The more I think about this plot, the more this novella seems to be a nice, gross little bit of entertainment that's got too many things that don't haThe more I think about this plot, the more this novella seems to be a nice, gross little bit of entertainment that's got too many things that don't hang together or make sense once the shock wears off (view spoiler)[most notably, how was Molly impregnating (?) Leon and James with slow-growing mollys; I don't think sex between cis people generally works that way. But since I brought up the sex bits, I must say that the molly threesome was such a great horrible touch. Also the holes that spawned the mollys in particular seemed like a thing that happened when it was convenient or easy to fit it into the story and weren't a thing when it wasn't, like where were all the hospital mollys coming from? (hide spoiler)]. I need someone else to read this so we can talk about it.
Merged review:
The more I think about this plot, the more this novella seems to be a nice, gross little bit of entertainment that's got too many things that don't hang together or make sense once the shock wears off (view spoiler)[most notably, how was Molly impregnating (?) Leon and James with slow-growing mollys; I don't think sex between cis people generally works that way. But since I brought up the sex bits, I must say that the molly threesome was such a great horrible touch. Also the holes that spawned the mollys in particular seemed like a thing that happened when it was convenient or easy to fit it into the story and weren't a thing when it wasn't, like where were all the hospital mollys coming from? (hide spoiler)]. I need someone else to read this so we can talk about it....more
YIKES! Good grief, this scared me silly. Smart and short and terrifying and (view spoiler)[I thought he was going to kill at least one of them, wife oYIKES! Good grief, this scared me silly. Smart and short and terrifying and (view spoiler)[I thought he was going to kill at least one of them, wife or kid if not both (hide spoiler)] Kehlmann did not at all go on the direction I thought he would and I thank him for it!...more
"'I bear a hell within me,' Black Tom growled. 'And finding myself unsympathetized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction aro"'I bear a hell within me,' Black Tom growled. 'And finding myself unsympathetized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.'"...more
Trying to bring more spooky queer energy into 2021 with my last book/first book. I started this on the 31st and it saw me through til midnight, but itTrying to bring more spooky queer energy into 2021 with my last book/first book. I started this on the 31st and it saw me through til midnight, but it took a while for this to click for me because I have zero interest in spirit mediums. But that last line made it all worthwhile; whew, what a doozy!...more
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Stephen Graham Jones is out here freaking me out with things I never thought I I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Stephen Graham Jones is out here freaking me out with things I never thought I needed to fear, like the silhouette of a woman whose head isn't quite right, glimpsed through the oscillating blades of a ceiling fan. His use of the present tense, usually a huge pet peeve of mine, here works perfectly to pin the poor hapless reader in the immediacy of the mounting wrongness and terror that his various narrators feel. I think that something got a little lost for me in the middle of the book, as I'm not quite sure how (view spoiler)[Shaney was the Elk Head Woman but then Peta's baby but then Shaney again? (hide spoiler)] but my confusion didn't detract from my open-mouthed shock at just how wrong these men's lives went in an instant, nor from being absolutely wrung out by the end....more
I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
This is a riot! A haunted house story filtered through an Annihilation lens with a lI received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
This is a riot! A haunted house story filtered through an Annihilation lens with a little Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure. Pretty socialite Noemí Taboada's father receives a disturbing letter from a cousin and sends his daughter on a visit to see for herself just what Catalina meant when she wrote, "I bar my door but still they come, they whisper at nights and I am so afraid of these restless dead, these ghosts, fleshless things." Moreno-Garcia does a lovely job evoking clearly the cold of High Place, the weirdness, Noemí's disorientation; is the family Catalina married into eccentric or do they have sinister motives? Why is there always a mist too thick to see through outside, why aren't the servants allowed to talk, what happens when the rains come and the only road to town washes out? The writing is lush and beautiful and just so very creepy. Whatever your expectations of where this book might take you, you're almost certainly wrong and I think that's delightful....more
Let's all read True Grit! This has popped up on the timeline from about three or four people in the past few weeks, and I jumped right on overdrive liLet's all read True Grit! This has popped up on the timeline from about three or four people in the past few weeks, and I jumped right on overdrive like any tech-saavy 21st century library user who's trapped in their house during a pandemic and there it was, to the good of my heart. I've got to say that besides a few unwelcome jolts of racism sprinkled throughout, this is a real hoot. There's just something about the deadpan, every word just so-style that's almost Wodehousian in its hilarity and it gets me just right. All hail Mattie Ross from near Dardanelle in Yell County.
"'Watch out for those chicken and dumplings,' he told me. Some of the men stopped eating. 'They will hurt your eyes,' he said. A dirty man across the table in a smelly deerskin coat said, 'How is that?' With a mischievous twinkle the drummer replied, 'They will hurt your eyes looking for the chicken.' I thought it a clever joke but the dirty man said angrily, 'You squirrelheaded son of a bitch" and went back to eating."
"' . . . She thinks you are seeing about a horse. Criminal investigation is sordid and dangerous and is best left in the hands of men who know the work.' 'I suppose that is you. Well if in four months I could not find Tom Chamey with a mark on his face like banished Cain I would not undertake to advise others how to do it.'"
Captain Finch looked LaBoeuf over, then said to Rooster, 'Is this the man who shot Ned's horse from under him?' Rooster said, 'Yes, this is the famous horse killer from El Paso, Texas. His idea is to put everybody on foot. He says it will limit their mischief.'"
"He fell directly on the skeleton, crushing the bones and filling my face and eyes with dirt and scattering the puzzled rattlesnakes every which way." I don't think I was necessarily supposed to find that last one funny, but I confess I laughed out loud. Puzzled rattlesnakes! I could have read another volume about the misadventures of these characters, or highlighted any number of other, just as comical passages if I wasn't typing this all on my phone. Writing like this is what's good and that's a fact....more
Well well well, I thought I was made of sterner stuff than this but the master Shirley Jackson got me good. This book is scary af, to the point where Well well well, I thought I was made of sterner stuff than this but the master Shirley Jackson got me good. This book is scary af, to the point where I kept setting it down to tell myself that certainly my cats would be weirded out if something ghastly was about to happen and since they were calm I should really calm down too (what a treat it is, truly, to read a horror novel on the couch in an empty house with a couple of cats curled up like little cinnamon rolls next to you). How Jackson can write such riveting prose even when it's just about people taking a walk or eating dinner, how her characters can be so well drawn and funny even though they're stuck in some haunted house having frightening things happen to them, and how she can escalate tension to the degree that I have to turn the tv on just to stop myself from jumping every time I hear the faintest sound from the other room - I'm sure I don't know, but good grief is it worth it even if you have to sleep with the lights on.
"Maybe it will go on down the other side of the hall," Theodora whispered, and Eleanor thought that the oddest part of this indescribable experience was that Theodora should be having it too. "No," Theodora said, and they heard the crash against the door across the hall. It was louder, it was deafening, it struck against the door next to them (did it move back and forth against the hall? did it go on feet along the carpet? did it lift a hand to the door?) , and Eleanor threw herself away from the bed and ran to hold her hands against the door. 'Go away,' she shouted wildly. 'Go away, go away!' There was complete silence, and Eleanor thought, standing with her face against the door, Now I've done it; it was looking for the room with someone inside."...more
Nathan Ballingrud writes some deeply disturbing, epically gory shit and I think that's just great. This collection contains my beloved "Skullpocket" wNathan Ballingrud writes some deeply disturbing, epically gory shit and I think that's just great. This collection contains my beloved "Skullpocket" which is somehow better than I remember every time I read it, and "The Visible Filth," thank god not as flat out terrifying the second time around but still one of my very favorite horror stories ever (also now a movie on netflix that I will never have the spine to actually watch). The only dud is "The Diabolist," nice in that it sets up the concept of the Love Mills but ultimately never quite gets there. But oh boy let me tell you about "The Butcher's Table," a five-star read all on its own, the most supremely messed up pirate yarn to ever grace this reader, and the masterfully grotesque culmination of all of Ballingrud's musings on love and Hell. Just superb....more