Book Review: Black Butterflies

Book Review: 'Black Butterflies' by John Shirley

5 / 5 Stars

 

'Black Butterflies' (350 pp.) first was published in hardcover in May, 1998, by Mark Ziesing. This mass-market paperback edition was published by Leisure Books in March, 2001. The cover artist is uncredited.

While John Shirley is a founding figure in the genre of cyberpunk, he also forayed into the genres of horror and splatterpunk, with his 1982 novel 'Cellars' an early entry in the splat world. He continued to produce horror fiction, such as the novel 'Wetbones,' during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, a reasonable-enough decision in light of the boom times of the Paperbacks from Hell era. 

 

Most of the stories collected in 'Butterflies' first saw publication in various 1990s Paperbacks from Hell short story anthologies, such as 'Borderlands,' 'Hotter Blood: More Tales of Erotic Horror,' and 'Forbidden Acts,' while other tales are seeing print for the first time. 

'Butterflies' is divided into two sections, 'This World,' and 'That World.' The idea is that the stories that are more grounded in the real world are presented in the former section, while more outre works are presented in the latter section.

 

Anyone sitting down with this book should realize that Shirley isn't holding back with these stories; they are undiluted splat, the literary equivalent of Shirley picking his nose and proudly displaying the bloody booger thus extracted, for the all world to see. The overwhelming majority of the characters in these stories are the most rancid collection of human beings I've ever encountered. If you are a Humanist, you will want to stay far, far away from Shirley's 'Black Butterflies.'

My capsule summaries of the contents:

Barbara (from 'Dark Love,' 1995): two gangstas find their carjacking victim has a mind of her own.

 

War and Peace (from 'Fear Itself,' 1995): misadventures of crooked cops.

 

You Hear What Buddy and Ray Did ? (from 'Forbidden Acts,' 1995): two thugz stage an orgy in a wealthy man's house; things do not end well.

 

Answering Machine (1998): a transcript of an answering machine message. The message is not particularly salutary.

 

The Rubber Smile (from 'Predators,' 1993): a homage to gorehounds, 42nd Street grindhouses, and slasher films. What more do you want ?!

 

The Footlite (1998): the characters at the eponymous dive bar demonstrate that love among the degenerate has its peculiarities. The ending is disgusting, even by splat standards............

 

Cram (from 'Wetbones,' 1997): only Shirley could meld a Mass Casualty Event with sex. Yuck !

 

What Would You Do for Love ? (1998): high school English teacher Darry is something of a square, trapped in a sinking marriage. When he meets a wild n' crazy, punk-rocker, dyed-blonde chick named Marla, things get exciting. A little too exciting, perhaps..........this is one of the less transgressive tales in 'Black Butterflies,' relying more on humor, than graphic sex and violence.

 

Delia and the Dinner Party (from 'Borderlands,' 1990): a little girl's imaginary friend shows her the true nature of the adults in her life, and the revelation isn't pretty.

 

Pearldoll (from 'Hotter Blood: More Tales of Erotic Horror,' 1991): the opening paragraph of this story had me simultaneously wincing and laughing out loud, no easy thing to do. 'Pearldoll' is about a hooker who reconnects with an old boyfriend, who 'everybody said' was dead. The denouement would've had Charles L. Grant reaching for a barf bag........... 

 

Woodgrains (from 'Obsessions,' 1991): satirical tale of an Art Fart who, seeking to revive his creative energy, opts to get some tattoos. Very unusual tattoos, as it turns out.......

 

The Exquisitely Bleeding Heads of Doktur Palmer Vreedeez (1998): dark satire about 1990s celebrities who find themselves in desperate straits.

 

Flaming Telepaths (from 'Shock Rock,' 1992): at the Black Glass rock club, a concert gets interrupted by events that are..........positively Biblical.

 

How Deep the Taste of Love (from 'Hottest Blood: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror,' 1993): newly single Sid Drexel is looking for love at Tuffys, 'The Hottest Little Singles Bar in the Bay Area.' He meets Sindra, a woman with a strange, even disturbing, allure. In due course, Sid accompanies her home for some erotic action.

Within the first three pages of this story I knew a real gross-out was in the offing, and, a little later, it indeed arrived. I will say that the theme of 'How Deep' has been done better, most notably by Bob Shaw with his 1980 story 'Love Me Tender,' which de-emphasized the gross-out in favor of tighter plotting and prose.

 

Aftertaste (from 'Bones of the Children,' 1996): there's a new brand of crack, called 'silver top,' out on the streets of West Oakland. Silver top is very potent. So potent, in fact, that anyone who ODs on it comes back to life as a flesh-eating zombie..........!

 

Shirley is in fine form with this novelette:

 

Dwayne smelled base, someone smoking somewhere. Turned and saw Joleen in the front seat of a beat-up van, her head bobbing over some guy's lap.The guy firing a blast in a broken-off stem, the glow pulsing, lighting up a little blue skull tattoo on the guy's cheek, and showing his face. He was a big, dirty, yellow-haired white guy, a biker type, with an over-grown beard and matted hair; a biker who'd had to sell his bike for crack.

 

Black Hole Sun, Won't You Come ? (1998): a fable about Primut, who intends to be the Last Man on Earth, via killing everyone else. This is the weakest entry in the anthology.

 

The verdict ? With the exception of 'Doktur Palmer Vreedeez' and 'Black Hole Sun,' the stories in this anthology are solid forays into transgressive fiction: no Quiet Horror in these pages ! 'Black Butterflies' gets a Five Star rating.