Sinister Purposes

by Gary Raisor, Keith Minnion (Illustrator), Kariann Childs (Illustrator)

In the secluded, Kudzu-covered town of Eden, Georgia, people are dying in droves. Burnings, decapitations, crucifixions, impalings, and the occasional premature burial. The kids whisper about a mysterious, supernatural figure who walks the railroad tracks outside of town, a figure known simply as "The White Man".

Everyone has a theory, but no one can stop the killing. No one can stop the madness from spreading like some malignant disease.

Only one man, Father Aron, knows what's going on. He vows to cure the evil. The only problem with Father Aron: the cure may be worse than the disease.

Long overdue, this is a hefty new collection of connected stories that form a unified, terrifying tale from Gary Raisor, the author of Less Than Human. This one is something special, folks! The cover is by the fantastic Keith Minnion, and there are a half dozen truly disturbing interior illustrations done by up and coming Kariann Childs. This is Gary's fourth book and it is, by far, his most intense.

Genres: Horror

388 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

I grew up on Eerie and Creepy magazines and Hammer movies with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I love the work of Richard Matheson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joe Lansdale, and Stephen King.

When I'm not fishing or playing with my two dogs Wilbur and Maya, I write horror. I started out with short stories in The Horror Show and Night Cry. Then Cemetery Dance, appearing in the magazine many times and in their best of with Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, along with a who's who of horror.

I have two ebooks out from Cemetery Dance Publications. Sinister Purposes and Less Than Human, which was short-listed for the Stoker and praised by Joe Lansdale as "One of the Great Vampire Novels."

Reviews

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinister Purposes by Gary Raisor is a mind-wrecking Splatterpunk story told in six parts. Raisor uses an in-your-face style of writing not uncommon in Splatterpunk to tell this tale. There is nothing pretty or prosy about it. It is meant to horrify you, creep you out, and offend your sensibilities. And it succeeds.

Gary Raisor pulls absolutely no punches. The reader is immediately plunged head first into horrifyingly offensive imagery and subsequently drowned in it. I spent the first few pages wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. I did not know going in that it was Splatterpunk. I had to take a break after the first section to administer first aid to my sanity.

Once I realized I was venturing into the type of unapologetic gruesome horror one expects of Shane McKenzie and Shaun Hupp, I was ready to go back in. But nothing can really prepare you for the relentless nature of Raisor’s writing in the stories. Gruesome, graphic, suspenseful, twisted, varying combinations thereof. One element that puts a twist to your psyche is Raisor’s subtly changing style from one story to the next. The stories are connected, but each has its own flavor and feel.

Sinister Purposes is ultimately about the proverbial train to Hell, but Raisor twists the classic theme into a unique horror all his own.

If you are a fan of Splatterpunk, here’s your ticket to Hell. Enjoy the ride.

[Jeremiah Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a really hard time with this book. It seemed like the drug addled ramblings of a sexist homophobe rather than a horror novel. At no point in the book was I scared of anything except that I was wasting my time reading it.
None of the characters are likable. That may have been on purpose, but it makes me really not care what happens to them.
I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Shell · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I made it....10 pages in, maybe 20. The writing reminds me of a really stoned high schooler attempting to write a hip,”I’m an in the know wise-ass” story in the hopes of impressing that hot college girl he’s crushing on, only one would think that once sobered up our creative writing high school hero would realize it was a pile of self aware dribble and move on. If I never read the phrase “love gravy “ again I will die happy.

[Bradly Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read - several short stories linked together to become a novel. I enjoyed the characters that are interwoven through out. The writing is spooky, skin crawling and frightening!