Martyrs and Monsters

by Robert Dunbar, Greg F. Gifune (Introduction)

Robert Dunbar has been called one of the "saviors of contemporary dark fiction" and an "avatar of literary horror." Martyrs & Monsters runs the gamut of this extraordinary author's narrative range, embracing vampires and sea serpents, werewolves and swamp creatures... as well as a host of nightmares for which no names exist. Whether set on an orbiting space station or within a haunted tenement, these terrifying tales are steeped in a passionate intensity that renders them all but unique within the genre, and all boast a sophistication that qualifies them as that rarest of rare commodities: horror for intelligent adults.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies, Fiction, Werewolves, LGBT

276 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2009

About the author

Robert Dunbar is the author of the THE PINES TRILOGY, a series of supernatural thrillers – THE PINES and THE SHORE and THE STREETS. These novels have garnered extremely positive reviews, attracting a great many readers, and the author often blogs about his adventures in the genre world here at Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...



Dunbar has written for television and radio as well as for numerous newspapers and magazines. His plays and poetry have won awards, and his short fiction has been widely anthologized. You can find an interview with him here:
http://www.uninvitedbooks.com/page32....



Dunbar has been called "the catalyst for the new literary movement in horror" and "one of the saviors of contemporary dark fiction," which he loves… in no small degree because of how such comments provoke the troll community.

To learn more, drop by Robert Dunbar’s Literary Darkness discussion group.
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posted at Shelf Inflicted

I loved Martyrs & Monsters for its variety of rich, intense stories, and its diverse cast of characters, many of whom are troubled people who struggle through life and live on the edge.

These disturbing and unsettling stories are not graphic, but they will creep up on you and won’t let go.

Though each story in this collection will linger on in my memory, a few favorites stand out:

Getting Wet – Very murky, damp and unsettling. Tim and Conrad were extremely well developed considering the short length of this story. They were not especially likable, but their life experiences and the tragic events in the story made me feel very deeply for them. The ending left me breathless and managed to be sexy and revolting at the same time.

High Rise – It’s a contemporary ghost story. It’s also about the relationship between two brothers and the sacrifice one makes. The ending shattered me.

Mal de Mer – A beautifully written, evocative story that left me shaken. I love the sea - its mysteries, turmoil, tranquility, and lack of consciousness. This haunting, disturbing and erotic story explored aging, loneliness, and the emotional toll of being a caregiver.

Explanations – Wagner and Jimmy love comics and old movies. Wagner owns a comic book store. When Jimmy gets a job at Wagner’s store, their friendship deepens and obsession grows. Wagner’s wife has had enough. Dark, sad, and humorous.

I would recommend this collection of stories to those who love thoughtful and intelligent horror.

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

in this excellent collection of short stories, Dunbar mines both horror tropes and, more interestingly, the inevitable degradation of self within a varied range of vividly depicted and toxic closed circles. the breadth of these stories - from tenement to moldering southern 'mansion' to space station (maybe) to killing fields of the distant past - is impressive. as is the verve and finesse in which Dunbar approaches his topics and paints his imagery. he really knows how to bring the literary to literary horror. there is an abundance of dread and melancholy and creepiness, and a good number of squalid squirmy scenarios, but not much in the way of gore or viscera. if you want the pornographic detail of torture porn, this is not for you. but if you want thoughtfulness and ambiguity and to be forced to think a bit, then this is an interesting and rewarding book to pick up.

one caveat: i fucken hate the tacky cover.

the companion stories "Gray Soil" and "Red Soil" are worth the price of admission alone. these take place sometime long ago, on a field that that is a post-battle graveyard in one and in the other, the site of forced labor on some strange folly at the behest of some strange nobleman. we see a mother and her children forced to deal with the horrible scavenger that haunts the battlefield and we see a brave lad trying to look out for his sister as a host of these scavengers attack his camp. the creatures are fascinating; what happens to these characters is even more compelling. the prose in these stories is spare and resonant, as suits a myth or fable. haunting and disturbing and, best of all, leaving the reader to figure out on their own what comes next.

the highly amusing "The Folly" takes place in an oddly-shaped home on an isolated swamp island in the South. Dunbar revisits the Jersey Devil of his novels The Pines & The Shore but does so in a very different manner. the creature is fully recontextualized as a worldwide phenomena (although that was present, a bit, in the novels) and is also made somehow less mysterious - yet still quite threatening. a creature that is described as looking like a giant muskrat is indeed still scary if it wants to tear you to pieces! but the creature is not really the best part. i liked the bizarre home (and actually wanted more of it), i enjoyed the nascent lesbian affair on the horizon, and i really loved the wonderfully arch and wry tone of the story. charm + slaughter, a lovely combo.

"Saturday Night Fights" is a fun ticket to an old-fashioned monster battle, this one featuring a punk rock about-to-be-a-couple fighting a disgusting beast in some repulsive apartment building somewhere. some sharp characterization - the subtlety of which really sticks out, in a good way, when taken in context with the broadness of the story itself. plus kittens and a feel-good ending! awww.

"Full" is ingenius. it takes the whole paranormal subgenre - hey, vampires & werewolves & zombies walk amongst us and we have to deal with it! - and boils it down to one hopeful walk in the dark by our moody protagonist as he goes to meet his boyfriend. the story does really amusing things with zombies and a vampire and a horny Frankenstein's monster type creature. and it does an awesome thing with the werewolf - simultaneously illustrating why that creature is such a pervasive erotic fantasy while not forgetting that making love to such a creature may be a bit... problematic.

other folks seem to really enjoy "Explanations" but, sad to say, this was my least favorite story. it is witty and the characterizations were full of depth and humor, but there was also an unpleasant veneer of sneering condescension that reminded me too much of John Shirley's Black Butterflies (a book i loathed).

and speaking of other folks, readers also appear to really enjoy the connected "Getting Wet" and "Are We Dead Yet?". they weren't my favorite tales in the collection, but there is no denying the sheer artistry on display in these stories about sociopathic boyfriends living in a very dirty world and making it dirtier. Dunbar's ability to get into the head of our twitchy protagonist and to make the protagonist's boyfriend threateningly opaque yet still very real - to make these two human cockroaches come alive even as they turn on others and each other... very, very well-done. and the dark, watery, empty world he creates for them to live in is just as impressive.

"Away" is one of those rare stories that made me feel sort of dimwitted and confused when reading it, as if i should be understanding what was going on but some lack in me made that nearly impossible. the story of a paranoid outsider who may actually be right all along really left me mystified and unsure about what i had just read. was it too subtle? no, there is no such thing. that story is going to force me to re-read it. and when a story can do that: Like!

there are several other worthy stories, but i'll close on my favorite - perhaps even one of my new all-time favorite horror stories - the strange, haunting, tense, sorta sexy and sorta disgusting, eerily evocative, wonderfully understated "Mal de Mer". a cold-blooded lady taking care of an old woman about to die. a house near a beach. a mysterious and violently sexual man. two exceedingly creepy children. something big and monstrous that manages to be, somehow, disappointed and scornful as well. lacerating self-analysis and lonely contemplation and needle-sharp teeth and bloodstains on the floor. in a word, brilliant.

cross-posted on hypnos.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. A highly original, extremely well written collection of modern horror short stories. Unlike anything else I have read before. I was very impressed by the atmosphere created for each story and the subtle way the author introduces the horror elements of each story as part of a larger comment on the human condition. All the stories are good but I thought "Explanations," "High Rise" and "Gray Soil" were superb.

Nominee: Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

MARTYRS AND MONSTERS

This is a dark short story collection that presents you with new takes on classical monsters, as well as psychological and supernatural scares. Some stories I liked better than others, but that's almost inevitable with short story collections. All in all, this is the best short story collection I have read in a long time, and the quality was high throughout.

Some of the stories used telling, but most of them leaned towards showing. These often gave me a cinematic experience that I really enjoyed. We are often thrown into the story - in medias res - and it takes a little while for the reader to get her bearings (at lest it did for me). Being disoriented, in dark places, only seeing glimpses of your surroundings, was a recurring thing in these stories. And that is a big part of the collection's strength. Sounds and sights were described especially well. The visual aspect really impressed me. Action sequences played out like scenes in a movie. The descriptions of light and shadow built up the atmosphere and the sense of unease and not being in control. The main character was often stumbling around in shadows, not being able to see enough to make complete sense of their surroundings. And more often than not, there was something monstrous close by.

I think it is really well done to have this level of description and still not have the plot lag at all. The stories often has a certain intensity, but at the same time the descriptions makes them very atmospheric. The variety of stories were good, characters and dialogue were good, but mostly the atmosphere and visual descriptions (even when they were sparse) were impressive and gave most of the stories a strong sense of place. Well done.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Dunbar's book is my 666th rated book..... I am sure that this will make him smile and give off an evil laugh.

I was amazed by this collection. First of all, the stories didn't seem like they were even from the same author. Did the same guy write the pitch black "Gray Soil" and the laugh out loud humorous southern gothic "The Folly?" A complaint I often have when reading a story collection by one author is that the stories start to sound the same.

Not so here; which means a particular reader might not like every story. I don't think you are supposed to. I don't think Dunbar writes stories that he hopes everyone likes. That is always the case with artistic integrity. He writes. We read.

Some stories hit me as deeply as anything I have ever read. My personal favorites were "Like a Story," "High Rise," "Gray Soil," "Mal de Mer," "Red Soil," "The Folly," and "Explanations." I also enjoyed "Getting Wet" and "Are We Dead Yet" as they told a continuous story.

It is tempting to say that "Like a Story" reminds me of Gifune or "Mal de Mer" is sort of Lovecraftian at least in theme (although certainly not in writing style) but I will resist that temptation. Why compare writers? Dunbar is clearly an original with his own voice.

I can say that if you like dark fiction (because most of these stories are dark, even The Folly which is the lightest of the bunch) that is well written and original; if you are not afraid to go to places that may make you uncomfortable; if you are willing to read an author that is different from anyone else you have read----then try this one out.

By the way, in an age of throw away titles or merely using the title of the best known story, the title of this collection is very appropriate and adds to the understanding. The characters here are martyrs and monsters and sometimes they are both.

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me forever to finish this collection of short stories by Robert Dunbar. The opener, ‘Getting Wet’, was so disquieting I stopped reading after that. Then when had I recovered sufficiently from its eerie creepiness, I returned again to the bloody, haunted pages of Martyrs & Monsters. And again, and again.

For example, I cried at the end of ‘The Moon (Upside Down)’, and don’t really know why. It was such a beautiful, sad, inexplicable story.

Some stories were laugh-out loud funny, while quite a few disgusted me. Some were pretty grim and depressing. And then there were those shimmering with love and sensuousness.

Dunbar is a writer of great nuance, who knows exactly when to let the reader’s imagination do the work. To call this a ‘horror’ collection does not reflect the depth or quality of the writing here – this is psychological fiction at its finest and most insightful.

And if you are a horror fan like I am, you will be amazed at what he does with some of the genre’s fondest tropes: ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires. They become alive, frightening, powerful … and desirable.

This is a superb collection that takes you well out of your comfort zone into an eerie realm of wonder and terror, which Dunbar knows very well are two sides of the same coin.

[Bandit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two thoughts after finishing this book...what was that? and why do so many good authors like it? Greg Gifune loved it, he practically gushed all over it in his foreword. Didn't do a thing for me. It passed or really wasted some time, I read it in one afternoon, but not because I couldn't put it down, more like I couldn't wait to be done with it. Years ago I read Dunbar's Pines and I thought that was ok, but this anthology...it was a fine example of style over substance. Hyper stylized prose telling unpleasant stories about unpleasant individuals, the sort you couldn't relate to or give a cr*p about. The writing wasn't bad by any means, but the writing shouldn't be the star of the show. The stories were original plot wise, credit there. And a few of them were actually decent, but too few. A lot of the stories were connected, but inexplicable interspersed throughout the book instead of going together. The book was also very heavy in male homosexual context, so if that's not your thing, there is really no getting away from it in these stories. Personally I don't care, not with so many other detractors at work here. I guess the cover should have been a giveaway, but it isn't the same as on the book I borrowed from the library. Great title, but what an overwhelmingly underwhelming hyped up waste of a tree.

[GUD Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martyrs & Monsters, by Robert Dunbar, is a motley collection of short stories that address almost all manner of the supernatural and fantastical, from vampires to sea serpents. And, of course, the Jersey Devil is figured in, being a staple figure of curiosity in Dunbar's other works.

I tend to prefer Dunbar in this format, as opposed to a full-blown novel. The stories are the right length, and you feel less like you were caught up in a movie and more as if you are watching an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'. The characters and plots he tackles are well-suited to short story form, and in many ways this collection reminds me of early Stephen King efforts, like Different Seasons.

Because this is a collection, there is a common theme among the stories, primarily one of love and loss, forcing us to re-examine our inborn notions that these creatures of horror are detached, loveless, or incapable of forming bonds among themselves or with humans. Dunbar also discusses some of these mythical creatures as having a common ancestry, specifically in how they are born. It's an interesting take on some familiar creatures we feel we have come to know intimately and repeatedly, and he demonstrates with skill that it’s an aspect worthy of investigation.

As a big fan of Flannery O'Connor and of Southern gothic writing style, I enjoyed 'The Folly' immensely. Yes, it's another telling of the Jersey Devil myth he visited twice before in The Pines (reviewed by GUD here) and The Shore (which I have not yet read). However, this has a new flavor. There's a tongue-in-cheek element that wiggles its tongue at you, in both humorous and haunting ways.

Dunbar writes fairly clean prose, but some editing and spelling errors were there when they shouldn’t be (just as in The Pines), which is a bit annoying from a reader’s standpoint. He seems to enjoy writing the horror genre, but resists the temptation to go too far. He's provocative, but not grotesque. His imagery is vivid and visceral without being off-putting, or noxious. Rather, he tends toward descriptions that involve most of the senses - taste, smell, sound and, lastly, sight, and these attempts are appreciated as they involve the reader in the deepest possible way.

Martyrs & Monsters has a wide variety of characters, from varied backgrounds - minorities, criminals, the alienated, and the misfits. I believe most fans of the horror genre will find a character that they recognize or can identify with. These characters give Dunbar's work some texture, and they tend to resist being 'cookie-cutter' or forgettable types. Their vulnerability and ‘humanity’ give another dimension to this collection.

With 'Gray Soil' and 'Red Soil', Dunbar explores zombies in all their savagery and chilling murderousness. A mother zombie who protects her undead child to death...how twisted is that? It forces us to re-examine what we believe about the undead, and their relationships with each other and with us; we are supremely and alternately shocked and entertained, and strangely touched, but recognize in them elements of what it means to be human, or formerly human.

All in all, this is a very well-done collection. I would recommend Martyrs & Monsters as a good Halloween read, perhaps on a dark, stormy night while the kids are out trick-or-treating.

[Paul Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today and desired to “re-imagine” his 1948 classic “Rope,” he’d want Robert Dunbar to write the screenplay. Guaranteed.

Dunbar starts his impressive collection off with “Getting Wet,” a moody, tension-filled piece that does indeed measure up to my all time Hitch film, with Dunbar’s Con and Tim evoking the controlling Brandon and the nervous, needy Phillip. But this isn’t some re-tread of familiar material as, really, the two stories share little in common other than two fascinating lead characters and the realistic and dangerous relationship between them. Quite frankly, if anything, this is “Rope” with crack heads, and is completely and utterly engrossing.

When I finished this first story I knew I was in for a great ride with this collection and I wasn’t disappointed. Throughout the book, Dunbar maintains the tension, and creates some really wonderful characters that you want to visit with again. And that’s good, because in some cases the characters do come back to haunt you in other stories. Personally, I was happy to see Con and Tim reappear in “Are We Dead Yet?” which gives us even more insight into their characters and relationship. It serves as a prequel of sorts, but stands beautifully on its own.

Dunbar masterfully creates emotional reality just as well as he creates atmosphere, and each character in each story is brimming with emotion. Whether it’s a young man who deeply needs to protect his abusive brother in “High Rise,” or a Mother who will do anything to protect her children in “Gray Soil,” these are very real, human beings (even when they’re not) in extraordinary circumstances. In fact, if I could narrow it down to one theme that seems to run through this entire collection it is the overwhelming sense of need that appears to drive each character. There is something that they don’t just simply want or desire. There is an insistent need that drills into their bones and it is so palpable that it becomes almost an additional character in each of the stories. This is especially true with the boys in “Like a Story,” characters that indelibly etched in my mind. For me, the collection works the best when Dunbar sticks closest the the realistic emotional core of the characters. Lucky for us, he does that consistently.

Dunbar also gives us some nice moments of dark humor with “The Folly,” an out and out laugh from me in “Saturday Night Fights,” and anyone who has ever attended a comic book/sci-fi/horror convention will surely see some familiar faces (perhaps even their own?) in “Explanations,” which had me smiling all the way through despite the very dark center of it.

What I also appreciate about Dunbar’s work is that it is challenging. Dunbar doesn’t talk down to his readers, nor is he going to hold their hands through the stories. There may be times when the reader goes “wait, what the hell is going on?” but that has a wonderful effect of keeping the reader slightly off kilter as all the pieces come together in a satisfying conclusion.

The collection ends with “The Moon (Upside Down),” a wonderfully quiet piece of work, that evokes Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” had those Barbary Lane characters been infused with a little darkness, a smidge of tarot, and an almost fatalistic outlook on life.

In the end, this collection will challenge you, move you, and make you hold your breath. It’s dark fiction, it’s horror, it’s character study, it’s literary fiction. And it’s damn good.

Originally posted at Outlaw Reviews.

[Robert Dunbar · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many of my colleagues have been very supportive of this collection. I am deeply grateful.

“Robert Dunbar has the unique personal vision, command of language, and atmospheric style to enrapture you in the wildest, deepest nightmare.”
TOM PICCIRILLI
author of SHADOW SEASON and THE COLDEST MILE

“Robert Dunbar is not just a writer's writer, he's also a reader's writer (as all writers should be): his brilliance with characters and the thorny, nightmarish situations in which they find themselves makes me squirm, as all dark fiction should. When I find myself squirming as I read, I know I'm in the hands of a master.”
T. M. WRIGHT
author of A MANHATTAN GHOST STORY and LITTLE BOY LOST

“Intimate and terrifying, Dunbar’s short fiction confidently and skillfully draws the reader in ... closer .... closer ....”
ELIZABETH MASSIE
author of HOMEPLACE and WIRE MESH MOTHERS

“Robert Dunbar is a masterful writer: intelligent, controlled, stylish, and honest. He knows where to steer readers, and when to leave them to finish their dark journeys alone.”
TIM LEBBON
author of THE ISLAND and FALLEN

“Robert Dunbar is among the saviors of contemporary dark fiction. Literary and deliciously fierce – each story possesses its own unique flavor of decadence, color and depth … a feast for those who crave horror at its finest.”
SANDY DELUCA
author of DESCENT and MANHATTAN GRIMOIRE

“A must read for any serious connoisseur – Robert Dunbar has become a contemporary avatar of literary horror.”
P. D. CACEK
author of NIGHT PRAYERS and CANYONS

“One of my favorite storytellers, Robert Dunbar is a true craftsman – a master of the genre. His writing is rich with style and substance.”
BRIAN KEENE
author of DEAD SEA and ALONE

From the Introduction by Greg F. Gifune:

“Gritty and savage … profound and quietly devastating … this is dark fiction as it should be – chilling, entertaining, and intelligent.”
GREG F. GIFUNE
author of GARDENS OF NIGHT and JUDAS GOAT

[James Everington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book by this author I've read, and probably the best - but then I do have liking for a good, literate horror short story collection. Which is delivered in spades here. The author has a remarkable capacity to combine a variety of story styles & genres that still cohere into a consistent world view. Partly this is down to his taut & lyrical turns of phrase. Dunbar can use language to make you feel and see what he wants; in a book of chillers he even managed to make me laugh out loud in 'Explanations'.

Many of the stories take a basic horror story trope and run with it, twisting it into new directions - 'Getting Wet', 'Folly'. Others, such as the superlative 'Mal De Mer' are true one offs (the image of the wheelchair in the bottom of the swimming pool will haunt me for days).

As with all collections, there was the odd one that didn't hit quite as hard, but none weak enough to drag my rating down to anything less than a full-fat five-stars. Consistently impressive, and I hope the author does some more work in the short story form soon.

[Robert Dunbar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a little hard to explain really -- what this book has meant to me, how important it's been in my life. Over the years, I'd grown so dispirited, so frustrated with reviews for my previous books, not that they weren't excellent. But a critic would rave that The Pines was a "masterpiece of genre fiction" or that The Shore was "surprisingly good for a horror novel." With MARTYRS & MONSTERS -- for the first time -- reviewers began to discuss my work purely in terms of its literary significance. That made all the difference. (Artists are such sensitive creatures.) Without this level of support, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to attempt a novel as complex as Willy. I'm very grateful.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich and dark, this collection of stories does what every "horror" story of collection should do...give a face to life altering events and phases and represent the horror of each through the monsters we create for ourselves. It's as if each story provides a tangible representation of our deepest fears and worries.

I also appreciate how Dunbar mostly portrays homosexual characters, but in a way that doesn't necessarily distinguish them as such. In a way, the fears of all people are reflected here...but it was refreshing to have gay characters that weren't necessarily written to prove a point or even stand out as gay.

[Heidi Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured Robert Dunbar’s excellent Martyrs & Monsters almost entirely at one sitting. A collection of short works, the stories in this book are so various in terms of tone and style that it almost felt as if I were reading an anthology of tales by different authors. Okay, that’s not entirely true, as some of the stories are intended to expand upon or follow others, but the scope is truly impressive. Ranging from simply melancholy to outright tragic, from splatterpunk to whimsy, the primary commonalities are a graceful economy of language and an uncanny insight into the deepest and strangest parts of the human animal.

The absolute standout of Martyrs & Monsters would have to be the creepily lyrical “Mal de Mer,” which reminded me, weirdly, of both Ramsay Campbell’s incredibly disturbing "The Voice of the Beach" and the heartbreaking The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Strange bedfellows, indeed, but this story of repression and release, desire, disappointment, fear and compulsion, contains perhaps my favorite lines in the book, ones which immediately reveal the soul of the protagonist: “In her younger years . . . her essential lack of warmth had discouraged colleagues from bonding with her. It had that effect on most people. Yet she believed herself not to be entirely lacking in empathy, only in its myriad pitying applications and ubiquitous expressions, which she considered both squalid and pointless.” (Maybe this just reminds me a little bit of me.)

On the other hand, the punchy gross-out of “Saturday Night Fights” is all rock & roll, splatterpunk and 50s B-movie, rolled together in one juicy and satisfying package. You’ve got to love a story that begins “By the time the two of them woke up, their friends had already met with disgusting deaths. But then they both slept pretty late that day.” And the monster? Personal phobias not withstanding, just ew.

“Gray Soil” and “Red Soil,” two of the linking stories, are told in simple, almost mythic language. Together, they uncover the blood-soaked history of a desolate place – the first a story of a mother’s brutal sacrifice, the second a tale of unchecked appetites, human and otherwise, and again of hard choices made for the sake of loved ones.

Other favorites include “The Folly,” a southern gothic almost-spoof which involves an eccentric family, Bigfoot, and a house shaped like an alligator; “High Rise,” the story of a nymphomaniac ghost and her victim(s); and “Killing Billie’s Boys,” an oddball tale of warring witches and their rent-boy catspaws.

And, despite my going on, that’s fewer than half of the stories in Martyrs & Monsters, each one unique and haunting. Half a star off for my only complaint (and it’s not that dire), the sometimes distracting typos, of which there were many. Possibly this is just a side-effect of the e-book format, and almost certainly out of the author’s hands, but it’s the kind of thing that can break the spell of an otherwise compelling narrative. At any rate, I look forward to reading more from Robert Dunbar, a truly literary fabulist.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martyrs & Monsters is a masterful collection of short stories by up-and-coming author Robert Dunbar. I enjoyed every single story in this collection, which seldom happens with me. Robert Dunbar has been called a writer of "literary horror" and I definitely find that to be true with this collection. The books I read by him in the past, The Shore and The Pines, seemed consistent with the quality that one would find among the better books in the genre. They were well-written and the pacing was great, but they didn't stand out for me as much as this collection did. Martyrs & Monsters was really a cut above. It reminded me of the work of Joyce Carol Oates, in that there was a rich use of symbolism and very well defined characters. In just a few words, Dunbar managed to create three-dimensional characters who seemed real to the reader. Although some of the stories contained sexual scenes and considerable violence, there was a subtlety and nuance to the relationships between the characters that added to the work overall.

I am looking forward to reading Willy and Wood.

[Paul Douglas Lovell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martyrs & Monsters by Robert Dunbar was my introduction to the darker side of literature. Excluding Anne Rice which I rated 5-Stars, I haven’t bothered with the genre.

So to judge Martyrs & Monsters against other spine-chillers would be difficult. I will however liken it to Interview with a Vampire in the way it teases out atmosphere in a fully absorbing way.

I can say I was sufficiently drawn in and freaked out that even my silent reading whispered. There are Slasher Movies and there are Phycological Thrillers. These deranged tales definitely linger way beyond the shock of a sudden fright.

I’m a wimp who possesses a very real fear of zombies. My vivid imagination has most probably retained some of Mr Dunbar’s eerie landscapes and lurking creatures, which will no doubt crawl about my nightmares.

Still I will be reading more of Mr Dunbar in the future. He also writes about freaky things such as ghosts, ghouls and strange alien beings. I give this book 5-Stars and my thanks for the great read. PDL

[Lee Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have probably liked this a lot more if I hadn't read the super awesome novel Willy and novella Wood first. But since this is an older collection (and I'm not that into collections to begin with, and since this book first came out Dunbar has grown a lot as a writer,) many of the stories didn't do a whole lot for me. I have some favorites, but the gems really outshine some others. If you haven't read Dunbar's work yet, I'd suggest starting with this first then moving on to his later work so you can see how much he's refined his style and created a razor blade with Willy.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a writer has thought out his stories as carefully as Dunbar clearly has, there’s often the temptation to show that work to the reader in its fullest extent by drawing attention to the cleverness going on behind the page: Martyrs & Monsters has none of that. These stories and characters are rich and complex, and Dunbar trusts his readers’ intelligence enough to allow them to stand on their own in all of their ambiguity, never coming on-stage himself to tell you what you should think and why. He simply creates and explores situations and the people involved in them, and leaves the conclusions and the interpretative possibilities up to the reader. I mention this only because so much fiction is manipulative, and so many authors intrusive, that Dunbar’s quiet willingness to present his exquisitely detailed “this is what happened” stories and then step aside is absolutely remarkable and laudable.

Simply put, this is a writer who trusts his skills, trusts his readers, and trusts a multi-faceted concept of interpretation and understanding. Are these characters martyrs? Monsters? Both? Neither? He’s not saying: instead, he’s making you think, and wonder, and argue with yourself, pulling evidence from both sides to deal with the irresolvable complexities of all things human—and, of course, other.

To reward that kind of nonjudgmental complexity alone, I’d go buy the rest of the books.

Since the stories are excellent on every other level as well, I may as well just hand my wallet over to Robert Dunbar now.

“Getting Wet” has the sort of description that makes the room around you fade away: suddenly, you’re exactly where Dunbar wants you to be. And you’re who he wants you to be—Tim, caught in an ambiguous power play of a relationship, getting high, making decisions, and even longing (although for what, and for whom, are issues I would doubt Tim himself could fully explain). It’s a tight story, claustrophobic not because of space but because of personal entanglements from which it’s impossible to separate yourself. What it reminds me of most is William Gay’s brilliant short story “Where Will You Go When Your Skin Will Not Contain You?”.

“Like a Story” has a similar basis—two boys, both from the Home, one arguably protecting the other—but an entirely different angle. On an intellectual level, it’s about stories and their ambiguous influence over the people who hear and tell them; on an emotional level, it’s about love and responsibility; on a horror level, it’s about all of those things—the sometimes terrifying power of fiction, the obligations of love and responsibility, and the chilling moment of someone realizing their impact on the people who love them.

“High Rise” is a good place to start discussing how remarkable Dunbar is at changing his writing style to fit the piece. There are differences between the lush Gothicism of “Getting Wet” and the more straightforward narration of “Like a Story,” but “High Rise,” which tells a story with interactions beyond the “closed world of two,” is largely mimetic, centered around external details, until a shift at the end, where the style fittingly becomes much more fluid and the focus more internalized. This matters. Styles is often intensely personal and immutable, but Dunbar is able and willing to change it to best fit the stories that he’s telling. That’s rare and remarkable. He’s also capable of giving a new twist to an old story and even to the theme we’ve seen previously in this collection—protection—to produce something fresh.

“Saturday Night Fights” has another dramatic style-shift, this time one entirely suited to conveying the story of two band-mates dealing with an attraction and a more unusual problem. It’s a candy-colored punk rock-esque story with a sword collection and a giant cockroach: you couldn’t get further from “Getting Wet” and still be in the same neighborhood. Both funny and fun.

“Gray Soil” and “Red Soil” are intertwined reimaginings of some familiar figures. Better than anything else I’ve read, these capture both the horror of implacability and the drive for survival. I don’t want to say too much and give anything away in these cases, but suffice to say that there’s a repeated word use, near the end of both, that gave me chills.

“Mal de Mer” is an eerie, unsettling story with Lovecraftian scope set to an elliptical Jamesian (Henry, not M. R.) style. As always, Dunbar’s ability to evoke both external and internal landscapes is unparalleled: the result is an almost hallucinatory account of horror at the seaside and inside a young woman.

While I was reading “The Folly,” I kept trying to think of how to describe it to someone. It’s a weird fiction/comic horror/spunky feminist/quirky family hybrid that rarely surfaces in horror, where a large family with names pulled from classical mythology live together in a swamp in a house shaped like an alligator while a monster stalks around outside. If you liked that description, you will like the story. Like “Saturday Night Fights” it’s fun, with a slight and hopeful hint of romance.

“Are We Dead Yet?” is an earlier snapshot of Con and Tim from “Getting Wet,” and it adds even darker and more complicated backstory to their relationship. Tim’s POV may be one of the more quietly bravura examples of how to write close third that I’ve ever seen. Everything here is colored by his senses and his perceptions of what’s important and worth concern. Even in the overall excellence of the rest of the collection, I think this and “Getting Wet” are my favorite entries.

“Explanations,” a tense, funny, and scary look at fandom—here predominantly of classic films—would make a close second, though. It has excellent details and it crackles with suspense right up until the excellent punchline.

“Killing Billie’s Boys” is a look at cult rivalry and warfare, where all the decadence, sex, and even love don’t lessen or alter the essential darkness of their service; “The Moon (Upside Down)” seems like that story inverted (fittingly enough) where love or some semblance of it exists despite the atmosphere around it, which, although not dark, is nonetheless restrictive and oppressive. It’s a wonderful, subtle mainstream piece with great genre coloring around the edges.

“Away” is a complete psychological funhouse of paranoia and distrust, and even attempting to tell you its genre is spoiling it for you (and assuming it’s possible to know for sure even by the end, which may be completely wrong).

“Full” throws the reader headfirst into a world where all the traditional monsters and occult symbols are real—and yet their reality seems somehow elusive, as though they are part flesh and part metaphor. It’s a dark delight. (It’s also as good a place as any for me to mention that Dunbar is consistently good at love and lust—even when the reader can wonder about the ultimate suitability of the attachment in question, as the other characters do in “The Moon (Upside Down),” the feelings themselves are always vividly realized.)

And we finish with “Only Disconnect,” a haunting story where the only real sense of available peace comes at a horrible cost—and is only temporary.

This is already the longest review in the world, so I’ll end simply by saying that this was an absolutely amazing collection, and that Robert Dunbar is exactly the kind of author the horror field needs in order to be taken seriously, and exactly the kind of author literature—regardless of genre—just needs.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid collection of fifteen dark tales. Not recommended if you are looking for graphic horror. Highly recommended if you are looking for work that is stylish, literary, character driven, atmospheric, and invokes both horror and mystery. Some of the descriptive passages could stand alone as prose poems. My favorite story in the collection, “Mal de Mer,” is a prime example of this. I doubt I will ever forget it.

[Caleb Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cross-posted from Papyrus Independent Author Reviews (http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/12/31/martyrs-monsters-by-robert-dunbar/)

In various shades of dark and darker, Robert Dunbar presents a collection of short and often disturbing little tales.

I had been interested in sampling the work of this author for some time, his name often associated with a sub-genre of horror labelled literary horror. So when the opportunity came up to read and review Martyrs & Monsters, I jumped at it. Fifteen stories and some contemplation later, I can write that although I found the collection of stories to be a bit hit and miss for me, there was a writing quality throughout that convinced me that with the right subject matter, reading Dunbar's work would be an absolute pleasure.

Of all the stories, the first, Getting Wet, was my favourite. The setting, the mood of the narrative and the elements of back-story I could piece together worked perfectly for me. It was the only story that chilled me abandoning the supernatural for the psychological and using silence as a weapon against the composure of both the protagonist and reader. It's an impressive start to the anthology.

Of the remaining stories, I liked Red Soil which was a fascinating blend of vampire and zombie mythology with a particularly bleak setting. It felt like a dreamscape of sorrow to which both the mindless and the cunning of the undead had laid siege. Like a Story presents two children that creep into the lion's den, but by the end of the tale I was't sure who was the beast and who, the lamb. Away presented a mystery suspense, a conspiracy of alien infiltration that may have existed inside a tenement, or inside a psychiatric ward; the pleasure being in the uncertainty. Full was a surreal setting and narrative which gradually brought me through various oddities towards a passionate and violent conclusion that satisfied.

However, although certain stories stood out to me, others fell a little flat. I felt that both Gray Soil and High Rise offered me nothing compelling to hold on to; likewise, The Folly, The Moon Upside Down and Killing Billie's Boys. None of the stories were poorly written, they merely failed to move in a direction that interested me. Alongside these, I found a couple of the stories a little too cute in their composition - Explanations and Saturday Night Fights being the main offenders. Only one story actually stood out as completely unlikable to me, which was Only Disconnect. The story matched the title - a pointless series of events that made no sense and held no interest for me.

One of the aspects of the author's writing which I found consistently successful, whether or not I enjoyed the story itself, was his ability to paint with mood. Dunbar has a way of injecting settings with the appropriate level of menace, brooding or despair for me to both picture the surroundings and also feel the atmosphere. He does this so well that I still have fairly vivid memories of the small worlds he created in his stories weeks after reading them.

I think if you like dark fiction that has fairly strong LBGT representation, blends psychological with supernatural and is executed in well-written prose that successfully evokes mood, you will like this anthology. For me, the stories that I enjoyed outweighed those stories that didn't make as much of an impression and even those that failed to thrill were mostly worthwhile experiences when considered a fraction of the whole. I'm certainly looking forward to reading a novel-length work from this author.

[Uninvited Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviews for this collection have been remarkable.

“Impressive … moody and tension-filled … completely and utterly engrossing.”
The Lambda Literary Foundation

“A masterpiece … Dunbar is a literary stylist who brings to his writing a deep understanding of human nature and genuine compassion for his characters … not only displays the range and depth of the author’s ability, but brings more literary credibility to the genre Dunbar continues to help shape.”
Dark Scribe Magazine

“Substantial amounts of panache and poetic insight.”
Cemetery Dance Magazine

“Dunbar is a literary craftsman, a stylist, skilled at drawing meaningful characters and building suspense. Vivid and striking … sure to satisfy lovers of both horror and literary fiction.”
Shroud Magazine

“Never less than brilliant.”
The Black Abyss

“Not a book to read lightly. Robert Dunbar has a talent with words, with images, and he uses them with surgical skill.”
Rainbow Reviews

“Exquisite ... dark fiction with a soul.”
Book Love

“This collection will challenge you, move you, and make you hold your breath.”
Outlaw Reviews

“Brilliantly chilling … searingly erotic.”
The Edge

“A milestone of modern horror.”
The Black Glove

“A refreshing exploration into several levels of myth … and a contemporary take on the traditional monsters of literature in a decidedly more human context.”
The Examiner

“Sinister and macabre … a scary, compelling ride through madness.”
Nights & Weekends

“Collections like MARTYRS & MONSTERS don’t come along often. And writers like Robert Dunbar don’t materialize in the writing community every day – certainly not in the horror community. Let us give thanks for his continued attempts to bring professionalism and craft back to an ailing genre.”
HellNotes

“Highly recommended for readers who prefer their dark fiction atmospheric, thought-provoking and intelligently written.”
Horror World

“Provocative … vivid and visceral. MARTYRS & MONSTERS has a wide variety of characters from varied backgrounds – minorities, criminals, the alienated and the misfits. Their vulnerability and humanity force us to reexamine what we believe.”
GUD Magazine

“Stunning … a Nietzchean nightmare … gripping and innovative … deliciously wicked and beautifully wrought ... wildly original and satisfying.”
The Tomb of Dark Delights

Visit http://www.UninvitedBooks.com for more information, links to reviews and interviews, etc. Thank you.

[Shedrick Pittman-Hassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my blog: http://serialdistractions.com

Robert Dunbar is one of a handful of authors spearheading the movement to infuse the modern horror genre with more “literary” sensibilities. What makes his work ascend to that next step, what separates it from “mere genre” work, is his focus on character, atmosphere, and language rather than cinematic plots and theatrical gore. Don’t get me wrong–I love a good two-fisted actioner as much as the next red-blooded American male and don’t have any problem with blood. It’s just that sometimes I just like my fiction to cut a little deeper. I like it to get into my head and under my skin. And in the short story collection Martyrs & Monsters, Dunbar demonstrates ample ability to do both.

Among the most noteworthy:

“Getting Wet” : A dark and murky tale about a pair of ultimate outsiders who ride the line between love and need and are ultimately consumed by both.

"Like a Story” : The adventures of two young loners who get caught up in their own imaginations with startling results.

“High Rise” : Obsession lives beyond the grave and a young man must make a sacrifice to save a brother who is far from deserving of rescue.

“Gray Soil” : A chilling, almost apocalyptic, tale of a medieval family facing a plague of verminous undead.

“Mal de Mer” : Probably one of the most evocative tales of the collection, Dunbar paints a desolate picture of stagnation and sensuality at a dreary, seaside estate. The scenes literally drip with atmosphere and dread.

“Away” : A chillingly claustrophobic tale of invasion, infiltration, and despair–Philip K. Dick with a dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Overall, the stories in this collection are bound by themes of love, obsession, need, and sacrifice. Sensual images of water suffuse the tales–sometimes caressing and soothing, sometimes grasping and clawing. A symbol for life or change, or an active force and harbinger of destruction. Dunbar is a master at creating powerful imagery and evoking real emotion. Even the least effective of these tales draws the reader into its world and refuses to allow indifference.

Martyrs & Monsters is a powerhouse collection of creepy, disturbing tales guaranteed to evoke gut-level reactions and to stay with you long after you set it down.

[Meigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like best about any book that falls in the horror genre is for the horror to be understated. Subtle, where it's left to the reader to figure out what parts scare them. Dunbar does an excellent job of that in this short story collection. He doesn't make the "scary" obvious, which may not appeal to everyone because it makes you think. I personally appreciate this because many times, the creepy sticks with you long after the story has ended. Another aspect I appreciate is that the monsters are people (or were, such is the case in High Rise).

Some of my personal favorites from this collection are:
Like a Story
High Rise
Killing Billie's Boys

I also like how some of the stories have a connection. Sometimes the connection is a bit tenuous, but it's there. The connected stories are interspersed through the book, so it's only after reading that you get the connections. Of course, if you're like the many people that read the Author's Note before the story, Robert points that out. I like to save the Author's Note for last, so it was kind of exciting to figure out on my own that there were connections. Made me feel smart for a minute :) (Don't get me wrong - all of the stories are connected through the monster/martyr theme, but there are several stories that directly connect to one another.)

And to quote Robert from his Author's Note: "Ghouls, vampires, and werewolves: all made, not born." Well said, Robert.

[Valerie Zink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, I have to admit that this is not something I would have picked for myself. I read it because it was the featured book in a group on goodreads.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the stories. What I like best is the subtlety in most of them. They gave me things to think about, left endings untold even, and that allows me to fill it in and ponder. A good short story will do just that...stick with you and give you food for thought.

There were some minor editing problems in two of the stories. The types of things spell check does not get...that gave me pause and pulled me from the stories in question, but it was not enough to stop my enjoyment of the book.

I like that the stories were creepy, surreal, different. There was some sex and it was disturbing when it was there, as appropriate to the stories, however, not gratuitous. This collection reminds me of some of Clive Barker's stories in some ways.

Some of my favorites include "Like a Story" and "High Rise." I like how the humans are sometimes hard to distinguish from the monsters. I like the themes of loneliness and desperation, and how some people in the stories show love and hope, if in ways that are not "mainstream."

I would recommend this set of stories to anyone with an open mind who does not mind when plots and characters are spelled out to them, anyone who likes horror and surreal.

[Jess Legacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I REALLY appreciate the literary in this literary horror. I thought Dunbar did an excellent job creating the line between psychological and physical, and it was created most impressively with language. There were certain stories that were so complete and repeatable that I imagine them as advanced campfire tales: "Hey, did you hear the one about the brother and sister who find the vampires?"

My favourites were "Like a Story," "High Rise," (a wonderful tragedy), "Red Soil," "Killing Billie's Boys" (my favourite, I think), and "Only Disconnect." Sadly, I think the two stories that could have been the most interesting fizzled for me. Mal de Mer and The Folly both seemed like they were all concept and not quite enough story, if that makes sense. It's as though the idea for the stories were inspired, but the stories themselves didn't quite live up to the ideas.

I'm particularly impressed with how Dunbar acknowledges the visceral and gross elements of sex and the delicate and pleasing elements of dying. Both of these acts conclude with orgasm, and Dunbar understands that.

This was an enjoyable read, and I would definitely recommend it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stellar collection of dark fantasy/horror stories written with Robert Dunbar's usual deft, poetic touch. Highlights for me range from the gritty squalor of "Getting Wet" and its sort-of prequel "Are We Dead yet?" - both featuring the unforgettable Tim and Conrad, a pair of deadly, drug-addled lovers (really would like to read more on this "fun couple" in the future) - to the fantastic deadpan surreality of "Full" to the warped sexual darkness of "Killing Billie's Boys" and the rather sweetly squalid "Saturday Night Fights," to the ghost story "High Rise," with its quite literally haunting conclusion. Excellent, thoroughly enjoyable work all-around, without a clinker in the bunch, and nicely wrapped up with the non-horror modern romance of "The Moon (Upside Down)." Dunbar is a fine teller of tall tales, and I happily anticipate a companion volume of stories anytime he's ready.

[Cheral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I keep coming back to that. I had no idea book like this existed. Took me only two nights. Truly scary stories that keep you on the edge and like half of them are with black and queer characters. Wow. There’s one I really loved about lesbians who need to save a child from a monster and they have such pity for the monster. I loved them all, and the writing is so beautiful. Sexy and funny. I knew I was going to love it from all the reviews love it. They all seem so smart and way better at this then me. Even the people that hate it for creepy reasons just made me want to read it more.

[Damien D'Enfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Dunbar is a vivid and sensual storyteller with an original streak a mile wide. His characters are fully realized, deep and hungry, just the way I like them. The relationships are exciting and risky, the imagery dark and evocative, and I felt wholly transported into the urban wastelands and polluted seascapes he creates.

I especially liked his stories of sexual twists and need, but that's typical of me.

An all around deep and dark and thrilling read.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. I have only given it 4 stars as I prefer full-length novels to short stories. The stories made you think and definitely gave you chills down the spine. Well written and thought provoking.

[Corinna Bechko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely nuanced, spooky, and full of sympathetic monsters.