Turnaround

by Craig Spector

Eric Best's world is changing… not just a piece here or there, really changing.His monotonous day job working for an Internet search engine company leaves him unfulfilled, so he starts writing an exciting screenplay.His wife isn't happy with all of his time being monopolized, and their marriage is already a little rocky, but Eric is determined to finish what he started.He's becoming more and more invested in his work. He's even having lucid dreams of his scripted universe… but more real.Then he notices the changes.Changes in his life that are impossible, wonderful, and even horrific…

Genres: Horror

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Author, screenwriter, and musician Craig Spector developed an interest in the macabre at a very early age: he was severely burned in a tragic household accident when he was only ten months old and did drawings of skeletons and severed heads when he was a little boy. Spector graduated cum laude in 1982 with a B.A. in Professional Music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and went on to attend the Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved to New York City and published his first novel "The Light At The End" (co-authored with John Skipp) in 1986.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of a writer shaping reality by their writing is a little stale, but Spector puts an interesting little twist on the end of this one that (forgive me) turns it around a little in a fresh way. None of the characters are particularly likeable or terribly well-developed, neither the "real" ones nor the "fictional" ones created by the protagonist (it's hard to get sympathetic about stale Hollywood people doing Hollywood stuff), but the book did raise some interesting questions about being and reality that kept me engaged. It's a short novel, and maybe I got it all wrong anyway... maybe Eric Best was just crazy and the whole thing was a delusion.

[Paul Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor and get this straight from the Cemetery Dance website (where, although signed and limited, is still very reasonably priced).

If you come to Craig Spector's work expecting the bombastic shenanigans (yes, I said that--deal with it) of his work as part of Skipp & Spector (THE LIGHT AT THE END, THE BRIDGE, ANIMALS, etc), it's not going to go quite the way you think. Spector--in this tale of missed chances, reinvention, subversion, and acceptance--is still interested in pushing his characters and stories to the extreme, but on a smaller scale and, in his third solo novel, he's turned inward, into the head of his protagonist. It's a trippy, excruciating, grueling...and, ultimately, satisfying story that blends the fantastical with the psychological perfectly.

So come get some.

(This is an informal, freeze-dried version of the review, written by me, of the Editor's Choice review in the upcoming issue of JAMAIS VU, Issue 3, from Post Mortem Press.)

[Steve Sabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not Spector's best work. The plot is definitely compelling but for me, it felt more like a first or second draft instead of a finished product. It wasn't a long book and most of the characters could have used some fleshing out. The ending was also ambiguous, which works on one level, but leaves the reader with more questions than answers. There was also no real explanation of how script world came into existence, or why. There is reason to believe it has to do with the drugs that were given to Eric by his psychologist friend, but that plot point seems to get glossed over and forgotten. Still, I have followed this guy since the 80s when I first read Fright Night and The Light At The End and his talent is undeniable. I would love to see him crunch out another novel or two with his former collaborator, John Skipp, but that might just be a pipe dream of mine. He is a solid writer, but if you are only going to read one of his novels, don't make it this one. It won't give you the true assessment of his talents.

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was written by one half of my favorite writing team from the dawn of the Splatterpunk era. That being said this is not that type of book. It is about a scriptwriter who like all writers becomes the master of their own world. That being said, it reminded me of some other stories I have read in the past but was in no way derivative of any of them. This was an original and powerful novel about a man, Eric, whose life is crumbling down around him and clings to the one thing he is good at; writing.

They say you are only as good as your last hit, and that comes into play even in every day life as Eric finds out. Stuck at a deadend job, and at the same time, doing countless rewrites for a script, that, to him is already perfect, Eric begins to escape into his work. Soon he finds that the things he is writing werent just part of his active imaginiation, or his dreams, they are becoming real.

Spector reaffirms his innate abiltiy as a storyteller here, as he has created an everyman who dreams for something more, and at the same time creating an atmosphere of the supernatural. Highly entertaining and addictive.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally interesting and highly imaginative story. Highly recommended

[Wayne's · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel, it was original and really developed the character well.