SLEEP DISORDER

By Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee
Gauntlet Press $40
 

Let's get one thing out of the way. Erotic horror is supposed to titillate. Get a "reaction." Raise the temp, make you sweat. Now, it may be arguable whether such an endeavor contains literary value, but for my money, whenever a writer's words elicit a reaction—whatever kind of reaction—then he or she is doing something right. If the writing also happens to engage or make some kind of observation about the human condition, all the better. But even if all it does is reach your "hot-spot," then it has served its purpose.

Both Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee are well known for connecting with their audiences. Not everyone appreciates these connections, but those of us who do see something special in the joining of these two unique voices. Ketchum's sparse, hard-hitting and often raw fiction catches people by surprise with the intensity hidden behind the simple prose. Lee's over-the-top grossness hides the soul of a writer whose chosen medium is the sexual tall-tale, the exaggeration of every sense and detail, for the purpose of shock therapy. Both writers are supremely entertaining, if a bit of an acquired taste, and there's little better to showcase their combined talents than this thin but fulfilling mini-collection of tales, some of which have seen previous publication.

"I'd Give Anything For You" is the prototypical Lee tale softened by Ketchum but still as, uh, exhilarating as ever. An oversexed gold-digging vixen finds it's harder to dump doughy, rich mama's boy Roderic than she ever could have thought. In "Love Letters From the Rain Forest," the same kind of vixen (nearly the same name, too) gets what's coming to her after dumping her botany professor boyfriend in the most indelicate, painful way. These two are almost the same story in structure, though they reach their destinations in slightly divergent ways. Nevertheless, their similarity placed so close together mars their potential effect just a little.

The gentler "Masks" is a fine bit of atmospheric magic realism that hides much of its violence offstage and achieves an almost complete balance between the two writers' differing styles. "Eyes Left" is a zombie-fest delivered with the sardonic Ketchum tone and driven home by a patented Lee-style gross-out. The highlight of the book is "Sleep Disorder," a tour-de-force in which a nasty excuse for a stockbroker finds the tables turned on him by some folks he's mistreated and underestimated. It's always fun to write about sleazy, disreputable characters, and Ketchum-Lee don't miss a trick in this slick effort that brilliantly melds their styles and themes.

Included for comparison are "Good Seeing You," the original Ketchum tale which needed Lee's input to morph into the much more impactful "Sleep Disorder," and Lee's "I Would Do Anything For You," which Ketchum deftly polished. Adding the two early drafts is like your favorite band adding unheard demo tracks to their newest album—a little gift. The winking glimpse of the pulleys behind the stage may only interest other writers and uber-fans, but it's fascinating nonetheless. Add properly suggestive jacket and interior art by Harry O. Morris and Ketchum's playful Afterword, and you have Gauntlet's typically desirable package—a slice of Ketchum & Lee done "just for fun." I'll take a second helping of that, please.