'Clickers Forever: A Tribute to J.F. Gonzalez' – Edited by Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

Well, I was going to stop reviewing at 'Clickers vs Zombies' but I thought about it and despite some misgivings, which I'll go into later on, it was clear that the only place to stop reviewing would be with this tribute anthology (J.F. Gonzalez sadly passed away in 2014); at least until the reboot series comes our way. There is a hell of a lot to unpack in this book and I'm not sure that I'm up to the task of unpacking it all; I'll give it my best shot though. The bottom line is that if you have ever been a fan of J.F. Gonzalez' work or just want to find out more about he did for horror fiction (short answer: a lot) then 'Clickers Forever' is the book that you need, if you don't have it already.

Few Millennium-era horror authors left as big an imprint on the genre as J.F. Gonzalez. CLICKERS FOREVER: A TRIBUTE TO J.F. GONZALEZ celebrates his rich legacy, featuring some of horror’s biggest names alongside tomorrow’s stars in a massive career-spanning tribute. Featuring stories set in Gonzalez’s literary worlds of CLICKERS, SURVIVOR, PRIMITIVE, and RESTORE FROM BACK-UP; examinations of his creative process and the lasting impact of his seminal works; personal tributes and anecdotes from those who knew him best; and much more. A must-have for fans of J.F. Gonzalez and horror fiction.

The Authors: J.F. Gonzalez, Brian Keene, Jonathan Maberry, Mary SanGiovanni, David J. Schow, John Skipp, Jeff Strand, Weston Ochse,Wayne Allen Sallee, Kelli Owen, Nick Mamatas, Wrath James White, Jonathan Janz, Robert Swartwood, Kristopher Rufty, Adam Cesare,Gene O’Neill, John Urbancik, Gord Rollo, Gabino Iglesias, Monica O’Rourke, Mike Oliveri, Matt Hayward, Robert Ford, Mike Lombardo, Jeff Burk, Lesley Conner, Matt Serafini, Stephen Kozeniewski, Michael T. Huyck, Jay Wilburn, Geoff Cooper, Charles Rutledge, Wesley Southard, Kyle Lybeck, Amber Fallon, Dave Thomas, and Wile E. Young.

'Clickers Forever' is divided up into fiction pieces from various worlds that Gonzalez created and non-fiction accounts from those who knew him as a friend or as a fan of all things horror (or both).

Having read all the non-fiction pieces, I've made a conscious decision not to go into those too deeply as it's so clear that they are all incredibly personal pieces of writing and I don't think it's at all appropriate to review stuff like that.

What I can say though is that when you've finished reading the book, you put it down with a real feeling of just how loved J.F. Gonzalez is and what kind of a person he must have been to engender that kind of reaction from so many people. Even though the odds are that you never met him, you might feel like you know the man a little better after reading some of these pieces.

And then we move onto the fiction... There is a lot of that here, and I've got work in the morning, so I'm not going to catch everything. Again though, there isn't a single story here that you'd want to skip just to get to the next one. Read them all and get the measure of the man that this anthology is all about.

I only really knew Gonzalez' work through his 'Clickers' series so it was a real joy for me to find pieces that pointed me in the direction of other worlds that he wrote in. When I get paid next, I'm paying some of these worlds a visit. The major highlights for me here were Gonzalez' own works 'Shooting Schedule' and 'Mabel's Recipes', written in parallel with his novel 'Survivor'. 'Mabel's Recipes' in particular... Just wow. Talk about having the big reveal in plain sight before you're punched in the face with it. Gonzalez was clearly master of more than one game and it really shows here with extreme horror hidden in an old lady's cooking.

Special mention has to also go to Wesley Southard's 'For You, Anything'. Again, I've never read 'Primitive' unfortunately ('Clickers Forever' has shown me that there's so much more horror I need to read, and that's a good thing) but if the humanity on display in Southard's story is any reflection of what's in the source text then that's a read that I'm looking forward to. Southard should be very proud of what he wrote with 'For You, Anything', the best kind of fictional apocalypses are fuelled by hope.

Mike Oliveri's 'Algorithims of the Heart' was another good one (based around the novel 'Restore from Backup') but funnily enough, this was the only story where I felt that I'd have got more out of it if I'd read the original novel first. Or maybe it's just because IT and I have never quite gelled... It was an enjoyable read though with a frantic ending.

Having only read the 'Clickers' books, I was really reading in the hope of some giant scorpion/lobster hybrid action and I'm pleased to say that 'Clickers Forever' more than delivers on that score. If you can think of a situation involving Clickers, it's a fairly safe bet that it's covered here by any one of a number of enthusiastic writers, all of which have got right into the spirit of what a 'Clickers' story should really be all about. Remember all of that stuff I was saying about the previous 'Clickers' books? Well, it's all on show here. My personal highlights follow...

Wile E. Young's 'Ku Klux Clickers' is the perfect marriage of awesome title and Clickers chowing down on a group of people that no-one will miss and you can't really ask for anything more out of a short story. 'Deep Into That Dark One Peering', by Stephen Kozeniewski delivers all the blood and liquified innards that you would expect but turns things on its head by making a Dark One the protagonist. I love it when writers come at their subject matter from right out of left field and that's what you get here when you are asked to empathise with a Dark One and, to Kozeniewski's credit, it's very easy to do.

John Urbancik's 'Garage Clicker' and Jay Wilburn's 'Grab' really stood out for me as stories that not only took a risk in telling a 'rites of passage' tale, and relegating the Clickers almost to bystanders in their own story, but completely succeeded in delivering powerful storytelling with a shot of terror at exactly the right place. I almost dropped the book during 'Garage Clicker' when the Clicker...

There is of course a lot more to 'Clickers Forever' than the stories that I've mentioned here but there are only so many hours in the day and I've got work in the morning. It's worth saying again though that while the above tales were the ones that stood out for me, the rest of the book is just as easy to get into and just as difficut to put down. There is quite literally something for everyone here.

If you're a fan of 'Clickers', J.F. Gonzalez or just horror fiction in general then the odds are that you enjoyed this book just as much as I did. If you haven't read 'Clickers Forever' yet then I actually don't understand how that could have happened. Do something about it, right now.