Finished Doctor Sleep this morning, and it is very good. It doesn't have the heft that The Shining has - it's more of a romp, more of an action-packed thriller. Tonally, it reminds me of a mix between Cell and Insomnia, two of my favorite King novels. So it stands to reason that I like it quite a bit. That's not to say, though, that book completely lacks weight, because it doesn't. There are a few moments that are genuinely moving, especially Dan's progress through AA, his battle with alcoholism, and his ability to help the dying die in peace. I wish there was more spent on the later - this could have easily been a very small and quiet book, all about death and dying. But instead, King used that aspect as a plot device to fuel a big epic psychic battle at the book's exciting climax.
It's not top-tier King, but it's solidly in the middle. As far as post Cell stuff goes, I like it more than Lisey's Tale and 11/22/63, and less than Under the Dome.
The House on the Borderland was pretty radical, both as an interesting look at pre-weird-fiction weird fiction, and also as its own self-contained anything-goes narrative. The book feels a little disjointed at times, as it fuses siege horror, dream travelogues, and even touches of body horror, but there's a bit of cohesion in how those elements interrelate, and, more importantly, it's a fast-paced read that lovingly details the impossible. There's an extended sequence towards the end that details the death of the solar system and the emergence of a sort of sci-fi-spiritual celestial makeup that's oddball and lovely. I was really taken with this one.
I love the first half, and then felt that it meanders a bit after that. Would have made a brilliant 100-page novella.Quoting Dead & Messed Up (view post)
The solar-system-death stuff does go on longer than needed.
Yeah - I feel like that part was a huge influence on Clark Ashton Smith.
The book is definitely ahead of its time.
Just received my signed, numbered leather-bound edition of Ramsey Campbell's new short story collection, "Holes for Faces".
I really like Dark Regions Press. They're a great label.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Honestly don't know that I've read anything by him. It was a total impulse buy.
I take it you don't? :lol:
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I've tried a couple collections and a novel, and I find the dude completely impenetrable. I have to read the same passages over and over again, just to understand what's going on. And I'm not talking about complex thematic stuff, I'm talking about basic actions and scene set-up. I swear there was a part in one story that talked about a guy walking from his car to the front door of his house, but Campbell wrote it in such a way that I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
I know he is highly respected by critics and readers, and that many people like him. He's just not for me.
Maybe you'll be on his wavelength. I wish I was because of all the great things I've read about him, and he seems like a really smart guy as well. I have read a couple of introductions to other books he has written, and I've enjoyed those.
New Lansdale novella, Hot in December (if he's name checking one of his best - Cold in July - it's gonna have a lot to live up to) out on DRP. The back states that it's a "psychological thriller in the vein of Dean R. Koontz and Lee Child."
Uh....how about no?
It's a psychological thriller in the vein of of Lansdale. First of all, Koontz and Child don't have a vein, unless they mean totally generic thriller. In that case, I don't want to read it. Secondly, Lansdale only writes in his own vein, and if he were to write in the vein of another author, it definitely wouldn't be Koonts or Child.
What a terrible thing to say about a great author.
Newest J.M. McDermott novel, Maze, now up for pre-order. 50 signed copies will be sent out early, and include an e-version. Will be shipping this month.
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/2013/...s-have-opened/
These have been available since December. It's sad that there are still copies available. One of the best authors of fantasy working today can't even get 50 people to pre-order his book.
Reading The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Tad Williams). I like this Bobby Dollar Marlowe.
Cyclonopedia, by Reza Negarestani
At once a horror fiction, a work of speculative theology, an atlas of demonology, a political samizdat, and a philosophic grimoire, Cyclonopedia is a work of theory-fiction on the Middle East, where horror is restlessly heaped upon horror.
"Incomparable. post-genre horror, apocalypse theology and the philosophy of oil, crossbred in a new and necessary codex." - China Mieviile
This sounds awesome.
And I randomly turned to page 44 to find Lovecraft's name and mention of the mythos in one of the documents created for the book. Tying the wars in the Middle East and oil industry to the mythos? Yes - this is going to be good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Negarestani
And I googled "Theory-Fiction" only to find Lovecraft's name mentioned again.
http://thepublicschool.org/node/27510
It's like a whole new rabbit hole.
OK - so I take back what I said about Member. I have no idea what's going on or what it's about, but it's completely mesmerizing. The prose and style is Cisco's most straight forward since The Tyrant, but narratively-speaking it's on about the same level Celebrant, only not as obviously-puzzle-like in its presentation. As a matter of fact, the main character, who is also trying to figure out what is going on, is told that this isn't the kind of thing that will make sense and so he's not to waste time looking for symbolism and a Rosetta Stone.
It has - without a doubt - the best descriptions of other worldly places I've ever read. A lot of the book reads like a travel diary. Cisco even gives Clark Ashton Smith a run for his money in this department.
About 80 pages into Tom Piccirilli's "November Mourns".
D - ever read any of his stuff? He's pretty great.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I've read a couple of things, and liked them well enough, but not enough to start pouring over his back catalog.
I've never witnessed a more drastic improvement between two sequential books in a series than I have with the first two Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books by Fritz Leiber. Leiber's classic stories of these two roguish heroes have been the basis for so much modern fantasy that it's kind of ridiculous, and so I knew I should like them, or at least respect them for setting the stage for so many of things I love. However, a few years ago I tried reading the first book and was completely disappointed. No - not just disappointed. It's simply not good; I hated it. But goddammit, that second book! Holy shit, is it ever remarkable. Truly one of the most kick ass and enjoyable things I have ever read, and probably ever will read. Each of the stories is practically a blueprint for all of the fantasy tropes and conventions authors are still exploring today, but not a single one of them has ever done it as well as Leiber did nearly 70 years ago. Really looking forward to reading the rest.
If I may recommend the title "The Walls of the Castle"? It's a one-sitting read - about 80 pages. Very weird, dark fiction about a guy named Casteel (German for "castle"!) stuck in a castle-like hospital.
Came out last year. I think you'd dig it.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
New Thomas Ligotti up for pre-order.
http://www.amazon.com/Spectral-Link-...thomas+ligotti
Fans of Lansdale, Huston, and dark neo-noir, I think you're going to want to remember this name:
Heath Lowrance
http://psychonoir.blogspot.com/
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