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Text of the page (random words):
afterworld in her sleep and receives lessons from the visitor unfortunately she cannot remember the sounds in her waking hours one song in particular captures the ear of rook she says it would change the rock n roll landscape in exchange for bringing him to the realm of earth the visitor tells rook he ll give her the song it s a faustian bargain that will not only end badly for rook but the entire world what really stands out in the visitor is smith s prose she deftly merges the beautiful with the grotesque creating a vibrant surreal world reality and fantasy are blurred as if you are experiencing a fever dream the atmosphere is simultaneously ethereal and dreadful possessing a dizzying effect you wonder if rook is in a sort of liminal state caught between the real world and the afterworld smith s language flows in and around you smooth exotic and rotting with such a level of quality and care you can t put it down at the heart of smith s tale is not just rook s bargain with the visitor but the power of music as well rook is desperate for a change she wants to get out of her trailer she wants a life of wealth and luxury without giving any thought to possible consequences rook is all too eager to make a bargain with the visitor even at the expense of her secret lover and fellow band mate miller which does eat away at her after the deed is done rook takes the life of miller allowing the visitor to use his body as a vessel giving him free reign over thie human world it s terrifying scenarios like this that remind us of the mutability of our flesh they remind us of our vulnerability to beings that far surpass us in every aspect and are capable of using us as vessels tools puppets playthings and much more rook soon becomes aware of what she has let into her world and the horror that is to follow the visitor touches on the power and lasting effects of music smith vividly describes the visitor s music as being otherworldly it s not meant for human ears and it has a maddening effect on rook and the rest of her band mates during their practice this being the first time the visitor plays while in miller s body the overture was a quiet orchestration one of abysmal melancholy growing ever stronger with each passing whir of the strange ethereal guitar it grew shriller louder until the rapturous pounding of rhythmic muscle overcame the subtleties of the beginning it had theatre poise an erotic tension so powerful that one would feel as if a serrated wheel ran back and forth over the genitals ever satisfied with a cosmic teasing every second thrust the listeners into a seemingly orgasmic fury a lustful thirst unquenchable in the land of men the outro commenced an exhaustive depression hovered over rook an omnipresent cloud the others struggled to recover overcome by the mad genius of the composition music being used in such a manner brings to mind stories like lovecraft s the music of eric zann which i believe is similar in the use of music never before heard by human ears the vibrancy of the story is akin to anya martin s tale sensoria featured in the anthology giallo fantastique published by word horde both martin and smith s tale touch on the power and lasting effects that music can have on us how it can change not just us but the landscape as well in the case of the music played by the visitor rook doesn t realize what it s true purpose is until it s far too late at the beginning of the story rook is in the afterworld with the visitor however it is in ruin it is merely a husk of what it used to be vegetation is gone dusk is eternal forests destroyed it is a land in peril through his music the visitor plans to restore the afterworld to what it used to be by sacrificing the inhabitants of earth it starts with rook after the band s first practice essentially rook s body begins to break down and that is what will happen to everyone else as rook sees in a vision at the concert they are playing at towards the end of the story the swaying of limbs the flashes of flesh women and men alike removed their clothes and took to pressing their bodies together in a hypnotic rhythm a new and obscene ritual that only the sound of rookie swallows could incite the thrashing of arms waggling of tongues the clattering of genitals and then a single face was illuminated a harbinger to a devil s denouement a melted face of flesh indecipherable amidst the muck and mortar a frozen form so like rook in the land of dreams in the throes of flesh melt the highest form of dream transfiguration much to her horror rook understands what will happen to everyone and there is nothing she can do to stop it everyone will be used as fodder to bring life back to the afterworld this was the song in its proper form an indelicate means of melting man into feast into fertilizer it was terrible it was magnificent it was over that last bit about the proper form of the song as being terrible and magnificent at the same time is a great way of displaying human thought in the face of something way beyond our comprehension how do we respond to such sites how do we perceive them it s also interesting to ponder the character of the visitor it can be argued that there is a level of ambiguity to him concerning him being bad or good as in good intentions with horrifying consequences he saves one world but destroys another and rook is the one responsible for the fate of everyone she let the visitor into her world because she wanted wealth even though she came to greatly regret her decision with the visitor smith has weaved a tale of how we let our desires and obsessions cloud our judgment and ability to make rational decisions often ending with terrible results it s about music and the language it produces how it impacts and changes us and the world it s a haunting grotesque beautiful work of literature born in the dark recesses of some unholy world if this is what is to be expected from the rest of what farah rose smith has to offer you can call me an instant fan who eagerly desires to devour more of her work posted by joseph zanetti at 5 52 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest palladium at night review spoilers what could no longer be called time passed nonetheless replaced by a cold lightless void with no activity save for perpetual dilapidation existence dwindled into inert useless particles all irepani could do was witness this reverse of creation in a short amount of time christopher slatsky has established himself as a credible force in the realm of weird fiction starting off with a few chapbooks published by dunhams manor press followed by his debut collection alectryomancer and other weird tales also published by dunhams manor press slatsky s work has been devoured by many readers garnering much and rightly so praise since the release of his debut collection slatsky has been featured in periodicals such as strange aeons and numerous anthologies which include year s best weird fiction vol 3 published by undertow publications with so much quality horror and weird fiction work being put out it s difficult to keep pace with all of it but i do try and make it a point to keep up with anything of slatsky s that is published which brings me to his novelette palladium at night brought to you by dim shores pan centers on irepani a recovering alcoholic who lives with his cousin lorena in portland oregon formerly homeless and undocumented irepani spent a long time living on the streets of california and in a bottle after successfully making his way over the california border and into oregon irepani has been living with lorena for the last six years he made great strides in turning his life around he got sober and found himself a part time job at a diner wanting a break from the hustle and bustle of the city irepani decides to venture out into the wilderness with his dog cadejo the third and stay at the abandoned leman fire lookout tower where he believes he can find some much needed peace and solitude what irepani doesn t know however is that his little trip will turn into a nightmare of cosmic proportions in the majority of his fiction slatsky incorporates big concepts that are epic in scope and pan is no different there are many components to the story alcoholism recovery military intervention in the name of security the occult fused with science god god like the divine as terror and the concept of time while there is so much packed into the story slatsky balances all of it rather magnificently you don t feel overwhelmed or bogged down with what s being explored and communicated even as the story goes back and forth between irepani and a group of scientists and military personnel which helps add depth and tension to the story helping to move the story along is the feeling of dread and unease that slowly builds with each turn of the page the atmosphere brings about a certain awareness that something is not right nothing is what it seems as irepani soon discovers while irepnai is all about seeking solitude at the lookout tower many of his companions do not think it s a safe place to stay the tower is something of an urban legend it s a source of various stories and strange things and irepani s companions believe the city is much safer offering relative safety warmth and sustenance driving lorena s jeep irepani turns down a gravel road that leads to the lookout tower and it doesn t take long for him to begin feeling a sense of fear cadejo whines and paws at the passenger window pulling over to let her out and go to the bathroom irepani notices the dashboard clock is dim showing only dashes instead of numbers cadejo is gone longer than irepani is comfortable with and finally calls her back she returns but irepani is already on edge his heart hammered in his chest why was he so riled up cadejo had never been in any danger the hustle and bustle of the city was comforting the vastness of the wild held too many unexplored regions places dimly lit where only cloven hoof and paw had disturbed the carpets of moss too many places for cadejo to get hurt or lost that must be why he was so on edge during other parts of the story irepani feels exposed and vulnerable he feels a sense of menace in the woods surrounding him slatsky does well in establishing a dichotomy between the wilderness and the city a sort of wilderness vs civilization over the centuries perceptions of the wilderness have changed from being a dreadful place full of monsters and terror to a place where people go to get away from city life they desire the beauty and tranquility of the forest so that they can forget about their life in the city for a while in the case of irepani he very much wanted to get away from the city much to the dismay of his companions who view the woods surrounding the lookout tower as a cursed place where strange things take place it s safer to stay in the city the pinnacle of civilization what i think slatsky is delving into here is at least to me are the flawed and changing perceptions we have of what the wilderness is to us an interesting essay that discusses this topic at length is by william cronon called the trouble with wilderness or getting back to the wrong nature give it a read if you are interested some major themes that slatsky explores in pan are time alcoholism and what we would probably call religious experience the core of the story is how human perceptions of time differ at a cultural and individual level some cultures have no concept of time at all while others may measure time by the changing of the seasons western culture lives and dies by the clock at the individual level one person could perceive an event as dragging on happening in slow motion while another person perceives the same event as happening so fast they aren t exactly sure what happened you could perceive a certain memory as happening a couple months ago when it actually happened two years ago out in the wilderness the clock in the jeep doesn t work and irepani s watch and phone are dead so he has no way of keeping track of time and he s basically guessing how long it takes him to get from the lookout tower to the leman observatory and back again in addition the second narrative in pan is the group of scientists who have been able to weaponize time they can change the course of history by altering years hours minutes even seconds of great interest is how the feat of weaponizing time is achieved through fusing mysticism with science it s no coincidence either that irepani says prayers to give him strength concerning his recovery from alcoholism and the scientists and military personnel make mentions of god and beings that would be considered god like more specifically a quasi temporal eternality sorry a qte is a being that experiences its entire life all at once the past present and future simultaneously with that in mind an eternally existing god must experience everything that has ever been or will be this is deliberate i believe on slatsky s part some of the steps in recovery involve believing in something greater than yourself and giving yourself over to that power to help you recover what irepani experiences towards the end of the story could be considered a religious experience in the presence of the alien qte whatever you want to call it irepani experiences the birth death and rebirth of the entire world he s reliving his past over and over again he s experiencing the past present and future simultaneously in the face of something so powerful and far beyond human comprehension how do we view such a thing is it divinity is the divine actually terrifying is this what matt cardin refers to as holy terror does irepani feel safe in such a presence these are powerful questions that we may not want answered slatsky also creates a relationship with time and alcoholism they parallel each other when irepani drank it helped him but he wanted a drink this wasn t just a craving but something far more primal addiction stained into his very soul it was a cliche to say alcohol numbed him from the realities of life but there was that and something more drinking helped retain those rare moments when he d felt happy about being alive slowed everything down prolonged the good times the joyful memories moving as if sinking in molasses blotted out the anger and loneliness everything else was pushed aside speeding by so quickly drunken brain couldn t acknowledge the struggles and pain we see how alcohol altered irepani s perception of time drinking slowed everything down for him allowing him to savor and enjoy the good times everything outside of that whizzed by him in a flash of light he forgot about everything else another aspect is the loss of time it can be interpreted that irepani drank the bottles of vodka he found in the lookout tower which could explain why he wasn t sure if the form he sees on path moved or not or why some experiences seemed to last longer than others or the opposite ...