Welcome to After Hours Investigations, open from dusk 'til dawn... Cassandra Zinnea and Evgeny Nightstalk have taken on their fair share of strange cases in their time--what do you expect when your clientele is drawn from the sort of people who only come out at night? But now they find themselves confronting a ruthless and fiendish foe, an opponent not averse to employing the blackest arts to further their nefarious aims. Danger lurks everywhere and the darkness can hide a multitude of sins...not to mention all manner of ambulatory corpses, forbidden rituals and ravening creatures plucked from the formless ether. So Dark the Night is, at once, a supernatural thriller and a loving homage to film noir and the gritty, hard-boiled poetry found in the very best crime fiction. Funny, sexy and terrifying, So Dark the Night is an entertaining hybrid, a dizzying mix of genres, a spook show that delivers everything it promises.
So Dark the Night
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are a few themes and/or predicaments in the arts that always earn my affection. One is anthropomorphizing animals and/or inanimate objects, provided that it is done with skill and care and genuine wit. I will re-read Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife and The Bear Went Over the Mountain and Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County again and again, and I will never tire of watching Toy Story and Babe and Ren & Stimpy . Conversely, I harbour absolutely no goodwill toward Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Garfield (comic or movies), Alvin & the Chipmunks, Marmaduke; you get the idea.
Likewise, I love a good hardboiled detective/supernatural mashup, and don't ask me to explain why, 'cuz there ain't no satisfactory answer. I will re-watch Constantine and Lord of Illusions and Angel Heart without tiring; Jeff Vandermeer's beautifully noir novel Finch was one of the best I read last year; I pray that William Hjortsberg will write more; and the mere mention of Clive Barker writing a Harry D'Amour vs. Pinhead novel sets my soul a-fluttering with joy.
So Canadian author Cliff Burns writing up a novel of jaded detectives with supernatural abilities battling lovecraftian forces from beyond? Yeah, I'm all about that.
Cliff came to my attention in 2009, when he introduced me to his collection The Reality Machine, a gritty and sublime collection of sci-fi horror tales that took few prisoners. Cliff has finally seen fit to personally release his first novel, one that has been available as a download for free on his website for some time. I'm normally filled with aversion to self-published works, but I'm willing to admit my failings, as So Dark the Night is a zippy, fun, and gruesome dip into the monster mash.
Set in the fictional city of Ilium, Burns' pastiche follows the adventures of Cassandra Zinnea and Evgeny Nightstalk, two "shades...nocturnal souls, temperamentally unsuited for the humdrum, nine-to-five existence of the 'Gray' world." The sun-allergic work as nighttime-exclusive investigators who report to a mysterious Old Man for detective assignments of an altogether stranger ilk than the usual. Cassandra is a powerful adept, capable of reading people, attuned to the spiritual realm, and inadvertently poison to electric appliances. Nightstalk, the narrator, is the brawn, a thug with a gift for storytelling, a passion for pornography, and a heightened ability to withstand (and cause) copious amount of violence. It is a strange pairing, but it seems to work, as evidenced by Burns' playful footnotes of past cases.
A strange case of murderous arson brings a mysterious society to the duo's attention. Soon, their investigations lead them to shadowy groups such as The Brethren of Purity, and as their contacts dry up, wither away, completely burst into flame, or much worse - "with one cruel tug, his personality and soul are ripped from his body, his essence gobbled up, the extraneous bits tumbling piecemeal into absolute nothingness" - the twosome begin to piece together a plan that could destroy the fabric of the world.
Yeah, it's one of those kind of novels.
While the ghosts of Hammett, Chandler, Lovecraft, and Poe are all well and accounted for, So Dark the Night is its own peculiar beast. Burns has a lot of twisted fun playing the collage of influences against each other, and he tells a mean tale smoothly.
I can't say that So Dark the Night is a perfect structure. Despite having the deliberate trappings of a hardboiled 1940s-era film noir, the novel is set in the world of today, with somewhat unweildy results; references to Pierce Brosnan, Robert Mitchum, DVDs, and well-appointed television stereo systems seem out-of-place, serving to jar the reader out of Burns' tale. Sometimes, Nightstalk's narration is too 'modern,' again a problem of incongruity with the overall atmosphere. The novel is, at times, too aware of itself as it pertains to its literary forerunners.
Yet So Dark the Night is inherently enjoyable, a fast-paced and occasionally grizzly funhouse ride. As hints abound as to other adventures in the duo's canon, it would be a shame for this to be Zinnea and Nightstalk's only literary appearance.
Likewise, I love a good hardboiled detective/supernatural mashup, and don't ask me to explain why, 'cuz there ain't no satisfactory answer. I will re-watch Constantine and Lord of Illusions and Angel Heart without tiring; Jeff Vandermeer's beautifully noir novel Finch was one of the best I read last year; I pray that William Hjortsberg will write more; and the mere mention of Clive Barker writing a Harry D'Amour vs. Pinhead novel sets my soul a-fluttering with joy.
So Canadian author Cliff Burns writing up a novel of jaded detectives with supernatural abilities battling lovecraftian forces from beyond? Yeah, I'm all about that.
Cliff came to my attention in 2009, when he introduced me to his collection The Reality Machine, a gritty and sublime collection of sci-fi horror tales that took few prisoners. Cliff has finally seen fit to personally release his first novel, one that has been available as a download for free on his website for some time. I'm normally filled with aversion to self-published works, but I'm willing to admit my failings, as So Dark the Night is a zippy, fun, and gruesome dip into the monster mash.
Set in the fictional city of Ilium, Burns' pastiche follows the adventures of Cassandra Zinnea and Evgeny Nightstalk, two "shades...nocturnal souls, temperamentally unsuited for the humdrum, nine-to-five existence of the 'Gray' world." The sun-allergic work as nighttime-exclusive investigators who report to a mysterious Old Man for detective assignments of an altogether stranger ilk than the usual. Cassandra is a powerful adept, capable of reading people, attuned to the spiritual realm, and inadvertently poison to electric appliances. Nightstalk, the narrator, is the brawn, a thug with a gift for storytelling, a passion for pornography, and a heightened ability to withstand (and cause) copious amount of violence. It is a strange pairing, but it seems to work, as evidenced by Burns' playful footnotes of past cases.
A strange case of murderous arson brings a mysterious society to the duo's attention. Soon, their investigations lead them to shadowy groups such as The Brethren of Purity, and as their contacts dry up, wither away, completely burst into flame, or much worse - "with one cruel tug, his personality and soul are ripped from his body, his essence gobbled up, the extraneous bits tumbling piecemeal into absolute nothingness" - the twosome begin to piece together a plan that could destroy the fabric of the world.
Yeah, it's one of those kind of novels.
While the ghosts of Hammett, Chandler, Lovecraft, and Poe are all well and accounted for, So Dark the Night is its own peculiar beast. Burns has a lot of twisted fun playing the collage of influences against each other, and he tells a mean tale smoothly.
I can't say that So Dark the Night is a perfect structure. Despite having the deliberate trappings of a hardboiled 1940s-era film noir, the novel is set in the world of today, with somewhat unweildy results; references to Pierce Brosnan, Robert Mitchum, DVDs, and well-appointed television stereo systems seem out-of-place, serving to jar the reader out of Burns' tale. Sometimes, Nightstalk's narration is too 'modern,' again a problem of incongruity with the overall atmosphere. The novel is, at times, too aware of itself as it pertains to its literary forerunners.
Yet So Dark the Night is inherently enjoyable, a fast-paced and occasionally grizzly funhouse ride. As hints abound as to other adventures in the duo's canon, it would be a shame for this to be Zinnea and Nightstalk's only literary appearance.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anybody who loves supernatural thrillers and horror fiction will not be disappointed in Cliff Burns' latest. It is thoroughly enjoyable. And it is not only very funny, it has an unpredictable ending which is wonderful. It is obvious that Burns loves his craft. He is a born story-teller. I hope he is busy at work on the next one.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this book
Jun 8 2010
By Laird Brittin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. The characters are wonderful and the story is a fantastic adventure. Evgeny is a compelling, messed-up everyman (well, maybe not everyman, but some men) and the love he hides deep in his heart for his business partner, Cassandra is crushingly painful to witness. And Cassandra is worth every crack in his poor heart... beautiful and mysterious. And do they work well together.
The scenes in their office at After Hours Investigations are painted so well by the author that you can hear every breath and picture every dark shadow (the breaths and shadows not always only their own). When they leave their chamber into the night to "chase the bad guys" their adventures are at turns exciting, creepy, disturbing, and hilarious.
I won't even go into the rest of the cast, but as usual, Burns has created some wierd and wonderful characters. Not the freak show of his work "Kept", but fantastic all the same... funny, wierd, scary "people".
It is hard to put this book down once you get started. It's a great ride and culminates in a fantastical climax that you do not see coming.
As described in the Editorial Review, So Dark The Night incorporates a "dizzying mix of genres" and I couldn't agree more. I am not a huge fan of horror or science fiction but it is because of the genre crossovers (the afore-mentioned mixed with the love story, noir and comedy) that I found it so readable. In any event it's the great story and the characters that you will love and will keep you reading.
I couldn't recommend it more.
The scenes in their office at After Hours Investigations are painted so well by the author that you can hear every breath and picture every dark shadow (the breaths and shadows not always only their own). When they leave their chamber into the night to "chase the bad guys" their adventures are at turns exciting, creepy, disturbing, and hilarious.
I won't even go into the rest of the cast, but as usual, Burns has created some wierd and wonderful characters. Not the freak show of his work "Kept", but fantastic all the same... funny, wierd, scary "people".
It is hard to put this book down once you get started. It's a great ride and culminates in a fantastical climax that you do not see coming.
As described in the Editorial Review, So Dark The Night incorporates a "dizzying mix of genres" and I couldn't agree more. I am not a huge fan of horror or science fiction but it is because of the genre crossovers (the afore-mentioned mixed with the love story, noir and comedy) that I found it so readable. In any event it's the great story and the characters that you will love and will keep you reading.
I couldn't recommend it more.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
So Dark The Night
Jun 14 2010
By K. Clearwater
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
So Dark The Night has been long awaited by Cliff Burn's readers and fans, so very glad he now has this gem in print!
Cliff is an author with an encompassing knowledge,wicked wit, sharply honed narrative and totally engaging characters, So Dark The Night satifies on all accounts. He specializes in psychological thrills exposing both the dark heart and the latent hero in us all. I have followed Cliff's writings from short story, through novella and now most satisfying of all the full length novel.
Beautifully crafted in the "Noir" style, "so Dark Then Night" is beguiling as we meet Nightstalk, the gumshoe and his modern day muse/partner Cassandra Zinnia cracking a case combining fictional, historical and modern day references with characters all synchonizing in an awesome climax of magick, mystery and glamour.
When I finished the last page, I, unawares, whispered to myself, "oooh, that was good" From there I went to google some of the historical characters mentioned the novel, facinating stuff!
Cliff is an author with an encompassing knowledge,wicked wit, sharply honed narrative and totally engaging characters, So Dark The Night satifies on all accounts. He specializes in psychological thrills exposing both the dark heart and the latent hero in us all. I have followed Cliff's writings from short story, through novella and now most satisfying of all the full length novel.
Beautifully crafted in the "Noir" style, "so Dark Then Night" is beguiling as we meet Nightstalk, the gumshoe and his modern day muse/partner Cassandra Zinnia cracking a case combining fictional, historical and modern day references with characters all synchonizing in an awesome climax of magick, mystery and glamour.
When I finished the last page, I, unawares, whispered to myself, "oooh, that was good" From there I went to google some of the historical characters mentioned the novel, facinating stuff!
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
So Dark the Night: A raunchy occult thriller, written with elegance and humour
May 25 2010
By John
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Welcome to After Hours Investigations, just up the stairs. Be careful, one of the steps has a hex on it. Open 9-5, 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., its staff are ready for the most bizarre of paranormal investigations. When the sun goes does, the shades come out. Meet Evgeny Nightstalk, short but uncannily strong, with a nose for finding crime scenes. He lives alone in his bachelor apartment with his porn and pitcher plant. The truth be told, he's less a pervert than an overgrown Boy Scout. And he has a flair for the reports that make up his agency's casebooks, the heart of So Dark the Night by Cliff J. Burns. Nightstalk tells the story of their most difficult case, rapped off in staccato lines like the Underwood he is forced to use because of the electric field cast by his partner, Cassandra Zinnea.
Cassandra! "Effortlessly exotic, the life force radiating from her creating an intoxicating aura of grace and elegance and sensuality." Nightstalk is helplessly in love with her. Who wouldn't be? Not only beautiful, but brains to boot, stunning the cleverest of allies and enemies alike. No stranger to the night, and powerful in the ways of magic, one couldn't have a better partner. But what could persuade her to work in a hole like this? Maybe it has something to do with the Old Man, the mysterious and unseen boss presumably inhabiting the office with the closed door.
Something evil is afoot as this novel opens with the live burning of a member of the Brethren of Purity, an ancient secret society dedicated to the guardianship and improvement of humanity. Night by night, Nightstalk and Zinnea pursue the case, interrupted only by off-hours indulgences. "A good, old-fashioned bucket of blood, frequented by bikers and cheap whores, with thugs and villains galore. I could tell right off the bat that it was my kind of watering hole." The case really heats up. If the living dead warned me to stay away, I would. Not these two. Nightstalk and Zinnea crown a seemingly unending lineup of fantastic characters they engage along the way: an invisible mole, a timeless librarian, `Sherlock Holmes', old knitting ladies who exact a price for knowledge, the list goes on. With their abettance, the pair dig their way to a horrible truth that perhaps no one can stop.
Not my usual taste, So Dark the Night is a raunchy occult thriller, written with an elegance and humour I couldn't resist.
Cassandra! "Effortlessly exotic, the life force radiating from her creating an intoxicating aura of grace and elegance and sensuality." Nightstalk is helplessly in love with her. Who wouldn't be? Not only beautiful, but brains to boot, stunning the cleverest of allies and enemies alike. No stranger to the night, and powerful in the ways of magic, one couldn't have a better partner. But what could persuade her to work in a hole like this? Maybe it has something to do with the Old Man, the mysterious and unseen boss presumably inhabiting the office with the closed door.
Something evil is afoot as this novel opens with the live burning of a member of the Brethren of Purity, an ancient secret society dedicated to the guardianship and improvement of humanity. Night by night, Nightstalk and Zinnea pursue the case, interrupted only by off-hours indulgences. "A good, old-fashioned bucket of blood, frequented by bikers and cheap whores, with thugs and villains galore. I could tell right off the bat that it was my kind of watering hole." The case really heats up. If the living dead warned me to stay away, I would. Not these two. Nightstalk and Zinnea crown a seemingly unending lineup of fantastic characters they engage along the way: an invisible mole, a timeless librarian, `Sherlock Holmes', old knitting ladies who exact a price for knowledge, the list goes on. With their abettance, the pair dig their way to a horrible truth that perhaps no one can stop.
Not my usual taste, So Dark the Night is a raunchy occult thriller, written with an elegance and humour I couldn't resist.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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