Wildwood Road (33 page)

PRAISE FOR CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

One of Booklist's Top Ten SF/Fantasy

“Christopher Golden collides the ordinary and the supernatural with wonderfully unsettling results.
The Boys Are Back in Town
is a wicked little thriller. Rod Serling would have loved it.” —Max Allan Collins, author of
Road to Perdition

“Christopher Golden is one of the most hard-working, smartest, and talented writers of his generation, and his books are so good and so involving that they really ought to sell in huge numbers. Everything he writes glows with imagination.” —Peter Straub

“Well-crafted . . . a nostalgic, unsentimental portrait of adolescence [with a] suspenseful plot and strong atmosphere.” —
Publishers Weekly

“Christopher Golden is the master of the slow creep—the kind of story that sneaks out of the everyday, so quietly, that you don't realize anything is really amiss until the world seems to shift and the ground gets all spongy underfoot. . . . Golden has a wonderfully smooth prose style [and] the payoff is immense. And intense . . . It's an eerie, fascinating tale in which discrepancies between what actually happened and what James remembers pile up until you're sure there's no way Golden can bring the story home in a satisfying manner. But bring it home he does, with style and heart, and a cast of characters that you can't help but like, even while you find yourself suspecting each one at some point or another during the narrative.”
—Charles de Lint,
Fantasy and Science Fiction

“Golden's exploration into high school and high school reunions is anything but sentimental. . . . A page-turner . . . a careening joyride into the vicious nature of high school friendships.” —
Baltimore Sun

“Harkens back to classic Stephen King . . . Golden weaves a greatly suspenseful tale involving witchcraft and a destructive lust for power and revenge. . . . Once you begin reading this one, you won't want to put it down.” —
Dark Realms

“Incredibly different . . . very few novels are able to convey a sense of dread and horror while at the same time making you think about yourself and your own life . . . compassionate and terrifying.” —Creature-Corner.com

“Breathtaking . . . couldn't put it down! . . . The style and story are so perfectly matched that you don't even think about it, it flows like a well-directed episode of
Twilight Zone
.”
—Horror-Web.com

“Spellbinding.” —
Boston Magazine

“Captivated me from the first page and did not let go until the last. Mr. Golden is so talented that the reader believes anything and everything is possible . . . chilling. I loved it.” —
Rendezvous

“Christopher Golden continues to stake his claim as a modern master of horror with
The Boys Are Back in Town
. . . a rip-roaring story reminiscent of early Stephen King.” —
Romantic Times

“Golden takes a truly creepy fantastic premise and delivers in spades; this gripping story is not to be missed.” —
Booklist

“Rod Serling territory . . . Golden takes another step toward becoming a major player in horror fiction.” —
San Francisco Chronicle

THE FERRYMAN

“With his customary style and economy, Christopher Golden has penned a powerful and haunting tale.”
—Clive Barker, author of
Galilee
and
Weaveworld

“Kept me reading long into the evening on more than one night. Golden delivers . . . good, old-fashioned storytelling . . . and he doesn't back away from the consequences of the darkness he has set upon his characters. I liked his deft touch with his characters, his crisp prose, and how he lets the story unfold. And I especially liked the relationship Golden built between his characters. . . . We should all be so lucky as to have such friends.”
—Charles de Lint, author of
The Onion Girl
and
Forests of the Heart

“
The Ferryman
is a compulsive read, one I finished in a single sleep-deprived night. The characters are easy to care about, the story unpredictable and involving. Rarest of all, Golden conveys the terrible sadness of the supernatural in a way few authors have managed.” —Poppy Z. Brite, author of
Lost Souls
and
Drawing Blood

“An intelligent, compelling ghost story in the classic horror tradition . . . Harrowing . . . Superior characterization, an exquisitely detailed setting and superbly orchestrated suspense.” —
Publishers Weekly

“A gripping tale from a genre master.” —
Booklist

“Once in a very long while, a horror novel will come along that is so believable and frightening that it will live on in the reader's mind forevermore.
The Stand
and
The Exorcist
were such books and so too is
The Ferryman
. Christopher Golden is a talented writer who makes the audience give credence to events in his novel as if they occurred in the real world.” —Harriet Klausner

“A horrifying, disturbing assault . . . Tight, focused and almost claustrophobically intimate, it's a must read for those yearning for a really terrifying experience.” —
Fangoria
magazine

“Readers (will) wonder if Christopher Golden is actually a pseudonym for a collaboration between Dean Koontz and Peter Straub.” —
BookBrowser

“
The Ferryman
[is] shot through with a sadness that sometimes gently aches and other times deeply wounds. Golden's subtle and clever way with a plot really shines. Spencer makes a stellar second-tier bad guy, the kind of jerk you don't just love to hate; you want to beat him to death with a coal shovel. A year later, I can recall quite clearly the feelings that
Straight On 'Til Morning
stirred up while reading it. It's not every book I can say that about, but I fully expect to be able to say the same thing about
The Ferryman
come the spring of 2003.”
—Brian Hodge, in
Hellnotes

STRANGEWOOD

“In
Strangewood
, Christopher Golden gradually brings into being a world of haunted and perilous fantasy which, while moving into greater and greater solidity, never loses touch with its painful, sweet, embattled human context. This is a notable achievement. Christopher Golden has written a beautiful and wildly inventive hymn to the most salvific human capacity: imagination.”
—Peter Straub, author of
Ghost Story
and
The Hellfire Club

“If Clive Barker had gone Through the Looking Glass, he might have come up with something as imaginative and compelling as
Strangewood
. Christopher Golden's writing is vivid, making his quirky fantasy world as real as the ‘real world' in his story. It's been a long time since I've read such an original novel in the fantasy genre.” —Kevin J. Anderson, author of
Dune: House Harkonnen

“A terrific novel. There's a hint of
The Talisman
here, as well as Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant novels, but ultimately it is the strength of Golden's characters that carries this novel and gives it its power. I never do this, but at one point I actually found myself looking ahead in the book to learn whether a particular character made it out of a scrape alive. I cannot give higher praise than that—breaking my own reading habits because I was so involved with the story—and I salute Golden for being able to make me do such a thing.
Strangewood
is an excellent book, an impressive achievement by a fine writer whose message could not be more timely.”
—Bentley Little, author of
The Walking
and
The House

“I read
Strangewood
in one sitting.
Strangewood
the novel is a daring and thoroughly engrossing blend of wonder and adventure, terror and tenderness. Strangewood the place is what Oz might have been if L. Frank Baum had grown up on a steady diet of Stephen King.” —F. Paul Wilson, author of
The Select
and
The Keep

“A beautiful new formulation of genre material. A novel which roots the extremes of imagination in the displacements of the human heart. Lovely stuff.”
—Graham Joyce, author of
The Tooth Fairy
and
Dark Sister

“A fascinating read. It has a lot to say about the nature of creation.
Strangewood
was the most inventive paperback original of 1999. It deserves great success.” —
Cemetery Dance
magazine

“
Strangewood
is a treat, and it shouts Christopher Golden's talent with a megaphone to its lips. With a sure voice and a steady hand, Golden weaves a story both deceptively simple and vibrantly realized, and he does it with pure artistry. I believe in his characters, his world and his talent.”
—Greg Rucka, author of
Keeper
and
Shooting at Midnight

STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING

“Golden's dramatic and funny coming-of-age story evolv[es] into a horrific and ultimately sorrowful thriller. A bizarre combination of
The Wonder Years
and
The Lost Boys
, this fantastic tale entertains.” —
Publishers Weekly

“Christopher Golden . . . is an imaginative and prodigious talent who never lets genre boundaries hold him back.” —Douglas Clegg, author of
Naomi
and
Mischief

“The print equivalent of
From Dusk 'Til Dawn
. High praise, indeed. A bizarre trip across the dark fantastic that really, really works. The
Stand By Me
-cum-
The Outsiders
feel of the first half of the novel is real, and honest, and a great read in and of itself; add the twisted fantasy element, and this book becomes perfectly unique. A grown-up, odd, compelling journey through adolescence, and heartache, and of course, Neverland. A fascinating and completely engrossing book.”
—
The 11th Hour
web magazine

“I defy anyone to read a few of these scenes and not be swept up. Golden's imagination was working overtime when he crafted a way to blend this coming-of-age story with not just a bona fide childhood classic, but Gaelic mythology as well, as the novel progresses from the mundane to the weird to full-blown high fantasy. Golden keeps those pages flying by, without forgetting to bring it full circle and give your heart a tweak or two in the very end.” —Brian Hodge, author of
Wild Horses

“A clever and touching dark fantasy novel [that is] magic to read. As dark, and as mature, as any good fairy tale is at heart. Golden's storytelling is restrained as he finesses us down the plot's road, and though there is a moral to the story, it's a moral that aches with the revelations of coming of age, and of leaving an age behind.” —Gothic.net

THE SHADOW SAGA

“A politico-religious thriller reminiscent of the novels of David Morrell. A delightful read and a noteworthy debut by a writer who cares passionately about the stuff of horror. Harrowing, humorous, overflowing with characters and plot contortions, abundantly entertaining . . . a portent of great things to come from Christopher Golden.”—Douglas E. Winter,
Cemetery Dance
magazine

“A breathtaking story that succeeds in marrying gore and romance, sex and sentiment. A brilliant epic.” —
Dark News,
Paris

“
One of the best
horror novels of the year. Filled with tension, breathtaking action, dire plots and a convincing depiction of worlds existing unseen within our own. One of the most promising debuts in some time.” —
Science Fiction Chronicle

“You can damn near chase me a mile these days with a vampire novel. Then, along comes Christopher Golden. His work is fast and furious, funny and original, and I can't wait until his next book.” —Joe R. Lansdale, author of
The Bottoms
and
The Two-Bear Mambo

“The most refreshing books in the vampire genre since Anne Rice wrote
Interview with the Vampire,
[Golden's novels] are completely in a class by themselves.” —
Pathway to Darkness

“Christopher Golden has painted an intriguing canvas, full of action, sweep and dark mythology; a novel that unfolds like a vampiric Kabuki theatre. Golden is smart and savvy; a writer with a bright future.” —Rex Miller, author of
Slob
and
Chaingang

“Passionate . . . Excellent . . . Golden has written one of the best . . . a deep probe into the inner-workings of the church and a surprise explanation for vampires. [A] brilliant vampire novel in a blizzard of bloody tooth bites this year.”
—
LitNews Online

“A promising debut. In his world of vampires and dark magic, Golden presents us with a complex canvas to rival Brian Lumley.” —Craig Shaw Gardner, author of
Dragon Burning

“Golden combines quiet, dark, subtle mood with Super-Giant monster action. Sort of M. R. James meets Godzilla!”
—Mike Mignola, creator of
Hellboy

“The characters in Golden's books are always interesting and carefully drawn. You might care a little too much about some of them.
Of Masques and Martyrs
is a furiously paced, energetic thriller with enough original ideas for three or four of anyone else's books.” —
The Plot Thickens,
from Mysterious Galaxy

BODY OF EVIDENCE

“Golden [has a] sense of the truly morbid, and [a] knack for uncomfortably realistic medical dialogue. Unpredictable.” —
Publishers Weekly

“Will appeal to teens with a taste for the macabre . . . Jenna Blake, the series heroine . . . [is] bright and extraordinarily perceptive . . . a persistent and plucky protagonist . . . teens will be drawn into the fast action . . . and gripping suspense. This is a good choice for reluctant readers.” —
Kliatt

“[An] absorbing medical mystery/thriller for older teens. Jenna is one tough cookie and smart as well. Is this what Kay Scarpetta was like in college? Readers won't be able to wait for Jenna's next adventure.” —
VOYA
(Voice of Youth Advocates)