What are you currently reading?

[Sock Monkey]

My experience was limited to THE RITUAL — which had a great first half — and BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED, which did a nice job of evoking a setting, albeit at the cost of character. This was my first of his recent self-published work, and I won’t be going back to that well. Poor characterization, excruciatingly drawn-out scenes, and a way of writing in a self-aware, almost purple-prose style that utilized overwrought, odd word choice, a very distracting style that I don’t remember from those two aforementioned novels.

Oof. I guess I'll be continuing to steer clear of his work for now.

[Sock Monkey]

Cracking open the lettered deluxe WHP edition of Biohazard by Tim Curran

I haven't read anything by Curran, but I keep meaning to. WHP seems to be on a tear with the Curran books. I was this close to pulling the trigger on their lettered of DEAD SEA.

[Sock Monkey]

About halfway through Subject 11, a novella / short novel by Jeffrey Thomas.

At this point, no idea what it’s really about or where it’s going.

B

That reminds me that I need to get around to reading the Punktown set from Centipede. I keep putting it off as I do with collections and anthologies.

[dannyboy121070]

I'm trying his short stories, Some Will not Sleep, so fingers crossed!

I've enjoyed his short story collections very much.

[mhatchett]

My experience was limited to THE RITUAL — which had a great first half — and BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED, which did a nice job of evoking a setting, albeit at the cost of character. This was my first of his recent self-published work, and I won’t be going back to that well. Poor characterization, excruciatingly drawn-out scenes, and a way of writing in a self-aware, almost purple-prose style that utilized overwrought, odd word choice, a very distracting style that I don’t remember from those two aforementioned novels.

I'm trying his short stories, Some Will not Sleep, so fingers crossed!

[Chuggers]

Cracking open the lettered deluxe WHP edition of Biohazard by Tim Curran

[brlesh]

About halfway through Subject 11, a novella / short novel by Jeffrey Thomas.

At this point, no idea what it’s really about or where it’s going.

B

[RonClinton]

Well, that's a bummer. I was hoping for a great review to give me a reason to try Nevill again. I read The Ritual due to all the rave reviews and really found it to be a slog. There was some good ideas and some great set pieces but it just dragged on and on. In fact, it is the only instance in which I think the movie is so much better than the book. That being said, I've been meaning to try another one of his books because he does seem to have a solid following. Your sparse comments coupled with some reviews I've read has given me the sense that Fiends of Hell is not the one I should try.

My experience was limited to THE RITUAL — which had a great first half — and BANQUET FOR THE DAMNED, which did a nice job of evoking a setting, albeit at the cost of character. This was my first of his recent self-published work, and I won’t be going back to that well. Poor characterization, excruciatingly drawn-out scenes, and a way of writing in a self-aware, almost purple-prose style that utilized overwrought, odd word choice, a very distracting style that I don’t remember from those two aforementioned novels.

[dannyboy121070]

I've read a few Neville books that I've enjoyed, but they were all much longer than they needed to be.

[Sock Monkey]

….aaannd so much that hope. Oh well, on to the next book.

Well, that's a bummer. I was hoping for a great review to give me a reason to try Nevill again. I read The Ritual due to all the rave reviews and really found it to be a slog. There was some good ideas and some great set pieces but it just dragged on and on. In fact, it is the only instance in which I think the movie is so much better than the book. That being said, I've been meaning to try another one of his books because he does seem to have a solid following. Your sparse comments coupled with some reviews I've read has given me the sense that Fiends of Hell is not the one I should try.

[RonClinton]

Starting THE FIENDS OF HELL by Adam Nevill...hopefully it'll be more satisfying than the above Langan.

….aaannd so much that hope. Oh well, on to the next book.

[RonClinton]

Starting THE FIENDS OF HELL by Adam Nevill...hopefully it'll be more satisfying than the above Langan. That said, I'm looking forward to going back to her backlist and reading her three mm pbos...I loved GOOD NEIGHBORS too much to let one misfire warn me away from doing so.

[Sock Monkey]

Well, DNFd it last night at the halfway point. Got tired of waiting for something to happen. It’s an exhaustively talky (dialogue) book filled with characters that aren’t particularly interesting, and while they talk a lot they don’t actually do a great deal. The mid-apocalyptic(ish) setting is interesting, with light vibes of Blake Crouch’s WAYWARD PINES, but it isn’t explored to any great degree, which seems like a missed opportunity. The town’s rituals and secrets are kept a mystery for far too long, to the point where you increasingly cease to care. I skim read the last twenty or pages to see if it ended the way I would’ve guessed, and it generally did. A stunning disappointment given my love for her previous book, GOOD NEIGHBORS.

That said, if you or anyone else wants still to read it and see if your reaction is different than mine, I’ll sell my signed (at Brian Keene’s store, as noted in the signature) first edition for $20 shipped. Pics here:

https://x.com/ron_clinton/status/178...CUeUjfN8huHsPw

That's a bummer. I was hoping for a winner. Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to hold off for now. I'm feeling really bummed out by disappointment with THE DEAD PENNIES and don't know if I can take another hit in the book-reading morale.

[Sock Monkey]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of the Golden/Keene edited Drive-in Multiplex Anthology book. I was hoping I would like it more than other reviewers, but this was average at best. While the stories fit within the Drive-In mythos and were decent, the majority of them felt the same, in both content and tone, and none of them ever rose to the level of something truly special. The one exception may be Lansdale's own story from the book, and it's the first one, making the rest of the book feel like even more of a slog. As much as it kills me to write this, I'd recommend readers skip this anthology and just go reread the Drive-In books instead. This book definitely has me worried about the quality of the forthcoming "The Stand" anthology that Keene & Golden are also editing.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Bryan Smith's "Kill the Hunter". Hope this one is as fun as it sounds as I could use it after the last read!

Unfortunately, your thoughts on MULTIPLEX reflects the growing majority of reviews I've read about it. I honestly struggle with the idea of these riffs on other authors' mythologies. Frankly, the only ones that I enjoy are the Lovecraftian ones and mostly those that push the ideas forward instead of merely attempting to emulate Lovecraft himself. I only bought this one because (a) Lansdale's new story, (b) I like Thunderstorm titles, and (c) with this line-up I figured it had to be a surefire hit. I guess I'll need to crack it open myself to see where I land, but the reviews keep pushing further and further down my TBR list.

[sholloman81]

Yikes, I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t cracked my copy yet and still plan to, but will go in with expectations firmly tempered (and just hope to be pleasantly surprised).

Hope you like it more than I did! It's not a bad book by any means. Just not what I was hoping for quality wise, especially with this line-up of authors.