"Russell Coy has crafted a tale that sends you into the throes of happy delirium. A spectacle of intensity guaranteed to thrill." - Wile E. Young, author of Magpie Coffin
After giving up on his dream of being a published writer, Chris is plagued by a series of nightmarish visions of grotesque creatures. As the visions manifest with greater frequency they start targeting his young daughter. They are finding their way into his world and only he can fight them. Chris must uncover the truth about his connection to this strange, sadistic realm, and plunge headfirst into the unknown if he wants to save his daughter and himself.
Dimentia sets its explosive tone in the eerie build-up. It has an ethereal feel. Chris the protagonist, is a floating existence that is struggling to find his way with his writing. The imagery, the supposition, feels like a bullet ricocheting off the walls in a box room. This is the perfect summary of this taut horror novel. That bullet is speeding towards its end goal. Its impossible not to get hit in the fallout, you become a part of the wreckage as a result. This is the pulse pumping experience that will engross you to the end.
Dimentia is a novel that will crack the strongest of wills. It’s a story that is steeped in such palpitatingly dark imagery that you don’t want to look in those dark corners. Russell Coy has a narrative that dares to be heard, it pulls you in, ties you up and leaves you for dead.
A disenchanted writer. A goat like shadow that has dark intentions towards his daughter. Apparitions. An increasing strength between worlds. An unbreakable bond between father and daughter.
The setting gives you an immense feeling of unease with a bubbling undercurrent of threat. Chris, a disenchanted writer deletes his short stories and attempted novels. What writer hasn’t felt like doing that occasionally? Anyway, he’s had enough and gets rid of them all. Old notepads and journals are thrown away. He’s in the garage and what is that skulking shadow in his peripheral vision? A shadow…a shadow of what? Again, he gets distracted by the school bus pulling up. Tara (his daughter) gets off and starts to walk towards the house. Chris is absolutely frozen still with the horror of what is transpiring in front of him. A demon-like creature has its sights set on his daughter…
The speed and pacing of Dimentia is like a speeding bullet. Be careful to dodge those speeding impacts, but that urge to race to the end was magnetic. Secrets will be revealed, a sense of urgency is stripped back. Relationships are put to the test. One sentence and the blood flew. There are two sides to the story – the human condition and the form it takes is in the centre, we never think we are good enough, Chris is a prime example of that but on the other hand, he steps up to the plate and does what must be done in order to protect that which he holds dear. A story of love, dedication and accepting you are good enough.
Dimentia just keeps on building with tension until an ending so satisfying it should be criminal. Be prepared to be wrong-footed by Coy at every turn.
Okay so it’s clear this author is a fan of Clive Barker. As this is very Clive inspired and almost reads as hellbound heart/hellraiser fanfic.
That’s not a bad thing exactly. I think it’s great that this author was basically like “what if these cenobites existed”? And I mean some of them were actually really cool. If you’ve read it, just know I really love lovely!
The scenes had the gruesomeness.
But this just totally lacked in atmosphere. Like very badly. This author talks at the end about how he was helped to make his mess of a book more concise and I just wanna know what it looked like before this because I would swear this has never seen an editor.
The writing was just not great. If there was a picture of telling instead of showing in the dictionary it would be a of this authors book unfortunately.
Things just happen. And frankly even though it was a fast read, I guarantee I’ll forget it by tomorrow.
This is, to put it mildly, a weird one. And not necessarily in a bad way. But it’s definitely bonkers, bizarre, and befuddling.
A man starts seeing weird goopy sex demons half materialize in his everyday life. A particularly devilish one, dubbed Red Fang, manages to bridge the gap between their worlds and steals his daughter. Now put protagonist must enter a disturbing hellscape to rescue her (and hopefully find his confidence along the way).
There’s not much to the characters or their personalities, but the plot is crazy enough that I stayed on board just to see what would happen. Now, I mentioned sex demons because the majority of them are, well, having all kinds of freaky sex. There’s a lot of supernatural sex. Like, a lot.
But there’s also a ton of incredibly imaginative creature designs and alien landscapes, some really hilarious WTF moments, and some strange and unsettling scenes. It’s a speedy descent into odd delirium and I’m mostly here for it (minus a good bit of the demon sex, but that’s just me).
Well that sure was a ride of dark and vivid imagery! This story makes me leery of my everyday surroundings, as it created a new fear and paranoia of a dimensional rift full of creatures that night want to feed me to their Mama. I was anxious for our protagonist as he's navigating BOTH worlds/realms - his love for his daughter and her safety/well-being are both a huge pull in each. I really enjoyed the writing with this story and Russell Coy is now on my radar!
When Chris begins seeing strange creatures fuzz in and out of his vision, he attributes it to his mental state and starts to ignore it. Soon, a gloopy creature he names Red Fang, actually manages to touch his daughter and he realizes it’s much more than in his head. His daughter is soon taken, and he enters the world of sex demons.
I enjoyed the writing of this book. It was gross, but I was still intrigued. I’m not so keen on the plot though. I get what happened, but it’s never really discussed why it happened. I also think the ending was a little too neat. It did leave open room for interpretation, or maybe even room for a sequel.
Dimentia was a middle of the road read for me. I probably won’t revisit it, but I recommend it if only for the weird alien sex.
This was a bizarre and tidy little tale that jumps straight into the action pretty quickly, with the main protagonist seeing strange creatures from another dimension very early on. Expect to be pulled in quickly and held tight until the very end.
I'll be honest, this is not the sort of horror book I would generally choose to read so take my review with a grain of salt. I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this though and am glad it was included in a subscription box.
The atmosphere is tense and holds like a taught rubber band throughout. The imagery is dark and disturbing. Even if you think this may not be your cup of tea I urge you to try this. You may be as pleasantly surprised as I was.
This quick little book had a Hellraiser feel to it that I really enjoyed.
Dejected writer and dad Chris is trying to put his writings behind him when he starts seeing... things. Best case scenario, it's a tumor in his brain making him see stuff. Worst case scenario? It's real.
I really enjoyed this book and Coy's descriptions of the other-dimension beings/landscapes was very creative and really interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Coy puts out.
This is a cosmic horror novella that, for some reason, I thought was going to be about aliens. For reference, I don't usually equate cosmic beings with traditional aliens. So I was definitely a little surprised when I read this story and determined it was pretty much discreet Hellraiser fan fiction. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Pinhead is dope, but this take on a strange version of what the Cenobytes sort of are, was a little much for me.
Okay, so it's not exactly fan fiction. None of the Hellraiser characters or universes converge in Dimentia, but this story does steal some pretty memorable scenes and plot devices from Clive Barker's iconic film. A father is on a journey to save his daughter from utter annihilation against a race of horrifying cosmic beings who have some strange interest in passion and torture. Unfortunately, the author packed this story with so many cosmic beings doing disgustingly terrifying things one right after the other, that I actually wasn't able to ever fully process a full visual of the horror being described before the story moved onto the next creature. It was so overwhelming to digest becomes there was just so much piled on top of one another.
There was also one huge editing error that I was stunned no one caught before this book went to print. The author changes the name of the protagonist's wife for like a chapter and then changes it back right after. It's clearly not an intentional plot device. It's just a blatant error that drove me crazy while reading this.
That being said, if you're a Hellraiser fan, I think you'll appreciate this story. If not, just get prepared for a very weird, but brief ride meeting a ton of horrifying monsters churned out as frequently as sales at Kohl's.
This novella-length story is chock-a-block full of some pretty nasty visuals of an assortment of very ugly and alien-like creatures that may or may not exist. That alone - if that's your bag - merits a gander at 'Dimentia', in which Russell Coy pushes his protagonist Chris on a dangerous journey to save his young daughter from a really bad fate.
The tale moves fast, and while there is an underlying ambiguity to some elements the action is quite fun (albeit brief - at just over 80-some pages).
A couple of editing glitches in the final chapter are a minor nitpick.
When weird horrors from another dimension come for this dad/failed writer's family, the dad/failed writer fights back. This furiously pulpy page turner is heartfelt and positively pulsating with monstrous surprises. Coy's crisp prose is artfully succinct and never distracting. Extremely my kind of shit, can't wait to read more from this guy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
So weird and so well described that I just loved it all!! It feels like a complete fever dream which is the best kind of horror!! Gave me The Troop vibes in the sense of constantly asking myself why someone would write this.
3.5⭐️. It wasn’t bad. I will give the author credit because he writes well and his attention to detail is superb. I loved the descriptions of the aliens and other space creatures/plants etc.. The storyline was unique. I gave it a 3.5 because I wasn’t afraid of anything in this novella and I didn’t feel a sense of fear or an atmosphere of fear like other readers had mentioned in their reviews. Perhaps that is due to personal preference? However, it’s not a bad read and I would read it again in the future. I’m also interested in future works by Russell Coy. It’s a nice addition to my bookshelf.
The story starts off fast and it does not let up. The author did a great job building both worlds and the creepy creatures. The descriptions were so vivid...he really brought everything to life. The main character Chris reminds me of the book “Feel the Fear and do it Anyways”. He’s not only battling the creatures but also his fight or flight instinct. Chris is a fallible hero that’s fighting to save his daughter. He makes mistakes along the way and you get to see him evolve into being a better person and dad.
Clash Books and Russell Coy team up for a trippy, otherworldly horror title, featuring a struggling writer trying to protect his daughter.
There is alot to love here. I went in blind. This book came in my nightworms package, and I'm glad I picked it up and started to read it. The book starts off trippy, and just gets insane from there. Sexual creatures from other dimensions, vivid imagery, beautifully trippy writing. It's all here. I really enjoyed this one.
I wouldn't call this one horror but I also can't imagine what other genre category you would list it under? It's not really a "spooky" story, you don't get feelings of trepidation going into it. It is very weird and graphic though. Like the author read The Hellbound Heart and thought "but what if more tentacle vore?" and now here we are.
I read this book knowing already that it would be a "gross horror" based on a booktuber review but I didn't realize just how hard it would lean into the gross and away from the horror. I might have rated this higher if it didn't feel like after the slow build-up to the horrible sex demons (yes, really) we immediately sprinted away in another direction. This book could have done with more length and development I guess is what I'm saying.
It's a fast book, took about an hour to read, so if you're curious it's not that big of a commitment. I read the ebook on offer with Amazon Kindle Unlimited which has a surprising typo but otherwise the formatting and editing were fine.
Generally enjoyable as a weird-fiction novella. At times it seemed like things came far too easily to the main character, like the first time he tried out his theories on interdimensional thought manipulation and BOOM! It works immediately.
But let's talk about that cover.
I'm pretty much at a complete loss at this book's packaging. Both the title and the cover promise something we are never given. The cover art is STUNNING ... but this is not an alien abduction story. Not once in this book do aliens from space appear, nor do any tractor beams from the sky. What gives? The title is a *little* better, since I suppose it's a play on the word "dimension," but mostly it brings to mind dementia, which seems like an inaccurate spoiler of the novella's ending.
I got this book in a book subscription whose theme was aliens and space horror. That seems proof enough that this cover art is so wildly off-base that even book-subscription curators get duped.
To clarify: my star rating has nothing to do with the cover art. That's the publisher Clash Books' problem, not the author's.
Dimentia is an a short but excellent novel that sprints through a hellish landscape. There is less than ten pages of set up before Coy cranks it up to 10, and we descend into madness with the protagonist. The protagonist starts to see his daughter accosted by a demonic creature. However, it seems like the creature is unable to touch her as if though he were a ghost unable to touch anything solid. That's until the creature is finally able to grab her. The protagonist now has to figure out how to defend his daughter from this hellish being. The story goes into a Cronenberg-esque territory with some of the most intense body horror I've read. With all this, Coy still manages to upend expectations. There's a specific moment that changes your perspective on what exactly is going on with these creatures from another dimention. I enjoyed the hell out of this book.
This is a fast paced, all action tale, part David Cronenberg flesh horror, part Edward Lee hellscape, part HP Lovecraft's From Beyond. 100 pages that don't waste time and gets right to the fleshy/ghostly fornication intensity. Bizarre creatures abound in a fathers struggle to protect his daughter from their horrors.
The cover for this book made me think "alien abduction" but has nothing do with that at all. That said, the artwork just looks awesome and creepy.
I got this book as part of the May Night Worms and it did not disappoint. Only one thing wrong and it was an editorial issue where the wife's name switched from Chelsea to Cassie and back for one chapter, but don't let that deter you.
This horror novella doesn't hang about as our protagonist, Chris, is in the throes of abandoning writing when he comes across an interdimensional monstrosity going after his young daughter. The gas pedal is never let up upon from there as Chris falls deeper into despair.
The quick start that doesn't linger on Chris's domestic life like other horrors might actually makes it feel more real and horrific. Coy does a.great job describing the monsters within and making you able to conjure them down to the feel of their skin.
This is a great short read and I look forward to more work from Coy in the future.
I have to give Coy credit for channeling the insane imagination of Clive Barker here, but that's really about all I can give him. This novella was boring, partly because it's about 80% description, 2% character development, and 18% making-it-up-as-we-go (at least, it feels that way). Top that off with a narrative style that's all telling, no showing, and it just winds up feeling like a waste of a read. There's no emotion here, not when the main character loses his daughter, not when he brings her back, and not when he has the big breakthrough at the end of the story. It's just a big ball of dull that doesn't make much sense.
It had an interesting start, but I couldn't quite envision all the weird creatures and locations as much as I probably should have to be more impressed. The wife's name changes in the last chapter of the book from Chelsea to Cassie and then back to Chelsea again. Not sure if this was an editing error or intentional. If intentional, I completely missed the meaning behind it.