Book Reviews

[Theli]

Another great review. I'd read my first Lawrence Block book earlier last year, and quite liked it, so add the mix works by King, Lansdale and other big name authors and this anthology is quite enticing. For whatever reason I haven't ordered it yet, but I hope to rectify that.

[bugen]

In Sunlight or In Shadow - Various Authors, Lawrence Block (Ed.)

“He came from Albany, and people who come from there get what they deserve.”
-Stephen King, “The Music Room”

We’ve all seen Edward Hopper’s art, whether we’ve sought it out or not. There’s a subtly sad, understated despair in much of it. Sometimes it’s the perspective, evoking loneliness from an outsider looking in; sometimes it’s the subjects themselves, often holding their heads down, pondering their situations or the world itself.

No matter how you read into them, they’re striking. The authors gathered here are fans of the artist, some foregoing the massive salaries they command in order to be part of this anthology. Depending on how Cemetery Dance ultimately handles the presentation of the art at the beginning of each story, this could end up being among the greatest anthologies in your collection. (Kindle readers, you’re urged to look up color versions of each piece of artwork online prior to beginning the story, and keep them handy for reference.)

The book consists of 17 stories, and before anyone asks, yes, Stephen King’s story is excellent, and one of the nastiest and darkest present here. But it’s not the best. Robert Olen Butler, Lee Child, Michael Connely, Justin Scott, Jill D. Block and Joe R. Lansdale provide amazing work as well. But their’s aren’t the best, either.

Check out the full story list for a short breakdown of each, but the two greatest stories here, and whoppers they are, are provided by Nicholas Christopher and editor Lawrence Block. They’re sad, and they’ll break your heart. But there’s something else, something in them that says any dissolution currently being dealt with isn’t the end, and that the world turns sometimes for the better. Just like the underlying hope that can found a few layers deep in Hopper’s quietly bleak paintings.

“Rooms by the Sea” – Nicholas Christopher – A very wealthy family lives in a secluded mansion that opens onto the sea with a unique personal chef poached from a high-end restaurant. The house seems to mysteriously develop additional rooms each year, and as people grow old and pass away secrets are uncovered which reveal a sad history.

This one’s incredible, and you don’t want to miss it no matter how or where you’re able to get ahold of it. It’s not just filled with possibility and wonder, but vibrant, vivid life is present on every page of a story that unfolds like both mystery and biography.

“Autumn at the Automat” – Lawrence Block – An elderly, widowed lady is dining frugally at a local automat, counting her nickels and overdue for her rent. When finished and leaving, she’s accused by the manager of stealing the restaurant’s cutlery.

Despite the top-notch story from Mr. Christopher, Mr. Block’s is the best in the book. It’s not only devastating, offering a rare glimpse into many of our futures, it’s just a real, human story–transporting, transplanting us. This final story is the crown jewel in an over-achieving anthology.

Full story list

Spoiler!

“Girlie Show” - Megan Abbott - A woman finds her husband beginning to lose interest in her and discovers he’s been spending time at a local brothel. She aims to give him a surprise.

“The Story of Caroline” - Jill D. Block - A woman who was given up for adoption as an infant tracks down her biological parents to try and learn about them. She finds her mother nursing her dying husband as signs on as a hospice worker to get closer to her mother.

“Soir Bleu” - Robert Olen Butler - A man is eating at an outdoor cafe and a woman he claimed as his own is chatting up another prominent man. Also present is a strange clown who seems to know more about what’s going on than anyone else, and the man and the clown enter a conversation with language on one side and mime on the other.

“The Truth About What Happened” - Lee Child - An expert witness gives two depositions to the government about a potential hire: one official and the other more candid and off the record.

“Rooms by the Sea” - Nicholas Christopher - A very wealthy family lives in a secluded mansion that opens onto the sea with a unique personal chef stolen from a high-end restaurant. The house seems to mysteriously develop additional rooms each year, and as people grow old and pass away secrets are uncovered which reveal a sad history.

“Nighthawks” - Michael Connelly - A P.I. is hired by a Hollywood mogul to find his daughter who has been spotted in Chicago in the background of a picture. The man visits the potential daughter, and after a conversation with her returns to Hollywood with news the powerful director doesn’t want to hear.

“The Incident of 10 November” - Jeffery Deaver - A Russian scientist and fiercely devoted communist is being escorted through a train station when things go awry. A witness from the Russian military tries to explain what happened in his defense.

“Taking Care of Business” - Craig Ferguson - An aging, atheist reverend and his old friend smoke, ostensibly to combat cancer but also because the reverend likes it, discuss life and religion, finding solace in each other’s company.

“The Music Room” - Stephen King - This is a delightfully macabre story of two thieves waiting in a wealthy victim’s apartment while he slowly expires in the closet.

“The Projectionist“ - Joe R. Lansdale - An awkward youngster who was abused as a boy runs the projector in a local theatre and has a crush on a girl that works there. When two thugs enter the theater to extort the place the youth contacts the projectionist who worked there before him, and who wasn’t always a projectionist.

“The Preacher Collects” - Gail Levin - This is a fairly difficult to read account of a thief’s justification for stealing and selling Edward Hopper’s artwork after he and his sister passed away, with the difficulty arising from an intentional but semi-illiterate writing style.

“Office at Night” - Warren Moore - Peggy, against her parents’ wishes, moves from a small town to New York City to pursue work and a larger life. She struggles to find work but eventually lands a job as a secretary at a small law firm, which she doesn’t hold for long.

“The Woman in the Window” - Joyce Carol Oates - A woman waits for her lover in the window of her prestigious apartment, nude in her high heels, contemplating killing him with scissors because he started home with his wife the night before, just as he contemplates killing her for becoming a bother to his life.

“Still Life 1931” - Kris Nelscott - A woman travels to New York to pursue her struggle against racism resulting in lynch mob deaths of innocent men, and she realizes she hasn’t been helping as much as she’d thought.

“Night Windows” - Jonathan Santlofer - A man watches his prey from a neighboring window, fantasizing what he’ll do to her. He arranges a meeting and start dating her to get closer to his goal of tearing her down to nothing.

“A Woman in the Sun” - Justin Scott - A man talks a woman into sleeping with him on his last night before he commits suicide.

“Autumn at the Automat” - Lawrence Block - An elderly, widowed lady is dining frugally at a local automat, counting her nickels and overdue for her rent. When finished and leaving, she’s accused by the manager of stealing the restaurant’s cutlery.

There’s only one baffling miss in the entire book, but you can forgive it by just moving on to the next story. Take your time looking at the artwork, and glance back at it a few times during the read if you’re so inclined. Then look at it once more when you’ve finished the story. Considering the disquieting art and the stories inspired by these paintings, this book offers an experience not to be missed.

“We get used to things, Liebchen. A man can get used to hanging.”
-Lawrence Block, “Autumn at the Automat”

4+ stars

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[bugen]

Might have to look up The Old China Hands. Congrats on the nice books and the signature!

[mhatchett]

I wish Centipede would do The Old China Hands as a companion piece. Finney's love and fascination with Magical China comes from the time he served with 15th Infantry Regiment stationed in Tientsin China. The unit served in China for 26 years. This book was one of my best finds. I didn't even know it signed until I got it home from the bookstore. The Magician out of China is a nice edition by Donald Grant.IMG_0730.jpgIMG_0729.jpg
Have a great week everybody!

[bugen]

The Circus of Dr. Lao - Charles G. Finney

"The world is my idea," he said. "The world is my idea; as such I present it to you."

In a bizarre tale, a circus arrives in the small Arizona town of Abalone. Over the course of a single afternoon the townsfolk witness the arrival of the three wagon circus, the contents of which no one can agree upon, and attend the show.

With the exception of the final act, the circus consists of a freak show whose every creature is real, despite no one believing they exist, and the various acts deconstruct man in multiple ways. For instance, two young men witness the miraculous transformation of a wolf to a woman, but they are disappointed because the woman is 300 years old and unattractive. It’s shallow, but it’s true, because you too will find yourself wanting her to be smoking hot when in their shoes. When a woman is given a dismal but 100% truthful account of her future by a fortune-teller, she ignores it completely and fabricates her own version of the prophecy. Which is, of course, exactly what we all do with pretty much everything we’re ever told.

Fantasy is presented as fact, with a detailed history given for most of the show’s attractions, often including the story of how each was captured. And this is where the true inventiveness really shines—philosophy. Not only do the tales of rounding up the attractions provide interesting commentary on modern man, but the townspeople’s reactions to the stories also provide humor and insight.

The Catalogue, an entire section at the end of the novel which makes up close to 15% of the book, provides further detail. Any who’ve read The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce will see similarities in the use of satire in this surprisingly large section, consisting of: The Male Characters; The Female Characters; The Child Characters; The Animals; The Gods and Goddesses; The Cities; The Statuettes, Figurines, Icons, Artifacts, and Idols; The Questions and Contradictions and Obscurities; The Foodstuffs.

Examples:

(Foodstuffs) GEESE: They please something in man’s palate and therefore are permitted to live.
(Gods and Goddesses): YOTTLE: An omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent lump of bronze.

None of the characters here give you much to attach yourself to, with the possible exception of the exasperated Dr. Lao; as a conglomeration of fables there’s really not much time for it. Social Justice Warriors will react to some of the racist language, but nothing feels mean-spirited (still, this wouldn’t fly today).

The book is undoubtedly strange, but it would be a mistake to categorize it other than ‘wonderful.’ The novel pokes fun of people too insistent on known reality to fall victim to fakes, and too stupid to realize nothing in front of them is fake. It’s a curious work, often quite funny, and it contains a great deal of whimsy and biting sarcasm.

"Enough people voting the same way you vote could change the face of the world. There is something terrible in that thought."

4 stars

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*pics of Centipede book to follow on release

[TacomaDiver]

This is in my ever growing to be read like. Not sure how I came across it but I tracked this (and his short story collection, also from Centipede) down.

It might move up in line after this review - thank you. (It'll move even faster if I can figure out if it fits into my Read Harder challenge.)

Thanks, brother. Touchy subject!

This was a dangerously brilliant book, and I'm looking forward to watching the film.

[bugen]

Thanks, brother. Touchy subject!

This was a dangerously brilliant book, and I'm looking forward to watching the film.

[Theli]

Wonderful review! And interesting thoughts on belief, I pretty much agree.

[bugen]

Nightmare Alley - William Lindsay Gresham

“I've given ‘em mentalism and they treat it like a dog walking on his hind legs. Okay. They're asking for it. Here it comes.“

As a young man, Stan finds himself joining a carnival. He begins learning the ropes of selecting marks, prying money from their hands, and finds himself a natural at it. He rises to fame, conning everyone around him, and quits the carnival life to set up his own business as a spiritualist. Betraying his friends and lovers and constantly trading up as a way of life, his skill at separating a fool from his money continues to increase to the point he’s ready to take on that final, major score that will set him up permanently.

Not only does this story wind through the underbelly of the circus, exposing all the dirt and grime you find whenever you look at anything too closely, it finely details human greed, human gullibility and the human need to reach past what we know to be true—to hope.

“Folks are always crazy to have their fortunes told, and what the hell—You cheer ‘em up, give ‘em something to wish and hope for. That’s all the preacher does every Sunday. Not much different, being a fortune-teller and a preacher, way I look at it. Everybody hopes for the best and fears the worst and the worst is generally what happens but that don't stop us from hoping.”

We hope there’s more than what we see, something better, and we put our lives into it. The Washington Times has a 2012 article citing research that 84% of the world’s population identifies with a religion. Some figures go as high as 9 in 10, and if that’s not proof of the human need to hope, nothing is.

We devour ourselves and each other, as Nightmare Alley demonstrates with its floodlight narrative, and most of us hope to make it to the point where that no longer happens. It’s a worthy goal, something to reach for. Something to reach for here.

Near the end of the story, as our anti-hero is lamenting his fate, philosophical concepts arise that not only directly challenge Higher Power concepts, but between the lines they demand we take a little responsibility for ourselves and not foist our troubles off on the mystical.

“But the purpose back of it all—why are we put here?”
“Way I look at it, we ain’t put. We growed.”
“But what started the whole stinking mess?”
“Didn’t have to start. It’s always been doing business.”

This is a real argument out there in the world today. Some say God created the universe, and He (She/It) was always there. But if we’re going to consider a stretching concept such as He always existed, isn’t a bit less of a stretch to consider the concept that the universe itself always existed? Doesn’t this second idea fit in nicely with current, known universal laws, such as matter can neither be created nor destroyed? The universe is expanding outward, but gravity says we’ll contract someday, then expand out again in another Bang. Wouldn’t that, poetically almost, illustrate the constantly recurring theme of the circular, looping nature of time itself?

It’s deep stuff, fit for the religious, psychologists, philosophers, scientists, bartenders and stoners. And let’s not forget readers, who possess many of the characteristics of all of these.

Nightmare Alley is a journey through the life of a man with few scruples, so it can be a cautionary tale. It exposes weakness in pretty much everyone, so it’s a perfect example of cynical, noir storytelling. Even within known reality, it descends to terrifying depths; so it’s horror as well. While there’s a ton of philosophy between the lines, and you could pick it apart just for that, it’s also a razor-honed slice of life from planet Earth. When the aliens visit one day, wondering about the previous inhabitants, they'll read this book and shudder. And probably leave.

As for the big questions, I don’t know; I just live here. Over and over again, apparently.

See you next time.

5 stars


“There is no weapon you can use against malicious envy except the confidence in your way of life as the moral and righteous one, no matter what the envious say.”


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[bugen]

Thanks, guys. PS did a great job with this one--it's definitely among my favorites from them. I don't read as many limited editions as I should, too often going for electronic versions out of portability and convenience, but this book was a real pleasure.

[RonClinton]

Great review as always. I debated about this one for sooo long...I've meant to read it for years and years, and then this new deluxe edition appeared...it sure made me stop and consider it (as does -- again -- your review). It didn't hit my budget right at the time, though, so I ended up passing, thinking I'll just pick up a 1st ed HC on eBay for cheap (have seen several for ten bucks or so). But I never did, and it's because I want *this* very striking PS edition. I hope to pick it up at a deal on the secondary market, so with a bit of luck I'll have it soon, too.

[Theli]

Great review, it sounds interesting. Looks like a great edition too.

[Brian861]

Nice looking book.

[bugen]

In the age of science there lived a small boy, trapped in the body of an oafish man. The boy read like a wolf howls, like a moon beams, but one day his attention was caught by another interest, as so often happens with small boys.

The boy went on an epic quest through film noir, spanning many great masterworks, before he neared the end and felt it wise to stretch out the remaining, curated titles. For while this was a prodigious period in Hollywood, there are only so many artistic masterpieces allowed in the world at any given time.

So the boy set his film collection aside and returned to his one, true love: magic.

Blind Voices – Tom Reamy

“Let them enjoy each other for a while. Let him be happy before he has to battle for our lives.”

Told from a few different perspectives, the most delightful of which are two youngsters, wonder in the their eyes and mischief in their hearts, a traveling circus visits a small town in Kansas and disrupts the lives of its inhabitants. Mr. Haverstock runs a freak show, but the exotic creatures are so real and the show so spectacular that some believe there’s actual wizardry at work.

A second key perspective is that of Evelyn, an 18 year old girl who’s grappling with life decisions such as the choice between arranged marriage or the shrinking possibility of college. Evelyn develops a crush on one of the performers at the same time her more sexually promiscuous friends are entertaining others, and over a few short days the circus has taken over the waking lives of nearly everyone. When one of the performers is unable to control his urges, things go south quickly.

Despite the implications of a childlike experience with a traveling circus, the book is decidedly adult, featuring a little sex and occasional bouts of strong violence. Much of Blind Voices is coming-of-age fantasy, but it’s got roots in the horror world as well.

The book was published after Mr. Reamy’s death. There's speculation it wasn't quite finished, and it’s true the book may have benefited from additional polish, but the story is there as is the evocation of wonder. The relatively short novel gets a little dark in a few sections, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Most importantly, it successfully transports the reader through time and space, not just giving you the circus, but giving you back that span of life where such things were the stuff of creation itself.

We’re all adults here, which means the magic died for us long ago. When we left the infinite realms to burden ourselves with adult responsibilities, the trade was permanent. Sometimes, we can very nearly brush up against the ancient world and almost remember. Should you choose to reach for that indefinable starburst that left forever the day you payed your first bill, you may rest assured the cold, grey world will be waiting for you when you return.

If you return.

4+ stars

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[c marvel]

I just finished reading Carnival of Fear and I was quite disappointed with this book. I found at least one character description to be very disturbing. While the plot is sound I noticed more than a few times a word was left out of a sentence. I can not give Carnival of Fear a good review.


Cap