PsychoActive: Transformative Horror Novellas by Ryan C. Thomas & Anthony Trevino , Cody Goodfellow , Ed Kurtz
258 pages, Paperback
Published June, 2024 by Crystal Lake Publishing
I suppose this year I unintentionally read books in bunches. Two books in a row by locals. Well, ⅔ of this book is local. This is my first book in the Dark Tide series, which is a series of novellas from Crystal Lake Publishing, an outfit I am familiar with but have yet to drive into their work to any great depth. It has been on my list to do so, and I am going to request many of these through my library system, as I like to do.
This one must get into the library system, with three authors out of four so connected to San Diego. Yes, these are friends. Anthony Trevino was a longtime co-host of the Dickheads podcast and co-author of a novel with me (Nightmare City – get it!). If I couldn’t write an honest review, I just wouldn’t review it. Despite a little internal bias let me get into this collection and why you should want to pick it up.
Psychoactive is a collection of extreme horror novellas that collectively explore the themes of Transformation, that is the theme and all three novellas have their own feel. As a good anthology does, it highlights the strengths and skills of the authors represented. I’ll be honest this is my first time reading Ed Kurtz and his reputation is very solid, and that bore out..
Ryan and Cody are authors I have known and read for 20 years now. Anthony, I have known a shorter amount of time, but we collaborated on a novel, and I have great respect for all three. I am happy to report this is a book you should track down.
Cody Goodfellow is an author I have written about on this blog many times over the years. He is one of my favorite writers of my generation. It is wickedly frustrating to read his work and realize that he is not a household name. As talented as he is, the man should have way more sales and metric tons of awards. When I read his work the diabolical genius, I shared tables with fests and events drips off the page. In conversation with Cody, you know he is too smart for this world, and it comes out in his amazing fiction.
Ryan C. Thomas is the author of many cult-hit extreme horror novels. His career started with the ultra-violent survival horror novel “The Summer I Died.” It is a classic around here and has almost become a movie several times for obvious reasons. It would be a classic. That book spun into a trilogy, and so did his body horror zombie bizarro fest Hisser, which he spun out into a trilogy, the third Hissers is when Anthony and Ryan first worked together. Ryan is a smart writer with a cult sensibility. He writes B-horror movies in A+ prose. He knows how to push buttons.
Anthony is a smart writer, I wanted to work with him myself because we share similar interests but approach art differently. He has become very good at working with others and developing that third voice. He brings to his partnership with Thomas a precision of prose and a push to reach artistically further with their gore-drenched works. It is a good mind meld as all partnerships should be.
Since the book opens with the Thomas & Trevino joint let's get going there. Love is a Monsterous Death is around one hundred pages of gore-drenched body horror and very subtle social commentary.
“A civilization swirled in Theo's lap. The once microscopic organisms were now the size of pinheads. Tethered together by the faintest strings of vibrant red, Theo’s new biological family coiled over themselves, desperate for affection from those before them. They lashed out across the crotch of his jeans, and the tattered fabric of his couch cushion. Their love had been rejected but Theo knew this trio of insects just needed coaxing. Once they felt the rush of bliss that came with sharing their bodies, they'd be unable to resist the passion.”
Ironically the closest comparison I can think of is Cody Goodfellow’s extreme horror masterpiece ‘Perfect Union’ which has recently been re-issued by Ghoulish Books. This novella shares the breakneck ability to go from vile descriptions to a sense of love and belonging that carried the brutal disease around the setting, in this case, a shitty apartment building filled with a bunch of characters forced together by circumstance. One of the most interesting characters was a vet with PTSD.
But we are talking about extreme horror…
“Not all heroes wear capes or uniforms. The government thanks you for your service, citizen.” Ron saluted the freshly decapitated head in his hand, warm blood still dripping onto the carpet. He briefly wondered if he should remove the GIMP mask before packing it up but decided it really didn't matter when he could hear Theo getting closer.”
If you have a strong stomach, and a sense of humor that will laugh at fart similes, then this novella has those too. Sentences like “When the stench of burst bowls and rancid-fuck juice finally became too much…” wouldn’t work for me if the authors were not displaying a deeper story at times. Thankfully that is the case. I am not saying this is Shakespeare, but this is smarter horror if you will allow yourself to vibe with it.
Cody Goodfellow’s novella The Secret Eater feels less extreme in comparison to the first novella, but it is a disturbing tale as you’d expect. It is built on Cody’s ability to create rich settings that feel lived in. His Alaska in this story might convince you he lived there, and these were characters he knew. And maybe Hulder's family farm is based on some east county San Diego family moved up north, but this story feels like it had some real-life seeds.
“We buried Dad in the backfield of the Hulder family farm on the 4th of July. It was perfectly legal, but naturally, there were rumors in town that we murdered him. The suspicion became certainty when half the town showed up for the memorial service. That's what the trashy books and podcasts will say, if and when such things are written we respected dad's wishes as a lapsed Catholic by forbidding an autopsy; but entering their mortal remains on the farm, we were keeping a promise he had made to the land.”
I feel Alaska is a haunted land, and this family farm certainly jumps off the page. The best thing about reading this one is the characters.
“We all knew the old gossip, it was the notorious bedrock of Hulder family legend some people went blind from drinking Grandpa Hulder’s shine, and it was local vigilantes who burned his fields, but the smart gossip was that they burned him out because he stopped.”
That is not to say the horror elements were not effective. Cody is one of the most disturbing word smiths we got west of Laird Barron and south of Brian Evenson. This one didn’t make me laugh as much as some of his works, but I did enjoy what he was laying down.
“The earthside and split like an open cyst. It came boiling out of the soil to speak with me. The long Mama. She eclipsed the moon with her enormous head, which had five faces that raps out commands and overlapping, whispering waves.”
I think you should start with Unamerica, or Perfect Union. This is a great story but doesn’t scratch the surface with Goodfellow. If you like it keep that journey going.
Ed Kurtz’s Black Rings is a solid cosmic horror novella built around a missing stripper, and eldritch horror hidden under the club. Like Lovecraftian 8 MM. Good stuff but I admit I didn’t read it as closely as Ed is the one not coming on the podcast.
Psychoactive is well worth the investment. Cody, Ryan, and Anthony will be coming on the podcast in August. So order it now and join us for the fun.
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