Laymon Month: Savage reviewed by Lincoln Crisler

I'm not the most well-versed Laymon fan (arguably a detriment to one pursuing a professional career in horror), but I have read enough to have a healthy respect for the man and his body of work. Absolutely, without question, I've read enough Laymon to buy more of his books, sight unseen, without so much as a friendly recommendation, until hopefully I've read them all at least once. More than any Laymon I've read, this attitude is shaped by Savage.

Savage, as described as simply as possible, is about a fifteen year-old boy who follows Jack the Ripper from the streets of Whitechapel, England to the dusty American southwest, first as a captive and later to bring the murderer to justice. To be more accurate, however, it's a long, involved story that's epic in the way King and Straub's Talisman is epic; for some of the vageme reasons, even. Trevor Bentley begins his story as a boy and finishes as a man, or close to it, and his journey takes him roughly halfway across the world. He is both hindered and assisted in his efforts by a diverse group of people, including a couple of lovers. And there is killing, of the exciting, shocking, brutal and heart-wrenching varieties.


Any writer would be lucky to write one book this good in his or her lifetime. Laymon managed to not only write something completely different from his typical book, but do it while including the splatter and sex a Laymon fan expects. I must say that no other Laymon book I've read, no matter how excellent, comes close to knocking Savage off its perch, or even sitting beside it. But, like I said before, I have a lot more Laymon to read, so I'm open to suggestions.

And if you've yet to read Savage yourself, you can fix that right now.

Lincoln Crisler's debut novella, WILD, was released in March from Damnation Books. He has also authored a pair of short story collections, Magick & Misery (2009, Black Bed Sheet) and Despairs & Delights (2008, Arctic Wolf). A United States Army combat veteran and non-commissioned officer, Lincoln lives in Augusta, Georgia with his wife and two of his three children. You can visit his website at www.lincolncrisler.info.

Wild by Lincoln Crisler

Wild is some of the most fun you’re likely to have reading this year. Lincoln Crisler’s new novella is tough to classify. Wild varies its narration from first to third person as we follow the adventures of three men: a mysterious man named Matthias, a violent outlaw and a Mexican doctor. The three men embark on a rescue mission through Texas as they attempt to locate a local man and his son who have vanished. On their way they encounter zombie hordes, some vicious outlaws and a crazed witch doctor. Not your typical Western fare, huh? It is one part Sergio Leone and one part The Serpent and The Rainbow with a bit more magic and much more zombies. Crisler internalizes of these influences and brings us one heck of an original and entertaining story.

Crisler uses dialect and description to make the reader feel like they are riding through the untouched sands of 1886 Texas. I always love when I finish a story and have absolutely no comments about the writing. In a story like this you don’t want elegant prose getting in the way of the action and you certainly don’t need any clunkiness disrupting the proceedings either. Crisler does neither with Wild. He simply lets the story flow out of him and trusts his amazing descriptive abilities to draw the reader in.

At its core Wild is just a really well-told yarn that one would expect to hear sitting around a campfire. It is fun and engaging with just enough depth and mystery to be completely original. The ending really set the stage for future stories involving these characters and if Wild is any indication, I can only hope that Crisler gives us more.

Highly recommended!

Go ahead and preorder the book through Damnation and stop by Lincoln’s site to check out his books and his amazing reviews.