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Book Review: Claws and Saucers by David Ellroy Goldweber
Summary:
An alphabetical guide to scifi, horror, and fantasy movies made between 1902 and 1982.
Review:
One thing I have learned from the two movie reference guides I’ve received for review since starting this book blog is that movie reference guides are not for me. Frankly with things like, oh, the internet, they’re just not useful the way they were back when I was in undergrad and professors wouldn’t accept IMDB as a reference in your English paper comparing books to their movie versions. But I digress.
Putting on my librarian cap then why does this reference guide get 2 and not 3 stars? (3 indicating not for me but maybe for others). It frankly bothers me how not academic it is. It essentially reads as a list randomly assembled by some random dude down the road, not a professor of the history of film or a film critic or anything like that really. This would be great for a blog, but not for a serious reference book. Additionally, maybe the print edition is better, but the ebook version is badly formatted and contains none of the pictures promised in the blurb.
The book basically then is your neighbor yammering in alphabetical order about random movies he selected from the early 1900s with all of the natural individual prejudices and caveats that go along with that. There’s nothing academic about it, and when push comes to shove, it’s something that would be better off as a blog than a book. I will give it this though: the title and cover are excellent.
2 out of 5 stars
Source: Netgalley
Friday Fun! (Seattle and MLA12)
Hello my lovely readers!
You may have noticed a recent surge in librarianship posts this week. I was so energized and excited about my career after MLA12 that I decided to post up my notes from the various sessions I attended here. It helps me organize my thoughts about them, but also gets the knowledge out there for others to see.
But enough about the conference, I know you guys are wondering about Seattle!
My first day I made it to Pike Place Market. It’s a famous market in the Puget Sound. Unfortunately, it’s kinda well-known for how the fish sellers throw the fish around. Obviously, being a vegetarian lady I wasn’t too keen on watching dead bodies of innocent creatures being thrown around, so I avoided that particular sector of the market. I did find some things in the market that entertained me in their own way, though. The very first Starbucks, complete with its topless lady logo. I stopped to listen to a band of old men jamming (they were very talented). I met the giant carving of Sasquatch that Seattle is evidently very proud of (although I was never in the woods, so, alas, did not meet the real Sasquatch). I also managed to find an adorable independent bookstore called Left Bank Books with quite possibly the best bookstore logo ever: Read a Fucking Book. Also they had an entire animal liberation section that warmed the cockles of my heart.
Looking up through Seattle’s sidewalk.
The next day I somehow managed to squeeze in the Seattle Underground tour around the conference. Basically, Seattle burned down back in the day. They decided this was a good chance to solve the whole sewage constantly in the street because of lack of proper drainage problem. But the merchants didn’t want to wait the 7 years it would take to elevate the ground, so they built their building at regular level, but made the pretty entrance on the second floor. That way as the city built up the retaining walls and filled in the street and such, the first floor became the basement, and the second floor the first floor. So we were wandering around underground on what used to be the above-ground sidewalks. Confused yet?
My final day in Seattle, I went to the EMP Museum (Experimental Music Project). I wasn’t so into the main museum itself, but they were having a special exhibit called “Can’t Look Away.” Besides learning more about the sociology and history of horror, I also saw: an Alien from Alien, the monster’s boots from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the saw from Saw, the axe from The Shining, models used in special effects from The Fly, Freddy Kruger’s glove, the interrogation chair from Hostel, and much more!! It was totally bad-ass. I was in heaven. Also they gave me a list of the 100 horror films to see before you die. I’ve seen 29, which is pretty good for being 25 myself.
So beyond the touristy stuff, what did I think of Seattle?
The Cool:
- Buildings hand out free “umbrella bags” so you can bag your umbrella and not drip everywhere.
- Buildings also have overhangs so most of the sidewalk is not actually out where you get rained on.
- Super hilly, which is good for the legs.
- Skid Row term originated there.
- The history is skeezy and fascinating. All the stuff I love about the old west.
- The accent is pretty adorable. Kind of a softened version of Midwest with less niceties.
- Legal happy hour.
The Annoying and/or Odd:
- Getting called ma’am all the time.
- Having doors held open for me even when it’s not necessary or particularly helpful.
- Way too many homeless people.
- Omg the smoking.
- Seriously, where the hell are the pizza places and why did the two I found not sell by the slice?
- The Space Needle is seriously underwhelming.
- The fashion is. Well. It’s like Berklee threw up on people.
Really, though, I had a wonderful time at the conference and being a tourist. It’s not like it surprised me that I wouldn’t want to call Seattle home. I’ve known a very long time now that Boston is my city soulmate. But I had fun visiting and definitely would go back as a tourist again. I just would skip Pike Place Market and spend a lot more time in Pioneer Square.
Book Review: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga (Series, #1)
Summary:
The first in a prequel trilogy that relates how the baddest villain of The Walking Dead’s zombie apocalypse came to be–not just how he came to rule Woodbury, but how he became an evil sociopath.
Review:
Wow. Just wow. If I could be a good book blogger and just say that I would, but I can’t so I suppose I must attempt to put my love for this book into words.
First of all, it’s important to know that this is sort of a prequel to The Walking Dead graphic novels. It’s the origin story of The Governor (aka one of the most evil comic book villains ever). Only instead of sticking to his graphic novel format, Kirkman, with the assistance of Bonansinga, went with the written word. Now, I was offered this book as an audiobook, and I have to say this really affected my reading of it. The reader, Fred Berman, does an absolutely amazing job. He has a natural standard American accent, but seamlessly slips into a Southern drawl when the characters speak. Beyond this though he is able to bring the anguish and tensity to the survival scenes that is necessary without seeming melodramatic. It reminded me of being read to by my own father when I was a little girl. I found myself choosing to curl up with the audiobook over many other activities. So. I’m not sure if the experience is the same reading it yourself. I do know that listening to the audiobook is a remarkable experience.
Now, this is a zombie apocalypse horror novel about an evil man. It gets uncomfortable. Kirkman and Bonansinga bring us inside the minds of men warped by situations and psychiatric problems alike. It’s not pretty. It makes you squirm. But it’s supposed to. Some reviewers have accused this book of being misogynistic because bad things seem to happen an awful lot to the female characters. I have a couple of things to say about that. First of all, hello, do you live in this world? Because women have to survive a lot of bad shit. Second, this is an apocalypse. Think of it as a war zone. Do women get molested, raped, murdered, treated as less strong and unequal? Absolutely. The book isn’t misogynistic. It’s realistic about how a south torn apart by zombies would treat women. The way to determine if a book in this sort of situation is misogynistic is to look at how the author treats the women. Does he present them as hysterical, over-reacting? Do they refuse to stand up for themselves? I can unequivocally say that although horrible things happen to the women in this book, they fight for themselves. It is therefore not misogynistic, but realistic.
Now one thing that probably a lot of people wonder is is the story predictable? We already know who The Governor is and that he keeps his zombie daughter as a pet. That would seem to remove the ability for the authors to surprise us at all. I am happy to say that in spite of knowing the end result, this story kept me on the edge of my seat. Some readers didn’t like all of the surprises and twists. Personally, I feel that they brought the novel up a notch in both talent and enjoyability.
Overall, this is a wonderful addition to The Walking Dead canon. Fans of the graphic novel series will not be disappointed, although fans of the tv show seem to be taken aback by it. All I can say is that the books don’t pull any punches and are not for the squeamish. If you don’t want to be challenged, stick to tv. Everyone else should scoop this up as soon as possible.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review and a giveaway
Book Review: Devil Tree by Steve Vernon
Summary:
In a valley near a river in the wood near Indian territory lies a tree. A tree that sends out its roots throughout the valley and demands blood. It is in this valley that the godsman Lucas and his wife Tamsen find themselves wrecked and at the mercy of not just the man Jonah Duvall and his Indian bride Jezebel, but also at the mercy of the tree.
Review:
I decided to dip my toe into magical realism via a genre I love–horror. It turns out it’s not a genre that works for me, although Vernon does it well.
Magical realism is a style in which magic is blended into the real world and characters view it as a natural, normal part of the world. It is more realistic than fantasy but less realistic than traditional horror, for instance. Personally, I could not get into an evil tree that wouldn’t let the inhabitants leave the valley. I think, perhaps, I would have if the characters themselves had been more modern, but they have an antiquated magical feel to them as well.
The books’ main themes are sexual disloyalty and cannibalism. The story seems to be saying that these negative qualities are possible in all humans, but the tree draws them out. All I can say is that although these themes are ones that interest me, they just didn’t do it for me in this story. I reiterate that I think the issue is simply that magical realism is not my style.
The tale is not badly told, although the strongest portions of the story are the flashbacks to Tamsen’s and Lucas’s lost prior loves. Those tales are unique and beautiful, and I can’t help but wonder what made the author choose to tell them as flashbacks instead of as the central piece.
It is difficult to write a review of this book, for although I recognize that it is well-written, it is simply not for me. Some combination of the style and the order in which things are told just didn’t work for me, although there is nothing easily pin-pointed as being wrong with it.
Overall, this is a well-written story that will appeal to fans of both the grotesque and magical realism. You must have a tough stomach to be able to handle this tale, but also an ability to immerse yourself in a world of magic just below the surface.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: Kindle copy from author in exchange for my honest review
Book Review: The Walking Dead, Book 2 by Robert Kirkman (Series, #2) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
The rag-tag group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse stumble upon a prison with two circles of fences just in time. With the warm weather more zombies are active now that they’re no longer frozen. Of course they also discover locked in the cafeteria three surviving inmates. Attempts to make the odd mix of original survivors, inmates, and the farmers into one group might be a task too huge to overcome. Especially when you add in a mysterious woman who arrives with two pet zombies she leads by chains.
Review:
Now that Kirkman has the post-apocalyptic zombie world firmly established, he is more free to move his characters around within it, seeing how different personalities and mores react to an entirely reordered society. This leads to some interesting storylines, such as the May/December romance, suicide pacts, and the idea of a fresh start for the living inmates. It does, however, also lead to some….overly dramatic speeches, let’s say. One in particular reminded me of the infamous “Live together, die alone” speech from Lost, only this one goes, “You kill; you die!” I had to stop reading for a minute to giggle. The close-up of the sheriff’s overly dramatic face had me in stitches, and I”m pretty sure that wasn’t the intended reaction, lol.
That said, though, all of the drama and death and zombies is exactly what one is looking for in a zombie graphic novel. If anything gives a writer an excuse to be overly dramatic, it’s a rag-tag bunch of survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Death and chaos are what we’re looking for here, while also addressing survival issues like farming and people having nervous break-downs. There’s also a creative zombie lore twist that I won’t spoil for you, but that is highly enjoyable.
Overall, Kirkman finds more stable footing in this second entry in the series. It’s chaotic, high-speed disasters, violence, and sex. If that’s what you look for in your graphic novels, I highly recommend this one.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Public Library
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book 1 
Book Review: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
Summary:
Every year the people of the town lock their boys aged sixteen to nineteen in their bedrooms for five days without food then let them loose on the night of Halloween for the Run. The October Boy, a living, breathing scarecrow stuffed with candy and topped by a jack-o-lantern head, will try to make it to the church by midnight. Whatever teenage boy stops him is the winner and is allowed past the Line to escape from town. Pete is determined to win this year, but not everything about the Run is as it at first appears.
Review:
This short book reads like a campfire story. I kept finding myself wishing I was huddled up around a campfire reading it out loud to my friends. The narration style is decidedly written that style. The style of a whispered urban legend or a campfire ghost story.
I don’t know what possessed Partridge to name this book Dark Harvest, when while I was reading it I definitely thought of it as The October Boy. Plus, Dark Harvest is a common name whereas The October Boy is not. The title is definitely one of the weakest points of the book.
Basically this story is an allegory for every teenager who ever felt trapped in a small town.
You remember how it feels, don’t you? All that desire scorching you straight through. Feeling like you’re penned up in a small-town cage, jailed by cornstalk bars. Knowing, just knowing, that you’ll be stuck in that quiet little town forever if you don’t take a chance. (page 41)
That desire and drive as a teenager to get the heck out of dodge is palpable in the book. Similarly, the disillusionment as you realize as a teenager that adults are not perfect and do not know it all and maybe even lied to you. It’s a nice allegory for both of those emotions, but it is not a perfect one.
I felt too many questions were left unanswered at the end of the book. Perhaps that wouldn’t bother some readers, but it bothered me. There’s this huge mystery of The October Boy, but while we get some answers, we are left with some questions hanging. I was hoping for more from this book.
Overall, this is a fun, quick horror story told in an intimate, urban legend style. Due to its themes, it will work best for teenagers, but adults who vividly remember those emotions will probably enjoy it as well.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: Better World Books
Buy It
Counts For:
Book Review: Symphony of Blood by Adam Pepper
Summary:
Hank Mondale wanted to be a cop but his gambling, alcohol, and drug addictions ruined his record. Instead, he is now a private detective barely scraping by, so when a wealthy and famous man named Blake hires him to figure out where the monster pursuing his daughter is hiding out, he takes the case in spite of the odd sound of it. Particularly since Blake and his daughter insist that this is a literal, shape-changing, lizard-like monster after her.
Review:
This is a book that suffers from bad structure, a plethora of unlikable characters, and a serious lack of editing.
I don’t need to go into too much detail about the lack of editing. Suffice to say it’s a combination of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. For instance, Jaeger is spelled “Yager” at one point (when being spoken about by an alcoholic character, no less). Also, although most of the book is told in past tense, periodically present tense shows up. Similarly, other errors show up that simply jar the reader, such as calling a character “rippled,” when the author meant “ripped.”
These are all editing problems, though, so I always try to look beyond them to see if they were fixed, would the story be a quality one? Alas, the case in this instance is simply no. The first half of the book is told entirely from the detective’s point of view, only to abruptly switch and have the next 25% or so back-track and tell what occurred from the monster’s perspective. Then the last bit of the book reverts back to the detective’s perspective. This gives the book an incredibly odd structure and simultaneously removes most of the mystery and suspense. Where before the creature was an enigma, we now understand it intimately. Similarly, whereas the section told from the creature’s point of view could be an interesting story in its own right, it is instead smushed between two ho-hum detective sections. Either choose to be investigating the monster or be the monster or alternate more quickly between the two to maintain some mystery. This structure simply feels like two different books willy-nilly slammed together.
There’s also the problem of the characters. The only sympathetic one is the monster, which would work if the story was told entirely from the monster’s perspective, yet it is not. Plus the monster itself just doesn’t make much sense. It’s hard to picture or imagine how it operates. It seems the author used the excuse of it being a monster to let it bend all rules whenever it was convenient to the storyline. Beyond the monster, the detective, his friends, Blake, and the daughter are all completely unsympathetic. They are the kind of people you’d move away from on the subway or roll your eyes at behind their backs. Readers, particularly in a mystery, need at least one character they can relate to.
All that said, Pepper does have some writing abilities. He clearly has a creative mind and is capable of telling a story one can follow. This would be a good draft, but not a final published work. He needs to decide if he wants to tell the monster’s story or the detective’s, then rewrite entirely from that point of view and also invest in an editor. If these steps are followed, Pepper could have a solid book here. As it stands now, though, I can’t in good faith recommend it to anyone, even staunch horror fans.
2 out of 5 stars
Source: Copy from the author in exchange for my honest review
Counts For:
Book Review: Hungry For You by A. M. Harte
Summary:
A collection of zombie-themed short stories and poetry with the twist that they all have to do with romantic relationships in some way, shape, or form.
Review:
This is a solid collection of short stories and poetry that can be enjoyed one at a time or inhaled in one sitting. I went for the one sitting option.
In some stories Harte sticks to zombie tropes but in not all. The ones where she varies or surprises the reader in some way are definitely the stronger ones. She has an ability to imagine multiple different possible zombie apocalypses that are all, if not equally believable, still believable. Her dialogue is a definite strength, reading as incredibly realistic in the midst of fantastical happenings.
Where she excels though, and where I would encourage her to focus future horror writings, is when she uses the zombies and zombie apocalypse as a metaphor or an instigator for something in a relationship from women’s perspective. My three favorite stories from the collection–“Dead Man’s Rose,” “Seven Birds,” and “Alive”–all feature this element. In “Dead Man’s Rose,” the zombie is a metaphor for an abusive lover who refuses to grant the woman her freedom. In “Seven Birds” the surprise of the zombie apocalypse coincides nicely with an unexpected break-up (I particularly enjoyed that female character’s reaction to both). In “Alive” the female character must deal both with the zombie apocalypse and the emotional fall-out after a one-night stand with a co-worker. These are all three things modern women face in relationships and getting to see them take place in a world infested with zombies (one of my favorite kinds) was such a welcome change! Too often, especially in zombie movies, we see the apocalypse from a man’s perspective and not from a woman’s. I found myself saying to Harte in my head, “Ignore the male perspective and switch to just writing from the female perspective, because you do it so well!” For instance, it’s not every day in a female zombie fiction fan’s life that you come across a resonant passage like this:
When I am lonely for boys what I miss is their bodies. The smell of their skin, its saltiness. The rough whisper of stubble against my cheek. The strong firm hands, the way they rest on the curve of my back. (location 1206)
Never have I come across a passage in zombie fiction that so struck at the heart of what it is to be a modern straight woman, and to have that followed up by oh no zombies was just awesome.
There are a few shortcomings though. A couple of the stories simply felt too short, and a couple of them–“A Prayer to Garlic” and “Arkady, Kain, & Zombies”–just didn’t make much sense to me. I think the former would have benefited from being a bit longer with more explanation, whereas the latter actually felt too long and had a couple of plot holes that I couldn’t wrap my mind around. This collection is periodically more British than at other times. One short story revolves around tea to an extent that I’m afraid a Boston gal like myself just couldn’t quite relate to. I know that those more British stories will definitely appeal to the type who love Doctor Who for instance, though. I also really wish it included a table of contents. That would be super-helpful in revisiting those stories readers would like to revisit.
Overall this book is definitely worth the add to any zombie fan’s collection, but particularly to female zombie fans. It’s different and fun simultaneously.
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4 out of 5 stars
Length: 122 pages – novella
Source: Smashwords copy from the author in exchange for my honest review
Buy It (Amazon. Not available on Bookshop.org)
Movie Review: Them! (1954)
Summary:
When a small southwestern town sees a spate of sugar theft mixed with mysterious deaths, a scientist and his daughter are brought in to investigate. They soon discover that a new breed of giant ants have mutated from local nuclear testing and must fight against the odds to preserve the human dominance of earth.
Review:
I watch classic horror movies more for the lols than anything, but every once in a while, one manages to actually stand the test of time and still scare me.
Anyone who knows much about ants knows that they actually are rather awful creatures. They’re vicious, disturbingly strong for their size, and single-minded to the point of obsession. That’s the perfect recipe for a formidable opponent if they were any larger. Combine this with the very real threat of nuclear mutation, and you have the recipe for an ideal horror film.
Something the classic movies did better than today is establish a strong plot-line. The action is not constant. It is interspersed with scenes in which the characters attempt to figure out what is going on and determine what to do about it. This ups the tension for the inevitable “battle the monster” scenes that eventually play out.
Of course a strong idea and plot can still be undermined by outdated special effects. These effects, however, have truly stood the test of time. The ants look frightening, not comical. The scenes are shot in such a way that it all appears to be fairly real, particularly for the decade. When the sound effect given to the ants–a sort of high-pitched squealing–is added in, it becomes quite easy to suspend disbelief.
If you enjoy a good creature feature as well as an old movie periodically, you won’t regret your time spent watching Them!
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Book Review: Thinner by Stephen King
Summary:
Billy Halleck is an overweight, high-powered lawyer in a wealthy Connecticut town. He’s getting a bit irritated at his wife and a bit frustrated with his weight, but he loves his teenage daughter. One day, a band of gypsies come to town, and Billy accidentally runs one of them down with his car, killing her. His law firm and the cops, naturally, get him out of the manslaughter charge, but nobody can protect him from the lead gypsy’s curse, uttered while stroking one finger down his cheek, “Thinner.” Now he’s dropping weight no matter how much he eats, and he must race against the clock in an attempt to save himself.
Review:
A book about gypsy curses could easily slide into racist territory, but in fact Thinner actually criticizes the treatment the gypsies have received in the United States over the years, in spite of them not always being the most sympathetic characters in the book. They may be a bit non-mainstream and overly quick to exact their own vengeance, but Billy Halleck and his cronies are a much more frightening type of bad. They’re the bad that comes from too much money and power. The bad that comes from being so self-centered and over-indulgent that you’ve stopped noticing the rest of the world exists.
So, the social commentary is good and not offensive, what about the horror and thrills? That is, after all, what one reads a King novel for. The grotesqueness definitely builds gradually over time, making this much more of a thriller than a horror. At first Billy’s weight loss is welcomed. He was, after all, overweight before. Gradually, though he starts to freak out about how much weight he’s consistently losing in spite of eating as much as he possibly can. He starts to investigate and discovers two others with their own unique and, frankly, much more frightening curses. Although the beginning may feel a bit slow, that is exactly as it should be. Billy goes from normal life to life under a curse to racing against the clock to save his own life. The horror builds perfectly.
That said, this still doesn’t quite read as sophisticated as some of King’s later work. It does almost seem like a bit too obvious an allegory. A bit too obvious a statement being made. In spite of the story providing chills, it’s not quite terrifying or mind-blowing. It’s a fun read, but it’s no Dark Tower.
Overall this thriller provides chills, horror, and a good social commentary. I recommend it to fans of horror and thrillers alike, although slightly more to fans of thrillers.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Harvard Book Store
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Opinions of a Wolf 