I have just finished reading "Bleed," local author Ed Kurtz's first novel, and I'm happy to say that the horror genre is welcoming a great author whose grisly inspirations, sharp prose and surprising turns will undoubtedly keep us entertained for a long time to come.

"Bleed" starts by introducing the reader to Walt Blackmore, an English teacher with a new job and a new house who's very much in love with his girlfriend Amanda and has a thing for books. The house is a fixer and Walt's to-do list grows daily. One of the problems that seems to keep coming back is a strange, smelly stain on the ceiling that drips a brackish liquid. After trying to get rid of the stain using a few different methods and the help of a plumber, Walt is still facing a growing stain and a freaked-out girlfriend. When Amanda watches the stain devour a cockroach and runs out of the house, the novel quickly begins its scary, gory downward spiral into the depths of murder, madness and flesh eating.

A deconstruction of the novel brings to mind some of the best stuff the horror film genre has to offer and some of what horror literature has to offer. The thing that's growing in Walt's ceiling is somewhat reminiscent of Clive Barker's "Hellraiser" and Walt's spiral into murderous madness is somehow understandable and thoroughly enjoyable, just like Jack Torrance's, Jack Nicholson's character in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." On the literary spectrum, Kurtz manages to create likeable, believable characters and, just like master storyteller Richard Laymon, has no problem driving an axe through their heads when you least expect it without leaving a single narrative hole. Also, Kurtz's descriptive power and tight writing make the story jump out of the page and splatter the reader with gory pieces of flesh. A book is very good when you feel like you should wash your hands after reading, and Kurtz brilliantly accomplishes that.

On a deeper level, "Bleed" is an interesting exploration of human loneliness, desire and guilt. Although Walt's transformation is shocking, his love for Gwyn, the eventual name of the cannibalistic female being that the stain becomes, is not hard to understand. While the relationships that develop between Gwyn and Walt and then between Gwyn and Alice (if I said more I'd give the novel away) are bloody and wicked, Kurtz writes with such grace that the story is never about pure nastiness but rather a great story in which blood, scabs, an appalling background story about Gwyn, murder and cannibalism combine to entertain thoroughly and keep you glued to the pages.

If you want to pick up a copy of "Bleed," you can visit Kurtz's website here, got to Amazon, head down to Austin Books and Comics or just look for him at the WHC this weekend. If you do the latter, he can also sign you copy.