Steven Marshall Horror

Marshall was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1970 and currently resides in Florida with his wife, Samantha, who is his chief editor. Marshall has been praised as the voice of horror’s future. According to New Blood Magazine “Stephen King is the emperor of horror, Marshall is the law.” Actually, Marshall’s style is more in the tradition of a modern-day Poe or Lovecraft, where the darkest horror lies in the mind. In fact, his writings are likely to darken your daydreams, illuminate your nightmares...and leave your mind disturbed.

Current Novels: Rituals of Terror, The Banished, The Dark Art of Wonder

Steven Marshall / Story of the Month / Febuary 2008 in New Voices of Horror Magazine

Great writer, poet, and musician and an all around nice guy and a very good friend. And the Chief Content Moderator and Editor of my magazine, so be extra nice to him! He is the author of The Beauty of Decay, which made Story of the Month in the February issue and is now featured in his second novel THE BANISHED. We are all looking forward to his third novel being published soon, THE DARK ART OF WONDER.

You can contact him at http://www.myspace.com/stevenmarshallhorror

Book Review:

Rituals Of Terror

By: Steven Marshall

Reviewer: Doc Byron

First published back in 1995, but never released due to the publisher going into bankruptcy, ROT finally made it into print over a decade later. Rituals of Terror is a stunning, bone-chillling, rollercoaster ride of a debut novel, a real tour-de-force of terror. Consisting of 8 {intertwining} stories, it begins with a {narrative} introductory tale of a man caught up inside a ''skipping'' dream in which he is slowly dying, but cannot wake. From there, Marshall leads us into a bizarre, nightmarish world where...A sleazy, overweight, perverse butcher falls victim to a flesh eating disease found within the beef tongue he serves...deep in the woods, a mutant race of savage cannibals fancy human flesh for nourishment...Facing extinction, they must abandon their withering habitat...or at least die trying. Some readers {and critics} would find it hard to believe that any writer {let alone a great one like Marshall} could possibly weave so many different storylines together in a plausible fashion. As a word-weaver-extraordinaire, he proved himself with his craftsmanship of intense, powerful and lingering visuals.

Marshall does it effortlessly and seamlessly, making it one of my favorite ''intertwining'' fiction collections. Stephen King's Hearts In Atlantis, seems {almost} boring in comparison. Take, for instance, the installment entitled ''Fresh Flesh,'' in which we are introduced to Lloyd the butcher. We are thrown into nightmarish world in a no-holds-barred fashion, the terror is like a powerhouse punch to the proverbial pus. Lloyd's love - yes, love, for ''hacking'' flesh, as well as his bizarre, perverse, and violent sexual fantasies about female customers. Yet its interjected with a sense of crude humor that tickles the funny bone as well as chills it. Lloyd makes Leatherface look like Pee Wee Herman.

Just the way I like my terrors, which is exactly the way Rituals is presented; 282 pages of eloquent, but sweetly terrifying, nightmarish visions that only a true pro like Marshall can muster together. New Blood Magazine stated that ''If Stephen King is the emperor of horror, then Marshall is the law.'' I must whole-heartedly agree.

Highly recommended

My Grade: A++

Terror Meter: 10

Steven Marshall can be contacted at MySpace and also at SNM Horror Magazine.

Review of Rituals of Terror

by David R. Saliba
February 1, 2008

Marshall subtitles his novel, A Book of Nightmares Come True. In the prologue he suggests that his nightmare is viewed through innocent eyes: “When I finally found sleep…my peaceful bliss was interrupted by frightening visions that no child should ever endure.” That, of course, puts a very important slant on the message and the delivery.

Marshall 's inspiration from Poe's concept of “A Dream within a Dream” is evident when he frames his story as a nightmare within a nightmare. Just like the message in Poe's poem, this novel is fraught with hopelessness and the inevitability of death. Marshall reinforces the nightmare concept in the first chapter, “Nemesis of Tranquility,” and prefigures the culmination of the novel by introducing us to a character trapped inside a dream that skips like a scratched vinyl record. Like the innocent voice in the prologue, this character finds himself in a purgatory of suspended animation.

Because the story is presented to the reader from the perspective of a youth, Marshall resists an overly polished or sophisticated style. He inserts malapropisms that echo “boy speak” and focuses on descriptions that realistically support the prurient interests of a pre-pubescent mind. His action scenes, with their extreme violence and detailed fight choreography, further support the idea that we are viewing the world through the eager eyes of youth. His highly imaginative stories (which he calls “rituals”) serve the same purpose as campfire tales. They captivate the imagination and elicit fear and surprise. And in so doing, they also provide excellent entertainment.

But these tales do more than entertain; they provide a philosophy. They are de facto rites of passage for a young dreamer caught up in his nightmare world. The appeal or revulsion of each ritual intermittently takes the reader's mind off the original premise of the novel. These tales give the reader periodic respite from the claustrophobia of the dreamer's nightmare. As the novel progresses the intensity of the rituals increases. And as that intensity builds to a final crescendo, Marshall reestablishes his premise and returns us to the beginning. The difference is that from the Prologue to the Afterward there is a transformation—a rite of passage for the reader. The reader no longer sees through the eyes of a child. The record skips and the nightmare starts again. It is now the reader who is “stuck within an endless void between” worlds; somewhere between waking and dreaming.

www.skepticthomas.com

Review for: The Banished, a novel by Steven Marshall

Reviewed by: Crystal Adkins of Crystal's Book Reviews

While enjoying a picnic with her fiancé, Leo, Yvonne basked in the elation of her newly discovered pregnancy. It was not until they were lost in the woods, that Yvonne would soon know that there may not be a secure future ahead for her. Leo was taken prisoner by a strange savage breed of cannibal mutants that survived (notice I did not say lived) in the woodlands. He would later be used as a bargaining ransom of sorts as the mutants needed help, and Yvonne was the only way they would be able to get what they needed.

Eight inmates exposed to chemical radiation made it to the other side of the wall during their escape to safety, but they were permanently disfigured from the inhalation of nearly fatal chemicals. Surviving in the wilderness on only human flesh and nature's fruits, this hybrid breed, now freaks of nature, unknowingly had to fulfill a prophecy with Yvonne and find a new sanctuary in hopes of surviving the winter.

The prophecy has cursed the men and Yvonne is dragged into the madness. Although she seems to see the human sides of what the creatures used to be, the fate of her and her unborn child will be left in the hands of these lethal killing machines. Will they protect her with their lives…or take hers for nourishment? The prophecy has yet to be fulfilled…

Steven Marshall's dark cryptic novel The Banished will keep you repulsed and intrigued about what will happen next all throughout the novel. This fast paced, action horror novel has very well written detailed blood bath scenes as well as true human emotion to make it come to life and give it dimension. It proves that inside every dark, savage creature there is still some shred of humanity clinging on. The Banished even has some dark erotica and supernatural, yet earthly horror elements that takes a surprising end twist…a must read!

This novel receives 5 of 5 Bloody Skulls!

Crystal's Book Reviews