I first heard of Brandon Massey in connection with Dark Dreams, a volume of horror tales by African American writers edited by him. His own story, “Grandad’s Garage,” about a packrat who has collected such things as a signed copy of Phillis Wheatley’s poetry, is strong, not the strongest, but I remember it fondly, so I can say it’s not one of the weakest. Zane’s pornographic vampire story is silly, but it is what it is. One of the better stories is “Bras Coupe,” which takes its title from the story within a story of an African slave in The Grandissimes, George Washington Cable’s magnificent novel that pre-Faulknered Faulkner. In Cable’s novel, Bras-Coupe is an indominatable spirit who cannot be broken, only destroyed, and that not easily. In the story in Massey’s collection, Bras-Coupe comes back as a ghost who appears and then disappears from the apartment of a young white man living in New Orleans.
There is also a Dark Dreams II and III, by the way. I own but have not read Dark Dreams II. DD III has received some of the strongest reviews of any of the three books.
I belabor the point about Bras-Coupe not to show how well read I am (although, you know….) but because at the heart of Dark Corner, Massey’s Vampire novel which I have recently finished is an African Vampire who is very much the literary descendent of Cable’s Bras-Coupe. Only he’s ramped up about a hundred fold into a vampire who wants to destroy mankind.
This is all to the good.
It is equally influenced by Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, which is a pretty darn good vampire novel, but Massey takes the elements which King returned to about a thousand more times—a haunted house, a man returning tohis small rural town, a love at first sight subplot—and uses them as a formula, which is not good.
One of the most interesting things about the novel is the parallel it sets up between two naïve sons trying to live in their father’s shadow. David Hunter is the son of Richard Hunter, who disappeared in a boating accident. Maybe. Kyle Coirat is Diallo’s son (with Lisha, an ancient vampire), who wants to resurrect his father (he does). There’s a nice parallel which loses some steam halfway through when Kyle falls under his father’s spell and never re emerges as himself. Still, Kyle, the modern vampire, is one of the more interesting characters. Diallo is essentially a black Dracula, but I do not mean this in any way as a dig. He’s compelling.
Lisha is not. She appears, disappears, acts from a distance, then doesn’t. I can see the problems the author is facing. Diallo is too strong for Hunter and his girl Nia to take on, so they need some alliance. But if there’s someone even stronger than Diallo capable of taking him out, why doesn’t she? The ways of Lisha are strange and mysterious, my child.
Actually, the novel has another father and son pair, and they nearly steal the show. Van Jackson is the police chief of Mason’s Corners; and his son Jahlil (who represents the hip hop generation) has the best arc of any of the characters, developing from selfish and indifferent to engaged and fierce. I like that these characters snuck up on me; both are presented as potentially 2-D, and both develop unexpected depth.
There is also a Dark Dreams II and III, by the way. I own but have not read Dark Dreams II. DD III has received some of the strongest reviews of any of the three books.
I belabor the point about Bras-Coupe not to show how well read I am (although, you know….) but because at the heart of Dark Corner, Massey’s Vampire novel which I have recently finished is an African Vampire who is very much the literary descendent of Cable’s Bras-Coupe. Only he’s ramped up about a hundred fold into a vampire who wants to destroy mankind.
This is all to the good.
It is equally influenced by Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, which is a pretty darn good vampire novel, but Massey takes the elements which King returned to about a thousand more times—a haunted house, a man returning tohis small rural town, a love at first sight subplot—and uses them as a formula, which is not good.
One of the most interesting things about the novel is the parallel it sets up between two naïve sons trying to live in their father’s shadow. David Hunter is the son of Richard Hunter, who disappeared in a boating accident. Maybe. Kyle Coirat is Diallo’s son (with Lisha, an ancient vampire), who wants to resurrect his father (he does). There’s a nice parallel which loses some steam halfway through when Kyle falls under his father’s spell and never re emerges as himself. Still, Kyle, the modern vampire, is one of the more interesting characters. Diallo is essentially a black Dracula, but I do not mean this in any way as a dig. He’s compelling.
Lisha is not. She appears, disappears, acts from a distance, then doesn’t. I can see the problems the author is facing. Diallo is too strong for Hunter and his girl Nia to take on, so they need some alliance. But if there’s someone even stronger than Diallo capable of taking him out, why doesn’t she? The ways of Lisha are strange and mysterious, my child.
Actually, the novel has another father and son pair, and they nearly steal the show. Van Jackson is the police chief of Mason’s Corners; and his son Jahlil (who represents the hip hop generation) has the best arc of any of the characters, developing from selfish and indifferent to engaged and fierce. I like that these characters snuck up on me; both are presented as potentially 2-D, and both develop unexpected depth.
Next Up the good and bad of Nia James, her baddy Colin Morgan, and why King's overall structure does and does not work here.
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