NOICHI THE BLIND
Chet Williamson
Cemetery Dance Publications

This small novella is an interesting piece. It’s written in the form of a fable – purportedly translated from a very old and obscure source and brought to the world by the author. There is even a section in the rear of the book where a professor goes on about the possible author of the story – it is described as a possible lost piece by a well-known Asian author.

The gimmick of the long-lost manuscript – to me – has the flavor of the old pulps. I used to find this same technique in the works of some of my favorites, like Hugh B. Cave and Robert Bloch, when there needed to be 2,000 more words in a short story or novelette. You write the story, and then you either go on at the beginning and end in about how the reader will think you are mad, but you are recording this story for blah, blah, or you claim to have discovered some lost work, manuscript, spell, etc. and to be presenting it to the world for judgment.

It didn’t really bother me, I suppose, but the gimmick adds nothing at all to the story itself, and so I wonder at it. For what it is, and in the style it is written, this is a very cool story. A man who might well be represented by “The Fool” in the Tarot, so blind that he sees only the world that he wishes to see, beset by every manner of horrible thing. His blindness costs him a great deal….the things he loves wither and die.

I don’t want to give away the story, but I will say that this is an acquired taste sort of book. It’s not a straight horror story. It’s written in a very stylistic format and told rather than shown in the manner of fables. I think, possibly, it goes on a bit longer than necessary, but it is well handled and clever. If you are into violence, fast-paced drama, or visceral horror, this isn’t really the book for you. Violence and graphic content are plentiful in the story, but not presented in a dynamic form – so the effect of that is muted.

An interesting little book with intriguing cover art. Well presented by Cemetery Dance Publications, and available by clicking on the cover art above.  The link takes you to The Horror Mall, the number one online source of great dark fiction.

-DNW