Review of The Hualapai Cycle By Jason Walters
-== What is it? ==-
The Hualapai Cycle is a collection of eight intertwined adult horror stories that take place in a fictitious version of the Black Rock Desert. It is written by Jason Walters and is published by BlackWyrm. Before I get into the review I wanted to mention a couple of disclaimers. First off, I am not a huge fiction reader and even less so of horror novels. I was given an advance reading copy by Jason at a local gaming convention. Jason is a friend of mine that I have gamed with in the past. I have also reviewed some of his other RPG works (i.e. Scourges Of The Galaxy by Hero Games which is excellent BTW). I will try to not let my friendship or the fact that I was given a copy of the book bias my review.
The book has a color cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 6? x 9? and is 173 pages in length.
-== What I Like ==-
Even though there are technically eight short stories in the novel each story contains at least one smaller narrative inside. While telling one story another character is introduced that impacts that story AND appears later in other stories. The way it is done is quite nice. You really want to see a how a character from one story is used in another. Even though you might think that this would disrupt the flow of a story it does not. One tale flows nicely into the next and characters move and distort as the book progresses. This technique shows a lot of craftsmanship.
The author has a great way of getting inside animal’s heads. This is done with horses, wolves, mutant dogs, and lot of other twisted creatures of the desert. I thought it was very fun.
The book shows how the harsh Black Rock Desert climate breeds survivors. Some of the characters are likable and others are twisted but all of them are tough. It really adds to the horror feel when someone you think is nice turns out to be just as twisted as everyone else.
The book is jam packed full of great lines like these…
…and..
One story that I particularly like is called Mexican Cowboy. It contains a character aptly name Lupe (think “Loopy” 😉 ) who has El Santo and Sid Vicious as guardian angels/devils. What a fantastic story. I also really enjoyed the story Crippled Stray which is about an old Jewish woman waiting to die at the hands of a pack of wolves. It is heartfelt and hard hitting at the same time.
-== What I Don’t Like ==-
The cover on the advance reading copy is not great. It is dark and hard to see. The title could use outlining to make is stand out. I also think the graphic could be changed to make it more interesting. I don’t want to give away too much but a picture of a desert landscape through a bullet hole in someone’s head might be better. 🙂
The title of the book, Hualapai Cycle, is a bit hard to understand until the end. I think it works but it was confusing to me at first.
The last story,Guerrero’s War, comes off as a bit “preachy” in parts. There are a few pages that explain the Bureau Of Land Managements roles in the area that can be taken as a bit of a soapbox. Overall it is not that bad as the information is needed to fully appreciate the story.
-== Summary ==-
In the introduction of Hualapai Cycle Jason explains that the book is a love story to his home and the Black Rock Desert. That is really what this is in a horrific and twisted sort of way. The tales meander to different people, places, and events giving the reader a bitter taste of this desolate place. Even though I know the Black Rock Desert would spit out my sorry ass in around 2 seconds flat after reading Hualapai Cycle I want to visit. In my opinion this is the best work of writing Jason has done to date. I don’t know the price but my rating assumes it is reasonable. You will be able to get from BlackWyrm, the Hero Games store, or Amazon.com
I give it 9 out of 10 paws.
