What are you currently reading?

[RonClinton]

Just started John R. Little's memoir, MY QUIRKY LITTLE MEMOIR: CONFESSIONS OF A SMALL PRESS WRITER.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Phantasia Press LE of Phillip Fracassi's "The Third Rule of Time Travel". Enjoyed this one a ton but felt that it slightly missed the mark. It was well written, had a lot of neat science ideas, a small dose of horror, characters you can root for, and a great villain to root against, but by the time I finished, I never got that feeling you get when reading a truly special time-travel story, the feeling I got when I read Grimwood's Replay or Crouch's Dark Matter. Still, I'm glad to have read this story and added this edition to my library/fracassi collection!

Am now finally getting around to reading my PS Publishing LE of Stephen King's "Different Seasons", one of my all-time favorite books and a sure piece of nostalgia for me!

[RonClinton]

Just finished reading the Phantasia Press LE of Phillip Fracassi's "The Third Rule of Time Travel". Enjoyed this one a ton but felt that it slightly missed the mark. It was well written, had a lot of neat science ideas, a small dose of horror, characters you can root for, and a great villain to root against, but by the time I finished, I never got that feeling you get when reading a truly special time-travel story, the feeling I got when I read Grimwood's Replay or Crouch's Dark Matter. Still, I'm glad to have read this story and added this edition to my library/fracassi collection!

Am now finally getting around to reading my PS Publishing LE of Stephen King's "Different Seasons", one of my all-time favorite books and a sure piece of nostalgia for me!

That's unfortunate...I still have to read my copy of the Phantasia ed. of RULE, and was hoping the hype -- and my favorable history with his work -- would carry the day, but the comparison to Grimwood and Crouch, both time-travel touchstones, has me concerned. Fingers crossed it works for me a bit better.

[brlesh]

Finished up Fever House by Keith Rosson last night and really enjoyed it.

It is a complete batshit crazy story that shouldn’t work, but it does.

After Fever House it’s back to The Mad Butterfly’s Ball, which unfortunately, is becoming a drag.

B

[brlesh]

Finished up Fever House by Keith Rosson last night and really enjoyed it.

It is a complete batshit crazy story that shouldn’t work, but it does.

After Fever House it’s back to The Mad Butterfly’s Ball, which unfortunately, is becoming a drag.

B

Taking another break from The Mad Butterfly’s Ball to start a reread of Carrie tonight.

Want to reread the source material before Carrie’s Legacy gets here.

B

[brlesh]

Taking another break from The Mad Butterfly’s Ball to start a reread of Carrie tonight.

Want to reread the source material before Carrie’s Legacy gets here.

B

Finished up Carrie last night, the second time I’ve read it, and the first time in 40 years, and have to say I liked it much more this time around then what I remembered from it 40 years ago.

Marked by a fast paced storyline and the great character work that King has been known for, it really is a great debut novel.

I’m just sorry I waited 40 years to revisit this one.

Will probably start Carrie’s Legacy tomorrow.

B

[RonClinton]

Read Eric Higgs' THE HAPPY MAN via the recent(ish) Valancourt reprint, a book I've been meaning to read for a long time but just never got around to it. Turned out to be kind of dated, with a somewhat illogical progression of character development (or regression, actually), and so on. But interesting enough in a macabre kind of way to keep me going. Not quite what I was hoping for -- a lost modern horror classic -- but engaging enough for a few nights, I guess.

[dannyboy121070]

Finally wrapped up Joe Hill's KING SORROW, and trying to decide what books to bring on our upcoming road trip to Savannah for my son's graduation. Leaning towards Philip Fracassi's THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE.

[RonClinton]

Finally wrapped up Joe Hill's KING SORROW, and trying to decide what books to bring on our upcoming road trip to Savannah for my son's graduation. Leaning towards Philip Fracassi's THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE.

You kinda buried the lede there...so what did you think of Hill's new one? I'd typically be excited about its release in four, five months, but the whole plot focus on college kids summoning a dragon to help them out...the idea of it is not doing it for me, at all, but perhaps I'm not giving Hill enough credit to fashion an otherwise rewarding adult novel from a conceit that on the face of it seems ridiculous and more appropriate for YA/juvenile fiction.

[dannyboy121070]

You kinda buried the lede there...so what did you think of Hill's new one? I'd typically be excited about its release in four, five months, but the whole plot focus on college kids summoning a dragon to help them out...the idea of it is not doing it for me, at all, but perhaps I'm not giving Hill enough credit to fashion an otherwise rewarding adult novel from a conceit that on the face of it seems ridiculous and more appropriate for YA/juvenile fiction.

Weeeelll.......If you're worried that this is a more Fantasy-oriented tale, because there's a Dragon involved, don't worry. The Dragon is almost a maguffin, and the characters start out in college, but the book follows them for decades, so no worries about YA fiction. I'm pretty jaded, as far as spotting plot twists goes, but Hill did spring a few here that I didn't see coming. The ending, after all that had gone before, seemed a little rushed.

It was a long book. Crazy long. Not, IMO, among Hill's best (NOS4A2), about even with my least-favorite (HORNS). I wrote up a whole non-spoilery review, which I can post here if anyone is interested. I rated it a 7 out of 10. Well-written, with a few ridiculous scenes that an Editor should have excised entirely.

[Martin]

Weeeelll.......If you're worried that this is a more Fantasy-oriented tale, because there's a Dragon involved, don't worry. The Dragon is almost a maguffin, and the characters start out in college, but the book follows them for decades, so no worries about YA fiction. I'm pretty jaded, as far as spotting plot twists goes, but Hill did spring a few here that I didn't see coming. The ending, after all that had gone before, seemed a little rushed.

It was a long book. Crazy long. Not, IMO, among Hill's best (NOS4A2), about even with my least-favorite (HORNS). I wrote up a whole non-spoilery review, which I can post here if anyone is interested. I rated it a 7 out of 10. Well-written, with a few ridiculous scenes that an Editor should have excised entirely.

I am definitely interested in your review!

[RonClinton]

Like Martin, I'd be interested to read your review as well -- and, yes, that it was too Fantasy-oriented was a concern...as soon as I read that, I envisioned a YA-adjacent Fantasy novel, complete with the obligatory laser-printed colorful page edges, with light overtones of Dragonish retribution. My affection for Joe's work garnered from NOS4A2 and a few others was already undermined by THE FIREMAN nearly a decade ago, so I was pretty nervous that this new one -- finally! -- seemed like potential salt in the wound.

But if it's more like Jeff Strand's DWELLER, I can see it working for me just fine, though I gotta say my days of muddling through 7-out-of-10 "crazy long" books are probably behind me.

[dannyboy121070]

King Sorrow review:

Joe Hill seems to be so prolific, between novels, short story collections, comics, and various Amazon shorts, that I was amazed to read that it has been a full decade since his last novel, The Fireman. He seems to be trying to make up for lost time with his newest, the massive doorstop known as King Sorrow.

The length and scope of King Sorrow puts it firmly in the Stephen King wheelhouse, alongside such works as It, and 'Salem's Lot; A massive creature-feature with a largish cast of characters assembled against an enemy from our darkest nightmares.

I remain skeptical when I see such a long novel.....Will it be worth all of those pages, or will it be mercilessly padded? In this case, it was a little of both.

Hill hits the ground running, establishing the crux of the story immediately: While visiting his mother in prison, Arthur Oakes ends up on the wrong side of the wrong people, and soon finds himself being blackmailed into stealing rare books from the college library where he works. Desperate for a way out of his situation, Arthur and his close friends hatch a bizarre plot to summon a dragon to dispatch his tormentors. As anyone who has ever read a book or seen a movie knows, deals with dark forces rarely work out to your advantage.

A few Hill fans that I have spoken to had a wait-and-see attitude towards this book, believing that the inclusion of a dragon would make this a more fantasy-skewing book. While not really a horror novel, King Sorrow certainly isn't a fantasy, either. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), King Sorrow, the titular dragon, doesn't get much screen time at all, as Hill chooses instead to focus on Arthur and his friends as they, over decades, cope with the fact that their bargain was not a one-time thing....they have to choose a victim for the King every Easter, or become that year's victim themselves.

Hill throws in enough plot twists and time lapses to keep things, for the most part, moving briskly. The novel, at around 900 pages, seemed to take forever to progress through, one of those books that you barely seem to make a dent in, no matter how long you sit and read. When I found myself getting tired of where the story was, Hill wisely turned the plot upside-down, making it all seem fresh again.

That said, the endlessly long section of the book that takes place on a transatlantic flight nearly had me ready to give up, especially when Hill got locked into endlessly repeating a phrase that he probably thought was clever, but was really just annoying: "Dragonedy O'Clock", describing the time when King Sorrow would make an appearance. Hill's father, Stephen King, has the same tic, repeating annoying words or phrases ad naseum, but Hill really took the ball and ran with it, to the point where "Dragonedy O'Clock" made me put the book down for a few days. Magically, he never uses the phrase again after that endless section, so I assume we have pre-readers to thank for that.

And thank them I do.

King Sorrow is a perfectly good novel, just not up to the benchmark of some of Hill's other work. And sometimes perfectly good is just fine. In this case, I was expecting more, and better, but the twists and surprises, as well as the finely-crafted characters, carried the day, and made this big, sometimes sloppy, book mostly enjoyable.

[RonClinton]

Thanks for that honest review.

900 pages...? Had I noted that earlier on the Amazon listing, I probably would've lost interest long ago, and this review doesn't seem to suggest its worth the effort if one is already leery of investing that kind of time on a "perfectly good" doorstop. I was already wavering, and I still have no idea now if I'm going to give KING SORROW its day in court or not, but if I choose not to, this review helps comfort me that I'm not missing anything that's reflective of Hill's early brilliance, e.g. NOS4A2, HEART-SHAPED BOX, 20th CENTURY GHOSTS, etc.

[Martin]

King Sorrow review:

Joe Hill seems to be so prolific, between novels, short story collections, comics, and various Amazon shorts, that I was amazed to read that it has been a full decade since his last novel, The Fireman. He seems to be trying to make up for lost time with his newest, the massive doorstop known as King Sorrow.

The length and scope of King Sorrow puts it firmly in the Stephen King wheelhouse, alongside such works as It, and 'Salem's Lot; A massive creature-feature with a largish cast of characters assembled against an enemy from our darkest nightmares.

I remain skeptical when I see such a long novel.....Will it be worth all of those pages, or will it be mercilessly padded? In this case, it was a little of both.

Hill hits the ground running, establishing the crux of the story immediately: While visiting his mother in prison, Arthur Oakes ends up on the wrong side of the wrong people, and soon finds himself being blackmailed into stealing rare books from the college library where he works. Desperate for a way out of his situation, Arthur and his close friends hatch a bizarre plot to summon a dragon to dispatch his tormentors. As anyone who has ever read a book or seen a movie knows, deals with dark forces rarely work out to your advantage.

A few Hill fans that I have spoken to had a wait-and-see attitude towards this book, believing that the inclusion of a dragon would make this a more fantasy-skewing book. While not really a horror novel, King Sorrow certainly isn't a fantasy, either. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), King Sorrow, the titular dragon, doesn't get much screen time at all, as Hill chooses instead to focus on Arthur and his friends as they, over decades, cope with the fact that their bargain was not a one-time thing....they have to choose a victim for the King every Easter, or become that year's victim themselves.

Hill throws in enough plot twists and time lapses to keep things, for the most part, moving briskly. The novel, at around 900 pages, seemed to take forever to progress through, one of those books that you barely seem to make a dent in, no matter how long you sit and read. When I found myself getting tired of where the story was, Hill wisely turned the plot upside-down, making it all seem fresh again.

That said, the endlessly long section of the book that takes place on a transatlantic flight nearly had me ready to give up, especially when Hill got locked into endlessly repeating a phrase that he probably thought was clever, but was really just annoying: "Dragonedy O'Clock", describing the time when King Sorrow would make an appearance. Hill's father, Stephen King, has the same tic, repeating annoying words or phrases ad naseum, but Hill really took the ball and ran with it, to the point where "Dragonedy O'Clock" made me put the book down for a few days. Magically, he never uses the phrase again after that endless section, so I assume we have pre-readers to thank for that.

And thank them I do.

King Sorrow is a perfectly good novel, just not up to the benchmark of some of Hill's other work. And sometimes perfectly good is just fine. In this case, I was expecting more, and better, but the twists and surprises, as well as the finely-crafted characters, carried the day, and made this big, sometimes sloppy, book mostly enjoyable.

Thank you for posting this. I have preferred his shorter novels over the lengthy ones in the past. Hopefully this will work for. Very excited for a new novel from him!