Bella's Boys (A Tale of Cosmic Horror)

By: Thomas R Clark

Narrated by: Allyson Wentworth

Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

March, 1993.... On the eve of a massive Nor'easter menacing the Eastern Seaboard. Singer Corey Collins meets Sandy Bellavia at a karaoke bar in upstate New York. Corey thinks he's met the girl of his desires, and follows “Bella” to her home for shelter from the storm. Soon Corey finds himself fulfilling a bucket-list sex and rock-n-roll fantasy.

Until Corey hears a legion of taunting voices in his head, whispering madness...and nightmares invade Corey's dreams. Now trapped in the heart of a raging blizzard as snow accumulates by the foot, Corey learns his lover isn't who, or what, he believed. She's something terrifying, ancient...and hungry.

©2020 Thomas R Clark (P)2020 Thomas R Clark

Heavy Metal, Cosmic Horror, and Lots of Sex

Thomas R. Clark has crafted an interesting tale with Bella's Boys. It's a little bit American Psycho, a larger bit of cosmic horror, and a lot of splatterpunk erotica.
The reason I mention the novel from Bret Easton Ellis isn't only because of the fixation on music and the almost overwhelming attention to detail associated with said music throughout the novella--but that does have something to do with it--it's because this novella captures something of the 1990s dive bar, metalhead scene in the same way American Psycho satirized the white-collar, predatory capitalist world of the 1980s. At the same time, Bella's Boys certainly depicts graphic acts of sex and violence (often simultaneously) with the same unrelenting and unfiltered lack of concern so many readers enjoyed from Ellis's novel.
The afterward, providing a glimpse into the author's life and the real-life snowstorm that inspired the blizzard taking place within the novella, was a nice touch. It's fun and entertaining to see just how much of the story was pulled from a piece of Clark's own life. I would certainly hope none of the people trapped in the house they were trapped in during the real blizzard ended up being converted into conscious bits of fecal matter...but maybe the truth is stranger than fiction?
The short story, Prey for Change, attached to the end is a tantalizing glimpse of a world that melds Viking society, werewolf mythology, and something reminiscent of the army of the dead from Game of Thrones. I would read more of that story, for sure.
Since I listened to the audiobook edition of Bella's Boys, a comment on the narration is in order. It's almost unfortunate that the sole weakness with this edition of the book is the quality of Allyson Wentworth's narration. This isn't to say the narrator does a bad job of it, but there was a certain flatness to elements that seemed like they merited a bit more passion or at least spirited delivery. From what I can see, she has only narrated a couple of books thus far, and it could be due to this being the beginning of her career as an audiobook narrator. Please don't let my personal opinion on the narration dissuade you from checking out the book in whatever format most appeals to you. I sincerely doubt even my favorite audiobook narrators were at the apex of their craft when they started.

Spicy, Metal, Tentacles

This Story is heavy on the Spice throughout the of the novel. This was outside of what I usually read. I was wanting a lot more Story not just Spice. There were few moments that I liked. One was Bobby B Good becoming Bobby B Gone.

The Best Part of the Book was the Story at the end of the main story. The side story was a solid 4.

The Narrator seemed like she was not fully into reading the story. Her tone was Boring even at a higher speed.

Splatterpunk
Cosmic

Meh

Lots of sex then violent murderous sex. I'm not a prude but there were a lot of parts I was like "Settle down, dude".

The protagonist is extremely unlikable, every now and then his daddy issues pop in and make him more obnoxious.

The narrator sounds disinterested like she's reading the story but also looking at her phone.

Bella’s Boys is a Hell of a Trip!

The first thing I have to say about Bella’s Boys is that it took me back to the early 90s, and not just because that’s when the book is set, but Clark captures this watershed moment in horror, specifically with splatterpunk, where things still felt like they could be new and surprising and/or shocking. As the story reveals itself it just keeps getting better and better and I found myself reliving those seminal moments of reading Philip Nutman, Clive Barker, and David Schow for the first time. I don’t know how much of the story’s mythology is based on established lore and how much came out of his own head, but it was totally engrossing, as is the bonus short story at the end. This was such a great story and I listened to the entire audiobook while working today. I highly recommend Bella’s Boys!

Bella's Boys review

A fantastic novella, really enjoyable and look forward to more from this author in the future. Well worth it.

it isn't very good.

If you want rancid sex scenes narrated in stilted monotone, this is for you.
If you want creepy cosmic horror, i suggest something else.
The Fisherman, perhaps.