The Final Reconciliation
Todd Keisling
Crystal Lake Publishing
February 2017
Reviewed by Shane Douglas Keene
Weird and cosmic horror fiction have seen an uprising of late, with the last few years seeing an influx of work pouring in from well-established and new authors alike. And while the bulk of such material is Lovecraftian in nature, a lot of it has been—different to say the very least. Because while the two sub-genres aren’t mutually exclusive, neither are they just two different sides of the same dark coin. You can have weird, such as the work of Jeff Vandermeer, which is largely cosmic-free, just plain weird, and you can have cosmic horror, such as much of the work of Laird Barron. And one of the things that’s really refreshing about Barron’s style of cosmic horror is that there are so very few echoes of Lovecraft to be found there. But that’s a fairly rare trait, so it’s refreshing to see an author come along who’s willing to step away from the Lovecraft lovefest and write something that, while familiar in its own way, is also probably very very different from other books you’ve read within the subgenre.
In Todd Keisling’s newest book from Crystal Lake Publishing, he pays strong and entertaining tribute to Bierce’s far Carcosa and Chambers’ “King in Yellow,” bringing us a tale that punches hard right from the jump and just hits harder and harder as the story progresses. Thirty years ago a prog rock band called The Yellow Kings was sitting on top of the world, about to release their debut album and set off on what’s sure to be a hugely successful tour to promote it. But at their first show something goes horribly wrong and all the band members and crew except one die horrifically. Lead guitarist Aidan Cross, the sole survivor, has remained silent for all these years and the events of that fateful night remain a mystery to the world. But now he’s decided to give an exclusive interview and reveal the horrors that befell the band. And when you discover what happened to The Yellow Kings you may wish you had remained blissfully ignorant.
The first thing you notice as The Final Reconciliation gets under way is that Todd Keisling wastes no time in laying down little horrors, designed to slowly crank up the tension and suspense and doing the job admirably:
Miles Hargrove offered a smile that reminded Aidan of their old manager, Reggie Allen. Reggie used to smile like that all the time before his face was torn off. Old Reggie’s smile was never quite the same after that.
Tiny tidbits like that are peppered throughout the book, coming faster and faster as you read, and ramping up the pacing to breakneck speeds as we’re jettisoned toward the terrifying conclusion and a scene of such soul-rending pandemonium and vividly gruesome, visceral body horror, you just might lose some beauty sleep trying to wash this one from your memory. Keisling wastes no words getting his point across and the point is terrifying. With just the right amount of character development for a short novella, he tells his story largely through well-wrought imagery and action driven by human interaction rather than wordy exposition, keeping you focused on his ultimate goal and building anticipation, giving the final gutpunch of a climax that much more impact by virtue of the intensity with which his story is delivered.
The thing that really gives this story the strength it has and its tendency to keep the reader involved is Keisling’s remarkable alacrity with scene-building, transporting the reader from their armchair to sunny California to watch the band rehearse and slowly come apart, or to far Carcosa to witness unspeakable horrors and a nightmare procession straight out of hell itself, or at least out of whatever cosmic hell the elder gods dwell. Keisling builds his set like any good writer should, feeding you little pieces of detail that, when put together, give you a crystal-clear mind picture, showing you the moonlight instead of the moon, giving you a strong sense of the terror that lies beneath the masks of the doomed and the damned.
In The Final Reconciliation, Todd Keisling draws inspiration from a few old classics, in the process giving us a fresh look at a mythological place and paving the road for his very own brand of mythology. One can only hope that he keeps drawing from that dark and terrifying well for a time as it feels like he’s only chipped the tip of the iceberg with his newest book from Crystal Lake Publishing, and it would be nice to see much more of this version of cosmic horror. If you haven’t read Todd’s work yet, this book would be the perfect place to start. All in all, it’s a well-written, entertaining horror story and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any fan of good horror stories.
