Article contributed by Jena Brown
Nebula award winner Sam J. Miller returns with a chilling horror story about how returning home forces us to face the demons of our past.
Renowned photographer Ronan Szepessy swore he’d never go home to Hudson. The small town wasn’t safe when he was growing up, and he can’t imagine there’s any place for him now. But on the request of an elusive client, he finds himself going back, telling himself there’s no harm in a quick visit.
Within minutes of stepping off the train, he sees Hudson is changing. Taken over by real estate moguls and corporate interests, evictions of former friends and neighbours are on the rise. Ronan reconnects with two high school friends––his former lover, Dom, and his wife, Attalah. Though all three mourn the gentrified changes their town is experiencing, it’s Attalah and Ronan who decide to do something about it. They begin plotting to thwart the upcoming mayoral election and try to intimidate the newcomers. But as their plans progress, forces beyond their imagining are let loose and begin wreaking havoc on the town.
As hate and violence become wedged into the ribs of residents, the line between good and evil blurs. Friends and neighbours turn on each other and Ronan has to muster the courage to face his demons once and for all, or lose Hudson, and everyone in it, forever.
One of the main themes in The Blade Between is the stunning and in-depth examination into the complexity of gentrification. Miller does an incredible job showing the vast array of perspectives this shift has on everyone in Hudson. It isn’t just the old residents versus the new. Some are benefitting from the incoming corporate dollars and see the changes to their businesses and neighbourhoods as a necessary evolution. But for others, those who are forced out of buildings and properties due to rising rent, it’s hard to see the changes as anything other than hostile. For Ronan, his reactions are of the complicated variety. He’s spent his entire life vowing never to return to the place that scarred him. But, sometimes the things we hate are also the things we love, and when faced with drastic change, that line can be difficult to delineate.
Hudson itself is a town steeped in blood. A former whale town, the brutality of that trade soaked the soil and built the foundation of the town. Now, the spirits of those brutalised whales maintain a hold over the residents. It’s easy to see the commentary regarding the ghosts of a past having hold over us, and while we see it in individual characters, this broader perspective is just as important in terms of who we are as a collective.
Do the transgressions of a collective past impact how a city grows or dies? It’s an interesting question, and one that Miller allows the reader to answer themselves. They play a role in amping up the anger and hate roiling through Hudson, but doesn’t the mythology of a place do the same? We tell ourselves stories about the history of the places we come from and these stories can cause us to hold onto these spectres of the past in unexpected ways. Sometimes we resist growth and change, hanging on to the way things used to be. Other times we are more than ready to let the past die, taking the stories with it. In regard to Hudson, it’s both. The gory and violent past has been forgotten in many ways, but the town isn’t willing to move forward either. It’s stuck in a strange limbo and using the literal ghosts of the past is a creative way to explore these questions.
Individually, and mainly through Ronan, we see how the people in our life turn into the voices haunting our present. And these whispers shape the choices we make. It doesn’t matter how far we run, or where we go, or how much we resist them. Leaving these ghosts buried will always allow them to whisper to us. And the longer they remain buried, the more devastating their messages will be. Miller brilliantly shows us how evil acts done with good intentions can still manifest unexpected hate. But even deeper than that, he shows us how quickly hate can flame, blinding us to the potential and possibility of peace or compromise. With each hateful act completed, the residents of Hudson feel the hardened edges of that hate take (literal) shape within them. Once unleashed, hatred becomes a force entirely its own. One that Ronan or Attalah or even the individual residents can’t control, though they try.
Repercussions and consequences begin piling up in realistic and heartbreaking ways. Ronon, Attalah, and Dom all become wrapped in the tentacles of a hate they no longer understand but certainly can’t see through either. The ghosts of Hudson feed on all the repressed anger and uncertainty the residents struggle with and the various misdeeds of Hudson’s residents spiral into a cycle where anger begets hate begets violence, displaying the very worst in human nature. And while this is supernatural fiction, the fact that this is how hate works will strike deep within readers and resonate long after the pages end.
For all of the heartbreak and misery we endure, Miller doesn’t give us a world without hope. Unlike other supernatural fiction, where there is a curse to break or a demon to slay, Miller gives the power to the individuals within the story, and in turn, us. It doesn’t matter what the characters have done, what matters is what they choose to do next. The things unleashed can be harnessed, if they’re willing to face the very worst of themselves. And this is a powerful message not just of redemption but of self-actualisation. Ronan has to peel away all the layers of lies and beliefs he’s held his entire life––about himself, his parents, his town––and make a choice between love and hate. It sounds simple, but for anyone who has had to do the same, it’s one of the hardest tangles to unravel. Through each character and the decisions they make, Miller shows us that while love is stronger than hate, it’s also much harder to see, harder to accept, and harder to believe. It’s never an easy choice and the right way forward is never clearly marked.
The Blade Between is a ghost story, but it’s so much more. It’s a story about facing the worst in ourselves and deciding if we’re good enough. It’s about forgiveness and progress and compromise. It takes the very worst of humanity, our violent and bloodied histories, and gives us permission to choose not to be defined by them. The horror doesn’t hold back and at times this book can be gory and violent, but the truly chilling and horrifying elements are how human these ghosts are when they exact their vengeance.
Anyone looking for a book with layers woven in the plot and nuance written in every page will quickly fall in love with Miller’s writing, and fans of dynamic stories filled with spine-tingling terrors that propel them to the end will be equally enamoured. The Blade Between takes us on a ride into the dark depths of human nature, but it also shows us the power we have within ourselves to change and grow in all the ways that matter.
The Blade Between is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
From Nebula Award winner Sam J. Miller comes a frightening and uncanny ghost story about a rapidly changing city in upstate New York and the mysterious forces that threaten it.
Ronan Szepessy promised himself he’d never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City’s distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge.
Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom’s wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become—overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable.
Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real estate developers aren’t the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan’s hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.
