Horror, Fantasy, and other non-sci-fi genres...

I feel like I've had some bad luck with books this year - lot's of false starts. I had to give up on Rasputin's Bastards; while I was enjoying the plot, at about 200 pages in I realized that I didn't care at all about a single one of the characters, I simply couldn't care at all about what happened to them. Each time I put the book down, I found it harder to pick up again.

Conversely, I started Stephen King's Pet Semetary this morning, and I'm already in love with Jud, and Louise is also a great character. This is probably what I love most about King - his handling of character. It's not particularly nuanced, but he knows how to create likable, but often flawed, heroes, he knows how to show friendship, and he knows how illustrate characteristics through small details and actions. I read PS many, many years ago (over 20), and it's great to read it again.

Pet Sematary, by Stephen King

As part of my goal to re-read the King books I read when I was a kid as an adult, I re-read Pet Sematary recently.

As a youngster, all I cared about was the gross and scary stuff, and Pet Sematary has some good scares and some great gore (I've never forgotten the guy who gets his head crushed in at the beginning).

But what this novel contains even more of is a serious examination of death, grieving, and the lengths people will go to remember and forget. Jud is one of Stephen King's most memorable and well-written characters, and I immensely enjoyed reading his conversations with Louis. King is a great writer of male relationships, and I think this is one of his best examples.

The novel does fail to be one of King's GREAT NOVELS though, and mainly because it is a tad long for the plot, and, what's worse, it feels long.

But once again I've found that I've enjoyed a King read far more as an adult because I am able to get more out if it.

Upon re-examination I find that novel to be merely pretty good, or almost great.

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But what this novel contains even more of is a serious examination of death, grieving, and the lengths people will go to remember and forget. Jud is one of Stephen King's most memorable and well-written characters, and I immensely enjoyed reading his conversations with Louis. King is a great writer of male relationships, and I think this is one of his best examples.

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Oh absolutely. What I also liked is how the novel is really creepy in a matter of fact way, as if King is just simply laying out how everything gets out of control midway through the novel. [

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Jud and Louis' journey at night to the pet sementary is still one of the most eerie and creepiest things I've ever read. And that ending...man what a complete knockout.

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Re-reading Mervyn Peake's Titus Alone. A completely flawed work but a fascinating departure from Titus Groan and Gormenghast. Dickensian Gothic fantasy morphs into Lewis Carroll meets Kafka dystopian sci-fi. A shame we'll never see where else Peake intended to take this series.

Started Carrion Comfort yesterday. So far so good. This is an epic, so we'll see if it can maintain the momentum.

Yuk. At about 120 pages in, there hasn't been a single character I can root for, or even remotely like. Also, there have been two brutal rapes - I think Simmons has some issues.

Lame-o.

It's time.

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I have to put Gormenghast on the back burner. I forgot I have to travel this week, and the book is way too freaking big to lug around.

So I've dusted off the Kindle, and instead fired up Barker's The Great and Secret Show. I read this almost 20 years ago, and it's great to be reading it again. One of my favorite Barker books, and I love stories about secret societies and ancient rituals.

King's The Wind Through the Keyhole wasn't amazing, but it was solid fantasy stuff, light and simple and vivid. It reminded me of his work on The Eyes of the Dragon, which had a similar elemental, Campbellian vibe to it. The Tim Stoutheart story was more engaging than the wraparound skin-man story. I kept waiting for a fun twist in the latter, but no, the skin-man is

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just some guy.

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I don't know if it was really worth the trouble to nest the two stories in an official Dark Tower book. They might've been more fun to discover in one of his story collections.

I agree. I think it would have been better as a first volume of a collection of Dark Tower related short stories, like a Tales of the Dark Tower or something. This way, King could continue to write little fairy tales and myths, and even have other authors contribute to the mythos.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

I agree. I think it would have been better as a first volume of a collection of Dark Tower related short stories, like a Tales of the Dark Tower or something. This way, King could continue to write little fairy tales and myths, and even have other authors contribute to the mythos.

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I could kinda see this, but I haven't been too thrilled with the DT comics, which already do this to a degree. They look pretty, but their stories (and end-book myth-building) feels workmanlike.

Devil Red, by Joe R. Lansdale

Although I've been disappointed with Lansdale's more mainstream books for the last few years, his Hap and Leonard series continues to be awesome. Vanilla Ride is probably the best in the series, and the direct and most recent follow-up, Devil Red, is absolutely amazing. This pair works together to craft a rip-roaring mystery thriller, while also giving the main cast of characters a lot of room to grow and change.

Throughout the series, Leonard Pine has always been the more colorful and interesting character. He's the loose canon, while Hap Collins is the straight man. However, in Devil Red, Hap takes center stage and he completely owns the novel. The dramatic drive is completely in the hands of Hap, and Lansdale paves a road through hell and back.

The most interesting thing about Lansdale's fiction is how powerful his characters are. Things don't happen to his characters; his characters don't let the plot unravel around them. Lansdale's fictitious creations take the story by the horns and wheel, or whatever other cheap cliche you want to use, and drive/control the story like the powerful forces of nature they are. And nowhere is this more evident than in Devil Red.

I cannot express how much I love the friendship between Hap and Leonard enough. Devil Red actually made me choke up a few times. Their relationship is pretty much the most perfect of its kind in any medium, and in any genre. I still, for the life of me, cannot fathom why no one has made movies of these books yet. Hollywood, wake up! Your next cash cow is right here.

Re-reading Four Past Midnight, by Stephen King.

Part 4 of Chapter 3 of The Langoliers is one of the best things Stephen King has ever written. It is a perfect literary example of exposition given through character development; we first learn of the langoliers, we become sympathetic towards a character we hated, and we are introduced to the main villain and dramatic tension. If all authors were so talented, we would have many more great books to read.

New Hard Case Crime from Stephen King coming next year!

Also, new Hap and Leonard in 2013.

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The Colorado Kid was one of the worst books I've ever read. Can't say I'm looking forward to more of the same from King.

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Originally Posted by Kurosawa Fan

The Colorado Kid was one of the worst books I've ever read. Can't say I'm looking forward to more of the same from King.

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It does seem to be a divisive one. I like it quite a bit. Mid-tier King for me.

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I read John Dies at the End the other week. Really enjoyed it for about half its length, but then ended up being kind of indifferent to it by the end.

Reading The City and the City atm. This is excellent.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

I read John Dies at the End the other week. Really enjoyed it for about half its length, but then ended up being kind of indifferent to it by the end.

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It is a bit too long, but I really enjoyed it's somewhat schizophrenic mood/tone - kept me on my toes; Wong juggles juvenile humor and genuine horror with great skill, and does each with equal skill.

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I'll be closing out this year with a re-read of Michael Cisco's Celebrant. Here is Cisco reading the first part of the first chapter. Good lord this man can write.

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Celebrant, by Michael Cisco

After a re-read of the prologue, I've already discovered a clue and more meaning than during my first read. The clue has to do with the dialog - Cisco clearly states that there will be no "natural dialog" in the book, and to "let every word be announced as though a child were were reciting it laboriously from a book."

When I first read this, I thought the prologue (it's not really a prologue, but that's what I'm calling it) was either from the main character's POV or the narrator's POV, but I don't think it is. I think it's from Cisco's POV, and in it he is setting the book's foundation, letting his readers know the rules.

During the story, there are no quotes around any of the dialog, except for two or three lines spoken by one character. So yes, there is no "natural dialog;" but I'm not sure what this means. Also, Cisco clearly states that we are to read the book slowly, pouring over each and every word like a child struggling to read a book for the first time. And so with that I am going to take my time, reading each word, maybe softly aloud to myself.

Celebrant is completely kicking my ass this time. I think I'll have a good grasp of its plot, themes and characters in only another 10 or so reads. :)

A friend of mine let me borrow a book called Tribesmen that sounded pretty cool. It's about a film crew with an Italian director (set in the 80's) that go off to a remote island to churn out a cannibal movie to make a quick profit, but things quickly go wrong. The island is cursed and ghosts are there and it's a shitty book.

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What if HP Lovecraft's mythos wasn't fiction? What if old Howard was actually warning humanity about an impending doom? Robert Bloch looks to answer these questions in this mythos-inspired novel about a couple of guys who, upon discovering the painting from Pickman's Model, also discover a whole lot more.