Talk us through it
Slice of Life contains seventeen original stories by Paul Haines that travel the dark back roads of horror. We're not talking mainstream horror here, we're talking confrontational in your face stories from the perspective of every day people. If you don't trust that weird old dude over your back fence then Paul Haines' collection could just give you the reason why. Haines dabbles in insanity, cannibalism, did I mention sex, and by passes the usual horror tropes for something entirely more satisfying.
Review"I felt like taking the paperweight and carving in the back of Carver's head." - Paul Haines. The above quote kicks off Slice of Life in pretty good fashion, we know we're in for a good ride from the starting whistle. It's simple, direct, and brutally honest. As we learn from the first story, itself called Slice of Life, the Narrator is simply telling it as it is. Story one forms part of trio of tales that pretty much frame the rest of the book. Without giving too much away, we're dealing with the ultimate anti hero, a sort of Down Under Hannibal Lector, who is completely off the planet and who may not be inhabiting the same reality as the rest of us. Haines doesn't spell that out, he's one of those writers who lets the reader make up their own minds about things , make your own call on the whole Vogon thing. It's during the second story in the collection, the excellent and Ditmar winning The Devil in Mr Pussy, that we discover Paul Haines might just have a common theme running through the collection. There's a fair degree of urban paranoia, pressure of life, and minds coming unglued going down in the text. Either that or we're left with the notion that given the right diet, you can hear cats and other animals talk, and those cats tend to snarky bastards of the highest order. Once again the Author makes things seem perfectly normal and leaves it to the reader to catch on to their own frame of reference. You can either take a view that madness is simply lurking just below the formica counters of reality, or that Paul Haines wants us to take a step to left and into the murky woods of an alternative universe where talking cats and crazed religious zealots are lurking behind every bush. Don't worry I'm not going to comment on every story in the collection, that could get pretty tedious and you should go read the stories for yourself, but I am trying to give some sort of conclusive proof as to what makes the collection tick like a wild night out at the football with your best mates. Paul Haines present us with the simplest of story styles. This is what happened in a moment, in an hour, in a day, of the Narrator's life. He isn't overly burdened with having to explain why someone is the way they are, or invent a whole history to cover current events, as the title of the collection indicates it's a series of tales that are simply slices of life. Of course having said that the Author is giving us the simplest form of story telling, the Author also has to be a bloody good writer to deliver on the form. Thankfully Paul Haines is a good writer and each of the seventeen stories we have in our hands is worthy of inclusion in the collection. There's no weak link involved here folks, you will not want to skip any of the stories. Paul Haines is a fine writer, his direct style is aiming to hit you right between the eyes, and isn't his aim 100% in every story. Paul Haines' style of writing is pretty straight forward, he calls a spade a spade, and isn't averse to dropping in phrases that just might upset your Maiden Aunt on a Sunday afternoon. There's no attempt to cloak things in the sort of prose that only ever appeals to University lecturers, this one is for us friends and neighbours, crack open a beer and hit the coach with the book. There are of course common themes running through the collection, the fore mention paranoia being one of them, read the collection to form your own conclusion there. Paul Haines' also isn't above having a sly wink at the reader, there is humour in the book, (I actually laughed out loud in a few places), but the winks and humour are of a very dark nature. Slice of Life isn't therefore an unrelenting forced march through the swamps of human depravity, it does have lighter moments. When you have stories titled The Devil in Mr Pussy and Going Down With Jennifer Aniston's Breasts then you know it's not going to be a trip to the center of seriousville aboard the humourless express. While not pulling his punches, Paul Haines is trawling some pretty dark and murky waters, he resists the urge to rub the readers nose in the gore, and keeps the more gruesome stuff off page. For example the devilishly inspired Slice of Life - a Spot of Liver has a murder going down completely out of eye sight of the Narrator who arrives home to the aftermath which involves a macabre twist on the French foie gras dish. The Author seems to instinctively know where the taboo lines are and takes some delight in leaving them in his dust while not resorting to bludgeoning the reader over the head with intense blood splattered scenes of carnage. Showing his versatility Haines takes the odd side step away from the dark genre and dabbles with fantasy, A Tale of the Interferers: Necomancing the Bones, and also Science Fiction, Where is Brisbane, and How Many Times Do I Get There?. The later story reminded me of the kiwi movie Five reviewed here. So if you aren't all that fussed about the dark underside of the human soul then you needn't worry as Slice of Life contains something for most readers. Naturally horror fans are going to lap this book up with quite some glee. I pretty much had to read the collection a second time to review it as I had lost all track of what I was doing and got dragged through the book at warp factor nine by the Author's prose, ideas, and concepts, when I first tackled the collection. One of the dangers of Slice of Life is that the book is a page turner, so set yourself plenty of free time when you start to read, you just might find the final page coming at you unexpectedly some hours after sitting down with the collection. Normally when reviewing a collection of short stories I like to highlight a few that grabbed me by the throat and held me down till I screamed "Uncle". The idea there is to give the reader some notion of what I find entertaining and hence have a better handle on my thoughts on any particular work and whether or not it matches expectations. With Slice of Life I simply can't nominate any single story or stories for mention, there are no weak entries in the collection, and I bloody well enjoyed every one of the seventeen tales on offer. My fingers are crossed that we might get a Slice of Life 2 next year as that would be beyond cool in my book of dissected corpses. If I had to make a comparison to a writer you may have read, I would liken Paul Haines style to John Farris's straight forward approach in works like Son of the Endless Night. There's also a touch of the John Irving in terms of black humour, both Authors seem to instinctively be able to see the funny side of any given situation, regardless of how depressing that situation may be. Paul Haines has compiled a collection that is a highlight on the 2009 short story calendar. It's not for the faint of heart, there's some deeply disturbing visions going down, but is well worth reading if you appreciated decent horror of the short story form. I was pleased I finally got around to reading Mr Haines excellent collection and am left wanting more. Hopefully I've done enough to convince you to have a stab, no pun intended, at Slice of Life. If so set your browser to Paul Haines Central and follow the links, you will be thanking me after you get through reading the collection. Please note all proceeds from book sales are going to help support Paul Haines family while he continues his battle with cancer. Good luck with that one Bro, fingers crossed for a full recovery.
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... 10/10 Excellent collection of stories that left me wanting more, it's your duty as a dark genre fan
to go grab a copy today!
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