Gary Raisor is an American horror author best known for the novels Less Than Human, Graven Images and Sinister Purposes, as well as his extensive short fiction work. Now he's made his first foray into the world of the graphic novel.

Here, he's taken his 1989 short story, Empty Places, and teamed with comic artist, Jeff Austin, with results that left me wanting more.

The story is very good. The protagonist is trying to get his friend, Jake, back home to Texas and the two see something in the wheat fields of Kansas, that they were never supposed to see. The event seems mystical, dreamlike. Raisor weaves a beautiful story which leaves plenty to the imagination.

What I felt was lacking was the way the artwork was used. Don't get me wrong, the art was good, but I just felt it could have added more to the story. Jeff Austin is certainly a capable artist, see his sketch blog here,

One nice thing about the way the graphic novel is packaged, is that you can read the story separate, or read it as a graphic novel.

If you're a Gary Raisor or Jeff Austin fan, you'll definitely want to pick this up. If you've never read Raisor, get familiar with his work.

Empty Places is available from Crossroad Press, in a variety of e-book formats, and from Amazon.com ( )