Once again the quick tongued master of pace is at it again and this time…THERE’S NO FUCKING CURSING!!!
What is every child’s worst nightmare? What lurks in the dark after they sleep? What horrors hide under the bed after mommy and daddy turn off the light? Well….if this was any other tale of terror the answer would be Monsters, but this is a Kevin Strange tale and when little monsters go to sleep the same nightmarish thoughts plague them as well…but what lurks under their beds is something more sinister…..
Just like every good little monster, when bedtime comes it’s lights out and off to monster snooze land or whatever dreamland they go to . And, just like any good monster sibling sharing a bedroom, scary stories are must to tell. How do you scare a little monster? Tell them about the legend of the humans. A terrible race that was eradicated centuries ago that lurk under monsters beds while they sleep until the right moment to snatch them up! It’s a legend told to many a monster but it’s only legend right?
Dexantheon is a monster that knows that legend all too well being forged from the Overmind’s (a human built computer that called upon mankind’s most vile creatures) mutiny against it’s creators, the humans. All Big Dex wants for his lil monster children is to live in peace from the humans that are said to be eradicated from the Earth monsters now call home. This is no easy task when an army of metal/flesh hybrids of humans come out from under his children’s bed and wage war on his family and the whole of Monster kind.
It is now up to Dex Jr., his sister Willex, and their pal Buxtak to figure out a way to take back what is theirs and save their race from annihilation! But they are just kids! With the army of crazy ass body modificated, human bullet launching, kamikaziesque, flesh/metal gyroscopic modified “humans” coming in drones and multiplying in numbers by the minute it is up to these three little monsters to show courage and bravery in the face of adversary. It is up to them to learn and master their special powers quickly before it is too late. Each little monster has a particularly special power they posses but none of them have ever practiced or used it. I have to say that I love each one of them and even more so my favorite has to be Buxtak. He reminds me of Ickus which is the only hint I’ll give without a spoiler.
The Humans Under the Bed is like Ahh Real Monsters meets the playground that is Kevin Strange’s brain. I could tell I was reading a Strange story when the army of body modification humans come into play. Kevin is notorious for his robotic/human convergence which is what makes his worlds quite entertaining. In this author’s mind you can not JUST be human and seeing these new humans by the monsters most def. gave their race a run for their money in the story of survival. Another key that gives this away as a Mr. Strange story is the ending. It is rather poignant and deep for the content of the story.
My addiction to Mr. Strange’s writing are his characters. I love that each one has it’s own voice and personality and I can distinguish them in my own head when reading. I feel more for his characters and crave more from them as well. The world’s Kevin creates are horrifically fantastical and well descriptive. That being said, I felt like this particular tale could have used more dialogue between the characters. This is only a 54 page story and a lot of it is descriptive which the author does very well but it got very long and I would have rather gotten to hear the characters describe where they were or anything to break up all the descriptions.
I love this short short short short story…..I want more which is a main reason I end this with a four star rating.
Once again the talented Luke Spooner of Carrion House did the kickass cover art for this. I will more than likely pick up any horror book this illustrator is apart of. Glad he’s been spewing his artistic talent all over Strangehouse Books!
