INTERVIEWS
Interview with Matt Cardin: Dark Awakenings and Cosmic Horror, March 3, 2010. Lovecraft News Network.
Matt Cardin: Gods and Monsters, Worms and Fire: A Horrific Reading of Isaiah, February 17, 2010. TheoFantastique.
Matt Cardin: Spirituality in Romero's Living Dead Films, December 3, 2009. TheoFantastique.
Thomas Ligotti Online, October 2008.
Live chat at The Lost and the Damned (R.I.P.), November 2006.
Whispers of Wickedness (R.I.P.), January 2006. Reprinted from Terror Tales, March 2004.
REVIEWS, BLURBS AND MENTIONS
Dark Awakenings (2010)
"In Dark Awakenings, Cardin proves himself to be an adept in the fullest sense of the word. To both the morbid and the cosmically minded, who may be one and the same, he delivers his visions and nightmares in a master’s prose. In the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft, Cardin's accomplishments as a writer are paralleled by his expertise as a literary critic and theorist, as readers can witness in this volume. His analyses of supernatural horror and its practitioners are also dark awakenings in the dual manner of his stories, with one eye on the black abyss and the other on an enlightened transcendence without denomination. Again, this quality of Cardin's work can be seen in the writings of Poe and Lovecraft, two other felicitous freaks who merged the antagonistisms of their imagination into a chimera as awful as it is awe-striking."
— Thomas Ligotti, author of Teatro Grottesco and The Nightmare Factory
"Matt Cardin channels visions of dark, maniacal intensity. His otherworldly divinations will have you lying awake in the dark, counting stars in that most pitiless gulf that yawns above us all. A master of terror and dread, he ranks among the foremost authors of contemporary American horror."
— Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence & Other Stories
"Dark Awakenings offers the dream imagery of the best weird fiction but goes even further beyond the ordinary thanks to Matt Cardin's fierce intellect. Haunting stories and insightful essays. This is mandatory reading to prepare for the doom to come."
— Nick Mamatas, author of Move Under Ground
"In a wonderfully readable, multi-layered collection, Matt Cardin shows us that he knows, as very few do, how to write -- from several perspectives, including as a researcher -- in a way that is both riveting and richly detailed. Cardin's gift can be celebrated by all readers."
- T.M. Wright, author of Bone Soup and A Manhattan Ghost Story
Divinations of the Deep (2002)
"It's a bold writer who, in this day and age, tries to make modern horror fiction out of theology, but Cardin pulls it off. Like most heretics, he may be wrong in the eyes of the Church, but he can cite texts: lots of scary Old Testament passages that suggest a gnostic mystery underlying perceived reality. What was the 'face of the deep' upon which there was darkness, before the first act of Creation? Was God's act one of pushing back or containing a primal Chaos older and vaster than Himself? Cardin manages to turn this into a vision of terrifying, Lovecraftian nihilism. No mean feat, that."
— Darrell Schweitzer, writing for Fresh Blood
"This collection was everything I'd hoped it would be, and that doesn't happen often . . . . Like Lovecraft and Ligotti, Cardin excels in creating a truly terrifying atmosphere of dread and decay by revealing what may lurk just beyond our view of reality. Few people succeed in this, but Matt does it with aplomb. His prose is intelligent and poetic, his execution, effortless. I believe this collection will become a classic of weird fiction."
– Durant Haire for Feoamante.com
"[In Divinations of the Deep], Cardin massages the dark and hidden, and penetrates the ancient deep to fashion unique visions of horror and deity. Each piece has its own depth and unwavering regard to the theme. The settings are universally dark, murky, and decadent, putting you in mind of Poe especially, but also some of the more depressed turn-of-the-(20th)Century writers. In each of these stories, the author personalizes the apocalyptic question of ultimate power and order. It is a fascinating approach."
– Cemetery Dance
"Matt Cardin's tales are imbued with a sense of cosmic dread reminiscent of Jean Ray or Thomas Ligotti. Divinations of the Deep is a notable addition to any library of horror or surrealism."
– John Pelan, editor of The Century's Best Horror Fiction
"Oh, this is truly marvellous stuff . . . . Matt Cardin's wonderful conceit that Religion is the deterrent for whatever that Religion worships . . . . This whole book is Fiction-as-Religion in action. It is truer than truth."
– "Real-time review" by D.F. Lewis, author of Weirdmonger, editor of Nemonymous
"Nightmares, Imported and Domestic" in The HWA Presents: Dark Arts (2006)
"Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin team to produce the sophisticated and thought-provoking 'Nightmares, imported and domestic', in which a painter has black-and-white dreams of another self, living a different life. The boundaries between the two existences become increasingly thin, to the point of merging in a single, tragic reality. This remarkable piece of work, possibly the best in the book, brings in echoes of Kafka and Dostoyevsky, overcoming the limits of genre fiction."
– Mario Guslandi, writing for The Agony Column
"Matt Cardin and Mark McLaughlin close the book with 'Nightmares, Imported and Domestic,' a cleverly inverted story about an artist whose dreams of an alternate life in a depressingly bleak and ordinary world begin to overwhelm his waking hours . . . . A fine tale."
– Publishers Weekly
"Teeth" in The Children of Cthulhu (2002)
"Matt Cardin's 'Teeth' manages to affectively capture Lovecraft's sense of cosmic horror, working Lovecraftian themes and tropes in with Nietzschean philosophy. The bitter loneliness and nihilism of the story cast a pall over the rest of the day that I read it (and began this review). I don't come across stories that make a difference in my mood very often, so I consider this one fairly special."
– John Goodrich, writing for Raw, New Things
"'Teeth' by Matt Cardin has a riveting if over-the-top conclusion. Lovecraft often wrote about the 'terrifying vistas' that would appear as the sciences pooled their data, discovering a mechanistic, uncaring universe ready to swallow mankind in a single gulp. This tale describes the consequences of just such a weird revelation. Surely madness and death will pursue those who pursue absolute knowledge. Cardin alludes to those who see Lovecraft's fiction as thinly veiled truth about the world. Perhaps they are right. How much do we really know about the universe or even ourselves. We may well be swallowed up by some pan-galactic monstrosity without so much as a peep."
– Necropsy: The Review of Horror Fiction
"'Teeth' is a philosophical tale, with the horror coming from the revelations of how the universe really works.' I don't think I'm giving anything away, given the title of the story, by revealing the poetry of the last line: 'Show me your smile and I will show you your fate.' As lines go, it's right up there with 'Open your eyes and see your surprise!' A wonderful bookend to an excellent anthology."
– Steven Kaye
"At it's best, in stories like China Mieville's wickedly disturbing 'Details,' James Van Pelt's 'The Invisible Empire,' Meredith L. Patterson's dark academic satire 'Principles and Parameters,' and Matt Cardin's chilling 'Teeth,' the reader is forcibly reminded why Lovecraft has remained popular."
– Revolution SF
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