Review of Flyblown and Blood-Spattered: by Jarred Martin
Flyblown and Blood-Spattered by Jarred Martin
Jarred Martin is a speculative fiction writer living in Northeastern Arkansas. His stories have appeared in publications such as L’Allure des Mots, Fiction Terrifica, and Bewildering Stories, among others. His first short story collection Flyblown and Blood-Spattered has been ranked as high as number three on Amazon UK’s Horror Anthology chart.
Flyblown and Blood-Spattered is a collection of horror stories with a gore factor exceeding ten. I mean, I normally love horror, but this group of tales has already given me one nightmare, and I expect more to come.
It’s got a lot of gratuitous sex, violence and liberal use of the F-word. If you like this sort of thing, you’re in for a rare treat.
Salley Gardens deals with an old man who doesn’t want to be buried in his own garden because of the little creatures that abound there. His companions kill him, of course, and bury him—well, most of him, anyway—in guess where? This has predictable and dire results for the man and woman who had been taking care of him. The story is creepy, yet strangely satisfying and creative, particularly the ending.
In The Throne, a man with gastric distress develops a justifiable fear of his own bathroom—it’s a portal into another very dark world. A series of calls to equally dark plumbers result in mayhem and dismemberment. This story did have some memorable verbiage, however:
“The mournful shrieks and wails of doomed souls formed a harmony of dread.”
“His teeth banged together and his organs quivered with the consistency of warm cranberry sauce.”
In That Hyperborean Feller, a community of quirky homeless individuals go about their dreary daily lives, dodging witch covens and a Feller who plants watermelon seeds in one character’s forebrain. In this one, a favorite quote:
“Pathosis would tell him that he spoke ancient Greek to him in a hushed whisper, like wind blowing over cracked gravestones.”
In It Came From Peach Island, a small boy grows something strange and deadly on his arm after being stung by a jellyfish-like creature. Before that happens, though, he sees a slaughtered seal:
“It was completely bifurcated from snout to tail and lay on the beach like a costume someone has shed.”
Finally, in Lead Lobotomy, a man’s head catches on fire while bar patrons laugh and applaud. Best quote:
“Nothing washes away humiliation like a flash flood of whiskey.”
This is an articulate and talented author who sometimes covers up his talent with gratuitous sex and swear words. These stories are unpredictable and often jarring. Like I said, I LIKE horror, but this collection was often a little much even for me. It needs a good proofreading as well.
Nevertheless, I give it a solid four stars. Hard core horror fans should love it.
