There are 22 stories in Ken MacGregor’s ‘Aberrant Mind,’ published by Sirens Call Publications. Some are only a page or two long, others a deal longer. A number of the stories are very visceral, and as such will appeal to many readers. Ken likes monsters; they appear often in this book, and in a range of different forms from the monstrous figure thousands of feet high in ‘The abduction of Glynis Johnson’ – more god than monster, to Gavin, a diffident and boy-like werewolf who appears in ‘Seawolf’ and then later in ‘Arctic Wolf.’ Gavin is a restless werewolf looking for a fight challenge and he can win fights with polar bears, sharks and even grizzlies. He says that ‘just because he’s a werewolf doesn’t mean he’s a dick.’ He’s lonely and I’m glad he made friends with some guys in a remote Alaskan village after he confronted what was terrifying them. Of all the characters in ‘Aberrant Mind,’ Gavin is the most strongly developed. Maybe he’s the one MacGregor identifies with most himself, for what is clear about the majority of these monsters is that they are intimately involved with the human race – in fact, they are us, [and that includes you Gavin]. In fact, I did wonder if there’s a suggestion in ‘Aberrant Mind’ that if us humans were able to become monsters like Gavin with all his survival skills we might lead a better and more ‘wholesome’ life. However, when I read ‘Killer Bagel,’ a parasite story, and ‘Disaster Blanket,’ I changed my mind about that.
Another well depicted character is that of Klaus Engel, the creepy German piano teacher in ‘Protégé’ and again the monstrous element is hidden within the human. The premise for this story is one that has been explored many times before in horror stories, and so it has an honourable tradition. The same could be said for a couple of other stories, ‘Zombie ate my Girlfriend’ and ‘Bazooka Jim,’ that use the setting and situation developed by Robert Matheson in his famous ‘I am Legend.’ Bazooka Jim in particular demonstrates MacGregor’s terribly droll sense of humour in the choice of weapon that Jim makes to fight the zombies.
It would’ve felt strange, since MacGregor is employing all manner of known and popular monstrosities not to come across a vampire in this set of stories. ‘Havin a Bad Day,’ one of the shortest stories, concerns the thoughts of a new vampire just on the turn, a well-managed account which is delightfully humorous. Similarly ‘The First Case of the Year,’ made me laugh out aloud, and what I liked most about this story was that the concept was original. I particularly liked this line:- ‘Sam and I stood out like dirty, dented metal garbage cans at an outdoor wedding.’
Because I’m always drawn to originality in fiction and because I’m not a reader inclined towards the gory side of things, [although I do like stories that have guts], I most enjoyed the stories in ‘Aberrant Mind’ that stayed a bit closer to reality or were a little simpler, such as ‘Obsessive Compulsive Soldier’ in which military scientists succeed in their experiment to create a superhero, except there is a big problem. Or ‘The World’s Strongest Man and Tom’s Personal Demons.’ In ‘The World’s Strongest Man,’ MacGregor writes about traditional circus life as if he had really experienced it. Many writers would have resorted to stereotypes here, but instead MacGregor has researched and written circus characters in this detailed and entertaining story that sound real to me, [as someone who has lived with circus people].
As there are so many stories in ‘Aberrant Mind,’ I have left out one or two, just to make this review contained – although ‘Tom’s Personal Demons’ is one of the best stories, so must be mentioned. I like the premise of this story: the idea of being afraid of the dark. It’s a simple thought, but with huge power and great potential for a story. MacGregor has produced a well written portrayal of the lovers, Carla and Tom, and there are some neat details such as the fact that Carla is not able to wear a sleeping mask at night even though the lights are on because Tom is afraid of the dark. ‘Why don’t you get a sleeping mask?’ Heather asked.
‘I tried,’ Carla said. ‘It was like wearing glasses only worse because I was trying to sleep. I hate having anything on my face.’
Because some of the storylines in this book are so eccentric, I didn’t think the endings worked as well as they could’ve done in all cases, but therein lies the whole trick for writers of this genre; how to finally end a wild ride into the fantastical. However, another of my favourite stories, from near the beginning of ‘Aberrant Mind’ and a very creepy one, is, ‘A Lesson Learned from Archie’ which has a very good ending indeed.
http://www.amazon.com/Aberrant-Mind-Ken-MacGregor/dp/0615995683/ref
