Tim Waggoner writes some weird stuff.

Mouth of the Dark
Tim Waggoner
Flame Tree Press
 240 pages, $14.95
ISBN-13: 978-1787580114

One of his latest, The Mouth of the Dark from Flame Tree Press, is a perfect example of just how weird. What starts as a missing person story quickly morphs into an other-dimensional romp against bizarre creatures and crazed killers. Check logic at the door and suspend your disbelief, because this shit gets crazier by the page. And that’s a good thing, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Waggoner’s story focuses on Jayce Lewis as he pounds the pavement in search of his adult daughter, Emory, who has been missing for eighteen days. No one seems to know anything about her or care, for that matter, further frustrating Jayce and amplifying his sense of desperation. Even his estranged wife isn’t all that concerned. But Jayce presses on, believing if he can find her, he might also be able to reconnect and strengthen their relationship.

Things take a bizarre turn, though, when he encounters a pair of teens more intent on protecting their “meat” than in helping him. Only the timely intervention of a mysterious woman named Nicola, who scares them off with a jar containing “the screams of a hundred dying men” prevents them from carving him up and putting a premature end to his search. Weird, huh?

And that’s just for starters. Things get weirder. Really weirder.

Before long, Nicola leads Jayce into an otherworldly Shadow realm, where its denizens cower in fear from something called the Harvest Man. Jayce should be scared out of his mind, if he hasn’t lost it already. Anyone else would be. But with Nicola’s help, he’s able to navigate the strange realm and confront the Harvest Man, as well as the monster inside him.

Further explanations, which probably wouldn’t make much sense anyway, may ruin the overall plot. Suffice to say, rarely a page passes without some new revolting twist to squirm at. This one’s strictly for fans of hardcore horror and dark fantasy, so be warned. But also rest assured, you’re in the hands of a Bram Stoker Award-winning author. Weird as that may sound.