Rating: 
Summary: THE definitive Ketchum novel
Review: if you like 'some' Ketchum or 'all' Ketchum this is an absolute must have for your library! One of Ketchum's greatest draws is his diverse writing, from macabre to simply chilling, from 'mainstream' to hardcore, and from unnerving to straight out jaw clenching - and this collection covers ALL the bases!
With an introduction that will make you smile this book begins with a bang... literally in 'The Rifle.' The first story is not forgotten as you delve into the various tunnels of his macabre mind and travel through these stories that attack your senses - in fact, The Rifle is the story that sticks with me still.
Writing on the edge of reality, Ketchum empowers his readers with the gift of 'what if' and you tend to leave his works with furrowed brow and fearful contemplation. From a mother's dilemma to a western setting, he has the ability to put horror into any normal situation and remove your securities.
Being a collection it is very difficult to use the rating criteria - the atmosphere changes often and is generally vivid, if not overpowering [in a good way]. The pace is quick because they are short stories and characters are generally difficult to develop in short stories, but Ketchum leaves you with several memorable creations. The individual stories/plots are as unique as you would expect from Ketchum, and there is truly something for everyone within these pages. Whether you like hardcore or subtle, modern or classic, you will walk away wanting more.
A solid 4 stars [unless you can find the hardcover, then go for it!] as Leisure Books has recently released a softcover edition that everyone should be able to get their hands on...
If you've never read Ketchum, this is a great sampler - if you have you'll love this! -Horrorwench
Rating:
Summary: Ketchum, Ketchum and more Ketchum. Brrr.
Review: If you like Frank Ketchum's novels, you probably think there is not enough out there. Well, here are more than thirty stories all bearing a Ketchum imprint. These stories are all over the place. From the wild west to hopefully far future (2027). But most are relatively contemporary. The stories cover beasts of all types, wild, supposedly civilized, loving, hateful, lesser, greater, and just about anything you can think of. I found myself flying through these stories. I always wanted to read one more. As I started each one I began a race for the final chilling paragraph. Some hit hard while other crept up on me. A very good collection.
Rating:
Summary: Ketchum, Ketchum and more Ketchum. Brrr.
Review: If you like Frank Ketchum's novels, you probably think there is not enough out there. Well, here are more than thirty stories all bearing a Ketchum imprint. These stories are all over the place. From the wild west to hopefully far future (2027). But most are relatively contemporary. The stories cover beasts of all types, wild, supposedly civilized, loving, hateful, lesser, greater, and just about anything you can think of. I found myself flying through these stories. I always wanted to read one more. As I started each one I began a race for the final chilling paragraph. Some hit hard while other crept up on me. A very good collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Woah!
Review: This book is worth the price alone for the story titled MAIL ORDER, which is one of the best short horror tales I've read in years (think a more demented version of the film 8MM). Kethcum shines with this collection, and the few non-horror tales (plus a western) all keep the readers' interest. Horror fans will eat this up. The thirty-two tales fly by.
Rating:
Summary: Ketchum at his best
Review: This is the quintessential Jack Ketchum short fiction collection. A great place to start for the reader who wants to accquaint himself with the author's work.
The stories in this lengthy collection range from the eerie and disheartening, such as "The Box" and "Sundays," to the deeply disturbing, "Megan's Law", "the Rifle" to morbidly funny tales such as "The Great San Diego Sleazy Bimbo Massacre" and "The Business." There's even a few western ghost stories included.
Powerful, brutal, and unrelenting, Ketchum pulls no punches ad does the unthinkable to sympathetic characters. This book ranks up there with King's "Night Shift" and Barker's "Books of Blood" as one of the best horror short fiction collections ever.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes the lamb eats the lion
Review: Truly a phenomenal anthology, I buzzed through Ketchum's collection like a goose through a field of June-bugs, smacking my lips at every tasty morsel.
There are thirty-two stories here in this collection, way to many to give even the briefest of synopsis for each, but trust me when I say that Ketchum runs a gamut here from realism to surrealism straight through the ethereal and on into the pits of hell itself. Yummy.
A Mother sees her ten year old son for the monster he is, a mysterious empty box that leaves death in its wake, parrots and body-painting in a haunted bar, the unbreakable melding of minds with twins, a dying author's last wish, new methods of gentlemen's justice, just to skim a few teasers.
Of special mention are the tales "Meagan's Law", a horrifying look at a real life monster that twists your views around; "The Great San Diego Sleazy Bimbo Massacre", a brutal and hilarious tale of two barflys and an unwanted husband; "The Rose", in which a tattoo artist frees a slave; and "Lines: Or Like Franco, Is Elvis Still Dead", a realistically scary tale of Fatal Attraction.
Ketchum has proven in this collection that he not only writes well, but can cross whatever genre he chooses successfully. Wild, weird, wonderful, horrific, and even inspiring, this is a must-have for you anthology collection.
Includes Introduction and Afterward by Jack Ketchum, both factually interesting enough to take note of. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Jack Ketchum's PEACABLE KINGDOM : A Review By Steve Vernon
Review: What can I add to whatever has been said? I cannot get enough of Jack Ketchum. His tales, as lean and cruelly efficient as a switchblade thrust, are guaranteed to provoke a reaction from the most jadest of readers. Not just for fans of horror, but fans of suspense, mystery and plain good writing. Reading his short story "The Rifle" gave me an experience I'll never forget. One of the first times I read something and had to put it down to let my heart catch up with the rest of me. It left me breathless. An experience that was duplicated time and time again with this magnificent collection. Jack Ketchum is a dark microscope into the human spirit. His tales are so taut, so tight, they ought to be listed in literature rather than horror. I'm a fan of horror tales from a long way back, been writing since the early 80's and reading even longer, and I will walk a long way yet across this earth before coming across a writer this good. I recommend this book for any reader unafraid of taking a close hard look at the realities that each of face must sooner or later face.
Steve Vernon
(author of Long Horn, Big Shaggy - a tale of back-from-the-dead mountainmen, time travelling mad scientists, and zombified buffalo)
Rating:
Summary: How Short Stories Are Supposed To Be Written
Review: When one gets to know an author through his or her fiction, one comes to expect a certain sameness or familiarity in their work, a comfortable foundation on which they will build a new, but not entirely unfamiliar story. With Ketchum, one must only expect a well written story, because that is the only similarity you are going to get. He has written so broadly and so well over the years, and this collection is the highlight of a brilliant, if somewhat underappreciated, career. It collects most of his short fiction, contains a few stories exclusive to this edition, and reprints all but two stories from his earlier and long out of print collection The Exit At Toledo Blade Boulevard. If you get the Subterranean Press limited edition, you will find some artwork to two of the stories, if you get the Leisure edition, you will find a new afterword. I recommend them both. Some of these stories will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will leave you stunned. The range of this author far outshines any other, and you can't go wrong with this book.
|
