Layden Robinson

If you require genre/subgenre labels to define your reading experience, the best label for Layden Robinson's THE HAVOC TREE might be Lovecraftian bizarro. A little Lovecraft, a little Book of Revelation, and a little Jim Steinman combine with a flourish in this short collection of horrific vignettes to paint your eyeballs with vivid hellish and sexual landscapes.

Robinson's tales are not standard three-act stories. In fact, some of these vignettes have hardly any story at all. Often, they are all plot: chaotic or apocalyptic scenes of violence and sexuality with little in the way of arc from beginning to end. This fact does not detract from their entertainment value. Robinson knows how to use his prose to poetic effect, and he does it well.

My only criticism of THE HAVOC TREE is that it could use some copy editing. There are a few grammatical and style issues that pervade the text. Even so, Robinson's visions of darkness in these pages makes it really easy to overlook these mundane errors.… (mehr)