GNOME CAVE GNOME CAVE GNOME CAVE
-Me
This week's recommendation is Gnome Cave, a horror novella by Cinemassacre's James Rolfe, better known online as the Angry Video Game Nerd.
Gnome Cave tells the story of four childhood friends reuniting in middle age to do some urban exploration of a theme park they went to as kids. As children, the quartet had gone on a dark ride at the park, the titular Gnome Cave. Due to how scary it was, the final section of the ride, an encounter with a dragon, could be bypassed by pulling a lever on the front of the cart. When it was their turn on the ride, Dante had panicked, avoiding the dragon and leaving the experience unresolved.
The events are largely driven by the Dante, who both reunites the friends and leads the expedition. In the aftermath of a major change in his life, Dante is eager to revisit the ride and relive what he considers to be the best time of his life. The question is, is he trying to close that chapter of his life or desperately hold it open?
The book deals with themes of the past, aging and nostalgia, with characters having different attitudes towards their past, with some running towards it and others running away from it. One example of this that I enjoyed was a photo of the first time that the characters were on the ride as kids. One character sees their faces as being excited, but another sees them as terrified, their personal feelings and memories changing their perceptions.
Although this is Rolfe's first foray into written fiction, he does have quite a history with horror. The Monster Madness series on his YouTube channel, running for over 10 years, has shown his intimate knowledge and love of the genre. Watching these episodes has even grown into an October tradition for many. In addition to this, he has a few horror shorts under his belt, Including The Head Incident and The Head Incident 2.
I've seen a number of comparisons of Gnome Cave to preteen horror fiction, primarily R.L Stine's Goosebumps series, due to its short length and straightforward storytelling. To me, it feels more akin to an episode of the Tales from the Crypt TV show, both in inclusion of more mature themes and inclusion of elements such as profanity.
The story was originally intended to be a film and seems to have adapted from a screen play. There are points in the book where I felt that this worked to its benefit. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the characters going through the ride, both as children and later as adults when it was broken down and decaying. Rolfe had a clear image for the setting, likely a remnant from when it was going to be a film, and he does a great job of conveying it to readers. Conversely, there are some scene scenes which could have used a rewrite or restructuring, particularly the action scenes around the middle of the story. I can understand how they would have worked as written in a film, but they are too short to build any real tension in written form. I’d guess that it was written with the thought of some of the described actions being drawn out or lingering shots that develop the atmosphere, but they are too brief as is in the book. Additionally, some of the dialogue and characters would have benefitted from another draft or two.
I found the book to be an enjoyable read. It only takes a couple of hours so it’s not a huge commitment, and I’d recommend anyone interested check it out.
It will be interesting to see if Rolfe writes anything else, as I think he’s shown he has some cool ideas and has a for knack expressing them.
You can find Gnome Cave on Amazon