Review of Hellfire & Damnation II
by Target Audience Magazine on August 27, 2012 with 0 Comments in Book Reviews
Wilson has written a book of short stories that will not only keep you up late nights reading, but might also keep you up long after you have stopped reading.
By Evelyn Smith, author of “City of the Undead” and “Transylvania, Louisiana.”
“Hellfire & Damnation 2” by Connie Corcoran Wilson is all the things any good compilation of short stories of a chilling nature should be. It’s scary, holds one’s interest enough not to want to put down, and at times, a little disturbing. Wilson has written a book of short stories that will not only keep you up late nights reading, but might also keep you up long after you have stopped reading.
In “Cold Corpse Carnival,” Wilson gives voice to a frozen corpse who becomes a tourist attraction. I found this story pleasantly chilling. Most of her stories in fact, should give the reader a slight shudder or two. It is to Wilson’s credit as a writer and her story telling ability that I found “The Shell”, the story of twelve year old Lisa who is abducted, vividly disturbing. In fact, I can’t recall being this disturbed by a writer’s imagination since reading Poppy Z. Brite years ago. So Wilson is in fine company with her ability to evoke certain emotions from the reader.
“Tempis Fugit: Resurrection Cemetery” is a ghost story and a good one at that. If you are a fan of the old “Twilight Zone” television series, you will enjoy her story, “The Champagne Chandelier”, which indeed reminded me of an episode of that series. Wilson is a writer with a sense of humor and it is entirely evident in “M.R.M”, the story of a long suffering husband who tinkers in his basement workshop, attempting to build a new and improved version of his not-so-nice wife of thirty years.
Her sense of humor is also evident in a story called “Room Service,” a tale of homicidal rage. This story is an entirely satisfying read. Especially if one begins to imagine anyone in one’s life who is particularly irritating. While reading “Oxymorons,” I saw it as a movie in my head. It is in the mode of a political thriller, perhaps starring Clint Eastwood as the male character, Howard, who relates the story.
All in all, Wilson’s enjoyably spooky tales will grasp your emotions with a skeletal hand and pull that hitching gasp from your throat. That is the sign of a good writer.