Jane’s Game
Mike Philbin
Chimericana Books, 2006, $14.99
Reviewed by Nickolas Cook

Mike Philbin is sort of the David Lynch of the horror world.

Of course, I mean that in a good way.

But along with that genre compliment comes a caveat: Not everyone ‘gets’ Lynch as an artist.
This confusing creative dichotomy is no more apparent than in his latest novel, Jane’s Game, the story of an ex-model who might not be all that she seems at first glance. There’s a story here, and some rather fine writing as well, but because both tend to get submerged by a seemingly stylized obscurity and will to abstraction, it may not come across to all readers. Like a literary roller coaster, we are tossed from one scene to another, even at times one character to another, without any of the usual niceties of conventional storytelling. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Phillip K. Dick sometimes used this method to keep his readers off balance. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Along those lines, Jane’s Game does work most of the time. After all, Philbin knows how to turn a phrase, and how to send a metaphor into the air and make it sizzle - no problems there.

But Jane’s Game is not a read for the unadventurous, certainly not for the squeamish. Anyone coming to it with the belief that all modern literature is an easy and passive affair need not apply. This book demands your full attention and complicity. I found myself having to go back and make sure I had caught all of the previous details as the story shifted away and fell into yet another bizarre layer. There are some marvelous passages, rife with a classical style combined with a pissed off Beatnik sensibility. Philbin provides a sense of the erotic to even some of the most gruesome of his set pieces, as he examines art and the artist, the body and the mind, sensuality and perversity with a daredevil abandon. The characters tend to become abrasive - much like Lynch’s casts- and don’t engender much in the way of sympathy, but because of their impossible histrionics, it sometimes feels more like Greek tragedy than modern literature - or a drug-addled nightmare.

My final assessment?

If you like your fiction edgy and hard, give Mike Philbin’s Jane’s Game a try. It won’t disappoint.

What I like in the writings of independent artist and writer Mike Philbin is the amazing freshness and inventiveness, the uniqueness of the narrative, and his ability to shock the reader, well beyond what you think is possible after the shocking images you encounter each day in today's media. His prose provokes a vast range of emotional responses and Jane's Game is no exception.

The story starts with the introduction of Jane, a beautiful ex-model, who turns out to be the end product of an experiment at the Fountain Institute for Molecular Research, the place where her program was written. Later, young artist Paul Kasparek finds Jane, who is suffering from amnesia, in his studio underneath his paintings. Thus starts an incredibly bizarre story of love and violence, sex and gore, dreams and dream-like events.

Mike Philbin, who once used the pseudonym Hertzan Chimera, is still pushing the boundaries of the horror genre by the use of surrealism and a unique narrative technique. The book includes a lot of dream-sequences, and the reader often cannot be sure whether the main characters are still dreaming or the author is describing what happens to them in real life.

The bizarro novel Jane's Game is described by the publisher as 'a brutal piece of psycho-sexual horror fiction', and it is definitely not for the faint of heart. However, if you do not mind the gory details, you are in for a great read. Jane's Game is highly recommended. So twisted, so shocking, and so moving that you just cannot get enough.

Reviewed By Ilona Hegedus
© June 2006

Jane's Game http://www.lulu.com/content/167976
Mike Philbin http://www.mikephilbin.com

Jane is an engineered model of beauty developed by the technicians at the Fountains Institute for Molecular Research. After spending so much time tweaking Jane, they figure that this time will be no different to all the other times before. And, why shouldn't it be?

Paul Kasparek is the usususpecting artist who finds her in his studio underneath all of his paintings. How the hell she got in there was beyond his comprehension but that was the least of his worries. He didn't reckon on having to deal with the sex, the violence and the peculiarities that came along with her.

Jane's Game is fast paced and the description is interlaced with dream sequences to keep the readers on their toes. Be careful you don't get left behind here as it would be so easy to lose your place. Since Mike Philbin dropped his pseudonym, Hertzan Chimera, the stories of depravity and gore still come trickling out, so nothing new there, you might say, but I reckon the best is yet to come. With Jane's Game fully entrenched in your mind, you're well on the way to complete transgression.

Carrie White, Erotic Author
http://www.ebook-reviews.net
http://www.hentracks.co.uk

JANE’S GAME
a bizarro novel by Mike Philbin
Review by Kyle Kucek for Insidious Reflections

The technicians at the Fountains Institute for Molecular Research thought they knew what they were doing when they wrote Jane's program; they had written and rewritten her so many times why should this time be any different? JANE'S GAME by Mike Philbin is a brutal piece of psycho-sexual horror fiction - you have been warned.

That is the synopsis given for Mike Philbin’s bizarro novel, “Jane’s Game”. But it doesn’t even summarize the insanity that ensues when reading this 190-page opus of mayhem. And you have been warned.

The book starts off with a description of Jane, the female protagonist, who is a beautiful model who has just stepped out of the limelight. After that you’ll find that the pace kicks up a notch and hardly ever lets up.

There’s humor, there’s violence, there’s sex-- there’s a ton of plain crazy shit that happens that are hard to simplify into one storyline. Basically, an artist, Paul Kasparek, comes across a naked Jane in his studio and raises her, but discovers that she isn’t what she seems. Some of the best scenes are when Paul is dreaming, which features a unique narrative.

One of the novel’s strongest points is description. Throughout the novel, especially the dream sequences, Philbin details with intricate words and plenty of interesting metaphors and similes.

The weak points were at times you couldn’t tell if it was a dream sequence or not since there were so many at once. There were also a few typos here and there, but not a big issue.

Overall, Jane’s Game is a great novel that can be enjoyed on many levels, especially if you enjoy fresh, inventive ideas presented in an interesting way. The plot summary does not simply sum up all the madness that occurs, and you have to read the book itself to truly know what you’re missing.

Philbin is definitely an author to look out for, with bizarre tales and subject matter that are sure to assist you in realizing there is some truly original work out there in the independent world. Kudos, Mike.

Be sure to check out his independent publishing company, Chimericana Books, for Jane’s Game, Chimeraworld #1, #2 and #3, Horror Quarterly, The Best of Chim+Him+Her, The Life & Death of Hertzan Chimera, and more.