What are you currently reading?

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of "Abhorrent Existence" by John Baltisberger, a first time read and author for me. Book had lots of Kaiju fun, but I've also read a lot of books/stories very similar to it over the years; so, I wasn't quite as impressed as others might be. That being said, there were still lots of neat creatures, cool kills, and deplorable characters dealing with end of the world happenings. The author also seemed to have an underlying theme with each novella. Also, as always, Thunderstorm's production values were top-notch, but I did wish that there was some artwork included as I would have loved to have seen some images of the various Kaiju. Overall, while this story was nothing groundbreaking, it was still fun to read. Happy to have it in my Thunderstorm collection.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of John Urbancik's "The Secret History of the Palace Theater". Going into this one pretty much blind...

[RonClinton]

I just finished John Williams' STONER, and it was just the kind of literary book I needed to recalibrate my reading rut from too much horror, too much crime, too much plot. I just needed something that really dived into character in a rich, poignant way, something that created introspection rather than tension, and this book is famously nothing but that.

Now I'm ready to dive into something dark and plot-driven, but not sure yet what that'll be. Maybe some mid-century macabre fiction from Valancourt.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Ross Jeffrey's "The Devil's Pocketbook". Man did I enjoy this book! Jeffrey writes grief horror very well, but this book was on another level. Maybe my favorite of his works so far, and much meaner than I ever expected! Add in the awesome production values by Thunderstorm, and this was an A+ read for me!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of "Abhorrent Existence" by John Baltisberger, a first time read and author for me. Not sure what to expect, but the cover sure makes it look like fun.

[brlesh]

Finished up a reread of Life of Chuck, which I really enjoyed.

I first read it five years ago when If It Bleeds was published, but couldn’t remember a thing about the story.

It’s one of King’s more straight up drama stories, though there is a ghost story element to it (all be it a slight one).

It was an unusually told story (the story was told in reverse) and it will be interesting to see how this works as a movie.

After Life of Chuck I started The Devil by Name, Keith Rosson’s sequel to Fever House.

While The Devil by Name doesn’t open with the frenetic pacing that Fever House did, at 80 pages in I am thoroughly enjoying revisiting the storyline and surviving characters from the first story.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of The Pink Agave Motel by V. Castro, a first time read/author for me. Got to be honest. Was very close to DNF'ing this book. The first half of the book were very short stories, almost felt like flash fiction, and they were a slog to get through. Each of them seemed to cover a different sort of monster (i.e., vampire, zombie, etc.) and had a bit of a sexual element, but most of them had very little plot. By the time I got to the novella that ends this collection (and is about half of the book), I wasn't feeling too charitable toward this collection. Luckily, the novella is a vast improvement on the first half of the book, but it's not quite enough to save the collection as a whole. Overall, I'm glad to have given this one a try but doubt I will be rereading it any time soon.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Ross Jeffrey's "The Devil's Pocketbook". Have had this in my TBR pile for a while and decide now was the time. I generally enjoy Jeffrey's stuff; so, I have high hopes for this one!

[dannyboy121070]

Not your fault. WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS was a DNF for me, my first for Hendrix (though WE SOLD OUR SOULS was close) and I sold my signed copy. It’s starting to feel like the ol’ reliable authors are becoming less so.

Yeah, it is starting to feel that way...I'm still slogging through WITCHCRAFT, but I'm almost 300 pages in, and there are so many wayward girls that I can't keep them straight. Just waaaay too many characters.

[RonClinton]

If you guys decide to give it a go, I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

KING SORROW and Grady Hendrix's WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS, which I was reading simultaneously, both failed to really grab me in the way that I was hoping, based on their previous work. Their fault, or maybe I'm in some kind of reading funk?

Not your fault. WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS was a DNF for me, my first for Hendrix (though WE SOLD OUR SOULS was close) and I sold my signed copy. It’s starting to feel like the ol’ reliable authors are becoming less so.

[dannyboy121070]

If you guys decide to give it a go, I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

KING SORROW and Grady Hendrix's WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS, which I was reading simultaneously, both failed to really grab me in the way that I was hoping, based on their previous work. Their fault, or maybe I'm in some kind of reading funk?

[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!

[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.

[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]

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.

[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!

[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.

[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.