J.R. Hamantaschen's With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer will be published by West Pigeon Press in October 2015. It's a follow-up to his debut collection, You Shall Never Know Security (2011).
Information about J.R. Hamantaschen:
J.R. is a part time fiction writer. His work has appeared in several dozen magazines and anthologies. Generally disdainful of publicizing himself or his work, he has published intermittently, never maintained a personal website, and changed his surname frequently over the years. His debut short story collection, You Shall Never Know Security, was published in 2011.
Information about With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer:
The follow-up to his critically acclaimed collection, You Shall Never Know Security, J.R. Hamantaschen returns with another collection of his inimitable brand of weird, dark fiction. At turns despairing, resonant, macabre and insightful, these nine stories intend to stay with you.
A REVIEW OF J.R. HAMANTASCHEN'S WITH A VOICE THAT IS OFTEN STILL CONFUSED BUT IS BECOMING EVER LOUDER AND CLEARER
J.R. Hamantaschen's With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer is an excellent follow-up to the author's debut collection, You Shall Never Know Security (2011). It's one of the most impressive dark fiction collections of the year, because it's fascinatingly different from other collections and contains beautifully written stories.
Before I delve into the contents of this collection, I'll say a few words about dark fiction. If there are readers out there who are not aware of what dark fiction means, I can mention that it means fiction that focuses on death, fear and the darker side of human nature. Dark fiction can be classified as horror fiction, but it is sometimes used to distinguish certain stories and novels from mainstream horror fiction.
With this collection, J.R. Hamantaschen cements his place at the top of contemporary dark fiction, because it's a landmark collection of dark prose and a magnificent glimpse into human condition. In my opinion, the author has developed quite a lot as an author and tells intriguingly dark stories in a bold and confident way.
J.R. Hamantaschen has a voice of his own and he dares to use it in an imaginative way. He demonstrates that the boundaries of dark fantasy and horror can be pushed and stretched into interesting directions by approaching well-known elements in a new way and avoiding the most typical plot twists. He approaches darkness and weirdness in his own unique and subtle way, because he entertains and shocks his readers with realistic stories that have been coated with a particularly interesting touch of death and impending doom.
This collection contains the following stories:
- Vernichtungsschmerz
- A Related Corollary
- The Gulf of Responsibility
- Big with the Past, Pregnant with the Future
- Soon Enough This Will Essentially Be a True Story
- I'm a Good Person, I Mean Well and I Deserve Better
- Cthulhu, Zombies, Ninjas and Robots!; or, a Special Snowflake in an Endless Scorching Universe
- Oh Abel, Oh Absalom
- "It's Not Feelings of Anxiety; It's One, Constant Feeling: Anxiety"
All of these stories are insightful, astonishingly effective and well written dark fiction stories for adults. They're raw and compelling stories that reflect the darker side of human nature and shine light on the things that are normally left unmentioned.
The prose is good, evocative and striking, and at times it even has a distinct poetic edge to it. I have to mention that I'm sensing an intriguing touch of Thomas Ligotti, T.E.D. Klein and Clive Barker in this collection, because there's something in these stories that slightly reminds me of their stories.
By the way, I recommend reading these stories in order, because some of them are connected to each other.
Here's more information about the stories and my thoughts about them:
Vernichtungsschmerz:
- This is a story about Julia, Clare, Venice and Lynn who are confronted by death and their own mortality. Julia sees a dream in which a strange cosmic being offers her a painless exit out of existence. The being tells her that it is there to help her and she doesn't have to fear anything...
- Death comes in different forms to the characters in this story. The author writes unflinchingly about death and what kind of feelings are associated with it. He shows that death can be peaceful or painful. He even goes as far as to describe what a dying person feels.
- The ending is brilliant and will impress many readers.
- If you're not fluent in German, I can mention that the title of this story means literally "annihilation pain", "pain of annihilation", "destruction pain" and "pain of destruction". If I'm not mistaken, "Vernichtungsschmerz" is a medical term used by German doctors to describe the amount of pain some patients with serious diseases feel.
A Related Corollary:
- A story about Megan and Cathy who meet each other in a teahouse. Megan is feeling depressed and Cathy tries to console and help her...
- This is one of the best stories about depression I've ever read, because the author handles all the imporant issues that are related to depression in a perfect way.
The Gulf of Responsibility:
- This is a story about a social worker, Alex, who is Gloria's caseworker. Gloria is pregnant and is thinking of having an abortion. Her financial situation isn't good, but she gets by. Alex becomes increasingly interested in Gloria's possible income, because she may have not mentioned everything to him...
- The author writes about Alex's life and work in an excellent way and makes him a three-dimensional character with his own problems and worries. Alex's social worker-client relationship with Gloria is handled well, and so is his personal relationship with Caroline.
- This story contains excellent commentary and thoughtful speculation about life, social welfare, income and abortions.
- The ending is interesting.
Big with the Past, Pregnant with the Future:
- A well written story about Michael, who's a first year law student at Yale.
- The author writes well about such issues as GPA and LSAT and their importance to certain people and institutions. He also writes about race and racial issues in an excellent way.
Soon Enough This Will Essentially Be a True Story:
- A story about Karen who's a high school senior. Karen likes to hang out at Goodreads. She reads and reviews books that are "somewhat" different from normal books and contain weird happenings. The books she reads are mostly trash, but she likes them. When she begins to review a book by a weird person, her life soon turns into a nightmare...
- The author's approach to online happenings and websites feels delightfully fresh.
- Sex and sexuality are handled in an excellent way in this story, because the author pays attention to them by writing about how Karen feels about sex and what kind of sex she has.
- In my opinion, one of the most interesting things about this story is that the author writes about what it feels like to write reviews.
- I have to mention that it's a been a while since I've read a story as clever and brilliant as this one, because it's a brilliantly disturbing glimpse into the life of a teenaged girl who spends time online and reviews books.
- The atmosphere reminded slightly of "The Cutest Girl in Class" (written by Quentin S. Crisp, Brendan Connell and Justin Isis).
I'm a Good Person, I Mean Well and I Deserve Better:
- A story about Bryce who's out on a date and has bowel problems that cause him embarrassment. When he goes to the bathroom, things take a turn for the worse and something unexpected and brutal happens at the restaurant...
- In my opinion, the author writes surprisingly well about Bryce's feelings about dating and exceptionally boldly about his bodily functions.
- This is a well written story with a touch of pitch black humour.
- The ending that is something a bit different (I think that the ending will impress readers).
Cthulhu, Zombies, Ninjas and Robots!; or, a Special Snowflake in an Endless Scorching Universe:
- In this story, Malcolm attends a Con of Cthulhu Convention and observes things...
- This is a brilliant and amusing story, because the author writes about what kind of commercialism and enthusiasm is related on H. P. Lovecraft's stories and Cthulhu Mythos. The author nicely focuses on the commercial aspects of Cthulhu fandom and tells how far people have gone in their worship of Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories.
- As a big fan of Lovecraftian weird fiction, I have to mention that I enjoyed this story very much, because it was something totally different and contained sarcastic and ironic humour. I'm sure that this story will be of special interest to those who love Lovecraftian weird fiction.
Oh Abel, Oh Absalom:
- A story about a Puerto Rican man, Vernon, who is getting out of prison. When he gets out of prison, he is contacted by a group men who seem to have a lot of influence and power...
- The author writes well about Vernon's life, his decisions and what he has done to deserve a prison sentence.
- This is a powerful and well written story that has a connection to one of the previous stories, "The Gulf of Responsibility".
"It's Not Feelings of Anxiety; It's One, Constant Feeling: Anxiety":
- A story about Miles who is the father of a small boy. Miles has to deal with feelings related to responsibility, family life, children and being a father...
- The author writes perfectly about Miles' life and feelings. He pays quite a lot of attention to Miles' feelings and makes him an intereting character.
- This is an excellent story (it's a perfect final story).
These fascinatingly dark stories are firmly rooted in reality. The human condition is being explored in them in a mesmerising and memorable way, because the author is aware of the fact that life can simultaneously be beautiful and cruel. The terrifying beauty, ugliness and darkness of everyday life is diplayed in glorious and harsh realism in these stories without sugarcoating.
You'll find a wealth of observant prose, insightful comments and sharp social commentary in these stories. The author writes about many different themes and issues - death, depression, social problems, sex, sexuality, dating, family life etc - in an excellent way without resorting to clichés. He seems to be able to write about all kinds of things and doesn't shy away from difficult material.
One of the best things about this collection is that the author writes about the characters, their lives and their feelings in an effortless way. He's exceptionally good at creating believable and strong characters, because his characters feel realistic and have lives of their own that are filled with sadness, loneliness, pain, loss, melancholy, despair and anxiety. He gives his characters distinct personalities and brings them fully to life by writing about their feelings in a realistic way.
The characters seem to be almost helplessly drawn towards darkness and doom that threatens their everyday life. By writing about the characters in this way, the author ensures that his readers are drawn to the characters and their fates and can't turn away their eyes from the bad and terrifying happenings.
The author focuses nicely on writing about what the characters feel and what happens to them. Reading about the characters' feelings is captivating, because there's real human emotion in all of these stories. Nothing feels artificial when you read about the characters and their feelings.
The quality of the prose is stunningly good. I enjoyed reading the author's prose, because he writes fluent and excellent prose. He pays attention to small details and writes well about the characters. He effortlessly unearths the horrors that lurk in our minds and hide beneath the surface of everyday life. He gives his readers a fascinating disturbing glimpse into a world where eveything is not okay and dark and disturbing things can - and will - happen to people.
When you read this collection, you'll notice that there's a wonderfully unsettling and satisfyingly weird atmosphere in all of the stories. In my opinion, the author manages to evoke genuine feelings of unease and dread in the reader, which is a talent that only a few dark fiction authors have. I'm sure that these stories will linger on the reader's mind for a long time after the last page is read, because it's almost impossible to stop thinking about the characters and the happenings.
If you like dark fiction and have never heard of J.R. Hamantaschen, now would be a good time to start reading his stories, because he's one of the best and most original authors in the field of dark fiction. I sincerely hope that he continues to write more stories, because it's a pleasure to read his dark stories.
J.R. Hamantaschen's With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer is an exceptionally good and original dark fiction collection that deserves to be read by fans of the darker side of speculative fiction. It's a perfect marriage of literary fiction and dark fiction.
If you value quality, good prose and interesting stories, you'll enjoy this collection. If you've ever read anything by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Nathan Ballingrud, Thomas Ligotti, Laird Barron, Clive Barker, Richard Gavin, T.E.D. Klein, D.P. Watt, Quentin S. Crisp and Brendan Connell, I urge you to read this collection. (By the way, if you find this collection interesting, please take a look at the author's debut collection, because it's also an excellent collection.)
Highly recommended!