Sometimes, all the time,
all you need is a mother's love.
Author: Clay McLeod Chapman
Publisher: Quirk Books (September 12, 2023)
Publication: September 12, 2023
Pages: 304
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-68369-380-2
Designed by: Elissa Flanigan
Production management by: John J. McGurk
Cover photography credits: Shutterstock/studiovin; Shutterstock/Simon Annabelle;
Shutterstock/neitbrucewillis; Shutterstock/Karelian; Shutterstock/Christin Lola
Interior photography credit: Shutterstock/Bokeh Blur Background
5 Stars
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| Clay McLeod Chapman |
Folks, Clay McLeod Chapman's latest novel is a horror story disturbing enough to cringe any seasoned horror reader. A missing child is at the heart of this tale, and you can feel the power of love radiating off these pages in the quest to find an end to what happened.
A short synopsis for you:
After Madi Price is thrown out of the house by her father because of an unplanned pregnancy and a slammed door in her face from Donny, the baby's future father, she embarks as a single mother. Later, she is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, VA with her seventeen-year-old daughter Kendra, to start a life she really wasn't expecting.
Madi becomes a palm reader at the local farmer's market, where you meet my favorite book characters. Auntie Millie, Charlene, and Mama May are the town's most resourceful wellhead of gossip. I pictured them so well, talking the talk so well cemented as truth according to them, their dialog made me smile every time their names popped up. She is also reintroduced to an old high-school flame, by the name of Henry McCabe.
Henry, a reclusive fisherman nowadays has a son, Skyler, who went missing 5 years ago, and is bound and determined to find him. He has been handing out and pinning up posters of his child believing Skyler is not dead, but everyone in town thinks differently. His belief solidifies when Madi reads his palm.
That particular reading changes Madi's life and everyone she loves—permanently. The visions are powerful, and she starts to wonder, does she really have psychic abilities? Is Skyler really out there needing to be found? This whole tale is filled with dynamics of broken families and the need to reassure themselves that, in the end, all will be okay. Keeping hope alive, trying to put substance in that word - okay.
Folks, this is a supernatural horror tale done with vivid depictions you can taste right off the pages. The tale starts off in a light air and turns dark. Very dark. This is a five-part read, with the point-of-views done alternating between the main characters of Madi and Henry. As the story moved to the end, the body horror writing was exceptionally well done by the way. The epilogue caged up the one missing loose thread I had in the back of my mind with a dedication and a beautiful poem. Let's just say it was touching, okay? Okay.
The tone of this tale was one of suspense and horror that would burrow itself into one of your orifices and feed. In fact, the prose and the nursery rhymes that peppered the tale were exceptionally well done. From beginning to end, the writing will keep you turning pages. That is not meant as a cliche.
During the whole read, I kept asking myself, what kind of mother? What really happened to Skyler's biological mother, Grace? Where is Madi's mother? Is Madi a proud mother to Kendra? Is Kendra happy and content with her mother? Then, there is the father's role. Both mother and father could take their turns bathing the child, changing the child, putting the child to bed, holding the child when he's teething/crying, and let's not forget the child's feeding times. You know, parenting can be very exhausting.
And do things happen in threes? Is three a magical number? Why is the number three throughout this tale? All these questions were answered and, I was satisfied. In threes.
There is so much more between the lines of this tale, that you the Reader will be having your own inter-monologue with yourself. You might feel some distance from some of the choices these characters make, compared to what you might have done. There are instances that I would have done differently. You might have your opinion on psychics or even believe what my favorite characters say is true and indeed fact. All in all, there is so much more in this tale than what is written. You'll see. Or, feel it.
Folks, read this tale. Get scared. Get spooked. It is one of the best of 2023 IMHO
I recommend it folks. Highly recommended.
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Here's where you can get your fingers on What Kind of Mother:
- Amazon ~ Hardback $18.60 ~ Paperback $16.99 ~ Kindle $12.99 ~ USD
- Barnes & Noble ~ Hardback $21.99 ~ Paperback $16.99 ~ eBook $12.99 ~ Audiobook $19.95 ~ Audio CD $36.95 ~ USD
- IndieBound ~ Support your local bookstores
About the author:
Connect with Clay
“Like a demonic angel on a skateboard, like a resurrected Artaud on methadrine, like a tattletale psychiatrist turned rodeo clown, Clay McLeod Chapman races back and forth along the serrated edges of everyday American madness, objectively recording each whimper of anguish, each whisper of skewed desire. This is strong stuff, intense stuff, sometimes disturbing stuff, but I think the many who admire Chuck Palahniuk will admire Chapman as well.”—Tom Robbins, author, of Still Life with Woodpecker
Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of the novels Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and Miss Corpus, story collections Nothing Untoward, commencement, and Rest Area, as well as The Tribe middle-grade series: Homeroom Headhunters, Camp Cannibal, and Academic Assassins.
Upcoming projects include Quiet Part Loud, a 12-part horror podcast series from Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, written by Chapman and Mac Rogers, exclusively on Spotify beginning on November 15, 2022.
Chapman’s story Late Bloomer was adapted into a short film, directed by Craig William Macneill. An official selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the short won Best Short at the Lake Placid Film Festival and the Brown Jenkins Award at the 12th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
Their second short, Henley, based on the chapter “The Henley Road Motel” from Chapman’s novel Miss Corpus, was an official selection at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. It won Best Short at the 2011 Gen Art Film Festival and the 2011 Carmel Arts and Film Festival. The Boy (SXSW 2015), a feature-length adaptation of Henley, co-written with director Macneill, was produced by SpectreVision (Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, and Josh C. Waller) in 2015.
In comics, Chapman is the writer of the Marvel series Scream: Curse of Carnage. He has written Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety, Iron Fist: Phantom Limb, and Typhoid Fever, as well as for Edge of Spider-Verse and Venomverse, The Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, American Vampire, Scream: King In Black, and ORIGINS among others.
He is the creator of Self Storage (451 Media) and Lazaretto (BOOM! Studios).
Chapman is the creator of the rigorous storytelling session The Pumpkin Pie Show. In the twenty years of its existence, it has performed internationally at the Romanian Theatre Festival of Sibiu, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Winnipeg Fringe Festival, Edmonton Fringe Festival, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Dublin-based thisisnotashop art space, IGNITE Festival, Women Center Stage Festival, and Impact Theatre Festival.
Chapman wrote the book for Hostage Song (music & lyrics by Kyle Jarrow). He is the author of such plays as Commencement, The Cardiac Shadow, and Volume of Smoke. His story monologues Birdfeeder, Undertow, and The Wet Echo have been featured in The Best American Short Plays anthologies.
Chapman was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts for Drama, the Burren College of Art, and Sarah Lawrence College. He currently teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.
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