When Cutting Block Press’ BUTCHER SHOP QUARTET hit the stands in 2005, it was subtitled “Four Bold Tales to Disturb the Adventurous Mind.” Wow. Re-arrange those eight words and a myriad of possible exaggerations leap out at you. (Let’s pause for a moment so I can admit that I’m not slamming this book, because I haven’t read it. I’m just tossing out a smart-ass allusion to a Dashiell Hammett story, the title of which I can’t remember.)
Now BUTCHER SHOP QUARTET II, edited by Frank J. Hutton, walks among us, sans subtitle, and it’s comprised once again of four long short stories and/or novellas designed to mess with your mind, whether it’s adventurous or not.
Greggard Penance’s “The Breach” features buddies Jared and Boris, who go diving when and where perhaps they shouldn’t. Penance’s prose is sly and sets you up for The Big Whammo in ways you may not notice on a first reading. Like this:
“A moment later, a large object waddled up. It was a fish the size of a human. It brushed past them, then disappeared. … The fish swam by again, appearing to be curious. On this second pass, Jared recognized it as a lemon shark, mostly harmless to humans.”
The word that might make you pause in your gum-chewing is “mostly,” as in “mostly harmless to humans.” A few sentences later we see “creatures dancing around in the corner of his vision.” Sure, fish and other marine animals would naturally be seen out of the corner of the eye, just like you’re supposed to see ghosts.
“Road Rash” by Simon Janus follows the vehicle-troubled day of a man trying to escape with stolen cash when his car throws a rod and he witnesses a senseless head-on collision. When he pulls a badly battered survivor out of the only vehicle left running, a Chevy Caprice, to help him get away, well, bad things happen to bad people. Especially to bad people reduced to stealing a crashed-up POS Chevy.
Rick J. Brown’s “Bodies Raining” has a sci-fi edge to it, and “Condemned” by Vince Churchill and Ray Brown is the most cinematic: “A large bald body pushed through to the front of the crowd. A streetlight illuminated the figure, showing it to be a woman. Made up like a hellish clown, her bald head was painted dead white, with a bright red frown smeared across her mouth. The ragged lace of a red bra could contain only one of her mammoth breasts.”
The thought of a bra being able to hold only one large breast is usually enticing, but this time, not so much.
The tales are all worth a look and the book will make you hope that this is only the second in a long line of QUARTETs. —Doug Bentin
Related posts:
- The Ghost Quartet
- The Undead: Headshot Quartet
- Butcher Bird
- The Butcher’s Granddaughter
- The Price of Butcher’s Meat
