bathory

There’s a dark identification in Corpsepaint (Worde Horde, 2018) on which Peak knowingly seizes, capitalizing on what exists in the often unmentioned dungeon of our conscience. I’m a fan of Peak’s aesthetic, and the novel offers a bit of his range and impressive palette: moments stripped bare while others hum with literary electricity. An unforgiving piece of fiction that needs to be trusted in its execution and appreciated in its endurable scope.

Peak pleasingly name-drops the usual, classic- and Black-Metal suspects: Bathory, Maniac, Judas Priest, Darkthrone, and throughout there are obvious nods to the infamous Mayhem (Peak even delivers a sly ball-breaker in the form of a “tech-death metal band in Indiana,” which, owing to my Midwest stomping grounds, elicited a grin). In fact, Bathory’s indelible, 1988 album, Blood Fire Death, might serve as a succinct review for Peak’s novel by its title alone.

The novel, while bleak, was a swift read for me, owing mainly to Peak’s unforgiving urgency to extricate readers from comfy convention in exchange for the frigid, bloodlessness of primeval rumination and ancient instinct. Corpsepaint ultimately operates like a ruthless gaze, one which, while cold, urges us, at first, to acknowledge the darkness, before turning our gaze in on ourselves.

Book-release day has arrived: available now in both paperback and Kindle / e-reader formats: When It’s Time For Dead Things To Die (Unnerving, 2019).

DeadThings

This novella-length story is, in part, a product of both my time in Chicago as well as a formative stint in the adjacent “Region”; and my encounters with that erratic cast of characters (some more “human” than others) informs much of the narrative action. I’d like to extend a warm note of gratitude to Unnerving’s Eddie Generous, who’s provided the opportunity and support to expand this story with the potential of reaching fresh eyes.

Here’s the back-cover synopsis for When It’s Time For Dead Things To Die:

Things are in decline…for Joseph Lowe, a rootless young man who falls for the wrong girl; for Gregory Bath, an aristocratic magnate who spares Lowe an almost certain death for his “transgression,” imposing upon him a kind of parasitic servitude. Now working as a line cook at Bath’s legendary Tudor Quoin, as well as catering to the growing needs of a man far older than he seems, Lowe desperately seeks release from a trap which has ensnared him for the past nine months. But who could possibly escape a family as powerful, as influential, or as far-reaching as the Baths? In the end, choices must be made, sides must be drawn, and for Lowe this means discovering an unlikely salvation between himself and his captor, as well as learning the true meaning of “family.”

From the mind of Clint Smith, author of Ghouljaw and Other Stories, comes a haunting, poetic novella, equal parts Dracula and Eastern Promises, set in modern-day Indiana but stretching its talons far back into history.

Ambrosius Huber (1499), published pamphlet reading: Here begins a very cruel frightening story about a wild bloodthirsty man…

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Clint Smith is the author of the collection, Ghouljaw and Other Stories (Hippocampus Press, 2014). Of late, his tales have appeared in Weird Fiction Review #9 (Centipede Press) and Twice-Told: An Anthology of Doubles (Chthonic Press). His sophomore collection, The Skeleton Melodies, is slated for 2019 release with Hippocampus Press. Clint lives in the Midwest, along with his wife and two children, on the fringes of Deacon’s Creek.

Clint Smith Fiction

Realism Horror

An Unforgiving Oblivion: David Peak’s CORPSEPAINT (Word Horde, 2018)

Now Available: WHEN IT’S TIME FOR DEAD THINGS TO DIE