July 2023 - How many?

[brlesh]

Another slow month reading wise. Only finished 4 books in July.

1. Black Heart Boys Choir by Curtis Lawson. I read Lawson’s Halloween collection last fall ( Devil’s Night) & was fairly impressed by it, especially for a new author. I probably liked BHBC a little more, though there are certainly parts of the story that require a suspension of disbelief to move the story along. Also, the Carrie-esque ending felt kind of rushed. 3.5 / 5

2. Guests by Kealan P. Burke was an excellent collection of 4 novellas, 3 reprints & 1 original (Guests). Jack & Jill (one of the darkest pieces of fiction I’ve ever read) & Blankey mined a similar psychological horror thread, as do Sour Candy & Guests along a more supernatural thread. All the stories were very good, though I would say Guests & Jack and Jill were my favorites. 4.5 / 5

3. Inamorta by Joshua Rex started out as a very interesting piece of gothic fiction. However, for me the story lost steam at the half way point & the second half took me forever to finish (it’s only 120 story). The author’s use of classical music terms (which for the most part I was unfamiliar with) & his impressive vocabulary did not help to move the story along. The last 30 pages were the author went into the explanation of the story were especially tedious. 2 / 5

4. New Mythos Legends ed. by Bruce Gehweiler was probably the worst anthology that I’ve ever actually finished (though I did DNF several of the stories). Only the stories by WH Pugmire & Jeffrey Thomas even made an attempt at being Lovecraftian. 1.5 / 5

B

[dannyboy121070]

I read sixteen books in July:


1- The Savage Sword of Conan: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus, Volume 6 (8) I'm a sucker for these old black-and-white CONAN adventures from my childhood. I was hoping to get a complete collection of the series, but Marvel lost the license again, so that seems like a pipe dream now.

2- Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany (9) An excellent collection from Neil Gaiman that has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for close to three decades.....

3- Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love: Unpublished ‘70s Stories by The King of Comics! (9) An excellent dissection of some lost Jack Kirby work, presented here for the first time. I hated Kirby's art as a kid, but now I just can't get enough of it. His untouched pencils are amazing to behold.

4- Fourth World by John Byrne Omnibus (6) I'm a huge Byrne fan, but this was hit-or-miss the whole way through storywise.

5- Archie at Riverdale High, Vol. 3 (9) Yes, I still enjoy ARCHIE, especially these classic collections. They always bring a smile to my face, especially when I have a lot worrying me. Pure gentle escapism.

6- The Creep (9) Great collection of John Arcudi's obscure street-level Private Investigator.

7- Cinema Purgatorio: This is Sinerama (9) Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's bizarre mix of Horror and Hollywood scandals really resonated with me.

8- The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror (9) Highly recommended collection of Folk-Horror tales.

9- Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist No. 2 (8) Another great issue of this forgotten anthology.

10- Star Wars Adventures: Smuggler’s Run (5) Awful, and the physical collection itself was so small that it was nearly impossible to read.

11- All-New X-Factor, Vol. 1: Not Brand X (8) First volume of the umpteenth re-launch of the team. Obscure characters brought to life by the always-reliable Peter David. The art, however, was dreadful.

12- Jim Cornette Presents: Behind the Curtain- Real Pro Wrestling Stories (9) A fun collection of behind-the-scenes wrestling stories by Jim Cornette. Again, the art left a lot to be desired.

13- Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood (5) BOY MEETS WORLD bit player Maitland Ward's tale of how porn saved her career. A lot more boring than you might expect, given the subject matter.

14- New Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 2 (9) A worthy successor to the classic manga.

15- Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in Hell and Other Stories Artisan Edition (9) I'm a sucker for all things Mike Mignola and Hellboy, so this presentation of Mignola's original art was a must-buy for me. Turns out his original art looks just like the published finished product. Still, a gorgeous presentation at a great price.

16- Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory (9) I'd recommend Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer's BEASTS OF BURDEN to any Horror fan. The ongoing saga of a group of dogs that fight supernatural threats to their neighborhood is beautiful, creepy, and heart-wrenching. Much better than it sounds.

[kresby]

Books read and recommended for July, 2022.


Hard cover -

1. The Gulp and The Fall by Alan Baxter from Thunderstorm. A few interesting ones in these interconnected stories. Overall the lack of characters to empathize with was hard to overcome.

2. The Thirteenth Koyote by Kristopher Triana from Thunderstorm and Death’s Head. Interesting take but way too wordy.

3. Muscadines by S. P. Miskowski from Thunderstorm. Whoa! This one came out of left field and slammed me. Good stuff.

4. Last Night at the Blue Alice by Mehitobel Wilson from Necro/Bedlam. My last name is Casper but I don’t normally get into ghost stories. However this time-traveling, supernatural, cult, ghostly fantasy was very good with compelling writing.