Monday, September 19, 2016

Book Review - The Night's Neon Fangs by David W. Barbee


The Night's Neon Fangs is a book containing four novellas by David W. Barbee: The Night's Neon Fangs, Noah's Arkopolis, That Ultimo Sumbitch, and Batcop Outta Hell. Each one is an inventive take on a classic story theme. 

The titular work is a story about a man that has been bitten by an electric werewolf. The story is a vivid and well thought out version of the original werewolf story with a modern, unique twist. Can this electric werewolf learn to control his affliction?

In Noah's Arkopolis the Ark never reached land. After the flood, solid ground disappeard forever. Centuries later, Arkopolis has become a city floating on an endless ocean whose citizens are mutated ancestors of humans and animals. It is an alternate history story unlike any other.

The third work, that Ultimo Sumbitch, continues Barbee's theme of traditional story types with his own bizarre stylings. This novella has a western base with a cyborg as the protagonist, zebras and ostriches alongside horses, and a saloon that serves liquor in a gaseous state.

Barbee finishes this collection strongly with Batcop Outta Hell. At first glance, it has the appearance of the ever-popular police/detective story. McNulty’s family was killed. He wasn't able to protect them. Now he has returned from Hell to avenge them. Did I mention that he is a bat?


The Night's Neon Fangs, in its entirety, is entertaining and cohesive. It is hard to find a werewolf, western, detective, or biblical story that hasn’t been written the same exact way a hundred times. David W. Barbie creates worlds within your favorite genres that will change the way you view…well, everything.

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