Ghost Music: And Other Tales

Linked as they are by bonds of friendship, their accomplished writing and their incalculable contributions to modern horror, it seemed fitting that short story collections from Peter Straub and Thomas Tessier crossed my desk almost simultaneously. Given my admiration for their work, I put everything else aside (including urgent details of a pending move to another continent) and eagerly read them back to back. As billed, MAGIC TERROR presents seven tales of suspense and the macabre. Two, 'The Ghost Village' and 'Bunny is Good Bread,' relate to Straub's brilliant Blue Rose Trilogy. The first details Tim Underhill's encounter with spirits inhabiting the Vietnamese village of Tong Bo; the second tells of events from the tragic childhood of future serial killer Fee Bandolier. 'Hunger, An Introduction'ostensibly about the afterlife, also addresses social tensions that persist among various economic classes. IHG Award Winner 'Mr. Club and Mr. Cuff' provides a bizarre riff on Melville's classic Bartleby the Scrivener. More down to earth, but nonetheless chilling, are 'Isn't it Romantic?', recalling the works of Graham Greene, and 'Pork Pie Hat,' the story of a Halloween night long ago that skewed a famous musician's worldview toward cynicism and despair. Among the Straub stories, my favorite was 'Ashputtle', the story of the sadistic Mrs.Asch, a teacher who exploits, manipulates and sometimes dispatches her young charges. Straub navigates some very ambiguous terrain here. On the one hand, he summons memories that many of us have of being mistreated in the classroom, detailing Mrs. Asch's sins in her own cruel voice. This portion of the narrative reaches a chilling zenith when the murderous schoolmarm inadvertently drops her guard and refers to a student as 'it'. Straub then turns the tables, making us feel sympathy for the monster, whose actions are the result of an abusive childhood. Tessier's collection is no less entertaining: GHOST MUSIC demonstrates his wide range and talent, and his skill at giving the reader an exquisite feel for his characters. Examples of this talent are found in 'Food,' featuring the lonely Mr. Whitman, who, desperate for human contact, strikes up an absolutely bizarre relationship with his morbidly obese and housebound neighbor. 'Curing Hitler' chronicles a doctor's attempts to treat the case of hysterical blindness the Fuhrer experienced during World War I. Several tales deal with their character's journeys, both physical and mental, as they seek their bliss, search for personal Grails, and find their fates. Thus we have 'Blanca,' wherein the protagonist is trapped in a foreign locale, 'In Praise of Folly' and 'Infidel,' two tales in which characters undertake unusual searches which cost them their lives, and 'La Mournante,' where a quest for love results in a loss of identity. The most terrifying piece in this collection is also one of the most subtle.'In I Remember Me,' Tessier describes a world ravaged by a disease th

Tessier's first collection _Ghost Music_ is an extraordinary one. Nearly every story is a small gem, filled with strange occurrences, weird characters, and beautifully literate writing. Tessier reminds me of Thomas Ligotti, in that both write fiction outside the boundaries of normalcy, and both apply the very highest literary standards to their work.This book is beautifully packaged, put together with care by another great small press, Cemetery Dance. This is the first CD publication that I've come across and if this is indicative of their general quality (which I believe it is) I will be searching out more. The stories are collected from the last 15-20 years of Tessier's writing and run the gamut from strange science fiction to tense psychological weirdness. My favorite stories in the volume are "Evelyn Grace" and "I Remember Me". "I Remember Me" is odd in that it's more straight SF than any of the other stories. The world is hit by a plague wherein everyone forgets who they are and where they live. Tessier does a remarkable job following one individual through the understated panic resonanting throughout society. This story is remarkable, it's quickly become one of my favorite SF stories. "Evelyn Grace" is more typical of Tessier's work. It's weird and wonderful.Also enjoyable was "Curing Hitler". A psychiatrist in a WW 1 era hospital treats a soldier who's gone blind. There's nothing physically wrong with him and the psychiatrist attempts to help young Adolph overcome his mental block. Fascinating.This is easily one of the strongest collections that I've read in some time. I am so thankful that small presses like Cemetery Dance are collecting excellent short fiction. Without them the works of extraordinary artists like Tessier will be confined to the flimsy pages of forgotten magazines. Long live the small press! Highly recommended.

Tessier's first collection took its time coming, but is well worth the wait. Cemetery Dance are to be congratulated for bringing it out, and for the quality of the edition - far removed from the usual typo-laden small-press horrors. Ghost Music contains nineteen short stories and the novella "The Dreams of Dr Ladybank" - the bleak and sordid tale of a doctor who exercises psychic control over a punk and a male prostitute. The story, told almost entirely from the point of view of the controlees, clinically lays out the merging of minds while brilliantly evoking the evil fascination of manipulation. The novella is also, perhaps, the culmination of a series of stories in which the central character's - often quite innocent - fascination with a particular thing or hobby leads to a horrific but poetically apposite destiny. Notable examples are "In Praise of Folly", with its miniature city of perverse sound-sculptors, and "Blanca", which combines police-state terror with apprehension of a less earthly kind. Several more of the stories concern male sexual fantasies and their unpleasant puncturing - the rich, vapid protagonist of "La Mourante" falls for a zombie because she is passive, tractable and without personality, while "The Last Crossing" demonstrates, among other things, the perils of having nothing to lose. Yet other tales, like the title story and the delightful "A Grub Street Tale", deal with the perils of art - its persistence, its perversion and its frailty. Besides all that, there are stories like "The Banshee" and "Evelyn Grace" in which a casual approach to other human beings leads abruptly to insane catastrophe; "Infidel", which makes an unsettling suggestion as to what kind of thing might be hidden among the vast libraries of the Vatican; and "In the Desert of Deserts", one of three or four stories at the end of the book which show the strange distortions of experience that wait for us sometimes at the edges of our lives. The sheer range of style on display here is impressive, as is the variety of setting and character - "Curing Hitler" and "Lulu", set in central Europe in the early twentieth-century, are perfect short evocations of both place and historical period. Appreciative readers of Tessier's novels will be disappointed with none of the myriad facets of this remarkable collection.