Finished Objects of Worship (2009) by Claude Lalumière the other day on the way to work. Objects of Worship is a collection of 12 short stories. Describing them as strange would be an understatement. This collection abounds with zombies, superheroes and gods.

About the only other contemporary writer I read much of whose short fiction is this strange, is John Shirley. But other than pure strangeness the two writers’ works have little in common. Shirley’s stories frequently edge into the horrific and are generally dark, while these stories of Lalumière’s have a sense of wonder. Although the subject matter can be horrific I wouldn’t call the stories themselves dark. Oddly, the strangeness is somewhat intensified by not being strange to the characters.

I’m not a zombie fan, but I enjoyed both the zombie stores. “The Ethical Treatment of Meat” was disturbing and reminded me somewhat of “In the Barn” by Piers Anthony (from Again, Dangerous Visions) and “A Visit to the Optometrist” was especially interesting. I am a fan of superheroes and enjoyed all the superhero stories, especially “Hochelaga and Sons”; “Spiderkid” (at the intersection of superheroes and gods) was also interesting, although a touch disturbing. In the afterword Lalumière claims ”Spiderkid” is a loving tribute to the work of Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man), it felt more like a tribute to J. Michael Straczynski’s run on the character.

Although I wouldn’t classify this book as horror, it’s not for the squeamish. “Objects of Worhip” in particular contains some pretty disturbing images. Nor is it for the prudish. The inclusion of “The Place Where Nothing Happens” by itself gives the book an R rating.

My favourite story is probably the last, “This is the Ice Age”. It’s the relatively simple story of two teenagers living in Montreal in the aftermath of the apocalypse. It had some of the feeling of the early chapters of Stephen King’s The Stand.

All in all, I enjoyed Objects of Worship and I’ll keep my eyes open for more books by Claude Lalumière.