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| Short Story: “The Dark Materials Project” |
I’m probably going to be contradicting every single negative review I’ve wrote the past few weeks, as “The Dark Materials Project,” Sarah Langan, is a story that is hardly connected to Hellraiser, yet I loved every single page…
The story of “The Dark Materials Project” is a hard one to describe. Taking place in what I assume is the near future, humanity is trying to crack the human DNA to find out the secrets of mankind. In doing so, gateways are being opened that should remain closed. Absalom, our protagonist in this story, is a scientist who is on the verge of break through. His wife just left him, his friends all abandoned him and life is very much sucking hardcore right now. That all changes though, when suddenly, their calculations seem to strike gold and humanity’s DNA is about to be broken wide open. As the calculation nears completion, strange occurrences start happening. Absalom starts seeing horrifying visions and reality seems to crumble all around him.
As you can see in the above description, the mythology of Hellraiser seems to have stepped aside for this tale. Yet as I was reading it, I could sense it in the background, running it’s hooks through the pages. “The Dark Materials Project” is a fascinating tale and one that I want to know more about. The story plays out like a nightmare, with Absalom witnessing more and more horrific sights as it nears the end. Once there, the writing shifts into a hectic and chaotic state, with reality all but gone.
Even if you were to take “The Dark Materials Project” out of this collection and have it be a stand alone story, it would hold up amazingly well. That’s the sign of a good story and one any fan of horror would enjoy. Definitely try to seek out this one and give it a read.
Rating: 5/5