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A review by the_coycaterpillar_reads
Mad Hallelujah and other oddities by Owen Morgan
4.0
Mad Hallelujah and other Oddities is a work of literary genius. Have you ever wished your spouse away with a single word? How often have you seen a clump of hair stuck in the plug hole and pulled and been surprised by what lays beneath? Or a beautiful rose bush that signifies something far deeper and darker. Owen Morgan has delved feet first into topics that lay dormant in the back of our psyche and he has the key to unlock the cage to our darkest fears. He has made the unthinkable totally and utterly realistic.
My favourite short story within the collection was either; Flower of Flesh and Blood or The Elgin Incident. Let me first examine Flower of Flesh and Blood. It is no secret that I love horror stories that delve into the very scary world of body horror. Haven’t we all wished our bullies should come to some kind of nasty fate? Unfortunately, in this story it is the mother that is the abuser. We have seen how she can inflict damage both mentally and physically upon her son. She is a woman of little conscience. Sam has suspected such evil and brutality from her before but with no proof. He lands himself in hot water with her once again when he destroys her precious rose bushes. The harrowing scene that follows is a difficult pill to swallow. She beats her own son bloody with the deceased remnants of said rose bush. He wishes that she would just go away and leave him. He’s tired of her draconian ways – what follows is one of the best scenes in body horror I have read. Gory and vivid, we see just how Morgan’s imagination can come into the fold.
The Elgin Incident is a brilliant case study of how sometimes an idea should be left well alone. Stuart Elgin is an incredibly intelligent man…too intelligent. The idea of creating a real life flubber in a lab was, well, hilarious. This story was deeply disturbing in its violence, but I couldn’t stop laughing. It truly deserved a Darwin award. What could go wrong when developing the world rubbiest rubber? This is where we see Owen Morgan’s dark and sardonic sense of humour and it is divine!
Mad Hallelujah and Other Oddities is definitely for those that love their horror in bite sized portions. Creepy and marvellous
My favourite short story within the collection was either; Flower of Flesh and Blood or The Elgin Incident. Let me first examine Flower of Flesh and Blood. It is no secret that I love horror stories that delve into the very scary world of body horror. Haven’t we all wished our bullies should come to some kind of nasty fate? Unfortunately, in this story it is the mother that is the abuser. We have seen how she can inflict damage both mentally and physically upon her son. She is a woman of little conscience. Sam has suspected such evil and brutality from her before but with no proof. He lands himself in hot water with her once again when he destroys her precious rose bushes. The harrowing scene that follows is a difficult pill to swallow. She beats her own son bloody with the deceased remnants of said rose bush. He wishes that she would just go away and leave him. He’s tired of her draconian ways – what follows is one of the best scenes in body horror I have read. Gory and vivid, we see just how Morgan’s imagination can come into the fold.
The Elgin Incident is a brilliant case study of how sometimes an idea should be left well alone. Stuart Elgin is an incredibly intelligent man…too intelligent. The idea of creating a real life flubber in a lab was, well, hilarious. This story was deeply disturbing in its violence, but I couldn’t stop laughing. It truly deserved a Darwin award. What could go wrong when developing the world rubbiest rubber? This is where we see Owen Morgan’s dark and sardonic sense of humour and it is divine!
Mad Hallelujah and Other Oddities is definitely for those that love their horror in bite sized portions. Creepy and marvellous