Skins of Youth

Rating:
Summary: Skins of Youth by Charlee Jacob & Mehitobel Wilson
Review: See, this is why sometimes I think I'm jut not cut out for this reviewing stuff. I get a great book like this, I read it, I love it, but then I gotta explain why I did or didn't enjoy it, what I did or didn't enjoy about it.
Well, um, see it's, um, it's, there's this, uh, see . . .
It's just a great book, alright?
Skins of Youth is the 2nd in Necro Publications's chapbook line, a pair of stories about youth by Charlee Jacob and Mehitobel Wilson.
You remember youth, don't you? The time you spent between playing and realizing there's more to life than playing? The growing up period when everyone was wrong and you were God and to hell with everyone who disagreed with you, which was pretty much everyone? Charlee and Mehitobel remember that time, and they capture that "outcast" theme perfectly here. This is a very dark book--not necessarily a real HARDCORE book like you'd expect from Necro, but very dark, and very good.

It's been too long since I've read Charlee Jacob (okay, there was a story in Dead Cats Bouncing, but that was Charlee Jacob after Gerard Houarner and that's not the same thing as Charlee Jacob), and dammit if "Immortality" didn't remind me why I love her work in the first place.
A hell of a story from one of the best short story writers I've ever read, hands down.

Next is "Growing Out of It", by Mehitobel Wilson, a woman I'd never heard of before this, but one I'll be watching out for in the future, I guarantee.
If Charlee's story was all about being the outcast, Ms. Wilson's story is about finding the normalcy in that, and in building your life around it.
This woman's got a great style with a terrific sense of pacing and she writes dialogue like you wouldn't believe. Can't believe I'd never heard of her before.
There I was reading along and before I knew it--damn--the story unfolded itself to me and I understood and sat in awe until the end.

One of the things I like about this book is that these aren't just two random stories tossed together and published. These are complete stories, both authors given room to develop their plots and characters, to draw us in and keep us reading.
Top notch effort from both authors, and a fine choice for publication by Necro.
Applause all around.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely chapbook of vampiric and expectorating madness
Review: There are two stories in Skins Of Youth, the first "Immortality" by Charlee Jacob is the tale of a young circus acrobat longing to become one of the Vampires in his Grandmother's strange tales. Along his search and active intentions to kill himself, he discovers a strange family secret about his mother, why she went missing years ago, and the truth about Grandma's traveling, pickup-bed herb garden.

Intensely well written, there is subtlety in Ms. Jacob's prose that haunts your mind with the images and thoughts that should be abnormal to the human brain. Very, very good story. Enjoy!

The second story "Growing Out Of It" is by Mehitobel Wilson, a talented up-and-coming new writer. In this dark tale of maturing out of the frivolities of youth, she has imagined a story of a disgusting and intriguing way of getting rid of the irresponsible things we do when youth still blooms within us; those actions that take us from the clubs and nightlife to suits and minivans and eight-to-five jobs.

Ted just wants to party with his friends, Meg and Dannyboy, especially after loosing his guitar gig with the band Fister Faster. Drinking himself into poor health and a wasted state of being, he hardly notices that his skin has been itching a lot, though he notices that Meg has what seems to be a case of ringworm on the back of her neck.

Ted winds out bumping into Gary, a guy in smelly dreadlocks who is looking for a guitarist for their new band; and while Ted contemplates the offer, Meg grows strangely insulting towards him and Dannyboy.

Ted's drinking escalates to the point where he hallucinated vomiting up body parts; or are these hallucinations real? Did he really wake up in a pool of gummy stuff on his couch, did he really vomit up a tongue? What is happening to him, and why has Meg and Dannyboy begun acting so particularly? Don't miss out on this creepy tale of purging the past in order to move into the future; a future so bright you'll have to wear shades.

Also, I recommend taking the time to read the brief bios of these two talented authors at the end, and watch for more to come from these rising masters of the horror genre. Enjoy!