Graven Image

by Ray Garton

Hal Dillon collects strange pieces of art -- odd paintings and drawings, quirky sculptures. When he stumbles upon the bizarre crucifix in a curio shop, he decides to take it home and add it to his collection. On the wooden cross is a hideous figure of Christ -- it looks angry and hateful, and its teeth have been filed down to sharp points. But this piece is unlike anything else in Hal's collection. It behaves in very un-Christ-like ways, and turns Hal's life into a living nightmare.

This is a controversial religious horror story as only Ray Garton can write: dark, thought-provoking, and gruesome...

Praise:

"For its length, Graven Image covers an amazing amount of emotional territory. Curiosity, insecurity, love, rapture, terror, disbelief, rage, and despair float through this story, each registered carefully and well. When the horrors kick in, as they powerfully do, Ray Garton demonstrates a master's capacity for extending and maximizing the good old tension/fear affect so necessary in a story of this kind. His ending introduces a very satisfying ambiguity. Why did nice, attractive Jacquie wake up screaming in darkened rooms? Now, there's a question to haunt the reader of Graven Image, all the more so since the answer may never be given."
Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story and In the Night Room

Genres: Horror

86 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Ray Garton is the author of several books, including horror novels such as LIVE GIRLS (which has a movie in the works), CRUCIFAX, E4 AUTUMN, and THE FOLKS; thrillers like TRADE SECRETS and SHACKLED; and numerous short stories and novellas. He's also written a number of movie and television tie-ins for young readers. He lives with his wife, Dawn, in California.

Reviews

[Adam Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome little short novella from Ray Garton. Hal collects oddities, and when he and his girlfriend Jacquie are browsing a curio shop he discovers a bizarre crucifix - the wooden Jesus is so freaky several people have declined to purchase it upon gazing at its chillingly sinister face.
Not Hal. Hal buys it.

He shouldn't have.

This novella was a joy to read. So far I have not been dissatisfied by any of Garton's work, and the streak continues.

[Karl]

This is copy 28 of 457 copies signed by Ray Garton.

[Ryan Sasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray Garton Rules