Goth Gardening ^o^: ... a review of _Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre: a Nighty-Nite Tale

Sunday, March 6, 2016

... a review of _Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre: a Nighty-Nite Tale_...

Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre: A Nighty-Nite Tale (February 25, 2016) by Crash LaResh (Author), Tricia Martin (Illustrator)

Paperback: 80 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (February 25, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1514126982

Who’s this that befuddles boogie brutes beneath beds? And hunts hopped-up hellions from tuckered tot’s heads? Who would dare to go there, in the name of old Hobb!? Well...soon you shall see there’s but ONE for the job! “Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre” ‘tis a whimsical jaunt thru’ the nighty-mare haunts of a bullied boy’s torments by ookie dream taunts. After three thousand, three hundred and ninety-eight nights, these nighty-mare Spookies must at once be set right! They must learn their lesson! Something must interfere... Could there be something out there that the nighty-mares fear? Open this book & enter into a “mostly” true tale written by Crash LaResh, based on the personal experiences of his own children who suffered from night terrors & how together they overcame this affliction that plagues millions of wee ones nightly worldwide after nightlights go out & bedroom doors close. All has been brilliantly brought to life thru’ the humorously dark, child-friendly illustrations of Tricia Martin. Enjoy...and may all of you wonder, tucked deep in your under, be unlocked & unleashed...open up & have fun...der :)

Page from the Kindle edition

I began my blogging tenure as a reviewer of Adolescent Literature. In fact, this week I received two (free) books at work to review. I love my job. Reading is considered working? Yeah, that’s pretty amazing.

My research interest focuses on a particular type of literature that usually remains with literary realism so whenever I see book for kids or young adults with a gothy flare, I tend to collect them.

I first heard about Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre: A Nighty-Nite Tale of Torture & Torment through members of my Horror Book Club. Wow, those folks are book-pushers/ enablers! Plus, buying this book was a chance to support some local talent.

Midnight, Me & Bob Macabre: A Nighty-Nite Tale of Torture & Torment is a graphic novel style “children’s book” about a little boy named Vex “who was chilled to his bones by a horrible hex” namely night terrors so horrific that poor Vex decides to stop sleeping just to avoid them. I know a bit about night terrors from experience—my fella has them. Unlike nightmares that are completely typical for all of us, night terrors are much more extreme. In the story, the ghouls called Spookies from Vex’s night terrors are personified and haunt him during the day. Reading the story as a metaphor I can see some similarities to the cyber bullying some kids face today. For Vex, even the day doesn’t offer any relief.

Page from the Kindle edition

To make matters worse, the adults around Vex aren’t paying much attention. The solution seems to be to give Vex a bunch of pills so that he doesn’t feel anything. These adults do not believe him well, Dr. Glumberger might after a bit of hypnosis that backfires.

To continue to make Vex’s life just awful, his mother decides to practice “tough Mummy love” and clean up (read that as clean out) his room of old comics and video games.

Just when life seems impossible, Bob Macabre who will help Vex “bare [his] way through the bizarre” (49) enters the picture. Bob Macabre, with Edward Scissorhand’s hair and Steampunk glasses, promises to bring back hope (possibly through a formula of “Hope x 13 – Doubt = Faith” (50) and helps Vex faces his fears through various adventures. Let’s just say that Bob isn’t giving up on his little friend and will help Vex snuff the dark veil of Fear (72).

I purchased the Kindle edition (due to my lack of patience) and on my iPad you can see the rich colors and beautiful illustrations that have hints of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey.

The creators used Indiegogo crowdsourcing funds (quite successfully) to continue their project. You can visit that page for more information along with their Facebook page.