Mama’s Boy by Fran Friel

Don’t let the first story in Fran Friel’s collection, Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales, deceive you into thinking this is some sort of “Horror Lite” book. The first story, “Beach of Dreams,” is a surreal, exotic tale of a man visiting a native tribe who is one day privy to examining strange things that wash up on their shores. In his eagerness to capture this moment, he stumbles directly into a pact between the natives and a hard to describe something else that explains why the natives are free of the influence of the modern world. Full of visceral imagery and summed up with a sad-sweet ending, this tale might make readers think Friel doesn’t have the balls to do more than flirt with horror.

Perhaps purposefully deceptive, or perhaps just showing her versatility, Friel shatters that perception with her next offering, “Gravy Pursuits.” At first, it appears to be the tale of a slightly sad, mildly obsessed man who lives in his mother’s basement and lives only for cooking, specifically for cooking gravy. While the end is predictable, the structure and pacing of the tale is spot on, making the villain almost lovable.

“Mashed” is a neat combination of the previous two offerings, a tale of a woman who has an irrational fear of a much loved tuber which, as it turns out, isn’t as baseless as one might think. In a way it’s laughable, a bit cartoony, but Friel also adds a true sinister layer to root cellars and those little eyes on potatoes.

“The Sea Orphan” also has a positive ending, but young Will, his mother hanged for being a witch and himself lost in a bet to pirates who want to plunder him, earns his happy ending. There’s no dazzling Jack Sparrow or adorable Will Turner in this pirate tale, just the brutal life brought about by a bunch of angry men living cutthroat months at sea on a small, easily damaged ship.

“Orange and Gold” is a short, fierce tale that animal lovers have all heard before. But the strength of this disaster tale is enough to make us all choke up over what exactly gets left behind all over again.

“Under the Dryer” also features a dog as the lead, and the set up—the family’s loyal canine who is the only one who recognized the threat of the dust bunnies slowly populating the house—seems goofy. Instead, readers get a gory, vicious story where no one can win once the murderous pseudo-rodents get a hold of the household cutlery.

If anyone doubts that this is a volume of horror, they only need to skip forward to “Close Shave,” a painful, one-paragraph story whose title explains all. Not much longer, a full page, “Connected at the Hip” barely gives the reader a chance to breathe from the previous tale, or to understand the connection between the two sister characters before it goes for the throat. Similar to Jennifer Pelland’s Apex Digest tale, “Big Sister/Little Sister,” but shorter and more to the point, this one can be taken as a sampler of the collection as a whole.

The most gruesome so far, “Special Prayers” combines the surreal-weird of “Beach of Dreams” with the graphic feel of the last few tales into a morbid tale of twisted religion, black magic, and a bloody rain of infants. Despite its unsettling subject matter, it’s one of the best of the collection, refusing to shy away from taboo subjects and making the brutal visuals relevant in a way many horror tales fail to.

Another micro tale, “The Widow” is a poetic ode to female power that thematically leads right into the next tale, “Spider Love.” Almost a science fiction piece, “Spider Love” is about a woman’s remaking and how the body defines the mind. Short and almost romantic, “Spider Love” possesses a female tone that’s rarely so strong in horror fiction.

“Fine Print” is a long tale about an infernal order that tricks people with latent power into contracts and harvests their power for the order’s own benefit. It’s a deal-with-the-devil story, with a slant. Heavy on themes of family and protection, like many of the others in this collection, perhaps it would have been better if Friel had not kept this one within the boundaries of a short story. Almost every aspect would have been improved by a leisurely take on the world and concept, allowing it to feel less rushed and giving Friel the chance to add nuances of subtext and world building to better wrap the story around readers.

“Black Sleep,” a dark poem, is well placed. The strong imagery not only accents the ending of “Fine Print,” but it allows readers a breath before delving into the Stoker nominated “Mama’s Boy.”

The title story is a well-written travel through the darkness of skewed psychology. Frank Doe is a mysterious mental patient. No one knows much about him because he doesn’t speak. Until he starts to open up to the new psychologist, Rebecca. What he tells her is highly disturbing and convincingly written from the point of view of a man who believes every bit of the reality he’s reliving. Readers know that something is wrong, but Friel manages to make Frank just convincing enough to hint at the true reality, leaving readers disturbed and suspicious, but preserving that reveal in the climax. “Mama’s Boy” combines some of the best threads of horror into a strong, remarkable tale.

Altogether, Friel’s first collection shows a writer solidly into a respectable writing career and, certainly will become a part of Fran Friel history. In the future, it might be bantered around as: “I knew her when Mama’s Boy came out.”

Publisher: Apex Book Company (June 2008)
Price: $14.35
Trade paperback: 280 pages
ISBN: 0981639089