sequence is considerably more inventive and inter-
esting than those set in the Dancer universe.
Clayton had begun a new fantasy series before
her death, consisting of Drum Warning (1997),
Drum Calls(1997), and Drum into Silence(2002),
the last completed posthumously by Kevin Mur-
phy. The trilogy describes the tensions caused by
the interfacing of two separate fantasy worlds and
is sometimes quite original, although the plot fol-
lows a familiar path. Clayton devotes considerably
more attention to the complexity of her characters,
who are much more believable than her earlier
protagonists. One other title, A Bait of Dreams
(1985), is actually several intertwined short stories
about a group of people who use magical jewels to
travel among realities. Clayton was a competent,
intermittently interesting writer of fantasy adven-
tures notable chiefly for her strong female charac-
ters. Much of her science fiction should be equally
appealing to fantasy readers.
Clegg, Douglas (1958– )
It is a testimony to the skill of Douglas Clegg that
he began to write horror novels just as the field
began to collapse during the late 1980s and has
continued to find a home for his books ever since.
In his first novel, Goat Dance(1989), a young girl
is brought back to life after apparently drowning,
but some members of her family believe that an-
other consciousness has usurped her body. A
greater threat is the malevolent “Eater of Souls,” a
supernatural creature that spreads death and terror
across the countryside. A young man returns to his
hometown in search of closure for a terrible inci-
dent in his past and achieves it only by facing an
even greater fear. Although Clegg’s prose is some-
times difficult to follow, the novel rewards atten-
tive reading.
Clegg’s follow-up was a sometimes predictable
but quite tense haunted house story that adds an
elaborate array of voodoo and the risen dead into
the mix. Breeder(1990) features a supernatural en-
tity that is seeking to reproduce its kind. A couple
settles into their new townhouse despite the pres-
ence of a strange nanny and a homeless woman
who warns them to leave quickly before the house
harms them. Somewhat predictably, they begin to
conduct research into the history of the house, but
whatever sinister presence resides there has al-
ready begun to insinuate itself in their minds. Nev-
erland(1991) more consciously explores Stephen
KINGterritory. While on vacation a young boy be-
comes involved with his cousin Sumter, who has
an uncertain relationship with some supernatural
force that calls itself Lucy and resides in a shack
the children call Neverland. Lucy turns out to be
more than just a ghostly child. Clegg carefully es-
tablishes his characters, then turns their world end
over end for the balance of the novel. Sumter’s
character in particular is effective and unsettling.
Dark of the Eye(1994) is even more obviously
influenced by King. Hope is a young child with a
magical power that allows her either to heal or
harm. She is kidnapped by a murkily motivated
man who removes one of her eyes, but an accident
disrupts his plans and Hope’s mother steals her
back and runs away to California, pursued by a
host of grotesque characters, not all of whom are
human. There are several bits that are highly in-
ventive, but the author has perhaps tried to insert
too many different wonders into his story, which
becomes unfocused and erratically paced. The
Children’s Hour(1995) is another story of a bad
town, this one haunted by an evil presence that
preys on the local children, eventually revealed to
be a vampire variation. Bad Karma(1998), written
under the name Andrew Harper, is an ambiguous
thriller in which an escaped mental patient men-
aces the family of her doctor while recalling memo-
ries of a past life when she was the mistress of Jack
the Ripper. It was filmed as Hell’s Gate(2001).
There is another supernatural creature hiding
in a small town in Halloween Man(1998), which
interweaves two stories, each of which is affected
by the efforts of the townspeople to conceal the
monstrous entity they secretly worship. Satanism
has not been a popular theme in recent horror fic-
tion, but Clegg proves that it is possible to employ
an old theme in an entertaining new way. His nov-
els had always been very complexly plotted, but he
was clearly developing his narrative abilities to
make it easier for readers to stay focused on the in-
dividual story lines.
Mischief(2000) was the first novel in the Har-
row sequence. Harrow is a mansion that has been60 Clegg, Douglas