He's long been one of my favorite authors, after reading 'Dominion' when I was about 19 years old. That book opened up a new world for me. It wasn't Stephen King, it wasn't Anne Rice, it wasn't Clive Barker. This was a new, gritty, graphic, and just plain strange writer.
There's something circus-like about Little's books. Not the clown part of the circus, or the elephant show, but the freakshow or the funhouse. His storiess usually take place in southern California, Arizona, or New Mexico, which for me, lends them an air of ancient magic and earthy evil; the stuff legends and lore are made of. The villains in his novels are never your typical villains. They're the oddly-assembled monsters straight out of your nightmares, or the ordinary objects you see every day and never give a second thought to. They're out of place, like when you dream about things that would never happen in reality. Quite honestly, his books transport you right into your own deepest fears and phobias. And if you don't have phobias before you start reading his work, you will when you're finished.
Even though he doesn't set out to win any awards, his writing style is fast-paced and disturbing. Just what I like in a horror novel. He doesn't beat around the bush with the plot, or get too wrapped up in describing characters or their emotions (not that I don't appreciate those qualities in other novels)- he just tells the story plainly and scares the hell out of you in the process. People have said the same about Stephen King (the honorary king of horror literature), but I don't want you to go into a Bentley Little book thinking about King. Little's writing is another thing altogether. It's darker. It's not going to leave you here in the real world. It's gonna take your hand and drag you down into the very pit of your own fear, whether you go willingly or not. Because I guarantee you, if you like horror, and pick one of his novels up, you won't put it down whether you love it or hate it. You just have to get through it.
And you'll probably come out wanting more.
