Artist/writer Larry (The Mayfly) Johnson's novel, The Other World, is an amazing, absorbing romp, which uses Johnson's hand symbolism throughout, though in a way that's unlike anything he's done before.
In this regard, the protagonist, electrical engineer and Mystic resident, Richard Diptha, has received reconstructive surgery after his hand and arm are damaged, but the cyborg upgrade carries not so much a Six Million Dollar Man slant as one where the story's outer layer draws from The Hands of Orlac, The Beast with Five Fingers, The Hand 1981, The Crawling Hand, Demonoid: The Messenger of Death and Clive Barker's Book of Blood, "The Body Politic."
Diptha's appendage appears to have a mischievous mind of its own, in how it leads, sabotages and reveals. He gets help on the matter from a psychologist, the stoic Charles Young, only to end up contemplating the luring, little curios about the doctor's office. From there, the weirdness mounts, with our protagonist traveling a series of uncanny paths (where even his features seem to shift), looping in his mythological-minded brother, Andre, while discovering his ex's "doppelganger," a lovely woman named Dina, and other perplexing but welcoming schemes: a fantastic intersection where reality and dreams become as one, or is it more a matter of one reality pushing the other away?
Contrary to what one might presume, The Other World isn't meant to be all-out frightening, but acts like an everyman exploration in the manner of The Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond. It's about seeking an alternative outside the norm (whether by accident or plan), and what Diptha discovers often references Johnson's inviting paintings. (Those familiar with his artwork, as evidenced by The Other World's front and back covers, will surely appreciate the novel's surrealistic undercurrent.)
A large part of why the concept works is thanks to Johnson's storytelling style. He establishes an ambiance that is at once Richard Matheson and the next Charles Beaumont. Like those authors' credible characters and their specialized circumstances, The Other World evades convenient cliches, leaning instead on sincere, identifiable interaction. (Diptha could be you or me, and his worlds and their inhabitants, our own.)
Johnson's exploit is exceptional escapism: thought-provoking and mysterious, a page-turner if ever there was. Why not take it by the hand and visit The Other World?
https://www.amazon.com/Other-World-Larry-Johnson-MA/dp/B0F8VMVM9W
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