Eric D. Knapp

An untapped corner of the horror novel genre involves stories about dead chickens. Until now, that is.

Bobby Garfundephelt buys a sprawling, multi-building farm, with the intention of turning part of it into a bed and breakfast. Included with the farm is a chicken coop, full of loud, stupid and filthy chickens. Janice, his wife, likes the chickens, and has to repeatedly remind Bobby to feed them. In a moment of frustration, one night, Bobby sets fire to the coop, with the chickens inside. Janice leaves him. Stuck somewhere between life and death, the zombie chickens go on the attack. Led by an evil undead Rooster, bigger than the average rooster, they chase Bobby throughout the labyrinthine rooms of the farmhouse. The house has been altered and added to so many times over the past 200 years, that it has gained a rudimentary intelligence, and assists in Bobby’s torment.

Arnold is a young boy with a unique ability. Remember the famous movie line, "I see dead people?" Arnold could say, "I see dead chickens." After years of seeing a blue light coming from everyone, and being attacked by undead chickens, Arnold’s parents ship him to a secret monastery in France. Their specialty is chicken exorcisms. On his deathbed, the present leader of the order transfers the being, or presence, living inside him to Arnold, making him the new leader. Many years later, Arnold, now called Armand, arrives at the farmhouse, to do battle with these undead zombie chickens. Amid everything else, Armand has to deal with a chicken spirit that takes over Bobby, so that, one minute, he is cowering in fear in the corner of a basement, and the next minute, he is trying to kill Armand.

If nothing else, this is a very different sort of novel, and it’s a very good novel. It’s nice and strange, and the author does a fine job with it.… (mais)