Books

Haunting Paranormal: Ghost Story Collection – Review of Series Openers from M.L. Bullock’s

/ danielwalterc / Leave a comment

Have you ever ordered a sampler at a restaurant?  Let’s take the seafood sampler for example. There might be a couple of crab legs on your plate, some fried shrimp and tartar sauce.  Throw in some garlicky scallops, a lobster tail and you’re all set. 

I read a sampler a couple years back. I’m just getting around to writing about it now.  Don’t worry, I’m refreshed. Try refreshing two year old scallops though, that may not turn out so well. 

I reread and/or skimmed through the stories of M L Bullock’s Haunting Paranormal Ghost Story Collection, which is a collection of firsts from various series.  I saw this book advertised on Facebook at a very generous price.  Of course I can’t remember what I paid; perhaps a few dollars?  It was a kindle book.  Also, I can’t recall if it was an advert or if I was already following Bullock.  Whatever the case may be, the promotion worked on me (that rhymed) and I bought the book. 

Need I say each story contains a haunted house?  Mostly these are manors and each one has a story to tell, having hosted successive generations within their walls. Whether plantation  manors or mansions unassociated with a spread of land, they are houses of the American South.  Hence,   M. L Bullock is known as “The Queen of Southern Gothic”.  Don’t believe me?  Check out her website and see for yourself!  You’ll have to scroll down a bit.  She shows off this title in bold, colorful print. Guess I can be the King of the Houses of the Haunted if I just get my fonts right.  

 Bullock’s writing style is, well, it’s her style. Some will love it, others no. I’m somewhere in between. She’s overly descriptive  when detailing the heroine’s daily apparel or hairstyle choices. At least for my tastes. She is quite prolific, being the author of several long series. How does she pump out so much material?  For one thing, the books within the series are not very long (at least not the books that begin each series). Second, her works are very formulaic. 

Nevertheless, Bullock  is a good story teller, skilled at wrapping the reader in her worlds, both modern and historical. Had this not been the case, I wouldn’t have made it through these five stories (although with one of them I was tempted to quit).  They are:

Seven Sisters 

The Haunting of Joanna Storm

The Belles of Desire, Mississippi 

Wife of the Left Hand 

The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road

This article will touch on each story in brief, examining plot, and offering opinions. As to this last point, I will finish each succession with a “Yes”, “No”, or “Maybe”.  What are these? Well, they are answers, you see. This implies the preexistence of some kind of question, doesn’t it?   The question is: Does this introductory book entice me to read other books in the series?

First, let’s get the formula out of the way. This applies to most of the five stories, if not all.

A female protagonist finds herself in a new house or city in the American South.  Things in the new place are not exactly normal. They are, shall we say, “para” normal. Ghostly goings-ons are afoot. Sometimes the event is subtle, causing the heroine to dismiss it. Other times the event is striking, leaving no doubt the house is haunted.

A large chunk of the story will take place in historical times. Sometimes it’s half of the story, and in other cases only snippets of the past leak onto the page. In all cases, the protagonist experiences the past as if she were there as an eyewitness watching a haunting history unfold. Hence, there are two timelines, the present and the past, and the workings of the paranormal to connect the two. The means to this time bridge she crosses differ slightly from story to story.

In most of these stories, there is mystery surrounding the fate of a woman from the past who once resided in the haunted house. Either she disappeared during her lifetime or the final fate of the woman (who is a victim of some tragedy or loss) is lost to history. It is the duty of the protagonist to solve the mystery.

The protagonist’s appearance is described in great detail. Hair color or style, manner of dress, from blue jeans and t-shirts to grand dresses or yore. This description applies to her male love interest as well.  In every story, there is romance or hints at romance, earning these stories the genre badge of “Southern Gothic Romance.”

Finally, all these stories end abruptly.  It’s as if there is a built-in alarm that rudely blares, catching the reader off guard. Content with the story pacing, enthusiastic to complete the last stretches of the journey, then all of a sudden,  a hidden voice comes out of nowhere and shouts, “Last call for alcohol! Drink ’em up, we’re closing in 10 minutes!” Conclusions are fast, unsatisfactory, and forced, with many questions left unanswered. I guess this is where the reader is supposed to grasp quickly at the next book of the series. Hurry! Go to Amazon, buy and download. Damn! Slow wifi. OMG, does my device have enough charge? (As I write this, I  am reminded to charge my tablet. Seriously, I might have gone to bed with no power to read anything before sleep. The horrors!)

Obviously, I didn’t rush to buy any sequels, for as I stated, I’m going to reveal my yes-maybe-no answers concerning the prospects of continuing any of the series. However, I did finish this entire book, which means, despite how much I seem to be bashing these stories, I did discover things I liked.  I like the worlds Bullock creates, both past and present.  The characters are interesting. Bullock does take the time to build idiosyncrasies into their makeup.  And the stuff of ghosts and haunted houses are spooky and fun!  

Okay, enough of all that. Let’s explore each story in more detail, shall we?

 Seven Sisters

Carrie Jo,  just out of a relationship, is hired to assess the inventory of antiques inside Mobile, Alabama’s Seven Sisters Manor (former plantation), with the end goal being to convert the premises into a museum.  She is well qualified. She is a historian and has a team at her disposal to assist in renovation and research. She falls in love with Ashland, her boss, and the current owner of the estate.

She also has a special ability when it comes to dreams.  When she sleeps in the presence of artifacts, or inside an old house, her dream  transports her back in time, where she can witness the happenings from a long time ago. 

In her dream state, she is transported from  the twenty-teens to the eighteen-forties, where she witnesses the life of Calpurnia Cottonwood, the teen daughter of the former owner of Seven Sisters. Poor Calpurnia went missing sometime in the 1850s. Readers, through Carrie’s dreaming eyes, learn how she fell in love with a sailor who happened to be passing through Mobile. We feel for her when she is abused by her drunken father. The dreams tell us of other relationships from the past. How slaves interact with their masters, how slaves interact with each other. 

Carrie Joe, when exploring the manor in modern times, witnesses doors opening and closing. Could this be the activities of a Calpurnia’s ghost?

All in all, a very interesting piece of historical fiction with fine, ghostly elements.

Will I read on?  

Let me show you what I would be up against if I took on this task.

Will you look at this loooooong list?  Oh Good Lord!

SEVEN SISTERS

#1 Seven Sisters

#2 Moonlight Falls on Seven Sisters

#3 Shadows Stir at Seven Sisters

#4 The Stars That Fell

#5 The Stars We Walked Upon

#6 The Sun Rises Over Seven Sisters

#7 Beyond Seven Sisters

#8 Silent Night, Haunted Night

#9 Haunted Halls of Rosegate Manor

#10 Terror at Mossy Oak

#11 Dark Angel of Selma

#12 Silent Chapel

#13 Angel Terrible

#14 Tangled Garden

The Ultimate Seven Sisters Collection

Seven Sisters Collection Vol. 1

Seven Sisters Collection Vol. 2

Seven Sisters Collection Vol. 3

Seven Sisters Collection Vol. 4

Bonus Christmas at Seven Sisters

Bonus The Ghost on the Swing

I think it would be a more worthwhile experience if I just simply read War and Peace or Moby Dick.  As interesting as this story is, the answer is No, I shall not trudge in this field of overgrown weeds. 

The Haunting of Joanna Storm  (Book 1 of 3 in the Morgan’s Rock series)

It’s a house on the rock, overlooking the ocean, somewhere in Florida. Meagan, a writer, has leased the big, old house. There, she will work on her latest book.  It has several floors and a clocktower. Gotta love a house with a clock tower!

Oh, guess what?  It’s haunted.  Meagan sees ghosts in mirrors, hears disembodied shuffling. A mysterious maid shows up at her door one day, claiming to have been hired by Meagan’s agent.  Be wary of mysterious maids in haunted house stories.

Once upon a time, Joanna Storm lived at Morgan’s Rock.  A Hollywood starlet , Joannna lost her parents at a young age. Her father “accidentally” fell off the rock and into the ocean. In her time at Morgan’s Rock, she too heard disembodied shuffling, along with whispers. She had friends, colleagues, enemies and lovers who died tragically.  The strange thing is, no one in modern times seems to know what happened to Joanna Storm. History itself shrugs its shoulders and mutters, “Beats me.”

Meagan, as per Bullock’s formula, will visit Joanna’s timeline.  This usually happens when she encounters an item in the house that once belonged to her, such as a scarab necklace. In fact, when she dons Joanna’s dress, she becomes her! 

This story doesn’t grab me as much as Seven Sisters, but it is a mercifully short trilogy.  So, will I read on?My answer is Maybe

The Belles of Desire, Mississippi 

This story is from The Ghosts of Summerleigh, a four book series.  It takes place in Mississippi. 

Harper Lee, a dying patient at a resident care home, forms an attachment to Jerica, one of the employees of the care home. When Harper passes, she bequeaths her family home to Jerica. Jerica is now the owner of the Summerleigh estate, which includes a grand ol’ house with multiple floors, a large chunk of land, on which a small cottage stands.

There is a catch – Lee has tasked Jerica with uncovering the mystery of what happened to Jeopardy Belle, Jerica’s older sister, who went missing in her early teens.  It is more of a plea rather than a clause within the will. However, Jerica is sensitive to Harper’s wishes and will do what she can to solve the mystery.

Jerica moves in, but stays in the cottage, not the main house. Why?  Too many ghosts are floating about in there (don’t know if they are actually “floating”, my words, not Bullocks, not Jericas)  Who are these ghosts? Turns out, there are layers of ghosts, just like layers on a cake.  Ghosts of Belles, ghosts of family/residents before the Belles. And even Jerica’s own baby boy, who she lost in a car accident, appears (although his is drawn to his mother, not the house)

Like with the other books in this review, there are two timelines. First, there’s the modern day, which includes the whole Jerica storyline. This takes place in the twenty teens.  And oh, how can I forget, Jerica has a love interest.  He helps out at a restaurant in the nearby town and happens to be a handy maintenance man and Jerica could sure use a man like that to help restore the house. I’m sure he satisfies her in other ways too.  Okay – Love interest plot covered.  Let’s go back to the good ol’ days.,

The second timeline takes place in the 1940s. The four Belle sisters (or is it five? I’m forgetting) live with their mother. Father is away a lot. When he is gone, mother is mean, especially to the oldest girl Jeopardy.  Jeopardy rebels by hanging with the wild crowd, smoking, drinking and skinny dipping. One night she goes out and never returns.

How are these timelines connected?  Through Jerica’s dreams, she learns of the past,  much like the Carrie Jo character in the Seven Sisters story.  The difference – Carrie Jo possessed this dream time-travel ability before the events of the story. Jerica has no such superpower. But after Harper’s passing, she dreams of the life of the Belle sisters as seen through Harper’s eyes. I guess Harper’s spirit is passing the info along to her in her dreams.  Perhaps Bullock, knowing she already had a story about a “dream sensitive”, didn’t feel like using a clone character, so she decided Jerica would dream of the past in such a way to miraculously plot itself out like   chapters in a book.

The book’s ending is not as sudden as Bullock’s other novels. This is the best of the five books.  I really appreciate the different character traits of the Belles sisters. The mother, father, Jeopardy’s sort-of boyfriend, all fit into the story well. There was enough depth to convince me this was a real family (of course it’s fictional).

So, will I read on?  There is only three books total, so My answer is Yes.

Wife of the Left Hand

This is book 1 of 4 of the Sugar Hill Series.  For a change, let’s begin with the past. A wealthy son of a plantation owner takes Susana to be his wife. This is a morganatic marriage, also called a left-hand marriage. Simply stated, it’s the pairing of two people of unequal social class. In this case, Susana is from the lower social ranks. It falls on her to earn the privilege of being the wife of one of the most promising young rich men in the area.  But when she is accused of adultery because of a situation that is not her fault, she is ostracized by not only her husband’s family but by her own mother as well. However, the mother will do what is necessary to secure this marriage. In the end, they will use witchcraft to bind Susana to her husband. But this comes at a great cost.

All this takes place in Fontaine, Alabama somewhere in the mid 1800s. Fast forward 150-160 years, we meet Avery Dufresne, a famous  newscaster who is nearly murdered by an unknown assailant. He is still on the loose and she needs to hide. Coincidentally, she is invited to take refuge out of state and live in her family’s mansion. She was unaware that she had an extended family, not to mention a mansion to go along with them.  This is the same mansion that Susana lived in with her husband.  Her great aunt, the family matrone, places a ring on Avery’s finger, which signifies she is to be the new family head with powers to control the finances.

There are plenty of ghosts around the mansion creeping about and waking Avery up at night. Some ghosts disguise themselves in the skin of the living.  She encounters people and has long conversations with them only to find out they have long since passed.

Through  video tapes, her deceased great-great grandmother “interviews”  Avery. Somehow, even before Avery was born, this grandmother knew Avery was destined to be the matrone. These tapes reveal family history; history that even this  great-great grandmother would have been too young to have experienced.  This would be the history of Susana. Could Susana be haunting this mansion?

Did I forget to mention Avery is dating a rock star?  I did. Now it is mentioned. There – the love story is covered.

So, will I read on?  There is much substance to this layered story, and the mystery surrounding this huge and complicated family is intriguing. Why do they need an appointed matrone every generation?  

But it doesn’t grab me as much as The Belles of Desire, Mississippi. That series has a total of three books and this one has four, so my answer is Maybe.

The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road

Last and least, The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road is book 1 of 15 of Golf Coast Paranormal Series.  Unlike the other books in this review, this story takes place mostly in the present day (yadda-yadda 2012? 2013? 2014?). However, there are two events relevant to the current-day story that happened in the past.  Back in the awesome 80s (when little ol’ me was a teen), a jock takes a popular girl from school out to the woods, hoping for some hanky-panky (not an 80’s phrase, oh well). Needless to say, things don’t go his way.  Her refusal was not totally unexpected. What was shocking and downright terrifying was the thing from the sky that flew down and whisked his date away.  It looked like a giant owl. She was never seen again.

Jock dude was the last person to see her so he was the prime suspect in her disappearance . However, there was no evidence to charge him with anything.

About one hundred and forty years before this, a woman escapes from her abusive husband with the help of their male slave.  The slave is also her secret lover.  While on Kali Oka Road, she disappears. I do believe that owl-thing is involved in her vanishing.

Now for the present. Cassidy is blessed/cursed with a paranormal skill – she can paint things that happened many years ago.  She paints events with amazing detail. She captures things which only someone at the scene would know. She paints a depiction of the aforementioned woman fleeing down the road.  When she touches the painting, she goes into a trance and is transported back in time.

Cassidy joins the Gulf Coast Paranormal group to investigate the ghostly phenomena on Kali Road.  They explore the mansion the woman lived in, which is connected to the road via a wooded trail.

Oh yeah, the house is haunted.

Oh yeah 2, Cassidy has a love interest, some dude from the paranormal group.

Most of the pages in this story focus on the young men and women in this paranormal group. I don’t really care for these characters. Seems like this group of people was just mashed together with the hopes that something intriguing would arise from this mashing. Hint: this doesn’t happen.  This whole story, in fact, seems rushed and rough.

If the Seven Sisters series seems long, check out the list for The Gulf Coast Paranormal Series:

GULF COAST PARANORMAL Season One (featuring Midas, Cassidy and Sierra)

#1 The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road

#2 The Ghosts of the Crescent Theater

#3 A Haunting on Bloodgood Row

#4 The Legend of the Ghost Queen

#5 A Haunting at Dixie House

#6 The Ghost Lights of Forrest Field

#7 The Ghost of Gabrielle Bonet

#8 The Ghost of Harrington Farm

#9 The Creature on Crenshaw Road

#10 A Ghostly Ride in Gulfport

#11 The Maelstrom of the Leaf Academy

#12 The Ghosts of Phoenix No 7

#13 The Ghosts of Oakleigh House

#14 The Spirits of Brady Hall

#15 The Gray Lady of Wilmer

Bonus The October People (A Gulf Coast Paranormal Extra)

GULF COAST PARANORMAL TRILOGY

#1 Ghosted

#2 Haunted

#3 Spooked

#4 Dead

#5 Paranormal

Gulf Coast Paranormal Season One Boxed Set

GULF COAST PARANORMAL SEASON TWO (featuring Sierra and Joshua)

#1 The Wayland Manor Haunting

#2 The Beast of Limerick House

#3 The Haunting at Goliath Cave

#4 The Skeleton’s Key

#5 Death Among the Roses

#6 The Spiritus Mirror

Bonus Horror Ever After (A Gulf Coast Paranormal Extra) 

What an insane list!  So, will I read on?  My answer is NO.  Put more crudely, No fucking way!

My final thoughts

M.L. Bullock has plenty of fans. Just check out her Amazon reviews. She has found her niche within the Southern gothic and romance genre.  I prefer authors that don’t restrict themselves to  a certain sub-genre the way Bullock does. By doing so, it can come to a point where the genre itself dictates the story. Bullock’s books come close to this example. They rely heavily on formulas and overserialize the story, falling prey to the sterile ratio  “quantity over quality”.  (That’s my “q-tip” for the day. Ain’t I funny?) That said, the author has a knack for good story telling, character writing, and world building.

I promised to go forward, at least with the The Ghosts of Summerleigh series. This doesn’t mean I’m pushing aside other books on my reading list and diving straight into “Summerleigh”.

Summer is ending, folks, at least here in Chicago.  So give me some time, will ya?

One more thing – the author’s name is Monica Bullock. Such a pretty yet distinguished name! I prefer that to M.L. Bullock. Easier to remember and somehow more authorlike than the pretentious two initials/one last name bit.  That’s only my opinion.  Others will disagree.  Fair enough.  

Get ready, readers, Halloween will be here soon, and I will wanna do cool, spooky things here at this blog!

 

Review of Apartment 16

/ danielwalterc / Leave a comment

“1-Adam 12 to  Apartment 16!“  “1-Adam 12 to Apartment 16!”

Are you in the mood for a crossover between a late 60s/early 70s police show and a 2010 horror novel?  You’re saying “no.”  Oh.  Well don’t worry, I’ll lay Adam 12 to rest and just focus on Apartment 16. 

Apartment 16, where were you when I was working on my haunted apartment series? Your presence would have been a most worthy inclusion! 

(Apartment 16: “I was there. You said yourself that my book was published in 2010.  You wrote your article in 2018.  So let me reverse your question – where were you?”

Me: “Shucks. You got me there, Apartment 16!”)

There is something very fishy (not to mention downright eerie) going on at a high-end apartment complex in London, England. It should be no surprise when Apryl is a bit freaked out. After all, she has the new home jitters, having only recently inherited her aunt’s apartment within this complex. She’s not only new to the building and all its idiosyncratic noises, but being an American, she’s brand-spanking new to the city and country as well. We can forgive her for being on edge. But what’s Seth the overnight porter’s excuse? He works there, he shouldn’t be afraid of the clunky lift, the long, tiresome stairways and the shadows that appear on the accompanying walls.  He should just do his job , but at the same time, he should pay no mind to the noises coming from Apartment 16.  It’s an abandoned apartment, so yes, the fact that noises are coming from that location is at best weird. Let weird be weird!  But, no.  You have to get involved, don’t you?  This will be your undoing.

Apryl is morally obligated to get involved. There are mysteries surrounding her late aunt’s mental decline and eventual death.  Some of the clues to the mystery are right there in the apartment complex or in her aunt’s storage room in the basement.

Psst, Apryl!  There are neighbors who might know what’s up.  But these snooty old people don’t want to talk to you.  Same with you, Seth. You know how uptight these rich hermits are. You’ll find ways to piss them off. Or just ways to off them.

Apartment 13 is a story of the occult. Or dream people and the bizarre characters these dreams produce; creepy weirdos that won’t stay confined to dreams. It’s a story of obsession and vengeance from beyond the grave.

This is the second book by Adam Nevill that I have read. The first for me was The Ritual. The reviews for The Ritual fare slightly better than Apartment 13, but I think I like Apartment 13 more.  There is something about Nevill’s writing style that I like and dislike at the same time. He is very detailed.  Sometimes this detail brings me smack dab into the moment of the story. Other times it makes my mind wander.  A “for instance” concerning my wandering mind : A character in Apartment 13 will be approaching a threshold. He or she is thinking things, the description of the hall finds its way into several sentences. Meanwhile the character is still thinking and when finally s/he crosses the threshold, it’s five pages later and I had assumed the character made it into the room several paragraphs back. Things like this seem to happen to me more often in The Ritual, a book about four guys being lost in the woods.  Maybe woodsy environments in general cause more mind wandering than apartment halls or something, I don’t know.

Nevertheless, both are good books. Neville is all about style. His style.  You love it or hate it.  Then there’s me, who likes and/or tolerates his style but loves his overall stories. Except for his endings.  In both books, the story just sort of drifts away at the end, leaving the poor reader behind.  So I am ambivalent about his style, love his stories, hate his endings.  Oh but I love his characters.  Let me repeat –

Ambivalent about style

Love the stories

Love the characters (some withvery unique with interesting peculiarities)

Hate the endings

 

As for bad endings, I’m guessing you hate the way this article is ending. All these clarifications and repeats. Fine, let’s start over –  “1-Adam 12 to  Apartment 16!“  “1-Adam 12 2 Apartment 16!”

 

Review of Wylding Hall – A Novel by Elizabeth Hand

/ danielwalterc / Leave a comment

Would you like to take a “Wyld” guess as to what Wylding Hall, a novel by Elizabeth Hand, is all about?  Or if “Wylding” is pronounced differently, would you want a description of the novel “wyld” upon you?  My “wyld” guess is that you would want the description “wyld” upon you rather than trying to figure out what the book is about all by yourself.  So, I will tell you what it’s about. 

Wylding Hall a story about mystery. It’s a story about intrigue. It’s a story about companionship and loss. It’s a story that asks the question “what really happened during those final days?”  It’s a story about the supernatural and its strange ways of manifesting. It’s at least trying to be a story about these things.  The effort is there and I give it credit for that. Even so, and I hate to admit it, but I was a tad disappointed with this book.  I had higher hopes after reading Elizabeth Hand’s excellent novel, “A Haunting on the Hill”, which is an  authorized sequel to The Haunting of Hill House.  It was on account of this sequel that I learned of Wylding Hall. Published in 2015 it precedes A Haunting on the Hill  by eight years. I guess it’s more ideal if your books get better as you go along, right?   

There is just too much going on in this relatively short novel for any of the concepts to really shine. So if luminosity is the measure of its greatness, I would say this novel is just above dim. , 

This is a fictional account of an English folk band’s recording of an album in a haunted house. Set in the early 70’s It has many of the staples of rock bios. It details the chemistries and friction between different band members  There are bursts of psychedelia here and there.. And there’s the charming yet mystifying star, which in this case is Julian Blake. It seems Hand is taking a hand (see what I did there?)  at creating a character based on the charismatic, mysterious male rockstar prototype. Real life subjects such as Jim Morrison and Jimmy Page come to mind.   The events in the book, pieced together from varying perspectives, also remind me of the movie Eddie and the Cruisers. Just like with that film,  the mystery surrounding the lead singer’s supposed demise is brought to light by the revealed memories of surviving band members.   

Unlike the average rock bio, there are ghosts in this story. Or, maybe not.  Perhaps this isn’t a haunted house at all. If not, certainly it’s a house of mysticism.  Oh what do I mean by that?  I don’t know, man, guess you have to read the book, ya dig?

I love the material, mind you.  I love bios of young, musical groups and standout personalities within such bands. I love reading about the 60s and 70s music era and I love haunted houses. It’s just that, in the end, something didn’t fully click with me.(Was there a partial “click”?  I think so)  And yet it’s not a bad book by any means. My interest was piqued all the way to the final chapter.  However, once I finished the book, the characters were forgotten, and any feelings of attachment to this story that I might have had fled abruptly. 

While the “stuff” of the story takes place in the 1970s, the narrative takes place in the present time.. The book consists of  fictional interviews of people once associated with the former folk band Windhollow Faire,  including the surviving band members themselves. One former member committed suicide. Or so it’s believed. The other,  Julian Blake, simply disappeared.

During his time with Windhollow Faire  Blake is enigmatic, soft spoken, contemplative, and perhaps sexy in his unique ways. He dabbles in the occult. 

As you might guess, there is plenty of mystery surrounding the demise of Windhollow Faire, which comes to a head on the final days of recording what would end up being their final album.  The album was recorded at Wylding Hall, which is the haunted house of the story.  The band shacked up together for one fateful summer in this house to prepare for the recording. The house and its external surroundings are also the subject of  eerie legends amongst the locals. Ghost stories if you will.

During those days, weeks, and eventually months, the band, besides working out creative musical arrangements, indulge in sex, drugs, and what I will call spiritualism.  During the final recording sessions,  Julian Blake mysteriously vanishes.  He had been seeing a nomadic hippie girl that suddenly appeared in his life. Her appearance was just as mysterious as his disappearance. Perhaps Blake was witched away?

The blending of  an epistolary account of a former folk band with ghostly folklore sounds like an intriguing mixture.  It could be. It should be. But the final result just didn’t intrigue me all that much. Reading the novel was a disjointing experience,  but not in a way that reflects the uncanniness of an eerie haunted house, which for me is a welcoming sense of disconnectivity. Genre blending is great if done correctly. But with Wylding Hall, there lacks a much needed unifying tone to ease together the disparate muses into one unique story. Moreover, too much of my mental energy was devoted to keeping up with all the characters and their varying perspectives, so much so that I wasn’t able to effectively absorb the ghostly elements of the story.  The truth is there weren’t a whole lot of scary moments. Oh there were some, here and there, but several of the haunted house story arcs seemed to have hit a brick wall. 

On another level, I was annoyed at how often  the interviewees incessantly compared modern modes of communication and technology with those of the past.  They would say something like “Remember, back then, it would take longer to contact our manager since there were no cell phones” or “Recording an album in those days was nothing like it is today”.  We get it. The  repetition of these observations was somewhat insulting to me as a reader As readers,  we don’t need to be reminded of the time-lapse variances due to the limitations of technology over and over again, nor the nitty-gritties of certain efforts that would eventually be replaced by the clicks of a few buttons. 

Overall, the book has its faults but it does have the elements of an interesting story. It wants to grab the reader’s attention, though at times it struggles with this. There is something genuinely good about this book  and yet I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is.  All my criticisms might just be an issue of pet peeves on my part that won’t necessarily trouble another reader.  So,  I don’t know, give it a try.  Read it and see for yourself 

A Review of  “A Haunting on the Hill” – Sequel to “The Haunting of Hill House”

/ danielwalterc / 1 Comment

 

Let’s step back for a moment to recall our first experience reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. (If you haven’t read this yet, you will be sooo lost reading this article. Also, there are huge spoilers. So if you haven’t read it yet and you want to, stop being lost and get lost!) . Not only were we impressed with the style, the flow, and  the hidden intricacies within the narrative, but we were delightfully creeped out.  It’s an awesome book, isn’t it? 

Time for some comparison. Let’s imagine a different kind of scare, one that has the same power of fright but leaves one not “delightfully creeped out” but “sickeningly agitated.”  What kind of scare might this be? How about the mere idea to have a sequel to The Haunting of Hill House?  

I remember a CTA bus advertisement promoting the city of Chicago. It was a quote from Chicago film critic Roger Ebert that read, “Living somewhere else makes as much sense as a sequel to Citizen Kane”.  In other words, there are some works of art, whether they are sculptures, books, films, or compositions that are complete in their greatness. To add, subtract, or alter would only weaken the original.

What kind of pitfalls might there be trying to create a sequel to The Haunting of Hill House? First of all, Shirley Jackson passed away some time ago, so some other author would have to step in and fill the role of the late author. This is no easy task as Shirley is a tough act to follow. Second, we consumers of horror already suffered through film remakes of the original 1963 film The Haunting which was based on the book. If 1999’s The Haunting  taught us one thing, it’s  “don’t mess with the classics”

On the other hand, Michael Flannagan’s Netflix series  That Haunting of Hill House 2018  is pretty damn good. It’s a reimagining, not a retelling of Jackson’s story. As such, it is allowed certain liberties regarding plot and character changes.  So long as the tone and mystery of the original are not sacrificed, these changes are welcome.  And wouldn’t you know it, the changes made by Flannagan are not detrimental to the quality of the original.. If anything, they enhance Hill House’s overall eerie impression

Along comes Elizabeth’s Hands novel, A Haunting on the Hill . It is marketed as a sequel to The Haunting of Hill House.  Pretty damn gutsy of you, Elizabeth, to embark upon such a creation. Before writing the book, did you realize how many ways such an endeavor can easily go south?

Were you aware of the potential criticism if your work could not compare to Jackson?  Scathing criticism, mind you; the yuckiest raspberry in a basket filled with the most sour pickings of the crop.   Were you prepared to stand up for yourself against accusations of blasphemy?

Luckily for Elizabeth Hand, she writes a mighty fine story with A Haunting on the Hill. Seriously, it’s the best haunted house book I’ve read in a long time. Certainly it’s at the top of its genre when compared to other haunted house books written this century. Hand took a chance and it paid off. I have to “hand” it to Hand!

Why is Hand successful in her efforts?  I’ll offer an opinion on that. She doesn’t try to explain the mystique of Hill House. In no way does she try to “correct” the original story.  As far as I’m concerned, she doesn’t retcon. While she doesn’t duplicate Jackson’s engrossing writing style, that’s okay, and moreover it would be sinful to try.  Hand effectively pens in her own style but stays true to tone and mystery upon which Jackson “built” Hill House. Hand explores her own creative ideas and does not rehash the same plot. She gives just enough homage to the original story so readers know they are in familiar territory while at the same time uncovers areas previously unexplored.

Similar to the original story (yet not duplicating it), four people set out to stay at Hill House for a significant length of time.  The reasons for their stay are different from the reasons described in the original. The four from Jackson’s story do so in order to observe and document supernatural phenomena.  The quartet in Hand’s novel wish to hole up in the house to rehearse for a play. 

Holly Sherwin, the leader of the group and  playwright of  Witching Night , stumbles upon Hill House accidentally and is drawn to it. (Or is it Hill House that has found her?). She is attracted to its creepy vibe and decides Hill House would be a most inspiring place to rehearse her play, not yet realizing the haunted history of the mansion.  She meets Ainsley Rowan, who is in charge of subletting the mansion. Ainsley warns her that no one ever stays long at Hill House and tells her about rumors of its dark history, including the story of a woman who killed herself by crashing into a tree on the road that leads to the house. (Of course, this is a reference to Eleanor Vance in the original novel. How about that?  Eleanor, once a receiver of tales of the house’s dark past has now become part of its legend!) 

It’s all set. They move in for a one month stay. Will they make it to the end? 

The “they” includes:

  • Nisa, Holly’s girlfriend/partner, the songstress for the play.
  • Stevie, The sound engineer and voice actor
  • Amanda Greer, semi-retired B movie actress
  • And of course, Holly herself 

There are four of what I will call “outsiders”.  They are connected to the house in various ways but aren’t staying there. Certainly not after dark. They wouldn’t dare. These include:

  • Ainsley Rowan (I know; I mentioned her already)
  • Tru and Melissa, husband and wife, the cook and the cleaning lady
  • A Mysterious old woman who lives in a nearby trailer 

Tru and Melissa have a similar arrangement with the house guests as the Dudley’s had with the guests from Jackson’s novel. They do their best to provide the comforts of home for the guests, but in the end there is only so much they can do for the potentially doomed occupants. They are less hostile than the Dudleys (well…Tru is kind of a prick, come to think about it.  And the old woman in the trailer is such a witch! ((literally? Hmmm, could be!)) though they certainly have their misgivings about this whole arrangement.  These four; though I have labeled them “outsiders,”  when it comes to the goings on of Hill House, they are, to some extent, in the know. But they aren’t telling. In that way, they are truly insiders.

So, what happens to the four guests? Hill House works on all of them, that’s what. In certain places in the house, Nisa discovers she can sing like she never before. Her voice is enchanted. At a rehearsal reading, Stevie is ravishing yet startling and his acting seems all too real.  Little by little, the four clash with each other. They become mistrustful, sometimes solitary. All are scared yet they are united in their mad desire to stay at Hill House. Will this desire be their undoing? 

Ghosts of the Past /Phantoms of the Future

I would like to dedicate this section to a sentence from several paragraphs ago.  Here be the sentence:

She gives just enough homage to the original story so readers know they are in familiar territory while at the same time uncovers areas previously unexplored.

Examples are needed, don’t you think?  I’ve got it covered. First, we’ll explore the tropes that are present in both Jackson’s and Hand’s novels, albeit within different circumstances. Then, we’ll dive into certain “hauntifying” situations that are unique to Hand’s sequel novel. (“hauntifying;” I made that word up. I think it’s quite swell!).

Let’s do this!

(PSST. Some will say these next sections contain minor spoilers. I might not think or say that, but some might)

Revisiting the classical hauntings of Hill House in new contexts 

It’s the same Hill House, tucked away among the hills somewhere outside the town of Hillsdale. It has the same winding road that links the house and the gate.

What else is the same?

The spiral stairway in the library 

Clankety clank shakes this flimsy, metal staircase that leads to the top of the tower/library in Jackson’s novel.. It was not safe for Eleanor to climb but she did so anyway, putting herself and her rescuer Luke in danger, resulting in her banishment from Hill House.  Why is this ladder so alluring? The library is off limits to the guests in Hand’s book, yet one makes her way to this stairway, and the result is…..wait a minute!  Aha! Now I see. This relates to the end of the book when she….(she who?  And what does she do? Never mind. I’ve written too much already)

Blood

Seemingly from nowhere, here comes the blood.  Blood mysteriously soaks Theodora’s clothes in Jackson’s novel.  In Hand’s novel, what at first seems like wine spilled from the tipsy Amanda’s glass somehow turns to what could only be blood. It ruins an antique table cloth.

Rabbits

In Jackson’s original novel, these hares, to be more precise, make brief appearances here and there.  Eleanor and Theodora see such a creature outside the house.  If I’m not mistaken, they try to chase it but it disappears.  Luke and  Dr Montague spot one in the house and they follow it and it leads them outside.

In A Haunting on the Hill,  hares are more prominent.  They stand on their hind legs and seem to sneer at trespassers. They are certainly more aggressive.  And they’re not above dropping into the house via the fireplace (well in one sense, they are above if they get in through the roof!) . Fire itself is no obstacle as one of these creatures passes through the blaze, carrying the flames on its soon to be charred, furry, body, only to escape back to the outdoors.

The nursery

As with Jackson’s novel, the nursery room that Hand writes about is quite the enigma.  In both books it is literally chilling; those entering encounter a discomforting cold spot when crossing the threshold. Two grinning decorative heads adorn the doorway and they forever look at the room’s occupants whether they are coming or going or, worse, remaining in the room. They appear to be mocking these poor folks.

Nighttime noises

Perhaps the most memorable disturbance from Jackson’s novel is the wall-pounding noise. Okay, okay –  maybe this is mostly remembered from the film. But it happens in the novel as well, along with the soft whispers. Things that go pound, and things that whisper softly in the night.

In Hand’s novel, the pounding is absent, but someone hears whispers in the dark of night when trying to sleep. I think it’s good that Hand holds back on the pounding. She leaves this Hill House signature trait to Jackson so she can identify and imagine other haunting manifestations

What a great way to segue into Hand’s unique contributions to Hill House!

Discovering new hauntings of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House is sometimes described as a summer horror novel.  The events in the story take place in the summer as the characters walk the grounds of the house, admiring the brooks and dreaming of picnics.  This all happens in the 1950s.

The events in A Haunting on the Hill take place nearly seventy years later. This would be in our wonderful modern age of texting and vape pens. It is not summer. What goes down in Hand’s novel does so in the cold, dark winter. 

What else is new?

 

Images within the woodwork  

Nothing to see here. Just your average knolls, knots and swirls ingrained into the wall design. Or are they something more? Do they form images? Do these images reveal scenes of things to come?

Hidden tunnel  

It’s accessible only by crawling. There are strange lights and its end. 

Miscellaneous 

A stray billiard ball rolling across the floor, (there is a billiard room. That’s new…I think) .  Creepy shadows (are they silhouettes?)  are peering in windows. Oh what has the blizzard brought to Hill House?

Conclusion 

While writing this piece, I stumbled upon other books by Elizabeth Hand. Wylding Hall for instance. This caught my eye because the premise seems similar to A Haunting on the Hill: A group of young musicians take up residence in a mansion to rehearse their music.  Actors vs Musicians expressing themselves artistically while living together in a haunted house. Hmm, are Hand’s stories formulaic? 

Sometimes in writing, formulas are good, sometimes not.  Guess it depends on how much the formula dictates the story.  Too strict of an adherence to a reusable,  preconceived plot kills the story. 

I’ll tell ya what!  I’ll read Wylding Hall and report back to you.  Or, you can read and see for yourself: Wylding Hall

Or, skip it for now.  But don’t skip A Haunting on the Hill.  Trust me, it’s good. It’s true to the spirit of Shirley Jackson while allowing for Elizabeth Hand’s creativity to shine.