| Issue 2, Vol.1 | Blood
Moon Zine Afterlight Reviews |
Beltane, 1999 |
 |
All hthat we see or seem,
Is but a dream within a dream.- Edgar Allan Poe
NETHERWORLD is the forth publication, from famed 'Princess of Horror' christened authoress, Kim Elizabeth. Her other books include ‘Mystical Eyes', ‘Immortal Heartbeat' and ‘From the Shadows'. Six short stories and twenty poetic posies can be found lurking within the pages of this nebulous nightmare that is illustrated within and without by artist Leilah Wendell. Ms. Elizabeth's words seize you by the throat and drag you into the unconscious world of your fears, where dreams and corporeality co-exist and fill you with dark lust and blood-curdling terror.
Inspired by such notables as Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, and Dave Mustaine, Ms. Elizabeth invites us into the darkness that dwells in her mindscape, with these words:
"Dreams and nightmares. These are what inspire me most of all."
NETHERWORLD contains a mélange of literary delicacies, in every flavor of dark fiction that is sure to appeal to the palettes of most horror connoisseurs. But, for the sake of this review I have chosen my three favorite stories to divulge in more detail. If you want to read more, you'll have to buy the book, which is a steal at only $10.95 U.S. Ordering details are below.
The three following stories have struck a cord deep within me. I found myself unable to shift my eyes away from the rich fables and artwork that drew me back to the dark faerytales of my youth. I stayed up long into the nights savoring some and blazing along through others, unable to sleep until I reached their inevitable ends. Still, others kept me up long after the book lay at rest on my bedside table, my mind a whirlwind of creative activity. (Or, perhaps I was just too afraid to close my eyes and fall into the dream-clutches of the land beyond the ether.)
In no certain order, here are the stories that I have chosen for this review.
Dream Crypt
This captivating story is written in the POV of Lydia, a fifteen year old girl who is lured down into a labyrinth of nightmarish hell by the persistent hauntings of a young suicide victim. It evokes powerful and all-too-real feelings of the vulnerability and fears created by the quixotic imaginations of our subconscious in youth. As I read the story, I felt as if I were reliving the night terrors of my childhood, the grotesques images that are so horrible, they do not even fade upon waking.
'She was jolted, gasping for air. Quickly sitting up, she looked all around her bedroom. Even though she was relieved to see her room, something wasn't right... Relax. It was just a nightmare. I'm all right, she thought...
... Unceasingly dazed, everything she set her eyes upon looked as though it were part of a painting that had been smeared into a shadowy, distorted world...'
I too felt as if I were buried, ‘deep into the flesh of the earth', with the embodiment of pure evil suffocating me, under layers of sleep... and, just when you think you have awoken, you suddenly realize with a sicking dread in the pit of your stomach that you never will.
Into the Night
This is the shortest of NETHERWORLD's tales, but one that has enchanted me. It whispers on the back of your neck like a sensual breeze, thoughtful, poetic, then crawls down your spine sending tingles of delirious sensation to your most secreted places. Ecstasy and terror entwined. Oh, what an exquisite dichotomy!
‘As he turned to face me, I felt a fierce chill erupt throughout my body. His power. Extraordinary. Suddenly, magically encompassed in a web of sheer illumination. The master of illusion.'
A story of dark desires: a dangerous rogue stranger who waltzes into the moonlit night, and seduces our slumberous protagonist with his raven beauty, charisma and deathly white kiss. I was swept away as always with the author's silken dance of words and melodious atmosphere-weaving.
‘He was profoundly, and furiously, beautiful to me. Darkly angelic, yet savage. His soft, lustful groans, and hot breaths, burned sensations over my body as his mouth slithered with the quickness of a serpent, overwhelming me with electrifying kisses. His lure was unmatched; my lips parted, and my back arched, instinctively.'
This story is not terribly explicit, but a sensual mood piece that I found more provocative by what it didn't tell. It is sure to give you dreams of another, wettish kind.
A Child's Dream
‘Some things are darker than night,
blacker than hell,
and only take the soul of a child....'-Kim Elizabeth
This bone-chilling tale really found its way under my skin and gave me the creeps. A shadowy killer, in a top hat and tuxedo, dances his way into children's dreams, to steal their souls as they lie sleeping.
‘The children's bodies were all bled dry, as if from a bizarre saprophyte. But it was beyond bloodletting. The diminutive corpses had been emptied of all bodily fluids, as well as various internal organs, and, in each case, the heart.'
As often happens in our nightmares, the sleeper is the voyeur to the sadistic pleasures of the ultimate stalker, our subconscious, watching as it twists and tears at the ones we know and love, until, with increasing awareness, the shadows are lifted, and it turns its morbid interest upon us.
‘She forced herself to control her fears; she wasn't going to let that ghastly being back into her dreams...
That is, until she heard the sudden sweeping sound of the winds rising all at once. The leaves on the trees rustled too quickly, too loudly.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a tall, refined looking man crossing the street, coming toward her house. He raised his gigantic hand, motioning to her with a friendly wave, and a smile that had gone askew...'
NETHERWORLD is a great bedtime story to curl up next to, while you're home alone at night, the sound of wind and rain whipping against your bedroom window, the lights flickering slightly from the storm outside. A little something to take with you when you enter the phantasmagoria of your inner darkness. Just hope that you awake come morning.
Visit KimElizabeth.com
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