In the acknowledgements Felker-Martin thanks her sister (not sure if she means biological or not) for helping make the book as gross as possible. WithIn the acknowledgements Felker-Martin thanks her sister (not sure if she means biological or not) for helping make the book as gross as possible. With, there is success. There is a tremendous amount of well-done gore. But the plot is threadbare, the message, if there really is anything more than just a outlet for primal screaming rage, is garbled at best, hateful at worst, and the characters are a collection of horrible shitheads. One reviewer called this book erotic, and yeah, there's lots of extrememly disgusting sex scenes, but about as far from as erotic as I can imagine. It's been a while that I've had a book I almost DNFed, but there were multiple times I wasn't sure I was going to keep going. The main reason I persevered was for the sake of The Nightmare Factory book club.
1.5
Addendum: During the discussion with The Nightmare Factory book club I was relieved to learn that consensus across the group was that this book was pretty bad (i.e. it wasn't just me). One woman even said she refrained from rating the book on goodreads because despite the fact she didn't like the book, she didn't want to participate in the dogpile of transphobic 1 star reviews on this site. I had a similar thought before deciding to go ahead and review. The discussion also helped me clarify some of my thoughts about why I didn't like the book, beyond just feeling like dragged in the middle, and that I struggled to keep reading it. For example, the relationships between the characters and all the sex scenes were filled with such self-loathing and mutual disgust that they failed in any way to allow for sympathy or understanding. At this point in my life I've known dozens of trans people. For a book that seems to be attempting to provide representation for trans people (and for a variety of other under-represented groups), I don't feel that a single one of the trans people I know is represented in this book....more
This is the selection for the newly revitalized Nightmare Factory book club, which went on hiatus during the Covid pandemic.
I enjoyed the hell out of This is the selection for the newly revitalized Nightmare Factory book club, which went on hiatus during the Covid pandemic.
I enjoyed the hell out of this book while I was reading it. The mostly short chapters make for compulsive just-one-more behavior, the story is engaging with touches of gruesome gore and humor. The main characters are interesting, if lightly drawn. The idea of death being an assignment to be passed along is not new (I think the first time I encountered it was with On A Pale Horse). I have mixed feelings about the portrayal of death here being so silly with relativey childish concerns, but then there's a long tradition in literature and movies of personifying death in a range of ways (Monty Python, Terry Pratchet, et al.) and I think the influences come through clearly in this book. I would have prefered a long-living death to have a bit more philosophical perspective. Fritz uses the cheap and easy method (* see note below) of generating hatred for the worst character Eugene, by having him perform grievous harm on a cat, something that can easily trigger me. My main complaint with this book was nerfed ending.
A wobbly 3.5 Given new insight on this book, I think it's a solid 4
* The author commented on my review, giving insight into this aspect of the book. My use of the words cheap and easy was based on thinking this book is purely fictional, but that assumption was incorrect, and it turns out Eugene is based on a real life person. This substantially changes my reaction to the book. I think I'll reread at least the last couple chapters of the book....more
This was the last book scheduled for the Nightmare Factory book club before the Covid-19 lockdown ended our meetings. My impression from the messages This was the last book scheduled for the Nightmare Factory book club before the Covid-19 lockdown ended our meetings. My impression from the messages of other members of the club was that all or most of them did not like this book at all, and yet for me it hit hard and I loved it. I considered whether or not to actually write a review because explaining why I connected so much with this novel only makes sense within the context of something personal that happened to me the year before, and trying to explain those events has the potential of sounding like self-aggrandizement, or outright bullshit. With that caveat in place, I'm going to hide this review behind spoiler tags, but not because I'm actually giving any spoilers.
(view spoiler)[ I've been divorced for 10+ years now I think (my memory for when things happened is terrible). Since the divorce I have not dated, and have had no intention of ever dating or being in a relationship ever again. I'm done. In the last few years, roller skating has become a very important part of my life, in part because it provided a huge amount of social interaction where I met lots of people and could just be friends. in 2019 through no action or pursuit on my part, a woman started skating with me. To keep this brief, it eventually developed into fiery romance of a few month in which I fell hard for her, and she eventually pulled back because she had deep-seated trust issues and an inability to communicate. No big deal, right, the kind of thing that happens to people. For me this was particularly bizarre and unexpected, because it turns out that she was a literal beauty queen of the Miss Universe pageants, which means she was extremely guarded about anyone knowing anything about her past, which is how this all ties into the book.
And here's where it gets difficult to talk about this without sounding like I am making myself out to be something when I'm not. The parallels in the relation between Victor Zhang and NVK and that between me and this woman were uncanny. So many small details kept hitting me as if they had been taken right out of my own experience. In particular the way the NVK was constantly hiding certain details of herself from Zhang, constantly keeping him out felt exactly like my own circumstance. Now I am nowhere near the kind of wealth that Zhang had, and of course the woman I was involved with was not subsisting on her own blood, so of course it's not a perfect parallel. But she did have severe boughts of depression during which her behavior was much like some of NVK's. (hide spoiler)]
This is not the kind of book I'm going to go out and recommend to a lot of people. It came to me at a very appropriate time in my life, and my reaction to it was intense and deeply visceral. I hope I don't regret posting this. I guess I can always delete it....more
It took me much longer to read this book than it should have given its length, and the main problem was that after reading a chapter at night before bIt took me much longer to read this book than it should have given its length, and the main problem was that after reading a chapter at night before bedtime, instead of being excited to read just one more chapter, I would be relieved that I had managed to finish the one, and found myself dreading the second chapter which would complete my minimum requirements for the night. Not a positive indication. I found this book to be dreadfully boring, the story threadbare, and the characters abstract and distant giving me nothing to enjoy and nothing to care about. Because I didn't care, any sense of atmosphere or dread evaporated into the sheer determination to just finish the damn thing so I could read something I actually like. None of this changes the fact that the author is quite capable, and can turn a pretty phrase; the tools are all there and Hunt is quite the craftsman, but I just don't appreciate his work.
As I read the book, I ended up interpreting it as a meta-commentary on the nature of fairy tales, with Goody (hate that name), Eliza, Captain Jane, Granny Someone, and Red Boy each being a vaguely defined miasma around some kind of archetype. (Note that those are all the "named" characters in the entire book, all others being relegated to descriptions such as "my man" and "my son".) The characters seemed trapped in an eternally cyclical iteration over the various classic fairy-tales, repeating roles in slightly different variations, exchanging roles occasionally by trick or by murder. And then I read the description of the book, and some of the other reviews, and I learn that it is a commentary on witchcraft in colonial America. Which claim I completely missed. If I didn't need to get back to work this morning, I might spend more time bolstering my interpretation....more
Overall it seems that my fellow book club members enjoyed this book more than I did. It started off weak, with the fist couple stories being mediocre,Overall it seems that my fellow book club members enjoyed this book more than I did. It started off weak, with the fist couple stories being mediocre, bordering on bad, and I was afraid I was going to be in for a lot of tedium. Fortunately the third story turned out to be a lot better, partially because it had some unusual and weird elements, and partially because it felt like there was a fleshed out world being built behind the scenes. I had mixed feelings about the fourth story "Revenge" because it featured as asshole who was murdering animals and then just leaving the dead bodies to lure something from the deep, however the ending won me over when the giant walrus god killed the stupid asshole man. Several of the stories had ambiguous endings, for example Sila for which I thought of three ways to interpret the ending (Everyone in the book club seemed to think one particular interpretation was clearly correct, and it was my favorite anyway, so we'll go with that.) I think my favorite story was probably "Strays" because it made me very uncomfortable, so I don't know if favorite is the correct word; in any case, it made an impression....more
Wow, that was really good. Merricat is a fascinating character, and I love how Jackson writes her in such a way that she seems completely reasonable aWow, that was really good. Merricat is a fascinating character, and I love how Jackson writes her in such a way that she seems completely reasonable and sane, and yet from an external viewpoint she would seem deeply disturbed. The scene around the burning of the house was particularly affecting and I found myself angry at the villagers for their reprehensible and senseless destruction afterwards. I feel like this is one of those books I should read again in a few years to see If I can absorb a bit more out of it, and maybe slow down a bit since I kind of charged through it this time....more
Here's another book that is making me question my discernment. As I read this book I enjoyed it. It's relatively light, and it does a pretty good job Here's another book that is making me question my discernment. As I read this book I enjoyed it. It's relatively light, and it does a pretty good job of blending the two worlds, and even reads reasonably well like any of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, at least to my memory. Perhaps if I did a side by side comparison, I might find that impression wrong. in any case, when I finished, I bought the next book in the series, first because the Kindle makes it really fucking easy to do, and second because I thought what the hell, only three books in the series I might as well read them all. Then we had our Nightmare Factory book club discussion, and everyone kind of felt the same way. That this was a perfectly enjoyable, trash fiction novel, but that it really didn't have anything unique to offer, and it was pretty much paint by numbers. One woman in our group called it "aggressively generic", a description I like and one that is fitting. In retrospect I realized that the mystery was pretty much not very mysterious. The Lovecraftian elements were straight from canon, and didn't anything new or unusual. A couple days afterwards, and I really can't remember very much about the book. it was fine. It also failed to be scary in any way, but it did have one pretty nice gruesome scene. Other than that, it occupied my time, and now I have to read the second, since I already bought it....more
This is one of those books that I enjoyed while reading it, but the more I thought about, the less I liked it. And then we had our Nightmare Factory bThis is one of those books that I enjoyed while reading it, but the more I thought about, the less I liked it. And then we had our Nightmare Factory book club meeting, and my opinion dropped, as everyone tore this book apart, pointing out the absurd number of flaws in this book, and its derivative nature. The worst aspect is the extremely thin characterization, which numerous reviewers have discussed at length. One of the flaws I noticed was the lack of clear point of view, which contributed to the lack of identification with characters. The opening chapters were quite good, and then it just turned into one long fumble, with occasional good ideas, that could have been great if handled by another author....more
Hot damn I enjoyed the hell out of this book, and I'm sad that I'm going to miss the book club meeting since I'm on vacation in another state. I'll stHot damn I enjoyed the hell out of this book, and I'm sad that I'm going to miss the book club meeting since I'm on vacation in another state. I'll start with my one main complaint about this book, which is that Ginny constantly called people sweetheart and sweetie, which isn't so much a knock on the book, as it is a reflection of how I personally dislike most terms of endearment, especially when they are applied indiscriminately. The fact is there are real people out there who do this kind of thing all the time, and thus as an aspect of Ginny's personality it makes sense and doesn't conflict with anything else about her personality. It was a flaw that made her seem more real, since she had so many positive traits, such as her nearly unreal fighting abilities.
Another potential flaw was Tricia's incessant peppering of her language with the word 'like', which at times seemed so pervasive that I initially thought it was too much. However, in an interesting bit of coincidence, I was about half way through this book, when on my way to work one morning I heard an interview on NPR with young woman discussing protests in Puerto Rico (if I remember correctly) whose patois was as equally sprinkled with 'like' as Tricia's, reminding me that 1) that style of speech really does exist out there in the real world and 2) I know people who speak exactly in the manner. So whether or not I like the constant use of 'like' it's, like, not unbelievable at all, and added to the messiness of the character. It also seemed to me that Tricia's language would rub off on Ginny, depending on who she was talking to.
On one level this book is horror, but it is elevated above a simple slasher / thriller by the complex interactions of the pimps and prostitutes trapped in the nasty underbelly of the city. Ginny has to carefully navigate around the Colonel, managing her justified loathing of him while recognizing that there is much worse out there, He is horrible, but in this case she is better off, at least for the time being, with the devil she knows. The episode in which she recruits Tammy was particularly striking, making it clear that although she is the 'hero' of this story, Ginny is in no way perfect and does some morally reprehensible actions in the process of attempting to survive and to take care of her sister.
And then there's Nicolette. Fucking hell, I liked her as a centerpiece villain. She is a psychopath portrayed more realistically than is usually done, in that she lacks an ability to experience emotions in a typical way, and seems to entirely lack empathy or remorse. The way she viewed people as "someone" with no name and no personality, and just enough distinguishing features kept in her mind to identify them when it was important to her, revealed her inner workings and motivations without turning her into a cartoonish 'I'm evil' mustache-twirler. Her need to kill, driven by some kind of idea that she must provide sacrifices to the city, wrapped up in a distorted version of the mythology of the labyrinth and the minotaur, and governed by a yearly cycle of cessation followed by an ever escalating schedule of violence, fit so well with the behavior of some real life serial killers that it seemed completely plausible. The final confrontation between Nicolette and Ginny was just about as satisfying as it could possibly be.
Another great selection by the Nightmare Factory book club. We have been on a roll this year....more
Another great selection by the Nightmare Factory book club. I was hooked from the first few pages when the footage from the Atargatis first reveals a Another great selection by the Nightmare Factory book club. I was hooked from the first few pages when the footage from the Atargatis first reveals a glimpse of the carnivorous mermaids shredding through the occupants of the boat, with beautiful descriptions like "...a man who has been unzipped from crotch to throat...". Fuck, yes. Give me more. And Mira Grant delivers on the promise of those first dozen pages, building up the concept of these cryptids that turn out to be horrifying real. The mermaids aren't just simple nasty monsters, but have full blown languages and complex believable behaviors, with additional plausible biology, including small scale ecosystems in their "hair". Grant really did her homework for this book, which is something I deeply appreciate. On top of this, there is a rich and abundant collection of characters in this book, with highly varied backgrounds and motivations, almost too many to keep track of, but because the author imbues them with such distinctive characteristics, I didn't really have much trouble keeping them clear in my head, with the exception of Jason who was just a generic white dude. One person in our discussion group said he through the book dragged in the middle, but I couldn't disagree more. I ripped through this book quite rapidly, and always found myself wanting just a bit more, even when I was dead tired and needed to go the fuck to sleep. My one complaint is that I wanted the deaths of the two big game hunters to be much more punishing than they were, but at least they both died....more
This is a deeply weird book, and as such I can understand the viewpoints of those who gave it negative reviews, but for me it hit right in that sweet This is a deeply weird book, and as such I can understand the viewpoints of those who gave it negative reviews, but for me it hit right in that sweet spot of strange and unsettling, without turning into utter nonsense. I loved the way it starts with Hendrick (the father) seeing a man in a nightshirt crawling into his living room through the window, with the added touch of green ooze spilling from a bag. his response makes it clear that he would normally respond sensibly, but something causes him instead act against his instinct. Right from the start, the his mind (and hopefully that of the reader) is being twisted, manipulated. The book just keeps progressing in an inevitable spiral of characters retro-fitting anomalies into some kind of cohesive but warped narrative of why this all makes sense. I also appreciate that it is a short book, which means that the writing is kept tight, something that is important for effective horror (though not always of course). Good choice by the Nightmare Factory book club....more
Apparently one of the things said about Kiernan's writing is that those who love it, and those who don't, describe it in the same terms. I have littleApparently one of the things said about Kiernan's writing is that those who love it, and those who don't, describe it in the same terms. I have little to add to the already numerous reviews and descriptions: most of the stories don't really go anywhere, they are snapshots in time, out of sequence character studies, densely lyrical, the beautiful language is key, etc. So it comes down to personal preference. I have begun to realize that in addition to the phrase "examines the human condition" as one which translates to "is fucking boring, tedious, and dull", I may have to add "character study", with the admission that I am exaggerating to some extent with my translation. I didn't hate this book. I also didn't love it. There were a few standout stories for me, especially "The Prayer Of Ninety Cats" which contained sections that were presented like a movie script (apparently I really like the blending of film and prose) and created a weird, evocative atmosphere around Erzsebet Bathory. I also quite liked "The Ammonite Violin" and I wonder how much that has to do with the fact that I'm playing an banshee bard in one of my D&D campaigns right now who is attempting to create her own instrument. Another favorite was "La Peau Verte" which hit the sweet spot for me of just enough ambiguity to leave me wondering, but not so much left unexplained to leave me irritated. I still can't tell whether the sister dies, or was taken by the fairies. I should probably read it again some day. I also liked "Interstate Love Song" which was probably the most brutal and gory of the tales, and had a nice whiplash turn at the end where I thought she was about to take it one direction, and then took it in an almost 180. My dislike of a lot of the other stories was primarily because they would just end abruptly, nothing having happened. I understand that Kiernan is deliberately working against the expectation of genre stories being plot driven. I accept that there is room for different story telling styles, and I like the enrichment of the field. I guess I have to fall on the cliche that some of this stuff is just not for me.
Favorite quote: "The divine is always abominable"...more
This book started off strong, and I really liked the premise, but about 100 pages in and it started to drag. Very little happened. The characters spenThis book started off strong, and I really liked the premise, but about 100 pages in and it started to drag. Very little happened. The characters spent tremendous amounts of time in the library doing research, and then having lengthy discussions about the research and the implications. There were a few scattered moments that were pretty great, but overall I found myself a bit bored. Somehow I still ended the book with a feeling of having enjoyed it to some extent, but also feeling that it was a bit empty. I guess I was conflicted. One of the curious things about this book was that our book club discussion didn't last very long, because the people that liked it, didn't really disagree with any of the criticisms from the people who didn't like it. Odd.
I've been struggling with what to say about this book, and trying to figure out why it simultaneously disturbed me and made me oddly happy. It's one oI've been struggling with what to say about this book, and trying to figure out why it simultaneously disturbed me and made me oddly happy. It's one of those rare books that keeps coming back up in my mind at seemingly random times. I've said for a long time that I don't like exorcism stories, especially movies, but I think closer to the truth is that I'm more particular about which ones I like, and there is for me a fine line between a good exorcism story (movie or book) and a shitty one. And for me, this book fell solidly in the good category. Some of the scenes were wonderfully gruesome, and I thought Grady rode the line perfectly between whether or not there was a real possession going on, right up until it becomes clear that there really is. This book made me uncomfortable because I grew up in my parent's church where people really did fucking believe in demonic possession, and of course I also grew up during the time of the height of the Satanic panic. So much of what happened in this book hit disturbingly close to home. Even the way the girls first met and became friends rung true to me because of some roughly analogous interactions in my own childhood. The use of the lyrical references/song titles for each chapter could have been nothing more than nostalgia pandering, but each one reflected something of the events, and lent atmosphere to the book. And then the ending made me feel more strongly than I am accustomed to, not quite bringing me to tears, but putting me on the edge....more
I went into this book with a bit of trepidation, because I've never been the biggest fan of Scooby Doo, however the opening of the book sets a dark toI went into this book with a bit of trepidation, because I've never been the biggest fan of Scooby Doo, however the opening of the book sets a dark tone that got me interested quickly. After that, I found the mix of humor and creepiness to be well balanced and appealing. The extended action sequence sentences worked for me as well, although I can understand why people might find them obnoxious. The same can be said for the occasional breaks in the fourth wall. In the final accounting, this novel was just plain fun....more
For the most part this collection of stories is not so much horror as it is Halloween stories that feel like those told around campfires on youth grouFor the most part this collection of stories is not so much horror as it is Halloween stories that feel like those told around campfires on youth group camping trips, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I quite enjoyed the majority of the stories. The standout was "Lost In The Dark" by John Langan which blended found footage style film-making with a documentary style presentation that reminded me in tone of Experimental Film by Gemma Files. This story was the most genuinely creepy of the whole batch. I also quite liked Garth Nix's "The Seventeen-Year Itch" which was much more adult than his novels, and contained a concept I could feel under my own skin. I also like "The Turn" by Paul Kane partially because it reminded me of the Biblical story of Lot's wife being punished for being human by that most villainous of characters, Jehovah. I would be the kind of person to immediate die by the hand of the killer in this story, since I will always investigate a weird noise. One recurring theme in a few of the stories was the origin of Jack-o'-lantern, and more specifically, that his lantern was originally a turnip rather than a pumpkin....more
I enjoyed this book while I was reading it, and I thought more people at book club would like it too, and instead, there was a pretty vigorous deconstI enjoyed this book while I was reading it, and I thought more people at book club would like it too, and instead, there was a pretty vigorous deconstruction of all its flaws, which made me question whether I have discernment when it comes to books. One of the complaints was that there is no main character, no pov character, and no clear villain. Maybe that was part of why I liked the book a bit more than the others, because it seems to me that's very much like real life, where there aren't necessarily single characters defining a story, and very rarely clear villains. Another book club member said that this book follows the actual events of the Donner party very closely, which by itself is neutral with respect to the quality of the book, but I count it a point in its favor. This book can be compared to another we read for the Nightmare Factory, The Terror. This book is not as good, but I still enjoyed it as a historical fiction, even though it never really quite became horror....more
Because I've read so many urban fantasy series, this book felt pretty derivative to me. However, during the Nightmare Factory book club discussion I wBecause I've read so many urban fantasy series, this book felt pretty derivative to me. However, during the Nightmare Factory book club discussion I was reminded that a lot of the urban fantasy series started off rough, and gradually developed more complexity and layers, and thus I went from feeling that I probably wouldn't continue to the series to leaning towards a likelihood of reading at least one more. The bones here are pretty good, even if the world building leaves a lot of unanswered questions. There was one development towards the end that took me by surprise, which is a positive indication....more
Having seen the movie nearly 3 decades ago, I was unable to turn off my knowledge of the big reveal, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of reading Having seen the movie nearly 3 decades ago, I was unable to turn off my knowledge of the big reveal, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of reading this book for the first time. There are a few passages that suffer from certain attitudes of the time in which it was written, Because the two main acts of murder are described so circumspectly, I didn't find them at all horrifying, however I can imagine them being shocking when this book came out. A bit of happy serendipity was that the day after I finished this novel, I happened to hit the section on Ed Gein in the Serial Killers book I'm reading....more
This can't actually be the best of Matheson, since it does not include I Am Legend which is the greatest horror story ever written. But this is a greaThis can't actually be the best of Matheson, since it does not include I Am Legend which is the greatest horror story ever written. But this is a great collection of stories, made even better by Victor LaValle's introduction. There were a few stories I thought were duds that could have been left out, but overall the selection was excellent. Many of these stories are familiar to me both from having read them before, and of course from seeing them as Twilight Zone episodes or movies such as Duel or The Prey, so in a way it was like visiting old friends....more
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