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"I love you, Lara."
God, he was such a pussy.
I am not a nostalgic person. I don't keep friendships for very long once they've outgrown the circumstances of their creation, I don't rekindle my college years with fondness and I sure shit wouldn't want to be a kid again. One thing I miss though is how things were done in the 1970s and 1980s. Call me melancholic if you will since I've never experienced it firsthand, but there was an organic charm to cinema and literature of this era that's been swallowed by corporations since. Anyway, this fondness for the art of the past is why I took interest in Kurt Reichenbaugh's first novel SIRENS, a throwback to the grindhouse era, by the way of Steven Spielberg's coming-of-age movies. It's an unpredictable and original novel that hints at Reichenbaugh's enormous potential as a storyteller despite being somewhat flawed.
Kevin, Brad and Nick are wasting another Saturday evening when their troublemaker friend Benny shows up at their door. Benny has a killer plan of getting high and visiting some slutty girls from the shady part of the neighborhood, which sounds was too good to be true for the boys. Turned out it was absolutely too good to be true, as the girl and two of her gigantic roommate jump the troublemaker for no valid reason, prompting Kevin, Brad and Nick to run for their lives and leave Benny for dead. They brief their more cerebral friend Otto on what just happened. Otto is a fan of grindhouse movies and pulp novels so he's quite open-minded about what could've triggered this supernatural attack that seemingly killed Benny. Turns out he's not wrong either.
First novels are always the most difficult to write. Inexperienced authors will always try and swing their hardest, trying to create a masterpiece. Truth is, first novels are the opposite of first albums, they rarely are masterpieces. Kurt Reichenbaugh seemed to understand this in SIRENS and focused on what he was good at: vivid storytelling and character development. The prose is utilitarian at best, it follows where Reichenbaugh's ideas need to go and doesn't have a strong sense of identity. It doesn't matter though, because it doesn't need to have one. The scenes crafted by Kurt Reichenbaugh have enough of an identity in themselves. The vision of a unique grindhouse horror fiction is what makes SIRENS a good novel.
"I was told Suzie lives here. Is she around?"
"And who are you?" the silhouette asked, its voice not quite as deep as a cement mixer.
"I'm Benny Daniels. Charlie told me Suzie lives here. Charlie from the Andromeda Lounge.''
''God-dammit. Wait here.''
The shape turned and shouted into the house. "Suzie! There's some pecker-headed swam-guinea here to see you."
SIRENS was a good book, but it had issues with pacing. See, the boys' character development and the coming-of-age side of the novel is almost as important as the supernatural plot. It's an issue because there are many lead characters (five, if you count Nick's love interest, which has a lot of exposition time). Untangling their character arcs and figuring out resolution is weighing SIRENS down considerably in the middle. While Otto has a strong identity than the others as the gang's official nerd, I've often gotten mixed up between Kevin, Brad and Nick, as I've never really established what made them special. I wouldn't have minded if they weren't so thoroughly exposed because It's not uncommon for young men to not have a personality, but it's such a big part of the novel, it bugged me a bit.
Being an artist in this day and age is a little bit like being Pitfall Harry. There are so many traps like target audiences, instant validation and the Holy Ghost of the Full-Time Writing Career, it's difficult to keep doing what you're doing for the right reasons. I've enjoyed SIRENS for being a great monster story, but also for its purity of intent. It's bona fide grindhouse horror, whether you like it or not. Whether it offends you or not. It's an unapologetic and cohesive novel that belong to this movement of pulp revival that's been happening for the last decade or so. It's a little crowded, but it's a thoroughly original re-imagining of the drive-in classics. It requires to be in the proper mood, but it's a wild and exciting novel nonetheless.
Being an artist in this day and age is a little bit like being Pitfall Harry. There are so many traps like target audiences, instant validation and the Holy Ghost of the Full-Time Writing Career, it's difficult to keep doing what you're doing for the right reasons. I've enjoyed SIRENS for being a great monster story, but also for its purity of intent. It's bona fide grindhouse horror, whether you like it or not. Whether it offends you or not. It's an unapologetic and cohesive novel that belong to this movement of pulp revival that's been happening for the last decade or so. It's a little crowded, but it's a thoroughly original re-imagining of the drive-in classics. It requires to be in the proper mood, but it's a wild and exciting novel nonetheless.
