Whoa, this feels weird (a few books I’ve read recently)

Okay, it’s been a while. I’ve been kind of busy with work and don’t have much in the way of spoons left for anything else. But hey, here’s a few words on some books I’ve enjoyed lately.

Hailey Piper’s Your Mind is a Terrible Thing takes place on a spaceship full of corpses, when horrifying monsters attack. It’s surprisingly deep in certain ways, given how much of a fun “classic monster SF” vibe it gives off. I love the main character.

I caught up on some Val McDermid with Splinter the Silence, Insidious Intent, and How the Dead Speak. I love the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books, and these three will whomp you upside the head and leave you reeling.

I just forced my roommate to read Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels book Small Magics and read it myself since somehow I managed to miss its coming out. If you love this series, this book is a delightful addition to the world.

T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone is a breathtaking take on fairy-tale structures and tropes. Like all Kingfisher novels, it’s magic.

Premee Mohamed’s The Void Ascendant was a gloriously satisfying finish to her Beneath the Rising series. It’s hard to believe there were originally only meant to be two books, because it needed this one.

The Broken Room, by Peter Clines, is outstanding. He mates mad science with cosmic horror with such aplomb and amazing characters.

I heartily recommend all of these books!

Posted in Reviews

A few more recent reads

Dean Koontz’s Breathless: A Novel of Suspense was rather fun, with an excellent dash of horror running through. Two mysterious, intelligent beings make an appearance, and a wide variety of seemingly unconnected people are sent hurtling toward their fates. There’s murder-for-hire, reunited families, a veterinarian trying to make sense of a new creature, and more. It’s a little on the amorphous side as stories go, but it definitely had some good stuff in it. The twins (adults, not children) were probably my favorite part. Let’s call it a 4/5.

Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group–yes, I finally got around to reading this–was freaking genius. Lynne is part of a therapy group for final girls, the last survivors of massacres. Their lives have been franchised. Their enemies have fan clubs. And Lynne? Does Lynne even really belong at all? When the final girls start dying off one by one, who will be the final Final Girl? There’s just so much to delight over in this one. Red herrings, clever details… so much to keep you glued to the page! This one is definitely a 5/5.

Next was James S.A. Corey’s Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9). It’s hard to believe this wonderful series is over. And it’s amazing to think that for me at least, this final installment lived up to the build-up. That’s really hard to do. When it was over I felt a blend of satisfaction and melancholy. Again, a 5/5.

J.D. Robb’s Forgotten in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel (In Death, 53) is the story of two women who died decades apart, and who seem to have gone wholly un-missed. Eve has to get justice for the recent death of a homeless woman and the long-ago death of a well-dressed pregnant woman. As usual, this installment is a wonderful chance to see justice served as Eve bullishly sets her mind and skills to helping the dead. I’d say a solid 4/5.

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Four quick plugs for great books

No full reviews, because I just haven’t had time. But here are a few quick plugs for neat books.

The Devil You Know is the second book in Kit Rocha’s “Mercenary Librarians” series. It’s post-apocalyptic super-soldier librarians and their allies, with plenty of action and a great dollop of romance and explicit sex. It’s funny, whimsical, dark, optimistic, creative, terrifying, and uplifting. This is a definite 5 out of 5. Can’t wait for book three!

The anthology Giving the Devil His Due: Special Edition is a collection of stories about revenge against those who abuse women. Very narrow focus, but if you’re in the mood for it, it’s great. Just note that of course there’s depiction of abuse. I give this one a 4 out of 5. (IMO most anthologies end up with a 4/5 because not every story is likely to appeal to any given reader.)

Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is a Chainsaw is over-the-top in a surprisingly affecting way. Jade is obsessed with horror tropes, and becomes convinced a “final girl” has come to town and a slasher plot is about to take off. She may well be my favorite main character ever. An easy 5 out of 5.

Luke Walker’s The Nameless is a great conclusion to his wild horror series in which the Old Gods come to Earth… and then we see what happens next! I really enjoyed this unusual tale; it’s probably a 4.5 out of 5.

I highly recommend all four of these books–definitely check them out!

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Yep, it’s been a while…

I’m working full-time now, taking public transportation, and kind of tired by the end of the day, so reviews will be sporadic and unpredictable. I may also do a lot more as short takes rather than longer reviews. On the plus side, I actually like my job! I’m a release of information specialist at a hospital. I’m looking forward to working the evening shift starting soon–it’s a lot quieter in the evening and it’ll be easier to make time to go to doctors’ appointments and run errands.

Posted in News & Musings

Review: “The Mirror of the Nameless,” Luke Walker

Rating: 5 out of 5

Luke Walker’s horror novel The Mirror Of The Nameless was written before his The Day of the New Gods, but in-world it takes place afterward. I read Day first, and I’d recommend doing it that way. It makes the events of that book more surprising.

Dave Anderson, 41, made the mistake of walking down the wrong streets at night. The Children of Naz Yaah, the Worm, chose him as a sacrifice to their god. When he’s rescued by a mysterious young man named Tom who claims to be in love with Dave’s daughter Ashleigh, the two of them head off to hunt her down and save her from an attempt to do something very dangerous. For 30 years now the gods have ruled the earth: Gatur the Green, who drives people so insane that they attack and kill the very people they love. Segoth, the giant zombie who drops burning, rotting flesh that melts people and turns them into his minions. And Naz Yaah, the least understood of the three, the giant worm dripping acid who rules her younger siblings. Ashleigh believes that the writings of an author named Makepeace hold the key to rescuing humanity and freeing them from the rule of the gods, but Tom thinks she’s going to get herself killed–or worse.

Much like Day‘s main character, Brian, Dave spends most of the book fighting tooth and nail to get to and save his daughter. However, Ashleigh is a bit older than Brianna, very much knows her own mind, and has a plan. So the relationship ends up being very different between them. Dave is a bartender who writes on the side (it’s basically heresy to write fiction, so he ghost-writes celebrity books), and he has a lot less practice at being tough than Brian did. He doesn’t have the firepower Brian had, and has to rely on his wits as well as whatever improvised weapons may come to hand. Tom isn’t an amazingly deep character, but it is interesting to watch his somewhat sheltered views get shattered.

What’s really fascinating for me in this book is the opportunity to glimpse civilization several decades after the arrival of the cosmic horrors from beyond. It’s wild to read about–both the ways in which civilization has continued to exist, and the ways in which it falters.

Content note for brutal death and dismemberment, as well as alluded-to offscreen rape.

Usually, sunset came anywhere between nine and midnight. Some nights, it didn’t come at all.

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10 Fantasy and Sci-Fi Books with Asexual Characters

Luminosity Library has come out with a great list of 10 Fantasy & Sci-Fi Books with Asexual Characters. If you’re looking for ace rep, I highly recommend hopping on over there–some of those books look fantastic!

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Short Take: “The Invasion,” William Meikle

Rating: 5 out of 5

I’m a huge fan of Meikle’s creature-features and cosmic horror, so when I found out he had an alien invasion novel, I had to pick up The Invasion. I’m so glad I did.

A strange green rain (in some areas, snow) touches down and consumes all organic matter that it touches. Once it’s done, waves of the resultant green sludge mow down the survivors. Then the real invasion begins. Alice barely survived the initial snow, since she got just a few flakes on her hand. She’s teamed up with two surviving brothers in the effort to stay alive, and she’s starting to discover she has a unique gift that gives her some protection from the aliens–but also turns her into a target. Meanwhile, Hiscock feels pretty great about the fact that he was ready with his bunker and supplies, but in actuality he’s pretty lonely. And he’s starting to worry that even down in his bunker he might not be safe from the invasion. Eventually both survivors get caught up in a plot to drive away the aliens that might or might not save the last of humanity as well.

The life cycle of alien organisms is absolutely fascinating, and the alien world-building that we catch a glimpse of through Alice is amazing. The devastation the few survivors go through is on point, and the aliens are definitely scary. I love the fact that the aliens are not all-powerful, omniscient, or perfect–they make mistakes as well. The characters have a fair amount of depth for a novella, and I really liked the directions both Alice and Hiscock went in.

If you enjoy alien invasion stories and want a quick read, this is a great choice!

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Review: “Someone to Share My Nightmares,” Sonora Taylor

Rating: 5 out of 5

Expected publication date: October 19, 2021. Review book provided by author.

Sonora Taylor’s horror short story collection Someone to Share My Nightmares: Stories is a delight to read. It contains something all-too-rare in the horror genre: consensual sex that isn’t punished. For all of its claims of breaking boundaries and taboos, most horror depicts sex as violent or as something that has to be punished. It’s a staple of the genre that in slasher stories, it’s always the people who have or want sex who die first. This book contains horror in which sex is entirely consensual, and the people having it aren’t automatically marked for death (and even if they die after sex, that isn’t why they die). There’s even a little bit of erotica tucked in for fun.

One of the most memorable stories in here for me was the first one, which shares the book’s title: “Someone to Share My Nightmares.” Kristin’s favorite director is one who sees that there are demons in the forest around her town. When he dies, she meets an actor who also feels the same way. There are some great subtleties in here about how one “sees” demons that make this really intriguing.

“Petal, Page, Piel” is chilling and fun, but too short for me to say anything else about without giving things away. Similarly the poem “Metal Meticulous” is also chilling and fascinating.

“Bump in the Night” is hilarious. Tasha has a plumber coming over, but things get a bit wild when the woman arrives! And Tasha has some ulterior motives for calling the woman over… “The Parrot” has some darker humor to it. Melinda just died, and her husband Charles is very angry about it. After all, who’s going to make his breakfast now? A home assistant called Parrot is the key to someone’s handling of his abuse of Melinda. Another humor/horror piece is the short piece “Candy,” in which Martha will do anything for her favorite Valentine’s Day truffles.

Another favorite story is “The Sharps.” Camila planned the perfect summer research getaway to a cabin without her phone or wifi or any other distraction. Now she’s stranded by little monstrous creatures that threaten to eat her if she tries to go outside. When Joseph gets stranded with her, she wakes up to the fact that somehow, she’s going to have to get out. The story is also nice and sexy.

“You Promised Me Forever” is rather different from the others. Carrie was turned into a vampire by Cody, and now the bloom is off the rose. They’re arguing, and Carrie is starting to wonder whether she wants to continue with him any more. This story shows a much more realistic look at the ups and downs of a relationship than most fiction, against a background of drinking blood and avoiding the sun.

My final favorite is “‘Tis Better to Want.” It’s the erotic piece in here, in which Lydia becomes incredibly enamored of the demon Krampus. I love the fact that when she meets him as an adult he doesn’t remember running into her as a child. If he had, and had some sort of “I’ve known I wanted you since you were seven” thing going on, this would have been gross rather than sexy, and that’s the route too many authors take. This story is for those of us who really didn’t give a whit about Tom Cruise’s character in Legend because we were too busy ogling Tim Curry.

I hope this signals a rise in positive depictions of sex in horror. Horror doesn’t always have to come from the sex in order for the sex to be relevant to the story. For now, we at least have Sonora Taylor’s wonderful approach to the issue!

Content note for explicit sex, physical and mental abuse, blood drinking, some blood and violence, and a little bondage.

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Review: “The Day of the New Gods,” Luke Walker

Rating: 5 out of 5

Luke Walker’s horror novel The Day Of The New Gods is original and attention-catching. Brian Jackson and his crew (Buggy/Kev, Andy, John, and Willie) just robbed a bank. They’re commandeering a bus to get them and their loot to their van when something entirely unexpected goes wrong: a rip is opened in the fabric of the universe and three very powerful “gods” start wreaking havoc. One is a giant with living flesh that he sheds and which contaminates all who come into contact with it. One is a green mist that makes people violently insane. The third is… well, mostly just a rumor at this point. People are dying by the thousands. Blood and gore litter the streets. Brian and his crew had planned to pick up Brian’s 12-year-old daughter Brianna and leave Britain for Spain, and now getting to Brianna is the only thing Brian can think about. Unfortunately there’s a lot of pain and death between the two of them.

The process of having to figure out what’s going on largely from looking out the windows of their bus makes the gods’ arrival feel all too real. Fragments of broadcasts from the radio fill in a few gaps, but not by much. Countries are planning on nuking the rip in the sky, and the world holds its breath to see what will happen when they do.

The choice of characters–a group of aging robbers–is fantastic. It’s a random-seeming set of characters to throw into something like this. They have guns, they lack a certain moral sense, and yet they’re bound together very strongly. They don’t want to hurt anyone, and yet rescuing Brianna and themselves trumps everything. The character choice gives this story an unusual tone for cosmic horror.

When the characters come to the attention of one of the gods, their assumptions about what is going on take a tumble. Suddenly they’re fighting for a whole lot more than just their own lives. Things turn into one hell of an action story, with a limited number of bullets, some aging robbers who aren’t as spry as they used to be, and a couple of very sharp knives. I loved this book and look forward to reading more by Walker!

Content note: gore, bad injuries, child death.

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Review: “Queen of Teeth,” Hailey Piper

Rating: 5 out of 5

Hailey Piper’s horror/science fiction novel Queen of Teeth takes several concepts and images that I have always found irredeemably cheesy and silly, and turns them into something exciting, heartbreaking, inspiring, and profound.

Yaya is a chimera–when she was in the womb, she “absorbed” her twin, leaving her with two sets of DNA in different parts of her body. In this case it was caused by the escape of the manufactured INZ9-00 virus. The AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical company now owns half the intellectual property rights to the chimeras, and they’re required to come in for regular checkups. During those checkups, sometimes they’re injected with things they don’t really know much about. After Yaya’s one-night stand with Doc, a woman she met at a club, she discovers she has teeth growing in her vagina (“vagina dentata”). When tentacles join the teeth, she realizes this is more than just the usual chimeric oddity. But when she fails to show up for her latest mandated ABP checkup, she ends up having to go on the run.

Yaya’s story takes place in an alternate timeline where Nancy Reagan became president in ’88, the police have been militarized, and a number of other changes have made the present a bit on the bleak side. The chimeras are forced to turn to ABP for their medical care, but ABP doesn’t care about their health except as it affects their own experiments and data collection. They could easily be the epitome of the faceless corporation, except that Piper puts faces to it, a move that makes it all the more insidious. It’s all the scarier to see otherwise normal people following the dictates of a three-person Board.

The body horror is amazing. I’ve always found vagina dentata to be too silly to find horrifying as a concept, but Piper makes them… disturbing, and oddly transformative. There are other images and types of body horror in here that I’ve also found ridiculous before, but again Piper turns them into something worth reading about. Yaya’s changes are fascinating, and both tragic and beautiful. There are no easy answers here, just fear, tragedy, and love.

The pacing is great, starting from a drunken one-night stand and building up to a city-wide threat. There’s a great deal of body horror, blood, bone, and terror. One detail I love is that there are no 100 percent good guys among the “normal” people in this book. There are no real good guys at all, come to think of it. There’s a great theme of bodily autonomy running through here, and where violations of that autonomy can lead.

I love this book as much as everything else I’ve read by Hailey Piper, and this just fortifies my desire to read everything she writes.

Content note: sex (f/f/vagina monster), body horror, menstruation, gynecological exam, bodily autonomy violations, death and gore.

It’s a zygote-eat-zygote world.

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