Lost Angels

This is a THE collection of Schow material that no reader should be without. Yes, I know it consists of a small handful of Novellas, but what wonderous Novellas they are -- the likes of which only come along once a generation or so. Now of all times in history,in a post 9/11 world, it is appropriate to revisit these characters and their fragile realities which are threatened by the "meanness in this world" to borrow a phrase from a song. Indeed, the characters in these stories are all striving, against the highest of odds, to either create lasting love, hang onto love, recapture or rekindle love or simply hold on to their own existance in the face of the loss of love, loves, deep friendships and the kinds of intimacies that are seldom dealt with in Horror fiction in today's works either by other writers or even the author of this superlative collection. I have a ragged copy of LOST ANGELS that has seen 9 apartments, 2 houses, seven cities, one Continent, 5 countries and 3 Islands during its time with me. It has been lent out to countless dear friends, always reluctant to return it as if its one of those books that came from a magic bookstore that will evaporate should it leave your hands. I'd describe the stories in detail for you, but that would detract from their mystery and magnificence while diminishing your own 1st reading experience. Now that it is available again, grab it while you can, brother/sister. Schow seems to know a thing a two about profound loss, coming up with searingly unique catch-phrases to describe the pains that you yourself didn't have the words with which to express your own losses until you come across his characters' dialog and/or inner thoughts. Some of those phrases will stay with you until you die due to their simple "rightness" in describing the scraping agonies of grief and guilt salted with self-doubt.As painful as the journeys of these Novellas are, they are not utter downers nor are they merely descriptions of loss for the sake of making the reader feel bad. Indeed not, in his own way, Schow appears to be celebrating the loves and joys that preceed the leavings, suggesting that it is only through our friendships so true and close, our loves so deep and binding that we come to exist at all. Although there is hurt here, there is none of the rolling around in depravity merely for depravity's sake that dominates the Horror field today. There is poignancy here, amidst an unflinching view of the perils of the bonds we choose to forge in a world that certainly discourages such profound connections. In fact, what is moving about this collection as opposed to all the Sex & Death collections is that it reminds us that we can, if we choose to: love. Yes, we can lose that love, that friend, that blood-brother, to death, oblivion, indifference, our own failings and a host of other threats, but we can, if we dare to: LOVE.Schow covers all such loves and losses here. The stories may seem to occupy a different sp

You cannot go wrong reading Schow. Simply put, he is one of the most unique voices in "Horror" fiction today. Schow writes what only others could dream about and far more potently than most writers today. Even his worst pieces are far above what is being passed off as "literature". It saddens me that he isn't being pushed as he should to the reading market, all because he writes "horror". This collection alone is worth so much more because, no matter how many times you read it, you always come out changed. Always. Schow is a very under-appreciated writer. Hopefully, more people will come across his work and treasure it as I have.

David Schow's short fiction is as keen-eyed and hard-hitting as one could want from a horror collection. It always pains me that Schow is often identified with a genre in which laughable supernatural occurrences abound; his horror is founded in circumstance and emotion, and any supernatural notes are used to support that, rather than hold the entire story aloft. He does it right. I'm very happy to see this edition available.