I can't remember at which convention I bought this book from its author, but it had to be a convention because Ethan Moe is a long time member of Phoenix fandom, who even chaired a LepreCon in 2009, a relaxacon during a very busy year for events. It's his first novel and, while the bio at the back suggests that a couple more were coming soon in 2013, including a sequel to this book, they don't appear to have arrived yet. And that's a shame, because I enjoyed this. While it's not a particularly deep novel at two hundred pages, it's an enjoyable one that introduces an interesting mythology.

Initially, it appears to be a horror novel, because page one is horrific indeed. Two cars have collided and a mysterious black mist attacks one of the vehicles, flaying its occupants alive, before being sucked into the body of the driver of the other car. He's Evan Michaels and he's our protagonist. Now, if that might suggest that he's some sort of monster or villain, I should correct you on that immediately, because he is merely the unwilling carrier of the black mist, the Rider of the title, and he's as horrified as we are at what happened, even though the sensation that he feels as it returns to his body is literally described as orgasmic.

In a typical horror novel, this Rider would be the only Rider and we'd spend the next couple of hundred pages learning about what supernatural being it is and why it's hitched a ride in Evan's body, all while it wreaked its havoc across the countryside. Of course, eventually, he'd figure out how to destroy it and all would be right with the world again, at least until another one shows up on the last page and we wait a year or so for the inevitable sequel. However, Moe is not interested in writing a typical horror novel, so what we get here is a combination of dark fantasy, thriller and, oddly, romance.

The romance angle literally pulls up in front of Evan as he leaves the scene of this inexplicable atrocity and climbs out in "a swirl of long skirts and auburn ringlets". It's Cerise Metuchen, she took a whole lot of classes with him in school and her presence here at the side of a highway at night is not accidental in the slightest. Sure, Moe milks it as convenience for most of a chapter but it quickly becomes clear that Cerise and her companion, Miz V, know exactly what happened, as well as potentially why, and they can do something about it, which is massively important because the carriers of Riders in this world aren't allowed to wander around letting the black mist inside them commit mass murder whenever they feel like it; they're executed on live television.

The good news is that we soon learn a lot more about Riders and witches, as that's what Cerise and Miz V are, and it's easily enough to ground us in what's going on in this version of Arizona. It's recognisable as our state, right down to the presence of In-N-Out Burger, but it isn't our state because certain things are very different. I guess it could be called a parallel universe version. The bad news is that we never learn enough, probably due to Moe leaving that for the sequel that we haven't seen yet. The core story is certainly resolved here, so I don't mean to complain, but I'm eager to learn more and yet I ran out of pages.

The dark fantasy angle stems mostly from the setup. Riders exist and they appear out of nowhere, glom onto some poor soul who wouldn't say boo to a goose and use them as a combination of accommodation and transport, an unwilling vessel to carry them around on their murder sprees. This is not information that's known only to us, by the way. Everyone knows it and there's even a police department, inevitably called the Rider Division, to counter it. As this murderous mist is seen, rather understandably, as bad, it falls to this department to catch the hosts and the state to execute them.

However, witches also exist, in an organised fashion, in an ancient and well-known Order that feels a lot more like a convent than a coven. There is a Roman Catholic church in this world, because the Order has succeeded it in levels of importance. However, the two are familiar in many ways. Instead of a Vatican, a Pope and a male priesthood, there's a Citadel, An Abbess and female acolytes, based at Marcella Peak in Phoenix. That's quick growth, given that it grew out of a notorious Purge of witches and was officially founded in 1842. However, there is a lineage going all the way back to Biblical times that I won't spoil.

So far, so good. The catch to this, if we consider it so, is in how these witches are able to mitigate Riders, which start to feel rather like demons. They use ritual, as you might expect, and it's sexual ritual, which feels like wish fulfilment. So you're a young man and you suddenly find that a Rider has attached itself to you, meaning that you now have a target on your back because your country really wants to execute you. But blink, and there's a gorgeous young witch ready to help you by using her powers of ritualistic sex. Maybe this isn't dark fantasy, it's just goth girl fantasy. Don't forget that all those acolytes at the Citadel need training in ritual sex and someone's going to have to take that job. Does my resume need updating? I wonder why I thought of that, all of a sudden.

The thriller angle, of course, is partly in the chase that quickly ensues. However, there are other levels to consider. For one, the lead cop from the Rider Division hunting Evan is Nicole Davis, a former witch with a history with the Order. She's definitely good at her job and that background means that she knows more than her peers, both of which help to ratchet up the tension. However, the book isn't ever just a chase, as there's so much more going on, with a succession battle in play at the Citadel, secret operations that we learn about only gradually and an unprecedented number of Riders manifesting in Phoenix with the goal of killing the Abbess.

The romance angle shows up with Evan and Cerise, of course, and it's surprisingly welcome. Maybe it's a way to mitigate the sex thing, by shifting it sideways into romance. Maybe it's a way to mitigate the evil thing too, given that Evan was part of a double homicide on the very first page and yet we're supposed to sympathise with his plight. So yeah, he's a young man who paints book covers for a living and falls in love with the witch who's trying to save him, who falls in love with him too. Oh yeah, but they're still fugitives from the law and that means they should probably get out of bed.

I wonder if the reason why we haven't seen the promised sequel yet, 'Rider: Unity', is because Moe has a hard task on his hands figuring out exactly what he wrote here. In many ways, this is a YA novel with sex, thus something that doesn't precisely fit anywhere. As dark fantasy, it holds back. The mythology here is fascinating, but it's never as visceral as it was on the first page. As a thriller, it holds back as well, due to the fantasy always being more important and so leaving the focus rarely on the chase. Even when it does, it's always far more about the chased than the chaser. As a romance, it's sweet and YA, but it has a sexual component that would be out of place there, even though it's never lurid and exploitative.

If Moe ditched the sex, this would be a solid YA read. Leaving it in means that everything's tamer than it ought to be. And, given that it's done and dusted and 'Rider' has been in print for a decade, how should he approach the sequel? Inquiring minds want to know. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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