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Four in the Morning
A young girl coming of age in an alternate, steampunk Chicago learns the truth about herself while avenging her lost friends. A bitter, teenage murderer finds acceptance and power in the arms of a dark African god’s gangster disciples. A middle-aged woman in a frigid marriage discovers her experimental age-defying treatment may be something more than skin deep. A worn, aged, small-town patriarch uncovers a web of sinister transactions revolving around his local funeral home.Four in the Morning offers adventurous steampunk, sinister urban fantasy, dark science fiction and bone-chilling horror in three novelettes and one novella from four exciting genre voices.
260 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2012
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108 people want to read
About the author
Malon Edwards
33 books22 followersMalon Edwards is a speculative fiction short story writer. Genre fiction he has written includes horror, urban fantasy, cyberpunk, steampunk, and goddesspunk. His short stories have appeared in print and online venues, including Electric Spec, Big Pulp, Polluto, Expanded Horizons, SQ Mag, Shroud Publishing's Beneath the Surface anthology, and Underground Voices.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 27, 2012
Four horror authors brought together by their love of the genre and, well, life – specifically, the stages of life, present four, dark tales that will disturb and move you. Each story focuses on a defining moment for a character at childhood, adolescence, middle age, and old age.
NOTE: Four in the Morning is an adult anthology that uses adult language. Each story places the characters in adult situations. Rape, gun violence, and profane language is the norm.
Here’s my review for each story in Four in the Morning:
Half Dark by Malon Edwards
This surreal and magical steam-punk story will raise the hair on your neck, make you wonder if Mr. Edwards is the love child of Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino, and then leave you wishing for more.
The tale follows a young Creole girl on the cusp of goddess-hood who happens to be a mermaid. The world she lives is in full of fairies, boys with chin-chins, witches, and danger. Oh, yes, lots of danger.
…bad things happen to little girls who walk in the half dark alone.
Told in a first person narrative, I don’t think the reader is properly introduced to our heroine, but we meet her trying to save a faery named Asha. Her wings have been torn off and the blacksmith is trying to fix her some metal wings. Unfortunately, the blacksmith has a black heart and half dark is approaching and things turn for the worse. As our heroine and her good friend Bobby, make an escape, a horrible thing happens. Not knowing she can fix it, she meets a few witches and becomes a goddess.
Mr. Edwards is sure and bold with his writing. The rhythm of his prose and dialogue is lyrical with cajun beats that sets a tone that is easy to read despite world-specific word choices and phrasing. He imbues our Creole goddess with spunk, determination, self-confidence, and just plain, honest goodness that the reader can’t help but root for her as she navigates the creepy half dark and find a way to save her friends.
If you only read one story from this anthology, let it be Half Dark.
Gully Gods by Edward M. Erdelac
I’m not too sure what to say about Gully Gods. I didn’t like it. Maybe it struck too close to home for me. But just because I didn’t like it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a powerful piece of writing. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. Gully Gods was just too powerful for me, too violent and too close to reality.
Initially set in Texas, Gully Gods is another first person narrative that follows the violent (very violent and profane) life of a half-black, half-Mexican gang member nicknamed J-Hoss. Young and cocky, at seventeen years old, he and a friend get in a gunfight with a rival gang, Cholos, or Mexican-Americans, over a dog. Yes, a dog.
Unable to go back home, else he risks incarceration, he goes to live with his aunt and sweet (desperately sweet), young cousin, Adelaide, in Chicago. The very first day he is there, he meets a teenage girl, a Mexican American, and they hit it off. And he also meets a local, black gang, a gang like none other he has ever met.
At a party this girl invites him to, J-Hoss gets into trouble with the local Mexican American gang and violent chaos soon follows with the brutal death of Adelaide the consequences of something far larger than J-Hoss had ever suspected.
Mr. Erdelac immerses the reader into a gang culture that is vivid and frighteningly real. I really had a hard time finishing this story. Though the language of the story is full of gang lingo, Spanish and Spanglish (mix of Spanish and English), Mr. Erdelac does an excellent job of keeping the reader abreast of what each term means while keeping the story immediate. However, it is not his storytelling skills that made it hard to read, but rather the subject matter. I would recommend this story if you want a taste of a culture that is literally in all our backyards that we continually choose to ignore, because it is so hard to look at.
Queen by Lincoln Crisler
This science-fiction-meets-suburbia tale is both amusing and creepy on a level that gnaws at the subconscious in an uncomfortable manner.
Rita is a 42-year-old housewife in a dysfunctional marriage. She’s been having dreams, dreams that are more like vivid nightmares. She’s not happy with her life or herself, and she feels her husband is no longer attracted to her. In an attempt to change her life, she goes online and checks out volunteer jobs she might be able to do to fill her time when she sees an ad:
Local Clinic Seeking Volunteers for Age-reversing Treatment
Of course, she’s answers the ad. As well as signing up to help with the local humane society where she meets a gal her age and makes a friend. She also starts the new age-reversing treatments and that’s when things start to really get interesting…
Mr. Crisler managed to create an entertaining, but odd tale from this third-person narrative. Odd in that on the surface, Rita’s life appears normal, but soon small things here and there begin to show us that nothing about Rita will ever be normal again.
Though I am at the protagonist’s age, I felt removed from this story. That may be because of the first-person narrative style employed by the first two authors, or it could be because I couldn’t imagine myself answering an anti-aging ad. Nonetheless, I found I wasn’t as engaged as I would have liked, but the (inter)stellar ending on this made up for it.
Cenotaph by Tim Marquitz
Ah, the theft of one’s soul is devastating, but what if they stole your body? Just how do you outwit the devil?
In the final story of this anthology, like the final stage of life, we meet a religious, seventy-three old man, James, who has outlived all his loved ones. As terrible as that may be seem, nothing can quite prepare our protagonist from what he will soon discover at the local liquor shop.
Bound by the tenets of a religion steeped in the belief of souls, heaven, hell, and mortal sin, James is given a simple, but blasphemous choice: save the desecrated remains of his loved ones or allow their souls to wander lost in purgatory?
For James that’s really no choice, so he does what any father or grandfather would do.
Mr. Marquitz presented this story in the first-person narrative like the first two in this anthology, and I thought it worked well. The reader discovers the story’s mystery as James discovers it, drawing us into his world. Though I did think some of the activities that James accomplished might be a bit of a stretch for someone his age, when he fired his gun, I was right behind him.
Overall, if you like dark, dirty and realistic horror tales, I recommend this anthology.
Also posted on my blog.
NOTE: Four in the Morning is an adult anthology that uses adult language. Each story places the characters in adult situations. Rape, gun violence, and profane language is the norm.
Here’s my review for each story in Four in the Morning:
Half Dark by Malon Edwards
This surreal and magical steam-punk story will raise the hair on your neck, make you wonder if Mr. Edwards is the love child of Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino, and then leave you wishing for more.
The tale follows a young Creole girl on the cusp of goddess-hood who happens to be a mermaid. The world she lives is in full of fairies, boys with chin-chins, witches, and danger. Oh, yes, lots of danger.
…bad things happen to little girls who walk in the half dark alone.
Told in a first person narrative, I don’t think the reader is properly introduced to our heroine, but we meet her trying to save a faery named Asha. Her wings have been torn off and the blacksmith is trying to fix her some metal wings. Unfortunately, the blacksmith has a black heart and half dark is approaching and things turn for the worse. As our heroine and her good friend Bobby, make an escape, a horrible thing happens. Not knowing she can fix it, she meets a few witches and becomes a goddess.
Mr. Edwards is sure and bold with his writing. The rhythm of his prose and dialogue is lyrical with cajun beats that sets a tone that is easy to read despite world-specific word choices and phrasing. He imbues our Creole goddess with spunk, determination, self-confidence, and just plain, honest goodness that the reader can’t help but root for her as she navigates the creepy half dark and find a way to save her friends.
If you only read one story from this anthology, let it be Half Dark.
Gully Gods by Edward M. Erdelac
I’m not too sure what to say about Gully Gods. I didn’t like it. Maybe it struck too close to home for me. But just because I didn’t like it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a powerful piece of writing. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. Gully Gods was just too powerful for me, too violent and too close to reality.
Initially set in Texas, Gully Gods is another first person narrative that follows the violent (very violent and profane) life of a half-black, half-Mexican gang member nicknamed J-Hoss. Young and cocky, at seventeen years old, he and a friend get in a gunfight with a rival gang, Cholos, or Mexican-Americans, over a dog. Yes, a dog.
Unable to go back home, else he risks incarceration, he goes to live with his aunt and sweet (desperately sweet), young cousin, Adelaide, in Chicago. The very first day he is there, he meets a teenage girl, a Mexican American, and they hit it off. And he also meets a local, black gang, a gang like none other he has ever met.
At a party this girl invites him to, J-Hoss gets into trouble with the local Mexican American gang and violent chaos soon follows with the brutal death of Adelaide the consequences of something far larger than J-Hoss had ever suspected.
Mr. Erdelac immerses the reader into a gang culture that is vivid and frighteningly real. I really had a hard time finishing this story. Though the language of the story is full of gang lingo, Spanish and Spanglish (mix of Spanish and English), Mr. Erdelac does an excellent job of keeping the reader abreast of what each term means while keeping the story immediate. However, it is not his storytelling skills that made it hard to read, but rather the subject matter. I would recommend this story if you want a taste of a culture that is literally in all our backyards that we continually choose to ignore, because it is so hard to look at.
Queen by Lincoln Crisler
This science-fiction-meets-suburbia tale is both amusing and creepy on a level that gnaws at the subconscious in an uncomfortable manner.
Rita is a 42-year-old housewife in a dysfunctional marriage. She’s been having dreams, dreams that are more like vivid nightmares. She’s not happy with her life or herself, and she feels her husband is no longer attracted to her. In an attempt to change her life, she goes online and checks out volunteer jobs she might be able to do to fill her time when she sees an ad:
Local Clinic Seeking Volunteers for Age-reversing Treatment
Of course, she’s answers the ad. As well as signing up to help with the local humane society where she meets a gal her age and makes a friend. She also starts the new age-reversing treatments and that’s when things start to really get interesting…
Mr. Crisler managed to create an entertaining, but odd tale from this third-person narrative. Odd in that on the surface, Rita’s life appears normal, but soon small things here and there begin to show us that nothing about Rita will ever be normal again.
Though I am at the protagonist’s age, I felt removed from this story. That may be because of the first-person narrative style employed by the first two authors, or it could be because I couldn’t imagine myself answering an anti-aging ad. Nonetheless, I found I wasn’t as engaged as I would have liked, but the (inter)stellar ending on this made up for it.
Cenotaph by Tim Marquitz
Ah, the theft of one’s soul is devastating, but what if they stole your body? Just how do you outwit the devil?
In the final story of this anthology, like the final stage of life, we meet a religious, seventy-three old man, James, who has outlived all his loved ones. As terrible as that may be seem, nothing can quite prepare our protagonist from what he will soon discover at the local liquor shop.
Bound by the tenets of a religion steeped in the belief of souls, heaven, hell, and mortal sin, James is given a simple, but blasphemous choice: save the desecrated remains of his loved ones or allow their souls to wander lost in purgatory?
For James that’s really no choice, so he does what any father or grandfather would do.
Mr. Marquitz presented this story in the first-person narrative like the first two in this anthology, and I thought it worked well. The reader discovers the story’s mystery as James discovers it, drawing us into his world. Though I did think some of the activities that James accomplished might be a bit of a stretch for someone his age, when he fired his gun, I was right behind him.
Overall, if you like dark, dirty and realistic horror tales, I recommend this anthology.
Also posted on my blog.
December 12, 2012
Technically my rating for this book is 3.5 stars. This was arrived at by averaging the scores I had for all of the stories, rated in detail below. Because I liked more of the book than disliked it, I rounded the score up.
Four in the Morning is a compilation of four longer-than-average short stories that are almost novellas, but not quite. All of the stories have a bit of a supernatural element, and all are extremely different. They represent four stages of life; childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, and are placed in the book in the order of the stages of life.
Half Dark *
This story was bizarre. I didn't know if I was reading steampunk, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, or having a really strange dream after eating bad Mexican food. Seriously. There wasn't enough room in the story to give background to the characters and all the weird stuff that kept happening. The character development was nil. The action was confusing. The story line was confusing. It took me forever to plow through it because I kept putting it down after a paragraph or two, thinking "Damn, this is so weird," and wondering if I should even bother pushing through it, let alone reading the rest of the book. There's some stuff about fairies, and maybe mechanical mermaids, and some kind of weird fire goddesses/witches who can teleport themselves. Yeah. I don't know either.
Gully Gods ****
Now here's what I'm talking about. This story has action, suspense, character development and interest all packed into a tight little package. J-Hoss gets transported to Chicago after an incident with other bangers in his hometown of Houston. He finds a very different neighborhood than he's used to, when he crosses paths with former child soldiers from Africa who practice a dark magic to enforce their control of the people and business in their area. It's a nice little slice of horror and violence with a hint of social injustice and enough trauma to keep you riveted. Very nice story.
Queen *****
Poor Rita. I could relate to her. One day you look in the mirror and the face you see isn't what you expect. Where do those years go, anyway? Sometimes I'd do anything, too, to turn back the clock, and so, like Rita, if I'd seen an ad on Craig's List that promised to do just that, I might just consider answering it. Hopefully, if I did, things wouldn't go so terribly, terribly wrong.
This is another fun story that packs a lot of punch into a small package. There isn't the violence that Gully Gods has; it's more a tale of suspense. And the ending? Had me shocked and going "Oh no he di'int" out loud. I even scared a cat. That's success.
Cenotaph ****
There's something especially awful about the loneliness of burying those you love. Especially when it isn't just your spouse, but your children and grandchildren. That's the place our protagonist finds himself in, until one day, when he's feeling extra sorry for himself and extra in need of some liquid comfort, he bumps into his dead grandson at the liquor store.
There's a little bit of action here, and a little bit of heroism, and a character I really felt for and liked. Nicely done.
Overall this is a good collection, but if necessary - skip that first story over. The others are worth it :)
Four in the Morning is a compilation of four longer-than-average short stories that are almost novellas, but not quite. All of the stories have a bit of a supernatural element, and all are extremely different. They represent four stages of life; childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, and are placed in the book in the order of the stages of life.
Half Dark *
This story was bizarre. I didn't know if I was reading steampunk, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, or having a really strange dream after eating bad Mexican food. Seriously. There wasn't enough room in the story to give background to the characters and all the weird stuff that kept happening. The character development was nil. The action was confusing. The story line was confusing. It took me forever to plow through it because I kept putting it down after a paragraph or two, thinking "Damn, this is so weird," and wondering if I should even bother pushing through it, let alone reading the rest of the book. There's some stuff about fairies, and maybe mechanical mermaids, and some kind of weird fire goddesses/witches who can teleport themselves. Yeah. I don't know either.
Gully Gods ****
Now here's what I'm talking about. This story has action, suspense, character development and interest all packed into a tight little package. J-Hoss gets transported to Chicago after an incident with other bangers in his hometown of Houston. He finds a very different neighborhood than he's used to, when he crosses paths with former child soldiers from Africa who practice a dark magic to enforce their control of the people and business in their area. It's a nice little slice of horror and violence with a hint of social injustice and enough trauma to keep you riveted. Very nice story.
Queen *****
Poor Rita. I could relate to her. One day you look in the mirror and the face you see isn't what you expect. Where do those years go, anyway? Sometimes I'd do anything, too, to turn back the clock, and so, like Rita, if I'd seen an ad on Craig's List that promised to do just that, I might just consider answering it. Hopefully, if I did, things wouldn't go so terribly, terribly wrong.
This is another fun story that packs a lot of punch into a small package. There isn't the violence that Gully Gods has; it's more a tale of suspense. And the ending? Had me shocked and going "Oh no he di'int" out loud. I even scared a cat. That's success.
Cenotaph ****
There's something especially awful about the loneliness of burying those you love. Especially when it isn't just your spouse, but your children and grandchildren. That's the place our protagonist finds himself in, until one day, when he's feeling extra sorry for himself and extra in need of some liquid comfort, he bumps into his dead grandson at the liquor store.
There's a little bit of action here, and a little bit of heroism, and a character I really felt for and liked. Nicely done.
Overall this is a good collection, but if necessary - skip that first story over. The others are worth it :)
September 5, 2012
Four in the Morning is an unusual anthology, in that instead of collecting a lot of short stories, it is made up of four novellas, loosely based on different stages of life (youth, early adulthood, middle age, and old age). The genres and styles of these dark tales vary as well, from steampunk (“Half Dark” by Malon Edwards) to urban fantasy (“Gully Gods” by Edward M. Erdelac) to science fiction (“Queen” by Lincoln Crisler) to horror (“Cenotaph” by Tim Marquitz). I enjoyed all four offerings, though it took me a bit to warm up to “Gully Gods”. Malon Edwards’ “Half Dark” was my favorite of the quartet, though, by turns dark, strange, charming, and memorable–qualities I only sometimes find in steampunk stories.
October 12, 2012
I recently read a good anthology called Four in the Morning. This is a collection of four novellas all centering around a different age in life . One story focuses on young kids, one on teenagers, one on a middle age woman and on on an elderly man. The first story is a steampunk story named Half Dark by Malon Edwards. This is a coming of age story about a mermaid/robot girl living in a dangerous world who finds that she is much more then she thought she was. This story has a little bit of everything, witches, faeries, pirates and boys with chin chins.
I love the made up language in this one, even if I didn't fully understand it. All of the characters were great and the setting were excellent. This story also has the best character name I've ever heard which is: Big Poppa The Draws Dropper. You gotta love the creativity that goes into steampunk. This story is funny yet exciting and very unique at the same time.
The second story is Gully Gods by Edward M. Erdelac. This is an urban fantasy with some real life horror thrown in. The story follows a gang member named J-Hoss who after killing a man in Huston has to move to Chicago with his aunt and young cousin but trouble finds him and he is forced into the middle of a gang war.
The author must have done a lot of research on gangs for this story because there is quite a bit of gang lingo used here. This story was frighteningly realistic and extremely violent. The story moves along quickly and it is very well written. I liked how J-Hoss is given a chance to change but because he is so used to things being a certain way he can't do it. I also liked finding out about the god that is behind the gang war and the conversation that happens at the end of the story.
Next up is Queen by Lincoln Crisler. This one follows a woman named Rita who just had her 42nd birthday. Rita is not happy with her self image so she decides to take part in an age reversing treatment experiment that has some interesting side effects. What I liked about this story was hearing Rita's feelings about getting older and her reaction to what is happening to her. This was a science fiction tale with an ending that could have been explained a litle better but was still entertaining.
The last story is an all out horror tale called Cenotaph by Tim Marquitz. It follows a religious 73 year old man named James who has to live with the horror of out living all of his loved ones. Which to me was the scariest part of the story. He finds out by accident that his family are not in their graves and then sees his grandson who has been dead for 10 years in a liquor store. James is left to discover the mystery of what happened to his family and the answer may ruin everything he believes in. This was a great horror story that was suspenseful right up until the end. All of the stories in Four In The Morning we're great and well worth your time.
I love the made up language in this one, even if I didn't fully understand it. All of the characters were great and the setting were excellent. This story also has the best character name I've ever heard which is: Big Poppa The Draws Dropper. You gotta love the creativity that goes into steampunk. This story is funny yet exciting and very unique at the same time.
The second story is Gully Gods by Edward M. Erdelac. This is an urban fantasy with some real life horror thrown in. The story follows a gang member named J-Hoss who after killing a man in Huston has to move to Chicago with his aunt and young cousin but trouble finds him and he is forced into the middle of a gang war.
The author must have done a lot of research on gangs for this story because there is quite a bit of gang lingo used here. This story was frighteningly realistic and extremely violent. The story moves along quickly and it is very well written. I liked how J-Hoss is given a chance to change but because he is so used to things being a certain way he can't do it. I also liked finding out about the god that is behind the gang war and the conversation that happens at the end of the story.
Next up is Queen by Lincoln Crisler. This one follows a woman named Rita who just had her 42nd birthday. Rita is not happy with her self image so she decides to take part in an age reversing treatment experiment that has some interesting side effects. What I liked about this story was hearing Rita's feelings about getting older and her reaction to what is happening to her. This was a science fiction tale with an ending that could have been explained a litle better but was still entertaining.
The last story is an all out horror tale called Cenotaph by Tim Marquitz. It follows a religious 73 year old man named James who has to live with the horror of out living all of his loved ones. Which to me was the scariest part of the story. He finds out by accident that his family are not in their graves and then sees his grandson who has been dead for 10 years in a liquor store. James is left to discover the mystery of what happened to his family and the answer may ruin everything he believes in. This was a great horror story that was suspenseful right up until the end. All of the stories in Four In The Morning we're great and well worth your time.
February 22, 2014
This collection offers four pieces--novelettes and a short novella--reflecting the "Four Ages of Man." Tone and direction and style vary greatly here, so this book is best approached by a reader ready for anything.
Malon Edwards' contribution seems equal parts steampunk, urban fantasy, and bizarre surrealism. My favorite genre is not on that list--and yet I found this piece very compelling. He's made a complete world and is very comfortable with sharing its extremes with the reader. But as much as he surprisingly won me over, I expect in subsequent reads I'll enjoy this author most in short doses.
The other three contributions are more traditionally grounded--but each author adds plenty of individual flavor. "Gully Gods" by Edward Erdalac somehow succeeds in maintaining the voice of a 17-year-old street thug. The story takes a while to get going but its momentum strengthens as it goes along. In contrast, "Queen" by Lincoln Crisler seems busy for the sake of busyness. There are a lot of plot elements that distracted from each other, even though some of the short scenes worked well at deepening character. "Cenotaph" by Tim Marquitz has some action-thriller elements pick up and resolve a morose setup that's written with great brio.
This volume is quite affecting at times. I'll be considering more from all of these authors in the future.
Malon Edwards' contribution seems equal parts steampunk, urban fantasy, and bizarre surrealism. My favorite genre is not on that list--and yet I found this piece very compelling. He's made a complete world and is very comfortable with sharing its extremes with the reader. But as much as he surprisingly won me over, I expect in subsequent reads I'll enjoy this author most in short doses.
The other three contributions are more traditionally grounded--but each author adds plenty of individual flavor. "Gully Gods" by Edward Erdalac somehow succeeds in maintaining the voice of a 17-year-old street thug. The story takes a while to get going but its momentum strengthens as it goes along. In contrast, "Queen" by Lincoln Crisler seems busy for the sake of busyness. There are a lot of plot elements that distracted from each other, even though some of the short scenes worked well at deepening character. "Cenotaph" by Tim Marquitz has some action-thriller elements pick up and resolve a morose setup that's written with great brio.
This volume is quite affecting at times. I'll be considering more from all of these authors in the future.
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