Thoughts on Against the Clock, by Mark Allan Gunnells, Brandon Ford, Shane Nelson

Against the Clock: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Mark Allan Gunnells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The clock is ticking. The sand is pouring through the hour glass. The deadline, the due date, is almost here …

Against the Clock is the newest addition to Crystal Lake Publishing’s Dark Tide series. Each of the three novellas is a tale of a protagonist desperately trying to beat the clock. Time is running out—and if the clock wins, the protagonist is going to lose and lose badly.

“Septic,” by Mark Allan Gunnells, is the lead tale in Against the Clock. In this novella, set in the late 1980s, under the cloud of the AIDS crisis, Gunnells explores the misery of adolescence. That Carl, the protagonist, is a gay adolescent, means his misery has an extra layer of pain. Add another layer of being gay and in the closet in a small town, and Carl’s growing up and coming f age isn’t easy, to the least.

So far, Carl has passed as straight, as normal, thanks in part to the protection of his football player best friend, Danny. But this passing comes at a price: the fear of discovery, the shame of not standing for Zach, another gay kid in their small town high school, to the school bullies. That Carl’s best friend, Danny, joins in the bullying, makes it all the worse.

It is the night of the Christmas parade. Carl, a cheerleader, really wants to be a part of it. Then, he suffers a “series of unfortunate events. His car has a flat tire. He has to endure the excruciating embarrassment of having to ride in his mother’s clunker car. His stomach ache won’t go away; it gets worse. At least,. Zach’s crush on Carl, and his desperation to impress him, results in Zach getting into the school to a bathroom.

Even so, Zach’s help results Carl being alone, in an empty school, and in terrible pain. He doesn’t have a stomachache. All the signs point to appendicitis. The clock is ticking. His appendix will rupture; it will spew toxins into his body. Everyone is at the parade. His mother is trapped at work. Zach and Danny both think Carl is at home. So does his mother. Will they realize in time that he isn’t at home and that something has gone very wrong?

Gunnells deftly handles the rising tension and fear. His portrayal of gay teen angst is spot on, as are his descriptions of Carl’s agonizing pain, his desperate efforts to get out. His portrayal of Carl's struggles with his sexuality are also very well done. The contrast between Danny, the jock, and Zach, the band kid is sharp and to the point.

The clock is ticking. A very well-told tale.

“Subscription Due,” by Shane Nelson, is the second novella in this collection. Roger Seville is a successful writer, living an “idyllic life,”, married to Anna, “an amazing woman.” Everything has fallen into place, until one day, Roger gets a subscription past due notice. What? For not only a magazine he hasn’t subscribed to, he has never heard of it.

It has to be mistake, right? The overdue notices keep coming. Time is running out. Then, two very violent and murderous men show to collect. Roger desperately tried to get help, to find an answer. Does the King’s Quarterly exist? Apparently so—and his father had a subscription? Did he receive an overdue notice? The magazine is no normal publication. Rather, it appears to be a portal to a dark, nightmare world, a word of nightmares and horror.

What is going on and why and can it be stopped? And at what price?

A dark, dark tale that is keeps the reader engaged to the end.

“Pixelated,” by Brandon Ford, is the third novella, and if anything, it is perhaps the darkest of the three. It is certainly the most disturbing. If the time runs out, Carl’s appendix will burst. If Roger doesn’t pay, the two murders will collect, and they aren’t taking checks or cash. Here, Tanner faces the horror that his beloved grandfather was not the kind soul he believed the old man was. Rather, his grandfather was a monster. A different clock is ticking: what happens when Carl learns this truth? Will his past consume him? Can he escape it in time to save himself? Is he somehow like his grandfather?

Tanner and his girlfriend have to come to clean out his grandfather’s house, the house
Tanner inherited. He finds hidden video tapes that reveal just how depraved and monstrous his grandfather truly was. When he finds out the old man was the perpetrator of “an unsolved crime decades-old,” the nightmare is set in motion, a nightmare that could consume his soul.

I found myself not wanting to read what came next—not because the story isn’t well-written and carefully plotted and compelling. No, I just didn’t want to know the depths of darkness that demands exploration. But, darkness has to be faced.

Well done.

A strong collection, with three well-written and compelling novellas. Recommended.






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