Bleak History
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Bleak History
Written by: John Shirley
Published by: Pocket Books
Page Count: 370
ISBN-10: 1416584129
ISBN-13: 978-1416584124
Where to buy:
AmazonPublisher’s comments:
CLASSIFIED: APPARENT SUPERNATURAL
Subject: Gabriel Bleak. Status: Civilian. Paranormal skills: Powerful. Able to manipulate AS energies and communicate with UBEs (e.g. “ghosts” and other entities). Psychological profile: Extremely independent, potentially dangerous. Caution is urged…
As far as Gabriel Bleak is concerned, talking to the dead is just another way making a living. It gives him the competitive edge to survive as a bounty hunter, or “skip tracer,” in the psychic minefield known as New York City. Unfortunately, his gift also makes him a prime target. A top-secret division of Homeland Security has been monitoring the recent emergence of human supernaturals, with Gabriel Bleak being the strongest on record. If they control Gabriel, they’ll gain access to the Hidden – the entity-based energy field that connects all life on Earth. But Gabriel’s got other ideas. With a growing underground movement called the Shadow Community – and an uneasy alliance of spirits, elementals, and other beings – Gabriel’s about to face the greatest demonic uprising since the Dark Ages. But this time, history is not going to repeat itself. This time, the future is Bleak. Gabriel Bleak.
“Shirley writes at the neon-lit frontier of sensory experience.” – Publisher’s Weekly
“John Shirley is an adventurer…with visionary tales to tell.” – Clive Barker
About the Author:
John Shirley, whose novels include Demons, Crawlers, In Darkness Waiting, and Eclipse, is co-screenwriter of the cult film The Crow. His collection Black Butterflies won a Bram Stoker Award and an International Horror Guild Award and was voted one of the Best Books of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly, which called it “first-rate and fierce.”
Hello Ghouls and Boils,
Tonight we bring you a review of John Shirley’s dark urban fantasy novel Bleak History. I am still unable to type with both of my hands, doctor’s orders. So I will keep this brief and just get straight to our minion(reviewer) Joe’s thoughts on this novel. Enjoy my fiends!
Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Gerhardt
The Hidden is a spiritual membrane surrounding and connecting all life in Earth’s dimension. It is the realm of spirits, elementals, loas and other so called mythical supernatural entities, and it acts as a barrier protecting humans from the demonic predators living in the hell realms of the Wilderness. From the age of thirteen Gabriel Bleak knew he was different from other humans because of his awareness of the invisible world permeating ours. He spoke with ghosts. He could draw on the Hidden’s energy force to create weapons and alter visible reality. He sensed when someone was watching him, could see through their eyes, an ability that saved his life during the Afghanistan war and in his civilian profession of bounty hunter, or “skip tracer.” Bleak is used to keeping a low profile, living undetected at the margins of society. All that changes when Agent Loraine Sarikosca, a member of the Central Containment Authority (CCA), a covert branch of Homeland Security bent on utilizing and controlling the occult powers promised by the very existence of the Hidden, starts stalking Bleak, attempting to capture and enlist him in some unspecified and highly suspicious cooperative venture. The ShadowComm, a collective of rogue talents united in fighting against the CCA, also increases pressure on Bleak to join their ranks. Both sides sense change on the wind and it’s blowing from the realm of the Hidden. The walls between dimensions are thinning. Dark forces vie to establish control in the human realms, operating through amoral hosts such as Gulcher, a criminal willing to align himself with any power that keeps him out of jail. Even worse, an ancient evil threatens to gain hold of the CCA, operating one degree away from a power mad president willing to suspend democratic government and assume a dictatorship. Only one man stands in the way of the oncoming spiritual holocaust, and his name is Gabriel Bleak.
Part urban fantasy, part near-future science fiction dystopia, part occult historical conspiracy, part military espionage thriller and part flat out, balls-to-the-wall horror novel, Bleak History defies easy categorization. Like the best of John Shirley’s previous work, the mix of genres works in the novel’s favor giving it a textural depth and moral complexity rarely found within a work rooted solely in one. The deft genre hopping also keeps the action fresh and the plot fairly unpredictable.
Shirley is a wizard at juggling multiple story lines as well as a host of major and minor characters. It’s a joy to watch the unfolding plot strands coalesce towards the final showdown in the Arctic Circle. Shirley is strongest at developing eccentric characters dwelling in the shadowy realms off the main highways of society. I especially liked the character Gulcher. This amoral escaped convict has no problem surrendering his will to an entity who goes by the handle The Whisperer as long as he maintains the illusion of freedom and the ability to control his own destiny. Once he discovers he is trapped in a prison of another sort, acting as a supernatural lackey, he easily changes allegiances to maintain his illusory freedom. I also enjoyed Dr. Helman, the morally challenged resident scientist of the CCA. I could easily see actor Jeffrey Combs inhabiting the skin of this quirky, love struck sociopath.
I was fortunate enough to see a piece of fan art, which collaged several events in the book. At the time I hadn’t read that far into the text, but I was intrigued by one figure, a demonic entity with rotoscoping sets of teeth and a lamprey like eye protruding from the middle of its mouth. When I came to the reveal where the entity makes it’s first appearance (those versed in the Old Testament will recognize the demon’s name), I almost cheered with delight. The deity’s later appearances in the book were also highly satisfying.
Bleak History Fan Art by Kenneth J. Devries
The only complaint I had with the novel, and it is a minor complaint, was that the exploration of certain story lines and the depth of ideas were sometimes sacrificed to keep the action flowing quick and heavy. I would have liked to have more back story on the mysterious artifact in the Arctic, on Sir Isaac Newton and the Lodge of Ten, and a bit more about Gabriel Bleak’s past and how he learned to navigate so surely between the real world and the Hidden. As it is, there’s just enough information to tantalize the reader, giving a general outline and map of the metaphysical cosmology of the Hidden, while leaving plenty of territory open for further exploration should a sequel follow.
Final thoughts:
Bleak History is a hugely entertaining, genre-hopping thrill ride of a book. While sometimes short on exposition, John Shirley never lets up on fast paced action, and left me longing for more adventures set in Gabriel Bleak’s world. I give the novel 4 out of 5.Joe Pettit Jr. – Minion (Reviewer)
