A review by brennanlafaro
Night as a Catalyst: A Collection of Dark Fiction by Chad Lutzke
4.0
Chad Lutzke is a guy who simultaneously gets a lot of love from the horror community, and deserves more. I kept seeing his name pop up as someone I needed to read, so I picked up Of Foster Homes and Flies and Night As A Catalyst, and started on the latter. The revised and expanded edition includes 23 pieces made up of short flash fiction, longer stories, and even a piece written by Chad's son. Many of them pulled from the early beginning of his writing career, some even from his first attempts at story composition from the 1990's.
Lutzke is known as an author who makes his reader feel and there are plenty of stories here that meet that criteria. They Die Easy is about a boy striving to find acceptance with a bit of a dark twist. Splitting Pairs takes a swing at boys-will-be-boys culture and is one of the best stories in the collection. One for the Road makes us a fly on the wall while a young boy copes with his grandfather's transition into, and captivity as, a zombie. Self-Immolation takes on the none-too-easy task of getting the reader to feel pity for a vampire.
Included in the back of the book are some pretty extensive author's notes, which not only give you a bit of background on the stories, but provide some insight into Lutzke's writing style. I was surprised how many examples there were in the collection that stemmed from Lutzke finding a photograph and challenging himself to come up with a piece of short fiction to go with it. Some of the most interesting examples are Deprivation, Feeling Blue, The Damned Thing, and Coming Undone.
There is such a variety represented in this collection, and while all the stories fit generally into horror, we never really visit a trope more than once. We've got monsters, zombies, aliens, vampires, the unknown, body horror, genies, serial killers, you name it. Some stories are gruesome, some are more subtle. Some contain dense prose, others are more simple, or rely on dialogue between children.
It's easy to recommend this collection because it seems like there's a bit for anyone and everyone. I'm settling at 4 stars because there are a few stories that I would skip on a reread, but still such a solid collection, and I can't wait to dive into Lutzke's novels and novellas.
Lutzke is known as an author who makes his reader feel and there are plenty of stories here that meet that criteria. They Die Easy is about a boy striving to find acceptance with a bit of a dark twist. Splitting Pairs takes a swing at boys-will-be-boys culture and is one of the best stories in the collection. One for the Road makes us a fly on the wall while a young boy copes with his grandfather's transition into, and captivity as, a zombie. Self-Immolation takes on the none-too-easy task of getting the reader to feel pity for a vampire.
Included in the back of the book are some pretty extensive author's notes, which not only give you a bit of background on the stories, but provide some insight into Lutzke's writing style. I was surprised how many examples there were in the collection that stemmed from Lutzke finding a photograph and challenging himself to come up with a piece of short fiction to go with it. Some of the most interesting examples are Deprivation, Feeling Blue, The Damned Thing, and Coming Undone.
There is such a variety represented in this collection, and while all the stories fit generally into horror, we never really visit a trope more than once. We've got monsters, zombies, aliens, vampires, the unknown, body horror, genies, serial killers, you name it. Some stories are gruesome, some are more subtle. Some contain dense prose, others are more simple, or rely on dialogue between children.
It's easy to recommend this collection because it seems like there's a bit for anyone and everyone. I'm settling at 4 stars because there are a few stories that I would skip on a reread, but still such a solid collection, and I can't wait to dive into Lutzke's novels and novellas.