John F.D. Taff’s The Fearing series was an absolute event last year. I looked forward to each of the four releases and lamented the six week wait to find out what happened next. When volume four arrived, Taff managed to bring the whole thing to a satisfactory conclusion. It didn’t take long for rumblings to begin about Taff returning to the Fearing universe to tell additional stories. When it was announced that he’d be teaming up with Matt Corley of Saturday Morning Scenarios to tell a story set during the events of The Fearing and turn it into an RPG, I was sold before the punctuation hit.

Tim Jacoby, while not the main antagonist of the series, is pretty much unlikable from the moment he steps on the page. Taff writes him in such a way that the reader is meant to say something along the lines of “Ugh, who is this asshole?” However, even the most irredeemable among us have an origin story, and Blood & Brimstone tells us how Jacoby came to be a force to be reckoned with in volumes three and four of the original series. Taff writes us a surprisingly nuanced version of the character. From the first page, we can already see traces of the man we remember, but some of the choices made along the way still startle and shock.

Taff does character very well, but my favorite portions of these books have always been the way the fears come to life. If you thought all the potential ideas were used up in the main series, you thought wrong. Without going into spoiler-y details, we’ve got a fear that is upsetting and creepy, set at a somewhat abandoned school, and we’ve got a fear that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Before going further, you may have seen some of the artwork for this edition online, pieces by Stefan Koidl and Francois Vaillancourt. Their work is phenomenal and truly serves to bring the pages to life. I mention this now, because both the scenes I talked about above have accompanying artwork, and for such a visual person as myself, it is chilling. It makes the story feel complete.

I’ve been racking my brain for all the wild, over-the-top stuff from the other volumes, so that I could make the next statement in all honesty. The events at the St. Louis arch occurred to me, as well as the invasion of the camp in book three, however I believe Taff saved the biggest for last. The fear-related events that occur in Blood & Brimstone in the final chapters are bonkers. Taff dreams up creatures from beyond the depths of our worst nightmares, and I’m absolutely here for them and the horrific things they do to the red-shirts.

As much as I love the splattery schlock and gore, one of my favorite parts is a bit quieter. Early on, once the characters realize the shit is heading straight for the fan, they hole up in a bunker, and hear about a specific event. They hear the aftermath over the radio and have to decide whether to believe the unbelievable. Taff writes this moment well, with a grand sense of isolation that the best horror puts on display, and it’s a nice homage to War of the Worlds.

This novella feels very timely, touching upon the current pandemic by name, as well as addressing prevalent social issues such as white privilege and even “Karens”. When reading the section regarding white privilege, my initial thought was it’s a bit too on the nose, but the further I got in and saw the relationship between Jacoby and Tam develop, I realized Taff is doing what we should all be doing. He has a platform, a readership, and he is talking about this very real issue that can be all too easy to sweep under the rug. For that, I commend him.

This e-book came to me on a Wednesday afternoon, and as has become tradition, I’d finished it by that night. Slipping back into that world felt comfortable, and as always, the pages pretty much turned themselves and took me along for the ride. Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, I believe the novella is set in such a way that a first-time Fearing reader could start here. There’s a genesis to events, a character point-of-view explanation, and although the events are attached to the bigger part of the story, they are not dependent on one another. Another winner from John F.D. Taff in this stellar series.

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Review by Brennan LaFaro

Blog: http://brennanlafaro.wordpress.com

Twitter: @whathappensnex5

I received a paperback copy from the publisher for review consideration.