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LOST ANGELS
David J. Schow
Everyone wants to be good in bed ... but what if it's the bed that makes you good?
It's said the dead live on in our memories, but what if only the dead remember you?
What if the most infernal dealmaker in creation visited Hollywood, where everyone's a dealmaker, to get a little help from his friends?
The answers aren't what you'd expect, but then again, these aren't the sort of questions asked by your average writer of horror fiction.
In Lost Angels, David Schow pushes the envelope of his already far-reaching talent, forsaking horror's usual melodrama in favor of penetrating character studies and profound examinations of the human condition.
Contains the new story "Calendar Girl."
REVIEW:
In 1990, NAL/Onyx published a collection by Schow with the same title and a hilarious cover comprised of Day-glo teenage biker-wannabe elements. I have it. I cherish it. This Babbage edition has a cover much more appropriate to the themes within. There's no call for flea-market bandana artwork, not when both collections—and they are different, despite the same title—shed light on the horrors of devotion.
The 1990 edition included the World Fantasy Award-winning short story, "Red Light," which is worthy of awards, readers, and multiple reprints. This one doesn't, because, just like in 1990, a second altered-reprint collection is forthcoming from the same publisher, this one called, then and now, Seeing Red. In '90 "Red Light" was included in both. This time around, it's only appearing in Seeing Red, so you'll have to buy that one too, and you oughta, because yeah, I've read it.
In its stead, there's an original and resonant short story entitled "Calendar Girl," which reflects "Red Light" in concept. The new story suggests that admiration and fame replenishes us; "Red Light" says it depletes us. "Calendar Girl" isn't really about that, though; rather, it's about the place that dreams hold in our lives, and that allowing oneself to be devoured by devotion is at times a comfort. The other four pieces are novellas. "Pamela's Get" could well have been one of the best episodes of Twilight Zone, had it been written at the right time. It's a sad, touching piece about the lives we lead as a direct result of the love of our friends.
My favorite (today—you know how moods lead you to choose a different favorite nightly) is "Monster Movies," which isn't horror, but it's about horror, an out-and-out love story about the meticulous reverence the narrator held for monster movies, and the romance of sharing. That one gets me all foggy around the eyeball region. There's also the strangely bitter "Falling Man," along with "Brass," which has meant something different to me every time I've read it. That's the mark of a living story.
This is a beautiful edition and it'll be followed by more. Buy it, please.
— Mehitobel Wilson, gothic.net, Book Reviews July 2000
YOUR FEEDBACK:
Required reading ...
To see LOST ANGELS available again is one of the best friggin' things that happened to me this weekend. I'm stoked. Why? Easy: Schow kicks more ass than a donkey. That's why.
LOST ANGELS is required reading for any fan of the horror genre. Schow's work, including this book, is a MUST READ for anyone THINKING about writing short horror fiction. I read him and wonder why the fuck I even bother.
*****Another Winner...
You cannot go wrong reading Schow. Simply put, he is one of the most unique voices in "Horror" fiction today. Schow writes what only others could dream about and far more potently than most writers today. Even his worst pieces are far above what is being passed off as "literature". It saddens me that he isn't being pushed as he should to the reading market, all because he writes "horror". This collection alone is worth so much more because, no matter how many times you read it, you always come out changed. Always. Schow is a very under-appreciated writer. Hopefully, more people will come across his work and treasure it as I have.
Victor from San Digo, Ca
(off amazon.com, August 5, 2000)
*****Glad to see this back in print!
David Schow's short fiction is as keen-eyed and hard-hitting as one could want from a horror collection. It always pains me that Schow is often identified with a genre in which laughable supernatural occurrences abound; his horror is founded in circumstance and emotion, and any supernatural notes are used to support that, rather than hold the entire story aloft. He does it right. I'm very happy to see this edition available.
— sighs from The Mean Streets
(off Amazon.com, May 24, 2000)
You'll find Lost Angels T-shirts, tanks, totes, aprons, posters, cards, calendars, and even a lunchbox at our CafePress Shop
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