The last of the MP3 downloads I got from Barnes and Noble last spring. Listened to it a while ago, so long ago that I had to re-listen to it again to refresh my memory to write this.
I think I might have enjoyed this medium length horror story more if I were an avid horror reader. It strikes me as the kind of story that has lots of inside references and plays off genre tropes. I’m looking at it from a different perspective because I am not familiar with all these common spots.
Eddie Carroll is a horror anthology editor. He gets a submission for the next year’s Best New Horror anthology from an obscure literary journal. Joe Hill’s story then becomes two stories: the submitted story and a related story where Carroll attempts to find the submission’s author to get him to sign off on the rights. Of course, the obscure writer isn’t exactly well-balanced, so that could be a horror story too.
Best New Horror is filled with all sorts of inside-writer kinds of situations. Fan conventions. Zine editors who have inflated senses of their own importance and under used interpersonal skills. Disdain for the work of an anthologist. Etc. It was too inside the sausage factory for me to enjoy. Writers should write about writers for a general audience only in the most extraordinary of circumstances. That’s my general rule of thumb. Then again, perhaps other people really enjoy that. I bet a lot of budding writers like it.
The other thing that didn’t work for me is that this just wasn’t that full of dread. Oh, it’s scary all right. I just didn’t care whether or not Eddie Carroll got killed or mutilated or sucked off into the nether worlds inhabited by ghost or demons. Or whatever it was that was gonna happen or not happen. (No spoilers here.)
I did like David Ledoux’s narration though. I really need to figure out what the elements of narration are that I should look for so I can make some intelligent commentary. He has a kind of crackly low voice, speaks in a measured pace and measured tones. I can name a few things I haven’t liked about previously listened to narrators, but I hate to tell folks I like this narrator because he/she doesn’t do the things I hated. Anyhow, the slightly gravelly voice of Ledoux is good for a horror piece.
Title: Best New Horror
Author: Joe Hill (Joseph Hillstrom King)
Narrator: David Ledoux
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: 2007
Format: MP3 download
Length: 57 minutes
Then again, perhaps other people really enjoy that. I bet a lot of budding writers like it.
I hung my head in shame at this. I liked the story, I’m just budding , hopefully my jaded bloom will come soon.