The Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis 3

I ordered this book to use for a paper and never received it. I had high hopes for it but sadly I can't make a good assessment of it.

I read a novel recently by Brett Alexander Savory, which led me to look for previous books by this author. This is an odd one for sure. In contrast to reviewer Charles Rector I find the exact opposite is true, that the nonfiction pieces far outshine the fiction offerings on display here. As for Clive Barker's drawings, they are not to my taste especially, yet they're not bad and one comes to admire him for allowing his wokr to be published in this context.Arkansas firebrand Mara Leverett opens up a whole can of worms with her open letter to Stephen King, Anne Rice and Dean Koontz, who have not supported the West Memphis Three in any way apparently, and Leverett rips them each a new one for their policy of staying mum and rich. They could have testified at any time and yet they were too busy!I also enjoyed hearing the true life accounts of other accused of horrible crimes who it turned out, they were railroaded. Stepping back from the immediate now, author Philip Jenkins ponders on the origin of the witch cult myth in the USA, showing how a handful of pulp writers paved the way towards making Americans believe that such cults lie in our bosom. Another good essay is by Michael Oliveri, whose memoir shows us how any high school kid who's the least bit different immediately becomes a suspect in our cookie cutter society; his own addiction to rock music and flirtation with the occult would have had his butt in jail for the West Memphis killings in an instant, and yet, he was just a crazy mixed up kid and needless to say, completely innocent.Editors Savory and Anderson mix it up to a certain extent but even they will probably admit, the collection is peculiar and finally begs the question of, do any heavy-metal Satanist teens ever actually commit any crimes? No?

Last Pentacle is an anthology of excellent fiction and generally lackluster nonfiction. Setting the pace for the fiction is eight pages of horror artwork by Clive Barker. There are excellent stories by such leading horror authors as Poppy Z. Brite, Gerard Houarner, Simon Logan and Peter Straub.On the other hand, the nonfiction is generally poor. This is because this volume was intended as advocacy for a trio of convicted murderers. Generally, the nonfiction writers are off the mark in that they portray the convicted trio as being framed because they had strange lifestyles and interests. In reality, they were arrested first due to eyewitness reports, a confession and other evidence.Although it is not legally mandated for prosecutors to prove a motive, the prosecutors chose to use the 3 defendants interest in Satanism as their motive for killing three little boys. Basically, the prosecution charged that the boys were slain in a Satanic ritual and there was evidence at the scene that lent credence to the notion that the killing was part of a Satanic ritual. An outside expert was brought in and his analysis confirmed the prosecutor's suspicions.However, there is one excellent nonfiction piece in this volume. This is Philip Jenkins's piece on 1920's pulp horror fiction. Jenkins argues that modern ideas of Satanism derive more from horror stories by such writers as Herbert Gorman and H.P. Lovecraft than from the historical record or religious writings.Basically, this is a volume of excellent fiction coupled with nonfiction that basically misses the mark. Due to the high price of this volume, you would be well advised not to buy it at its cover price, but to look for it at your local library or second hand bookshop.

LAST PENTACLE is a compelling mix of fiction and non-fiction, with all money going to the West Memphis Three Defense Fund. Among the standouts were Michael Marano's "Changeling", Paul G. Tremblay's "All Sliding to One Side", Simon Logan's "You Have to Know This" and Scott Nicholson's "Carnival Knowledge". Pick this one up. Not only is it a great read, it supports a good cause.