Horror List Book Review: Slaughterhouse Five

Remember this? I'm slowly, but surely, getting back to my old routines. Now that I'm done with school, I can get back to the best horror list!

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling andM.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.) To see the books I've reviewed so far, you can view the list at the end of this post where I rank them.

This week I'm reviewing Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.

This is my first time reading a book by Vonnegut, and I may be hooked. His prose is quick and almost rhythmic sometimes. Fluid. There are quotable bits ("How nice--to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.") and other impactful parts that aren't as quotable. 

In this book, we follow a character named Billy Pilgrim, a soldier in WWII who was present at the bombing of Dresden. The memories/scenes shared show the uselessness, hopelessness, and ineffectualness of war. There are no great battle scenes in this one. Instead, there are lost soldiers and quick captures.

The narrative jumps back and forth in time, ostensibly because Billy has become disconnected from himself and jumps to different time periods. At some point, he was kidnaped by aliens, or so he relates, much to his daughter's chagrin. The reader never knows where they'll be next, or what might cause the leap. 

A satire on war, there are comic moments, but also deeply horrifying moments that are intentionally thrown out in a lackluster way. The words "so it goes" punctuate many of these moments.

The horror in this lies in the psychological aspects of war and what humans do to each other. Understated and almost comical at times, the horror is still there.

I'm glad I finally read this one after decades of hearing about it. It's definitely a lesson in writing horror that doesn't look like horror on the outside.

Have you read Vonnegut? What's your favorite book by him? Have you read this one? What did you think?

May you find your Muse.

2020 Rah Rah Rah! Plus Horror Book Review: 120 Days of Sodom & Zombie

At this time of year, I'm usually reviewing my goals from the previous year to see what I finished, what I scrapped, and what I need to carry forward. However, a lot happened last year that kept me from getting much of anything done, and I've decided it's not worth looking back on those goals, as it would just serve to make me feel bad about what I wasn't able to accomplish. 

Instead, I'm making some simple, but useful, goals, with the intention of setting up a base to grow from through the year. Basically, I want to get things done, but I also want to be kind to myself concerning expectations. This is a year of healing as much as anything else.

2020 Goals:

Write at least one day a week.

Stay on top of submissions.

Release a collection.

Blog at least twice per month.

Read two craft books.

Walk regularly.

Read a lot of fiction!

Take some fun pictures.

Of course, I can't do anything about the much loftier goals in my head, but whenever I look back at these goals, I want to feel like I'm doing what I expected, at least.

Moving on, I've got two best horror reviews to do, and I figured instead of doing those as individual posts as I've been doing the last couple years, I'll just add them to other posts. Before I jump into those, here's a snapshot of some of the books I've read the last couple months:

Ebooks I've read include: The False Inspector Dew (Peter Lovesey), Clowns vs. Spiders (Jeff Strand), Poisoned by the Pier (Ellen Jacobson), The Haunted Forest Tour (Jeff Strand), Creepers (David Morrell).

My favorites from the above:

Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward

Gorgeously written, this book is set over the course of several days leading up to Hurricane Katrina hitting a small, rural town in Mississippi. As the storm brews and grows, so do the struggles of the main characters, siblings whose mother has died and whose father is sunk in his addiction, leaving them to fend for themselves. A story about family, relationships, deep poverty, and so much more.

Trevor Noah: Born a Crime - Trevor Noah

With his characteristic candor and humor, Noah talks about his youth in South Africa, where his very existence is a crime. His mother does her best with a child who's a bit of a troublemaker (but also charming, innovative, and deeply intelligent.) I was in turns touched, amused, shocked, and sad. I'd like to listen to the audiobook read by Noah, himself.

The False Inspector Dew - Peter Lovesey

This was the fluff book I read after FINALLY finishing The 120 Days of Sodom (review below). It was a light murder mystery, with some solid twists. A man takes on a false identity aboard a ship bound for America. The identity of a famous police inspector. When a body is found in the water, he's called upon to solve the crime. After all, that's his wheelhouse, right? Clever and fun, a delightful break I sorely needed.

Unbury Carol - Josh Malerman

This one is set in the old west, which is an era I love. Described as a thriller, it qualifies as horror, as well. A woman has a condition where she goes into a state that makes her appear dead. Her husband, knowing her condition, takes advantage when she slips into this state. She's got money and fame, and he's tired of living in her shadow. Interesting characters and a hell of a ticking clock. 

Poisoned by the Pier - Ellen Jacobson

Ellen's books are always fun to read. Great cast of characters, interesting settings. Good, clean mystery fun.

Some movies I recently saw and enjoyed:

Knives Out. This is such a witty and well scripted murder mystery. Vastly engaging and amusing. Twisty and well acted.

Incident in a Ghostland. A movie hasn't kept me this tense in a long time. Not for the faint of heart. This one's horror, and though it has plenty of flaws, the suspense is incredibly well done. I had to keep forcing myself to relax.

TV show I'd recommend:

My husband and I both loved Fleabag and are eagerly awaiting the next season. It's a dramedy, irreverent and often inappropriate, but also funny. The humor is quite dry, which I enjoy. You'll probably know within the first few minutes if this is the show for you or better avoided.

Okay, the part I've been avoiding: Horror List Book Review. I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

I finished two recently--The 120 Days of Sodom, by the Marquis de Sade, and Zombie, by Joyce Carol Oates.

The 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade

I'm not sure I have anything good to say about this one. It was a struggle to read. Admittedly, I was curious to read something by Sade after having heard about him for so long. Partway through this book, I convinced myself he couldn't possibly be encouraging or supporting the horrific things happening in this book. I actually thought it might be a commentary on the elite of the time.

Nope.

I'm glad I waited until afterward to do research on him and realize I was giving him too much credit. It would have been even harder to get through if I knew what kind of person he truly was.

I really can't go in depth on this review, because of the subjects of the book. I described it to a friend as reading like it was written by a sexually deviant 8-year old with a feces fixation. There is extreme harm and mistreatment of children. Extreme. Sexual mistreatment, torture, etc. I'm going to need more distance before I can delve into what I needed to learn from this book. Do yourselves a favor: avoid this book and don't read the reviews on Amazon, because some of the readers are as bad as the Marquis. Disturbing.

Zombie - Joyce Carol Oates

This one was also deviant, but nothing like Sodom. It follows a man (I seem to recall he was 38 or so?) with a lot of mental issues. He wants to create a zombie lover by lobotomizing men he's interested in. The book is put forth in journal form. 

The writing is skillfully done in a way that brings the reader into the disorganized and frenzied mind of the killer. I imagine the writing style would drive some people crazy. Part of the horror of this book is how matter-of-fact the main character is about his plans and the results as he tries to figure out the right way to reach his goal.

CURRENTLY READING: Dave Barry's Greatest Hits (ebook) - Dave Barry

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Nightwatch Nation (Hulu)

Have you read any of the above books and/or seen any of the shows/movies? Did you set goals for 2020? Do you do long term or just short term goals? What book, movie, TV show, song, or other media would you recommend? What are you reading right now? 

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: Invisible Man

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

It's been almost a year since I last reviewed a book on here. Back in January, right before everything went chaotic in my life, I reviewed Naomi's Room. As with everything else, I'm trying to get back to my old normal.

This week I'm reviewing Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.

I'm going to be honest. When I saw this title on the list, I thought it was THE Invisible Man, which is actually by H.G. Wells. But this book is on a list of scariest books ever for very different reasons than Wells' story.

Ellison's Invisible Man is a stark look at society, individualism, identity, and, most obviously, race. The examination of race is split between two different areas: the deep South and Harlem.

I wish I'd reviewed this after first writing it. It's been probably about eight or nine months. I read it just before things went upside down. I remember the raw emotion I felt while reading this gorgeously written book. The frustration, the anger, the sadness, and a host of other emotions. But I don't remember specific examples I could pull and more precise reviews to give you.

The "horror" of this book is the way people treat other people, the things that happen that are looked past or ignored. The way we train others to be, and are in turn trained to be. The wrong we can do, and the wrong that can be done.

If I remember right, we never get a true name for the main character. This is part of his invisibility.

All I can tell you is that everyone should read this book. Written in 1952, it flows in a beautiful arrangement of words that belies what we're reading about. To close, I'll put the opening paragraph of the prologue here:

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and  might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination--indeed, everything and anything except me."

I rank this right there with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Handmaid's Tale" for commentary on society and a vivid, depressing look at the resilient and downtrodden in our society. The invisible, as it were.

Now for some links. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

HorrorAddicts.net is seeking horror stories set in the Victorian era for Dark Divinations. 2000 to 5000 words. Pays $10. Deadline October 31.

Flash Bang Mysteries is seeking flash mysteries. 500 to 750 words. Pays $20. Deadline October 31.

Utopia Science Fiction is seeking optimistic SF. 100 to 6000 words. Pays $15.

Mura Magazine is seeking poetry, flash fiction, and visual art. Less than 1000 words. Pays $1 CAD/100 words.

Czykmate Productions is seeking horror flash and short stories (plus graphic art). Pays $2.

The Bronzeville Bee is seeking speculative fiction, crime, and YA short stories. Up to 3000 words. Pays $.05/word.

Have you ever read Ellison's Invisible Man? How about the other books I mentioned? What are your thoughts? Do you find the subject matter chilling? Any of these links of use? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: The Dark Descent

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing The Dark Descent, edited by David G. Hartwell.

This sucker ran 1011 pages, with the final story going right up to the last page, so it took me awhile to get through it. Although that's also partially due to the fact that many of the stories are older, with slower pacing and more elaborate language, which slowed me down, too.

In this anthology, Hartwell traces the history of horror, with stories going back to the likes of William Faulkner, Walter de la Mare, and Algernon Blackwood. The stories went through the mid-eighties, with stories by Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Dennis Etchison, with many more in between. Instead of going in date order, he split the book into three parts: The Color of Evil, The Medusa in the Shield, and A Fabulous Formless Darkness.

The middle slumped for me, with many of them being older, more literary horror stories. I found that I enjoyed the classic ghost and haunted house stories, but others in that era left me unsatisfied. The other two sections were livelier, and the closing story was a strong finish.

As big as this book was, it would take me forever to do a full, real review of this, so what I'd like to convey, in general, is that this is a magnificent collection of stories to read if you're fond of the horror genre or work within it. I may not have loved every story, but I learned a lot about the history of horror and how it's been shaped and changed through the years. There was a lot more cleverness in some of the older stories compared to the harder twist ending we employ now (though the twist was strong back then, too). I got to read classics I wouldn't have read elsewhere. It was a strong set of stories, and they all deserved a place in the history of horror.

Some of my favorites:

"A Little Something for us Tempunauts," by Philip K. Dick
"The Beckoning Fair One," by Oliver Onions
"What Was It?" by Fitz-James O'Brien
"The Beautiful Stranger," by Shirley Jackson
"The Willows," by Algernon Blackwood
Mackintosh Willy," by Ramsey Campbell
"The Signal Man," by Charles Dickens
"Crouch End," by Stephen King
"Seaton's Aunt," by Walter de la Mare
 "The Repairer of Reputations," by Robert W. Chambers
"The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins
"Born of Man and Woman," by Richard Matheson
"Good Country People," by Flannery O'Connor
"Dread," by Clive Barker
"Josh Charrington's Wedding," by E. Nesbit
"If Damon Comes," by Charles L. Grant
"The Bright Segment," by Theodore Sturgeon
"There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding," by Russell Kirk
"The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," by Harlan Ellison
"The Summer People," by Shirley Jackson
"The Reach," by Stephen King

I think it would have been nice to have them in date order to really suss out the changes and trends, but with this many stories, it probably made sense to split them out differently. It had to have been quite a job curating all of these stories. Some no longer had copyright, but most did. And I discovered authors I'd heard of, but never really read, who I'd like to read more of.

My Top Ten stands:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. The Collector (John Fowles)

5. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

6. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

7. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

8. Needful Things (Stephen King)

9. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

I'm not sure which book I'll be reviewing next.

Have you read this collection? Are any of these stories familiar to you? Would you read a 1000+ page book of short stories?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: The Collector

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing The Collector, by John Fowles.

This is an excellent book. It's slow and non-violent, purely psychological horror. It's told in multiple parts, with each of the characters well developed, though not necessarily likable. The first part is from the main character's point-of-view. He is an outcast, lonely, but fascinated by a woman. He buys a new place and sets up a soundproof room for her before kidnapping her and locking her in. He wants to experience her, be near her, watch her, but he has no interest in sex.

He has collected her.

The next part is from her POV. We get some insight into her reactions throughout her captivity, which we've previously seen from his POV.

Each of the POVs were distinct from each other. Though the pacing is slow, the story drags you in and pulls you along, mostly by holding the terror over you due to your own expectations and fears. As the reader, you hope for some awareness from the main character, some understanding from him that what he's doing is wrong. A sense of morality or hope. His neutrality and blandness are part of the horror.

This one has finally moved my top ten around:

My Top Ten:  

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. The Collector (John Fowles)

5. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

6. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

7. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

8. Needful Things (Stephen King)

9. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

The next review will be for The Resort, by  Bentley Little. After that, Dark Descent.

Now for some links. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Unlocking the Magic is an anthology seeking fantasy involving characters with mental illness. The focus is on realistic portrayals of the mental illness, not magic born of it. 3000 to 6000 words. Pays $300. Deadline November 1.

The Literary Hatchet is seeking speculative fiction flash, short stories, art, poetry, etc. 500 to 6000 words. Pays $5 to $10. Deadline November 1.

The First Line is seeking fiction and non-fiction essays with the first line, "As she trudged down the alley, Cenessa saw a small..." 300 to 5000 words. Pays $25 to $50. Deadline November 1.

Thema Literary is seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and art with the theme The Critter in the Attic. Up to 20 pages. Pays $10 to $25. Deadline November 1.

Spring Song Press is seeking steampunk short stories for Steam and Lace. 1000 to 10,000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline November 1.

Are any of these links of interest? Have you read The Collector or anything by John Fowles? What did you think? Anything to share? Have you been submitting?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: Shadows

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing Shadows, Edited by Charles L. Grant.

This collection is made of subtle horror, for the most part. There weren't any I hated, but there were some that left feeling pretty neutral. My favorite two stories were both by the same author, and that was Ramsey Campbell. Two others that stood out to me were The Butcher's Thumb, by William Jon Watkins, and Picture, by Robert Bloch.

I really don't have much to say. The type of horror found in this collection isn't really my favorite, so it doesn't stick with me. If you like quieter horror, you'd probably enjoy this collection. It's a strong group of successful horror authors, most of whom I've enjoyed other stories by.

My Top Ten:  

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

The next book I review will be A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick.

Horror List Book Review: Ghost Road Blues

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing Ghost Road Blues, by Jonathan Maberry.

This is the first book in the Pine Deep trilogy. Unfortunately, there's no real resolution of story in the first book, which is frustrating, because it leaves everything hanging. What I like to see in a trilogy or series is a resolution of a significant plot arc at the end of the book, with other plot lines unresolved for the next book(s).

Maberry creates characters you can really like and characters you can really hate. The evilness of the bad guys is significant, with no real redeeming features. This struck me, because I was recently on a panel where a psychologist who had worked in a mental health facility looked out at the audience and said something along the lines of, "I envy those of you who think that bad people are merely evil." They were less scary to me when all these awful people were just pure evil and tied to the main plot. There wasn't a gray area with them.

I liked the character of Crow, our main good guy. And Mike, a kid whose POV we see through. The women are lackluster characters (you can keep telling me Val is a super strong woman, but when she spends most of her time crying, freaking out, and being rescued, you've just disproven that.) Up until she was put under duress, I liked Val. Even after that, I was still rooting for her, but I got frustrated with the character at times. She's smart, she's loyal, she's determined, and she's strong and capable, but when Crow's around, she loses that. She exists to be rescued by men in the story.

Something that bothered me was that the main "monster" is hidden from us in this first book. The supernatural is brought into the story early enough, but the something more being hinted at (we don't know for certain what it is, though a blurb on the next book gave it away--whoops) feels like it's coming in way too late in the storyline. There should have at least been seeds planted earlier.

However, having said all that, Maberry can really paint a scene. I became deeply embroiled in the setting. The pacing is also good, and the setup such that I want to see it all resolved. While this wasn't my favorite book, it drew me in and I didn't hate-read it.

My Top Ten remains the same.

My Top Ten: 

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

The next book I review will be Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin.

Horror List Book Review: Bubba Ho-Tep

I'll be at Denver Comic Con this weekend! If you're attending, stop by and say hello! My panel schedule is as follows:

• 80’s Resurgence in Books and Movies — Friday (6/15/18) from 11:00am - in Keystone City - Mile High Ballroom DCCP4
• Letters Written from Hell - The Horror Writing Process — Friday (6/15/18) from 1:30pm - in Room 405
• How to Write Diversity — Friday (6/15/18) from 2:30pm - in Room 405
• Favorite Horror Tropes — Friday (6/15/18) from 4:00pm - in Coast City - Mile High Ballroom DCCP4
• Creating Believable Monsters — Saturday (6/16/18) from 12:30pm - in Room 405
• Why You Should Have Villains of All Stripes — Saturday (6/16/18) from 4:30pm - in Room 405
• Not Just Novels - Writing Different Lengths — Saturday (6/16/18) from 5:30pm - in Room 405
• First Steps in Self-Publishing — Sunday (6/17/18) from 10:30am - in Room 405
• Black Mirror and the Evils of Technology — Sunday (6/17/18) from 4:30pm - in Room 605

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing Bubba Ho-Tep, by Joe R. Lansdale.

This is actually a novella, not a novel. And it was a lot of fun. I'm sure I could find issues with it if I sat down to analyze plot, etc., but I'd rather not. This was a quick read with an opening line that will tell you whether this is something you want to keep reading or not.

Elvis is in a retirement home, having lost his ability to step back into his life after he had someone else take it over for him before promptly dying on the toilet. Something weird starts scurrying through the halls at night, devouring the souls of his fellow retirees. Turns out it's a mummy, but not your usual sort.

This is a touch raunchy, quick paced, and the characters are distinctive. It's also a cheese-fest. As proof, the movie version starred the delightful, and often cheesy, Bruce Campbell as Elvis. Don't read it for depth and introspection. Read it because it's a ridiculous romp.

Last time I checked, this was available on Amazon for $.99.

I'm tempted to put this in my Top Ten, but I'm leaving it as is, because the books currently there have more substance than this one.

My Top Ten: 

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

The next book will be Johnathon Maberry's Ghost Road Blues.

Have you read this? Seen the movie? What did you think?

May you find your Muse.

*Flourish One, Horizontal Clip Art by OCAL, clker.com

Horror List Book Review: The Drive-In

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm review The Drive-In by Joe R. Lansdale.

When you scroll down, you'll see that Joe R. Lansdale's The Bottoms is one of my top ten so far in this reading challenge. However, I wasn't overly fond of The Drive-In. I went in prepared to love it, as I love his voice. It just didn't do it for me.

From what I can tell, the primary reason I didn't enjoy it all that much was the fact that I didn't care about the characters. It didn't matter to me. The narrator lost me because he goes into shock and zones out during a portion of the story, and everyone goes off their rockers. In fact, the friend that takes care of the narrator during his shock is the closest I come to caring about anyone. He's a good guy, keeps his head, controls the situation where he can, and lets things go if he can't control them. So I guess I cared about one character.

The Drive-In is about a bunch of people stranded at the drive-in after a freaky comet with a face leaves behind a black substance that surrounds the drive-in like some kind of foam filling agent and burns through anyone that tries to go through it. Chaos ensues, anarchy reigns, and things get crazy.

Super crazy. The Popcorn King is the pinnacle of crazy.

At first, I thought this was going to be a Lord of the Flies-style examination, wherein we observe society breaking down when they realize they only have so much food and they're trapped in this dark world for who knows how long. Perhaps that's why what actually happened didn't appeal to me. I like a bizarro, freaky horror piece as much as the next person (okay, probably more), but I wasn't prepared for it in this case. Perhaps this would have been easily solved had I read the description of the story, but since I've agreed to read this entire list and review it, I usually go in without having read what the story is about. Sometimes this works in my favor. Sometimes it doesn't.

Instead of a gradual breakdown, we speed-surf through the initial breakdown and then we screech to a halt and watch the already crazy antics take place. There are supernatural elements. Aspects of this vaguely reminded me of Stephen King's writing, but they didn't quite fit.

My top ten remains the same.

My Top Ten:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

My next book will be either Bubba Ho-Tep, by Joe R. Lansdale, or Ghost Road Blues, by Johnathon Maberry.

Have you read this? How about the rest of the series? Are you a Lansdale fan? What did you think of this one? 

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: The Ignored

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week, I'm reviewing The Ignored, by Bentley Little.

This one gave me a lot of mixed feelings.

I found the idea intriguing, but at times it dragged and felt like the main character was whining endlessly about his own insecurities. And I felt the premise pushed the boundaries too much for me to get behind. Yet I found myself returning to the story each day and having trouble putting the book down, because I wanted to see where Little took it.

The Ignored is about a Bob Jones, a regular schmo. Overlooked by those around us, the only attention he gets is from a boss that seems to have it out for him. He never gets a word in edgewise. No one at work invites him out or talks to him. His job is dull and takes no skill.

His doubts about himself at work extend to his home life, and he starts questioning his significant other's interest in him. Ultimately, he falls in with a crowd of his fellow Ignored, leading to terrorism in an attempt to become visible to society.

Oddly, this story brought to mind the book American Psycho, but combined with Office Space. Instead of discussing the numbness of society and its reliance on consumerism, it addressed feeling lost in life and trying to stand out, plus the generic middle of the road variety of consumerism, where what's readily available is what is pleasing or at least neutral to the average person. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) disappears behind his grandstanding and brand knowledge (and everyone else's dire self-involvement), despite his violent and narcissistic tendencies, whereas Bob Jones just disappears, because he's every-man. He's nothing. He's forgettable. Given, it turns out there are other reasons for how average Bob Jones is and why he's Ignored, but in general he's representing the average guy, lost in a dead end job, invisible to his peers. 

I was unprepared for the fantastical elements that came into play later in this book, so they threw me. Don't let the premise fool you--there is violence and there are weird things that happen. So, while it may sound fairly mundane, it isn't.

The book makes an impact for sure. I imagine I'll keep waffling on how I feel about it for a long time to come. There's no doubt it's skillfully written, though.

My top ten remains the same.

My Top Ten:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

My next review will be of Joe R. Lansdale's The Drive-In.

Now for some links. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing them, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Subprimal is seeking poetry and flash fiction. Pays $20. Deadline June 15.

Independent Legions Publishing is holding a horror novella contest. The winner gets published with a $600 advance. 45,000 to 50,000 words. Deadline June 15.

Lamplight is seeking literary dark fiction. Short stories and flash fiction. Up to 7000 words. Pays $.03/word. Deadline June 15.

Spider Magazine is seeking fiction, poetry, activities, etc. appropriate for ages 6-9 with the theme of Monsters. 300 to 1000 words. Pays up to $.25/word. Deadline June 15.

Have you ever read The Ignored? How about other works by Bentley Little? Do you ever feel ignored/invisible? Are any of these links of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: Invasion

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing Invasion, by Robin Cook.

This was Cook's first foray into science fiction; normally he writes medical thrillers. He writes an open letter about it in the introduction. It shows in the basic layout of the sci-fi/horror elements, but he brings something new to it all with his knowledge of medical topics, which led to some fascinating information throughout.

I was frustrated with how stilted the writing came across at times, especially in the almost complete lack of contractions. Even the character dialogue was done without contractions, which made it come across as wooden. It slowed my reading.

The pacing was a bit slow to start with, though the aliens take their first victim right off. The slower build up seemed legitimate for the most part, though, as the invasion at first seems like an odd flu virus at first, making it so authorities wouldn't listen when people got wise to the fact that those who recovered from the flu virus acted oddly afterward. This did a good job of isolating the characters and making them fight on their own.

Overall, it was an interesting book. The writing might have gotten to me more if he hadn't done a good job with the characters, the conflict, and the medical details. There were times the characters came across a bit cliched, but for the most part they were done well enough to make me root for them and stay interested in the story.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. It seems a bit simple, considering how long the book was. However, sometimes there's a satisfaction in the simplicity of a cure.

My Top Ten remain unchanged:

My Top Ten:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

6. Needful Things (Stephen King)

7. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

8. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

9. 20^th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

My next book review will be of Ghoul, by Brian Keene.

Have you read anything by Robin Cook? Does he use contractions in his other books? If you've read both his medical thrillers and his science fiction, how would you compare the two?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: John Dies at the End

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing John Dies at the End, by David Wong.

This is going to be another brief review, because I actually read the book months ago, forgetting it was on my list, and gave it away at a Halloween book exchange, so I can't even reference it. Whoops!

"John Dies at the End" is an oddball journey with Lovecraftian themes. There are some real creepy moments, but also a lot of humor. This was originally published online, if I'm remembering right, and the spelling and grammar shows it, but the voice of the author is enjoyable enough to ignore that (for the most part). David Wong is not only the author (a pen name), but the main character, and he's relating to you in first person what occurred when he and his friend John got dosed with soy sauce, a drug that does insane things to their brains. Suddenly, they're seeing things in a whole new way, things that others can't.

It's juvenile and raunchy at times, but still funny. It's crazy and random. I figure it's worth a read for the fact that it's different than other books out there, though you won't come away feeling like you've read great literature.

As I've changed my ratings to only keep a Top Ten, nothing has changed this week. My Top Ten are still:

My Top Ten:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

6. Needful Things (Stephen King)

7. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

8. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

9. 20^th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

Not sure what I'm reading next, but I've got a stack, so yay!

Have you read this or seen the movie? What did you think? Will you be reading the sequels?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: Night Visions

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week, I'm making a change. Ranking the books has gotten increasingly harder, and I'm not even sure I'd still rank them the same anymore. Over the course of my reading from this list, I've learned a lot about the different styles of horror. As a lifelong lover of horror, I thought I had it down, but I hadn't been exposed to some of these styles before. Horror covers a lot of ground, and there's quite a bit of horror that isn't acknowledged for what it is, instead being categorized in a secondary genre (for example, a sci-fi horror story being classified as sci-fi, not horror). 

At the beginning of this process, I was opinionated on certain books not being horror, because they didn't follow the "rules" I had for the genre. If I re-read and reviewed them all over again, there would be some changes. To me, that says this whole project has been beneficial to me as a reader, but also as a horror author. It's been a learning process.

Instead, I'll be keeping track of the top ten. For simplicity's sake, the top ten will be novels and collections only, not anthologies. I'll still review the anthologies, but they will not place in the top ten.

Moving on, this week I'm reviewing Night Visions: In the Blood, edited by Alan Ryan. 

This is an unusual anthology, in that there are only three authors, each with several stories. There was a series of Night Visions anthologies done this way, but this was the first one. I'd love to see this formula continued today. It gave a larger taste of authors who were often found in the major anthologies of the day, but just one story at a time. The setup of Night Visions allowed readers to immerse themselves in each author's style, and to discover them in a way a single story didn't allow.

I'm not going to go into individual stories (mostly because I handed the book over to a friend before reviewing, which was a mistake, because I need to be able to thumb through the book and refresh my memory when it's short stories), but I can say my favorite author in the bunch was Charles L. Grant, followed by Steve Rasnic Tem, then Tanith Lee. They're each skilled, but the gothic style of horror Lee writes isn't my favorite, though it's gorgeous. Her stories were beautifully written, but they were slower paced and didn't end up interesting me as much as the others. Grant and Tem both wrote stories that were more straight forward. I think Tem and Grant wrote similarly enough for it to make sense that they were together in this anthology, but that Lee would have been able to shine more if combined with other gothic horror authors. Her style seemed more literary in its focus on the words and the style versus the more straight forward story. I think I would have liked her stories more if they'd been matched up with different authors, rather than at the end of this collection, with me firmly settled in to the previous styles.

Still, I loved the concept of this book, and I intend to check out any others I can acquire. There were some amazing authors collected in this series of anthologies. 

My Top Ten:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

6. Needful Things (Stephen King)

7. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

8. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

9. 20^th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

Next review will be of John Dies at the End.

Now for some links. Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

WolfSinger Publications is seeking short horror stories for the anthology Haunted Hotel. 1000 to 7000 words. Pays $5 plus royalties. Deadline January 15.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for personal stories in the themes Christmas and Holiday Collection, The Empowered Woman, and The Miracle of Love. Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadlines are between January 10 and January 15.

Outlook Springs is seeking fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Pays $10 for poems, $25 for prose. Deadline January 15.

Myriad Paradigm is seeking short speculative fiction for the anthology Mind Candy 2.0. Prefer science fiction and aren't looking for anything too dark. Up to 5000 words. Pays $.06/word. Deadline January 15.

Of Interest: 

If you're looking for recommended word counts per genre, this Writer's Digest article by Chuck Sambuchino: Word Count for Novels and Children's Books: The Definitive Post.

John M. Cusick wrote Ten Cliches That Make Agents Roll Their Eyes.

And for those looking for horror to read, here's 25 Horror Readers on the Most Gut Twisting Book You Could Buy. 

Have you read any of the Night Visions series? Or anything similar? Have you read any of the three authors in this anthology? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

Horror List Book Review: The Girl Next Door

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.) To see the books I've reviewed so far, you can view the list at the end of this post where I rank them.

This week I'm reviewing The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum.

Before picking this one up, I heard repeatedly of people not being able to finish it, because it was so intense and disturbing. For me, that took the shape of not being able to put it down, because I needed to know how it ended for this girl, and there's no way I could walk away from it without knowing. I read it in a 24-hour time frame. The last book I read like that was The Exorcist, years ago, pre-kids, when I had the time to do that.

Inspired by a true story, The Girl Next Door is about a 16-year-old girl held captive and tortured by the woman charged with caring for her. Eventually, that woman's sons and various neighborhood children join in the torture and humiliation. The narrator is a boy living next door who witnesses much of the torture. He battles with transitioning between being fascinated and repulsed, confused about his feelings, defending his best friend (one of the sons), and alternates between putting the girl on a pedestal and loathing her for her helplessness.

The most disturbing part about this story is the utter helplessness and lack of hope. The book is set in the 50s, a time when the police weren't going to step in when a teenage girl said she was being punished a little too forcefully, when mothers believed a girl must be a slut and deserve punishment, when propriety dictated not digging into what your neighbors were doing, when kids were out all day without their parents necessarily knowing where they were or what they were doing.

This was well written, the pacing intense, the characters drawn well enough to engage the reader without questioning their behavior. The narrator is especially well realized. The depravity depicted is grotesque, horrific, and terrifying, because it starts out as a basic indignation that becomes pure, mindless hatred, the evil of jealousy and bitterness sucking down everyone within reach. Events escalate from semi-rational to all out insane and criminal, leaving the reader desperate for a satisfying resolution.

This story will certainly stick with me for a long while.

If you're curious about the real life story, which this loosely follows, look up Sylvia Likens, the name of the girl who was tortured. I wouldn't look it up until after you read the book if you're inclined to do so, though.

My new rankings:

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

6. The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010 (Paula Guran)

7. The Year’s Best Fantasy: First Annual Collection (Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling)

8. Needful Things (Stephen King)

9. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

10. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

11. Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (Ellen Datlow)

12. 20^th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill)

13. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

14. Dark Forces (Kirby McCauly)

15. Swan Song (Robert McCammon)

16. Audrey's Door (Sarah Langan)

17. Dawn (Xenogenesis, Book 1) (Octavia E. Butler)

18. Wet Work (Philip Nutman)

19. The Stranger (Albert Camus)

20. Dead in the Water (Nancy Holder)

21. The Witches (Roald Dahl)

22. Psycho (Robert Bloch)

23. The Damnation Game (Clive Barker)

24. The Wolf's Hour (Robert McCammon)

25. Berserk (Tim Lebbon)

26. Prime Evil (Douglas E. Winter)

27. Best New Horror, Volume 1 (edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell)

28. Flowers in the Attic (V.C. Andrews)

29. The Tomb (F. Paul Wilson)

30. Shadowland (Peter Straub)

31. Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)

32. The Imago Sequence (Laird Barron)

33. My Soul to Keep (Tananarive Due)

34. Penpal (Dathan Auerbach)

36. World War Z (Max Brooks)

36. From the Dust Returned (Ray Bradbury) 

37. The Red Tree (Caitlin R. Kiernan)

38. In Silent Graves (Gary A. Braunbeck)

39. The Cipher (Kathe Koja)

40. Drawing Blood (Poppy Z. Brite)

41. The Doll Who Ate His Mother (Ramsey Campbell) 

42. Hotel Transylvania (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)

43. Naked Lunch (William S. Burroughs)

I've also finished both John Dies at the End and Night Visions, so will be reviewing them over the next month or so.

Have you read this book or seen the movie it was based on? Have you read anything by Jack Ketchum? What did you think? Do you find the human monsters scarier or less scary than the ones with fangs and claws?

May you find your Muse.