Necro Publications continues its Fresh Flesh
experiment with a debut novel from John Shupeck Jr. Here the author has woven four very different stories containing interlocking characters and
situations. Like converging train lines ultimately intercepting at the same
terminal, each story has the same analogous outcome.
We begin in nowhere, Pennsylvania - and Dan Suppers
is looking for civilization after breaking down in his car. Soon he stumbles
upon the still-smoking and charred aftermath of a large fire, the remnants of
an entire small town’s populace. With no survivors to tell the tale, Dan is
left to piece together the mystery of Kecksgille’s final moments ... and how an
entire municipality ended in a baptism of blood.
Incipientium:
Slow out of the gate, Incipientium chronicles a young Mike Rearick and his merry band of
friends as they make their way to the local Kecksgille Baptist Church and a
night of revelry. But the resultant climax here is more like a reverse-coin Children of the Corn that will see
Kecksgille’s adults – guided by the hand of a local priest - rise up against
the children in a well-choreographed genocide.
Hypochondriac:
As implied by the title, mental illness takes centre
stage in this first person narration. Composed in diary form, we are slowly
introduced into the ailing world of young Carl Truitt and the doctors tasked
with helping him. Our narrator’s voice is sly, crass, and contains just enough
adolescent humour to please any underdog.
River
Road:
Chronicles the story of Zachary Bennett who takes
the path less traveled in an effort to escape an impoverished existence and
parents battling addiction. A mere child when he begins his journey, Zachary
Bennett comes to age almost overnight after being pitted against the ‘medicine
man’ of his nightmares. A final showdown in heart of Kecksgille rounds off a
story rooted in subtext.
Spider
Arms:
Another tale of the underdog, Spider Arms centers on Kevin Ritchie, Kecksgille’s neighborhood
teenage punching bag for Jocks everywhere. Cursed with a subtle malady that
redefines lanky, Kevin decides – on one fateful day – to fight back. But not in
the manner his adversaries expect. Ultimately a routine narrative of revenge.
There are a few other intervals here in Red Town Lost – some clever, others
mystifying – while the syntax (at times) can be awkward and comes
pre-packaged with run-off sentences and juvenile metaphysics. However, as a
working whole there is a quality of strangeness that grows as the story
progresses. If some of the plot devices are a little too deus ex machina for some readers, I suspect more light can be shed
on them in John’s illuminating and candid afterward.
Red
Town Lost is available now from Necro Publications.
