December

If you are digging into the horror novels that Phil Rickman wrote prior to his wonderful Merrily Watkins series, you will meet four of the characters in "December" (1994) who later appear in "The Cure of Souls" (2001): Moira, the folksinger; Simon, the vicar; Isabel, the sex-starved, wheelchair-bound accountant; and Prof Levin, the alcoholic recording engineer.Boy, will you meet them--and like them too, even though Moira is a recluse who might be responsible for the death of her mother; Simon is a self-confessed homosexual necrophiliac; Isabel's first sexual adventure killed her partner; and Prof Levin stays drunk through most of "December" (a very reasonable response to finding oneself in the midst of a Rickman horror novel.)What little sex there is in this novel is very dark, as in corrupted, or sometimes darkly humorous, as in Isabel's aerial deflowering. Loathsome, brown candles are a regular supernatural visitation foretelling death and/or really hellish sex. However, this book isn't really about sex (even though I keep talking about it.)It's about music.I learned more than I thought I ever wanted to know about John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, and even Simon and Garfunkel--well, Goth horror is something else this book is not--mostly it concerns musicians from the 60's who didn't make it very far into the 80's. One of the main characters, Dave the guitarist, is plagued by the notion that he could have prevented John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980. Dave has some pretty snappy dialogues with Lennon who now seems to be living in his head.Dave isn't the only one with a psychic problem. All of the musicians who attempted to record an album in an ancient abbey-turned-recording-studio on the date of Lennon's death are traumatized by a tragedy that gradually works its way to the surface through the course of this novel.Rickman piles horror upon horror until thirteen years after Lennon's death, the musicians are compelled to return to the abbey to complete the song that had called up an ancient evil.You'll be reading this one through the night--even though you shouldn't.

The first Rickman I read, Candlenight, was exceeding well-written, full of interesting and believable characters, and introduced me to a fascinating regional culture -- but it really wasn't creepy or eerie at all. December has all the virtues of Candlenight, combined with a genuinely spooky storyline about a recording studio in an unholy abbey near the Welsh border. Rickman really nails rock culture in addition to giving us another well-realized small town -- I wonder whether he's been in a band himself, he really gives us a plausible mix of personalities and seems to know his way around a studio.There are some flaws. It ends up seeming to suggest that being gay is some sort of vile perversion -- even though a throw-away comment indicates that that wasn't the intention, that's the general tenor of one plotline and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, one of the main characters, Davie, is such a wet smack that I couldn't wait for him to get added to the bodycount, plus it's a HUGE book and takes a good long time to get rolling. With that one exception, though, I found the characters interesting enough that I didn't mind spending time with them over the long build-up, and December packed some impressive chills, if not a lot of surprises (you know the lady who is all gung-ho about spiritualism and thinks she has a friendly ghost living in the house is asking for trouble, right?).

Fellow December fans, we are in luck: Philosopher's Stone lives. The Amazon MP3 download is available, and the CD is available from Phil Rickman's website "shop" page starting December 8, 2011... yes, you know what that date signifies. Abbey Tapes: the Exorcism is ten songs from the 1994 band reunion, including "On a Bad Day", "Dakota Blues", "Ballad of Aelwyn Breadwinner", and "The Comb Song". And new print and Kindle eds. of December are imminent. December is one of my favorite books, I must have read it 3 times by now. This novel of horror, mystery, ghosts and rock n roll has many layers, and now a healing that takes place when Tom, Davey, Moira and Simon's songs are finally mastered by Prof. May be the CD of the year. **And here's a warning: the 1996 US Berkley Books was edited from the original and leaves important stuff out. So be sure you read the original British, the 2011 Mansion House, the Kindle ed or the new audio book.

I've read a few of Phil Rickmans' books and enjoyed them. However, December hasn't been a pleasurable read (I only persisted in the hope that it would improve). The story is overly complex with sections that are totally confusing, with the reader left guessing over and over again. This didn't leave me in a state of suspense - Instead it left me wondering; "Why does he keep stopping without explaining what's happening?" Even the climax at the end of the story wasn't explained only hinted at, which to me just added to the overall frustration. Overall the whole book would benefit with about 100 pages being shaved off as many passages are long and dull.The characters, I found, were a bunch of whiners. They did nothing but feel sorry for themselves and again... Without explanation. I can understand developing their story lines throughout the story but it needn't have taken several hundred pages.And something that I fear will make me dissuade me from Mr Rickmans' work in the future is his seeming infatuation with whining, self pitying, singer-songwriter guitarists.

Probably my all-time favorite. Incredible suspense mixed with gothic horror. I love everything Phil Rickman writes, and I've read this one four or five times. Highly recommended.

Darker than many of the other books by this brilliant author, many plots within the main plot, strong characters and so many twisting keeps you guessing until the very end.

This is classic Phil Rickman, I really must read it again soon! I can't understand why it is classified as 'horror' ... nothing would induce me to read horror stories, and although the same story could have been given the full horror treatment, that is just not Phil Rickman's style. How he does it I don't know. So many of his stories are decidedly dark... but there is so much light in his writing that, although you may be left quaking a little at the end of a scene and desperate to find out what's going to happen, he somehow manages to bring you back to yourself and to what it is to be human. I consider this to be first-rate writing. You always feel happy in your own skin at the end of his books. That is not to belittle his superb novels. It isn't that no-one dies or that terrible things don't happen-- they do. But somehow, it's how he makes you feel about yourself and your place in the world. How fantastic is that?Music is an integral theme in this story, as in many of Phil's works. And he brings in John Lennon... another of the famous & iconic, even legendary real-life people, who sometimes just pop into his stories ...

What a book! Complex, scary, at times terrifying and nauseatingly horrible, this is a real tour de force.It's a book you don't want to read alone in the dark. It's redolent with the awfulness of what it's like to be cursed with what so many see as a 'gift' in either the 'real world' or the world of the supernatural, a world where things are very far from always being the New-Agey world of only sweetness and light. Parts of this book scared the pants off me because of just how plausible this material becomes in the hands of such a master storyteller.A wonderful cast of characters here, some of whom appear in other stand-alones by Phil Rickman, and a couple who even cross into the Merrily Watkins series. The subject matter is grim but my word! No one beats Phil Rickman in handling material like this.

I love Phil Rickman's books. This is an early work and so not as polished nor as subtle as later work. There is the usual excellent tension, pace and characterisations. There is a very down to Earth goodwill with Phil's characters apart from one or two proper villains. Rather the point of this book is that everyone is flawed and disillusioned but doing their best with great courage. A bit of sense of place with Skirrid even though the main scenes are set in fictional places. But the plot is far too convoluted. Even the denouement is totally tangled. It is as complex as Man in the Moss and as OTT with special effects as Crybbe\Curfew. Still I enjoyed it overall and am pleased to say that Phil's writing seems to get better with every book. I love how he interweaves characters from previous unrelated stories and what a joy it is to meet them again!

December 1980. John Lennon is murdered in New York.At the time Philosopher's Stone, a group chosen for their psychic ability as much as for their musical skills are recording an album in a partly ruined abbey in the Brecon Beacons.Thinks go badly wrong, tragedy strikes and the band insist that the tapes are destroyed - but are they?They go their seperate ways but something from that session remains with them and they all struggle to return to 'normal' life.When the tapes resurface, 14 years later, the four are persuaded to return to the Abbey Studios to complete the album - in December! But the Abbey hasn't finished with them. What is its secret, is there some connection with the infamous 1175 Abergavenny massacre? In December. Could the evil possibly be reaching out to them across the centuries?This is an absolutely stunning novel, neither a horror tale nor a ghost story - yet it's both! A real one off which deserves to become a classic.And what happened to the recordings? All malevolent influences have been safely removed, the existing tracks have been finished, a few new ones added, and 'The Abbey Tapes - the exorcism' is now available on mp3, iplayer & CD.A perfect complement to the book - well worth a listen.

Firstly I thought the cover on the book was perfect for the story. I must admit that I did find the first few chapters hard to grasp but I went back to the beginning and soon got into the swing of things. This isn't a book though where you can just read for a coffee break. The characters in the story are complex and there are a lot of them to remember. I read the book over a couple of nights and that maintained the flow of the story.So take a very old haunted Abbey, throw in a recording studio then add a Rock Band that have all been brought together not only because of their musical talent but because of their psychic abilities and across the Atlantic the imminent murder of John Lennon, you soon have the making of a cracking novel. Phil Rickman then delivers this.All of the characters in the book are very distinct, some had tried to move on from events that occurred while others couldn't. I liked the build up to the end of the novel too and that not all the good guys survive. Brilliant atmosphere.