Book Review: DARK BREAKERS

TITLE: Dark Breakers

AUTHOR: C.S.E. Cooney

291 pages, Mythic Delirium Books, ISBN 9781732644069 (hardcover, also in trade paperback and e-book)

DESCRIPTION: (from the publisher): A young human painter and an ageless gentry queen fall in love over spilled wine—at the risk of his life and her immortality. Pulled into the Veil Between Worlds, two feuding neighbors (and a living statue) get swept up in a brutal war of succession. An investigative reporter infiltrates the Seafall City Laundries to write the exposé of a lifetime and uncovers secrets she never believed possible. Returning to an oak grove to scatter her husband’s ashes, an elderly widow meets an otherworldly friend, who offers her a momentous choice. Two gentry queens of the Valwode plot to hijack a human rocketship and steal the moon out of the sky.

DARK BREAKERS gathers three new and two previously uncollected tales from World Fantasy Award-winning writer C. S. E. Cooney that expand on the thrice-enfolded worlds first introduced in her Locus and World Fantasy award-nominated novella DESDEMONA AND THE DEEP.

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS: C.S.E. Cooney’s Dark Breakers collection has been a long time coming (she self-published two of the novellas herein in 2014 and 2015), but it has been worth the wait. These stories beautifully illustrate the overlapping layers of creativity, love, ambition, and self-identity that propel us as individuals and thus as a society.

The “thrice-enfolded worlds” mentioned in the book’s description are Athe (the World), home of humans, which is in the midst of an industrial revolution and all the societal upheaval that comes with it; the Valwode (the World Beneath), home of the Gentry, which is in the midst of a political upheaval; and Bana the Bone Kingdom (the World Beneath the World Beneath), home of goblinkind, which doesn’t figure heavily into any of the stories in this volume. The ways between these three worlds were once open but are now sealed off, travel between them limited to certain powerful individuals like Nyx the Nightwalker (Queen of the Gentry) and Kalos Kantzaros, king of all the koboldkin. And even for them, the crossing can only be done at certain times and certain places (as in the titular Dark Breakers / Breaker House). To most people in Athe the other realms are fairy stories and cautionary tales, the stuff of authors and artists.

It is not accidental then that the lead human characters of these stories are creatives: Elliot the painter, Ana the author, Gideon the sculptor, Salissay the investigative reporter. In their own way, each tap into the old beliefs, molding those tales into paintings, books, and sculptures that bring change, as art so often does. Change to Athe and change to the Valwode (and by extension, to Bana), although the extent of those changes is not immediately evident to the characters or to the reader.

So much of the characters’ creativity is tied up with their ability to love not just others but themselves. It is Elliot’s instant connection with an unassuming maid who goes by “Nixie” on the night of a grand party at Breaker House that sets the first novella in motion, but it’s the friendship between Elliot, Ana, and Gideon (and later Nixie) that underpins everything. Even when they don’t believe in themselves (and low self-esteem runs rampant among these three), they believe in each other, and at key moments that support makes all the difference in what they are able to accomplish with and for each other. I recognized a lot of myself in each of them: Elliot’s social anxiety in large crowds, Ana’s fears that her work isn’t as good as people say it is, Gideon’s attempts to hide what he really feels behind a bit of witty repartee (okay, I use dad jokes, but same thing), Nixie’s dislike of one she thinks is unworthy of the woman she comes to love like a sister. But also their unwavering support for each other even when they’re not getting along, their teasing and gentle prodding, their willingness to deprive themselves to help their loved ones out of tight spots. Along the same lines, I recognized in Salissay’s sense of social justice some of my anger at the way things are in our own world and my urge to make things better. (Salissay also seems to lack any self-doubt, which works against her a bit, but hey, no one is perfect!) The best fantasy books are centered around people we can relate to and recognize despite the otherworldly or supernatural setting, and Dark Breakers is very much among the best fantasy.

You do not have to have read Cooney’s novella Desdemona and the Deep to enjoy these stories, but if you have (or when you do), you’ll pick out the connections easily enough. They all stand alone very well, and all feature Cooney’s trademark love of language. If you’re like me, you’ll be so invested in the stories that you won’t notice the amazing craftwork, but it will hit you afterward how amazing is Cooney’s knack for the right descriptive word in each moment.

I’ll say again here what I said at the end of my review of Desdemona and the Deep: the stories of Elliot, Ana, Gideon, Nixie, and Salissay may or may not be concluded, but I hope we still have many more visits to the worlds of Athe, the Valwode and Bana in our future. I think there are many stories left to tell.

I received an advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SUNDAY SHORTS: Two from Kaliedotrope

I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. I’ve considered promising to review a short story every day, but that’s a lot of pressure. And while no one will fault me if I miss days, I’ll feel guilty, which will lead to not posting at all. So better to stick to a weekly post highlighting a couple/three stories, as I’ve done in the past.

I haven’t read all of Kaleidotrope’s Winter 2022 issue yet, but the first two stories in the issue are absolutely stand-outs.

Scott Edelman’s “And Behold, It Was Very Good” is a slightly comedic and very topical story about what “really” went on in the Garden of Eden between Adam, Eve, God, and the Snake. Edelman posits that there were multiple trees of knowledge throughout the Garden, each a different type of knowledge, and that the First Man and First Woman had access to all of them and experimented a lot. He’s not the first to suggest that Adam and Eve eating fruit of the one tree they were forbidden from eating was part of God’s ineffable plan all along, but he puts a fun and thought-provoking spin on the idea. He also never names the characters the way I have: they are “The Man,” “The Woman,” “The Voice,” and “Snake” because Adam and Eve don’t know themselves yet and therefore have not named themselves, nor do they know anything about the Voice other than what He commands. Of course, Adam was in charge of naming everything, so it makes sense Snake would be the only one with a “name.” I have somehow managed to discuss this story without spoiling anything important about the way the story twists.

“The Skin Inside” by Richard E. Gropp starts off with a scene reminiscent of the pre-credits scene of a murder mystery or horror flick: one man wheedles information out of another man regarding a mysterious set of masks and then things take a turn for the gruesome. But the majority of the story is not as action-packed and is in fact a wonderful slow burn as we find out why the man (Winston) was questioning the other man and then follow him on his quest to find the current owner of the masks and deal with the threat they pose. The story feels in many ways like a Victorian or pulp supernatural mystery. The masks are powerful and easily misused, the people who possess them selfish and yes, rich. The shift in pacing and tone are totally appropriate for the story being told, and Winston’s reasons for doing what he does are full of rich emotional detail that made me want to know where his life goes after this story is over.

Book Review: COMFORT ME WITH APPLES

TITLE: Comfort Me with Apples

AUTHOR: Catherynne M. Valente

103 pages, TorDotCom Publishing, ISBN 9781250816214 (hardcover, also available in e-book and audio)

DESCRIPTION: (from publisher): Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?

MY RATING: 5 of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: This is one of those reviews where I’m at a loss for exactly how much to say. Yes, I know the book has been out almost three months as of this writing and some folks reading this have probably already read reviews that have spoilery details. On the off chance you have not, though – I’m not going to reveal the big twists.

So what can I say?

Any fan of Cat Valente’s beautiful use of language to propel story should love this for the words alone. The structure of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, the repetition of words and phrases – it’s all crafted with care towards keeping the reader invested in the story, and I loved every moment of it.

The pacing of Comfort Me with Apples is about as perfect as one can get in a story of this style. No time is wasted trying to lull the reader into thinking everything is fine before the big twist. From the beginning, there is no doubt that something is very wrong in Arcadia Gardens; if the language of the opening paragraphs of the residents’ agreement doesn’t tip you off, Sophia’s first thought (I was made for him) should. The question of course is: just what is wrong with Arcadia Gardens? Is this a Stepford Wives situation? Has Sophia been brainwashed and stuck in a village where no one is who they seem, ala The Prisoner? Is Sophia even a reliable focal character, or is she imagining much of what she sees? The story could plausibly go in any direction, but readers who are paying attention will figure out where it’s going around the time I did if not earlier. (And for me, it was only a few pages before what’s happening is made explicit.)

The in-story action is broken up occasionally with quotes from the Arcadia Gardens Housing Association’s Rules. They give the reader a moment to breath, to think, and they are highly effective. They’re also increasingly controlling and creepy as they continue, and really make me glad I don’t live in a gated community.

One more recommendation: if at all possible, read Comfort Me with Apples in one sitting. It’s only 103 pages in hardcover. Carve out the time. It’s worth it.

I received an electronic advance reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Book Review: NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH

TITLE: Nothing but Blackened Teeth

AUTHOR: Cassandra Khaw

128 pages, Tor Nightfire, ISBN 9781250759412 (hardcover, also in e-book and audio)

DESCRIPTION: (from the publisher): A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS: Cassandra Khaw’s novella Nothing but Blackened Teeth is lushy written, full of physical and sensory detail. The horror starts out subtle – just a whisper the narrator thinks she hears – and by the time it turns obvious the reader knows more about the characters involved than they probably realize about themselves.

Narrator Cat is unsure of her place in a group of friends she used to lead, back when they were a sort of “Scooby gang” investigating haunted houses, abandoned hospitals, and any sewage pipe large enough for a body to crawl down. She’s been absent from the group for several months, working on her own problems, and has been drawn out to attend a wedding of two other members of the group (Faiz and Nadia) organized by a fourth member (Philip). There’s some question about whether the fifth member of their group, Lin, is even going to show up. There are a lot of dynamics at play here: the characters either seem to like each other too much or not at all, and their interpersonal histories turn out to be easy for the ghost haunting the house to use to her own ends. I must admit, I didn’t find any of these characters particularly likeable. They’ve all treated each other badly in the past and in the present. But I’m a firm believer that you don’t need to like everyone – or even anyone – in a horror story. I enjoyed watching their personal issues play out against a growing sense that the evening spent in this house is not going to turn out well for some, if not all, of them.

The house itself is just as much of a character as the group of friends renting it, and Khaw’s descriptions of the rooms the characters move through are at turns beautiful and disturbing, especially as the actual threat – the ghostly bride and those that surround her – become more apparent. At points, the mansion reminded me of the house in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves: hidden depths, extra hallways and rooms that endlessly loop on each other, that aren’t discovered unless an occupant makes just the right turn at just the right time, none of which are visible from the mundane exterior of the building.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a fast-moving but deeply immersive reading experience in which a group of unhappy people barrel blindly towards an overwhelming supernatural presence. To say too much more would be to spoil the twists the story takes.

I received an electronic advance reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley, although this review is long over-due.

Book Review: FLOWERS FOR THE SEA

TITLE: Flowers for the Sea

AUTHOR: Zin E. Rocklyn

112 pages, TorDotCom Publishing, ISBN 9781250804037 (paperback, also available in e-book and audio)

DESCRIPTION: (from the publisher): We are a people who do not forget.

Survivors from a flooded kingdom struggle alone on an ark. Resources are scant, and ravenous beasts circle. Their fangs are sharp.

Among the refugees is Iraxi: ostracized, despised, and a commoner who refused a prince, she’s pregnant with a child that might be more than human. Her fate may be darker and more powerful than she can imagine.

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: Zin E. Rocklyn’s debut is a stellar entry into the cosmic horror genre, a novella that leaves you unsettled and feeling small in the face of the universe even while you admire the tenacity of the main character.

Cosmic (or “Lovecraftian”) horror tends to be expansive and claustrophobic at the same time. The greater cosmos makes itself known to humans who are overwhelmed by it, usually in places that are tight and dark with odd architecture or geometry at play. Setting the action on a boat alone at sea certainly ticks those boxes off but limiting most of the action to the few places on the vessel that the outcast, disdained Iraxi is allowed to visit makes the book feel even more claustrophobic. There is no sense of a larger, supportive community that might normally feature in a lost-at-sea adventure. The desperation of 1743 days at sea, with no land in sight, is palpable. Rocklyn infuses the book with so many visceral sensory details: the sweat and grime on Iraxi and the people she interacts with, the pervasive salt water, the smells of food and humans. Most notably, there are the physical details of Iraxi giving birth to her possibly inhuman (or more than human) child: bloody, painful, brutal – words which also describe the novel’s one detailed sex scene.

It is implied that Iraxi has been pregnant for most of the voyage, or at least far longer than would be natural. While other women have died, or have survived with the baby dying instead, she has labored on waiting to deliver this child. The rest of the denizens of the ship’s society know something is not right, but not what. Iraxi does as well, and throughout the book she explores her past, analyzing what led her here. She knows what her decisions have cost her and those she loves, but she is also resolutely not ashamed to be who she is regardless of how the people around her (including current and former lovers) think.

At times the novella feels post-apocalyptic, at times like a completely separate fantasy world. Massive flooding (rising sea levels?) forced these people into their current situation, and it’s clear they are the poor, the unwanted, the exiled (in Iraxi’s case); they are cast out by soldiers of the prince Iraxi denied. This also, to me, makes the book feel a bit like a slave ship narrative. While there are no richer (whiter?) overseers on the ship, no destination in sight at which the human cargo will be sold, there is also no sense that signing onto the trip was really voluntary, that those on the ship might find a safe harbor to land in.

And then of course, there’s the cosmic horrors that eventually manifest, deadly and disturbing. I won’t spoil anything about their arrival and effect on the characters, but they are nightmare-inducing.

Flowers for the Sea is a truly stellar debut for a writer I cannot wait to read more from.

NOTE: I received an advance reading copy from TorDotCom Publishing via NetGalley well in advance of the book’s publication date in exchange for an honest review. This review is obviously long overdue.

Book Review: SERVANT MAGE

TITLE: Servant Mage

AUTHOR: Kate Elliot

176 pages, TorDotCom Publishing, ISBN 9781250769053 (hardcover, also available in e-book)

DESCRIPTION: (from Goodreads): In Kate Elliott's Servant Mage, a lowly fire mage finds herself entangled in an empire-spanning conspiracy on her way to discovering her true power.

They choose their laws to secure their power.

Fellian is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines.

Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out the Monarchist movement for good.

But Fellian has more than just her Lamplighting skills up her sleeve…

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: With Servant Mage, Kate Elliot proves that it is possible to write epic fantasy without writing a doorstop of a novel and still leave the reader both satisfied and wanting more. It’s probably a bit early to start making claims about “favorite novella of the year,” but I will be surprised if Servant Mage isn’t in the Top Five for me at least. That’s how intrigued I am with this world and these characters.

In this world, Liberationists “freed” the world of the Monarchy long enough ago that older people remember the way life used to be but there’s a generation coming of age who have been raised to believe what the Liberation government tells this is true: that the Monarchy were possessed by multiple demons that made them powerful but debauched, and so anyone who is deemed to have magical talent is relegated to a strictly controlled and demeaned servant class. Mages may be talented in one of five areas (earth, air, fire, water, and aether) and are trained from discovery in exactly how their powers work.

Fellian is one of those servant mages, a lamplighter (“fire”). She’s been told that she’ll only ever have the ability to create illumination, and that even if she ever manages to work her way free from her indentured servitude (a system which is designed to perpetuate indenture, not relieve it), she won’t rise very far because she’s still demon-possessed and not one of the Virtuous. At the start of the novel, we see that even in servitude, Fellian pushes boundaries: she’s learned to detect heat signatures, an ability she theoretically can’t have, according to the Liberationists; she also takes time to secretly teach other servants how to read and write, something else the Liberationists have outlawed for servant mages and, it seems, for most of the population outside of the elite.

In just the opening chapter, we see how both feisty and insecure Fellian is, and that internal struggle continues throughout the book. Even when presented with new information about the way the world or magic works, information she can see is true, her training/education still holds sway – and in at least one crucial moment, that training threatens to unravel everything the group she’s with has accomplished. Fellian also remains unafraid to call people out when she thinks they’re hiding something from her, unafraid to ask awkward questions at inopportune moments. Her guesses about people’s motives aren’t always correct, but they always get a reaction.

Servant Mage is in third person but very tightly focused on Fellian’s point of view: the reader knows what she knows in terms of what she’s experienced and been raised to believe and learns what she learns of the other characters through her questions and their answers/reactions. The rest of the cast is as intriguing as Fellian: Shey the apparent nobleman of the group; Hallou the fellow servant mage who struggles just as much as Fellian with breaking free of training; Inre the mysterious; and the battle-hardened older Captain who leads them. I enjoyed learning about each characters’ past, reveals I will not spoil in a review, and suspect there’s even more to their histories than was revealed.

The world-building that underlies the action is equally as interesting as the characters that live in the world. We’re accustomed to fantasy stories where the Monarchy is evil (especially when they’re equated with Dragons, as the Monarchy herein is) and whoever fights against the Monarchy is good. In our real world, we’re all too acquainted with revolutions that end up installing regimes who are just as bad, if not worse, than the monarchs they depose. Elliott gives us a clear look at that here, with the Liberationist government being abusive and controlling, stripping away rights from anyone with even a hint of magical ability and hoarding wealth and power to a small non-magical “elite.”

Hopefully, Servant Mage is just the start of exploring this world. I look forward to more.

I received an electronic advance reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley in hopes of an honest review.

2022 Sunday Shorts Intro Post

As mentioned in a few recent posts, or at least hinted at, I hit a wall somewhere in the middle of 2021 and stopped posting to my blog. I felt guilty about it, of course, but the motivation just wasn’t there. That means it’s been six months or more since any of my intended regular features appeared. So I thought I’d use the first post of 2022 for each feature to re-introduce them.

Welcome to the first Sunday Shorts of 2022.

I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. I’ve considered promising to review a short story every day, like ‘Nathan Burgoine did a while back on his blog, but that’s a lot of pressure. And while no one will fault me if I miss days, I’ll feel guilty, which will lead to not posting at all. So better to stick to a weekly post highlighting a couple/three stories, as I’ve done in the past.

The stories featured will range in length from flash fiction to novellas, because I love all the lengths. And this seems like the right time to mention what those lengths are, at least according to The Hugo Awards:

·       Novella: 17,500 – 40,000 words (roughly 58 – 133 pages at 300 words/page)

·       Novelette: 7,500 – 17,500 words (roughly 25 – 58 pages)

·       Short Story: less than 7,500 words (roughly 25 pages or less)

In addition, many organizations/websites break “Short Stories” down into smaller categories, such as:

·       Flash Fiction: 1,000 words or less (some sites say 1,500 or less and some say 750)

·       Micro-fiction: 500 words or less

·       Drabble: precisely 100 words

although there seems to be a lot of disagreement out there when you get down to these finer categories.

My rule of thumb regarding novellas is that they’re eligible to be featured in this column if they appear in a larger book (say, as part of an author’s collection, or a collection of several novellas, or as an addition at the back of a novel) or if they’re published on an author’s Patreon. Novellas published for sale as single volumes (regardless of who the publisher is) count as “books” and usually get reviewed that way. (Otherwise, the constant stream of excellent novellas from TorDotCom would take over this column!)

For the time being, I’m focused on short fiction in print/digital formats. At some point, I might delve into individual stories/episodes of anthology formats in other media, like television and comics. I consider it every year and haven’t made that jump yet. Maybe that should be a separate regular feature. Feel free to weigh in in the comments.

The stories I’ll talk about come from a variety of print and online sources. I tend to read a fair number of anthologies and single-author collections, and occasionally will focus on stories from those even if I’m publishing a review of the entire book. Favorite anthology editors include Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, John Joseph Adams, dave ring, Paula Guran, and Rhonda Parrish to name a few. (I could go on and on … that’s also probably the subject of a separate post.)

I am also subscribed to a bunch of magazines that I try to read at least semi-regularly, and some of those are even free to read online. When I do my monthly “Reading Round-Up,” you are likely to see stories from the following venues listed on a regular basis:

·       Lightspeed Magazine

·       Fantasy Magazine

·       Nightmare Magazine

·       The Dark

·       Uncanny Magazine

·       The Deadlands

·       Kaleidotrope

·       Apex Magazine

·       Fireside Magazine

·       Bachelors

Future Science Fiction Digest

·       The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

·       Tor.com

·       Mermaids Monthly (now defunct, but I have several issues to catch up on)

That said, I do try to vary the sources for the stories I review in-depth for this column, so you shouldn’t see any one of the above magazines appearing any more regularly than the others.

(In the interests of full disclosure: I’m the proofreader for the e-book editions of Lightspeed and Fantasy, and so they account for 12 of the short stories I read each month. I tend to feature them in this column less often to avoid accusations of “favoritism.” I am NOT the proofreader for Nightmare, from the same publisher.)

I also enjoy reading short fiction on authors’ websites/Patreons. Seanan McGuire is an example. For $1/month, you get access to every short story she’s published on her Patreon – all original works when they first appear. ‘Nathan Burgoine has also posted some great short fiction on his blog, including annual queer retellings/reinventions of classic Christmas carols and stories. Lucy Snyder occasionally posts short stories on her Patreon as well. Again, I could go on and on and on…

Have a favorite anthology, collection, magazine, or other online venue for short fiction that I haven’t mentioned above? Again, feel free to weigh in in the comments. I’m always looking for new places to read short fiction (as if I don’t have enough to read already!).

And of course, let me know who your favorite short fiction authors and editors are!

Book Review: BODY SHOCKS

TITLE: Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror

EDITOR: Ellen Datlow

384 pages, Tachyon Publications, ISBN 9781616963606 (paperback, also available in e-book)

DESCRIPTION: (from Goodreads): The most terrifying thing that you can possibly imagine is your own body in the hands of a monster. Or worse, in the hands of another human being. In this definitive anthology of body horror selected by a World Horror Grandmaster, you’ll find the unthinkable and the shocking: a couture designer preparing for an exquisitely grotesque runway show; a vengeful son seeking the parent who bred him as plasma donor; a celebrity-kink brothel that inflicts plastic surgery on sex workers; and organ-harvesting doctors who dissect a living man without anesthetic.

Bestselling editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft’s Monsters) presents body horror at its most wide-ranging and shocking best. Discover twenty-nine intricate, twisted tales of the human body, soul, and psyche, as told by storytelling legends including Carmen Maria Machado, Richard Kadrey, Seanan McGuire, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Nathan Ballingrud, Tananarive Due, Cassandra Khaw, Christopher Fowler, and many more.

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: I love horror as much as I love any other “speculative fiction” genre, but I will admit that when it comes to body horror, I’m one of those readers/viewers who is squeamish but also intrigued. Picture the trope of the teen watching a horror movie through the parted fingers of the hand they’ve raised in front of their face – then age the person up to his 50s and you’ve got me. It’s not so much blood and gore that gets my gag reflex going as it is bodily transformation. For this reason, I’ve long stayed away from the more visceral body horror fiction that gets recommended as exemplars of the sub-genre. But I can’t resist an occasional look, via short stories that I can read one at a time and “palette-cleanse” between. And when those stories are assembled by Ellen Datlow, an editor who has never disappointed me or led me astray, all the better.

Quite a few authors I always enjoy are present. Seanan McGuire’s “Spores” (in which a lab hygienist’s worst fears come true regarding mold), Carmen Maria Machado’s “The Old Women Who Were Skinned” (in which, well … the title kind of gives it away, but there are still surprises), Nathan Ballingrud’s “You Go Where It Takes You” (the basis for an episode of Hulu’s excellent Monsterland series) were all stories I had read before, and rereading did not lessen the dread and discomfort the stories originally inspired in me. I had not previously read Priya Sharma’s “Fabulous Beats” (a herpetologist has a unique connection to the snakes she works with), Cassandra Khaw’s “The Truth That Lies Under Skin and Meat” (people as food), or Kaaron Warren’s “A Positive,” (a child is raised to provide for his father in old age in a way far from what that phrase normally entails). All three creeped me out in delightful ways while also leaving a smile on my face. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good revenge tale. Which is probably why I also enjoyed Edward Bryant’s “The Transfer” and Alyssa Wong’s “Natural Skin” as well.

Two other stand-outs for me were Tananarive Due’s “The Lake,” in which – surprise – and urban legend about the titular body of water turns out to be true, and Brian Evenson’s Poe-like “A True Friend,” in which the narrator explains that while he could help you out of the predicament you’re in, he won’t and why. Both tales are perfectly paced, playfully teasing the reader with what’s really going on. I suspect that Evenson’s story, told in the second person POV that always discomfits me regardless of genre, is going to be on my “must re-read annually in October” list alongside my favorite Poe stories.

Full marks also go to Terry Dowling for “Toother,” in which a detective, a doctor, and the doctor’s supernaturally talented patient team up to track down a serial killer. I would gladly read any more tales featuring Dan Truswell, Peter Rait, Henry Badman, and Philip Crow. The characters and their shared history intrigued me. (Admission: I have not yet looked to see if Dowling has more stories with these characters.)

But, if I had to choose the most disturbing story in the anthology in terms of body transformation and trauma, it would be a three way tie between Simon Bestwick’s “Welcome to Mengele’s,” which involves bodily abuse of clones; Cody Goodfellow’s “Atwater,” which contains both the most disturbing birthing scene I’ve read and a scene reminiscent of the climax of the movie Akira which made me physically ill the first time I saw it on VHS; and  Michael Blumlein’s “Tissue Ablation and Variant Regeneration: A Case Report,” which is a very slow and methodical report of surgery, practically an autopsy, on a perhaps-unwilling patient while that patient is still alive and aware of everything he’s losing. These are perhaps the most graphic stories in the book. Blumlein’s tale is also the closing story and will linger with you long after you’ve set the book aside. Even reading over my story notes several months after reading the book, the images from this story appear clear in my mind’s eye.

There are plenty of other stories I haven’t called out specifically that are equally as good and as diverse in tone and genre as the ones I have mentioned. Some of the stories are lean more towards science fiction or fantasy than outright horror, and some are more graphic than others. I don’t think fans of body horror as a sub-genre will be disappointed with what Datlow has put together here, and I think that folks not accustomed to body horror will find this an excellent testing ground for “just how gross is too gross.”

I received an electronic Advanced Reading Copy of this book from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley well before publication in hopes of a fair review, but personal life stuff delayed my posting this review until well after the publication date.

First Annual ToBeWatched Challenge!

In preparing my lists for this year’s “To Be Read” Challenge, I got to thinking about how many DVDs/Blu-rays I own that I haven’t watched, which got me to thinking about how many of them are movies I’ve actually never seen, in a theatre or on television, but which I bought because I thought I’d want to see them, and then never got around to watching them. Which then got me to thinking about movies I’ve wanted to see but also have never bought in physical or digital format…

My mind does wonderful things when I’m procrastinating, doesn’t it?

So I put the idea out on Facebook and Twitter about a 2022 “To Be Watched” Challenge: twelve movies you’ve always intended to see but have never gotten around to it, plus two alternate titles in case one or two of your main choices turn out to be “unwatchable”. The only catch: the movies must be at least one full year old, meaning nothing originally released in 2021 or 2022. There are no restrictions on genre or length or what form you’re going to watch it in (DVD, streaming, etc.), and no judgements on what you choose.

Feel free to post your list as a comment on this site or post it on your own blog and share a link in the comments. I would like to offer some kind of raffle-prize for those who finish the challenge, the way Adam does on his RoofbeamReader “To Be Read” Challenge, but I’m not sure quite how to make that work just yet.

I’d love other people to participate, but this is all for fun, and to motivate myself into finally seeing some of the movies on my “I should watch that eventually” list.

This list could easily be two or three times as long, but here are my twelve, with their original release dates in parentheses:

1.       My Boy Jack (2007)

2.       The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

3.       Alice Adams (1935)

4.       Macbeth (Orson Welles version) (1948)

5.       The Producers (Nathan Lane/Matthew Broderick version) (2005)

6.       The Last Picture Show (1971)

7.       In Cold Blood (1967)

8.       Mr. Holmes (2015)

9.       The Night of the Hunter (1955)

10.   Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

11.   The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Lon Chaney Sr. version) (1923)

12.   Logan (2017)

And my “alternates:”

A.      Twelve Angry Men (1957)

B.      Seven Samurai (1954)

I’ll come back to this post as I watch each film and change that movie’s text to italics, followed by the date I watched the movie.

RoofbeamReader's 2022 To Be Read Challenge Initial Post

Most avid readers have a “to be read” pile, in our office or near our bed: books we bought intending to read, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Some of us have “to be read” bookcases.

If you perused my previous “2022 Reading Challenges” post, you know that I’ve actually challenged myself to clear 24 books (12 fiction, 12 non-fiction) from my TBR pile this year. I made that decision well before seeing RoofbeamReader’s announcement on his blog that he’s reinstating the 12 book TBR Challenge he started over a decade ago. Since RBR offers raffled prizes for anyone who completes his challenge, I decided I needed to participate. But upping my list of books from 24 to 36 feels like I’d be setting myself up for failure on all counts. SO, I’m considering RBR’s TBR Challenge to be a subset of my own challenge – all the books below can be found on my larger list as well.

You have to go to RBR’s website to officially sign up for the challenge if you want to be entered to win a gift card to Amazon or the Book Depository at year’s end but the basic rules (other than how to enter) are: Choose 12 books that have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means books with a publication date of 1/1/2021 or later are ineligible; books published in 2021 or earlier qualify as long as they’ve been on your TBR Pile/List. Then choose two (2) alternate titles, just in case one or two of your original twelve end up in the “did not finish” bin.

Per the rules of the Challenge, I’ll be coming back to this post to link to individual book reviews and to show progress. I’ll do this by italicizing the books I’ve read and adding “completed on [date]” to the entry.

MY 2021 ROOFBEAMREADER TO BE READ CHALLENGE LIST:

1.       The Tricky Part: One Boy’s Fall from Trespass into Grace, by Martin Moran (2005) (Finished June 28, 2022)

2.       Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth’s Surface, by David Standish (2006) (Finished July 19, 2022)

3.       Letters to the Pumpkin King, by Seanan McGuire (2014) (Finished November 30, 2022)

4.       An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014) (Finished April 5, 2022)

5.       Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula, by David J. Skal (2016) (Finished November 8, 2022)

6.       Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978, by Keith Dallas and John Wells (2018) (Finished July 23, 2022)

7.       The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, by R.A. Dick (pseudonym of Josephine Leslie) (1945, reissued in 2014) (Finished November 28, 2022)

8.       Excalibur! By Gil Kane and John Jakes (1980) (Finished September 11, 2022)

9.       Slights, by Kaaron Warren (2009) (Finished on February 13, 2022)

10.   Lord Tyger, by Philip Jose Farmer (1970) (Finished August 30, 2022)

11.   Untamed Shore, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020) (Finished September 27, 2022)

12.   A Summer Beyond Your Reach: Stories, by Xia Jia (2020) (Finished December 22, 2022)

Alternates

1.       Horror Fiction in the 20th Century: Exploring Literature’s Most Chilling Genre, by Jess Nevins (2020) (Finished December 20, 2022)

2.       The Red Lamp, by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1925, reissued in 2018)