Sinister Barrier

The category of psychic vampires -- creatures that live on energy rather than blood -- includes a fascinating variety of novels and stories, including the now almost forgotten (except by SF scholars) pulp-era novel SINISTER BARRIER (1939), by Eric Frank Russell. Although it seems to be out of print, Amazon.com has lots of inexpensive used copies for sale. The novel begins with an outbreak of mysterious deaths and suicides among scientists, who leave cryptic messages suggestive of madness. Gradually the truth comes to light: Throughout the existence of Homo sapiens, humanity has been ruled and preyed upon by "luminescent spheres, about three feet in diameter, their surfaces alive, glowing, blue, but totally devoid of observable features.” These entities, "neither animal, mineral nor vegetable" but pure energy, given the name "Vitons," feed on violent emotions as well as certain kinds of electromagnetic energy. They use extrasensory perception and telepathy in lieu of material senses and modes of communication. Investigation reveals a combination of drugs that allows ordinary people, not only those with paranormal perception, to see the Vitons. Exposed to the world, the Vitons strike back by provoking global disasters and warfare. Finally an electromagnetic wavelength capable of destroying them is discovered, and humanity annihilates its former masters.

The Vitons have no individual personalities, at least none that human beings can perceive. One character in SINISTER BARRIER describes these predators as "so utterly and completely alien that I cannot see how it will ever be possible for us to find a common basis that will permit some sort of understanding.” The emergence of humanity from its ignorant status as prey into clear-sighted knowledge constitutes the theme of the story. Here understanding is not the key to interspecies cooperation, but rather the key to conquest and annihilation. Graham, Russell's protagonist, declares, "Ignorance may be bliss -- but knowledge is a weapon,” and later he proclaims the need to "counterbalance the Vitons' enormous advantage in having an ages-old understanding of human beings, and gain an equally good comprehension of them. Know thine enemy!"

The imagery of the novel dehumanizes both humanity and the superhuman predators. Graham and his fellow investigators discover that the Vitons, whether invaders from another planet, creatures co-evolved with Homo sapiens, or possibly "true Terrestrials, while we are the descendants of animals which they've imported from other worlds in cosmic cattle-boats,” deliberately breed human beings for the emotional energy upon which the predators feed. The book begins with a pair of metaphorical warnings: "Swift death awaits the first cow that leads a revolt against milking," and "there's a swat waiting for the first bee that blats about pilfered honey.”

Other subhuman imagery includes a reference to a mental patient as "mutilated trash tossed aside by super-vivisectionists"; a contrast between the Vitons as "Lords of Terra" and "we, the sheep of their fields," kept under "their mastery as cold-bloodedly as we maintain ours over the animal world -- by shooting the opposition"; the suggestion that the Vitons perform "super-surgery on their cosmic cattle" for the same motives that lead some people to "teach seals to juggle with balls, teach parrots to curse, monkeys to smoke cigarettes and ride bicycles" and medical students to "make stray cats disappear" and snatch "frogs that are later dissected"; and the characterization of a victim about to be drained as "a homoburger waiting the bite.” All terrestrial conflicts throughout history have been "grist for the Viton mill...unwitting feeders of other, unimaginable guts.” The human gene pool has been manipulated just as we shape crops such as potatoes; human beings are "emotional tubers...grown, stimulated, bred according to the ideas of those who do the surreptitious cultivating.”

This novel thus places the blame for the horrors of human history on an outside force. One character warns his hearers, "Humanity will never know peace, never build a heaven upon earth while its collective soul bears this hideous burden, its collective mind is corrupted from birth.” Oddly, this theme ultimately leads to optimism instead of despair. Once freed from the tyranny of the psychic vampires, Homo sapiens is restored to the condition of freedom and self-determination that our species should have enjoyed all along. The text implies that in the absence of the Vitons, most human conflicts will cease, and our species will indeed "build a heaven upon earth.” Only the elimination of the corrupting outside force is required to initiate a terrestrial golden age.

This tale of rampant paranoia and chilling cosmic horror is well worth a look for all fans of Golden Age SF.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

I Am Legend

I don't need to summarize the plot of Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND (1954), since Karen did it so thoroughly last week. If your only acquaintance with this classic, the prototypical treatment of vampirism as disease, comes from the blockbuster movie, be sure to read the book and get the story the way the author intended. Aside from the influence of the novel on Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, Matheson’s seminal work has been filmed twice before, as THE LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price and THE OMEGA MAN with Charlton Heston. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH comes closest of all to the original book, since Matheson worked on the screenplay, but because he was displeased with changes that were made (including the ending) he appears in the credits only under a pseudonym. The Will Smith movie also changes the ending, along with many other alterations that deviate from Matheson’s story. In this film, Robert Neville becomes a “legend” by giving his blood to create a cure for the disease, essentially the opposite of why he attains “legend” status at the end of the book.

Unlike the Robert Neville of that movie, a black scientist in an urban setting, Neville in the book is a white, middle-class man barricaded in his house in the ruins of the suburb where he lived before losing his family to the vampire plague. He isn’t a scientist (one change in the movie that may be for the better, since movie Neville’s research into the disease is more believable in view of his role in creating it in the first place). He teaches himself enough bacteriology to identify the disease organism in the blood of the vampires he destroys. The suspected cause of the pandemic is fallout from nuclear weapons tests, so that Matheson’s novel reflects the dominant anxieties of its time (just as the Will Smith movie reflects the dominant anxieties of ours, with zombie-like hordes engendered by biological engineering gone wild). Dust storms spread the vampire bacterium, apparently mutated by radiation from an organism transmitted solely by biting into one whose dormant spores can be carried through the air. Neville figures out the bacteria must be anaerobic; when they come into contact with air, they instantaneously consume their host. That hypothesis explains why stakes kill vampires. The effects of sunlight and garlic are also scientifically justified. Vampires’ reactions to crosses and mirrors, on the other hand, are psychosomatic. Brain-damaged revenants crawling out of their graves expect to suffer the vulnerabilities of vampires as understood in popular culture, so they cower from holy symbols and can’t see their own reflections. Some superstitions are nothing but that, such as the inability to cross running water. The vampires besieging Neville’s house every night mock his experimental attempt to protect himself with running water. Although vampires can’t really change shape, some jump off high places under the delusion of turning into bats. Neville has run into vampire dogs, but they’re just dogs.

To me, the most fascinating dimension of the novel is its detailed rationalization of vampirism in terms of infectious disease, something sadly missing from the film (which retains hardly any vampiric content at all -- the revenants are more like Romero zombies). Emotionally, the strongest sequence consists of Neville’s nightly ordeal as he watches the vampires, some of them his former neighbors, gathered on his lawn, taunting him, waiting for him to break down and surrender. His bitter monologues as he pores over Stoker’s DRACULA and a collection of medical textbooks vividly convey his deterioration from a civilized man into a ruthless survivor. Eventually, as Karen mentioned, he stumbles upon a woman who claims to be another survivor. It turns out she belongs to a group of people whose bodies have achieved symbiosis with a further mutated strain of the disease. Neither dying nor turning feral, they are building a new society. Neville, for them, is the “plague” stalking in the night to kill them one by one. In the final scene, he realizes that as the last “normal” man on Earth, he has become a “legend” for the new race of humanity -- who are now the normal ones and he the monster.

In addition to Theodore Sturgeon’s SOME OF YOUR BLOOD (which I discussed on September 18), I consider I AM LEGEND one of the four classic pre-1970 twentieth-century vampire novels. The other two are DOCTORS WEAR SCARLET (1960), by Simon Raven, and PROGENY OF THE ADDER (1965), by Leslie H. Whitten. I commented on these works and many others in “A Gravedigger’s Dozen of Outstanding Vampire Tales,” an overview (updated to the late 1990s) of what I see as the best vampire novels of all time. The “gravedigger’s dozen” allusion means thirteen, of course, but I cheat on the number:

Vampire Reading List

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: "Caver, Continue" by Caitlin Starling by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: "Caver, Continue" by Caitlin Starling

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Back in June 2023, I reviewed Caitlin Starling's first novel, a 2019 sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead. (Check out the review here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/06/karen-wiesner-book-review-luminous-dead.html.) In that story, the protagonist, 22-year-old Gyre Price, has risked everything to join the Lethe expedition, supposedly tasked with mapping the cave system, performing mining surveys, and restocking the camps set up along the way. Gyre quickly learns her handler isn't a team of professionals but a single person: Em, who owns the company and has poured a fortune into this cave and investing in perfecting a suit capable of functioning on so many levels to keep cavers alive. Em isn't what she seems, nor is this mission or its endgame. Em had apparently hired on cavers like Gyre often in the past, losing 34 to the horrors of the cave. In that story, readers were treated to the author's expertise concerning diving, climbing, caves, spelunking--things I love to read about, especially in horror and science fiction tales. 

I left The Luminous Dead completely satisfied with every part of the story. But I wanted more. I would have loved a whole series set in just this world but, alas, it seemed as single-title as it gets. I never imagined I'd get anything else connected with the novel. When I heard Starling had a story in the thirty-fifth issue of Grimdark Magazine, I bought it immediately from Amazon (for only $3.99--but keep in mind the magazine is electronic only). The short story "Caver, Continue" (a little less than 15 pages long) is set before and during the events of The Luminous Dead. Interestingly, it's told from the point-of-view of Eli Abramsson, one of Em’s lost cavers. I started it without any clue the two were related and spent a confusing several minutes reading, wondering if this was an early version of the novel that maybe had been written in a male perspective instead. Although I read The Luminous Dead years ago, I remembered the distinctive setting so vividly, I knew there had to be a connection. I did figure out it must be one of the earlier lost cavers long before I finished the story, which I read in one sitting. Eli begins to realize that his handler is seeing him fight for his life--and doing nothing to help him. This is a story well-worth the price I paid for it. My only complaint is I'll never have a hard copy of it. If I lose the e-mag, that's it. I won't be able to read the story again in the future. Sigh, why is everything so throwaway these days? 

As for the rest of the magazine, Grimdark focuses on the "darker, grittier side of fantasy and science fiction". It's published quarterly, and each issue has articles, reviews, interviews, and a selection of short fiction. Issue 35 had 5 short stories. You can find out more about the magazine and a subscription on their website (easily found with an internet search). While I like off-beat fiction like Starling's (among others), I have to say that I wasn't in love with the rest of the material in this issue, which I, in general, found gory and needlessly gratuitous, especially one particular piece with a "fight hate with hate" theme that came off as a thinly disguised metaphor for social injustice alive and well in our current world. I don't condone hate for anyone or anything, and overdosing on negativity is a surefire way to increase violence and turbulence. That said, readers who enjoy dark fantasy will probably like everything this e-mag has to offer. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

by Karen S. Wiesner

In the 2019 sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling's first novel, the protagonist, 22-year-old Gyre Price, has risked everything to join the Lethe expedition, supposedly tasked with mapping the cave system, performing mining surveys, and restocking the camps set up along the way. This job will require top-tier cave climbing and diving skills. Because of the extreme danger involved, a hefty reward is promised once the task is completed at the end of the allotted weeks. Gyre's not only lied  by embellishing her work history, but she's also had medical procedures that bolster her credentials as an expert instead of the rookie she actually is, providing physical evidence of prior experience she doesn't actually possess.

Growing up on the mining colony Cassandra-V, Gyre had spent most of her time in slot canyons and pseudocaves near her home (avoiding her dad), teaching herself the ropes of climbing. She has no actual experience diving, something she'll need as this cave system is partially underwater.

In order to qualify for this mission, she was required to have intestinal rearrangement surgery and a catheter put in, custom-fitting her to a drysuit that becomes her home for the duration of the mission. What she's wearing and has to keep on and sealed at all times during her trek is what allows a life-and-death voyage like this to be possible, as it's capable of keeping her alive and protected in numerous ways. The suit maps the terrain, takes and stores samples, along with providing details far superior to human eyes in absolute darkness. Additionally, it allows for the administration of nutrients, water, and medication, but can also be accessed by the handler on the surface, providing real-time communication and intervention, and so much more.

Gyre grew up without a mother. This conflict and motivation is at the core of the plot in this story. It's the reason Gyre signed on for this deadly expedition and what keeps her going even when all logic tells her to abandon her contract with Lethe and haul ass out of the cave ASAP--at the risk of losing her payout in part or the whole, as well as being sued for breach of contract, which will destroy her chance of ever finding future work again in this field.

Gyre quickly learns as this story opens that her handler isn't a team of professionals on the surface working together to keep her alive but a single person: Em, who owns the company and has poured a fortune into this cave and investing in perfecting a suit capable of functioning on so many levels to keep cavers alive. Having a single handler is suicide, as at least two are needed to allow for sleep and downtime.

Before long, Gyre learns Em isn't what she seems, nor is this mission or its endgame. Em has hired on cavers like Gyre often in the past, losing 34 to the horrors of the cave. Her justifications for her actions parallel Gyre's own for signing up in the first place. Their mothers. Em lost both her parents to this cave. Her mother escaped the first time without her husband or the rest of her team, but she was never the same afterward and never healed from her traumatizing losses. Yet the cave called her back, forcing the child Em to endure the loss of her mother all over again.

In this tale, the labyrinthine cave is very much like the third main character, and most definitely a villain with death written all over it at every level, not the least of which includes a humongous monster called a Tunneler that calls the mine its home. This creature is attracted to living beings, the sounds they make, the scents, the very air they breathe. The suit has been designed to mask the person wearing it from its sensors. A Tunneler travels through solid rock, forcing the ground around it to give way, expanding and distorting and exploding it. If a human is nearby, death can be instantaneous as spaces, tunnels, and caves collapse, shatter, and are reformed in incalculable ways. The horror angle of the Tunneler was a very nice touch in this story, adding another layer of tension when it was most needed. But it's not the focus of the story, just a "fun perk" to ratchet out a little more suspense throughout.

From the very first page of this book to the last, I found it hard to put the story down for any length of time. Gyre isn't the kind of character I'd normally root for. She's a head case with mother issues so deep, disturbing, and violent, it's hard to feel sympathy for her, even as I could understand the pain she felt having her mom walk away when she was just a child and also finding out in the course of the book exactly who her mother is--and how selfish. Gyre's whole point signing on to this mission was to get a huge payoff to fund her ability to leave Cassandra-V, find her mom, and kick her in the face. While I get the gut reaction, Gyre was so badly twisted by this driving force that is nearly her entire focus and motivation as a human being that she was forever making impulsive decisions with no basis in logic or reality.

In large part, this was needed for the story's suspense. It was the beauty of it. As Gyre descends further and further into the black hole, it was hard to know how much the darkness, silence, and loneliness; the vast and mysterious abyss all around her with strange, unnatural creatures, flora, and fauna; her complete reliance on the technological marvel of her suit that, at the end of the day, was little more than a fancy cage; and the uncertainty at any given moment about whether her handler Em--her only connection to the surface--was friend or foe contributed to Gyre's growing insanity. The combination of a defeatist attitude toward life was at complete odds with Gyre's extreme will to survive. And that is, oddly, one of the major selling points of this story. In any other story, I'm not sure it would have worked, but the tension it created here was amazingly propelling. I literally never knew from one moment to the next what would happen.

In pairing this main character who lives her life on the knife's edge every second with secondary character Em, who's just as much of a lunatic, the story went back and forth between these two pitted against each other on one end of the spectrum and then fighting together tooth and nail to ensure survival on the other. I consider that the very definition of a nail-biter. At the end of the day, though, crazy plus crazy equals psycho all over the place, not a match made in heaven, as I got the impression it was supposed to ultimately be. 

The author clearly knew a considerable amount about diving, climbing, caves, spelunking, and just about every scientific topic she delved into within this story. I loved every aspect of those breathtaking descriptions. It was the reason I picked the story up in the first place, and Starling delivered in spades.

Anyone who likes sci-fi horror with tension that escalates continuously, filled with flawed and unpredictable characters, and a landscape that's so real and visual it could actually exist in the real world won't want to miss this story. As a testament to the author's finely tuned writing skills, before I was even half done with The Luminous Dead, I bought everything else she has available. Fingers crossed I find another favorite, must-read author.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/