Degrees of Fear and Other Review

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(More customer reviews)Degrees of Fear by CJ Henderson was published by Dark Regions Press in three editions, a trade paperback, a limited edition hard cover and a lettered leather bound version. Somehow, I ended up with all but the leather bound version; both are signed by the author. The cover art and the generous number of interior illustrations are by Mr. Henderson's long time collaborator, Ben Fogletto. The cover, in particular, is a beautiful /horrific Lovecraftian image of purple worms or polyps devouring some fair damsel. This book is not a collection of new stories, is not an omnibus (alas, but such a work would run into multiple huge volumes for the prolific Mr. Henderson) and is not a themed collection (as was, for example, The Tales of Inspector Legrasse). Instead it is a retrospective survey or sampling of the author's dark fiction from the last three decades. As a consequence, if you are a CJ Henderson fan, there is likely to be quite a bit of overlap with your library. Production qualities were high; I cannot recall any typographical errors. Page count is a generous 267, counting a 2 page introduction by William Jones, a 3 page afterward by Joe Mauceri and a very brief biography of the author and artist; text starts on page 13. The publication history at the beginning was very useful. Production qualities are high in both editions I have.
One of Mr. Henderson's favorite devices is to take a character created by a popular write of yore and flesh out their life's history with some more stories the original author never got around to writing. Another is his love of the genre of noir supernatural detective. That makes it no surprise that we see stories concerning HP Lovecraft's Inspector Legrasse and Thomas Malone, or Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak, or even Mr. Henderson's own Teddy London. Although not all of these stories are Cthulhu mythos, the majority are, or are at least Lovecraftian. On the whole I very much enjoy CJ Henderson's prose and highly recommend this book. I must admit, however, with the degree of overlap with anthology appearances in years past, I was much more enamored of the tales new to me than the ones I have read in three or four previous books. Completists take note: Pragmatic, and Body and Soul are published here for the first time.
The Gardener - A wealthy businessman visits his eccentric parents in Kingsport, and discovers reality isn't what it used to be. I really liked this story, a fine opener for the book.
Admission of Weakness - I don't know if chronologically this was the author's first Anton Zarnak story, but it does serve nicely as a first event in Zarnak's chronicle in New York. Fans of occult detectives will be pleased.
Hope - Not mythos but actually a very insidious horror story. I bet Mr. Henderson chuckled as he wrote it.
Misery and Pity - Jhong is a Chinese warrior who fights a demon. I do not know if he appears in other stories but the narrative makes it seem that way; I know I would be happy to read more in this particular series. This was a very enjoyable read.
Incident on Highway 19 - This was a great Lovecraftian tale, retold in the diary of a highway worker who slowly goes off the deep end after seeing an unusual type of road kill. It may have been my favorite story in the whole book.
That's the One! - A brief trip through the rabbit whole into an unpleasant Wonderland. Very nice twist!
A Happy Mother Takes Away Pain - This is a story featuring the psychometrist, Lai Wan. She helps some clients wrestle with their (all too literal) demons. Compared to some other stories here I was not as enamored as I might have been.
Body and Soul - Thomas Malone meets Herbert West in a scenario so unlikely but so true to both characters, and each learns something about himself. This was very good indeed.
The Horror - True horror occurs in the mind more than anywhere else. A very good short.
A Forty Share in Innsmouth - A Fort share refers to the portion of the TV audience this broadcast receives, as a TV host revisits an unholy ritual that took place originally in a Brian Lumley story. Those of you who don't think it could occur like this have never seen Jerry Springer's TV show.
Sacrifice - This was very disturbing story, as ordinary people try to make a difference in the amount of suffering in the world.
Pop Goes the Weasel - Another well written disturbing story, where the in crowd finds thrills at the club of the moment, Uproar. The audience provides the show and the peer pressure is intense.
The Questioning of the Azathothian Priest - This was, I dunno, the fourth time I've read this Anton Zarnak yarn. It's pretty good, but I liked the stuff new to me.
Pragmatic - In a story from the Piers Knight series, the hero makes extraordinary efforts to save a just-about-to-be-baby with perfect pitch from the otherworldly horrors that fear it. Pretty good stuff.
The Laughing Man - I enjoyed getting reacquainted with this fine story of Vikings, valor and Valkyries.
The Soul's Right Hand - This was an excellent Teddy London story. The images of the demon Jack O'Lantern, Saman, were quite horrific and the denouement was great.
So Free We Seem - Another very good occult detective story, this time featuring Inspector Legrasse from The Call of Cthulhu. So Free We Seem is one of Mr. Henderson's best in this series.
The Longest Pleasure - My, my, revenge must be sweet. I liked this nasty little story.
Juggernaut - Here is another Teddy London story but I didn't like it so well. One reason is, at his best, the author shows how ordinary men and women find the strength within themselves to fight the unthinkable. By now Teddy London is turning into a superman, able to thwart the entire pack of the Hounds of Tindalos.
Degrees of Fear - Why would a very promising psychiatrist throw away his entire career to administer an asylum for the criminally insane, while not seeming to help any of the inmates? There has to be a reason for such a sacrifice, for such behavior, right? You find out why in the wonderfully morbid close to a wonderful collection.
So my final impression is that Degrees of Fear is a terrific book. For completists there is something new here, for CJ Henderson fans it is a smorgasbord of delight and for readers new to the author it is a perfect introduction. If you like what you see here you can branch off to his many other collections or anthology appearances. Ben Fogletto's art adds the perfect spice. Best of all, CJ Henderson has not hung up his word processor yet, so we can expect more dark delights in the coming years. Highly recommended.


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Introduction and story introductions by William Jones. Afterword by Joe Mauceri.For Over thirty years C.J. Henderson has brought the reading public the widest array of entertainment possible. hardboiled and hard-hitting, whether writing fantasy, mystery, science fiction, or horror, this one-of-a-kind storyteller has created multiple well-received series containing scores of memorable characters and hundreds of page-turning stories.Culled from his near infinite storehouse of tales, this volume contains twenty of his best, including eighteen of his classics plus two new stories created exclusively for this edition. In one, he returns to H.P. Lovecraft's mythos to write the newest tale of Herbert West: Reanimator. And, in the other he previews his latest series character, giving the world their first glimpse of the enigmatic museum curator, Piers knight. With eight illustrations by long-time collaborator, artist Ben Fogletto, this is the finest single edition of C.J. Henderson stories ever produced.

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