Angeldust Apocalypse
Jeremy Robert Johnson. Eraserhead Press. $10.95
180p. ISBN: 976249839
(July 2005)
Jeremy Robert Johnson's Angeldust Apocalypse does not, thank goodness, fall into
the "entirely not ready for prime time" debut collection category that we so
often see from the small horror specialty press. This is not to say, however,
the author would not have benefited from waiting a little longer to put together
a collection. Choosing from a broader range of only his best would have
better served to showcase Johnson's work. Johnson doesn't strike me as the
patient type, though. He excels at pathology and perversity and often -- as in
"Two Cages, One Moon" (original to this collection) -- he manages to make an
impression even though the story itself is incomplete. "League of Zeroes" is not
quite as much of a premature ejaculation. Its exploration of truly extreme body
modification is interesting, but the story as a whole could have used a little
more stamina. In "Swimming Through the House of the Sea" Johnson works in a more
standard literary style providing enough information and characterization for
the reader to understand the core familial dysfunction (the theme or at least an
element of many of his stories) and consequently "Swimming" is one of the book's
finer stories. He finds similar success with the uncharacteristically
sentimental "Luminary". "Snowfall" straightforwardly deals with the end of a
dysfunctional world as sensed through a deaf child who finds beauty in his doom.
Roberts most balls-out drug-drenched writing -- like "Wall of Sound: A Movement
in Three Parts" (another original) -- will turn as many readers off as it turns
on, but that's the name of the game. Other experimental work -- particularly
vignettes like "Stanley's Lips", "Ex-Hale", and "Branded" -- probably should
have been left out. Nevertheless, Johnson is a confirmed weirdo and authentic
writer of uncommon emotional depth who deserves to be watched. I'd just be a lot
more comfortable eventually recommending a collection refined from only the best
he has to offer. -- Paula Guran (Originally published in Cemetery
Dance #55, Summer
2006)