Priest, Cherie: Those Who Went Remain There Still
Those Who Went Remain There Still (2008)
Written by: Cherie Priest
Genre: Horror
Pages: 170
If you've been reading this journal for any length of time, you know that Cherie Priest is one of my must-read authors. So far, I've bought every book she's ever written, and while I'm epic failing at getting my hands on her short stories, I'm hoping she'll release a collection one day so I can have them all together (Subterranean Press, HINT, HINT!!!) and read them in one fell swoop.
At any rate, any time she releases a title through Subterranean Press, I immediately pre-order the most expensive copy available. Usually, this means I get something signed, as well as something extra. For Dreadful Skin, I got a free ebook I keep forgetting to read, and for this one, a chapbook that details the family history that inspired Those Who Went Remain There Still. Which, for the record, I decided to read now because if anything's going to lift me out of my anti-reading funk, it's going to be something by one of my favorite authors.
The premise: When the patriarch of a small town in Kentucky passes away, two feuding families (the Coys and the Manders) must unite to find the old man's will, which he had hidden in a cave that's got SOMETHING seriously wrong in it. And that something will do everything it can to kill these men, if the men don't kill each other first.
I'm not going to use a cut. This is a fairly simple, straight-forward and very nicely told story. You've got three first person POV's, two that take place in the current storyline and one (that of a Mr. Daniel Boone himself) that takes place in the past. This storyline sets up and explains the events of the main one, but without info-dumping on the reader.
And without spoiling anything or revealing anything about the monster, I will say it held my interest, despite the illustrations that forced me to re-evaluate my mental image of the monster and therefore, prevented me from having a SOLID picture because what I saw what's what I imagined. And I really, really wish I was more familiar with some mythology, but I can't tell you what kind other than to say the monster reminded me of SOMETHING, and I was convinced it was a SOMETHING from mythology but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what that SOMETHING was. Argh!
I'll be honest: I'm not really big into monster stories, so the fact that I enjoyed this one says something about the format and the writing. Once I got past the first three chapters and recognized how the POVs would be organized for the whole book, it read very fast. I kept trying to guess how the Coy/Mander story fit in with the Boone story, and in some cases, I was right, and in others, I was rather pleasantly surprised. Priest does a good job of showing the reader what we need to know so that we can infer conclusions later. She doesn't spell it out for you, and that's kind of nice. The ending is a little abrupt, and I had to read that last chapter (which wasn't quite a full page anyway) just to make sure I was reading it correctly, but overall, it worked. How I wish we'd been in Meshack's head for that one scene at the end so I could hear what he was being told, so I could experience the fear running through him, but oh well. I liked how all the various elements tied together, and the illustrations made this small little book extra-lovely.
The chapbook too is short and sweet, but it reveals the seed of the fictional story and reveals how that seed evolved based on the teller and how Priest had to do a little digging in her family history to learn what was true, what wasn't, and what was fiction (aside from the monster, of course). It's a lovely little supplement, and I'm glad I've got it.
My Rating
Worth the Cash: though that's a tricky rating: I bought the limited edition and therefore paid more for it than you would if you just ordered the regular hardcover through Amazon, but it's worth whatever you pay for it, especially if you're a fan of Priest's work. I love how she takes American folk tales and mythology and works them into horror stories that are both intelligently written and beautifully told. And, of course, keep you turning the pages. Priest remains one of my must-read authors, and she's one of the few I'll happily recommend to anyone I know who's interested in horror or urban fantasy or any mix thereof. Not that her latest work could be categorized as UF, but I'm saying, there's a range in the genres she writes, and this one is definitely on the horror side. But no matter what she does, it's top-notch, and I'm glad I've got this book in my collection. Also, I love the eerie title, and it fits really, really, frighteningly well with the people in the story. It's so appropriately Southern.
Cover Commentary: okay, if there's one thing I don't like about Subterranean Press, it's the cover art. No offense to the artists, as it's all nicely done, but it's just not the type of art that draws me to a book. If I were to see this on the shelf, without knowing anything about the author, I'd pass it up. Their cover art caters more to the genre-readers who like their cover art to really reflect the content of the book, and while I stress that is NOT A BAD THING, it's just not my style and therefore not to my liking. As much as I adore these lovely little hardbacks I get from them, I always kind of cringe at the art, and this is no exception. HOWEVER: it truly fits the story that's told, in both sketch and font and format, and in that regard, it's a success. It's just not my thing.
Next up: until I get back into a reliable reading groove, this section is going away for a while. I'm in a frame of mind where I'll see something THINK I want to read it, but when I start, I realize I'm not in the mood to read it after all. So, no predictions, no head's up here. Not for a little while, anyway. You'll just have to be surprised. :)