding of Marta, she managed to get under her skin a little, and through her under the audience members skin in the process. She managed the character very well, presenting us with a woman who always manages to say more than she intends to, much of it in not what she says but how she says it. So far - when you include Rothes performance - this is easily the stand out story of the book.
Apartment 1E: Umbra
Little Umbra wouldn't choose to live on Eidolon Avenue, she wouldn't choose to live with her grandmother either. She didn't like the way her grandmother looked at her, and the strange things she said sometimes. Little Umbra wouldn't make any of those choices, but Little Umbra didn't have any choices, not after her father had been crushed under a car and her mother had made a lunch of a drinking glass.
Thankfully Little Umbra had a friend she could rely on to listen. Listen was all it could do because stains couldn't talk, and the wall beneath the stains couldn't talk.
Could it?
Remember how only a few moments ago (by your time, it was a few hours ago in my time) I said that Anniversary was this books stand out tale? Well, I was wrong on that one, Apartment 1E: Umbra is this books stand out tale. The bulk of over description is gone, allowing the main character just to speak for herself, detailing a life of neglect that perfectly isolates her, setting her up for what comes.
The story is written as an explanation of sorts, a framing device in which the other stories gather greater depth. In this I wonder if its placement was correct in the book, whether it should have come first, or if the other stories should have emphasised certain elements more. In many ways this story (alongside Anniversary and Bullet) only goes to show how missed an opportunity the remaining tales were in this collection.
Kristina Rothe was made for this particular story, her warm voice perfectly portrays this delicate girl who has only barely dodged some true horrors in her life, while burying others so deep they might only influence her nightmares, if she is lucky. It might be fair to say that the greatest addition to this collection was the selection of Rothe as its voice.
You know what they sometimes say, it is the teller not the tale, and a narrated book is the result of the mixed parentage of author and narrator. Sometimes the narrator only manages to present the story, other times they transform it. It might be a little much to suggest Kristina Rothe does the latter, this I cannot say, I would have to read the written word to ascertain that, but she certainly does far more than just lend it her voice.
Last Thoughts
I found Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast a mixed bag, mostly this mix leaned towards the positive, with only a couple of true negatives. In my view it started with its second weakest tale, and a long one at that. But it was worth persevering with as it kept its strongest tales until the end.
There is a second book, Eidolon Avenue: The Second Feast. Will I read it?
I think I will, though my opinion of the first book may not be as glowing as some (I seem to be a tiny minority, which may indicate how much attention you should pay my opinions), I didn't once consider putting the book aside and reading something else, and as the book continued I did become far more engaged and began to enjoy the later tales a great deal more.
Jonathan Winn I'll read more of in the future, I'm sure, but whether I'll seek out his work is yet to be seen. Kristina Rothe on the other hand is a bit of a find, I'm certain she'll be a name I'll pay more attention to in the future.
September 29, 2022
I just have so many questions and all of them took up more of my attention than the stories did.
At first I thought that each story would build up the lore of the building but they really don't. They seem to be connected by nothing but address and a general sense of "evil".
Then I thought, "Oh, are all the characters dead and this is their Hell?" No, that can't be it as the girl in 1E is very much alive.
Then I wondered, "Are these 'bad' people simply attracted to this building because of the darkness that they carry within them?" Well, debatably, 1A and 1B are people who, through the deprivations, abuse, and neglect they suffered from early childhood became disgusting, damaged, and dangerous adults and 1E was placed her by social services after the death of her parent so I don't think that's it.
Then I got very caught up on the real world logistics of a supernatural story by asking, "Hold up, how does this building even operate?!" Almost everyone ends up VERY dead by the end of their story, so how does this place operate as a business? Because the guy in 1C was getting evicted for nonpayment of rent which does means that there is SOME sort of corporeal individual or entity that operates this place as a landlord by finding new tenants and picking up the rent.
But the thing that bothered me from each and every story was the question of the ghosts. How do the ghosts work? I understand that the ones who died there stayed there but some of the most important ones died miles away and years back. Did the spirits put in a call to the leasing office to make sure they got placed here? Did the spirits just hang around until they drew enough energy from the building to do what they did? Because 1B says that the apartment found one spirt who found the mother's spirit but that still doesn't explain the presence of the ghost friend who killed himself in a way that doesn't implicate the character being tormented by his presence. Now that I'm thinking about it, it also doesn't explain the ghost of his last sex partner. Was she dead before they met as one of the building's other tormented souls? Did she die after he beat her up? Did she OD after she left her phone in the toilet and thrown out? Also, she was dead, what now?
The dialog was painful and the stories weren't great. There were some interesting ideas and visuals but none ever seemed to land for me. I'd have given this two stars but 1D started out SO well that I was completely disappointed when it took the turn into the supernatural. I was really hoping that it was the story of two people who hired a hitman to kill them on their anniversary after decades of failed murder suicide attempts.
1A - The tale of an elderly assassin trapped by her memories as well as the spirits of those she killed. Overly long, got a bit repetitive, and the ending was a bit of a wet fart.
1B - The story of a drunk, mysoginistic, druggie. As the story continued on, it became more and more clear that this guy was still just a scared little boy who was abandoned by his father and who watched his mother's agonizing and degrading death, took all the pain, fear, and shame of her final hours, and catalyzed them into a hatred of women and himself. I won't say that he didn't deserve what he got, he probably did based on what little we saw of his life and memories, but it seemed a bit muddled at the end.
1C - The wealthy and sexy son of a senator looses it all after his father goes to club fed for trying to cover up his crimes. This story went on far too long and the twist was easy to spot. The ending took away from the punch of him just crawling in and going through what his victims had and replaced it with a "what?!".
1D - A couple with decades of failed murder/suicides decides to skip doing it themselves and seek the help of a professional this anniversary...or so it seemed. Yeah, that ending missed the mark and the twist was unnecessary.
1E - A little girl makes friends with a stain in the wall as she deals with the trauma from her parents' deaths and sets up book two.
It's implied in a few places that there were going to be 25 stories in all, one for each apartment, but there are currently only two books out.
At first I thought that each story would build up the lore of the building but they really don't. They seem to be connected by nothing but address and a general sense of "evil".
Then I thought, "Oh, are all the characters dead and this is their Hell?" No, that can't be it as the girl in 1E is very much alive.
Then I wondered, "Are these 'bad' people simply attracted to this building because of the darkness that they carry within them?" Well, debatably, 1A and 1B are people who, through the deprivations, abuse, and neglect they suffered from early childhood became disgusting, damaged, and dangerous adults and 1E was placed her by social services after the death of her parent so I don't think that's it.
Then I got very caught up on the real world logistics of a supernatural story by asking, "Hold up, how does this building even operate?!" Almost everyone ends up VERY dead by the end of their story, so how does this place operate as a business? Because the guy in 1C was getting evicted for nonpayment of rent which does means that there is SOME sort of corporeal individual or entity that operates this place as a landlord by finding new tenants and picking up the rent.
But the thing that bothered me from each and every story was the question of the ghosts. How do the ghosts work? I understand that the ones who died there stayed there but some of the most important ones died miles away and years back. Did the spirits put in a call to the leasing office to make sure they got placed here? Did the spirits just hang around until they drew enough energy from the building to do what they did? Because 1B says that the apartment found one spirt who found the mother's spirit but that still doesn't explain the presence of the ghost friend who killed himself in a way that doesn't implicate the character being tormented by his presence. Now that I'm thinking about it, it also doesn't explain the ghost of his last sex partner. Was she dead before they met as one of the building's other tormented souls? Did she die after he beat her up? Did she OD after she left her phone in the toilet and thrown out? Also, she was dead, what now?
The dialog was painful and the stories weren't great. There were some interesting ideas and visuals but none ever seemed to land for me. I'd have given this two stars but 1D started out SO well that I was completely disappointed when it took the turn into the supernatural. I was really hoping that it was the story of two people who hired a hitman to kill them on their anniversary after decades of failed murder suicide attempts.
1A - The tale of an elderly assassin trapped by her memories as well as the spirits of those she killed. Overly long, got a bit repetitive, and the ending was a bit of a wet fart.
1B - The story of a drunk, mysoginistic, druggie. As the story continued on, it became more and more clear that this guy was still just a scared little boy who was abandoned by his father and who watched his mother's agonizing and degrading death, took all the pain, fear, and shame of her final hours, and catalyzed them into a hatred of women and himself. I won't say that he didn't deserve what he got, he probably did based on what little we saw of his life and memories, but it seemed a bit muddled at the end.
1C - The wealthy and sexy son of a senator looses it all after his father goes to club fed for trying to cover up his crimes. This story went on far too long and the twist was easy to spot. The ending took away from the punch of him just crawling in and going through what his victims had and replaced it with a "what?!".
1D - A couple with decades of failed murder/suicides decides to skip doing it themselves and seek the help of a professional this anniversary...or so it seemed. Yeah, that ending missed the mark and the twist was unnecessary.
1E - A little girl makes friends with a stain in the wall as she deals with the trauma from her parents' deaths and sets up book two.
It's implied in a few places that there were going to be 25 stories in all, one for each apartment, but there are currently only two books out.
April 6, 2016
I think it's kind of apropos that my first fiction review of April is Jonathan Winn's latest release from Crystal Lake Publishing. While it's not a poetry collection, it does begin with a poem. The prologue in it's entirety reads:
"There is a place on Eidolon
that stands five stories tall.
Beyond locked doors,
dreams dreamt no more,
the tenants await their fall.
And on this day
on “Eye-da-lon,”
which waits five stories tall,
vindication sweet
feeds the hunger replete
as the walls inside whisper
Let’s eat."
That prologue serves two purposes, one of them being that it gives me a good lead in to this review, and the other being that it gives you a good idea of the nightmare you're about to experience when you enter the ramshackle building that awaits you on EIDOLON AVENUE.
Like so many authors I write about on this blog, Jonathan Winn is new to me. But I've heard good things about him from friends and colleagues both, so I was happy to dig into these five viciously dark novellas connected by the hallways of this decrepit building where the damned and the guilty go to perish.
"It’s said all of Shanghai wept when she died.
It’s said over three hundred thousand marched in a funeral procession four miles long that blustery March day in 1935. It’s also said that somewhere in the sobbing throng several women committed suicide. Their silent screen Goddess, Ruan Lingyu, ending her life with a fistful of sleeping pills at the too-young age of twenty-four spawning a grief only death could calm."
Thus begins the first chapter of the first tale where we meet Lucky, the sole occupant of Apartment 1A. Except she's not really the sole occupant. Instead, she is surrounded by the spirits of all the people she's brought death upon in her long life as an assassin. This opening passage shows us very early on that Jonathan Winn has a very unique, very eloquent voice. And he uses that to draw you in and hook you right out the gate.
Winn has a very nonlinear style that takes a bit of effort to follow, particularly in the first story, but his plots are fascinating, well thought out, and terrifying, as in the fast paced and darkly disturbing Apartment 1B, where a young man is forced to face his sins in a most brutal and sometimes gut-wrenching fasion.
I could go on and on synopsizing these stories but the publishers have done a good enough job with that already. So I'm just going to tell you what I think really makes these novellas work and what makes me think Jonathan Winn is a brilliant young author. There are two things that really stand out for me. One is that Winn's characters are fantastic, so incredibly well developed for such short works, and, love em or hate em, they make you feel something, and they make you interested in their fates. The other thing, and this one is huge for me, is that his endings are fucking perfect. Some of the hardest hitting, wickedly horrific finales I've ever read. Because of that, the stories stay with you long after you've read the last word.
As I've already said, Jonathan Winn is a new discovery for me, but one whose work I'm completely enamored with and I can't wait to see what he's got in store for us next. Remembering that the apartment building on Eidolon Avenue is five stories tall, there's the potential for a fuckload of gruesome horror coming out of that building and I'm anxious to see what's up the next flight of stairs. And the one after that, and... If you haven't read Jonathan Winn yet, you want to, I promise.
"There is a place on Eidolon
that stands five stories tall.
Beyond locked doors,
dreams dreamt no more,
the tenants await their fall.
And on this day
on “Eye-da-lon,”
which waits five stories tall,
vindication sweet
feeds the hunger replete
as the walls inside whisper
Let’s eat."
That prologue serves two purposes, one of them being that it gives me a good lead in to this review, and the other being that it gives you a good idea of the nightmare you're about to experience when you enter the ramshackle building that awaits you on EIDOLON AVENUE.
Like so many authors I write about on this blog, Jonathan Winn is new to me. But I've heard good things about him from friends and colleagues both, so I was happy to dig into these five viciously dark novellas connected by the hallways of this decrepit building where the damned and the guilty go to perish.
"It’s said all of Shanghai wept when she died.
It’s said over three hundred thousand marched in a funeral procession four miles long that blustery March day in 1935. It’s also said that somewhere in the sobbing throng several women committed suicide. Their silent screen Goddess, Ruan Lingyu, ending her life with a fistful of sleeping pills at the too-young age of twenty-four spawning a grief only death could calm."
Thus begins the first chapter of the first tale where we meet Lucky, the sole occupant of Apartment 1A. Except she's not really the sole occupant. Instead, she is surrounded by the spirits of all the people she's brought death upon in her long life as an assassin. This opening passage shows us very early on that Jonathan Winn has a very unique, very eloquent voice. And he uses that to draw you in and hook you right out the gate.
Winn has a very nonlinear style that takes a bit of effort to follow, particularly in the first story, but his plots are fascinating, well thought out, and terrifying, as in the fast paced and darkly disturbing Apartment 1B, where a young man is forced to face his sins in a most brutal and sometimes gut-wrenching fasion.
I could go on and on synopsizing these stories but the publishers have done a good enough job with that already. So I'm just going to tell you what I think really makes these novellas work and what makes me think Jonathan Winn is a brilliant young author. There are two things that really stand out for me. One is that Winn's characters are fantastic, so incredibly well developed for such short works, and, love em or hate em, they make you feel something, and they make you interested in their fates. The other thing, and this one is huge for me, is that his endings are fucking perfect. Some of the hardest hitting, wickedly horrific finales I've ever read. Because of that, the stories stay with you long after you've read the last word.
As I've already said, Jonathan Winn is a new discovery for me, but one whose work I'm completely enamored with and I can't wait to see what he's got in store for us next. Remembering that the apartment building on Eidolon Avenue is five stories tall, there's the potential for a fuckload of gruesome horror coming out of that building and I'm anxious to see what's up the next flight of stairs. And the one after that, and... If you haven't read Jonathan Winn yet, you want to, I promise.
June 13, 2016
Eidolon Avenue is where a decrepit apartment building stands. Within those mired walls there are stories. Twenty-five to be exact. Five floors, five rooms per floor. The First Feast tells the first five tales.
From the cover, you’d never know this was a collection of five stories by the same author. Perhaps that is by design, as some readers of horror may not be on my wavelength of loving the short form of horror. In truth, these are five short novellas put together in one. The characters in each story are unrelated; the only thing connecting them is that they all live in that rundown, seen better days apartment building on Eidolon, which holds its own secret evil.
When Crystal Lake asked if I would review this collection, the publisher was careful to tell me as a female reviewer that one of the stories contained descriptions of sexual assault and would I skip it if it made me feel more comfortable. I appreciated the notification of the trigger warning and I did indeed skip one of the stories. However, I was reading this on an eReader, so I couldn’t help but see a few words here and there as I forwarded through the document. From those words, the trigger warning is well founded.
Eidolon Avenue is where a decrepit apartment building stands. Within those mired walls there are stories. Twenty-five to be exact. Five floors, five rooms per floor. The First Feast tells the first five tales.
From the cover, you’d never know this was a collection of five stories by the same author. Perhaps that is by design, as some readers of horror may not be on my wavelength of loving the short form of horror. In truth, these are five short novellas put together in one. The characters in each story are unrelated; the only thing connecting them is that they all live in that rundown, seen better days apartment building on Eidolon, which holds its own secret evil.
When Crystal Lake asked if I would review this collection, the publisher was careful to tell me as a female reviewer that one of the stories contained descriptions of sexual assault and would I skip it if it made me feel more comfortable. I appreciated the notification of the trigger warning and I did indeed skip one of the stories. However, I was reading this on an eReader, so I couldn’t help but see a few words here and there as I forwarded through the document. From those words, the trigger warning is well founded.
Umbra is left to fend for herself, existing on cheese sandwiches as most of the money the Grandmother keeps for her own purposes. In her room, she finds a small brown spot on the wall and she befriends it: talking to it daily, sharing her hurts, her pains, and her hopes.
The spot grows larger, and grows sentient as Umbra’s only confidante. But what is the brown spot? And how does it help Umbra with her problematic Grandmother or is it all her own doing? I loved the final reveal of this story. It was somehow horrific and satisfying as an ending to a visceral, visual collection. This was beautiful horror: an outcast and a creature story in one.
Maybe as a woman, the two female protagonists spoke to me more, but I agreed with whoever decided to place these stories and bookends. This collection is worth it for these two tales alone. I’ll certainly be on the lookout for the remainder of Winn’s collection of stories from Eidolon Avenue.
From the cover, you’d never know this was a collection of five stories by the same author. Perhaps that is by design, as some readers of horror may not be on my wavelength of loving the short form of horror. In truth, these are five short novellas put together in one. The characters in each story are unrelated; the only thing connecting them is that they all live in that rundown, seen better days apartment building on Eidolon, which holds its own secret evil.
When Crystal Lake asked if I would review this collection, the publisher was careful to tell me as a female reviewer that one of the stories contained descriptions of sexual assault and would I skip it if it made me feel more comfortable. I appreciated the notification of the trigger warning and I did indeed skip one of the stories. However, I was reading this on an eReader, so I couldn’t help but see a few words here and there as I forwarded through the document. From those words, the trigger warning is well founded.
Eidolon Avenue is where a decrepit apartment building stands. Within those mired walls there are stories. Twenty-five to be exact. Five floors, five rooms per floor. The First Feast tells the first five tales.
From the cover, you’d never know this was a collection of five stories by the same author. Perhaps that is by design, as some readers of horror may not be on my wavelength of loving the short form of horror. In truth, these are five short novellas put together in one. The characters in each story are unrelated; the only thing connecting them is that they all live in that rundown, seen better days apartment building on Eidolon, which holds its own secret evil.
When Crystal Lake asked if I would review this collection, the publisher was careful to tell me as a female reviewer that one of the stories contained descriptions of sexual assault and would I skip it if it made me feel more comfortable. I appreciated the notification of the trigger warning and I did indeed skip one of the stories. However, I was reading this on an eReader, so I couldn’t help but see a few words here and there as I forwarded through the document. From those words, the trigger warning is well founded.
Umbra is left to fend for herself, existing on cheese sandwiches as most of the money the Grandmother keeps for her own purposes. In her room, she finds a small brown spot on the wall and she befriends it: talking to it daily, sharing her hurts, her pains, and her hopes.
The spot grows larger, and grows sentient as Umbra’s only confidante. But what is the brown spot? And how does it help Umbra with her problematic Grandmother or is it all her own doing? I loved the final reveal of this story. It was somehow horrific and satisfying as an ending to a visceral, visual collection. This was beautiful horror: an outcast and a creature story in one.
Maybe as a woman, the two female protagonists spoke to me more, but I agreed with whoever decided to place these stories and bookends. This collection is worth it for these two tales alone. I’ll certainly be on the lookout for the remainder of Winn’s collection of stories from Eidolon Avenue.
Read
April 21, 2021Review coming soon!
December 6, 2015
Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast
Crystal Lake Publishing
Author: Jonathan Winn
Eidolon Avenue is host to one building. In this building, you will find five floors, with five doors per floor. Behind each door is a personal nightmare for each of the building’s tenants, nightmares that contort the sanity of every person involved. Each room, a hellish prison where the darkest thoughts and creatures exist.
In this collection, The First Feast, Winn shows us the horror that awaits on the first floor of the nightmare factory. In 1A, a retired Chinese assassin attempts flee from her lifetime of bloodshed. A tattooed man in 1B haunted by his most dangerous regret. A frat boy serial killer in 1C facing his past and an elderly married couple stumbling and wounded from fifty years of failed murder/suicide pacts in 1D. And, finally, a young girl in 1E whose quiet thoughts unleash unspeakable horror.
The first thing you will notice when author Jonathan Winn slams open apartment 1A’s front door is Winn’s writing style. Each story unfolds in a nonlinear fashion that carries a poetic rhythm to it. Timelines branch out and intersect like the roots of a tree. Revelations in each story are never given, they are earned. This epical style begs you to reread each story before moving on to the next apartment.
Each apartment holds something truly horrifying and disconcerting. Even when fantastical elements are introduced, Winn grounds the story with grim realities. Violent and graphic, the actions and thoughts of each tenant push the boundaries of comfort. There are flourishes of intensely dark content, both physical and psychological, within the pages of this story. It never goes to Edward Lee extremes, but this is classic splatterpunk by way of early Clive Barker and Jack Ketchum with the unhinged way Robert Bloch can get under your skin. This is truly adult horror.
Winn’s imaginative writing is bleak, yet promising. A voice unlike any other, Eidolon Avenue is a masterclass effort in horror literature. With The First Feast representing tales of the first floor, I hope that Winn has every intention of showing us the appalling horrors that lie within the remaining four floors.
Crystal Lake Publishing
Author: Jonathan Winn
Eidolon Avenue is host to one building. In this building, you will find five floors, with five doors per floor. Behind each door is a personal nightmare for each of the building’s tenants, nightmares that contort the sanity of every person involved. Each room, a hellish prison where the darkest thoughts and creatures exist.
In this collection, The First Feast, Winn shows us the horror that awaits on the first floor of the nightmare factory. In 1A, a retired Chinese assassin attempts flee from her lifetime of bloodshed. A tattooed man in 1B haunted by his most dangerous regret. A frat boy serial killer in 1C facing his past and an elderly married couple stumbling and wounded from fifty years of failed murder/suicide pacts in 1D. And, finally, a young girl in 1E whose quiet thoughts unleash unspeakable horror.
The first thing you will notice when author Jonathan Winn slams open apartment 1A’s front door is Winn’s writing style. Each story unfolds in a nonlinear fashion that carries a poetic rhythm to it. Timelines branch out and intersect like the roots of a tree. Revelations in each story are never given, they are earned. This epical style begs you to reread each story before moving on to the next apartment.
Each apartment holds something truly horrifying and disconcerting. Even when fantastical elements are introduced, Winn grounds the story with grim realities. Violent and graphic, the actions and thoughts of each tenant push the boundaries of comfort. There are flourishes of intensely dark content, both physical and psychological, within the pages of this story. It never goes to Edward Lee extremes, but this is classic splatterpunk by way of early Clive Barker and Jack Ketchum with the unhinged way Robert Bloch can get under your skin. This is truly adult horror.
Winn’s imaginative writing is bleak, yet promising. A voice unlike any other, Eidolon Avenue is a masterclass effort in horror literature. With The First Feast representing tales of the first floor, I hope that Winn has every intention of showing us the appalling horrors that lie within the remaining four floors.
September 19, 2021
EIDOLON AVENUE:THE FIRST FEAST BY JONATHAN WINN is comprised of twenty five horror novels. The audiobook is narrated by KRISTINA ROTHE.
I found the stories really good. They were just the right amount of suspense/horror that will give the listener a good case of the creepy chillies!
I would have given the book a five star but for two things: One, the F word that ,in one story ,was used every other word and it turned me off the story right away! Second, the narration. At times the narration was droning. Kristina Rothe needs to put more emotion into her reading. It sounded like, at times ,that she was just plain bored with the whole story. If the author and narrator can work on these two points they series will be a smash!
I recieved this audiobook free exchange for an honest review.
I found the stories really good. They were just the right amount of suspense/horror that will give the listener a good case of the creepy chillies!
I would have given the book a five star but for two things: One, the F word that ,in one story ,was used every other word and it turned me off the story right away! Second, the narration. At times the narration was droning. Kristina Rothe needs to put more emotion into her reading. It sounded like, at times ,that she was just plain bored with the whole story. If the author and narrator can work on these two points they series will be a smash!
I recieved this audiobook free exchange for an honest review.
July 18, 2016
I picked this up on a whim, I think it was an Amazon recommendation based on past purchases or something, and I'm really glad I did.
It tells the stories of five tenants on the first floor of a run-down tenement building on Eidolon Avenue, a place which attracts and ensnares the broken and the depraved.
The five tales are very varied, with completely different types of character, some pitiable, others so vile and monstrous as to be beyond any compassion. The horror is very visceral, gory and described in ways which will really make you cringe and wince. This is a good thing; that's precisely how I like my horror. The third story in particular, titled 'Click', is truly difficult to stomach at times.
It's very well written and evocative, an enjoyable read. But the building has a further four floors, with another five apartments on each floor. So I'm very much hoping we'll see further collections of Eidolon tales.
It tells the stories of five tenants on the first floor of a run-down tenement building on Eidolon Avenue, a place which attracts and ensnares the broken and the depraved.
The five tales are very varied, with completely different types of character, some pitiable, others so vile and monstrous as to be beyond any compassion. The horror is very visceral, gory and described in ways which will really make you cringe and wince. This is a good thing; that's precisely how I like my horror. The third story in particular, titled 'Click', is truly difficult to stomach at times.
It's very well written and evocative, an enjoyable read. But the building has a further four floors, with another five apartments on each floor. So I'm very much hoping we'll see further collections of Eidolon tales.
January 15, 2016
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review from the great folks at Crystal Lake Publishing. This is in no way reflected in my review.
Eidolon Avenue is a collection of novellas that will take you to places that are disturbingly horrific and visceral. Places filled with hungry ghosts and monsters that are all too human. Some of these stories are definitely not for the squeamish. My favorite two in this collection, Click and Bullet are filled with such vivid imagery that made me cringe and my skin crawl. While Umbra was heartbreakingly sad and yet terrifies at the same time. All of the novellas in this collection are well written slices of hell. Jonathan Winn's captivating writing has earned him a new fan. A great 4.5 star collection for horror fans!
Eidolon Avenue is a collection of novellas that will take you to places that are disturbingly horrific and visceral. Places filled with hungry ghosts and monsters that are all too human. Some of these stories are definitely not for the squeamish. My favorite two in this collection, Click and Bullet are filled with such vivid imagery that made me cringe and my skin crawl. While Umbra was heartbreakingly sad and yet terrifies at the same time. All of the novellas in this collection are well written slices of hell. Jonathan Winn's captivating writing has earned him a new fan. A great 4.5 star collection for horror fans!
April 24, 2022
Eidolon Avenue is a very creepy place with lots of different apartments. Its old and has many secrets to tell. The one thing the apartments have in common: all the tenants are dead.
Each story tells of each of these tenants and what happened to them that would cause them to remain there.
This anthology is good...I do have some that I liked more then others but all in all very good!
Each story tells of each of these tenants and what happened to them that would cause them to remain there.
This anthology is good...I do have some that I liked more then others but all in all very good!
February 22, 2016
Overall I liked this book but I did find it confusing.
December 28, 2016
My review for Monster Librarian can be found at http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheCi....
January 31, 2017
A building that's alive and feeds off its occupants vile, evil deeds. Welcome to Eidolon Avenue. Once you're here you cannot leave. This is a place you will pay for your sins... God cannot help you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2016
Have you ever driven around the city, just to browse through different neighborhoods? Sometimes you glance at these old buildings and have to wonder, who lives there, what do they do? Are their lives like mine, or is there something else hidden behind the façade?
Jonathan Winn has given us a glimpse into one such building, set on Eidolon Avenue, we are introduced to the residents of the first floor. Each reliving a past that is better forgotten. With explicit detail, we are brought into their lives, to get a taste of living on Eidolon Avenue.
Let’s start with the old lady in 1A, you know the type. Lost in memories of regrets, alone in her golden years waiting to die. But, Death never comes easy for those who await it, oh no, Death feeds off your need for release. Wanting you to relive every moment of those torturous regrets that can never be undone.
As we enter 1B we find a man who’s been running from his past. Using violence to subdue his fear of what he’s done, who he is. Aah, but one cannot run forever, eventually the past has a way of slithering into our present making us face the reality of our lives. Like a mirror, the old building on Eidolon Avenue reflects the sins of your past.
“Colton fucking Carryage,” who the hell does he think he is! Once part of the crème de la crème, he now resides in 1C, a dingy flat with stained walls and lost tomorrows. Colton’s soul reflects the decay of the building, seeped so deep in rot there is no redeeming quality to be had. With just a click, any girl can be had, until that is, they’ve had enough.
Oh Marta, Marta, what have you done? Fifty years married to the same man, they have vowed to live and die together. But, somewhere down the line things have gone askance. The move to Eidolon is to be their last. Celebrating their last anniversary dinner with a dinner guest, Marta relates their time together. Time has a way of diminishing facts, but as you know it doesn’t change them. The walls of 1D have heard enough, it’s time for truths to be told.
The last residents of the first floor are little Umbra and her Gran, they occupy 1E. I believe over time old buildings pick up pieces of those dwelling behind their doors. Little essences that eventually grow as one to make up the personality of such buildings, a life of their own, so to speak. Little Umbra is a lonely girl, sent to live with her grandma after the untimely deaths of her parents. It is here, in this run-down apartment that she finds a kindred spirit in the heart of the building. Both with dark secrets to share.
The book cover is beautifully done by Ben Baldwin; it so aptly captures the stories within. Don’t let the “Mature Content” label throw you off, this is just plain old explicit in your face horror at its best. Yeah, maybe you might want to think twice before sitting down to dinner while reading this book. Some may get a little squeamish while ripping the meat from their rib bones with their teeth while reading of flesh being shredded in strips from a man’s body. I have to say, I treated this book like a fine meal, it is not to be rushed, but enjoyed slowly so you can linger a bit between each course and allow it to be fully digested. These are stories that won’t be soon forgotten. I do hope Jonathan will give us a peek into the lives the of second-floor residents, I can’t even imagine what kind of stories they have hidden! I highly recommend this book.
Jonathan Winn has given us a glimpse into one such building, set on Eidolon Avenue, we are introduced to the residents of the first floor. Each reliving a past that is better forgotten. With explicit detail, we are brought into their lives, to get a taste of living on Eidolon Avenue.
Let’s start with the old lady in 1A, you know the type. Lost in memories of regrets, alone in her golden years waiting to die. But, Death never comes easy for those who await it, oh no, Death feeds off your need for release. Wanting you to relive every moment of those torturous regrets that can never be undone.
As we enter 1B we find a man who’s been running from his past. Using violence to subdue his fear of what he’s done, who he is. Aah, but one cannot run forever, eventually the past has a way of slithering into our present making us face the reality of our lives. Like a mirror, the old building on Eidolon Avenue reflects the sins of your past.
“Colton fucking Carryage,” who the hell does he think he is! Once part of the crème de la crème, he now resides in 1C, a dingy flat with stained walls and lost tomorrows. Colton’s soul reflects the decay of the building, seeped so deep in rot there is no redeeming quality to be had. With just a click, any girl can be had, until that is, they’ve had enough.
Oh Marta, Marta, what have you done? Fifty years married to the same man, they have vowed to live and die together. But, somewhere down the line things have gone askance. The move to Eidolon is to be their last. Celebrating their last anniversary dinner with a dinner guest, Marta relates their time together. Time has a way of diminishing facts, but as you know it doesn’t change them. The walls of 1D have heard enough, it’s time for truths to be told.
The last residents of the first floor are little Umbra and her Gran, they occupy 1E. I believe over time old buildings pick up pieces of those dwelling behind their doors. Little essences that eventually grow as one to make up the personality of such buildings, a life of their own, so to speak. Little Umbra is a lonely girl, sent to live with her grandma after the untimely deaths of her parents. It is here, in this run-down apartment that she finds a kindred spirit in the heart of the building. Both with dark secrets to share.
The book cover is beautifully done by Ben Baldwin; it so aptly captures the stories within. Don’t let the “Mature Content” label throw you off, this is just plain old explicit in your face horror at its best. Yeah, maybe you might want to think twice before sitting down to dinner while reading this book. Some may get a little squeamish while ripping the meat from their rib bones with their teeth while reading of flesh being shredded in strips from a man’s body. I have to say, I treated this book like a fine meal, it is not to be rushed, but enjoyed slowly so you can linger a bit between each course and allow it to be fully digested. These are stories that won’t be soon forgotten. I do hope Jonathan will give us a peek into the lives the of second-floor residents, I can’t even imagine what kind of stories they have hidden! I highly recommend this book.
Read
February 2, 2016Review of Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast
5 Novelettes created in the apartment complex on Eidolon Avenue. How genius? 5 floors, each floor has 5 apartments. This first book, assuming there are going to be more, concentrates on the first floor apartments.
Apartment 1A- Lucky. This story spanned a lifetime. And what a lifetime it was for Lucky of the Orient. Full of mystery and death. The conclusion of which I never seen coming, great twist. What a way to open a collection. I was drawn in slowly, but after chapter 3, I couldn't put it down.
Apt. 1B- Bullet. Here the author has a change of voice, which was an unexpected twist. Our antihero, tattoo covered Bullet, got a new tattoo. Then a few revelations. Then a chance to say goodbye, or, maybe hello? You decide.
Apt. 1C- Click. The first two titles were the characters names. Now comes 'Click', which happens to be a, uh, sound? Possibly anamatopoea. A longer story, my Kindle hit me with a reading speed of 2 hours. Starts right off with a bang, or- for story purposes- a Click. It ends with one too. And I did not see it coming.
Apt. 1D- Anniversary. And after that last horrifying and gruesome piece, here's something I hope you'll really like. A dark comedy, if you will. About a man and wife, together 50 years. They took 'Til death do you part' a little serious. All these years spent fumbling a murder/suicide pact they made at the get go. And a few recounts, on the night- that will hopefully be- the night to end all nights: their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary.
An excellent dark comedy... Oh, wait? Well that took a twist.
Apt. 1E- Umbra. Our final installment of the First Feast. Back to the title being a characters name. A young girl, in fact. She don't, "see dead people." She creates them. What she sees is something more sinister.
Now, just a quick thought, Eidolon is a noun, where it is either an idealized person, or a spectre (ghost). I believe the two definitions are intermixed well in this book.
Looking foreword to going up on the second floor.
5 Novelettes created in the apartment complex on Eidolon Avenue. How genius? 5 floors, each floor has 5 apartments. This first book, assuming there are going to be more, concentrates on the first floor apartments.
Apartment 1A- Lucky. This story spanned a lifetime. And what a lifetime it was for Lucky of the Orient. Full of mystery and death. The conclusion of which I never seen coming, great twist. What a way to open a collection. I was drawn in slowly, but after chapter 3, I couldn't put it down.
Apt. 1B- Bullet. Here the author has a change of voice, which was an unexpected twist. Our antihero, tattoo covered Bullet, got a new tattoo. Then a few revelations. Then a chance to say goodbye, or, maybe hello? You decide.
Apt. 1C- Click. The first two titles were the characters names. Now comes 'Click', which happens to be a, uh, sound? Possibly anamatopoea. A longer story, my Kindle hit me with a reading speed of 2 hours. Starts right off with a bang, or- for story purposes- a Click. It ends with one too. And I did not see it coming.
Apt. 1D- Anniversary. And after that last horrifying and gruesome piece, here's something I hope you'll really like. A dark comedy, if you will. About a man and wife, together 50 years. They took 'Til death do you part' a little serious. All these years spent fumbling a murder/suicide pact they made at the get go. And a few recounts, on the night- that will hopefully be- the night to end all nights: their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary.
An excellent dark comedy... Oh, wait? Well that took a twist.
Apt. 1E- Umbra. Our final installment of the First Feast. Back to the title being a characters name. A young girl, in fact. She don't, "see dead people." She creates them. What she sees is something more sinister.
Now, just a quick thought, Eidolon is a noun, where it is either an idealized person, or a spectre (ghost). I believe the two definitions are intermixed well in this book.
Looking foreword to going up on the second floor.
March 22, 2016
Jonathan Winn has penned a fantastic book full of sharp, stylistic darkness. EIDOLON AVENUE manages to be both literary and transgressive, drawing the reader ever deeper into the abyss. A cornucopia of horrors abound within, some subtle and many overt, but all are displayed in a manner befitting the tales.
EIDOLON AVENUE is told in five stories, each taking place in a different squalid apartment in the tenement building. The building itself is alive, drawing out these tales, these wretched human beings, and we are present to witness the feast. In “Lucky,” an aging assassin who gained her abilities through mystic means looks over her life of death and tries to sees the purpose. In “Bullet,” a man’s new tattoo threatens to reveal secrets he long thought he had buried. In “Click,” a pampered college student’s madness fuels a murderous rampage. In “Anniversary,” an elderly couple waits for death after years of misery. Finally in “Umbra,” a young girl with special powers discovers the truth about apartment building on Eidolon Avenue.
Each of the stories presented in the book is written uniquely, in its own voice, yet they flow thematically together. The building itself is the central character, a Lovecraftian Old God made manifest in brick, wood, and glass. Its oppression is complete, inescapable, the suffering to be had at its whim beyond nightmares. Winn’s prose rings authentic even in the most brutal of scenes, of which there are many. His voice will easily one to watch in the horror field.
EIDOLON AVENUE is told in five stories, each taking place in a different squalid apartment in the tenement building. The building itself is alive, drawing out these tales, these wretched human beings, and we are present to witness the feast. In “Lucky,” an aging assassin who gained her abilities through mystic means looks over her life of death and tries to sees the purpose. In “Bullet,” a man’s new tattoo threatens to reveal secrets he long thought he had buried. In “Click,” a pampered college student’s madness fuels a murderous rampage. In “Anniversary,” an elderly couple waits for death after years of misery. Finally in “Umbra,” a young girl with special powers discovers the truth about apartment building on Eidolon Avenue.
Each of the stories presented in the book is written uniquely, in its own voice, yet they flow thematically together. The building itself is the central character, a Lovecraftian Old God made manifest in brick, wood, and glass. Its oppression is complete, inescapable, the suffering to be had at its whim beyond nightmares. Winn’s prose rings authentic even in the most brutal of scenes, of which there are many. His voice will easily one to watch in the horror field.
February 15, 2016
Five apartments in a building in an unnamed city. Five tales of guilt, regret, loneliness and fear.
This is a stellar collection of novellas by Winn, and further evidence that Crystal Lake Publishing is a small press that's worth your attention. My favorites of the bunch were Lucky, Click, and Umbra. Bullet was also an enjoyable mind-screw of a story. Anniversary, for whatever reason, didn't do it for me. What I liked most about the book was Winn's prose, which another reviewer referred to as "venom-laced confectioners frosting"--I can't improve on that one.
It sounds like there will be four more collections set on Eidolon Avenue, and I'm looking forward to them. Bring on the next feast!
4 stars
This is a stellar collection of novellas by Winn, and further evidence that Crystal Lake Publishing is a small press that's worth your attention. My favorites of the bunch were Lucky, Click, and Umbra. Bullet was also an enjoyable mind-screw of a story. Anniversary, for whatever reason, didn't do it for me. What I liked most about the book was Winn's prose, which another reviewer referred to as "venom-laced confectioners frosting"--I can't improve on that one.
It sounds like there will be four more collections set on Eidolon Avenue, and I'm looking forward to them. Bring on the next feast!
4 stars
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