Gast
Edward Lee
Camelot Books
2007

Despite having written numerous novels, Gast is the first work from Edward Lee since The Bighead that he considers a full-length work of hardcore horror.  The title is derived from both the name of a modern southern small town and a civil-war era family that built a railroad through the town.  In the modern storyline we follow Justin Collier, an author of books about beer, as he journeys to the town of Gast in search of an obscure microbrew.  In the second storyline, we learn about the building of the town and the strange Gast family who financed the railroad through it.

Both plots merge at the Gast House, a house that has a peculiar sexual effect upon those that stay there.  Gast could be called a haunted house novel, but it is more concerned with the characters psyches rather than supernatural happenings.  The story develops at a slow burn as the secrets of the town become revealed in the past and the house takes hold of the characters in the present.

Being a work of hardcore horror, readers can expect to be assaulted with a wide variety of creative, obscene images.  In terms of his previous work, Gast is not as violent nor does it have the shear amount of gross-outs as much of Lee's fan-favorite works.  Instead, Lee devotes the prose to exploring his characters and subtly setting the stage, so when the depravity-drenched climax occurs, it leaves a much greater impact upon the reader.

What will stand out to many readers upon first opening the book is the grotesquely beautiful artwork from Glenn Chadbourne.  The expertly detailed ink drawings are a wonderful visual representation of both the dilapidated town of Gast and the atrocities committed there.  Their placement in the book is interesting, as each chapter has an illustration, but it is commonly for a scene in the following chapter.  The pictures never give away a plot point but they do provide added motivation for the reader to continue uncovering the secrets of Gast.

Published in a limited run of 435 hardbacks, and only available from the Camelot Books website, Gast is another powerful entry to Lee's hardcore cannon.  As of this writing there are no plans for any kind of reprint and there are still copies available from the publisher.   Tickets are going fast for the train to Gast.  Make sure you do not miss out on this strange trip.

                                                               -- Jeff Burk