The publishers have given absolutely no indication of what the story is about on the cover blurb, so it’s tricky to know how much to reveal here. Suffice to say it involves three brothers blessed – or maybe cursed – with extra-sensory perception. They use their paranormal talents in very different ways. One is a voluntary test subject in a mysterious military-like installation hidden in the Nevada desert. One of his brothers runs a successful recruitment and training firm, using his powers only to check out possible candidates. As for the other brother… you’ll have to find that out for yourself because what he has done – and the dire consequences - is the engine that drives this story.
The Hidden Language of Demons gets off to a brilliant start. A moody sequence in the Nevada desert is followed by a scene between two lovers that swiftly turns into a nightmare and finishes with a short but very sharp shock. But unfortunately, the rest of the novella simply isn’t up to the brilliance of the opening. And the reason is that Maynard and Sims have, in my view, sold themselves short by trying to pack a potentially epic story into a novella.
Those who like a fast horror read with a gruesome death never too far away will not be disappointed. Maynard and Sims have certainly not skimped on the gore, especially in the apocalyptic finale.”
ALIENONLINE
“The Maynard & Sims you don't expect. If you are acquainted with the subtle atmospheres and the quiet horror of their previous books you'll be surprised (and shocked). So am I. "The hidden language of demons" is a book of a different genre by apparently different writers. If Maynard & Sims have written this novella to show that they are versatile authors, able to modify their style, as they like, they have certainly proven the point. No more exquisitely cooked fiction, this is raw meat, and you can eat it or spit it out. Raw meat, but spicy: sex, possession, gore, you mention it; it's all there.
I wonder: what is the true nature of those two guys? Have we been deceived, sidetracked by their first books? Are they "splutterpunks" in disguise? Did they win our hearts as sophisticated artists of the macabre only to eventually slap our face and kick our ass with pure horror? I suggest that they use a pen name when they want to write for the pleasure of shaking our hearts and souls while continuing to sign their work as Maynard & Sims when they prefer to chill us gently.
I won't reveal the plot. It is enough to say that it's about the struggle between Evil and Good - and don't count too much on a happy ending -, the curse of being triplets with psychic powers and the risks of following unusual avenues of research. Not my cup of tea, to tell you the truth, but I'm impressed. Once you start the novella you'll find it difficult to put the book down until you're finished. So, take my advice, don't start reading at night or you won't sleep a wink.”
MARIO GUSLANDI
“Three brothers, triplets born with psychic powers. Robert adjusts, grows up to use his ability to his own advantage, makes a life for himself with the woman he loves and a successful career as a recruitment consultant. Frank can't adjust, goes through a series of dead end jobs, tries to kill himself with alcohol and drugs, before washing up at a secret installation in Nevada, where he finds his niche as a test subject for government scientists studying psi powers. And Michael... Well, Michael is the bad 'un. He doesn't like it that the others have the same abilities as him. He wants to be unique. And so he goes off and makes a deal with a demonic entity, gaining power but losing his humanity. And now he's back, all cranked up with amps and attitude, intent on giving sibling rivalry a really bad name. Cue move and blood splattered countermove, culminating in Nevada with the literary equivalent of one of those sfx fests the Hollywood highrollers are so good at.
Maynard and Sims. Those are the guys who write ghost stories and traditional horror, full of quiet and subtle effects, whose work you describe as 'atmospheric' because you're too old and self‑consciously macho to admit they scared the crap out of you. The back cover blurb reads, 'This is not the Maynard & Sims you may be familiar with.' Well, they got that right. What's got into these guys? Has somebody spiked their morning Shreddies with haemoglobin supplement?
The pace of this book is ferocious and it doesn't let up until the final word. Along the way the reader's senses are systematically bludgeoned with a battery of atrocities that are definitely not the sort of thing M&S usually deal in, though the Clive Barker of Hellraiser vintage might cast a proprietorial eye over some of the more bloody set pieces and I understand that Shaun Hutson is asking if he can please have his ball back (maybe I should rephrase that). Bodies are gutted and turned inside out, heads explode and limbs are mutilated, blood erupts skyward in crimson fountains, a welter of lurid and shocking imagery that builds to a stunning crescendo, as hell is quite literally let loose on earth. This book is definitely not for the faint hearted.
Don't think from this though that, after so long spent winging it, Maynard and Sims have stepped out of the splatterpunk closet ten years too late. The imagery is graphic but never gratuitous. There is no prurient dwelling on detail, no hard core close‑ups of steel ripping into flesh. The lean, muscular prose is all business, leaving no room for doubt that the gore is an effect only, a way of raising the stakes and enhancing the drama, not an end in itself. The subtlety we expect from these writers is still in evidence, seen most obviously in the way in which the characters are so succinctly brought to life, just a few well chosen words telling us all we need to know about these people, and suggesting so much more; seen also in the skill with which the writers handle such a large cast of people and effects. This is a short work, but don't make the mistake of thinking it lacks substance. The Hidden Language of Demons packs in more than most blockbuster novels.
If I have a complaint, it's to do with the ending. It seemed too abrupt, as if the plot just stopped rather than resolved. More significantly, I didn't want it to stop. I wanted to stay a while longer with these people and this epic battle of good and evil. I wanted a novel.
This book is a major departure for Maynard and Sims. It should win them a lot of new friends, and probably outrage a few of their older admirers. Their decision to defy our expectations deserves respect. Having gone from vanilla horror to chain saw chic in six easy lessons it will be interesting to see what this talented pair produce next.”
THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE
MAYNARD SIMS
www.maynard-sims.com
Thriller novels, Shelter, Demon Eyes, Nightmare City, Stronghold, and the three Department 18 books Black Cathedral, Night Souls, and The Eighth Witch, have been published mass market and eBook in the USA. The fourth Department 18 book, A Plague Of Echoes, is for August 2014. A standalone ghost story, Stillwater will be released in March 2015. A new Department 18 book 5, Mother Of Demons is due summer 2015
Falling Apart At The Edges, a crime thriller, Through The Sad Heart, an action thriller, Let Death Begin, a mystery thriller, are 2014 publications. A Bahamas trilogy, Touching the Sun, Calling Down the Lightning, and a third book, Raging Against The Storm are all 2015 publications.
They have written a screenplay based on the first two Department 18 books – this screenplay, their first, won the 2013 British Horror Film Festival Award for Best New Screenplay. They have also written scripts based on The Eighth Witch, and some of their ghost stories. They have completed two original, commissioned screenplays, one a mainstream drama currently out for funding.
Numerous stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and magazines.
Collections include, Shadows At Midnight, 1979 and 1999 (revised and enlarged), Echoes Of Darkness, 2000, Incantations, 2002, two retrospective collections of their stories, essays and interviews, The Secret Geography Of Nightmare and Selling Dark Miracles, both 2002, Falling Into Heaven in 2004, The Odd Ghosts, 2011, and Flame And Other Enigmatic Tales, and A Haunting Of Ghosts, both 2012.
Novellas, Moths, The Hidden Language Of Demons, The Seminar, Double Act, and His Other Son have been published in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2013 respectively.
They worked
as editors on the first seven volumes of Darkness Rising, and the two annual Darkness Rising anthologies. As editors/publishers they ran Enigmatic Press in the UK, which produced Enigmatic Tales, and its sister titles. They have written essays. They still do commissioned editing projects.
Visit the Maynard Sims Author Page at Amazon
And find us on Facebook, Linkedin, Google +, Wordpress, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Goodreads under Maynard Sims, and Twitter on @micksims as Maynard Sims
OTHER BOOKS BY THESE AUTHORS
Maynard Sims / L H Maynard & M P N Sims
Thriller novels
Shelter
Demon Eyes
Nightmare City
Stronghold
Stillwater
Let Death Begin
Through The Sad Heart
Falling Apart At The Edges
The Bahamas series of novels
Dark Of The Sun (to be Touching The Sun)
Calling Down The Lightning
The Department 18 series of novels
Black Cathedral
Night Souls
The Eighth Witch
A Plague Of Echoes
Mother Of Demons
Story Collections
Shadows At Midnight
Echoes Of Darkness
Selling Dark Miracles
The Secret Geography Of Nightmare
Incantations
Falling Into Heaven
The Odd Ghosts
Flame And Other Enigmatic Tales
A Haunting Of Ghosts
Novellas
Moths
The Hidden Language Of Demons
The Seminar
Double Act
His Other Son
As Editors
Enigmatic Tales 1-10
Enigmatic Novellas 1-6
Enigmatic Variations 1-5
Enigmatic Electronic
F20 1-2
Darkness Rising 1-7
Darkness Rising 2003
Darkness Rising 2005
Dead Water
A Weaving of Ancient Evil Page 31