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Sinkhole
The slug-like Wogslȗk are in your head. Oh, maybe a familiar song might connect you with what little remains of your former self while your brain dissolves on its stem. But in the end the creatures will have you and all your memories too -- and they’ll have your soul in the bargain.
But young Zachary and his beautiful stripper pal, Tiffany, know what lurks beneath the cul-de-sac called Diamond Loop, and they know of others who had discovered the Wogslȗk many years earlier in a small New Mexico town.
They know how it ended for them.
Now the Wogslȗk have returned. They’re stronger, they’re smarter, and they’re determined to get inside your head.
Sing if you must. It may seem your last chance.
But it won’t help...
But young Zachary and his beautiful stripper pal, Tiffany, know what lurks beneath the cul-de-sac called Diamond Loop, and they know of others who had discovered the Wogslȗk many years earlier in a small New Mexico town.
They know how it ended for them.
Now the Wogslȗk have returned. They’re stronger, they’re smarter, and they’re determined to get inside your head.
Sing if you must. It may seem your last chance.
But it won’t help...
418 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 2017
3 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth C. Goldman
130 books58 followersKen Goldman had been a Philadelphia English and Film Studies teacher until he decided to take the money and run in order to seek fortune and fame. An Active member of the Horror Writers Association, he has extremely ostentatious homes on the Main Line in Pennsylvania and at the Jersey shore depending upon his mood and his need for a tan. His stories appear in over 900 independent press publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia with over thirty due for publication in 2019-2020 For some reason his book of short stories, YOU HAD ME AT ARRGH!! FIVE UNEASY PIECES BY KEN GOLDMAN (Sam's Dot Publishers) remained an all-time top ten best seller at The Genre Mall 2007-2011 until its closing. Damnation books published his very sensual (and easily purchased) novella DESIREE in June 2010 (available in Kindle and print at Amazon.com as well as finer restaurants everywhere as a place mat); ExCessica Publishers re-released DESIREE in Kindle format December 2016. In October 2012 A/A Productions published his book of five short stories, DONNY DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (Kindle, e-book, Nook, print, and audio -- yada yada and yada). Vampires 2 Publishers released STAR CROSSED in e-book/Kindle formats, in March 2013---this anthology contains another five of Ken’s tales, varying from Sci-Fi to erotic horror, much like Ken’s real life. His novel, OF A FEATHER, was published by Horrific Tales Publishers (UK) in early 2014. Ken's new novel, SINKHOLE was published by Bloodshot Books August 2017. If you have read this far, please notify Ken and he will send you money. (Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.) Ken would be famous except for the fact nobody seems to know who he is. However, he expects to be discovered posthumously long after the mother ship arrives to take him home.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 2, 2018
If the cover didn’t tip you off, Sinkhole isn’t my usual literary fare.
It’s horror — in case that wasn’t immediately clear — with elements of science fiction. Hell, it’s a Ken Goldman tale — which means the genre feels like something that hasn’t quite been invented yet. More on that in a minute because I have a disclaimer to get out of the way first.
Ken Goldman is a longtime friend of mine and The Husband’s; he was a groomsman in our wedding and before that, The Husband’s high school English teacher. Among my fondest memories are spending many a Friday or Saturday evening hanging out at Ken’s house, the four of us –me, The Husband, Ken, and Baby, Ken’s beloved parrot (may he rest in peace) –watching movies at top volume, eating pizza and, if I was lucky, getting a chance to read a new Goldman short story before I fell asleep during a movie marathon and the requisite memory lane trip down the high school halls for The Husband and his friend. Those were some great times that now feel like they happened in another century.
I tell you all this because it helps to know what you’re getting into by reading Goldman. You kind of need to prepare yourself because, quite honestly, his writing isn’t for everyone. It’s…intense. You need to be comfortable — very comfortable — with multiple iterations of the word fuck and numerous other crude phrases. You can’t be squeamish or prudish, because a Goldman story inevitably contains buckets of gore and abundant sexual scenarios — often in the same scene. You’ll find dropped references to literature and films. It helps to know your pop culture from, say, the past decade or two.
Like I said, it feels like a genre that hasn’t been invented yet. Until now.
Sinkhole, Goldman’s second novel, has all of this. And then some more. The difference between you the reader and Goldman’s characters is that you are now prepared for whatever is lurking.
That’s not the case for Eden and Greg Colson or their 13-year-old son Zachary. A typical, middle-class family, the Colsons have just purchased a new home in Diamond Loop, an upscale suburban development in Glenn Echoes. They quickly notice problems with their water and learn that there are some major issues requiring an excavation.
But their problems (and their neighbors’) go deeper and are more sinister than anyone can imagine. Slimy, slug-like creatures known as the Wogslûk have been lurking underground for more than a century. Now, they are attacking the residents and the excavation crew with hooks, burrowing into their brains, rendering them near death and — worst of all — leaving their victims with annoying earworms (you know, the musical kind that you — c’mon, you knew this was coming — can’t get out of your head).
(You’ll never hear Billy Preston’s 1975 hit “Nothing From Nothing” without thinking of Sinkhole again. Trust me.)
With a narrative that alternates between the present day and travels back in time to the mid-1800s, Sinkhole has a motley cast of characters. Along with the Colsons, their neighbors, their new friends on the excavation crew, a Harley-riding stripper/wannabe-investigative journalist, we also meet a group of stagecoach passengers — including a nun — traveling west on the Santa Fe Trail. Reporter Taryn E. Friedman, who readers met in Goldman’s first novel, Of a Feather is a very special guest star in Sinkhole.
I’ll be honest (because you know I always try to be in my reviews): ultimately, Sinkhole wasn’t quite for me. My friend Ken is probably not too surprised to hear this. Horror and/or sci-fi aren’t my preferred choices, and as someone who considers herself a fierce feminist (especially in these times) there were a few bothersome scenes where the portrayal of the women (who always seem to be clad in not much more than tube tops) felt a bit gratuitous.
I do believe in supporting my writer friends’ work, though, even if it’s outside of my comfort zone. Even if I don’t understand some parts. Even if it’s ultimately not 100% to my liking. What I did appreciate was how Sinkhole can be seen as a commentary on today’s society — and Goldman’s alternate narratives between modern day and the 1800s illustrates this in a clever and creative way.
Because despite our fancy homes and our perfectly curated exteriors, there’s always something nefarious lurking underneath.
It’s horror — in case that wasn’t immediately clear — with elements of science fiction. Hell, it’s a Ken Goldman tale — which means the genre feels like something that hasn’t quite been invented yet. More on that in a minute because I have a disclaimer to get out of the way first.
Ken Goldman is a longtime friend of mine and The Husband’s; he was a groomsman in our wedding and before that, The Husband’s high school English teacher. Among my fondest memories are spending many a Friday or Saturday evening hanging out at Ken’s house, the four of us –me, The Husband, Ken, and Baby, Ken’s beloved parrot (may he rest in peace) –watching movies at top volume, eating pizza and, if I was lucky, getting a chance to read a new Goldman short story before I fell asleep during a movie marathon and the requisite memory lane trip down the high school halls for The Husband and his friend. Those were some great times that now feel like they happened in another century.
I tell you all this because it helps to know what you’re getting into by reading Goldman. You kind of need to prepare yourself because, quite honestly, his writing isn’t for everyone. It’s…intense. You need to be comfortable — very comfortable — with multiple iterations of the word fuck and numerous other crude phrases. You can’t be squeamish or prudish, because a Goldman story inevitably contains buckets of gore and abundant sexual scenarios — often in the same scene. You’ll find dropped references to literature and films. It helps to know your pop culture from, say, the past decade or two.
Like I said, it feels like a genre that hasn’t been invented yet. Until now.
Sinkhole, Goldman’s second novel, has all of this. And then some more. The difference between you the reader and Goldman’s characters is that you are now prepared for whatever is lurking.
That’s not the case for Eden and Greg Colson or their 13-year-old son Zachary. A typical, middle-class family, the Colsons have just purchased a new home in Diamond Loop, an upscale suburban development in Glenn Echoes. They quickly notice problems with their water and learn that there are some major issues requiring an excavation.
But their problems (and their neighbors’) go deeper and are more sinister than anyone can imagine. Slimy, slug-like creatures known as the Wogslûk have been lurking underground for more than a century. Now, they are attacking the residents and the excavation crew with hooks, burrowing into their brains, rendering them near death and — worst of all — leaving their victims with annoying earworms (you know, the musical kind that you — c’mon, you knew this was coming — can’t get out of your head).
(You’ll never hear Billy Preston’s 1975 hit “Nothing From Nothing” without thinking of Sinkhole again. Trust me.)
With a narrative that alternates between the present day and travels back in time to the mid-1800s, Sinkhole has a motley cast of characters. Along with the Colsons, their neighbors, their new friends on the excavation crew, a Harley-riding stripper/wannabe-investigative journalist, we also meet a group of stagecoach passengers — including a nun — traveling west on the Santa Fe Trail. Reporter Taryn E. Friedman, who readers met in Goldman’s first novel, Of a Feather is a very special guest star in Sinkhole.
I’ll be honest (because you know I always try to be in my reviews): ultimately, Sinkhole wasn’t quite for me. My friend Ken is probably not too surprised to hear this. Horror and/or sci-fi aren’t my preferred choices, and as someone who considers herself a fierce feminist (especially in these times) there were a few bothersome scenes where the portrayal of the women (who always seem to be clad in not much more than tube tops) felt a bit gratuitous.
I do believe in supporting my writer friends’ work, though, even if it’s outside of my comfort zone. Even if I don’t understand some parts. Even if it’s ultimately not 100% to my liking. What I did appreciate was how Sinkhole can be seen as a commentary on today’s society — and Goldman’s alternate narratives between modern day and the 1800s illustrates this in a clever and creative way.
Because despite our fancy homes and our perfectly curated exteriors, there’s always something nefarious lurking underneath.
March 18, 2020
Good Read
Not my favorite from Goldman, but still a solid book. I had a hard time relating to the characters. However, I really loved the switch between time lines and how they came together at the end. I won’t be having nightmares, but I might have developed a stronger distaste for slugs and maggots after this one.
Not my favorite from Goldman, but still a solid book. I had a hard time relating to the characters. However, I really loved the switch between time lines and how they came together at the end. I won’t be having nightmares, but I might have developed a stronger distaste for slugs and maggots after this one.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews