Lies & Ugliness

by Brian Hodge

A collection of horror and dark fantasy stories including "The 121st Day of Sodom."

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Gothic Horror, Collections, Fiction

386 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Brian Hodge, called “a writer of spectacularly unflinching gifts” by Peter Straub, is the award-winning author of ten novels of horror and crime/noir. He’s also written well over 100 short stories, novelettes, and novellas, and four full-length collections. His first collection, The Convulsion Factory, was ranked by critic Stanley Wiater as among the 113 best books of modern horror.

He lives in Colorado, where he also dabbles in music and photography; loves everything about organic gardening except the thieving squirrels; and trains in Krav Maga, grappling, and kickboxing, which are of no use at all against the squirrels.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those fans of horror, if you haven't read Brian Hodge, you're missing out on one of the genre's most uniquely talented voices. Hodge is a master at his craft, plain and simple.

In this third collection, Hodge delves into gods and monsters, deities in every conceivable form, exploring the various dark things we as humans worship. While religion is the undercurrent here, this isn't of the preachy variety but one that bites with teeth and peels back the skin like an orange...or onion.

Highest of recommendations!
(Review note: this book didn't take me 4 years to read, but one that I picked up every now and again and would read a story or two, then got buried in my massively growing TBR.)

[Иван Величков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Този сборник разкази на Ходж ми вървя най-мудно от всичките негови, изчетени до тук. Може би, верен на заглавието си, грозотата ми дойде малко в повече, колкото и феноменално добро да е перото му, точно за този тип литература. А може и да е заради подредбата на разказите, защото първите дълбаят в една и съща патология, а нататък нещата потръгват много добре.

Madame Babylon – Любимата тема за града и неговите нередности на автора. Нещо като Нощен влак за месо на Баркър, но много по-покварено и сексуално изкривено.

The 121st Day of Sodom – Дан към писането на дьо Сад. Дали го надскача, не съм аз човекът, който ще каже, но определено се опитва. Впускаме се в нощните садо-мазо клубове и зависимостите на техните обитатели. Ходж не се свени да хвърли читателя в ебахти дълбокото.

Empathy – Една история, която започва развратно и завършва по едиповски трагично. Малко се смива с предните две и задава грозен тон на цялата книга, който за щастие по-нататък утихва, иначе нямаше да има четене сборника.

Cancer Causes Rats – четен в The Convultion Factory и един от най-въздействащите разкази четен от мен изобщо. Един поглед в главата на сериен убиец и пълен социопат, който няма как да не те накара да кимаш в съгласие с него.

Some Other Me – Една почти детска история за приятелството между любопитно момче и възрастен съсед с странна колекция. Темата е доста експлоатирана, но Ходж придава съвсем ново звучене на историята.

Nesting Instincts - Темата е за отчуждението в семейство с приемни родители, макар и ситуацията да е по-сложна. От там има доста джаз и един брутално умопомрачителен финал тип бодихорър, май само Ходж ги умее толкова добре тези неща.

Before the Last Snowflake Falls – Ах, брутално красиво изкривена история/патология. Едно хлапе спасява сестра си от нелеп инцидент. Тя, обаче е белязана да умре или вече го е направила, макар да ѝ се е разминало физически.

An Autumnal Equinox Folly – Забавна заигравка със Сън в лятна нощ на чичо Бил Шекспир. Написана в мерена реч и с доволно количество архаизми. По шекспировски неебателна и по ходжовски изкривена.

Confession – Кратка и чудовищна изповед с доста игра с формата. Оби1ам такива разкази, доста се доближават до нашето писане (моето и на колегите от Лазарус).
Cenotaph – Чел съм го в Fallin Idols и в онази компилация пасваше по-добре. Все пак си остава страшно красиво написана история. Англия, Зеленият човек и една умираща връзка.

Far Flew the Boast of Him – История от света на Хелбой, благодарение на която Ходж става един от редовните автори във франчайза. Издържана е много добре във вселената и парадигмата на комикса. Мрачна и доста интровертно ориентирана.

Now Day Was Fled As the Worm Had Wished – Странна история за един нетипичен любовен триъгълник, гарвани и легенди. Един от по-скучните, прекалено конвенционален разказ.

Pages Stuck By a Bowie Knife to a Cheyenne Gallows – Паранормален уестърн в най-добрите традиции, ако може да се говори за такива, в жанра. Един войник на съдбата след гражданската война в САЩ. Един бандит, който не го лови куршум. Една тайна, която на края ще му даде покой.

Driven the Last Spike – Една обикновена любовна драма и нещо необикновено, което се промъква между редовете. Холивуд е капан за мечти и правилното възмездие винаги удовлетворява, но какво може да видим на ръба на живота?

Little Holocaust – Най-добрият разказ в сборника и един от топ Пет на Ходж. Дали защото обожавам мрачно градско фентъзи, дали защото и аз виждам града като чудовище, поглъщащо собствените си деца, дали защото съм губил нелепо приятели. Най-вероятно заради всичко накуп и още. Приказно истинска история за цената на живота.

Dead Giveaway – Това вече беше четено в една зомби антология. Принципно добър разказ, но за човек като мен, мнооого далече от телевизията като цяло, ми беше леко скучноват, въпреки зомбитата.

Past Tense – История за успял мъж, обсебен от страх от обвързване и пристрастен към импулсивното начало на всяка любовна връзка. Един подарък от поредната бивша ще му стъжни живота. Дали?

Our Lady of Sloth and Scarlet Ivy – Ох, тази история. Една съвсем обикновена, красива жена е отвлечена от объркан мъж и държана в мазето. След време, след надеждата, след депресията, след бунта, дори след апатията, се появява нещо ново. Никой не пише боди хорър така. За всички, които си мислят, че това е жанр запазен за киното.

The Last Testament – Заигравките на Ходж с класически и исторически образи не веднъж са ме забавлявали, на моменти успява да надскочи дори Нийл Геймън. Тук имаме история за двама вампири, добили необичайни роли в човешката история. Авторовото въображение няма граници, когато трябва да изненада и шокира читателя. Сега да видите какво е общото между Иисус, Дракула и последния папа и не само.

The Alchemy of the Throat – Също вече го бях чел в сборника “Words of Hurt”, който включва вси1ки разкази от митологията му за Блудните. „Алхимията на гърлото“ ни потапя в една Флоренция, където все още има търгове за деца кастрати за църковни хорове. Едно такова продадено хлапе разказва историята за своя частен мецанат, който не е точно човек. Разкош!

Come Unto Me, All Heavy Laden – Когато Ходж богохулства, може направо да докара инфаркт на някой вярващ, но и на някой атеист също. Една история за забравени светци, разпятието и края на дните, поднесена по невъзможно неочакван начин.

Endnotes – Финалните бележки по всички разкази са разказ сами по себе си. Винаги чета такива авторски повдигания на завесата с интерес, но тук беше и с удоволствие.

[Benjamin Uminsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how this happened, but I seem to be making my way through Hodge's collections from most recent published backwards. My first collection was the most recently published, PICKING THE BONES. I have just gotten through LIES and UGLINESS, and I have FALLING IDOLS up next, which was published before L&U. After that, its onto CONVULSION FACTORY, the very first collection of Hodge's short stories (which I do not own as of yet). Strange, but that's how my Hodge reading has unfolded (with one of his novellas slipped in there for good measure).

Nevertheless, from what I can discern, the order of reading is meaningless, the stories found in either PtB and in L&U have been extraordinarily good, so order makes no difference to me. Its hard to say which collection I have enjoyed more. I think the gems from PtB might have sparkled a little brighter than the gems in L&U, but perhaps the rest of the stories in L&U were a little stronger than the rest of the stories in PtB. For the reader, you won't be disappointed by either collection.

Much like PtB, Hodge takes us into his very bleak world of highly flawed human beings dealing with some very strange and often supernatural circumstances. As I read more and more Hodge, I have come to realize that another outstanding author, Laird Barron, has many stories with a similarly bleak and scary world. Where Barron's focus is on a dark and terrifying cosmic threat, his characters are less developed and thrown through a meat grinder for the reader's perverse enjoyment. I think Hodge achieves a similar bleakness in his stories, but his focus is on the spiritual and moral decay of the characters themselves. Barron's settings are exquisite, but I think Hodge infuses greater life into his characters.

I can think of another author, Joel Lane, that fleshes out characters with similar moral decay and turpitude, except, Lane's stories don't have nearly the same effect or captivation as Hodge's.

Hodge presents us with characters who have some serious baggage, and interact with other characters with similar crosses that they bear throughout wonderfully fascinating stories infused with incredible supernatural elements.

In L&U, Hodge starts us off with a story (Madame Babylon) told in the setting of extreme urban decay and moral taint. We follow a man who is lost and searching for answers. We see him mistake, what is clearly obsession, for love... both sad and pathetic. The story leaves the reader overwhelmed by a pretty grotesque but fitting end for this highly tainted character. The setting of the urban landscape is dripping with spiritual toxicity... creating quite the mood for this noirish manhunt...really well done by Hodge!

While I enjoyed "Madame Babylon" and thought it was a good representation for the entire collection, I can't say that it was my favorite story. Those gems are as follows:

"Little Holocausts"

This was easily my favorite story, even more so than "Alchemy of the Throat" (which I actually purchased this collection for). This story started off like many other Hodge stories, exploring the slow and agonizing death of the soul. However, the story is literally an exploration into what happens when the soul becomes too burdensome to bear and someone comes calling with an opportunity to relieve you of that burden. What would that mean... how could that be a achieved? Well, I think this is a bit of a cautionary tale that speaks volumes as to the crushing expectations of our society in conforming to the norms. Hodge does a nice job with the politics... really moving stuff here.

"The Alchemy of the Throat"

So this one is part of Hodge's mythos that has spanned four different stories. Really tragic in its exploration of the immortal coil. The delivery at the end was a bit shocking, but in reflection, probably should have been expected. I think the characterization in this story was not as strong as some of Hodge's others stories, but the plot elements and themes carried the story nicely. The decadent Italian setting was a really nice touch, and left me fully captivated by Hodge's world.

"Pages Stuck by a Bowie Knife to a Cheyenne Gallows"

This one had quite an anti-hero heading up the story. Likewise, I liked the wild west setting, although less wild west and more post civil-war anarchy type of setting...though, it really feels the same, so I won't split hairs. Anyways, you get a real feel for the narrator in the re-telling of his tragic tale. I think you get the same kind of angst and moral decay in this one as you would in any other modern Hodge tale, but told during a time with different cultural values and societal problems. The surprise ending was delivered nicely as well.

"Come unto me, all ye heavy laden"

This was one of three stories in this collection that used rock/stone as a key thematic element or plot device, the others being "Cenotaph" and "Now Day was fled as the Worm had Wished". I think of the three, "Come unto me..." was my favorite, although the other two were certainly captivating. This one showed Hodge's usual irreverence to organized religion (which I am a bit partial to). A very unusual story though with a lot going on (quite a bit of mystery, hinting at the otherworldly for the characters to explore) that takes us down a path to an ending that was really something unexpected... ultimately pointing at some sort of Armageddon.

Hodge is one of my favorite contemporary authors, and for good reason. As a reader, I'm often left feeling like a voyeur into a dark and vicious world. A world that reminds me of how lucky and safe I am living in my own world. Yes... some of his stories are viscerally depressing, but I think Hodge is able to weave such wonderfully clever, captivating, and bizarre stories that you don't walk away from a story feeling entirely enervated by the negative energy flowing from the sad and tragic characters.

A wonderful collection... highly recommended of course.

[Joe Silber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Hodge is one of those under-read authors who are really quite good. His prose is fairly literary and polished, rather than workman-like, and most of his stories go for the horror found in the human pysche (although most of them feature supernatural elements as well). Many of his stories feature characters that feel alienated or lonely or unhappy in some way, and the characters are more the focus of the story than the supernatural horror, which often only fully reveals itself toward the end of the story (sometimes with a jolt, though!). Although he only does so in a handful of stories in this collection, he is very good at writing from a child or teenager's perspective in a convincing way, much like Stephen King.

If you are looking for tense, edge-of-your-seat suspenseful horror, look elsewhere. Hodge's stories here are more melancholy. Also, fair warning - a few of his stories are pretty graphic and would qualify as "erotic horror" or something similar; they weren't my favorites in the volume, but they were carefully crafted just like the other stories. Not appropriate for kids, though.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up at a library sale because I was in the mood for something dark and decadent. And it fit the bill, sort of. I read each of the stories in one setting, tearing through them pretty fast. Brian Hodge has an easy to read style, but one that's a little hard to get used to. He uses a LOT of commas, breaking up sentences, seemingly randomly although mostly in a conversational mode, to the point where you wish he'd get ON with it, and maybe move on to another paragraph, or possibly two. (That last sentence was an attempt to be cute. Feel free to ignore it and move on.)

I finished just about all of the stories with a feeling of, "Huh. Okay then." A few of these were pretty gruesome, but they just didn't make much of an impact. Two exceptions were, "The Alchemy of the Throat" and "Pages Stuck By a Bowie Knife to a Cheyenne Gallows". "Alchemy..." was a story of a modern-day castrati, and I wasn't expecting much until I came to the ending. It turned almost sweet and a little touching in the last pages (in a tragic, self-sacrificing sort of way), which colored how I saw the rest of the story. "Pages..." turned into one of my favorite horror stories ever. It's set in the Civil War era, not something I usually go for. But the narrator's voice is stark, and at the same time lyrical. You can't help liking the character, miserable bastard that he is. And the whole thing revolves around a horrifying piece of revenge engineered by someone who never even gets a line.

I'd skip the endnotes if I were you. They don't reveal anything terribly interesting about each story, and the play-by-play where Hodge writes exactly what he was doing with one story over the course of two months is one of the LEAST helpful things I've ever read.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favourite collections of short stories. Brian Hodge is scary good.

[Jay Mullan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You won't regret reading it. Your dreams might.