Nightmare Novels - "Comorbidities" By Jim C. Harberson III

While video content is king these days, that doesn’t mean that more traditional forms of entertainment are not thriving. I’ll be the first to admit though, I just don’t make as much time for reading as I probably should. It’s a shame really because there is no shortage of good reading out there from a variety of authors both well-known and those on the rise. GRADY HENDRIX likely inspired a new generation of horror readers with his PAPERBACK FROM HELL book, even getting a bunch of the titles he features re-released so the horror fiction masses can consume some long out-of-print titles. While novels provide their own sense of detail and world-building, short stories are a great way to try a few ideas without having to fully commit to just one and flesh it out in entirety. So when JIM HARBERSON reached out offering us a copy of his newest set of novellas, COMORBIDITIES, we would be delighted to take him up on the chance to read it!

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Comorbidities is three novellas about irregular topics, including weaponized cats, serial-killer reincarnation, celebrity-grave robbery, mass murder, sociopathic spiritual gurus, ghost psychotherapy, military misbehavior, and more mass murder.

Cat Problem: A spunky cheerleader must rescue her not-so-secret secret crush from an epidemic of weaponized cats attacking their Colorado hometown.

Ghost Problems: A Hollywood spiritualist falls for an actress whose new reality show is stalked by a reincarnated serial killer.

Lost and Found: A Hollywood super-agent enlists a celebrity-grave robber and a two-fisted cult deprogrammer to rescue a troubled starlet from a flim-flamming spiritual guru. 

HOW IS IT?

COMORBIDITIES wastes no time dumping the reader off in the first novella, “Cat Problem” talking about a small Colorado town where felines are more than just housepets. There is no preamble or connecting thread here to tie these stories together, and each one essentially serves as its own novella without having much (or anything) to do with the other stories in the compilation. Harberson writes snappy dialogue and creates detailed narratives that are all killer no filler, and without making the stories too long in the tooth making this an easy and quick read as long as you can keep up with some of the complexity in the stories.

When it comes to original ideas, COMORBIDITES is littered with interesting and unique stories that at a minimum absurd, and occasionally funny. The first story, “Cat Problem” takes a Hitchcockian turn by turning cats into monsters that wreak havoc on a town. Of the three stories, this one is the most straightforward and easiest to follow as it’s pretty much a point a to point b story. In “Ghost Problems” things start to get a little confusing. Perhaps it is that I took a couple of days' break between reading, but I found myself having a hard time keeping track of all the characters and the rules of this story. There are characters that are both alive and undead, but keeping track of who is who and who is alive or not gets a little hard to manage, especially near the end. It doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the story, and the idea is certainly a novel one (no pun intended) taking ideas from THE FRIGHTENERS and marrying it up with modern entertainment sensibilities. The third and final story, “Lost and Found”, is certainly one of the more out-there stories of the three since it involves a sub-culture of “celebrity grave robbing” which is as strange as it is silly, but oddly enough, it works within the world of the story. While this one wasn’t my favorite, I would absolutely be up to having a series of stories about the celebrity grave robber and his exploits. The third story is less supernatural and more thriller based, but it moves fast as it ratchets up to a satisfying conclusion. Again, this story has a lot of characters and jumps around a lot, however, I found this one easier to keep track of.

Complexities aside, these were really enjoyable reads that offer up new and different ideas on familiar tropes. It’s clear that Harberson knows his LA landmarks, as two of the three stories take place there, and as a former Los Angeleno myself it is always fun to trace along where the characters are based on places and locations that I’m familiar with. The stories are all around 100 pages, give or take, and the chapters are usually no more than 5-7 pages at most which make for easy casual reading in-between meetings and errands. Harberson clearly has a point of view and voice that balances scares and snark extremely well, and I’m excited to see more stories like these either in this format or another!

Author JAMES C. HARBERSON III

LAST RITES

COMORBIDITIES is a breezy and light set of novellas that offer up creative branches for very familiar horror topics. While some of the stories can get a bit complex, they are still highly enjoyable and worth checking out!

THE GORY DETAILS

Written By

JAMES C. HARBERSON III

Website

About the Author

James Harberson Loves Weird Stuff.  He wrote the acclaimed short-story collection, A Disgusting Supermarket of Death (2021), and co-wrote the graphic novel, Stay Alive (2020), both of which were published by Markosia and nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award. His short story, “Daddy Issues,” appears in Volume 1 of the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights illustrated horror anthology (2021). The Simply Scary Podcast produced his audio drama, “Making Things Click,” in 2018. James pulls his inspiration from the likes of EC Comics, Frank Miller, and Judge Dredd!

James attended Cornell, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in upstate New York.

Buy “Comorbidities” HERE!

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