Book Reviews

[Brian861]

Thanks for the review, Martin. I have it on order from CD and can't wait to read it. I really dig Joe's sig in this one .

[Dave1442397]

I got my shipping notice from Water Street Books yesterday, so The Fireman should be here Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait!

[Brian861]

I got my shipping notice from Water Street Books yesterday, so The Fireman should be here Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait!

[bugen]

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

“I’m frightened. Of us.”

A group of boys between the ages of 5 and 12 are stranded on a deserted, tropical island and have to learn to fend for themselves, completely unprepared to do so. The children band together and form a basic society, but it begins to fall apart as the warring aspects of human nature emerge and the boys devolve into savagery.

The book is a study of humanity on a microcosmic, easily identifiable scale. It’s the war of id versus ego, instinct versus rationalism. Ralph doesn’t have the intellectual capacity of Piggy but strives to understand and is more capable of leadership than most of the other boys, while Jack is more the monster within us, acting based on instant gratification and raging instinct. Piggy is capable of problem solving and may be seen as the last, gasping remains of civilization.

Perhaps more important than any of these main three characters is the conglomerate human animal embodied by the rest of the boys; they are what really make up the bulk of mankind. They, we, need our leaders to instruct us, to tell us what do. We will follow. The path of least resistance is one where we don’t have to make decisions for ourselves and can just float along instead.

Another important factor as the micro-civilization devolves is the idea we’re willing to place so much responsibility on a few shoulders without contributing ourselves, but ready to reap the benefits should anyone else’s work come to fruition, e.g. Ralph’s signal fire or Jack’s feast of boar. Ayn Rand wrote extensively about this in Atlas Shrugged, a book that is popularly demonized today but is a cutting look at society.

And then there’s this, right after a tragedy:

“Piggy, what’s wrong?”
Piggy looked at him in astonishment.
“Do you mean the--?”
“No, not it… I mean… what makes things break up like they do?”
Piggy rubbed his glasses slowly and thought. When he understood how far Ralph had gone toward accepting him he flushed pinkly with pride.
“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.”
“Jack?”
“Jack.”

I set the book aside after reading that exchange and thought about it. Considering what Jack represents, the thing that has kept us alive, helped us survive the nights, evolve through the millennia, procreate and spread, harness the wills of men, become successful masters of the planet, all of it—that’s the problem with us. The thing that keeps us alive is the very thing that dooms us.

The philosophy presented here can be dealt with simply. All copies of this book can be gathered up and burned on a sacrificial pyre to appease the dark gods and give us a chance to beg for mercy, for within these pages is a fundamental, uncomfortable truth we shouldn’t be forced to face:

We can say to ourselves, “We are Ralph. We can hope, and we can lead. We are not Jack.” We can say, “We are Piggy, and we can think, and we can solve. We are not Jack.” But the truth is there in black and white, and we’ve known it all along. We are not Jack.

We are the savages.

5 stars

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[Brian861]

Outstanding review, Andrew! One of your best if not the best to date I'd say. You've hit the nail squarely on the head, my friend .

[bugen]

Thank you, Brian. A few minutes after finishing the book I ordered the Folio Society edition and will take some pictures once it arrives. I hadn't read this since I was a kid, but it was much heavier than I remembered. Darker, too. What a brilliant book.

[Brian861]

Thank you, Brian. A few minutes after finishing the book I ordered the Folio Society edition and will take some pictures once it arrives. I hadn't read this since I was a kid, but it was much heavier than I remembered. Darker, too. What a brilliant book.

You're most welcome. Looking forward to the photos.

[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!!!!!

To no ones surprise Mr. Vincent has a much better review of The Fireman up on Cemetery Dance Online.

http://cemeterydanceonline.com/2016/...n-by-joe-hill/

[Dave1442397]

To no ones surprise Mr. Vincent has a much better review of The Fireman up on Cemetery Dance Online.

http://cemeterydanceonline.com/2016/...n-by-joe-hill/

I never read reviews of books that I know I'm going to read, so this will have to wait. My copy of The Fireman is with the mailman for delivery. It should be here in the next hour or so!

[Martin]

I never read reviews of books that I know I'm going to read, so this will have to wait. My copy of The Fireman is with the mailman for delivery. It should be here in the next hour or so!

Bev's review does give away a couple of secrets but nothing that would spoil the story. Although I am happy I got to read it before release I am also jealous of you because you get to experience it for the first time. Enjoy the story it is a great one!

[Dave1442397]

Bev's review does give away a couple of secrets but nothing that would spoil the story. Although I am happy I got to read it before release I am also jealous of you because you get to experience it for the first time. Enjoy the story it is a great one!

Thanks! It just got here, so that's my evening all planned out

I actually have a copy of the ARC, but I figured I'd wait for the final published version.

[bugen]

Odd Adventures with your Other Father – Norman Prentiss

“He’d been a stone judge, keeping his emotions in check. Now, something broke through.”

This novel has an interesting framework where one part is a series of stories Celia’s father Shawn told her about her other father, Jack, who died when Celia was four. These stories detail adventures during a one-year road trip the two men took after college, and form the bulk of the narrative. Inter-stitched throughout these stories is the second main part, Celia’s camping trip, where she also visits the parents of her deceased father.

Jack can make Shawn see things, real hallucinations. While Shawn is the only one who can see the images Jack conjures, this special link is used constantly throughout the story, often with grisly visuals, adding color and strengthening the bond between the couple.

The road trip is like Americana with fantastical, horrific elements—an Easy Rider written by Neil Gaiman experience with a little Clive Barker grotesquery thrown in. The two men land in trouble constantly, which makes the best stories but also made me think of that Douglas Adams line in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where he mentions 2,000 years ago a man being nailed to a tree for saying, “how great it would be to be nice to people for a change.”

The stories are individually strong and evoke a bit of nostalgia, both for the characters and the reader (and probably the author), and the emotional content of Celia’s narrative brings everything together nicely. You really get to know Shawn’s mindset through his various adventures, so when the camera pulls back to view the whole scene in Celia’s sections, not just Shawn’s POV from the individual stories, you can feel what the situation is doing to him without having to read it, especially by the end. High marks to the crafting of the tale.

Everything here, from plot and structure to theme and style, is handled with class. It has plenty of bizarre elements, but is mainly an imaginative, intimate story focusing on Shawn’s point of view, giving you time to get to know him like a brother.

4 stars

*Under Amazon’s rating system I’m giving this a 5—it’s better than just ‘good’
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[Martin]

Odd Adventures with your Other Father – Norman Prentiss

“He’d been a stone judge, keeping his emotions in check. Now, something broke through.”

This novel has an interesting framework where one part is a series of stories Celia’s father Shawn told her about her other father, Jack, who died when Celia was four. These stories detail adventures during a one-year road trip the two men took after college, and form the bulk of the narrative. Inter-stitched throughout these stories is the second main part, Celia’s camping trip, where she also visits the parents of her deceased father.

Jack can make Shawn see things, real hallucinations. While Shawn is the only one who can see the images Jack conjures, this special link is used constantly throughout the story, often with grisly visuals, adding color and strengthening the bond between the couple.

The road trip is like Americana with fantastical, horrific elements—an Easy Rider written by Neil Gaiman experience with a little Clive Barker grotesquery thrown in. The two men land in trouble constantly, which makes the best stories but also made me think of that Douglas Adams line in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where he mentions 2,000 years ago a man being nailed to a tree for saying, “how great it would be to be nice to people for a change.”

The stories are individually strong and evoke a bit of nostalgia, both for the characters and the reader (and probably the author), and the emotional content of Celia’s narrative brings everything together nicely. You really get to know Shawn’s mindset through his various adventures, so when the camera pulls back to view the whole scene in Celia’s sections, not just Shawn’s POV from the individual stories, you can feel what the situation is doing to him without having to read it, especially by the end. High marks to the crafting of the tale.

Everything here, from plot and structure to theme and style, is handled with class. It has plenty of bizarre elements, but is mainly an imaginative, intimate story focusing on Shawn’s point of view, giving you time to get to know him like a brother.

4 stars

*Under Amazon’s rating system I’m giving this a 5—it’s better than just ‘good’
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I am about 25% into this one and loving it so far.

[bugen]

The Book Review thread is finally updated with pics of books I’ve received since reading and reviewing.

That was a TON of work, so hats off again to those with collection threads. You guys and gals are heroes!

[bugen]

Hey all, something happened during the Ellison Wonderland review that got me thinking.

I have very strong feelings on some issues (this one was racism and the climate of relations) that I felt I needed to edit from the review in an effort to keep from offending anyone. Not that my position can’t be defended, but it’s a highly-charged subject and this forum is such an overall positive place I didn’t want to see any of it devolve and it be my fault. Nevertheless, the viewpoint was a solid one and it bothered me not to include it, especially since it piggybacked on one of Mr. Ellison’s stories. And it wasn’t the first time this had happened.

So https://bugensbooks.com/ was launched. It’s taken me about a month to bring it up to date, and it means no more self-censoring. When the situation dictates, the gloves are coming off.

Physical books at the site have been extensively photographed. Some of these books contain 5-10 pics. Some contain 50 or more, I kid you not. If you’re unfamiliar with Centipede’s The Monk or The Golem¸ or Cemetery Dance’s IT, or Subterranean Press’s The Club Dumas, you’ll probably be amazed with the level of artwork and detail these guys put into the productions and I’ve tried to represent it in photos.

Also, feel free to get in spirited arguments with me (or each other) on the site if you have strong opinions! I’ll moderate if anything gets out of hand but am not really expecting situations coming to that. What we’ve got in common as genre and book lovers brings us together more than I would’ve thought—we’re practically family and often present a united front.

I still plan to post in Book Reviews for appropriate books and positive reviews but if I don’t like a book, it’s already been reviewed here, it doesn’t fit the forum or something gets too controversial I’ll post it only on my site instead of censoring or abstaining. And each book review posted at https://bugensbooks.com/ will have as many accompanying photos as necessary to capture the production. The site’s searchable, has an alphabetic index, a pull-down menu by author and is viewable by publisher.

So check it out if you feel like it, and happy reading!