At 153 pages, one can get through The Ballad of Black Tom in an afternoon, but the issues that author Victor LaValle raises will stay with you long beyond that. This is a fantasy/horror novella set in 1924 New York City. The main characters are in touch with the mystical realm, but their interests in it will lead to horrors beyond imagination. There will be monsters, and some are of their own making. Though set in the ‘20s, LaValle’s story is a brilliant commentary on […]
So, that happened
This is a weird one. Part personal history, part fantastic anatomy, all strange. I’m giving it four stars because I’ll probably read it again.
I liked it, but I kept wanting to get back to the main story.
Well, I failed at my goal of finishing this series before the movie came out on August 15th*. Perhaps Ashley of past years could have finished the remaining three books in the next thirteen days (as of actually finishing the book), but Present Ashley is certainly not capable of it. *Will not now be seeing movie. Very upset at genius casting of Idris Elba entirely wasted. I was still going to give it a chance until I read they’d made Jake the protagonist and dumbed […]
Spiders…Why did it have to be spiders?
If this was a zombie book, I think I’d end up giving it 4 stars. If this was a zombie book, it would probably be more popular. If this was a zombie book, I’d have already gotten the sequel, Skitter (which came out in May). But this isn’t a zombie book. Which isn’t, of course, to say that this book isn’t fun – it is. Nor is it to say that you shouldn’t read this if you’re into post-apocalyptic horror stories – you should. But […]
An ugly, ugly book
I’ll open this review by saying I have a very low tolerance for books or movies that feature torture. I just don’t want those images in my head. I don’t want to think about the fact that human beings do such depraved and terrible things to other human beings. I don’t want to think about the fact that people’s last hours have been filled with pain and horror initiated by the whims of another person. I don’t even want to think about how an author […]
Oldies But Goodies
The Fantastic and Forgotten, edited by Judika Illes (2016) – Usually when I review anthologies, I summarize individual stories and give an overall judgement, but this anthology is such a unique concept, I must discuss the entire anthology as a whole. First of all, I’d never heard of Weiser Books who published this anthology. They publish occult, esoteric, speculative, and New Age works. This collection, however, publishes stories of forgotten authors from the 1800s, mostly English, and includes such surprising (and not forgotten) authors such […]
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