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BROKEN
By Alex Severin, Hertzan Chimera, and Wrath James White
Medium Rare Books 0-9711162-2-9
$14.95
SoftcoverFrom the cover, "Broken" promises twisted gore soaked tales of sex, death, and pain. Well, it is safe to say that it delivers the goods.
In "Holy Ghost," a gentleman is visited by the Holy Spirit and discovers how evil it is, condemning the man to pain.
A self-righteous and diseased pervert fucks a diseased whore with a fetus stuck up her hole in "Premature."
In "Culling the Herd," a young girl protects her grandfather from a neighborhood demon infatuated with her.
A sailor does the deed with a mermaid in "Fruits De Mer."
A jailed serial killer discusses his life achievements in "Awake."
"I See You" focuses on a hit woman who discovers that her target may be more than she expected.
A killer goes through murderous déjà vu in "Killing Sara."
"Zombie Fucker"…well, that is somewhat self-explanatory.
"Lycopersicum Esculentum" finds a guy fucking altered tomatoes and suffering the consequences at home in bed.
The Virgin Mary takes revenge against God's kingdom in "Hail Mary."
In "Shrapnel Girl," a regular Joe (sort of) obsesses over a waitress.
A socially alienated killer goes on a violent rampage in "Broken."
There are plenty of graphic depictions of violence, necrophilia, and perverted sex. For the die-hard fan of horror fiction, you will have a brilliantly icky time. Every taboo is broken open, but I had many mixed feelings about the book.
The writing is impressive but most of the characterizations seemed stereotypical. For example, whenever there was a story about a killer he seemed to have the same background and the same M.O. to his madness. Plus, I felt a bit alienated: I never ripped an asshole open with my hands or sucked a maggot-filled dick, although, I doubt the authors did as well. You're thrown into madness and there is no anchor to the real world, the familiar world where the reader comes from. The stories are very 'in your face.'
Then again, this is short fiction; the rules are a bit different: in and out and get what you want.
The brattiness of the collection left me confused. At some points I felt that they were doing something really great, really punk against the masses; but then again, I felt like I was watching a little kid standing in the middle of the street having a tantrum and yelling out curse words and everyone around him is gasping in shock. Eventually you may feel a bit desensitized and start to skim, but then again you might keep reading, depending on your taste.
"Broken" is all about breaking open the taboos that mainstream fiction has placed on horror fiction. This book insults religion and class, it is nasty, it is fun, it is wonderfully sick, but I felt like I wanted a little more from it.
But, for those regular, nasty little perverts, this book is necessary.
Review by Mike Purfield
Critical Raves for Mike Purfield's "Dirty Boots."
"If you're looking for a good read, something you've never experienced before, then this is the book for you." Paul Kane of Terror Tales.
Rated 3 out of 4 by Unhinged Magazine.
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