Ah, Stephen King. He’s been my number one go-to author since I was in my early teens and read It and The Tommyknockers. I pretty much never looked back from that point on and while not every book he publishes is a slam dunk (Dreamcatcher is one of the most jawdroppingly terrible things, and I never even bothered to finish Lisey’s Story I was so bored and annoyed by it), when you’re as prolific as King is, that’s no real surprise. But I’d still much rather read an off target Stephen King […]
Women Can Be Scary Part 3: Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, is a classic that has been characterized as a romance and some sort of gothic chick lit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rebecca is a dark and suspenseful novel, reminiscent of Jane Eyre, with an ending that involves violence and is far from happy. Like Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the reader might find him/herself rooting for a murderer and feeling distinctly uncomfortable about that. Rebecca is set in the 1930s mostly at a seaside […]
A very funny book with an unnecessary jab at Creedence Clearwater Revival
Goodreads has this PSA for you: “WARNING: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR. You will dismiss this as ridiculous fearmongering. Dismissing things as ridiculous fearmongering is, in fact, the first symptom of parasitic spider infection-the creature secretes a chemical into the brain to stimulate skepticism, in order to prevent you from seeking a cure. That’s just as well, since the “cure” involves learning what a chain saw tastes like. You can’t feel the spider, because […]
It’s just so amazing, you guys. Why aren’t you ALL reading it?
This trade paperback volume of Saga collects issues 13-18. It’s an ongoing series, and you really should be starting at the beginning. It’s also the best comic book/graphic novel series I’ve read in probably a decade, so if you haven’t read it, run to your nearest comics shop and come back when you’ve caught up. Also, it goes without saying that there may be spoilers here for earlier in the series. Marko’s mother has decided to join her son and his new family on their quest to find […]
To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart
In college, four artists named Tess, Henry, Suz, and Winnie began calling themselves the Compassionate Dismantlers whose motto was: “To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart.” Moving to a reclusive lakeside cabin after graduation, they carry out elaborate pranks and escalating acts of vandalism with the intent to take things apart to reveal the underlying truth. The Dismantler schtick often comes off as pretentious and arrogant, but you don’t have to agree with them or even like them, you’re just […]
This review is of no relevance to the cause of Light
Target: Sergei Lukyanenko’s Twilight Watch. Translated by Andrew Bromfield (The Watches pentalogy #3) Profile: Modern Fantasy, Suspense, Horror Sergei Lukyanenko’s Watches books have utterly captivated me. The moody atmosphere and strong characterization drive an uncompromising examination of good and evil. Oh, and the story isn’t bad either. Where Day Watch acted as the natural extension of Night Watch, exploring some of the same material from the perspective of Darkness, Twilight Watch almost starts from scratch with a new, overriding storyline that runs through all three sections of the book. While the […]