Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Clash Books via #netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own
When a metal band’s lead singer vanishes in the woods, the mushrooms in the forest might know more than they’re letting on in this mycelium-metal horror novel from Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Jo Kaplan.
A year later, on the anniversary of her disappearance, the rest of her bandmates visit the cabin to remember her and find a way to move on. But tensions arise over who should be their new singer and who is responsible for Brynn’s disappearance—tensions that boil over as they realize not all is as it seems at Trail Creek Cabin.
Strange entries in the guestbook write about visions of a pale form that moves through the trees, figures wearing gas masks lurk in the distance, and there’s a strange fungus growing from the wall of a tunnel in the cabin’s basement. Then they hear Brynn’s voice echo impossibly through the forest—and the pale form that emerges from the trees is her perfect likeness. Is it her ghost…or something else?
Brynn knew there was a secret in these woods. It’s why she chased her muse here to finish her masterpiece. The Midnight Muse is an alluring and grotesque dissection of self and fungus. Kaplan delivers an ominous spiral of psychological torment as the members of Queen Carrion slip into a more natural skin.
Review:
This is a weird one-I think Millenials will find it more interesting, as it will remind them of the grunge years. It's urban legend, meets missing rock star, meets haunted ghost story. As the story goes back and forth in time to the night when Brynn disappeared, the reader understands the tensions that were leading to a break up of the band, and how a year later, their reunion at the cabin is a path of self-destruction in the making. But when they think they have found Brynn...well, that's when it gets weird and things are not what they seem...it's an intriguing gothic tale, but can be a bit slow going, until the secrets start to come out.
About the Author:
Jo Kaplan is the Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of IT WILL JUST BE US and WHEN THE NIGHT BELLS RING. Her short stories have appeared in Fireside Quarterly, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, Vastarien, +HORROR LIBRARY+, Nightscript, and anthologies which have won Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Awards. She has also published work as Joanna Parypinski. In addition to writing, she teaches English and creative writing at Glendale Community College and is the co-chair of the Horror Writers Association’s Los Angeles chapter. She also plays cello in both the Symphony of the Verdugos and the band Guerra/paz.
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