Monica Angerhuber's Nocturnal Products is the first book I have read of her vivid prose. I was not disappointed. The book is divided into three portions: Administrative Nightmares, The Grey Lake Visions, and The Second Face of Town. Right off, I am intrigued with these very unusual presentations to the stories that she is about to tell me.

One thing I have got to say, Eddie will entrance you with her words. She is very precise, very descriptive, and leads you places as if holding your hand yet you feeling all alone. She is a very eerie writer with an essence of mystical cleverness.

Segment One: Administrative Nightmare

The Nocturnal Product:
     In this first tale of suspense, Eddie takes you on a journey through a seedy part of town. You end up at the local cinema, ARCANA PALACE, to take in a flick. This is the matinee she opted for: NOCTURNAL PRODUCTS.
     I loved how Eddie slowly takes you into the cinema atmosphere. You feel the darkness of the room closing in on you, that murky darkness as the lights die down and the curtain pulls open to show the documentary of Nocturnal Products.
     You hear the droning of the film and the familiar narrators' voice. The old black-and-white movie flickered and made the murmurs the old movies had with poor sound quality and the faded washed out picture quality.
     Still, you are there, you are alone, (although a few people are there to see this flick) you are still utterly alone as the camera creeps over dilapidated buildings then you are taken to the time in place, the hour between dusk and nighttime. What horrors awaits one at that time? When you are shown the product, do you believe? Is this a hoax, or is it real? Judge for yourself as you read Eddie's surreal dramatic experience. Trust me, you won't leave the theater quite the same afterwards.

The Heart of the Darkness::
     After she loses her job in the administrate building, she must find a way to survive and spend her days with some sense of purpose. She traverses eerily through the rundown town. You feel what she feels, smells what she smells. You, the reader, are captivated by the meandrous trek filled with: wintry scenes, dense dark grays, and the train will liven up your imagination.
     Could the town be "the heart of the darkness" and what if you were in the middle of it?
     In this tale you are totally taken by surprise in the ending. However, even then you will be thinking long after reading the story. Eddie has a very philosophical way about her storytelling. She doesn't just live life; she appears to comprehend it in the most picturesque way. Dark and brooding, yet filled with beauty. A sheer brilliance.

Segment Two: The Grey Lake Visions

The Anankastic Syndrome:
     This is without a doubt one of the most diverse tales I have ever read. Eddie is one hell of a writer and taken us yet to another derelict town scene. This time we have the maddening drones of power lines and crickets outside our bedroom windows in the little town of Grey Lake. To find out just what exactly the Anankastic Syndrome is: read the story and then awaken to your senses, if you have any left when you are finished reading.      The final sentence in this tale sums up the story: "For we are all only the shades of specters in a house that belongs to no-one."

The Other Staircase:
     As the leaden grayness of the sky engulfed her and invited her into its deeper secrets. She remembered old folklores that ones told her about the part of town she was in. An eerie concept, everything develops its own life at the holy hour. Now she was out in that town, dark, and unwelcoming with a strong sense of being lost. She wanders through the nocturnal city; plays their maddening game. Until, she is tricked! Now she must find that other staircase, she must stop the maddening machines that runs the town. That has devoured the people.      She noticed her watch, the hands upon its face were opened, yawning like a maw, or like the first step upon a spiral staircase.      The staircase that leads both up and down at the same time- is illuminating and holds a secret. Which way will she go?

The Hierophant of Dreams:
     Reaching into the cavity underneath the staircase, she finds a book. This is a book that will leave you weary, lethargic, and devours your dreams and YOU! A wicked book without words yet can be read.
     This ending is a shocker and you have no idea that is where and what this about until you are feeling that dread, worn-out feeling and you can't even go into work that day. Then the realization creeps in you precisely in the nick of time of what is sapping your energy.

Segment 3: The Second Face of Town

Rinaldini's Hands:
     It's so rare to find someone to help you out these days, isn't it? Zysta knows of a wonder doctor that can take her pain away with no monetary expense. He takes her into the darkness - to a dead end street where old carnival rides were placed upon an old warehouse like an old graveyard. Inside, the warehouse was a nocturnal blackness - until from the shadows appeared Doctor Rinaldini in his black suit. He calls upon the pained woman to assist him.
     She was upon a metal stretcher going through unbearable pain - immensely removing the pain from her body. Writhing in pain...she becomes mesmerized as he did weird gestures over her body.
     When Rinaldini touched her skin, what was under her dress, an old woman? What? What does "lumaca" mean? I don't think there is a dermatologist that can cure this disorder.
     Eddie gives a very thick plot in this tale - even now filled with atmosphere, but a plot we can all relate to. Pain - a woman's writhing pain and agony and finding a "good" doctor to remove the pain. Nonetheless, Eddie has tossed some horror to the picturesque scene and given us a hell worse than the pain itself.

The Blue Star:
     What is the meaning of this crystalline blue star? Is it an encrypted message some secret signal? Is it murderous?
     This was a brutal bolt from the blue! What happened to Leila? How does the Blue Star emit such energy? Eddie has taken a sf-ish approach to this tale and given us a horrid view. April 30th will never be the same after devouring this ravenous tale.
     A very thick and rich story that is filled with a creative imagination and told in a well crafted Science Fiction slash Horror method. Perhaps my favorite in the collection.

Solo for The Queen:
     I remember Eddie telling me, dolls possess an eerie and spooky ambiance or some such. I can see from reading this tale, not only does she have a dread of this porcelain demons, but there is a battle that women wage against one another.
     Eddie has created a dreadful scene with The Queen, who holds all the others in her command. This tale is very spine-chilling. Must Rosanna must do the dance by the end?
     Is there anything more spooky than clowns or dolls? Do their eyes turn toward you when you walk into the room? You can nearly feel their presence engulfing you.
     Eddie has taken the "living doll" scenario and webbed a horror only those that fear the plastic and porcelain can appreciate. The ending is once again, a staggering revelation!

Mrs. Drasic's Farewell Party:
     Ah, Eddie has enlisted another talent in the horror field to write this tale: John B. Ford. Between these two horrific writers you are not going to be disappointed in, "Mrs. Drasic's Farewell Party" and you will be awarded like good little children.
     This tale sends shivers down your spine as you wish for sleep, for the darkness to take you to dreamland instead of in the playroom with the Mother of Darkness. This mistress of all witches feeds upon children's strength and the essence of their innocence. Unable to resist the Netherworld, they enter. They knew not to trust her, their Mother.
     A wicked analogy is made from this Mother and our Mother Earth, come celebrate the farewell party! Wait till you see what you are celebrating though!

Alchemy of the Abyss:
     This is another one of Eddie's thickly filled atmospheric tales. With her unique images she sets to prose of this desolate ghostly town, Eddie has translated herself well into English. Ones may be saying, "What do you mean, Brutal Dreamer?"
     I mean this: Eddie is from Germany and has translated her German to English in this incredibly surreal collection; the black emptiness overwhelming and taking over,... suffocating us. You feel her sheer unique prose emit through the gray and murky literary success where she is in her own right and exceeds far beyond the imagination.

Hymn To The Night:
     A cold restless begins as she has to tell a good friend goodbye. This friend is not well received by her parents or the town, but Eddie doesn't see her charming friend the way the townsfolk do. She is enthralled with her friends beautiful black hungry eyes (that matches her heart)!
     Again, Eddie has given us this town, lush filled atmosphere with a plot that will freak even the most horrific fan off their chairs.

Prayers to The Void:
     What color is PAIN? Edie has taken life as we know it and tossed it into a melting pot filled texture and color and tantalized her fans with this very dreamlike tale.
     In this infinite blackness of no more tomorrows or yesterdays; Eddie takes her characters exploring deeper realms of both humanity and the universe.

The Colours of Sounds:
     What would you do, if twenty-some years later, someone from your past invites you to a gathering. What if you can't remember her? Sister Armogata has sent out an invitation to questioning group of older women that she says they all made a promise and to return to the Villa Destructa. What is the promise they seem to of all forgotten? What did it have to do with Maria Ast and photographs? She remembered a story she heard about an inquisitive person that met a demon in Maria's haunted house.
     What is making her see purple, red and green reflections?

Nocturnal Products is a flair of Eddie's natural, unforced writing voice, that is very unusual. With most writers, you can tell you are reading a book and the author is TELLING or SHOWING you the story. With Eddie's work, you could very well be just in a daze and daydreaming. Her writing technique is that natural. She gets every detail down without driving the reader into convulsions. Instead, you are mesmerized, as if hypnotized into a world where you do hear the soft drones of a narrator reading this book to you while you slip into another dimension, another world, under her spell. This has got to be one of my favorite books ever, if not my very favorite. Rinaldini's Hands and The Blue Star hold a lush plot and doused with wicked imagery that creates a feeling a anxiety in the reader. These two are my favorite tales in the collection. However, the enter menagerie of coagulated terrors of darkness will keep you mesmerized until the final page.

Enjoying your senses, as Eddie offers a beautiful yet dark beauty to her surrealistic interpretations of concealed characteristics and personalities along with alternate worlds and dimensions. This is all attained through dreamy revelations that are fastidiously wrapped up in a well crafted voice. Her poignant and haunting atmosphere filled with syrupy poetic details will provoke a feeling of dread inside the most cynical.