Your Subtitle text
The All-Soul's Faire - Kristy Tallman
The All-Soul's Faire
Kristy Tallman
ISBN: 0979499801
Realm Of Insanity Press
Reviewed By Diane Peebles
Official Apex Reviews Rating:
What small town doesn't have homespun rumors and superstitions about its own dark, seedy underbelly? Uncovered layers of secrets masking sinister acts the likes of which would lead one to question the very existence of God - for how could He truly exist if such vile, pure evil is allowed to run wild and unchecked? Staring at the severed head of a goat placed snugly within the bowels of a petrified teenage corpse, Detective Cole Bryant begins to wonder the exact same thing...
And that's just the beginning.
The seemingly ritualistic murder of young Lisa Hicks sets off a series of increasingly bizarre events in the small town of Clifton Forge, each one threatening to unravel the web of lies and deceit within which the town's legacy rests. As more and more corpses are found, their deaths make less and less sense to Cole, who's left to wonder why, for some strange reason, everyone seems to know more than they're willing to say. Ultimately, his unflinching determination to know more leads him to the fabled North Mountain, source of the town's diabolical mystique, where the fate of countless lives hang in the balance - including that of Cole himself.
The All-Soul's Faire is a disturbingly compelling tale that reads much like a snuff film: despite how guilty it makes you feel to watch it, each new turn of the page fills you with a strangely satisfying curiosity. A master at framing the visual with words, Tallman's jarring depictions of ghouls and apparitions are so vivid that - despite your wishes to the contrary - you'll find them lingering with you long after you've put the book down. In fact, they'll haunt you to the point where, when you're all alone late at night, you'll remember all those old ghost stories told over S'mores on campfire-lit nights and wish you had never heard them.
No matter how searing the imagery she employs, though, the true power of Tallman's mind-bending tale lies in leaving you to wonder about the very nature of sin itself: when confronted with unmitigated temptation, do our base desires force us to act - or do they simply free us to do so? In keeping with that theme, Cole's quest for truth is actually a metaphor for the "missions" that fill our own everyday lives: despite our burning desire to know more, that very desire often leaves us unprepared to handle the truth about the very things we seek to find.
As thrilling as Koontz or Barker, and as suspenseful as Hitchcock at his best, The All-Soul's Faire is a delicious soliloquy to the world of horror that begs an encore.
Official Apex Reviews Interview: Kristy Tallman (The All-Soul's Faire)
Apex Reviews: Kristy, we greatly appreciate your allowing us to review The All-Soul's Faire. It truly was a compelling read.
The book dwells much on the spiritual realm, particularly on demons, but there's little mention of angels or Heaven itself. Was there a specific reason you chose to focus mainly on the "dark side?"
Kristy Tallman: There's an underlying precedence there of the good vs evil type situation which will reveal itself more so in the sequel, The Other Side Of Hell. However, this book couldn't focus on the lighter side of what could be, without taking away from the actual plot of the story. The story isn't necessarily about Heaven and Hell. It focuses more about everyone having an inner dark side and whether or not as humans when we are faced with the temptation that awakens our own inner demons, would we fall prey to them?
AR: It's hard to imagine that it would, but did much of your own personal experience contribute to The All-Soul's Faire?
KT: The characters and setting are based on the real life experiences of living in the shadow of North Mountain for 2 years. I also spent much of life visiting relatives in the area.
The story was told in the same fashion that is common to the way they are told and passed down through generations in the Appalachian Region.
As far as the supernatural aspect of the story goes, that part is based purely on my twisted imagination.
AR: Do you personally believe in the kind of eternal damnation to which Ms. Ryder and the others are condemned, forced to roam the earth ad infinitum?
KT: Yes, I do believe that there are spirits who are forced to roam the earth for infinity or until they find their way. I tend to believe there is an in-between – the place where we exist between heaven and hell until such time we have come to terms with our own spirituality, our physical lives here on earth especially if we go out of this world before we are ready to accept the grand exit or we have been horrible creatures prior to leaving. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a history of ghosts both good natured as well as the "angry," supernatural occurrences and the such many of which have been seen by highly respected people alongside us regular Joe's.
AR: You did an absolute masterful job of turning the concept of sin on its ear, highlighted most saliently by Cole's subconscious struggles with pedophilia. Where did you get the idea for that approach?
KT: I think with the way the world has become such a place where not much seems to be sacred and the moral backbone we all once shared has bent that men are challenged everyday by the young girls though they may only be older teens they look like they are old enough to be legal and with that in mind and hearing the comments of men over the course of the last few years – having daughters myself I suppose the horror of that instance where someone older looked upon my daughter and her friends stuck with me so I gave it a life where through the book you are made to face your own inner sick truths if they exist. For the most part I usually tell men you will either love me/book or hate me/book when you are done dependent upon what the book brings to light in their own minds.
AR: Is the underlying theme of the book the fact that we're all essentially lost because of the inexorable pull of the flesh?
KT: I think overall humans are very sexual creatures – some of us are hindered while others are very outward with their activities but within each of us that being still lives and given the reins we don't pull the horses in we explore and the more freedom given as time progresses into a sexual society where just about anything goes we can very easily get lost in the more animalistic powerful temptations of the flesh.
AR: What is the main message that you want readers to take from The All- Soul's Faire?
KT: If there was anything I wanted my readers to take from The All-Soul's Faire other than a few good nightmares, I would have to say that I would leave them with the understanding that we all harbor a dark side within us – that it's okay to have this dark side so long as you don't act upon it and you are able to distinguish what is right and what is wrong morally.
AR: We noticed that one reader commented that you "must have a demented mind" to have come up with the storyline and action for the book. What have been some of the other reactions that you've gotten?
KT: I get more looks than comments to be honest. It's hard for many people to fathom when they meet me that I am the author of such wickedness as my personality isn't as such to lead you to believe I could even think such things, but then that takes us back to the previous question – we all harbor a darkness within us – even the people you'd never suspect.
AR: You're quite the accomplished writer - including being honored by the VH1 Save The Music Foundation for your songwriting prowess. What's next for you?
KT: A Bram Stoker Award?? – No really they said at this year's World Horror Convention if a writer tells you it's just an award it's not necessary you would be lying – my dream has come to be with me already and it's okay if many don't understand that comment or believe I speak it honestly. I lived through a heart attack in 2006 two weeks after I completed ASF so I'm just happy to be here – to have a chance to write – to be given the dream I've carried with me the first time my parents handed me a pencil and paper. I already have a great deal to be thankful for and I've lived through my own personal hell – writing a book and having it enjoyed by others – hearing their comments – well if there's never a physical award – what I have accomplished in the face of my own adversities is an award to me.
AR: What final thoughts would you like our readers to know?
KT: Enjoy the Faire – there's more to come – Crows on the Cross in December and the sequel to ASF – The Other Side of Hell in Spring 2008.
AR: Thanks again, Kristy, and best of continued success to you in all your endeavors.
Kristy Tallman
ISBN: 0979499801
Realm Of Insanity Press
Reviewed By Diane Peebles
Official Apex Reviews Rating:
What small town doesn't have homespun rumors and superstitions about its own dark, seedy underbelly? Uncovered layers of secrets masking sinister acts the likes of which would lead one to question the very existence of God - for how could He truly exist if such vile, pure evil is allowed to run wild and unchecked? Staring at the severed head of a goat placed snugly within the bowels of a petrified teenage corpse, Detective Cole Bryant begins to wonder the exact same thing...
And that's just the beginning.
The seemingly ritualistic murder of young Lisa Hicks sets off a series of increasingly bizarre events in the small town of Clifton Forge, each one threatening to unravel the web of lies and deceit within which the town's legacy rests. As more and more corpses are found, their deaths make less and less sense to Cole, who's left to wonder why, for some strange reason, everyone seems to know more than they're willing to say. Ultimately, his unflinching determination to know more leads him to the fabled North Mountain, source of the town's diabolical mystique, where the fate of countless lives hang in the balance - including that of Cole himself.
The All-Soul's Faire is a disturbingly compelling tale that reads much like a snuff film: despite how guilty it makes you feel to watch it, each new turn of the page fills you with a strangely satisfying curiosity. A master at framing the visual with words, Tallman's jarring depictions of ghouls and apparitions are so vivid that - despite your wishes to the contrary - you'll find them lingering with you long after you've put the book down. In fact, they'll haunt you to the point where, when you're all alone late at night, you'll remember all those old ghost stories told over S'mores on campfire-lit nights and wish you had never heard them.
No matter how searing the imagery she employs, though, the true power of Tallman's mind-bending tale lies in leaving you to wonder about the very nature of sin itself: when confronted with unmitigated temptation, do our base desires force us to act - or do they simply free us to do so? In keeping with that theme, Cole's quest for truth is actually a metaphor for the "missions" that fill our own everyday lives: despite our burning desire to know more, that very desire often leaves us unprepared to handle the truth about the very things we seek to find.
As thrilling as Koontz or Barker, and as suspenseful as Hitchcock at his best, The All-Soul's Faire is a delicious soliloquy to the world of horror that begs an encore.
Official Apex Reviews Interview: Kristy Tallman (The All-Soul's Faire)
Apex Reviews: Kristy, we greatly appreciate your allowing us to review The All-Soul's Faire. It truly was a compelling read.
The book dwells much on the spiritual realm, particularly on demons, but there's little mention of angels or Heaven itself. Was there a specific reason you chose to focus mainly on the "dark side?"
Kristy Tallman: There's an underlying precedence there of the good vs evil type situation which will reveal itself more so in the sequel, The Other Side Of Hell. However, this book couldn't focus on the lighter side of what could be, without taking away from the actual plot of the story. The story isn't necessarily about Heaven and Hell. It focuses more about everyone having an inner dark side and whether or not as humans when we are faced with the temptation that awakens our own inner demons, would we fall prey to them?
AR: It's hard to imagine that it would, but did much of your own personal experience contribute to The All-Soul's Faire?
KT: The characters and setting are based on the real life experiences of living in the shadow of North Mountain for 2 years. I also spent much of life visiting relatives in the area.
The story was told in the same fashion that is common to the way they are told and passed down through generations in the Appalachian Region.
As far as the supernatural aspect of the story goes, that part is based purely on my twisted imagination.
AR: Do you personally believe in the kind of eternal damnation to which Ms. Ryder and the others are condemned, forced to roam the earth ad infinitum?
KT: Yes, I do believe that there are spirits who are forced to roam the earth for infinity or until they find their way. I tend to believe there is an in-between – the place where we exist between heaven and hell until such time we have come to terms with our own spirituality, our physical lives here on earth especially if we go out of this world before we are ready to accept the grand exit or we have been horrible creatures prior to leaving. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a history of ghosts both good natured as well as the "angry," supernatural occurrences and the such many of which have been seen by highly respected people alongside us regular Joe's.
AR: You did an absolute masterful job of turning the concept of sin on its ear, highlighted most saliently by Cole's subconscious struggles with pedophilia. Where did you get the idea for that approach?
KT: I think with the way the world has become such a place where not much seems to be sacred and the moral backbone we all once shared has bent that men are challenged everyday by the young girls though they may only be older teens they look like they are old enough to be legal and with that in mind and hearing the comments of men over the course of the last few years – having daughters myself I suppose the horror of that instance where someone older looked upon my daughter and her friends stuck with me so I gave it a life where through the book you are made to face your own inner sick truths if they exist. For the most part I usually tell men you will either love me/book or hate me/book when you are done dependent upon what the book brings to light in their own minds.
AR: Is the underlying theme of the book the fact that we're all essentially lost because of the inexorable pull of the flesh?
KT: I think overall humans are very sexual creatures – some of us are hindered while others are very outward with their activities but within each of us that being still lives and given the reins we don't pull the horses in we explore and the more freedom given as time progresses into a sexual society where just about anything goes we can very easily get lost in the more animalistic powerful temptations of the flesh.
AR: What is the main message that you want readers to take from The All- Soul's Faire?
KT: If there was anything I wanted my readers to take from The All-Soul's Faire other than a few good nightmares, I would have to say that I would leave them with the understanding that we all harbor a dark side within us – that it's okay to have this dark side so long as you don't act upon it and you are able to distinguish what is right and what is wrong morally.
AR: We noticed that one reader commented that you "must have a demented mind" to have come up with the storyline and action for the book. What have been some of the other reactions that you've gotten?
KT: I get more looks than comments to be honest. It's hard for many people to fathom when they meet me that I am the author of such wickedness as my personality isn't as such to lead you to believe I could even think such things, but then that takes us back to the previous question – we all harbor a darkness within us – even the people you'd never suspect.
AR: You're quite the accomplished writer - including being honored by the VH1 Save The Music Foundation for your songwriting prowess. What's next for you?
KT: A Bram Stoker Award?? – No really they said at this year's World Horror Convention if a writer tells you it's just an award it's not necessary you would be lying – my dream has come to be with me already and it's okay if many don't understand that comment or believe I speak it honestly. I lived through a heart attack in 2006 two weeks after I completed ASF so I'm just happy to be here – to have a chance to write – to be given the dream I've carried with me the first time my parents handed me a pencil and paper. I already have a great deal to be thankful for and I've lived through my own personal hell – writing a book and having it enjoyed by others – hearing their comments – well if there's never a physical award – what I have accomplished in the face of my own adversities is an award to me.
AR: What final thoughts would you like our readers to know?
KT: Enjoy the Faire – there's more to come – Crows on the Cross in December and the sequel to ASF – The Other Side of Hell in Spring 2008.
AR: Thanks again, Kristy, and best of continued success to you in all your endeavors.