The Separation by Ronald Malfi

The Separation is the first Delirium’s new line of novellas.

In an effort to help an old friend through the breakup of his marriage, psychotherapist Marcus Llewellyn arrives in Germany to find up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie Pronovella in a state of such deep depression, he takes his old friend on as a client. But soon Marcus's faith in his own abilities to help Charlie comes into question when Charlie's behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is Charlie suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work?

In my review of Malfi’s Snow I said, “Malfi is relentless with the horror and action”. The Separation takes the opposite approach to its horror. Malfi weaves subtly disturbing images together with grace and elegance. It really is amazing to see an author create horror in these two extremes. Malfi plants the seed of terror and slowly brings it to full bloom- resulting in a fantastic final page.

The Separation is another testament to Malfi’s talent as a storyteller and writer. He is a genre author that deserves to be appreciated on a mainstream level. Do yourself a favor and pick up The Separation and become formally introduced to your new favorite author.

Unfortunately the beautiful Limited Edition HC is sold out but, fear not, you can stop by Amazon and pick up the digital copy here.

Ur by Stephen King

Ur is a Stephen King novella that was released solely for the Kindle. Some people claim it is nothing more than an advertisement for Amazon but I would disagree. Ur is an engaging story filled with imagination, morality and a welcomed dose of allusions to his previous works.

English Professor Wesley Smith is an old-fashioned type of guy. He isn’t too big on computers, he likes his relationships simple and he likes his books printed on paper. All of that changes when he buys a Kindle to impress his girlfriend who accuses him of being completely out of touch with the times. As is typical in King’s work, the Kindle arrives but instead of downloading the books that most of us are familiar with, this unique Kindle is able to access alternate realities where authors had different output. Is this weird? Sure, but Wesley Smith is more amazed than frightened. That is until he catches a glimpse into the future and is forced to save the life of the one closest to him.

Ur isn’t great but it is fun and that goes a long way with this type of story. King’s enthusiasm for the electronic medium was really evident here and he seems to take some liberties within the new digital medium. He used the novel idea of an other-worldly Kindle story as a Kindle only exclusive to its’ fullest extent. Then just as the idea begins to wear thin King brings it to a tidy conclusion (which includes a fantastic nod to some of my favorite King characters in stories past.)

Ur isn’t for the King novice (or the horror novice for that matter) but for those of us who grew up with him, it is a great read. It is really interesting to see how he operates when writing for a very specific demograp