"Wearing
the Horns" by Clifford Lawrence Meth is 110pp., available
from Aardwolf Books for $13.95*. Aardwolf Publishing, 179-9 Route 46 West,
Box #252 Rockaway, NJ 07866 (
amy@aardwolfpublishing.com
); illustrations by Dave
Cockrum and cover by Frank Brunner .
It's always a pleasure to
trip over a familiar name in the writing game.
I first came across Cliff Meth's back in 1977 when he was 16 years
old and
involved with a comics fanzine called Fan-Media which later became
The Fan Guide. Both of those zines were pretty ballsy publications
and for that reason his name stuck with me. You'll find those
two zines as well as others listed elsewhere in Lulu Review's
vintage fanzines and the connection gives me no better reason
to review Meth's new book, "Wearing the Horns".
"Wearing the Horns" is the latest Clifford Meth offering
from Aardwolf in a line
of books stretching back to "CRIB DEATH & OTHER BEDTIME
STORIES in 1995. "WTH" proves Meth's come a long way
indeed since his fanzine days and become a damned fine writer
along the way of, er . . . 'unusual' tales. I almost said 'dark
tales' but let's stay away from that definition and its 'SK' connotations.
Aardwolf's own blurb calls "WTH" 'a noir-style psychological
thriller'. Meth's no Coen brothers in that respect but for
our purposes it's a decent fit.
WTH is composed of three tales. The book takes its name from the
first of these. Meth is a superb stylist throughout and uses his
words like bullets from a machine gun. His tales are told in a
direct manner, pulling you deeper into the hell that is the life
of "WTH's" protagonist, Herb Fishman. Meth's humanity
is so right on as to be painful at times. If you can't identify
with Herb Fishman or haven't felt his pain and frustrations, you
haven't lived, my friend. All of the characters in 'WTH' are finely
drawn with far less padding than most writers foist off on the
reader of this kind of fiction. The interaction between the characters
rings true and stays that way right through to the end . . . nary
a cardboard cut-out to be found in the lot. Which is not to say
there are no surprises along the way - just when you think you've
got the characters nailed they come at you from another angle
and you discover you didn't know them that well at all. It doesn't
get much better than that.
The last of the three, and the shortest, is 'Pack Dem Balls in
Ice' and it is, in my opinion, the singular best story in the
book. But a difficulty arises in trying to describe it....I can
only point to a scene in a well-known film about two hit men in
a car on their way to a ‘job' (the dialogue consisted of,
".....the name for a Big Mac with cheese in France"
and so on). 'Pack Dem Balls in Ice' is a far different take on
a slightly similar situation in a way that leaves me at a loss
for words. I didn't want to draw the comparison (and yet here
i am.....). Dave and Hank, the protagonists in PDBiI, (and who
are also in the title story) were my two favourite characters
in the whole read. ‘The Last Shabbos' was maybe my second
favourite tale.
Dave Cockrum (Marvel's X-Men) pitches in with six beautiful pencilled
drawings to accompany Meth's writing which compliment the tale
to the Nth (but I'm unsure if six illustrations make for a 'graphic
novel' as Aardwolf advertises the book on its site . . . maybe
someone will explain that to me.) For icing there's a great Frank
Brunner (Dr. Strange) cover.
If I had to find fault with the title tale I might wish for a
less pat ending but
that's a personal quibble and the one Meth offers is fine for
the occasion.
You can't go wrong picking up a copy of "Wearing the Horns".
Meth's
writing is just too damned good not to be read. No wonder Aardwolf
gives a
'Money Back Guarantee'.
review
(c) copyright 2003 by lari davidson
*The book
is available directly from Aardwolf or through any of the retail
stores that ordered it from Diamond PREVIEWS.
Select Aardwolf titles are available from Barnes & Noble.com
and Amazon.com.
Shocklines.com offers the complete Aardwolf catalog.
