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Hag Night
Nearly 200 years ago they turned Cobton into a graveyard.
They rose from the darkness and drained it dry, feeding off its citizens, one by one by one, their terrible thirst sparing no one. The village was shunned as cursed ground, its tall, narrow houses fell to decay.
The Resurrection.
Now the haunted ruins of Cobton have been rebuilt as a tourist trap. A TV crew descends on it one cold winter night and is trapped there by a howling blizzard that shuts them off from the world. And in the subterranean, charnel darkness below…the evil is reawakening, ancient hungers renewed.
The Colony is rising.
Their thirst is unspeakable.
And for the TV crew, it’s Hell on Earth.
They rose from the darkness and drained it dry, feeding off its citizens, one by one by one, their terrible thirst sparing no one. The village was shunned as cursed ground, its tall, narrow houses fell to decay.
The Resurrection.
Now the haunted ruins of Cobton have been rebuilt as a tourist trap. A TV crew descends on it one cold winter night and is trapped there by a howling blizzard that shuts them off from the world. And in the subterranean, charnel darkness below…the evil is reawakening, ancient hungers renewed.
The Colony is rising.
Their thirst is unspeakable.
And for the TV crew, it’s Hell on Earth.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Tim Curran
156 books577 followersTim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Biohazard, as well as the novella The Corpse King. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, and anthologies such as Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and Vile Things.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 10, 2016
crew and cast of an Elvira-esque tv program in a ghost town during a blizzard; vampires attack. much stupidity ensues.
this is shockingly bad, especially after reading Curran's rather awesome Dead Sea, a tale of men trapped in an other-dimensional horror-world.
but let's make some lemonade, right? sadly, I couldn't even turn the experience into a fun, mindless rollercoaster ride because the writing - by turns desperately overwritten and excruciatingly banal - continually took me out of the story. and neither the focus on being a 'real man' nor on how wet a cliché goth girl gets over vampires helped much either. eventually I had to give up. it was for the best. I have several more by Curran on my kindle and I don't want to be completely turned off to the author. I know he has some skills. sometimes. just not here.
and those quotes came from random page picks. sweet Jesus.
this is shockingly bad, especially after reading Curran's rather awesome Dead Sea, a tale of men trapped in an other-dimensional horror-world.
but let's make some lemonade, right? sadly, I couldn't even turn the experience into a fun, mindless rollercoaster ride because the writing - by turns desperately overwritten and excruciatingly banal - continually took me out of the story. and neither the focus on being a 'real man' nor on how wet a cliché goth girl gets over vampires helped much either. eventually I had to give up. it was for the best. I have several more by Curran on my kindle and I don't want to be completely turned off to the author. I know he has some skills. sometimes. just not here.
"Beneath noxious membranes of crematory ash..."membranes of ash? all predators are cowards? something 'oddly unsettling' about a laugh that sounds like a dying dog? in October? late at night? Megga felt threatened and since she felt that, she wanted to yell - and she's not the only one. I felt annoyed by this and feeling so, I also wanted to yell.
"Stanislav laughed and there was something oddly unsettling about that laughter. Like the strangled, retching bark of a sick dog as heard in the small hours of an October night."
"That's what they want. By nature, they're cowards. All predators are."
"Megga felt threatened by her and feeling so, she wanted to yell at her,"
and those quotes came from random page picks. sweet Jesus.
March 8, 2013
If Hell has a tour guide, Tim Curran should be scripting the words.
I have authors that I frequently check at Amazon for new releases and Tim Curran is on the short list. This is how I stumbled upon his newest novel, Hag Night, that was published February 3, 2013. It's amazing that a horror writer this talented doesn't get more fanfare. Despite keeping a closer eye on his work, I had no idea he was even coming out with this new novel so soon after his November 28, 2012 novel publication of Long Black Coffin. Of course, I instantly bought Hag Night and started reading.
The blurb makes it sound a bit like a zombie story, but no, the monsters sleeping beneath Cobton are of the hideously fanged variety. These aren't sparkling vampires either, no. They are vicious, enraged vamps with 200-year-old hardons for murder, destruction and mayhem. Oh, and let's not forget some of their monster friends, including copious amounts of hungry rats.
The plot goes something like a TV crew being dispatched to capture some creepy footage of the town at night for their low budget Chambers of Horror TV show. The scantily-clad vixen Wenda goes by the name Vultura and she's supposedly a cheap knockoff of Elvira. I had a rough time sustaining my disbelief that Wenda was a virgin, but besides that, her character was intriguing. Wenda/Vultura has a sleazy female assistant, Megga (a lot of 'a'-ending names, BTW, made them sometimes blend together in scenes) and there is the boss who set this up plus a few other minor characters.
The reader immediately gets the sense that it's a terrible idea for this TV crew to be in Cobton after dark. Their van collides with something other-worldly in the road and thus almost immediately this becomes a frenetic, page-turning monsterfest! It's on like some mutated, bloodthirsty Donkey Kong.
For those who love their horror fast, violent and furious, Hag Night doesn't disappoint. It's like a sped-up version of Dead Sea for the creepy, atmosphere scenes plus the relentless, sweat-soaked battle scenes of Biohazard. Just about the time Curran lets the reader breathe, we learn about what sort of evil happened 200 years ago and how it ties into the current day plight and we become disturbed by what the TV crew must do to survive a very nightmarish, chilling night.
Curran's descriptive skills, which I've talked about in other reviews, are for the most part the work of a master craftsman. He has a few pet words ("pestilence" is used too frequently) and can be a bit simile heavy (sometimes two or three similes in the same paragraph describing the same person, place, action or thing), but otherwise I love his graphic descriptions. He's also very skilled at describing action scenes making the reader feel like you're right there, front row seat, witnessing the battle, rooting for the good guys/gals.
Hag Night cements my fandom for this gifted storyteller. I'll now even more actively seek out any horror this man writes. Yes, Hag Night, is awesome (if you've read DRACULAS, it has a similar kind of intensity and balls-out horror).
It's not a five star read because of some very minor warts here and there (some plausibility concerns as mentioned above), but it's a strong 4.5 stars (which I'm rounding up) and highly recommended horror reading. I'd place it as his second best novel next to Dead Sea that I've read to date. I have a few more novels left in his backlist to read and can't wait!
Note: 6,429 Kindle locations. Hag Night ends at 91%, with the last 9% including a free sample of The Hunt by Joseph Williams.
I have authors that I frequently check at Amazon for new releases and Tim Curran is on the short list. This is how I stumbled upon his newest novel, Hag Night, that was published February 3, 2013. It's amazing that a horror writer this talented doesn't get more fanfare. Despite keeping a closer eye on his work, I had no idea he was even coming out with this new novel so soon after his November 28, 2012 novel publication of Long Black Coffin. Of course, I instantly bought Hag Night and started reading.
The blurb makes it sound a bit like a zombie story, but no, the monsters sleeping beneath Cobton are of the hideously fanged variety. These aren't sparkling vampires either, no. They are vicious, enraged vamps with 200-year-old hardons for murder, destruction and mayhem. Oh, and let's not forget some of their monster friends, including copious amounts of hungry rats.
The plot goes something like a TV crew being dispatched to capture some creepy footage of the town at night for their low budget Chambers of Horror TV show. The scantily-clad vixen Wenda goes by the name Vultura and she's supposedly a cheap knockoff of Elvira. I had a rough time sustaining my disbelief that Wenda was a virgin, but besides that, her character was intriguing. Wenda/Vultura has a sleazy female assistant, Megga (a lot of 'a'-ending names, BTW, made them sometimes blend together in scenes) and there is the boss who set this up plus a few other minor characters.
The reader immediately gets the sense that it's a terrible idea for this TV crew to be in Cobton after dark. Their van collides with something other-worldly in the road and thus almost immediately this becomes a frenetic, page-turning monsterfest! It's on like some mutated, bloodthirsty Donkey Kong.
For those who love their horror fast, violent and furious, Hag Night doesn't disappoint. It's like a sped-up version of Dead Sea for the creepy, atmosphere scenes plus the relentless, sweat-soaked battle scenes of Biohazard. Just about the time Curran lets the reader breathe, we learn about what sort of evil happened 200 years ago and how it ties into the current day plight and we become disturbed by what the TV crew must do to survive a very nightmarish, chilling night.
Curran's descriptive skills, which I've talked about in other reviews, are for the most part the work of a master craftsman. He has a few pet words ("pestilence" is used too frequently) and can be a bit simile heavy (sometimes two or three similes in the same paragraph describing the same person, place, action or thing), but otherwise I love his graphic descriptions. He's also very skilled at describing action scenes making the reader feel like you're right there, front row seat, witnessing the battle, rooting for the good guys/gals.
Hag Night cements my fandom for this gifted storyteller. I'll now even more actively seek out any horror this man writes. Yes, Hag Night, is awesome (if you've read DRACULAS, it has a similar kind of intensity and balls-out horror).
It's not a five star read because of some very minor warts here and there (some plausibility concerns as mentioned above), but it's a strong 4.5 stars (which I'm rounding up) and highly recommended horror reading. I'd place it as his second best novel next to Dead Sea that I've read to date. I have a few more novels left in his backlist to read and can't wait!
Note: 6,429 Kindle locations. Hag Night ends at 91%, with the last 9% including a free sample of The Hunt by Joseph Williams.
March 16, 2013
I am going to give this 3.5 stars.
Tiim Curran is a brilliant writer. This is a very good story. Actually, it is a great story. Filet mignon of a story. However, it is presented with a heavy (and unnecessary) sauce that overwhelms its flavor.
The tale at the core of this novel is an homage to all things vampiric with much love for cinematic and literary nosfertu. No, the plural of nosferatu is not nosferati as I originally thought. I looked it up. Which brings me to my gripe with this book. I have used the dictionary feature on my kindle about 5 times and 3 of them were for this book. The descriptive passages were so extended and filled with excessively complex and elevated language that I found myself falling out of the story. It lessened rather than heightened the impact. As did the repetition of these descriptions. Too much. Just too much. Too much internal dialogue in italics and at times all caps. About the fourth time a vampire invaded a character's thoughts, I was tired.
Wow, I am starting to sound like I didn't like this book. That really isn't true. At its core this story is a delicious and quite scary tale that needed an editor to trim it down. And this is just me. There are plenty of rave reviews. It was just a bit too over written for me.
I am a big fan of Tim Curran but I think that I may prefer his novellas, especially Fear Me and The Underdwelling which I found to be lean and compelling.
Tiim Curran is a brilliant writer. This is a very good story. Actually, it is a great story. Filet mignon of a story. However, it is presented with a heavy (and unnecessary) sauce that overwhelms its flavor.
The tale at the core of this novel is an homage to all things vampiric with much love for cinematic and literary nosfertu. No, the plural of nosferatu is not nosferati as I originally thought. I looked it up. Which brings me to my gripe with this book. I have used the dictionary feature on my kindle about 5 times and 3 of them were for this book. The descriptive passages were so extended and filled with excessively complex and elevated language that I found myself falling out of the story. It lessened rather than heightened the impact. As did the repetition of these descriptions. Too much. Just too much. Too much internal dialogue in italics and at times all caps. About the fourth time a vampire invaded a character's thoughts, I was tired.
Wow, I am starting to sound like I didn't like this book. That really isn't true. At its core this story is a delicious and quite scary tale that needed an editor to trim it down. And this is just me. There are plenty of rave reviews. It was just a bit too over written for me.
I am a big fan of Tim Curran but I think that I may prefer his novellas, especially Fear Me and The Underdwelling which I found to be lean and compelling.
March 7, 2013
Excellent atmosphere and descriptions! I only wish I had gotten the kindle version instead of the paperback...the small print drove my eyes crazy, and I had to take frequent breaks. It amazes me how certain authors are able to come up--consistently--with new twists on old themes. :)
June 13, 2013
You know that statement "You can never have too much of a good thing"? Well, you can, and whoever said that clearly never read Tim Curran.
I realize I have praised Curran in the past, and I will still praise him for being such an original and twisted author. He writes like no one else and his stories are like no one else's. In a world where increasingly mundane authors are reaching ridiculous amounts of sales for lackluster books, there are still the underground, clever, and much more talented writers who can still pen something that isn't cookie-cutter and the same old story with different names. Thank God that Tim Curran is one of those kind of guys.
Like "Cannibal Corpse", "The Hive" and "Resurrection", "Hag Night" is pretty much non stop. The action never relents and Curran, being the clever author that he is, always find yet another way to ramp up the violence or the suspense. He can still craft some pretty believable and like-able characters as well. And unlike his other works, you actually liked every character here...well with the exception of Megga, but then again, I think that was pretty well planed as well. The other thing that is clearly evident in all of the author's library, and shown no better than in this one, is the amount of knowledge Curran has for simple things that could otherwise be overlooked. He knows the details of old, 18th century houses, the way life was in those days, and the guy obviously knows his horror films, mentioning bizarre and B-Rated ones that only a true fan of the genre would.
Unfortunately (and I just realized I use that word a lot), it's that originality that comes back to bite "Hag Night." Curran has always been known to scribble down some pretty apt descriptions in his novels. Usually many, many, many times, over and over again. I appreciate new ways to describe things and the more crazy and outlandish the better, but sometimes Curran needs to know when to pull in the reigns a bit and just leave some of it up to our own imagination. Like I did with "Cannibal Corpse", I'll leave you one of his numerous examples of overwrought illustration:
"She saw the hunched, tenebrous form making its way amongst the moss-covered slabs and leaning headstones, gliding through the blowing snow. It had been a woman before the raves of interment, before the cold and fat dormancy of its sleep. But it was no longer a woman. It was an appetite. And this was its primary motivation, the candle that still burned and flickered in the hollow mortuary of its flesh. It glowed with an even, hungry light like a black taper seen through a frosted window. And it was this hunger that would renew it, temake it, rekindle it's pestilental spirit, transform it from a sculpture of mausoleum dust and drifting web into the semblance of a woman again."
Now, I'm all for these kinda details...once in a while. Curran puts these things on every page, often times more than once. I don't know how many times the word "pestilence" was used, or how frequently we, the readers were told about the vampires red eyes or their desires by "feasting on brain and organ, shearing skin and chomping down throat meat."
I'm not gonna say much else about this book or its author. The details are here for you to see. All I'm going to say in closing is that you could do far, far worse in picking an author to read, but don't go for "Hag Night" right off the bat. Try an older one like "Dead Sea" or "Biohazard."
I realize I have praised Curran in the past, and I will still praise him for being such an original and twisted author. He writes like no one else and his stories are like no one else's. In a world where increasingly mundane authors are reaching ridiculous amounts of sales for lackluster books, there are still the underground, clever, and much more talented writers who can still pen something that isn't cookie-cutter and the same old story with different names. Thank God that Tim Curran is one of those kind of guys.
Like "Cannibal Corpse", "The Hive" and "Resurrection", "Hag Night" is pretty much non stop. The action never relents and Curran, being the clever author that he is, always find yet another way to ramp up the violence or the suspense. He can still craft some pretty believable and like-able characters as well. And unlike his other works, you actually liked every character here...well with the exception of Megga, but then again, I think that was pretty well planed as well. The other thing that is clearly evident in all of the author's library, and shown no better than in this one, is the amount of knowledge Curran has for simple things that could otherwise be overlooked. He knows the details of old, 18th century houses, the way life was in those days, and the guy obviously knows his horror films, mentioning bizarre and B-Rated ones that only a true fan of the genre would.
Unfortunately (and I just realized I use that word a lot), it's that originality that comes back to bite "Hag Night." Curran has always been known to scribble down some pretty apt descriptions in his novels. Usually many, many, many times, over and over again. I appreciate new ways to describe things and the more crazy and outlandish the better, but sometimes Curran needs to know when to pull in the reigns a bit and just leave some of it up to our own imagination. Like I did with "Cannibal Corpse", I'll leave you one of his numerous examples of overwrought illustration:
"She saw the hunched, tenebrous form making its way amongst the moss-covered slabs and leaning headstones, gliding through the blowing snow. It had been a woman before the raves of interment, before the cold and fat dormancy of its sleep. But it was no longer a woman. It was an appetite. And this was its primary motivation, the candle that still burned and flickered in the hollow mortuary of its flesh. It glowed with an even, hungry light like a black taper seen through a frosted window. And it was this hunger that would renew it, temake it, rekindle it's pestilental spirit, transform it from a sculpture of mausoleum dust and drifting web into the semblance of a woman again."
Now, I'm all for these kinda details...once in a while. Curran puts these things on every page, often times more than once. I don't know how many times the word "pestilence" was used, or how frequently we, the readers were told about the vampires red eyes or their desires by "feasting on brain and organ, shearing skin and chomping down throat meat."
I'm not gonna say much else about this book or its author. The details are here for you to see. All I'm going to say in closing is that you could do far, far worse in picking an author to read, but don't go for "Hag Night" right off the bat. Try an older one like "Dead Sea" or "Biohazard."
April 2, 2020
Maybe it was a mistake to read this one a day after Toxic Shadows since both have similar plots, but I just couldn't get into this one. I appreciate Tim Curran's dedication to describing the monsters, Mira Grant and some other bestsellers could take some points from him, but him describing everything in such purple-prose terms gets a bit tiring after a while.
I do love parts of this book, the vampire stuff is pretty great most of the time, but a good editor that could have cut some of the unneeded descriptions so the ones that are left had more impact would be great.
I do love parts of this book, the vampire stuff is pretty great most of the time, but a good editor that could have cut some of the unneeded descriptions so the ones that are left had more impact would be great.
March 10, 2013
A good story with new twists to vampire lore. A bit repetitive at times and the story was over-told, taking away from the pacing of some truly horrific moments. Megga should have been knocked out a helluva lot sooner. A good read.
May 15, 2018
Boring. If it takes a month to read a vampire book....
February 8, 2024
I love a good vampire story
I still have yet to be disappointed by Curran.
This novel starts off like a B horror movie, and quickly descends into Hellish Slavic myth, with a truly classical and horrific interpretation of vampires.
These aren't moody or brooding creatures of the night. They are foul, dead, devious, and evil things. I think the only author that conjured up even more awful vampires was the late and great Brian Lumley in his "Necroscope" series.
I will most likely read this again, most likely come Halloween.
I still have yet to be disappointed by Curran.
This novel starts off like a B horror movie, and quickly descends into Hellish Slavic myth, with a truly classical and horrific interpretation of vampires.
These aren't moody or brooding creatures of the night. They are foul, dead, devious, and evil things. I think the only author that conjured up even more awful vampires was the late and great Brian Lumley in his "Necroscope" series.
I will most likely read this again, most likely come Halloween.
May 14, 2024
This book annoyed the hell out of me. I liked the story but advancing the story became problematic. The author felt it necessary to go through each character (and there are a lot of them) and describe what they were going through as the vampires attacked, physically and mentally. And it was the same thing, over and over and over. During "Interludes" the author went into the history of the plague and the vampires that brought it, describing what happened in each town. And it was the same over and over and over. He describes killing the vampires in the graves. And it was the same thing over and over and over. I got 2/3 the way through this book and was dreading turning the page feeling like I was just reading the same story over and over and over. Finally, I just gave up.
July 3, 2013
Finished this book finally! Where to begin...To say Tim Curran is a descriptive writer is probably the understatement of the century. The man is immensely talented and frequently I find myself looking up some of the terminology he utilizes in his stories. This can be good to an extent but wears very thin after a bit. I remember one scene in particular where a victim “Burt” was going to make a run for it to a Jeep they spotted not for from the house they were taking refuge in. The scene took about 20 – 25 screens (read this on an E-Reader) which was way too long. I was like get on with the story, I do not need 25 paragraphs of adjectives describing the weather, Burt’s inner monologue, the vile, pestilence, putrid, rotting, decaying, decomposing, virulent, (you see my point) description of the vampire/hag creature.
That being said, the book had some enjoyable aspects and some excitement that would ultimately bog you down from the descriptiveness of the scenes taking place. Tim Curran is an amazing writer, he just needs to reel it in a bit. We get it you are a very intelligent Lovecraftian type of writer, just don’t overdo it. I have seen similar reviews making similar comments.
I did enjoy his other work the Devil Next Door more than this one. Take a chance you might really like it. I have been pretty burnt out on the vampire scene so that might have a lot to do with this review as well.
That being said, the book had some enjoyable aspects and some excitement that would ultimately bog you down from the descriptiveness of the scenes taking place. Tim Curran is an amazing writer, he just needs to reel it in a bit. We get it you are a very intelligent Lovecraftian type of writer, just don’t overdo it. I have seen similar reviews making similar comments.
I did enjoy his other work the Devil Next Door more than this one. Take a chance you might really like it. I have been pretty burnt out on the vampire scene so that might have a lot to do with this review as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2021
Gory, which is a good thing!
I like Curran. He does a great job at writing gore. I was loving this book the first half, but then it all became very repetitive. I loved the backstory he gave on Griska. Giving it 4 stars because he is a talented writer and I've enjoyed some of his other books.
I like Curran. He does a great job at writing gore. I was loving this book the first half, but then it all became very repetitive. I loved the backstory he gave on Griska. Giving it 4 stars because he is a talented writer and I've enjoyed some of his other books.
May 28, 2013
The plot was so slow, not exciting, and the writing was burdened by archaic vocabulary. I guess the story just wasn't my cup of tea.
July 5, 2022
I could start this by mentioning some of this book's faults, but that's a real bummer. Let's just skip to the part where I say: WOW WHAT FUN! And as I've mentioned elsewhere, Mr. Curran's descriptions of, say, vampires from other dimensions, or things of that nature, are spot-on. One can almost reach out and touch (if one wanted to) abominable, shape-shifting monsters. That being said, I like his short stories a little better than his novels so far. The descriptive energy I just lauded can, after a while, start to seem a little like filler. But it's not to worry about. Curran is still my favorite personal 'discovery' of the year.
February 16, 2024
Tim Curran is an awesome writer for the creepiest books. This book was a vampire book but the vampires were like shapeshifers of different things even smoke. This book is better than Salem's Lot by Stephen King !
July 6, 2022
Unfortunately DNF’d at around 60%. I just didn’t find the human characters likeable and the plot was a bit slow.
August 14, 2014
Tim Curran's Hag Night was a blast. This was my first novel by him and I plan to pick up some more. I was really impressed by his prose, it reminds me a bit of Clive Barker, and his take on vampires was a refreshing disassociation from Rice's romantic interpretation. Mr. Curran is a breath of fresh air in the horror genre, and I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes their vampires represented in a more animalistic and savage way. Cheers!
September 17, 2013
Another great story by Tim Curran. Non stop action, over the top descriptions. I did notice that he used the word "pestilence" 19 times and "putrescence" 11 times throughout Hag Night which made me LOL. I'm looking forward to reading his latest book called "Sow."
February 20, 2013
Great book. Tim Curran is the best horror writer working today!
July 22, 2016
Well written, highly descriptive horror yarn.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews