My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
🎃 No matter what flavor of #Halloween you prefer, OCTOBER SCREAMS has a story to delight. These tales are fearsome, frightful, funny, &/or foreboding. Kenneth W. Cain has done a masterful job compiling them: it's the PERFECT read to get you prepared & excited for Spooky Season! (Kangas Khan)
My reading of work by writers from the Czech Republic this month continued with the collection 'Prague Noir' edited by Pavel Mandys, which is from Akashic's Noir imprint. It's a strong and varied selection of stories, not traditional noir but tales with a darker edge that incorporate Prague's history and traditions of the mystical.
Good Monday, Mastodon! My review of Jas Treadwell's 'The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach', in which I praise the typography and narrative voice alike to the skies, is live on Nerds of a Feather.
Seriously, do not let this book escape your notice. It is a gothic delight.
HIGH-ENERGY SPACE COMBAT thriller has lots of action and engaging worldbuilding. Fast pace and convincing characterization help make this an exciting ride. B PLUS
An easy-to-read account of several British-led expeditions to the Arctic with missions to look for the Northwest Passage, to search for missing exploration teams, & to collect scientific data. Along the way, we learn the fate & recovery of the ship HMS Resolute and its role in solidifying the US-UK bond.
This novel is beautifully written. Groff's poetic prose expands along with the story's progression, and culminates in a soaring revelation about humanity, life, and purpose.
The main character is a girl named Lamentations, a kind of living elegy for us all.
As in most literary fiction, character is more important than the plot. The premise does not seem like enough structure to build on, but the author manages to make every step of Lamentations' journey memorable and engaging.
There is an unmistakable message, a moral imperative presented in not so much a heavy-handed way, just abundantly clearly. Essentially, of all the deadly dangers humanity can face, it turns out that we are our own worst enemies. Our greed and arrogance are the obstacles we put in our own way.
The author zerores in on a philosophical problem plaguing humankind: a void within each of us, a great "nothing" which almost by definition can never be filled. It is this unfillable hole at the center of us which creates our collective insatiable gaping maw, a destructive desire to consume everything in our path.
Among the many epiphanies the main character realizes, the girl named Lamentations sees exactly what the world needs in order to truly heal. Just as humanity was birthed in a perfect place, Eden will only return when all humanity has died and merged with the natural world. It gives new meaning to "the fall of man." This also begins her crisis of faith, as she struggles with her inner voice.
The girl, in her lengthy solitude, ruminates over what truths can be known. She concludes that the earth holds fast to the memories of everything that happens on it, and to it. To win, to succeed, is not to master, to dominate nature, but rather to submit, to live in harmony with all other life. That is the secret all of humanity missed, or at least refused to accept.
Unless we see ourselves as one with the natural world, rather than separate or even superior to it, we will not endure. Lamentations decides that harmony is our only hope for redemption. #books#BooksWorthReading#LaurenGroff#TheVasterWilds
MEDDLING FROM THE AFTERLIFE, the spirit of a Korean great-grandmother tries to right the decades-old wrongs she did to her family. Vivid characterizations highlight the cultural and generational divides. B PLUS
AN UNFLINCHING GEN X COMING-OF-AGE novel captures the summer heat, grime, and energy of early 80s New York, as well as the complicated friendship between two interns at a prestige newspaper (back when print still ruled the media). B PLUS
A beautiful little collection of short stories from a writer who was part of the Prague circle that included Franz Kafka and Max Brod and should be far better known in the English-speaking world. The five stories are intriguingly varied, but all feature the author's slightly sardonic, perceptive view of human nature.
In 2018, Katherine Ashworth is struggling. The death of her daughter has precipitated a major falling apart, which she's self-medicating with sleeping pills and vodka. A move to the small town of her husband's childhood - Lowbridge - is the beginning of the fight for Katherine to regain a purpose to her life, and stop the self-destruction.
It must take real writing skill to create a novel around 3.5 of the most unpleasant, conflicted, dysfunctional and frequently flat out awful people you'd ever read about, and make it as compelling and downright fascinating as KEEP HER SWEET.
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
🦀The tragic trajectory of WHAT KIND OF MOTHER starts normally enough then veers into waves of horror you'd NEVER imagine. Luckily, Clay McLeod Chapman HAS, & he's written a nightmare that will grab you in its pincers. You'll never look at aquatic creatures in the same way. It's Horror-ific! (Quirk)
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
PROMISE is another SUPERB batch of strange, eerie, unearthly stories from Christi Nogle. Weird futures, fantastical technologies, & unusual histories populate these worlds where Reality shimmers like a mirage of a dream: it may seem similar to ours, but it's never quite the same. (Flame Tree)
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
THE UNGODLY DUOLOGY is a feast of cosmic horror & an absolute banger. @MsPippinacious has crafted a fantastic 2-part story filled w/ suspense, action, & lots of heart- brimming w/ truly terrifying, unique monsters- that also has a richly satisfying conclusion. All the stars. (Cemetery Gates)
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
THE BLACK LORD is new weird horror at its finest. Colin Hinckley has crafted a wonderfully imaginative, suspenseful tale of family tragedy & secrets that is both instantly gripping and spooky as hell. This story is unique, memorable cosmic/folk horror that delivers. It's GREAT. (Tenebrous)