The Burning Dark
By Adam Christopher
SF and horror are a great mix because of the sharp juxtaposition between the more rational part of our brains and our primitive, subconscious fears. And in the conflict between them, science doesn’t always come out on top.
Science might, for example, be the key to unleashing new demons, and it definitely has its limits when up against even the most primitive of bogeymen. Let’s face it, all the high-tech firepower in the world hasn’t helped against the lizard brains of the Alien film franchise: embodiments of pure Id in their slimy, single-minded pursuit of reproductive success.
The Burning Dark, Adam Christopher’s massively entertaining outer-space ghost story, will appeal to SF cross-genre fans, and particularly anyone who loved the movie Event Horizon. Sent to a space station in the process of being demolished, semi-retired Captain Idaho “Ida” Cleveland finds himself in a world of psychological terror when a J-horror wraith is unleashed, via subspace radio frequencies, from her prison located somewhere behind an “asymptotic giant branch technetium star” (all of which means that it shines with a purple light).
As things turn out, a full complement of heavily-armed space marines aren’t much use as ghostbusters, and it will take some thirtieth-century psi-warfare mixed with old-fashioned black magic to close the gates of hell.
Alex on SF 