Don't Drive Tired

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE by Jason R. Davis is a short story centered on truck driver who doesn't feel he has anything to live for, until he finds himself in danger. The setup is a bit long, but driving through the fog definitely cranks up the suspense. The ending is strange, and not what I expected. I'm not even sure if John's perception of events is reliable or not.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Spiders AND Zombies

SPIDERS IN FROM THE GARDEN by Jason R. Davis is a creepy flash fiction piece centered on an elderly gent, George, who is having a real bad day in his garden. Somehow he manages to get back inside his house, and that's when his wife, Betsy, has a real bad day too.

Davis really gets under your skin with this one.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Dead Man Walking

DEATH AT GERMANTOWN by Jason Davis is a short story centered on a young man who has joined the Revolutionary War, hoping to give himself a secure future by fighting the British. Instead, he faces disease and starvation, and something wicked within the fog.

While the story kept me interested, there isn't much action. By the time the character gets a clue what has happened, the story is already over. Not as good as the author's story, BED BUGS.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Lethal Infestation

BED BUGS by Jason Davis is exactly what one would expect: a bed bug infestation. In this case, a truck driver wakes up in his sleeper with what he thinks is a rash. The situation quickly devolves into a waking nightmare. As I wondered how much worse could Davis make this, the author delivers a savage shocker at the end.

As always,
AstraDaemon

*SPOILER WARNING*

ON TIME DELIVERY by Jason Davis is a somewhat confusing story. I get the premise: truck driver must stick to strict delivery timetable or face dire consequences, but-- oh,no! --family emergency. I could also piece together the "meat" eaters weren't exactly human, and I enjoyed the suspense. Unfortunately the storyline lost me a couple of times.

The driver remained on schedule, so why did his employers go to elaborate lengths to set him up to fail? I don't understand if they were testing him or if they never planned to keep him as a driver to begin with.

Also, what exactly happened at the end? I could not follow the author's descriptions very well. I tried rereading the ending three times, but it simply didn't make sense. I suspect I know what kind of creature Davis attempted to describe, but I can't be certain. This is the first time I couldn't visualize what the author wrote.

If you haven't read anything by Davis yet, do NOT read this one. Go read his Invisible Spiders series instead.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Up Against A Wall

ONE BAD NIGHT by Jason Davis is not what I expected from a story with a truck theme. I thought this might be a little like the movies Joyride and Breakdown, but the revelation from the tanker's driver had me second-guessing everything.

This is not a good guy vs. bad guy situation, and it is so much more than a misunderstanding. Davis has taken a single moment and transformed it into a clash of heartache and desperation. How far would you go for your loved ones?

As always,
AstraDaemon

Oh, Come ON!

Jason can't sleep. Every night the monster in his closet wants to eat him, but he is always rescued by his parents. However his parents are getting annoyed with the late night wake up calls to come to his aid. When his father learns that the monster that is coming for him is one from his father's own horror films, he decides to take Jason to the studio to face his fear.

When The Demons Know Your Name by Jason Davis is another example of a parent dismissing a child's fears. I know it's fiction, but I can't stand how the parents in these kids of stories seem to forget what it's like being a kid with kid problems. I love how Jason's dad finds out the hard way his son is not simply having a nightmare.

While I usually enjoy the author's writing style, the ending is very disappointing. Not only does Davis skip a large portion of events, but the narration hints at an explanation which is never delivered. After the detail put into most of the story, the vague ending is inexcusable.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Chicago Horror: Jason R. Davis [Interview]

Jason Davis has become a regular here at the Lair. Whether it's spiders, zombies, or a bad case of the runs, he's always managed to take these horror themes to an unimaginable level of terror. When I first read his debut novel, Inside The Mirrors, I had no idea it would become the first novel in a series centered around Chicago cop, Rob Alletto (although I was later informed by Davis that his trilogies are part of the same series).

Inside The Mirrors (The Guardian Book 1) Alletto believes moving to a small town would lead to a safer environment for himself and his family. Before long, he discovers that there are things far worse than street criminals, when an evil spirit attempts to possess Rob's neighbors through their mirrors. At first, my interest in the story would increase and wane in intervals, depending on the chapters, but as the POV switched around between characters, the suspense grew into terrifying levels. As the various POVs converged, Davis orchestrates a thrilling ride through hell for his readers, in the clever disguise of small town drama.

Into Darkness has the same writing style as the first book, but the second installment is full of unexpected situations, some of which left me a bit confused. After what Alletto went through in the first book, I'm surprised his references to the experience are so few and far between, as well as incredibly vague. Granted, at least a year has gone by in the timeline within the series, but Alleto seems to have buried his early memories of his family's troubles in the town of Standard. Readers are almost better off not reading the first novel.

With the second story, the series moves on from a supernatural menace into a theological battle of good versus evil...sort of like The Stand by Stephen King, but on a much smaller scale. There are so many thought monologues by Alletto throughout the storyline, the suspense is constantly disrupted and the action comes in brief spurts with little to no thrill. The ending felt rushed and glossed over. Having read a number of stories by Davis, I feel he could've done better with this novel.

I thought it would be best to bring Davis to the Lair to explain what he's been attempting...

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Q. Where are you from? Has that influenced your writing at all?

A. I’m from the Midwest, central Illinois to be precise. I grew up in a couple of little towns in the area, but the one that I consider home is Wenona, IL. Now, has this influenced my writing at all? Definitely. So much of the world of Inside the Mirrors and Into Darkness is set in a fictionalized version of Wenona. The slag pile that is referenced in Into Darkness, the coal dump, is real, and the stories that are told in Into Darkness are the same ones I parents would always tell me to keep me from playing there. Which of course never worked.

Q. Why did you choose to be an author? What is it about the horror genre that appeals to you?

A. I don’t know if I ever chose to be an author, it has just been a part of me for as long as I can remember. For my tenth or eleventh birthday, my parents bought me a typewriter. I don’t know why, but I guess if they bought it for me, I must have been asking for it. I know since I had it, I would wake up early in the morning and start pounding away stories while listening to my dad get ready for work.

As to the horror genre itself. My mom would always watch horror movies when I was growing up and never cared if I was in the room to watch them or not. I remember when she was watching Aliens I ran out of the room gagging. I ran all the way out to the front yard and thought I was going to lose my lunch on the front porch.

I was such a scaredy cat growing up. I was afraid of everything, wouldn’t walk into a room without the light on and was terrified of our pantry as I was sure there was a dragon living inside of it. I was an only child but had bunk beds. At night, I would debate between which bed to sleep in, if I slept in the top one, I would be eye level when Dracula came to eat me, but if I slept in the bottom one, then I could bunch myself up in the corner and he might not even see me sleeping there.

I don’t know when it was, but after a time, I just got tired of being afraid of the horror genre and of being afraid. At the time, Nightmare on Elm Street was a big thing and Freddy Kruger was what terrified me the most. So, I started watching the movies over and over again. I started watching them in the day, and as I got braver, started watching them at night. I started watching more horror films. I moved on from reading the Hardy Boys books to reading Fear Street, and from then to Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I turned my fear into an obsession to conquer it. Through time, I started to enjoy them, and now the horror genre has become a part of who I am.

Q. Do you write for entertainment purposes only, or are there deeper messages within your stories?

A. Both. I write to entertain, but I always try to bury layers into my work. A strong theme lately has been to battle bullying, but often times there are other elements dealing with unfairness in the world. When I first started writing a series of truck driving stories, I did so as a way to bring awareness to some of the problems I saw in the industry, things like that as well.

Q. You have more than one series…which one is your favorite and why?

A. This is complicated. You said I have one series, but that’s not completely true, at least not yet. I have two trilogies, but both trilogies are a part of the same series, just their storylines are only barely touching for now. The third book for both trilogies will work as something that will be akin to a two part story. When one trilogy ends, it leads into the ending of the other trilogy, which is the end of the beginning to the Edge of Darkness series / universe that I am working to build.

Right now, it is complicated to explain, but I hope once the books are all out there, people will understand and enjoy all the working elements. I am writing them, and working at the balance of keeping it so each book compliments the others while not having to rely on any of them for story elements. It’s tricky, but fun.

Later this year, I do have a young adult series that I am working on that is called “Dream Chasers” with the first book titled, “Here There Be Dragons.” I’m having a lot of fun writing it, but it is side project so I am keeping my focus on my next adult horror novel. Sadly, that book is not a part of either trilogy as I wanted to take a break before continuing work on “Tangled Webs.”

Q. Is your experience within the horror community limited to literature or do you have experiences in other areas, such as film?

A. Well, I went to college for film and video which brought me initially into the world of independent film-making. I was writing scripts and directing short films. At the time, I was learning about film festivals and how they helped independent filmmakers get discovered, but realized quickly that there weren’t that many of them that showed or featured horror films. So, it 2004, I founded the Chicago Horror Film Festival and directed the festival for ten years until I stepped down and Willy Adkins took it over. During my tenure, we expanded, and I founded the Indie Horror Film Festival.

Q. Do you ever imagine yourself as one of your characters? If so, does that affect how you develop them within the story?

A. I feel a connection with Rob Alletto. I think that is why he has become the cornerstone to the two trilogies I am currently writing. He is a good guy, doesn’t drink, smoke, and above all, his driving force is to take care of his family. He tries to help others whenever he can, and is an overall good person. He’s someone I strive to be, and while he has his demons, he works to get through life while dealing with them.

Q. Do you think setting is crucial to a story? Do you have any difficulty creating new situations within the horror genre?

A. Setting is very crucial depending on the story you want to tell. Horror can be found anywhere. You give me a character in heaven and I can give you a horror story with him or her. As to creating new situations, I don’t feel like I have an issue with that. My biggest issue is finding the time to write all the stories I want to tell. I have ideas for my next six novels, but need to complete what I’m working n now to get to them. That is part of why when I explain my series’, that it gets so complicated, because as I’m thinking about them, I’m thinking about the next six books and how they are going to relate and how large of an impact one book will have over the other.

Q. What are you currently working on?

A. My main focus is on “Dead Friends” and “Here There Be Dragons.” “Dead Friends” is about Lizzie Rogers who just inherited a curse from her uncle and now anyone close to her dies just to come back and haunt her as a corpse only she can see and hear.

“Here There Be Dragons” is the first book in a young adult series about teenagers who go into other’s dreams and keeps the nightmares from hurting them. HTBD is the first book in the Dream Chasers series.

I’m also writing, but not focused as heavily on it, the third book in the Invisible Spiders trilogy, “Tangled Webs.” I took some time off of it as I wanted to do something on a smaller scale with “Dead Friends,” which is a book that follows just one character rather than a large world book like TW.

Q. Will you be appearing at any of the conventions this year?

A. Doubtful. I took last year off as my son was born at the end of 2016, and I plan on doing much of the same for 2018. I love spending time with him as much as I can, and I am not ready to split my time between convention and family. When he gets old enough, I will start doing conventions again, but for now I’m taking a break. I’ve been so heavily involved in the convention world since 2004 that it is nice to take a couple of years off.

Q. Where can fans find more information about your stories?

A. The best place to find anything about me is through either my web site, www.jasonrdavis.com, my Facebook page, https://facebook.com/HAjasondavis, my amazon author page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00JUD7JXE and my twitter @Iamjasondavis. 

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Many thanks to Jason Davis for the interview!

As always,
AstraDaemon

Spiders Just Got Worse

I enjoyed Inside the Mirrors by Jason Davis, so I was looking forward to another novel by the author. What I found was a new series about invisible spiders. Davis maintains his classic style of horror (mystery & suspense, etc.), which works really well with supernatural spiders, but I thought he spent too much time describing the sensations of the spiders invading the unsuspecting victims in Book 1. After so many people become infected, it became a bit redundant. I also felt a disconnect with the characters - I didn't care who lived or died, at all. Despite my criticisms, I do find the series very entertaining & thoroughly creepy.

Having one's body invaded/infected by invisible spiders would be bad enough, but Davis steps up the fear factor by using the spiders to cause an undead outbreak. However, the "zombie" element played a small role in the storyline, and the real scene stealer was the SPIDER POV!! I was bit surprised that Davis would include the POV of these tiny creatures, but he managed to pull it off without being too over-the-top.



There is more action and more horror in the sequel than in the first book. Book 1 relied heavily on suspense, functioning as the setup for the series. Book 2 provides all the terrifying details of the nightmare once known as Hammond. The town has been quarantined, but how can the military hope to contain invisible spiders? The aggressiveness of the infected is also making it impossible for the trapped survivors to find sanctuary. The biggest problem continues to be the actual source of the spiders. Perhaps Book 3 will reveal more about the dark man who reeks of death.

Jason Davis has successfully taken a common phobia and turned it into an apocalyptic tsunami of pain, suffering and death. If you are hoping for a happy ending, don't.

Watch out for the spiders...

As always,
AstraDaemon