PORCELAIN
Nate Southard
Lethe Press
June 3, 2018
Reviewed by Brian James Lewis

This is some Heavy Duty reading, right here folks! I mean, like you’ll need time to decompress after finishing this book. This is truly one of those stories that plumbs the depths of our souls. How low can humans stoop anyway? Is a very energetic orgy big fun or is it a form of gang rape? What is the “right” thing to do when no one wants to face the truth? If you want answers to these questions, you’ll need to read Porcelain by Nate Southard, a recent release from Lethe Press.

We’re following a guy by the name of Tom into a strip club. He’s feeling kind of guilty about it. I mean, he’s not here to actually have sex or anything, but he wants to feast his eyes on naked female flesh. What would his wife think? Maybe he should just leave? Too late! It’s time for one of the club’s star attractions to take the stage and she’s a real stunner. Red hair, amazing figure, and porcelain white skin. Actually, she turns out to be quite a killer when she drops her furs and reveals a loaded gun. As she starts shooting, it becomes apparent that this is a night everyone will remember. If they survive.

How about that for a powerful introduction? Porcelain keeps building from there. Next thing we’re with professional comedian Jason Hawks when he takes a phone call from a detective while stoned. This isn’t the first time he’s taken a call while stoned, but it is the first time a detective asking him questions has been on the other the other end. This is no ordinary buzzkill either. Detective Frazier is calling about a red haired beauty that Jason dated in high school. Then he asks Jason about his other friends in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. What the hell is up?

Turns out that Andrea, the red haired beauty, is also the woman who shot up the strip club and ended her own life. That’s a very sad thing to hear about a friend, but at least her suffering is over. Except it’s not. Instead, she’s revealed an enormous problem that the survivors have to deal with. This isn’t going to go away by itself and Jason decides that he should do something. But is it possible to fix something you don’t really understand? What about the others, who keep denying that there’s a problem at all? Where is Todd? And who the hell is the creepy old gink that keeps showing up in Jason’s visions?

Jason starts out by trying to catch up with his old bud, Collin, who still lives in the Cincinnati area. He’s a solid link to the other four people who are up to their armpits in this mess. Detective Frazier mentioned these people to Jason, but only for the purpose of gathering information to solve the case. When Jason gives what little information he has, the detective declines to share what he knows in return. So Collin is pressed into service as an information gatherer and does a good job for someone outwardly in denial about a freaky event that took place in an old box factory many years ago. He keeps saying that everything happened because they were “just drunk and horny.” But if it was nothing, why didn’t they talk to each other again afterwards?

Regardless of his friends’ negative reception, Jason knows that this is not the way most folks act after such an experience. He’s in showbiz, damn it! Every night is sort of a drug fueled orgy, but he keeps coming back to those clubs and cities. So what the hell? With Andrea dead, they’re number is down to five and since no one can locate the mysterious Todd, that leaves four survivors. Two of those people aren’t interested in taking things further, which really hinders things. Regardless, Jason presses on and learns a lot of really scary stuff with the help of MMA Fighter, Shelley (who I really like a lot!) and Collin. Until things take a sudden jog in a bad direction. This trend continues until you are freaking out and so concerned about what happens next, that you MUST finish the book! I’m serious about this! Porcelain will consume you.

Nate Southard has written a Five Star horror novel that feels amazingly real! If you live in a city, there’s always a weird building or two nearby. What’s going on in there? In Porcelain an abandoned box factory becomes the home of something horrible. But that isn’t the only scary thing in this book for adults. Many of us go through some seriously heavy shit during the course of our lives. Often around the time we step into the real world. Where are those people you went through that trial by fire with? I will freely admit, I don’t know. You probably don’t either. Maybe we’re not missing anything, but what if we are? Jason found out that he was. Now he needs to see if he can hold onto it. Lethe Press always puts out solid, edgy books-You won’t disappointed!

HALLOWEEN NEVER LEAVES OUR HEARTS

A love poem by Brian James Lewis

As November starts
Some may say that it’s gotten its due
But Halloween never leaves our hearts
the whole year through!

That monster sitting on my porch?
It will stay there for Christmas
even if the lights scorch
the fabric of its tattered jacket

See those skulls perched
high above my door?
Rest assured that they’ll
nest up there for “evermore!”

Halloween stirs in the blood
of every writer, artist, and thespian
No one creative is spared
the pull of a force so antiquarian

But, just because it’s ancient
don’t mistake that for weak
The power still is growing
and it will never peak

So scream it loud, with feeling
“Halloween Never Dies!”
What candy? Hey, I wasn’t stealing!
Just ask the scarecrow-It never lies