Book Reviews

[Dave1442397]

The Passage - Justin Cronin

It's a complex, largely adventurous book and has a number of intense scenes of horror I’m thinking will be more frequent in the final two volumes. Mr. Cronin draws vivid, scary pictures that will burn into your brain when the virals are present. And these are the true monsters vampires were before they were neutered over the last few decades—the kind of monsters if you see, you’re already dead.

I liked that one too. I found the second book to be slow and plodding, and I was disappointed with it. The third book was much better. I found myself tearing through it in a day, and was much happier with it.

[bugen]

Thank you, Brian. And Dave, I'm currently trying to figure out whether or not to finish out the trilogy now by the third book's release date or dive all the way back into short stories. I've managed to get my hands on some great collections and am really itching to take each for a spin. Sometimes I feel like Henry Bemis from that Twilight Zone episode.

[Dave1442397]

Thank you, Brian. And Dave, I'm currently trying to figure out whether or not to finish out the trilogy now by the third book's release date or dive all the way back into short stories. I've managed to get my hands on some great collections and am really itching to take each for a spin. Sometimes I feel like Henry Bemis from that Twilight Zone episode.

Yeah, I know what you mean. My kindle never seems to drop below 200 books, and I delete them as soon as I read them. The physical to-read pile is a lot smaller, maybe five books that I need to get to.

[bugen]

Man Drowning – Henry Kuttner

“The first step, I thought. After this I can't go back. I've made the first move and it leads right on to the last."

Nick Banning, traveling east, stumbles across a well-off, eccentric couple on a ranch outside of Phoenix. He accepts a job as a kind of handyman for the couple alongside their two servants, partly because his ex-wife now lives and works in the city. Sherry left Nick for a reason, his temper and his propensity for letting it get him into trouble, but if he can just scrape together the money Sherry needs to get her start in showbiz he might still have a chance with her.

This is a short book, barely novel length, and reads quickly. It’s not a mystery but carries that dark, gumshoe feel we associate with noir as Nick finds his way into violent situations over the course of trying to win Sherry back. The two servants are oddly withdrawn but friendly enough, and the owners of the ranch, the Count and Countess, are bizarre creatures straight from an asylum—the kind of characters that are well developed enough to be both unsettling and unknowable.

The last 20 or 30 pages ratchet up both the action and insightful writing to the point many of my favorite lines were from the end of the story. In fact, while I enjoyed the read all of the way through, it’s really the ending that firmly situated the book into "very good" territory for me.

Man Drowning was lean and fast, intimate and violent without being over-the-top, and its characters were just far enough outside of crazy to be real. Noir fans are going to find a lot to like here.

“You’re all alone, on the desert, under the sky. It takes quite a while, sometimes, to find out that there’s only one person on earth. Only one real person alive. Yourself.”

3+ stars

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[bugen]

Ellison Wonderland – Harlan Ellison

“There is no home, if there is no rest. There is no rest if there is no Home.”

Yesterday morning I was in the middle of an upcoming novel from one of my favorite publishers and somehow got sidetracked into reading Neil Gaiman’s introduction to Harlan Ellison’s The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. I still haven’t read that particular collection, had no intention of reading it at then and couldn’t tell you the precise steps that led to that introduction, but when you surround yourself with books and follow the rabbit-hole that sort of thing happens. Soon I found myself reading “Commuter’s Problem” from an entirely different collection, this one. And I couldn’t stop. Like that commercial in The Simpsons, “I don't know what's in 'em; I just know I can't stop smoking 'em.”

Story after story pounds the brain, and I repeatedly found myself at the point where I needed to stop, reflect on what I’d read. Slow down for Christ’s sake, they’ll be there tomorrow. So I did, and picked it back up today, and they continued to pound.

Right off the bat we get “Commuter’s Problem” and get hit directly in the face with the type of force this guy is going to bring to the table over his career in speculative fiction, where a man accidentally finds his way onto a subway that wasn’t meant for him and learns a few things about our universe.

Next is the superb “Do-It-Yourself” (with Joe L. Hensley), where a wife, sick to death of her husband, receives her mail-order Do-It-Yourself Murder Kit and goes about trying to follow the instructions to get rid of the man.

Then “The Silver Corridor” where two statesmen are locked in illusory combat in a corridor that allows the courage of their respective convictions to decide the winner while the loser dies.

A few stories later comes another topper, “The Sky is Burning,” where people on Earth are dying as meteor-like objects are falling through the atmospheres of all the planets of our solar system. But they’re not meteors, and they have a message.

“The Wind Beyond the Mountains” is told mostly from the perspective of an alien race experiencing first contact with visiting Man, here’s a commentary on our necessity to wander, spread, to never be content with what we have at home.

Other amazing stories were “Hadj” and “In Lonely Lands,” commentaries on religion and friendship, respectively. And those were just my favorites in a book filled with highlights.

This is already a long review so I've hidden the synopses for the rest, but besides the already listed highlights everyone should really read the stories “Mealtime,” “Battlefield,” “The Very Last Day of a Good Woman” and “Back to the Drawing Board” (for those who read on Kindle).

Spoiler!

“All the Sounds of Fear” – A stage actor submerges himself in the lifestyles of the subjects of upcoming roles and is well-rewarded for his top-notch method acting but takes it too far.

“Gnomebody” – A hip cat is kicked off the track team and stumbles across a gnome who he thinks will grant his wishes.

“Mealtime” – Racial parallels galore, here we have men traveling the cosmos mapping planets when the crew of 3 stumbles across something new, showing us there’s no such thing as better until all the facts are known, until all angles have been considered, and since neither will ever happen everyone should just STFU.

“The Very Last Day of a Good Woman” – 44-year-old Arthur knows the world is about to end, he’s seen it. And he doesn’t want to die a virgin.

“Battlefield” – Mankind has decided to settle its differences with war on the moon instead of ripping up the Earth, and every Monday the Black army and the White army gets into vehicles to travel up and every Friday the survivors come back down for the weekend. It’s war as an occupation and the point is well made.

“Deal from the Bottom” – Maxim Hirt’s an idiot, and when his career in showbiz fizzles he commits a crime that lands him on death row where he accidentally summons a demon ready to make a deal.

“Back to the Drawing Boards” (this story was not in the original release nor is it the PS version. Kindle version includes it and it’s also in another collection) - An inventor gives birth to AI, and the military takes it over to use it on a mission to explore outer space, but before launch the inventor modifies some circuitry and gives the machine free will.

“Are You Listening?” (this story was is the original release and the PS version. Kindle version does not include it) – Mr. Winsocki wakes one day to find the world cannot see him. He is physically present but everyone ignores him, even when he punches them or throws them out of elevators.

“Nothing For My Noon Meal” – When his spaceship is destroyed and his wife killed a man is stranded on a strange planet with very little oxygen and evolution springs forward to help him adapt.

“Hadj” – Humans have finally been visited by the Masters of the Universe, who have asked for a single representative of Earth. After an exhaustive process one man is chosen, a man who had bent the entire planet to his will, to travel to the alien world and speak on our behalf.

“Rain, Rain, Go Away” – A man in a mundane job where he’s not appreciated repeats the title song to himself whenever it rains, and sometimes it feels as if he’s really pushing it back.

“In Lonely Lands” – Pederson is dying, waiting for the Gray Man to come and take him away. He’s gone blind in his old age and is alone until an alien comes along and befriends him, becoming a valued companion for his remaining few years.

Unless written by the author and it’s the book's initial publication I usually avoid Introductions the first time reading new collections. I almost always read them the second time through. This can be controversial, and lots of folks will say I’m wasting some of the book’s production value and they’re correct if I never give the book a second read. But if the heart of a book isn’t good enough to warrant a second read why would I want to read what someone else thinks of it? And if it is good enough to pick up a second time, I’ll read the Intro’s then, so they’re not really wasted, right? Well that’s all good and logical but the real reason I ignore Intro’s on the first read is sometimes other writers talk about key story points as if everyone’s already read them, including spoiling endings.

This excellent, PS Publishing version of Ellison Wonderland has over 130 pages of introduction, and I skipped it all except Mr. Ellison’s original 4-pager. A good part of the book has been ignored in doing so, but it won’t be the next time, and there will be a next time. The Afterward by Josh Olson was outstanding, and his story about his 9^th grade English teacher handing him Ellison Wonderland was touching and a perfect way to end this potent collection.

These were early works and language and technique was further refined in his career, but this book ripples with raw power. Even more-so than later, “better” works. So what if it’s not honed to a razor’s edge? Blunt force can still do massive damage. This was my 6^th book of his short stories, and that list includes the lauded Deathbird Stories and Shatterday, both of which are show-stopping, breathtaking collections. But this one might be my favorite. He improves form later on, but that’s just gravy. You can tell from this collection he really didn’t need to, already serving gold. And shame on the editors who turned him away before he became THE Harlan Ellison®. You guys nearly cost the entire planet something beautiful.

In the world of speculative fiction Mr. Ellison is a tornado, a fiery death-ball with messages to everyone, especially those too stubborn to open their eyes and realize we’re in big trouble. And here’s where he was born.

“Night had come to the lonely lands; night, but not darkness.”

4 stars

*props to PS Publishing for an exemplary edition, worthy of the author
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[TacomaDiver]

Thanks for the great review!

Ellison has always been someone that I knew of, but I only discovered him last year. I spent a good portion of last year acquiring a decent collection of signed LEs but haven't gotten around to reading much. This review makes me want to pause my reading of the Lansdale Hap & Leonard and McCammon's Corbett series though.

[bugen]

Glad you liked the review, thanks for saying. This book is a great place to start getting involved with his speculative fiction, and it’s his short introduction outlining some of his hurdles and that first story that really sinks the hook in deep. I’ve read a couple of his even earlier collections that were mostly crime stories and I liked them both but they didn’t really contain this type of fiction that made him so well known. The man’s a fascinating, troubled, brilliant guy. Enjoy the trip!

[Dave1442397]

I've been an Ellison fan for a long time. Back when I lived in Ireland, I could only get a few of his books, so when I found out a friend was going to NYC in the summer of '84, I asked him to see if he could find some books for me. He came back with the twelve ACE paperbacks and a few others, which was fantastic.

This was the collection in early 2010...I must take some new pics.

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If you haven't seen the Ellison documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, it's worth a look. I bought it on iTunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDwEr942gMY

www.HarlanEllisonBooks.com is a good place to get signed copies and pre-order many HE books.

[bugen]

I've seen that documentary and it was good. Really gives you a sense of the guy and his attitude, basically pissed off at everyone for being idiots. There's a great playlist on his YouTube channel of all of his old Harlan Ellison's Watching shorts from Sci Fy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAX...vWAzA0M2xQn8jA
I've seen most of them but still have 15 or so to go.

Love that pic you posted of all the books, Dave. How'd you take that? Seems like a difficult angle!

[TacomaDiver]

That documentary has been on my wishlist for awhile now - should just pull the trigger and buy it (I've honestly been waiting it for it to be on Amazon Prime, but no dice yet.)

[bugen]

Julia - Peter Straub

“The dark gained on them all.”

Our title character Julia, wealthy by inheritance and obsessed with her daughter’s death years before, retreats from her husband, Magnus, and buys a house where she plans to live by herself. She begins seeing things in the house, including a strange little girl, and starts investigating the history of her new home. Magnus, along with his sister Lily, tries to convince Julia to return to his care, regain control of herself, and accept what really happened with their daughter. But Julia’s investigation uncovers troubling circumstances.

Julia is the author’s first supernatural novel, and proper framing is assisted by mentioning his following two novels. Mr. Straub’s most famous work is Ghost Story, his third supernatural novel, a masterpiece that weaves a kind of slow, creeping cloud around the reader. If You Could See Me Now, an excellent, straight-shooter of a horror story bridges the gap between Julia and Ghost Story.

Julia shares pacing elements with If You Could See Me Now, where the story moves quickly and doesn’t take as much time generating a fog, though you can see the beginnings of the style in the author, more so here than in the second book. It’s not as capable as that second supernatural novel, but is far livelier and faster-paced than the monstrous Ghost Story where the mist-machine is used so effectively.

Character development is strong, especially with Magnus, an alpha we can easily see dominating the rest of the players. Also enjoyable are the elements of mysticism with Lily’s circle of friends that help to trigger Julia in the first place, and with Magnus’ brother Mark whose meditation lifts him out of the world. The book has mystery elements as well but is far from a whodunit.

Julia is a good story, the first stepping-stone on a crooked path to glory and has multiple scenes of intense imagery as only the best writers can evoke.

“In this room, air refused to circulate, but piled atop itself, densely.”

3- stars


*Centipede's working on releasing this one
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[Dave1442397]

I've seen that documentary and it was good. Really gives you a sense of the guy and his attitude, basically pissed off at everyone for being idiots. There's a great playlist on his YouTube channel of all of his old Harlan Ellison's Watching shorts from Sci Fy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAX...vWAzA0M2xQn8jA
I've seen most of them but still have 15 or so to go.

Love that pic you posted of all the books, Dave. How'd you take that? Seems like a difficult angle!

I just laid all the books out on the floor and took a pic from above

Thanks for the youtube link! I haven't seen those clips, so I'll add them to my playlist.

[Sock Monkey]

Julia - Peter Straub

“The dark gained on them all.”

I agree, bugen It isn't Straub's best, but I do think that it works on the scale of which it is written. It doesn't have the vast tapestry of characters or subplots that Ghost Story and Floating Dragon has, but it feels more personal. I think this and If You Could See Me Know make a great double-feature. I'm looking forward to the Centipede press edition of this and I'm hoping I'll be able to scratch together the money to get it. From their latest newsletter it sounds great and expensive!

[Martin]

Joe Hill - The Fireman

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Had the opportunity to read an ARC of this one. As the book is not yet out I will make sure not to include any spoilers in my review.

I will start by saying that this book was my most anticipated book in quite some time. Locke and Key is one of my favorite stories and I have liked everything Joe has published. With that said 'The Fireman' is now my favorite Joe Hill story and one of my top books read.

The story follows Harper Grayson during a pandemic outbreak of a spore that causes people to develop lesions called Dragonscale and eventually burst into flames. The outbreak spreads very rapidly and with people unsure of how it spread and no known treatments or cure panic ensues. With the world burning from the fires created society breaks down. The story delves into the response of society when panic takes over and people grasp for power using the fears of the people. It does this without political commentary though.

Definitely a must read for 2016!

Five Stars!!!!!

[bugen]

I just laid all the books out on the floor and took a pic from above

You guys are so good. I can imagine having all kinds of logistics problems taking that, like my feet in the picture, reflection obliterating a cover, shadow, etc. Your mosaic is a work of art.

I'm looking forward to the Centipede press edition of this and I'm hoping I'll be able to scratch together the money to get it. From their latest newsletter it sounds great and expensive!

Yep, I'm trying to decide on this one myself.

Joe Hill - The Fireman

Sweeeeet.