Postcards from a Dying World

Book Review: The Devil Next Door by Tim Curran

2012-01-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Devil Next Door by Tim Curran
333 pages
Severed Press

In 2005 John Hillcoat directed a Australian western named The Proposition. I went to see this movie in the theater, it's one of those movies that has to be seen on the big screen to work. It is by far the dirtiest movie I have ever seen,and by that I mean dirt - dirt. Flies buzzed on the screen, you could almost feel the sweat and grime. After the movie I felt like I needed a shower. Name any gore movie you like I still consider it to be the most visceral movie I have ever seen.

Now this novel had the same effect on me, don't even consider this book if your mind cannot handle thinking about bucket after bucket of blood,sweat,poop and general slime. There are two kinds of gruesome horror novels ones that use the viscera to season a strong story like Poppy Brite's Exquisite Corpse,Early Clive Barker or John Shirley's Cellars to name a few. The other kind of gore novel just strings together demented acts with a paper thin connection and fails to tell a story or build characters. I am glad to say Devil Next Door is more than just exploitation, well it's still exploitation, but it also tells a story and still has somewhat of moral center.

That is a tough balance to strike when you have a book filled with Murder, rape, cannibalism as Civilization crashes down into wild insanity. It's the story of a man named Louis who is one of only a handful of people in a small fictional Indiana town named Greenlawn. over a long day the people in the town begin to lose their minds, one violent act after another builds until the whole town, and every where beyond turns towards wide spread brutality.

The story is not that original I mean my first thought was Romero's The Crazies, I have heard comparisons to Simon Clark's Blood Crazy(which I have not read yet) but really I enjoyed the story telling enough that I just rode with it. Curran does an excellent job building characters, even the secondary ones pop to life quickly. The thing that creates this madness is interesting and creates a subtle environmental message. Once things starting to hell it gets super,duper bad.

At that point the madness is on, every base lust, desire, or emotion gets free reign. To me the finest and most creepy moment in the novel came when the main characters called 9/11 to get help. Someone answers, but all they hear at first is breathing. It was such a great moment of expressing the terror at losing something we consider a safety net of society. Just Brilliant.

Was it a perfect novel? No, but I now am sold on the author and want to read more of his stuff. There were minor plot holes(nothing I couldn't over look) and I am pretty sure human's stripped of civilization might not act that awful. Then again the true horror of this novel trying to survive in a world where Civilization is torn from us. If it happened like that insanity is just the beginning. Can't miss for fans of end of the world novels or extreme horror.

My Top ten reads of 2011

2011-12-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

I read 73 novels, short story collections or fiction anthologies during this year. As a sometimes reviewer for the website Monster librarian I get free copies of new books. Not all of them are great, but as a perfect reviewing the book I have to finish it. As a writer that is not such a bad thing, you can learn a lot from a book that totally fails. I am also exposed to a lot of books by genre authors as many of them are my friends. That being said I am brutally honest and would not put a book this list if I didn't think it deserved to be there.

I read a lot of books that were new books this year but I decided to rate my favorite reads this year despite when they released instead of last year when I only did books released during the the year. So if the title has a * by it then it means it is a older book.

10.Through Darkest America* By Neal Barrett Jr. (Issac Asimov Presents)
259 pages (Out of Print)

This might be one of the most important works of speculative fiction I have ever read and it's only dumbluck that I read it. The story works as a coming-of-age story, it works as a post apocalyptic epic and most of all it is a gritty tale of the wild west. More than anything it is a slap in the face that explores many issues.

This novel takes place after a devastating war, and in this future a class of humans are bred to be “stock” as food. You see Stock are not human – they are just stock something less than human. It explores issues of speciesm better than any PETA leaflet I have read in a long time.

9.The Five by Robert McCammon Subterranean Press $26.95

The Five is the story of a struggling rock band who the novel is named after. The Five is a thriller, and road novel about rock and roll but it's subtext comes to the surface about 375 pages into the book. At that point the message becomes a little heavy handed, but that doesn't matter one bit. McCammon is so skilled at pacing and characters that you are so invested in the story that you'll realize the subtext was peppered through out.

There is a moment when the message is pushed to the surface. But I liked it. The Five is a novel about the tapestry of Rock and roll, the universe of live music, what it all means. The Five works on many, many levels. It's a masterpiece written by a man who has a few of those.

8.The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro And Chuck Hogan

The second in a Trilogy of Vampire novels finds the vampires wiiining and ending the world as we know it. I knew I would dig this book, I love a great end of the world apocalypse novel, McCammon’s Swan Song is perhaps my favorite and while it’s not as sprawling as Swan Song or as intimate as I am Legend the strikes perfect balance. Not too long, not a lot of wasted fat, the story cooks along at a great pace. The film editing and writing influence GDT brings to the table works really well in this novel.

7. Jim and the Flims By Rudy Rucker 247 pages $24.99
Nightshade books

While Rucker is not thought of as a bizarro author or apart of the bizarro lit scene this is to me me the best bizarro novel I read during the year. This novel is weird, funny and above all smart creative Science Fiction. The story of a surfer slacker scientist who travels to the afterlife to try and find his wife may not sound that original but once Jim gets there it gets super weird.

What we end up with is a novel that is kind of like Matheson's What Dreams May Come' meets Slacker. I can hardly do the novel justice in this review. In Flimsy water flows across the sky, flying intelligent beets, and blue baboons run amok. The characters travel across the land on a cruiser couch that Jim makes with his mind out of a material called Kenessce which all flimsy is made out of. Along the way the book also has has one of the most bizarre sex scenes between Jim and a woman also discovering her astral body. Loved this book.

6. In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley 320 pages
Underland Press

It's no secret John Shirley is my favorite author. The extreme nature is found the unflinching peek into the dark realms of the human condition. Opening this book is like staring through one of the worst peepholes you can imagine. There is no author working in the horror genre today that does a better job of shining light of the horrendous human condition while maintaining a moral center.

5. We Live Inside You By Jeremy Robert Johnson 188 pages
Swallowdown press

We Live Inside You is the long awaited followed to Johnson's amazing first collection Angel Dust Apoclayse. It is dark bizarro horror literature at it's sharpest point, sharpened enough to enter through the temple and worm deep into your brain. JRJ comes from the same scene but doesn't rely on dildo jokes or B-movie tropes like a lot of bizarro writers do. The insane ideas are still there, but it's like crème filling in a fancy donut. At the same time it's hard for me to advise anyone to take a bite of a book written by a guy who keeps a list of parasites above his desk, but this book is a must for lovers of all literiture that is weird and dark.

4. Fathers and Sons: Blackguard (Book one) By Edward R. Morris 242 pages
The Borgo Press

Morris wears his influences on his sleeves like patches sewn on on punk rock leather jacket. What we end up with is an edgy novel that is not quite cyberpunk, military sci-fi, First Contact story or distopia. It is all those things and more. This is the first in a series that blurs the many sub-genres of speculative fiction in to a potent cocktail. A work of high literature that explores characters forced into the chaos of an all to possible future. Like a Portlandia dystopia sci-fi readers here in rip city will enjoy seeing the dark but possible future for our city.

3. Ex-heroes * Permuted Press 274 pages

It would be easy to describe this novel as Watchmen with Zombies but that sounds cheap, it's not. To me Ex-heroes is the best serious zombie novel I have read since the explosion of zombie trendy madness. The suspense beats work and there are true moments of terror in the novel, not an easy thing to pull off when most of your characters are super humans. Clines also manged to disturb me in a scene where a zombie mother drags her living dead infant down a street with a rope tied to her waist. He left that to our imagination, and for me I shuddered at the thought of the dying mother not wanting be separated from her child even in death. Brutal. Excited to read the sequel.

2.Should Have Killed The Kid by R. Frederick Hamilton 300 pages $12.95
Legume Man Books

This book is filled to the brim with very unpleasant situations, but if your a fan of good creepy unsettling horror fiction then that is what you are looking for. Should have killed the Kid is a supernatural Apocalypse thriller which has both Lovecraftian vibe (without direct connection to the mythos) and an extreme horror feel. At first I thought of it as Stephen King's The Mist with A Quentin Tarantino structure, but after the first 100 pages the structure smoothes out into a linear fashion. I always say that great suspense novels feel like climbing a very tall unstable ladder. And that is what I felt like I was doing when I read this novel.

Is it the second best book I read of the year, probably not but I only enjoyed reading one book more this year...

1.Old Man's War* by John Scalzi

Last year while writing my novel Goddamn Killing Machines I swore off reading novels that were in the same military-action Sci-fi Drama. After I finished it author Nick Cato mentioned this novel to me. So I picked up a used copy and started reading it on a flight home to Indiana. I could not put the book down, reading half of it in the air.

The most perfect and solid piece of Military Science Fiction since Handleman's Forever War. This novel is Star ship Troopers meets the Twilight Zone's Kick the can episode. Old Man's War seems to be taking a stab at American exceptionalism.

Once at War the novel goes crazy with fantastic science fiction concepts and ideas. I was pleased the universe was not populated by humanoid standard fill in the blanket human like aliens there is a great gee-whiz factor to this novel but it all works and Scalzi has created a world I am excited about revisiting in the next three books that continue the story. Infact I liked it so much I am saving the sequel for the right time. Sure sign that I loved it.

NFL week 17 picks

2011-12-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

For this week's picture I decided upon a pic of the chargers coaching staff after the Nightmare before Christmas in Detriot.

David 152-84
Larry 160-78

Det @ GB: Lions
Ten @ Hou: Texans
Ind @ Jac: Jags
NYJ @ Mia: Phins
Chi@ Min: Vikings
Buf @ NE: Pats (Brady does not pass Brees)
Car @ NO: Saints
Was @ phi: Eagles
SF @ STL: 49ers
SEA @ AZI: Seahawks
TB @ATL: Falcons
BAL @ CIN: Ravens
Pit @ CLe: Steelers
KC @ DEN: Chiefs
SD @ OAK: Chargers 31-17
DAL @ NYG: Giants

Favorite films of 2011

2011-12-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't see as many movies in 2011 I have have in most years. I also went to see alot of old kungfu movies playing through Grindhouse film fest screenings at the Hollywood theater here in Portland. It's amazing thing to have here and thankfully the dude who runs grind house is bringing lots of movies. I tried to come up with the ten I thought were amazing or had a ton of fun watching my list is here with some trailers and reasons.

1. I Saw the Devil:

So a couple years back Korea unleashed one of the greatest revenge movies of all time by way of Director Park Chan Wook called Oldboy. Funny, brutal and heartbreaking I didn't think Korea would ever top Oldboy. Leave it to director Jee Woon kim (A Tale of Two sisters) to say I can out do that. With the help of the star of Oldboy this film is dark, unrelenting, hard to watch and filled with plot twists that actually work. I have been watching extreme horror and gore drenched films my whole life and this movie made me squirm. It honestly made Oldboy seem like a PG-13 movie. I know it was released in 2010 in Korea, but 2011 here.

Stars: 5 /5
Saw it with:Vince and Magik at the Hollywood theater.

2. Detective Dee and the mystery of the phantom flame

Another made in 2010 released in America in 2011. So Tusi Hark directed or produced probably more than 100 classic Hong Kong films. Since his 2000 action masterpiece Time and Tide has not had good luck with films. Zu warriors was pretty mess, and Black Mask 2 was MSTK worthy. While I enjoyed his film Seven Swords it wasn't until this film that audiences and critics agreed Hark was back. Based on a book in a wildly popular series of chinese detective novels( think Hong Kong's answer to Sherlock Holmes) Andy Lau is fastastic as the title character.But this is Hark making a goth looking cool as hell Wuxia mystery. Right up my alley. I think I might watch this again today, I have the novel it's based on as well. Looking forward to it.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Ordered the DVD import from china, then Fox Tower on the big screen

3. Midnight in Paris

Yeah I know the director is a creep but every five movies or so he makes a gem. The last two I liked were Match Point (maybe his best in 20 years), and the Sweet and Lowdown. Midnight in Paris is a cute movie with a clever time travel theme. Is it Science fiction no, not really but it creates a great atmosphere. Thankfully Owen Wilson didn't go overboard trying to be Woody Allen. Why was it my number three movie. Because it did what movies do best transport you to a different time and place.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinemagic.

4. 13 Assassins

Takashi Miike Is known for making some of the weirdest and most brutal films to ever come from Japan. That is really saying something, I am personally hit or miss with the guy. This remake of a 50 samurai classic is long time coming for Miike who has mad elots of gangster and horror movies but never made a true samurai movie. If you watch this on video you might be tempted to quit after 45 minutes of slow carefully crafted character development. that would be a shame because it builds nicely into what might be the best cinematic battle of all time. That may sound like hyperbole but I stand by it.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Crazy Shawn and Vince at Cinema 21

5. Shame:

I never heard of this movie before we saw it. We went to see Melancholia, but because of a mistake on the Portland movie times website Shame was playing for the first time. It was a long bus ride and the movie sounded interesting so we stayed. What we got a was a powerfully written, directed and acted film. Shame is to sex addiction what Requiem for a Dream was to drugs. If Michel Fassbender doesn't get an oscar nod I'll be shocked.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinema 21

6. Captain America

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I know it makes me a bad radical to love a movie called Captain America but it was awesome. A great near perfect comic book movie that captured the comic and as a near perfect action movie. George Lucas did you see this? Let Joe Johnston make the Bobba Fett movie he has been dying to make.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Opening day at the Loyd Center, who suppsed to go with Magik he couldn't make so I was big enough nerd not to wait and go by myself.

7. True Legend:

Yuen Woo Ping directs more than just the action for the first time in 15 years. I was super excited for this one. It was a shame it didn't get released in 3D here, it looks like it would have been amazing in 3D. The lack of 3D and the weird extra 20 minutes at the end really hurt this movie in my opinion. It was a perfect and over the top amazing Wuxia epic until they tacked on the 20 unneeded minutes at the end. I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars but I still loved seeing it on the big screen.

stars: 3/5
Saw it with: Vince at Fox Tower downtown.

8. Ip Man 2:

Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung fighting on screen is always a good thing, fighting each other even better. Great period kungfu epic about the man who trained Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen just rules what else can you say.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with Vince and Magik Hollywood theater

9. Bridesmaids:

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I love Kristin Wiig, she is funny, smart and doesn't eat animals. So of course I totally love her. I don't understand people who didn't laugh at this movie. maybe I'm biased.

Stars: 3/5
Saw it with Cari at Cinemagic.

10. Legend of the Fist:The return of Chen Zhen

The character made famous by Bruce Lee, Jet Li and already Donnie Yen. thsi film creates great action pieces. It was super fun and worth seeing if your a kungfu, action or Donnie Yen Fan. I had a great time. I saw it for free because Vince and I won Tickets at a Dark Horse comics party by filming a "kungfu move" that involved me beating Vince with my backpack. Even though the movie was free Vince didn't stay for the movie because he missed the first two minutes. He has a a thing about that.

stars: 3/5
Saw with: myself at the Hollywood theater (See above)

The best time I had at the theater this year was the Hunting The Moon Tribe release party at the Hollywood theater. Captain Hyperole AKA the author of Gigantic Death Worm AKA Vince Krammer Superfan created a two horror kungfu and horror movie Trailer part that started with a Sammy Terry introduction! It was the greatest thing ever. Here was the promo we made for the event:

Book Review: Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess

2011-12-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess
280 pages
ECW press

I discovered this novel from watching the film based loosely on the novel. The film Pontypool was released a few years back and quickly gained a rep for being a well written and composed low budget zombie film. When I saw it I thought it was a creative spin on the tired genre, most interesting at it's core was a original concept of the the zombie virus being transferred not by blood or bites but trhough human language. I was interested in novel because it was written by Burgess who also wrote the screen, and during the commentary track he said the novel had a larger scope.

Probably due to it's thin budget the movie takes place at a small radio station in Ontario, and focuses on the main character an aging former shock jock named Grant Mazzy. Mazzy keeping his career alive by doing weather reports on backwater radio. The film gets a lot of of it's rich tones by Stephen McHattie's performance as Mazzy. Since the setting is confined mostly to the station the actors have to carry a lot of the story. It's a character driven horror film, that manages to transcend it's budget like a lot of great low budget horror films.

So I was excited by the idea of reading the book. This is a rare case where I think the movie is a lot better than the source material. They are very, very different stories and while they share Grant Mazzy as a main character and plot device the novel lacks the vivid strength of character which drove the film.

Burgess is an excellent word smith, I can honestly say it's some of the smoothest and interesting prose I have read in a long time. That being said writing pretty paragraphs and telling a good story are two totally different things. I spent a lot of my time reading this novel confused, and according to some of the online reviews I was wasn't alone.

I don't mind being confused if the story is exciting and it's important that the confusion is paid off with answers. There are some intense and powerful moments in this book that's why I kept reading even though I was often frustrated and confused by the lack of clear narrative. Since the zombie outbreak is transferred through the language there are some very well composed moments of suspense that happen inside the mind of the infected. I also enjoyed the moments where some characters tried hard not speak at all.

This novel is clever, perhaps a bit to clever for it's own good. Could the novel itself spiral into maddess of disrupted language like the victims in the story. Maybe, but I didn't really see that either. It's an interesting experiment, one I don't think worked. I'll admit many I didn't get it, but I am a pretty savy reader, who has personally played with experimental narratives, so if I don't get it then it is a good chance most readers will be lost.

So here is the hard part for me, I respect the well written inventive prose but can't make much sense of the story. This made the book a slog, and I can't say I enjoyed much of it. The movie expressed the idea in a more clearly, and succeeded as a story.

NFL picks week 16

2011-12-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Larry 148-74
David 144-77

11-5 for both of us last week.

David's picks:
HOU @ IND: Colts
DEN @ BUF: Broncos
MIA @ NE : Pats
CLE @ BAL: Ravens
JAC @ TEN : Titans
OAK @ KC : Chiefs
NYG @ NYJ: Giants
MIN @ WAS: Redskins
TB @ CAR : Panthers
ARI @ CIN: Cards
STL @ PIT: Steelers
SD @ DET : Bolts 31-24
PHI @ DAL : Cowboys
SF @ SEA: Seahawks (upset special)
CHI @ GB : Green Bay
Atl @ NO: Saints

Larry's picks:

HOU @ IND (W)
DEN @ BUF (W)
MIA @ NE (W)
CLE @ BAL (W)
JAC @ TEN (W)
OAK @ KC (W)
NYG (W) @ NYJ
MIN @ WAS (W)
TB @ CAR (W)
ARI (W) @ CIN
STL @ PIT (W)
SD (W) @ DET 41-20
PHI @ DAL (W)
SF (W) @ SEA
CHI @ GB (W)

Book Review: The Gods Themselves by Issac Asimov

2011-12-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Gods Themselves By Issac Asimov
Classic printed in several editions

So I named my cat Asimov. I consider Asimov's Lucky Starr novels as the books that got me excited about writing and story telling, and Azzy just sounded like a robot when she walked in our back door. I have a soft spot in my heart for the man that almost published a book in every part of the Dewey decimal system. Besides being the geek's geek Asimov was also a committed environmentalist before he died in 1992 having written a non-fiction book on the topic ( of course he did) called "Our Angry Earth."

Being a militant environmentalist and Asimov fan it's strange that I have not read his Hugo and Nebula award winning environmental novel (released in 1972) The Gods Themselves. I thought I had read it before but I had confused it with Nemesis one of the last novels the grandmaster of Science Fiction wrote.

I enjoyed this novel, but this is a hard science novel that is for serious Sci-fi or environmental nerds. I can't tell you this is must read, but it presents interesting ideas. Is it worth the time you'll put into the book. Not sure.

The story is split into three separate novellas. Each could stand alone, but they are not really meant to. So read them together if you plan to. The first Novel is about a scientist who accidentally creates an unlimited power source, eventually one of his rivals discovers that the energy comes from a transfer between our universe and a alternate dimension. The trick is you'll have unlimited power but it's a good chance you will cause the death of the sun. Kinda important to life on earth. Opps.

The second novella is about that alternative universe. This part is really interesting, instead of just adding a beard and diabolical plans to the people of this para-universe Asimov goes super bizarro. The society of this universe and the people in it are not human in the least. Society is divided into three units and their families are super different from ours. Part of it is some of the people are not physically solid in the world. You see there are hard ones, and the soft ones who can travel threw matters. The third unit are emotionals which is only really important in my eyes to how the characters and the fictional society operate and effects the plot less.

This second part is a reaction to Asimov's early 70's critics who called him a prude so there is tons of of para-dimension sex just because. The important point to the story is how these very different people react to the impending doom created by the energy transfer.

Both of the first parts end with Twilight zone-ish twists that lead directly into the next part so the third kinda ends with a dud. It comes back to the future on a moon base in our future. I can't really talk about it without spoiler. So stop reading if you plan on reading this novel. The end is a ho-hum anti-climatic solution to the crisis created by the energy transfer. When I say it's ho-hum I when it is not the twist of the first to parts but it is thought provoking. Because in order to off set the problems created by the energy transfer the scientists effectually create another big bang, perhaps they have started a new universe. They don't really know, but maybe they did.

I think Asimov was trying to say the answer to environmental problems can be found in science, that we need to look for creative solutions. Life comes from life, and there is a universe of possibilities.

Book Review: The Eye of Infinity by David Conyers

2011-12-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Eye of Infinity
by David Conyers, Mike Dubisch (Cover Illustrator), Nickolas Gucker
(Illustrator), Cody Goodfellow (Introduction)
84 pages perilous Press

Probably my favorite thing about this thin little novella is that David Coyners while firmly writing in the Lovecraftian mythos is not trying to write like Lovecraft or setting this novel in 1930's Rhode Island. This modern take is the kind of mythos I enjoy. Probably the thing I liked the least about the book was how short it was. There are some serious major cosmic themes going on and all we get is 84 pages? I could taken another 150 at least.

I am not asking the guy to over write, and certainly this book is well written. The art and the general presentation is well done and looks cool. I am glad I bought this book. That being said it reminded me of my reaction to Quintin T.'s Inglorious Basterds. I loved that movie, but really only got twenty minutes of the WW II men on a mission movie that was sold to me in the director's interviews.

In Cody Goodfellow's introduction we are promised a James Bond meets mythos like spy vs. soggoth Lovecraftian show down. The books delivers in lots of ways. I was little bummed because there is a format to a Bond story, and I was looking forward to seeing that format/formula set against a cosmic horror back drop.

Right now alot of you are probably glad the author didn't take the path I'm talking about, this is a better less predictable story because of that. I think I might have enjoyed a traditional more predictable by the numbers spy thriller poltline, but that doesn't mean it would have been better.

None the less this is a short, but jam packed title that left me wanting more. That is a sign of a good read. Cool book, I am first in line and excited for the further adventures.

NFL Week 15 Picks!!!

2011-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

On the season:
Larry: 137-69
David: 133-72

David's Picks:

Jac@ ATL: Falcons
Dal @TB: Cowboys
Cin @ STL: Bengals
Car@Hou: Panthers
Sea@ bears: Seahawks
Was@ NYG: Giants
Ten@ Ind: Titans
Miami @ Buf: Bills
NO@ Min: Saints
GB @ KC: Packers
Det@Oak: Lions
CLE@ ARI: Cards
NE @ Den: Pats
NYJ @ Phi: Jets
Bal@ SD : Bolts 28-24
Pit @ 49ers: 49ers

Larry's picks:
JAC @ ATL (W)
DAL (W) @ TB
CIN (W) @ STL
CAR @ HOU (W)
SEA (W) @ CHI
WAS @ NYG (W)
TEN (W) @ IND
MIA (W) @ BUF
NO (W) @ MIN
GB (W) @ KC
DET (W) @ OAK
CLE @ ARI (W)
NE (W) @ DEN
NYJ @ PHI (W)
BAL @ SD (W) 24-34
PIT @ SF (W)

NFL Week 14 picks!

2011-12-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Larry 125-65
David 121- 68

David picks:

Browns @ steelers: Steelers
TB @ Jac: Bucs
KC @ NYJ: Jets
Hou@Cin: Bengals
NE @was: Pats
ATL@ Car: Falcons
Phi@ Miami: Dolphins
No @ Ten: Saints in close one.
IND @ BAL: Ravens
Min @ Detriot: Lions
Chi @ Denver: Broncos
SF @ ARZ: 49ers
Buf @ SD: 35-14 (100 yards for Mathews, another Weddle pick)
OAK @ GB: Pack
NYG @ DAL: Giants
STL. @ Sea: Seahawks

Larry's picks:

CLE @ PIT (W)

TB (W) @ JAC
KC @ NYJ (W)
HOU @ CIN (W)
NE (W) @ WAS
ATL (W) @ CAR
PHI @ MIA (W)
NO (W) @ TEN
IND @ BAL (W)
MIN @ DET (W)
CHI @ DEN (W)
SF (W) @ ARI
BUF @ SD (W) 38-13
OAK @ GB (W)
NYG (W) @ DAL
STL @ SEA (W)

Book Review: We Live Inside You by Jeremy R. Johnson

2011-12-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

We Live Inside You By Jeremy Robert Johnson
188 pages
Swallowdown press

Thanks to an insanely cool book cover and equally intriguing title
Jeremy Robert Johnson's book "Angeldust Apocalypse" became a cult hit.
The blurb from Fight Club scribe Chuck Palahniuk calling him a dazzling writer didn't hurt either. Perhaps the best marketing accident came when very few people who bought it realized that it was short story collection and not a novel. Ok, that might not have been an accident because the reality is collections never sell close to the units that novels do.

That's OK because once people ripped open the package from amazon they were treated with one of the most insane over the top dark bizarro collections all time. If you have not yet read that collection I'll give you hint you'll want both these books up on your shelf keeping each other company.

Johnson is the Bram Stoker award nominated co-author (With artist Alan
Clark) of the amazingly dark illustrated anti-drug novel Siren Promised. He is also know for having written a short story about a dude that makes a suit of cockroaches to survive a nuclear war which was spun off into a separate novella called Extinction Journals. After a hypernation period where Johnson hung out with his human spawn and complied a list of germs and parasites Many of us wondered if JRJ would write again.

He came out of hiding first to publish a collection and novel by bizarro horror berserker Cody Goodfellow and rumors of a new collection by Johnson himself were rumored. I saw a few of the stories here and there in magazines like Dark Discoveries and Cemetery Dance but it was not until I had We live Inside you in my hands that I was totally sure.

I am so glad he did. Angeldust was a strong collection but the growth in the writing between the first and his second collection is like a out of control virus. The best horror writers chase their fears and in this collection Johnson rolls around in his worst fears. It is no surprise that Johnson has a list parasites and viruses on his
wall. If I have sold you and are worried about spoilers, click off this page go to Amazon and buy it.

The collection is separated into to two sections, the second being short pieces Johnson wrote with co-authors and a extended version of a story that appeared earlier. It's funny two of my favorite pieces are one page flash fiction type stories that pack amazing punch into bare number of words used. My favorite being “Cortical Reorganization,” which was a super powerful one and half pager about a spare changer. Other favorites include a dark Sci-fi piece called “The Oarsmen,” a Portland crime piece called “Persistence hunting,” but my favorite is a horrific tale I first read in Cemetery Dance magazine called “ A flood of Harriers.”

Flood of harriers, created a stir when it was first published, despite being semi-autobiographical and based on real events Johnson was accused of being borderline racist. Frankly I laugh at that, the story which happens to include a a few native American thugs is far from racist, and leads me to believe the people who were upset didn't read the entire fantastic story. It is my favorite in the collection because it starts off as a realistic and effective suspense tale before shifting seamlessly into a surreal body horror Karmic revenge direction. Well done.

We Live Inside you is dark bizarro horror literature at it's sharpest point, sharpened enough enter through the temple and worm deep into your brain. JRJ comes from the same scene but doesn't rely on dildo jokes or B-movie tropes like a lot of bizarro writers do. The insane ideas are still there, but it's like crème filling in a fancy donut. At the same time it's hard for me to advise anyone to take a bite of a book written by a guy who keeps a list of parasites above his desk, but this book is a must for lovers of all literiture that is weird and dark.

NFL week 13 picks!

2011-12-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Larry 113-61
David 112-62

Celebrating the last 5 Norv games in SD!

Larry's Picks:
PHI @ SEA (W)
NYJ (W)@ WAS
KC @ CHI (W)
TEN (W)@ BUF
CIN @ PIT (W)
ATL (W)@ HOU
DEN (W) @ MIN
CAR @ TB (W)
IND @ NE (W)
OAK (W)@ MIA
BAL (W) @ CLE
GB (W) @ NYG
STL @ SF (W)
DAL (W) @ ARI
DET @ NO (W)
SD (W) @ JAC 27-17

David's picks:
> Eagles @ Seahawks: Seahawks (in close one)
> Titans @ Bills: Bills
> Chiefs@ Bears: Bears
> Falcons @ Texans: Falcons
> Raiders @ Dolphins: Dolphins
> Broncos @ Vikings: Vikings
> Colts @ Patriots: pats
> Bengals @ steelers:steel
> Panthers @ bucs: Bucs
> Jets @ Redskins: Jets
> Ravens @ Browns: Ravens
> Cowboys @ Cards: Cowboys
> Packers @ Giants: packers
> Rams@ 49ers: niners
> Lions @ saints: Saints
> Chargers @ Jags: Chargers 28-17

Book Review: Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley

2011-11-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

BioShock: Rapture by John Shirley
430 pages
Tor

If you have followed my blog at all you might have picked up on the fact that my favorite author is cyberpunk legend John Shirley. I am not a fan of the video game, infact I really never ever play modern video games. Infact the first time I ever heard of Bioshock was when Shirley let the cat out of the bag on this project. I really wanted to look at this as an original Shirley piece. It's not that at all, the characters and setting are not really in a Shirley vibe. That is not to say that he wasn't the perfect choice for this book because he really was the best possible author to write this novel.

Rapture is the name of the underwater city that is the haunted house type setting of the the video game. This novel is the prequel that tells the story of how the dream of hyper-capitalist right wing tycoon Andrew Ryan rose and fell. Considering the political upheaval in the story I see why Take-Two thought John Shirley was the person to write this.

Andrew Ryan saw Rapture as the libertarian dream, a nation under the seas hidden from nuclear war(this was in shadow of WWII and the coming cold war) and a chance for the free market to reign. This is the theme of Shirley's upcoming novel “Everything is Broken.” So Shirley does a great job of exploring the challenges that the “free” market of hyper-capitalism would go through in such a packed intense environment.

As someone who never played the video game those are the most interesting parts, not to mention the variety of characters that Shirley had to create to populate this world. The character who becomes the major point of view is the city's plumber (turned bar owner) Bill Mcdonagh who Ryan trusts long after Bill has lost his faith. By that point such a spirit of fear and mistrust has over taken the city.

The weak point for me, probably wont bother anyone who plays the video game. Once the genetically engineered worms that give people super powers showed up I realized Shirley was having fun setting the stage for a video game. I am sure that back story will be fun for anyone who has spent hours playing the game. To me it seemed left field, but like I said I never played the video game.

It seems that Bioshock:Rapture will deepen the understanding and texture of the world created by the video game. That game is considered by many to be one of the smartest out there and the creators of the game found the right author and I think they have done the fans of the game a favor. If your not a fan of the game already I suggest sticking to John Shirley's original cyberpunk like City come a walking or Black Glass.

Judge one of my favorite bands ever!

2011-11-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

Favorite touchdown of the year so far.

2011-11-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

Week 12 NFL Picks!

2011-11-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

Larry 103-55
David 100-58

Week 12 picks:

GB @ Det: Pack
Miami @ DAL: Cowboys
SF @ Bal: Ravens
Min@ ATL: Falcons
Cle @ Cin: Bengals
Car @ Indy: Panthers (I thought about it, because Indy had a bye)
Hou @ Jac: Texans
Buf@ NYJ: Jets
ARI @ STL: Cards (what an awful game)
TB @ Tenn: Bucs
Chi@ Oak: Bears
Was @ Sea: Seahawks (tough one)
NE @ Phi: Pats
Den @ SD: Chargers 36 -21 (big lead quick Tebow rallies more than he should)
Pit @ KC: Steelers
NYG @ NO: Saints

Larry's picks?

Count Agranoff's Holiday Capitalism lite shopping guide

2011-11-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

The worst part of the holiday season is the hyper-capitalism of Christmas. Personally I do give or receive gifts during the holidays, but over the last two years something weird happened. I have had books for sale, and honestly I really need people to think of my books (Vegan Revolution...With Zombies and Hunting The Moon Tribe by the
way) as gifts. So I started to think that while I want to promote these items are gifts I wanted to promote other products, stores and organizations that deserve our support.

Holiday capitalism sucks, but their are ways to get gifts more ethically. Non-profits, independent artists,Writers DIY musicians, and local vegan restaurants. It is all based on my opinions and taste but
I hope you find some ideas. I tried to focus on stuff you can do from anywhere online, but I admit this is focused on places in my own country not England and Europe.

Non-Profits: How about a shirt from a local or national farm sanctuary? How about a Sea Shepard Tote-bag? Merch from a non-profit is double gift because it supports the organization is a cool gift.
How about a donation. I would suggest out to pasture Sanctuary here in Portland or Peaceful Prairie in Colorado.

Gift card to a Vegan Restaurant: One the the best tools for vegan outreach( and helping animals) is a great 100% vegan restaurant. Here in Portland we have several that you can get gift cards for. Here in
town I suggest gift cards from Blosoming Lotus, Portabello, Red and Black cafe or Sip Juice cart. Sip is great because they sell amazing healthy green smoothies, they are health game changers so I think that is great gift. But if they hold on to it until summer if you don't want healthy because you can get a vegan milkshake at Sip.

Not in Portland? Try the Loving Hut who has locations in 15 states, or chains like Native Foods and Veggie Grill are growing. You can also use Happycow.net (Worldwide guide to veg- friendly eateries) to look up local restaurants in your area.

DIY Music labels: I'm talking real DIY as in one person doing the label our of they home. I am a Straight Edge hardcore kid so my only example is Kurt and Catalyst records, a label coming up on it's 20th anniversary. Don't like straight edge hardcore? That's ok Kurt makes really cool Meat is Murder shirts, Veganism is Compassion shirts. You can do a gift card if you have a friend who likes Catalyst stuff.
www.xcatalystx.com

Cool stores and Vegan stores:
I want to highlight a couple cool stores who have really cool gifts or would be a great place to get gift certificates.

Food Fight: Portland's only entirely vegan grocery store is an amazing place. Run by activists this store collects all kinds of vegan odds and ends under one roof. From rare cheeses to candy bars, cool T-shirts and tote bags to Animal Rights books. We often get online and send friends and family care packages. (Yes this is the real store I wrote about in Vegan Revolution...With Zombies – it's real)
www.foodfightgrocery.com

Herbivore clothing: Portland based(also in the vegan mini-mall) celebrates cruelty-free culture and fashion with all vegan belts, wallets, clothing, and accessories as well as the biggest collection of vegan cookbooks I've ever seen. Check out their shirts buy one for somebody you love. If you really love them get a hoodie.
www.herbivoreclothing.com

Dark Delicacies :So for horror nerds I have a big treat for you. My favorite bookstore in the world is in LA. Dark Delicacies is the horror nerds paradise, the best selection of new and used horror fiction on the planet. They host signings all the time so you can also bet a number of the books are signed. They also sell horror shirts, posters, movies and much, much more. Come to think of it getting me a gift card to Dark Del is great idea. Really great.
www.darkdel.com

Authors you should support. Buy these authors with your gift cards after the holidays or buy them for friends who like this type of thing. I'm a horror and bizarro fiction fan so I have listed some authors who are some of my favorites. Check them out! I also listed some other favorites. The quotes are from reviews on my blog. Now some of these authors are hard to find besides ordering on Amazon. I understand why supporting amazon is hard for some. If you feel that way write down the info of the book including the ISBN and your local bookstore should be able to order the books. Just realize that amazon pays out well to the independent artists. Amazon has also leveled the playing field making a situation where odd books (like say The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies could exist). So don't totally hate on Amazon.

Lisa Morton- three time Bram Stoker winning author and one of my favorite short story authors. On her first novel The Castle of Los Angles: "Lisa Morton takes a familiar riff, tuned slightly to her
pitch and the result is a near perfect traditional horror novel."

Jeremy C. Shipp - (A vegan author) On his novel Cursed: "A first rate surrealist who is assured enough in his craft to throw out the rules completely. It takes amazing skill to weave a horror tale the way he has without the benefit of a standard structure. Disturbing and funny all at the same time, this is a first rate piece of bizarro as literature."

Cody Goodfellow - When in a short lived and entertaining writers group together in San Diego, but he has become one of my favorite authors. about his short story collection I said "More than Lovecraft on acid, this is Lovecraft after a smack bender in Tijuana, one where he wakes up handcuffed to bed and covered in someone else's blood. Goodfellow's fiction has the otherworldly-ness of Lovecraft, the sarcasm of Joe R. Lansdale, the mojo of a Motley Crue tell-all and best of all it's wrapped together with prose that would satisfy fans of high literature in horror.”

Gina Ranalli - She is vegan feminist horror and bizarro writer. Her range is crazy from dystopia satire (Motherpuncher), Wall of Kiss (absurdist humor) to straight horror. on her masterpiece House of
Fallen Trees. "HOFT shows mastery of pace and deep knowledge of genre that Gina has never had chance to show off in her many bizarro books. A Creepy story with strong characters and a little early
Stephen King influence."

Forrest Armstrong - on His novel Deadheart Shelters: "A surreal novel filled with poetic prose that is disturbing and beautiful all at once. This story of an escaped slave is like a journey on a spiral staircase
into another world, Armstrong creates a surreal landscape that is vivid, and the prose itself has to be savored like fine chocolate that slowly melts in your mouth."

Edward R. Morris- Ed is one of the most genius weird fiction spinners currently spinning. I am in a local writers group with him, and we hope to write a novel together someday soon. On the first book of his Blackguard series (Fathers and Sons):"Morris is a gifted writer that never wastes a word. This brilliant work blurs the many sub-genres of speculative fiction in to a potent cocktail. A work of high literature that explores characters forced into the chaos of an all to possible future. A punk touch on a gritty style makes this novel a MUST-read. Portlanders take note this novel is very much about the rose city."

Isa Chandra Moskowitz- Giving a vegan cook book can encourage people to experiment, and easy has some of the best around. She is also opening a vegan restaurant in Nebraska. Her site www.theppk.com

Other great small press authors I enjoy include(sorry if I missed alot of you awesome authors)

Horror: Greg Gifune (Lord of Chaos),Bryon Morrigan (The Desert),David J. Bell (the Condemned),James Chambers (Resurrection House), Robert Devereaux (Slaughterhouse high),Peter Clines (Ex-Heroes), Garret Cook (Archelon Ranch), R.Fredrick Hamilton (Should Have Killed the Kid), James Newman (Midnight Rain), and Jason Brock(Bleeding Edge Anthology)

Bizarro: Carlton Mellick( The Faggiest Vampire), Cameron Piecre (Lost in Cat Brain Land), Mykle Hansen (Help a Bear is Eating Me), D.Harlan Wilson (Dr. Idenity), Bradley Sands (Rico Slade will fucking Kill You), Duncan Barlow (Supercell Anemia), Jeff Burk (Shatnerquake),
Douglas Lain (Fall Into Time), and Jordan Krall (Fistful of Feet),

Independent Press: and last is a list of a few of my favorite small, independent and DIY publishers.

Kurodahan Press: A Japanese press that does English language translations of Science Fiction and horror from Japan.
Swallowdown: Portland based DIY Horror Lit, Bizarro crime fiction.
Eraserhead: My publisher - totally DIY punk Lit, weird bizarro fiction, with Sci-fi (Forbidden Planet), YA (Spunk Goblin) and Horror Sub (Deadite) imprints.
Raw Dog Screaming: High class bizarro lit publisher.
Dark Regions: Great indie horror publisher.

Ok sounds good huh. Buy some cool stuff.

Book Review: Ex-heroes by Peter Clines

2011-11-18T09:21:00.001-08:00

Ex-heroes
permuted press
274 pages

It helps that I read a novel right before this one that I could not stand, but either way Ex-heroes is one of the best novels I read this year so far. It would be easy to describe this novel as Watchmen with Zombies but that is cheap. To me Ex-heroes is the best serious zombie novel I have read since the explosion of Zombie trendy madness. I know I wrote a Zombie novel myself, but if you noticed it was a satire and most of the modern novels make my eyes roll just in concept alone. The reality is that the concept of this novel probably would have caused the same knee-jerk reaction from me if I had not had this book recommended to me by someone I trust.

It would be easy to look at Clines Bio and think that the author was thinking of Hollywood pitch session when he came up with the story. "It's superheroes with zombies," while not a ground breaking concept (see Marvel Zombies), and sure it sounds like a cheesy Hollywood pitch but it doesn't matter. Why? For starters this story is so well told nothing else matters. Clines organized the plot and told the narrative so well that the novel crackles with story telling intensity. Clines told the shit out of this story.

The Story is set in post zombie Apocalypse LA, where a group of former super heroes help a group of survivors live on inside the walls of a Hollywood studio complex. Instead of zombies the walking dead are referred to as Ex's, as in ex-human. Secret identities lose meaning, and the struggle that is life after the end of the world takes a turn for the worst. Could it be that ex's are getting smarter or is their a super villian out there ready to fight the heroes.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion set up in “Then” and “Now” structure. The now chapters are told in third person and the flashbacks revolve between separate first person narratives. In the hands of weaker authors the first person narratives switching voices would not work, but they are perfectly placed in the story so they make sense. Depending on what the story needs the flashbacks either explain previous chapters or set up the chapters ahead in the story. This is all done with a drummer's perfect rhythm.

This is a strong novel so what could possibly make it stronger? “Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, vigilantes, crusaders for justice, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.” The characters are original and interesting superheroes, which considering how many have been done in the last century is saying something. They are also rich and written with emotional depth.

The suspense beats work will and there are true moments of terror in the novel, not an easy thing to pull off when most of your characters are super humans. Clines also manged to disturb me in a scene where a zombie mother drags her living dead infant down a street with a rope tied to her waist. He left to our imagination, and for me I shuddered at the thought of the dying mother not wanting be separated from her child even in death. Brutal.

I could nit-pick some of the dated humor that comes with cheap jokes about celebrity zombies, but really I laughed most of the time. This really is a near perfect genre mash-up novel. Everybody who knows me, knows I am hard sell as this is a genre I have mocked in my own novel. I am excited for the sequel, and intend to follow the author in the future.

This novel needs to be a movie. Paramount or Warner bros should be in octagon fighting for this one.

Week 11 NFL picks:

2011-11-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

Larry's Picks:
NYJ (W) @ DEN
CAR @ DET (W)
JAC @ CLE (W)
TB @ GB (W)
DAL (W) @ WAS
BUF (W) @ MIA
OAK (W) @ MIN
CIN @ BAL (W)
SEA (W)@ STL
ARI @ SF (W)
TEN @ ATL (W)
SD (W) @ CHI 26-23
PHI @ NYG (W)
KC @ NE (W)

David's picks:

NYJ @ Den : Jets
Car @ Det: Lions
Jac @ Cle: Jags
TB@ GB: pack
DAL @ WAS: Cowboys
Buf @ Mia: Bills
Cin @ BAL : Ravens
Sea @ STL: Seahawks
ARZ @ SF : niners
TEN @ ATL:
SD @ CHI: Chargers 31-28
PHI @ NYG: Giants
KC @ NE : Pats

Season score: Larry 93-51, David 91-53

NFL Week 10 picks!

2011-11-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

Week nine:

David 6-8 (80-48)
Larry 10-4 (87-41)

Week Ten:

Ray-turds @ Chargers: Yeah I picked the bolts. Whatever.
Saints @ Falcons: Saints
Titans @ Panthers: Panthers
Steelers @Bungals: Pit
Rams @ Browns: Rams
Bills@ Cowboys:Cowboys (I don't feel good about it)
Jags @ Colts: Jags
Broncos @ chiefs: Chiefs
Redskins @ Dolphins: Phins
Cards @eagles: Eagles
Texans @ Bucs: Texans
Ravens @ Seahawks: Ravens
Lions @ bears: Bears
Giants @ 49ers: 49ers
Pats @ Jets: Pats
Vikings @ pack: Pack

Book Review: That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley

2011-11-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

That Which Should Not be by Brett J. Talley
259 pages
Journal Stone

There must be something wrong with me because I really did not like this book. Apparently a lot of other people disagree with me. so keep this in mind when you read my review. This book has forty-eight almost perfect reviews on Goodreads.com and over two dozen on amazon. I hate to say this because I love to support new authors and certainly I can imagine the hard work Talley put into this book. I have to be honest...I really didn't like this book. Worse I struggled, I mean struggled to follow it or get to the last pages.

It is the story set at Lovecraft's fictional university Misatonic and is told by four revolving characters. So one of the main characters is Carter Weston, he is asked to search a nearby village for a book called the Earth, Incendium Maleficarum, (The Inferno of the Witch). Along the journey he is exposed to several myths and legends that relate to the book.

I should point out that I am not ethically opposed to the use of Lovecraft's mythos by modern authors, and I also have read and enjoyed plenty of period horror by Lovecraft, Smith and Blackwood. So it's not that I don't get it. Talley has been praised for perfectly grasping and using the period voice and and writing in that style. That is the root of the problem for me, and I admit when it's a first time author it will cause my eyes to roll more than ever. People complain about vampires and werewolves becoming derivative and they are, but come on it's the 21st century and writing like you are Howard Phillips Lovecraft at his typewriter and using his characters to me is every bit if not more derivative.

The best mythos stories I have read in the last few years comes from authors like Cody Goodfellow and Michael Shea who explore the themes and ideas of Lovecraft in their own unique voice. Not to say that writing in Lovecraft's voice never works - I enjoyed Edward Lee's mythos novel "The Innswich Horror" and he was clearly doing the same thing as this novel. Talley a talented guy Probably even captured the period voice more effectively than the long time pro Ed Lee, the difference is when Ed Lee doesn't I know he can write a novel without cloning the voice of a long dead master.

Doesn't matter in the end I just didn't think it was a well done narrative. The novel really is a series of stories that breaks one of the writers most often repeated mantras "show, don't tell." Well this novel is all told, and a first person narrative told by several different people telling stories with in stories gets confusing to me. A great first person narrative is told in a voice so strong it can carry you through the whole thing. I was constantly lost on who was telling the story at any given time.

For me this experiment might have worked better in third-person. If you didn't want to lose the story telling aspect of the piece, it could have still been done in dialogue.

Maybe I'm totally wrong about this book, others seem to like it. for that reason it should be considered for library collections. If you can't get enough of stories from that period, then this is the book for you. If your ready to see the mythos evolve into the 21st century this is not the book to do it. Talley is talented and did enough in this book if he ever releases a book written in his own voice I will pick it up.

NFL Week nine picks

2011-11-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

David 74-40
Larry 77-37

David's picks:
Dolphins @ Chiefs: Chiefs
Sehawks @ Dallas : Cowboys
Bucs @ Saints: Saints
Niners @ Redskins: 49ers
NYJets @ Bills: Bills
Browns @ Houston: Texans
Falcons @ Colts: Falcons
Cincy @ Ten: Bengals
Broncos @ raiders: Raiders (only because of Tebow)
NYG@ Pats: PAtriots
Packers @ Chargers:Chargers (31-28)
Rams @ cards: Rams
Ravens @ Steelers: Steelers
Bears@ Eagles: Eagles

Larry's picks:
MIA @ KC (W)
SEA @ DAL (W)
TB @ NO (W)
SF (W) @ WAS
NYJ @ BUF (W)
CLE @ HOU (W)
ATL (W) @ IND
CIN (W) @ TEN
DEN @ OAK (W)
NYG (W) @ NE
GB @ SD (W) 31-40
STL @ ARI (W)
BAL (W) @ PIT
CHI (W) @ PHI

Book Review: Heaven's Shadow by David Goyer and Michael Cassutt

2011-10-29T10:46:00.001-07:00

Heaven's Shadow By David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt
398 pages
Ace Hardcover

The Big Dumb Object sub-genre of Science fiction was the cornerstone of Arthur C. Clarke's fiction(although his best novel Songs of Distant Earth was not in it). He was the master because he was a great storyteller who was not afraid to tell a story with a mystical mystery component but he also knew science. I think it takes some serious nads to get in this ring and try to tell this kind of story in a novel form. The science and details are far more forgiving in a film so I was surprised when two writers known more for film and TV set out to do it.

Goyer is known as a Screenwriter (Blade, batman begins) and director (The Unborn,Blade 3) and his Partner Cassutt (Twilight Zone) had developed the story as a film treatment. I don't work for NASA or know a lot about that world so I can only say that the details seem well researched, and with that element in place I was ready for a wild Sci-fi ride.

The story takes place three years after a Near Earth Object (thought to be a comet or space) is seen heading towards earth. Two space programs are competing to land on the object first. Once they get there the mystery slowly unravels and we discover that of course it's some kind of starship. Don't worry these are not bumpy headed Trek aliens, the authors do a good job of not anthropomorphizing the alien life forms or their technology which is thousands of years beyond ours.

The characters are well defined and introduced with a economy of story time, I would myself caring for them and generally being concerned. I am trying to be general about the plot because I think you are better served going in as blank as possible. I had one small nitpick with the novel that I will address in at the end of this review.

I am a fan of Goyer's writing, enjoyed a talk he gave at a screenwriting conference (in 2003) and was excited to see what he did with the novel form. In much the same fan his one time collaborator Guillermo Del Toro did when he wrote his strain trilogy. You can sense the film just under the surface, mostly in the way the stories cut and weave. The no non-sense approach to the story telling. Heaven's shadow doesn't waste a lot of time with internal monologues and the cuts in the action are pure screenwriting.

That's not a negative. Perhaps the only book I read recently that flowed the same way was Hogan and Del Toro's second book the Fall. The chapter breaks are perfect, and the the various plot threads are paced apart to keep tension high. I saw a review where a reader complained that after a cliffhanger end to a chapter they had to read through four chapters to find out what happened next. Of course the other four threads will building at the same time. That is on purpose ding-a-ling. That's why you read sixty pages of this book without realizing that time flew by.

This is an excellent addition to the the Big Dumb Object genre and my favorite Sci-fi novel I have read so far this year. The authors have built groundwork for a trilogy that cannot stay in the same sub-genre. That's great I am excited to see these characters again and the different direction the story will have to go into. The only real flaw with the novel is something I can see them fixing in the second or the third book. I was thinking it was spoiler, but frankly it's on the dust jacket of the book so...

Like many others who read the book I have a hard time excepting the fact that the aliens feel they need to contact humans for any reason. I am hoping the second book will explain why in the second book because to me it's still mystery. Is that a nitpick or not? I can't tell until I read book two, and that is already on my list.

Week 8 picks!

2011-10-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

David 66-35
Larry 68-33

Larry and I tied again at 7-6. We picked different games. It was a rough week for picks.

Cards @ Ravens: Ravens
Vikings @ Panthers: Panthers
Jags @ Texans: Texans
Dolphins @ Giants: Giants
saints @ Rams: Saints
Titans @ Colts: Titans (Closer than people think)
Bills @ Redskins: Bills
Lions @Broncos: Lions
Pats @ steelers: Pats
Bengals @ Seahawks: Seahawks (don't feel good about it)
Browns @ 49ers: niners!
Cowboys@ Eagles: Eagles (in a close one.)
Chargers @ chiefs: Chargers

Chargers are banged up with a key defensive player, and O line out. They need this game and the pressure of the loss to the jets will help. It will be tough on the road, but the chiefs 3-3 record is smoke and mirrors. They only beat the Ray-turds 28-0 because the Raiders threw six interceptions including two pick six scores. Cassel didn't play great, neither did anyone else on the offense. Another week of practice for Gates, and Jackson getting healthier will help rivers get comfortable. Big game for Mathews and Hestor in the backfield with Tollbooth out.

26-14 Chargers over chiefs.

Larry's picks:
MIA @ NYG (W)
IND @ TEN (W)
NO (W) @ STL
ARI @ BAL (W)
MIN @ CAR (W)
JAC @ HOU (W)
DET (W) @ DEN
WAS @ BUF (W)
NE @ PIT (W)
CIN @ SEA (W)
CLE @ SF (W)
DAL @ PHI (W)
SD (W) @ KC (27-21)

Donnie Yen! Bodyguards and Assassins!

2011-10-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Finally saw this...Wow. Great concept for a kungfu movie. Check it out. Donnie Yen gets to do a little more acting in this. I have heard people complain that it is slow to start, but in my mind they did a great job of building tension. the first hour is like a fuse burning down.

NFL Week 7 picks!

2011-10-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I went 10-3 and Larry went 9-4.

So far I'm 59-29
Larry:61-27

Redskins @Panthers (Panthers)
Seahawks @ Browns (Seahawks)
Falcons @ Lions (Lions)
Broncos @ Phins (Broncos - win a horrible game - phins fire coach)
Chargers @ Jets (Chargers)
Bears - TB - London game (Bucs)
Texans @ Titans (Titans)
Steelers @ Cards (Steelers)
Chiefs @ raiders (chiefs)
Rams @ Cowboys (Cowboys)
GB @ Vikings ( GB)
Colts @ saints (Saints)
Ravens @ jags ( Ravens)

Chargers 35 Jets 17 (Jets will get a defensive TD, and go at least 4 - 3 and outs. We will win turn over battle and fix redzones problems

2011-10-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Eleventh Son by Gu Long (Translated
365 pages
$19.95 Trade paperback

I have wanted to read this novel for years, but for one reason or another I just never got around to it. Wuxia films are some of my favorite movies of all time and I have always wanted to read more of fiction which many of my favorite kungfu movies were based on. Gu Long considered one along with Jin Yong (The Book and the Sword) and Liang Yushen (Bride with White Hair) as the "three legs of the tripod of wuxia". I have also published my own Wuxia horror crossover (Hunting The Moon Tribe) that was more influenced by film as until now I have only read Yong's The Book and the Sword and the Chinese literary classic Three Kingdoms.

So yeah, I was super overdue in reading this novel. It was written in the late 60's, and I am assuming it was published as a serial in newspapers like most Wuxia novels in the era. The chapters take on a serial feel, and it is hard to comment on the writing style because you always wonder how much is a product of translation.

The Eleventh Son is tangled story indeed as characters weave into and out of the story. Some even drop out of the story altogether. The main character Xiao is not even introduced until a few chapters in. It would seem at first that the novel is about Xiao battling for a famous sword called “The Deer Carver.” this maguffin is quickly forgotten as Xiao and a sinister female villian known as Little Mister battle over the Chinese countryside. The main story here is a messy love story between Xiao and a noble woman named Shen. Little Mister who is truly awesome villian frames Xiao for the murder of Shen's entire family. She knows better as Xiao is the one who saved her.

It is said that Long was more influenced by western writers than his competition and I only have Jin Young to compare him too. I can see a little more western influence in the structure of the novel, and the way he tells the story.

Some really cool and weird stuff happens along the way and you would expect in a Wuxia novel, there is a cool chapter where they encounter and battle gods of lightning and thunder. Perhaps my favorite part was a chapter called Doll manor, this super weird chapter finds Xiao and Shen tapped in a doll house worried that they have been shrunk and chaptered a kungfu magician. I was totally surprised by their escape and it was a super neat surprise. The coolest and most inventive part of the novel.

My biggest problem with the novel is that it ended with a set-up for sequel. That is not translated into English. Here is hoping the translator and publisher do this again. We need more Wuxia novels in print!

Book Review: Host of Shadows by Harry Shannon

2011-10-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

A Host of Shadows by Harry Shannon
Dark Regions press
280 pages

I have read a few of these stories before, some in cemetary dance, various anthologies and I have always been impressed by Shannon. It's one thing to read a story here, or story there. To read the stories back to back in one collection something totally different. You pick up themes, you learn stuff about what is crawling around in the gray matter of the writer in question. If you are a fan of horror in short fiction then please take my advice and move this book up to the top of your list.

In a blurb on the back cover author Brian Keene said "Shannon is a writer not afraid to walk into the shadows and drag things there kicking and screaming into the light." I know it's cheap to quote a blurb but I tried hard to think of a way to say the same thing, too bad I'm quoting him because it is the best description possible.

Shannon is a master at details, tiny details that paint a dark and vivid picture. The atmosphere he builds leaves the reader with a feeling like they are turning away from a horrible sight, just keeping it in the corner of their vision so they wont lose it. The style ranges from traditional horror, dark noir and a few with experimental prose. All done with skill.

My favorite stories included the WW II story "and the worm shall feed" that takes place in the pacific. The iraq war story "Thus was His Death," and the darkly comical mortality tale "Violent Delights."

This is above average horror fiction that should be included in any serious horror fans personal library. Shannon is a very talented writer who deserves to be on library shelves everywhere. I was not super impressed by the novella Pain that he wrote(reviewed last month), but based on the strength of this collection I will be seeking out his novels.

Donnie Yen plays a character that is in Hunting The Moon Tribe

2011-10-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

The story of legendary Guan Yu crossing five passes & slaying six generals. He played a major role in the civil war that led to the collapse of Han Dynasty & the establishment of Shu Han of the 3 Kingdoms, making Liu Bei its first emperor.

Guan Yu is known in Chinese mythology as the god of Martial Power. In the final battle of my novel Hunting The Moon Tribe, the heroes go to the underworld to end the vampire bloodline and are aided by several Chinese mythological characters(He battles the god of thunder Lei Gong). One of them Guan Yu. It's cool to see Donnie Yen playing him in a origin story.

Hunting the Moon Tribe is of course available on Amazon.

Week 6 NFL picks!

2011-10-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Chargers bye week picks!

David's score so far: 49-26
Larry Hall: 52-23

Panthers @ Falcons: Falcons.
Colts @Bengals: Bengals
SF @ Detroit: Lions (in a good game)
Rams @ Packers: (Packers in a slaughter)
Bills @ NYG: (giants) Note: The Bills have been INT machines and Eli has been throwing them, I just think Giants have to win)
Jags @ Steelers( Pitt)
Eagles@ Redskins (Redskins)
Texans @ Ravens (Ravens)
Browns @ Oakland (raiders)
Cowboys@NE (pats)
Saints@ Bucs (Saints)
Vikings @ Bears (Bears)
Phins @ Jets ( Jets)

New Jet Li Wuxia Pan movies

2011-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

As the author of a Wuxia Pan novel (kungfu fantasy called Hunting the Moon Tribe)I am super excited about two new films starring Jet Li. One of my favorite movie stars I have not enjoyed his american movies as much so how rad is it that he has returned to making films in china with style. He is also working with the masters of Chinese cinema.

First up is a new film by Ching Siu Tung director of two of my favorite movies and the most profound influence on Hunting the Moon Tribe - those films were the Chinese Ghost story and his 1982 masterpiece Duel to Death. but now he returns with...

and next Jet Li worked with the Steven Spielberg of Hong Kong Tusi Hark. He is coming off a bad decade, with lots of films that were supposed to be his comeback movie. Well I enjoyed a few of those like Seven Swords, it wasn't until last year when he released Detective Dee and the phantom of the Holy Flame, that critics and fans agreed. Hark was back. To follow up he drafted Jet Li for a 3D remake of the 1967 King Hu classic Dragon gate Inn. (Hark produced a remake in the 90's with Bridgette Lin and Donnie Yen that was OK)

Time to order some import DVD's or hope the Hollywood theater here in Portland makes them happen.

Book Review: Bible Repairman by Tim Powers

2011-10-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Bible Repariman by Tim Powers
Tachyon
192 pages
$14.95 Trade paperback

I have long been a casual fan of Tim Powers and his work. I've always found his science fiction to balance grand idea with excellent writing and strong characters. I have read only novels in the past. I was a huge fan of his novels Three Days to Never' and "The Abunbis gates". The Bible Repairman is a collection odd surrealist borderline bizarro speculative fiction. No space opera or generic sci-fi themes this book is really one for highly literate and patient fans of high quality weird literature.

I really enjoyed the stories "Soul in the Bottle," a tale centered around a book collector and his fascination with Jean Harlow's star on the walk of fame, and "Hour of Babel" a neat time travel story inspired by the pizza joint that Powers worked at in the 70's. The writing in all the stories are high quality, Powers has master's level talent. The only story I could do with out is "Time to cast away stones" the final story in the collection, that bored me to tears. The subject matter about Bryon and Shelly did nothing for me personally, I understand this is a postscript to a novel Powers wrote called "The stress of her regard." Perhaps if I read that book I might have been more interested but to me that was a weak point in a otherwise perfect collection.

I think this is a good book for librarians to stock in their collection and to display, as I am hoping it more attention. It's neat collection. I am not so sure I would tell readers they need to rush out and buy it but that is why it's perfect for the library.

Book Review: Embassytown By China Mieville

2011-10-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Embassytown by China Mieville
Del Rey
352 pages
$26.00

I was very much looking forward to this book. China Mieville has got to be one of the smartest genre authors out there. I saw him speak at a book signing at Powells promoting his book City and the City a few years back. Just as I had when I listened to interviews I found myself thinking, wow this is one smart dude. He is in fact one smart dude, and like many of his other novels Embassytown is themed somewhat around the multi-dimensional life-form that is a city. (Another great sci-fi novel about a city is John Shirley's Classic 'City Come a Walkin')

I was excited because the idea of Mieville who has written mostly steampunk-ish fantasy or otherwise surrealist new weird fiction doing hard Sci-fi sounded great. From page one Mieville creates a strange landscape of the far future in way that reminds me of 'Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursala Leguin or 'Crucible of Time' by John Brunner. Were talking seriously speculative fiction, all three novels are in such alien worlds it is sometimes easy to forgot a human wrote the book at all.

It is the tale of a city know as Embassytown on a planet colonized by humans. The planet is home to a species called the Ariekei who speak a unique language that only a few genetically altered humans are able to speak. To speak it they have to be cloned and two doppel humans have to speak it together, these ambassadors eventually because a important part of the Ariekei culture. The hosts become addicted to the sound of their voices, and some ambassadors die, others come into power and the novel explores the social fabric of this alien society.

Some of the things I respect about this book are the very things that frustrated me about it. I am a quick reader and I slogged through this 352 pages over weeks. I often had to re-read paragraphs over and over, especially during the first quarter of the book that felt more like a anthropologist's memoir that a narrative. Of course in the universe of this novel, thousands of years into the future with humanity spread out across the universe Language and terminology itself would be alien to us. Mieville throws us in to the deep end without swimming lesson here. I learned those terms quickly enough, as a brief example deep space is referred to as “The Out,” and space Travelers are “Immersers.” The novel is written as if you already know that, I am not complaining I liked that choice and to a serious genre reading this is not that new of a concept.

Unlike Leguin's Left Hand of Darkness I felt the “gee-whiz” factor of the ideas constantly got in the way of the story. I felt like I was so busy trying to figure out what the author was trying to say about language and decipher the ideas that I had trouble following the narrative.

It would be easy to read this novel and think that it was simply a exploration of the power of language. It is that, but the novel also explores the concept of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. I think there are amazing elements to this novel, but I can't give it more than three stars out of five because of what a struggle I had keeping my interest. I respect China Mieville enough that I think there is a strong possibility that I am just not smart enough to follow some of the concepts, but I feel he could have kept the story closer to the surface and it would have been a better novel.

Week 5 NFL picks

2011-10-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Eagles at Bills (Bills)
Saints at Panthers (Saints)
Raiders at Texans (Texans)
Chiefs At Colts (Colts)
Bengals At Jags (Bengals)
Cards At Vikings (Vikings)
Seahawks at Giants (Giants in a slaughter)
Titans at Steelers (Titans)
TB at 49ers ( 49ers)
Chargers at Denver (Chargers) 42-17!!!
Jets at Pats (Pats)
GB at Atlanta (Falcons)
Bears at Lions (Lions)

Larry's picks...
Kansas City Chiefs W
Indianapolis Colts

Arizona Cardinals W
Minnesota Vikings

Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills W

Oakland Raiders
Houston Texans W

New Orleans Saints W
Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals W
Jacksonville Jaguars

Tennessee Titans W
Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks
New York Giants W

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers W

New York Jets
New England Patriots W

San Diego Chargers W
Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers
Atlanta Falcons W

Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions W

NFL week 4 picks

2011-10-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

Score through week 3:

Larry - 31-15
David - 29-17

DET @ DAL (Larry -Lions, David- Lions)
SF @ PHI(Larry - Eagles, David- Eagles)
MIN @ KC(Larry - Chiefs, David - Vikings)
WAS @ STL (Larry- Redskins, David - RedSkins)
NO @ JAC (Larry - Saints, David - Saints)
TEN @ CLE (Larry - Titans,David - Browns)
PIT @ HOU(W)(Larry - Texans, David - Texans)
BUF @ CIN (Larry - Bills, David - Bills)
CAR @ CHI(Larry - Bears, David- Bears)
ATL(W) @ SEA (Larry - Falcons, David - Falcons)
NYG @ ARI(Larry- Cards, David -Giants)
DEN @ GB(Larry- pack,David - Pack)
MIA @ SD(Larry - Bolts, David - Chargers!!!!!)
NE(W) @ OAK (Larry- NE, David- Pats)
NYJ @ BAL(Larry - Ravens, David Ravens)
IND @ TB(Larry - TB, David - TB)

NFL Week 3 picks

2011-09-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

David Agranoff 19-11
Larry Hall 21 -9

David's picks:
Pats At Bills: Patriots
Jags at Panthers: Panthers (in a close one)
49ers at Bengals: Bengals
Dolphins at Browns: Dolphins
Lions At Vikings: Lions
Texans At Saints:Saints
Giants at Eagles: Eagles
Broncos at Titans: Titans
Jets at Raiders: Raiders ( thought alot about this one, Jets starting 3rd string center- would be surprised if the raiders screw this up)
Chiefs at Chargers: BOLTS!!!!
Ravens at Rams: Ravens ( both need this one, this will be a tough game)
Packers at bears: Bears (in a close one)
Cards at seahawks: Cards (awful game)
Falcons at Bucs: Bucs
Steelers at colts: Steelers
Redskins at Cowboys: Cowboys

Larry Hall's picks:

Houston at New Orleans(W)
NY Giants(W) at Philadelphia
Jacksonville at Carolina(W)
New England(W) at Buffalo
Miami(W) at Cleveland
San Francisco(W) at Cincinnati
Denver at Tennessee(W)
Detroit(W) at Minnesota
Baltimore(W) at St. Louis
NY Jets(W) at Oakland
Kansas City at San Diego(W)
Arizona(W) at Seattle
Atlanta (W)at Tampa Bay
Green Bay(W) at Chicago
Pittsburgh(W) at Indianapolis
Washington(W) at Dallas

My Chargers Prediction: 48 - 10. Huge game for Ryan Mathews. This will be the chargers first flawless game. No turn-overs and forcing at least three. We need to beat the chiefs while they are down. for real.

I have a story in this charity anthology!

2011-09-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

228 pages
$9.99 Kindle
$15.99 Paperback

75 authors from 11 countries came together to collaborate on a mixed-genre anthology of short stories to benefit the orphans of the disaster-stricken Tohoku area. Ninety percent of which is all original work written for this book.

Horror, humor, human drama, science fiction, fantasy, absurdist, bizarro, weird, new wave, bugpunk, Cthulhu, Sherlock Holmes, historical fiction,

Complete author list (in index order): Katherine Govier, Ken Asamatsu, Lee Pletzers, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., S.A. Gambino, Michael Allen Rose, Nickolas Furr, Garrett Cook, Touya Tachihara, Jess Gulbranson, Alvin Pang, Robert M. Price, Kevin Lovelace, Junichi Ashikawa, Dan Ryan, Adam Joffrain, Moxie Mezcal, Andersen Prunty, L. Christopher Bird, Minoru Inaba, Richard Wright, Kirk Marshall, Davide Mana, Show Tomono, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Christene Britton-Jones, Philip Overby, Yuusuke Tokita, David Agranoff, Bradley Sands, Naohiko Kitahara, Michael John Grist, Edmund Colell, Trent Zelazny, Riri Shimada, Made in DNA, Glynn Barrass, Fulvio Gatti, Nirnara, Melissa J White, Fumihiko Iino, Curt Seubert, Elizabeth Black, John F. Rice, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Volker Baetz, Andrew Freudenberg, Terrie Czechowski, Lucía González Lavado, Mie Takase, Stephen A. North, Ran Cartwright, Ukyou Kodachi, Danilo Arona, David Naughton-Shires, John Shirley, Jonathan Moon, Tadashi Ohta, Richard Salter, Midori Tateyama, Grant Wamack, Massimo Soumaré, Yufuko Senoh, Berry Sizemore, Ash Lomen, Adam Breckenridge, Yasumi Kobayashi, Jason Wuchenich, Ryuto Hijiri, Vittorio Catani, Joji Hayashi, Kevin David Anderson, Tamao Kanroji, Michael Moorcock, and Shinya Gaku.

Book review: Pain by Harry Shannon

2011-09-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

Pain by Harry Shannon
Dark Regions press
121 pages

Harry Shannon is a talented writer, I have yet to read any of his novels yet, but I have always looked forward to his stories and and appearances in various magazines and anthologies. Pain is a novella, the first in a series of novellas published by Dark Regions press. It is a zombie tale that to me shares much in common with the Crazies(the Romero original more so than the excellent remake). It is the story of a small mountain town besiged by zombie like folks infected by a chemical weapon known as pain.

The book starts with a introduction by Bram Stoker award winning bestselling Author Jonathan Mayberry, I respect the man's work but frankly this intro was pretty worthless to me. The intro serves as a "Zombie genre for dummies," but honestly do we really need that? In my case it almost set the bar too high by reminding me what makes a great zombie movie/novel. More on that later.

Nine times out of ten horror writers who grew up reading Stephen King,Peter Straub and Clive Barker have the problem of over writing, as taught to those by those masters who sometimes could stand to be edited back. Here in Pain, I experienced the opposite. My biggest complaint with this novella was that I felt like we were just seeing the tip of the iceberg with this story. That is good sometimes, we don't want the whole mystery revealed all the time, but I felt rushed through this story and the characters.

It is obvious that this book began life as a screenplay, if you have ever read a screenplay they are like skeletons and they are covered in blood, guts and clothes by an entire production team and director. In this case Pain feels like a skeleton with a very cool looking robe on it. You cane still see bare bones, which is too bad but because the seeds are there.

Lots cool moments of suspense, obviously cool story telling, but in the end I felt like alot was missing. Remember when I talked about the intro. Mayberry pointed out that the best zombie movies/novels are not about zombies. We got a hint that Shannon was trying to make a statement about the military contractors but again I think there was more material just beyond the surface. I almost never say this but Pain is neat little zombie book that could have been even better with another 50 to 100 pages of depth...

NFL picks week 2 (2011)

2011-09-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Bills VS Raiders: Buffalo
Packers Vs. Panthers: Green Bay
Lions Vs. Chiefs: Detroit
Colts Vs. Browns: Colts (Colts have to win this or they wont win all year)
Buc vs. Vikings: Vikings
Bears Vs. Saints: Saints ( tough one, close)
Jaguars Vs. Jets : Jags (in upset of the week.)
Steelers Vs. Seahawks: Pittsburgh ( T Jackson injured)
Ravens Vs. Titans: Baltimore slaughters a team again
Cards Vs. Redskins: Washington
Cowboys vs. 49ers: Boys
Bengals Vs. Broncos: Cincy ( This is tough to pick, they both suck)
Texans Vs. Dolphins: Dolphins
Falcons Vs. Eagles: Falcons
Rams Vs Giants: Giants (The IR bowl)

Pats Vs. Chargers: Chargers!

I might be stepping on the sword for my team. I Think this will be 28-24 final score which team wins depends on who has the ball last. Pats barely beat us last year, Brady said it was the hardest regular season game that they managed to win. We held Brady to 200 yards. This is a serious test for the Chargers but I wont be to worried if we lose, as long as we are in.

Larry Hall's picks ( fellow Charger fan and talented writer)

Oakland Raiders at Buffalo Bills (W)

Kansas City Chiefs at Detroit Lions (W)

Baltimore Ravens (W) at Tennessee Titans

Cleveland Browns at Indianapolis Colts(W)

Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints (W)

Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets (W)

Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers (W)

Arizona Cardinals at Washington Redskins(W)

Green Bay Packers(W) at Carolina Panthers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (W) at Minnesota Vikings

Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers(W)

Houston Texans(W) at Miami Dolphins

Cincinnati Bengals(W) at Denver Broncos

San Diego Chargers (W) at New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons(W)

St. Louis Rams at New York Giants(W)

NFL picks week 1 (2011)

2011-09-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

So the plan is to pick the games each week between now and the super bowl and I'm going to keep score, see how I do by the end of the season. I'm picking the Chargers every week besides that I am going by my knowledge of the game and following football. Some big upsets this week, I think the bills will surprise the chiefs at arrowhead. The Chiefs are a mess, it will show sunday. The Detroit/ Tampa Bay game was the hardest to pick. Looking forward to Chargers of course and the Ravens and steelers game. I think the Colts are dead in the water but i hope they prove everyone wrong! Pete Carrol is crazy to start Tavaris Jackson over Whitehurst.

GB V NO : GB
Pittsburgh V Baltimore: Ravens
Chicago V Atlanta: Falcons
Cincinnati V Clevland: Browns
Indy V Houston: Texans
Jacksonville V Tennessee: Titans
Buffalo V KC: Buffalo (big upset on the road!)
Philly V St.Louis: Rams (big upset!)
Detroit V Tampa Bay: Lions (tough call)
Carolina V Arizona: Cards
San Diego V Minnesota: Chargers!!!!
SF V Seattle: Niners, (unless Whitehurst goes in then hawks)
NYG V Washington: Redskins
Dallas V NYJ: Jets (ugh)
New England V Miami: Pats
Denver V Raiders: Broncos (Oak only chance is huge run game)

My Bolts prediction:I am only worried about Adrian Peterson, I think he might gut us in the first half but expect the D to tighten up after a half time adjustment. This is a totally different D than the last time AP tore us up. I think Rivers will have a huge game, as will Ryan Matthews. Pass protection will be solid and Rivers to VJ for 80 to 100 yards. I expect the bolts to win a turn-over battle forcing atleast one fumble and at least one if not two picks on Mcnabb.

Chargers 35 Vikings 17

Football Talk: 2011 NFL predictions!!!

2011-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

NFL Predictions 2011

AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Ravens
AFC South: Texans
AFC West: Chargers
Wildcards: Steelers and Jets

AFC Championship: Pats VS. Chargers

Notes: Even if the colts get Peyton back the colts will not make the playoffs. Everyone keeps saying the ravens have to get get over the hump that is the steelers,I say bullshit. Two years ago the steelers were third in this division that the ravens won, if Flacco and Lee Evans continue to connect, and the young recievers bring in some new speed. Dangerous.

My Chargers record: 12-4 (might lose to Jets, pats in the the regular season), Patriots week two is a key test. Even if they lose in the regular season I think we can take them in the play-offs. We should have home field as I expect the Brady Bunch to take step backward. We might beat them but it's their home opener.

NFC East: Cowboys
NFC:South: Saints
NFC north: GB packers
NFC:West: Rams
Wildcards: Lions and Falcons

NFC: Championship Saints VS. Falcons

Notes: Stafford stays healthy and the Lions battle the bears for the wildcard spot. Surprise teams will be the cowboys and the redskins. The eagles will not gel, Vince young and Vick will both have injury problems. Cowboys surprise, that being said they are one and done in playoffs. Pete Carrol if he starts Tavaris Jackson – Whitehurst is the best QB in Seattle. Unless Carson Palmer is traded Whitehurst starts.

Super Bowl: Saints vs. Chargers

Book Review: The Urban Fantasy Anthology by Peter S. Beagle (Editor), Joe R. Lansdale (Editor)

2011-09-03T10:18:00.001-07:00

The Urban Fantasy Anthology by Peter S. Beagle (Editor), Joe R. Lansdale (Editor)
Paperback, 432 pages
Tachyon Publications

Ok lets make something clear upfront I am a fan of sub-genre, and as a concept I am fine with the idea of urban fantasy. One of my favorite reads last year was King Maker by Maurice Broadus which was basically gangland version of King Arthur’s court set in modern Indianapolis. That is urban fantasy, and The Crow is another fine example. Alot of my favorite stories in this collection are ones that just seemed like horror, but I am biased I suppose since horror is one of my favorite genres.

This board and diverse anthology features three sections Mythic Fiction, Paranormal romance and Noir Fantasy. Each section comes with an introduction about the sub-genre of the sun-genre and honestly those essays were my favorite part of the read. The Mythic fiction essay was written by Charles De Lint, the Romance one by Paula Guran(long time editor, agent and Cemetery Dance columnist) and bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale.

As for the stories I honestly felt my eyes rolling a lot and and many of the zombie love stories, zombie private eyes, vampire at rave yadda yada led to a lot of subconscious skipping around and less than memorable stories.

My favorite stories were the bizarre surrealist tale “Bible Repairman” by Tim Powers, “Haunted house of my very Own.” By Kelly Armstrong and the classic by Joe R. Lansdale’s "On the far side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” Which I read when it was released in Skipp and Spector’s classic zombie anthology “The Book of the Dead.” I was too young to understand the story the first time I read so it was awesome to relive it.

The reality about my favorite stories were they seemed like horror tales and not urban Fantasy, but what do I know. I do think regardless of my opinion as a reader and a critic this book SHOULD be in every library collection. This is a growing new sub-genre and I think this book is an important look at how and why it exists.

Should be noted that if your looking for gritty urban horror and noir of the fantastic. Joe R. Lansdale and the same publisher put out a book last year called Crucified Dreams. I reviewed on this blog, I think that was a a far superior collection.

Book Review: The Blood Bond by Bey Logan

2011-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Blood Bond by Bey Logan
229 pages
B & E productions

Bey Logan is well known to kungfu movies nerds like me, we know his voice well. As the expert voice on the commentary tracks for Dragon Dynasty's line of DVDs. Believe me I have listened to everyone that has come into my hands. The man knows everything there is to know about kungfu movies, he has also worked as a screenwriter, producer and actor. So When I first heard about his novel I assumed it started life as a screenplay. The film was made, directed and starring cult movie star Michel Biehan(you know Corporal Hicks and Kyle Reese).

According to the authors forward Logan was happy with the film, but he enjoyed the story the way he wrote it before two other screenwriters got a hold of it. So he adapted his own screenplay into a novel.

It is the story of a woman Deva, who is a warrior given the job at birth to protect a Dali-lama like holy man named the Karmapata. When the holy leader is nearly killed on a diplomatic mission to Thailand on her watch they start a desperate search for anyone with a matching blood type. One by one the bizarre cult of zombie like warriors kill everyone in the country that provide the correct blood for a transfusion. Based on a vision Deva heads into the far north of Thailand and finds John Tremayne, who she later learns is a burnt out American former special ops solider who as luck would have it has the same type of blood needed for the transfusion. Together they have to battle strange cult warriors across the country, racing against the clock.

Logan is a screenwriter and it is no insult to say he speaks the language of the action film fluently. One of my favorite reads of last year was Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro’s Vampire Apocalypse novel The Fall, which also read like a movie. There is a pace and feeling with the quick cuts and no wasted words that filmmakers bring to novels. I really liked that about Blood Bond which felt in every way like a Hong Kong action that had to come in at 90 minutes exactly to have the most viewing possible in the day.

Blood Bond is a fun read, nothing super deep, but fans of Logan’s work and Asian action films will see it as a very clear movie in their heads. That is not to say that Logan did not give the novel some touches film cannot. The warrior Deva’s back story is nicely woven into action, and one brutal scene on page 74 to me painted a wonderful picture, and gave great depth to a side character in the narrative. Fans of Asian action film set in a contemporary setting will not want to miss this pot boiler novel. The bonus is before I got this book in the mail I had no idea Michael Biehn had directed and co-starred with Simon Yam in a movie...Got to see that.

Book Review: Flashback Dan Simmons

2011-08-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Flashback by Dan Simmons
560 pages
Little Brown and Company

Dan Simmons is a brilliant novelist, and perhaps one of the greatest genre authors working today. The intelligence and versatility he has show in sprawling epics such as Carrion Comfort(A vampire horror novel) Hyperion (far future hard sci-fi) to historical epics like Black Hills is amazing. I can't state enough the level of respect I have for the writer and the novels he has written. That being said I have mixed feelings about his most recent Science Fiction novel Flashback.
Flashback is a long hard boiled mystery set deeply in the apocalypse dystopia genre that blurs the line between Science Fiction and Horror.

Speaking with the Agony Column podcast Simmons went as far as to say he didn't think of it as Sci-fi, He might not like the analogy but the plot and the basic concept also had a bit of a cyperpunk feel. The dystopia warning novel is a well respected genre that critics often elevate out of the genre ghetto and Simmons seemed intent on writing a modern Alas Babylon or Brave New World. A huge number of Americans believe our country is going down the wrong path and Flashback is a Simmons exploring that concept to it's worst possible conclusion.

The plot is great, and expansion of a Simmons novella which was written when Simmons had somewhat different political views. Nick Bottom is a detective, he is private now since his addiction to a drug called Flashback has kept him from the force. Flashback causes the user to to re-live in a near catatonic state the happiest moments of their lives for a one dollar a minute, the really bad part is 87% of America is addicted to it. The country is falling apart, Texas is a separate nation, Mexico controls the southwest, and Islam is taking over the world.

Nick Bottom is hired by a Japanese millionaire to investigate the murder of his son on american soil. He tries to solve the mystery by using Flashback and working with one of the businessman's personal ninja bodyguards. The relationship between Bottom and the Japanese body guard Sato is one of the highlights of the novel.
So what did I think of the novel? Well I read the whole thing, and I read it fast, Simmons is of course a skilled writer, so in his hands I had a enjoyable read in many ways. In the end however I cannot recommend this novel. It's not just because of the politics, which are entirely loony right wing nonsense. As the author of a novel called “The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies,” I know a thing or two about writing political novels, and certainly have read novels I didn't agree with before, and even liked a few of them. When I wrote Vegan Rev. I was very concerned that the story, and the characters came first, that I would not bend the novel to fit my views. That being said that novel was a satire. I think Simmons might have been better off fully inserting his tongue in his cheek.

While not as transparent and ideologically consumed as Crichton's State of Fear, that book was simply unreadble. Simmons wore his heart so much on his sleeve that he took his eye off the basic plot construction and prose that have made him a giant in the field. I honestly think it is Simmons weakest novel. Parts of the mystery are conveniently are withheld for no logical reason, cringe worthy right wing inter dialogues distract from the pace of the story, and the history of the future take on insanely unrealistic nature to fit Simmons's views. That's his right, it's his novel, the problem for this reader is that some of those future histories were so ludicrous it took me out of the novel. In a satire sure, but this was not a satire. The worst example is a off handed comment about the mayor of NY being the Imam of the mosque, my memory might be off but he may even be the the vice president too. You see just at the edge of this novel is a creeping fear of that the Arabs are going to take over the world.

In that same Agony column interview Simmons claims that he is a political centerist and he expects the book to anger readers both on the right and left. No way, this book is a right wing nut-fest only separated from Glen Beck's chalk board rants by the author's sharp story telling skills(which in my opinion have never been more dull). In 2006 Simmons created a shitstorm by publishing an essay on his website called message from a Time Traveler, linked here(www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/161014...) which many - myself included see as a racist far right call for war with the Arab world. Flashback is not only an extension of those ideas but he breaks lots of new ground. Bashing left wing intellectuals in general (and Ward Churchill specifically), left activists(who are just tattooed and pierced idiots), denying global warming, bashing global climate scientists, a world that sits back and allows a second holocaust of Jews and portraying the Japanese to be even more evil than a Hong Kong movie would dare. (After the Japanese treament of the Chinese in WW II, it's not shocking that a huge % of HK movies have Japanese villains, not sure what Simmons has against them)

I am glad Glen Beck is already off the air on Fox because I could really honestly see him loving and blurbing this novel. When I finished this novel it had me wondering what Simmons thinks about the recent Arab spring, where people in several Arab countries rose up on their own demanding freedom. Many are dying today fighting for freedom in Syria, Iran and Libya - that doesn't jive with the fear mongering peppered throughout this novel. The story it self is entertaining, but Simmons is not up to his usual high quality, unless you have exhausted your Dan Simmons novels I would suggest going further back in the catalog.

Complete writings published and unpublished

2011-08-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hey here is a complete list of my major writing projects. Several are in the pipeline on there way to being published. I own all the copyrights and every single work has been registered with the Writer's guild. Please let me know which projects you are most interested in. Helps me and my publisher figure out what is to come.

Novels:

Hunting The Moon Tribe:
Published: 2011 Little Otick Books
1st draft written 2006-07
Genre: Wuxia Pan Chinese Martial Arts fantasy, Horror, Adventure, Monsters, bizarro.
David's notes: I worked on this off and on since 1994, it combines my love for kung fu fantasy movies and traditional horror.

Selected Blurbs: "Chinese mythology, some seriously unnerving horror, Maoist politics, a sweet coming-of-age story, dark magic, and high-kicking martial arts... I've never read (or seen) anything like it." --Bram Stoker award winning author Lisa Morton

It's a scary martial arts fantasy that will please just about everyone. David Agranoff is a gifted storyteller." --Jordan Krall - Author of Fistful of Feet

Punk Rock Ghost Story
Unpublished
1st draft written: 2007
Genre: Horror, Punk Horror, Cult horror
David's notes: A punk twist on a traditional ghost story. The tale of an Indiana punk band 'People's Uprising' who buys the old tour van of the classic hardcore act – The Fuckers. Frank the singer of The Fuckers, never returned from their 1982 tour and the mystery was never solved. Not until now.

Last Warriors of the Earth(Book one):
Unpublished
1st draft written: 2007-2008
Genre: Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Eco-horror, apocalyptic.
David's notes: This novel is a personal favorite. An intensely political eco – Apocalypse was written to be the opening novel of a trilogy. Very influenced by John Brunner's Sci-fi classic The Sheep Look Up, it not only explores ecological destruction but how capitalism and various corporations use the government and media to blind the public to the danger. This took the longest of all my novels to write.

Demons of Winter:
Unpublished
1st draft written: 2009
Genre: Gothic Horror, Literary Horror, Surreal horror.
David's notes: I wrote this novel before I went to the Borderlands writer's boot camp and work shopped it there. I finished it before camp, but have since re-drafted it into a stronger work. In my opinion this is my best novel, a traditional gothic horror story about the death of a parent, that mixes monsters with "a what is reality?" tale similar in vein to Phillip K.Dick.

The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies:
Deadite Press Released 2010
1st draft written: 2010
Genre: Zombie,satire, Horror comedy, Punk Horror,Cult horror
David's Notes: My first released novel, I never planned on writing a full length satire, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

Selected Blurbs: “Has the potential to alter world views of those who read it...the social messages throughout are clear for those open enough to see, laugh, and personally reflect on it.” --Dr. Colin Salter in the Journal of Critical Animal Studies

“This is a comedic zombie tale that really works...enough violence and gore to satisfy the gore hounds with enough comedic relief to balance it all out.” --Famous Monsters of Filmland

“Never before has an attempted conversion to an alternate lifestyle been such crazily quirky fun...The author has a field day poking fun at the complications that ensue from conflicting subgroups. He is unsparing in his comic commentary.” --Hellnotes

Goddamn Killing Machines:
Published: Forbidden Planet due out 2011
1st draft written: 2011
Genre: Mind twisting Sci-fi, Military Science Fiction, What is reality?
David's notes: This one is coming out soon, and I am extremely happy with it. I like to think of it as the Heart of Darkness written by Phillip K. Dick and directed by an early John Woo. GKM is about a team of military contractors in the 23rd century who are wanted for a series of war crimes. Their team leader Nick Jarvis is given the task, arrest his team members and bring them in for a mission or they face a fate worse than execution. The mission - track the craziest member of their team who is hiding on a hostile world. The team travels down a river eleven times the length of the amazon searching for their target and they discover a horrible truth about their mission.

Selected Blurbs: “GODDAMN KILLING MACHINES had me leaking testosterone and gunpowder until I was somehow able to put it down. Fans of Garth Ennis, Neal Asher and Larry Niven will find instant fun here. I sure did.” -Edward Morris , 2005 BSFA nominee; 2009 Rhysling nominee; author of the BLACKGUARD series (Wildside/Borgo)

Boot Boys of The Wolf-Reich:
Published: Due out from Deadite 2011 or 12
1st draft written: 2011
Genre: Punk horror, cult horror, classic monsters, Coming of age horror, Skinheads
David's notes: When I was sixteen I was a anti-racist skinhead from a small town that went often to visit the big city skinheads in Chicago. This is a very personal and intense novel, but most of all I think it is a lot of fun. Skinhead gang wars and monsters.

Full Length Screenplays:

Hunting the Moon Tribe:
1st Draft written: 2002
Award nominations: Dimension films open door contest finalist, 2004 Nicholl fellowship semi-finalist.
David's notes: My first attempt at a screenplay, and it placed in a national amateur screenwriting contest. It was a huge confidence boost. After it placed in the Nicholl a amateur contest sponsored by the oscars, I received lots attention from production companies, I got excellent feedback but most were scared away by the mostly Chinese cast and hug special effects budget.

Don't Tell:
1st draft written: 2002
Genre: Arthouse, indie, crap.
David's notes: I had this terrible idea that I might want to be a “serious” non-genre screenwriter. This screenplay is a love story between two closeted gay men on the frontlines of the Vietnam war. Think war movie meets Broke back Mountain. It was as bad as it sounds, I have a hard time with how I wrote 96 page script thinking this was a good idea. There is an action scene that I am super proud of, but the whole thing is pretty bad.

Purgatory:
1st Draft written: 2003
Genre: Horror
David's notes: A straight forward horror script. It involves ghosts, psychic children, secret military experiments, serial killings. The story is connected to a novel I have outlined to write in the future. I may someday turn this into a novel but it's doubtful. There is a lot wrong with this script, but could be fixed in a further draft.

Demons of Winter:
1st Draft written: 2004
Genre: horror. Surreal horror.
David's notes: After I saw the movie “The Hours,” I wanted to challenge myself to write a horror script with a similar structure, it has three separate time lines which end up being one story. The script is OK, but I think it is much, much better as a novel.

Last Warriors of the Earth:
1st Draft written: 2004
Genre: Science Fiction, eco-horror, post- apocalypse, action.
David's notes: I would like to write a trilogy of novels based on this story. It gets confusing here. This screenplay was what I wrote first, but since I started the novels, I went further back in the story. So the story of the screenplay will be Book Two, when I get there. I also worked for a few months on concept art and developing a graphic novel based on this trilogy with artist Rick Clarke.

Home for the Summer:
1st Draft written: 2005
Genre: Horror
David's notes: I realize the title leaves something to be desired, the story is basically about a group of college freshman who return after their first year to find their home town consumed by vampires. They have to overcome social differences and lingering family issues to defeat the monsters before the fall tourist season brings fresh blood. Not my favorite concept, but probably my best screenplay, this one could be sold as Breakfast Club meets Salem's Lot. I wrote this purely as a commercial project. I think it is a tight, perfectly paced screenplay, which I have pitched a few times to production companies. Almost sold twice. Might someday turn it into a novel.

Hellsville:
1st Draft written: 2005
Genre: modern horror
Awards: 2006 Writers on the Storm quarter-finalist
David's notes: A traveling nurse takes a job at a isolated rural hospital in southern Indiana. Once there she discovers the halls are being roamed by several tortured spirits. Bodies start turning up, and the nurse investigates. Probably my favorite horror screenplay, It is a very early Clive Barker influenced piece. It was inspired by a conversation I had a with my cousin who is a nurse. She told me some of the legends about the hospital where she worked. It gets pretty weird. I would love to turn this into a novel, but I would need to do lots of research on medical issues, nursing, etc. In the works.

The Slaughter: (Co-written with Eric Prescott)
1st Draft written: 2006
Genre: modern horror, Vegan themed horror.
David's notes: Eric approached me with the idea of writing a vegan themed horror film. This script has a High Tension, or Wolf Creek feel. This a very brutal script, that I am proud of. Eric has gone on to produce the “I am Vegan” webisodes and open a vegan pizza place in Boston. He has said the project is not dead, I hope so.

Novellas:

The Fallen Guardian's Mandate:
Published: Free Zine of Fantasy and Science Fiction January 2010
David's notes: Serialized novella prequel to Hunting the Moon Tribe. It takes place in china during the Manchu takeover – 1644. Basically think Kung Fu movie meets X-files. I never got to finish it or develop the story like I wanted to. If Hunting The Moon Tribe takes off more I promise I will.

Punkupine Moshers of the Apocalypse:
Published in The Bizarro Starter Kit(Purple) 2010
David's notes: A novella that takes place after a nuclear war in 1987. This is my weirdest story about a punk rock village populated by punks who don't know about a non-punk world. When the river runs dry a a group of warriors have to travel up river to find out why. Think Tolkien meets Decline of the Western Civilization.

Anthologies and Collections:

The Gutter Limits by Booger Murphy (Co-written w/ Gabriel Llanas, Paul Stuart and Cari Beltane)
Published by Punk Horror press 2005
David's notes: A fun collection of bizarro flash fiction, Each of the authors wrote five stories. Mine included: Parking Loch, Big Weed, Dip, Drive cab & Hate people, What's more Metal? and He Gets Around. I did a fun reading of “He gets Around,” at the bizarro bunker house warming party a few years back. It's a funny story about serial killer yard Gnome.

The Vault of Punk Horror (Anthology Co-Editor W/ Gabriel Llanas)
Published by Punk Horror press 2006
David's notes: This anthology has an amazing table of contents, great stories, by great authors, but is super limited and rare because we didn't know what we were doing. I am hoping it is able to get back into print someday.

Screams From a Dying World(Collection)
Published by 1st edition Punk Horror press 2006, 2nd edition Afterbirth Books 2008
Awards: Nominated for the wonderland award best collection.
David's notes: The first edition has six stories, and the second has twice as many. I am supert stoked about this collection, the job Afterbirth did with it and the amazing cover art by Shane Durgee. The stories range from science fiction, horror, bizarro to dark satire. My favorites include Surrogate and Coast to Coast.

Insignificance and other Terrifying Realities (collection)
Published: Still homeless, might not be for a few years yet.
David's notes: I have all the stories ready and complied for a collection of Lovecraftian style cosmic horror tales. A few novellas and several short stories, all fit into the cosmic horror theme. I have enough now, but I might like to let this shake out for awhile, see what new stories develop.

Published Short stories:
Fifth Noble Truth – Flurb webzine
Punkupine Moshers of the Apoclayse – Bizarro Starter Kit (Purple)
The Call – The Vault of Punk Horror
A Planet of our Own – Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Addiction(With Cari Beltane) - Wretched and Vile
Dip – The New Flesh
Eternal case of the Mondays - Kizuna: 2011 Japan Disaster Relief Fiction Project

Zines:

Voicebox #1-6
Issue #1 Interviews with Advance and Dead Center (1991)
Issue#2 Interviews With Dan O'Mahoney and Strife(92)
Issue #3 Interviews With Framework and Snapcase, First issues with Vegan articles.(93)
Issue #4 Super hardline issue.(93)
Issue #5 : Interviews With Gene Bauer of Farm Sanctuary and Howard Lyman. This issue was graphic designed and edited by Ryan Kegley. Probably best zine I ever did. (94)
Issue #6: Syracuse ADL issue.(96)

2002-05 I did a website revival of Voicebox at militantveganstraightedge.com where I scanned a posted a lot of the old articles, and wrote several new ones.

Defense,Rescue and Survival # 1-4 (1995-98)
Unveil the lies (Editor) (1998)

Websites/ Blogs
Voicebox website 2002-05
Postcards from a Dying World Blog 2006- present
Forged in the flames 2009- Present (currently taking a break it's not dead yet)

Book Review: The Five by Robert McCammon

2011-08-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Five by Robert McCammon
Subterranean Press
$26.95
520 pages

McCammon is the author several of my favorite novels. In the 80's he was one of the most popular horror writers riding the wave of Stephen King's massive popularity. While He was often compared to King, I have always felt McCammon was a superior novelist. Novels like Boy's Life, Mine or Swan's Song are near perfect tight novels that work like an engine firing on all cylinders.

In the last few years McCammon seemed to stray from the horror field, his novel output slowed and he turned to historical mysteries set in the early years of New York city. These books are thick, well researched and even though I bought them and they sit on my shelf they just didn't interest me enough to read them.

I first heard of McCammon's return to the modern setting like most when Stephen King said it was the best novel of the year and McCammon's best. Ok sold, and right to the top of the “To be read pile.” I'm glad I did, I might not agree that it is McCammon's best but it is one of the best novels I have read in some time.

The Five is the story of a struggling rock band who the novel is named after. They are strange group of people living the hard life trying to make it a go as a touring band. Shortly after the book starts the band starts to fall apart. After the manager and keyboardist admit to Nomad the band leader that they are done it looks like the band is over. After they finish the tour.

It's to bad because their new video for an anti-war ballad “When the storm breaks” is starting to get play. It also was noticed by a traumatized Iraq war sniper who is anything but a fan. That is when said sniper decides he wants to make sure those snot nosed rocker never finish their tour. This is where the novel about hard rockers becomes a thriller, or much like McCammon's classic novel 'Mine' a horror novel without one shred of supernatural tropes.

'Mine' was thriller about a mother and her kidnapped child, her struggle to get her child back. Of course when you read 'Mine' you get into the characters and story long before you realize there is a much deeper subtext. The Five is a thriller, and road novel about rock and roll but it's subtext comes to the surface about 375 pages into the book. At that point the message becomes a little heavy handed, but that doesn't matter one bit. McCammon is so skilled at pacing and characters that you are so invested in the story that you'll realize the subtext was peppered through out.

There is a moment when the message is pushed to the surface. But I liked it. The Five is a novel about the tapestry of Rock and roll, the universe of live music, what it all means. The Five works on many, many levels. It's a masterpiece written by a man who has a few of those. This book should have wide appeal and it's a crime that is not a a Number one bestseller.

Book Review: Should have killed the Kid by R. Frederick Hamilton

2011-08-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Should Have Killed The Kid by R. Frederick Hamilton
$12.95 Legume Man Books
300 pages

OK let me say off the bat that the marketing and exterior look of this book had me scratching my head. The cover is a pretty looking take on the Melbourne (Australia) skyline engulfed in flames. This where a good portion of the book takes place. That is not the curious part, inside the cover is four blurbs and I know that is far from weird. Except that two of the blurbs were straight up bad reviews that almost scared me out of reading the book. It was a free review book so I kept going. The book has no description to draw me in either, All it says on the back of the book is “Fuck...”

Which is what the main character says when faced with most unpleasant situations. This book is filled to the brim with very unpleasant situations, but if your a fan of good creepy unsettling horror fiction then that is what you are looking for. I am thinking that Legume Man thought your reading experience would be better served if you didn't have any clue what the plot was to spoil the surprises.

I am not sure I agree with that thinking, but reguard less it is an excellent horror novel, that builds amazing amounts of tension and suspense throughout. If you trust my opinion stop reading this review and just get your hands on the book. If you still need more convincing and think a little plot description is needed before you invest well read on.

Should have killed the Kid is a supernatural Apocalypse thriller which has both Lovecraftian vibe (without direct connection to the mythos) and an extreme horror feel. At first I thought of it as Stephen King's The Mist with A Quentin Tarantino structure, but after the first 100 pages the structure smoothes out into a linear fashion. The book is structured and patterned for maximum suspense that left me with only a few nitpicks.

The main character is named Dave, when we meet him he is hiding with a group of survivors after creatures referred to as the Claw of the Shadows have appeared over Australia and begun to erase humanity and it's vast civilization from the earth. So what makes Dave so interesting? The people hiding with him don't know it, but Dave caused the whole thing to happen.

The novel then takes us back to the time, when Dave failed to act on the a duty which would have prevented the whole thing from happening. Judging from the title you may have figured out that Dave was supposed to kill a child.

The more pure the heart of the sacrifice the more happy the claw of the shadow will be. So we are set up for an adventure to sacrafice the right kid, at the right place and end the mess.

This a excellent example of how independent publishing brings us interesting and original horror fiction. I am very happy I read this book, I think serious horror fans will like it. My only nitpicks are to do with the ending. Towards the end I lacked sympathy for the boy, and I thought the child Dave had to sacrafice could have had a little more dimensions to him. It would have made the ending more tense and suspensful. Also the book is set up for a sequel that I didn't really feel completely sold on.

Should Have Killed the kid was a pleasant surprise for me. I always say that great suspense novels feel like climbing a very tall unstable ladder. And that is what I felt like I was doing when I read this novel. Thumbs up.

Book Review: Jim and the Flims by Rudy Rucker

2011-07-18T17:53:00.001-07:00

Jim and the Flims By Rudy Rucker
247 pages $24.99
Nightshade books

Rudy Rucker is a well know cyperpunk Science Fiction author and he is also well know for being a mathematician and computer science professor. He is also the editor of Sci-fi's best web-zine Flurb (I may be bias because flurb published a story of mine). Fiction wise he is best known for a series of four cyberpunk books that were kicked off by the classic novel Software. (I reviewed Software back in October 2010 on this blog). To say that Rucker is a genius to me is a understatement. He writes stunningly original, funny and above all smart Science Fiction.

His observations on the craft of writing Science Fiction are well documented in interviews done over the years with the amazing Agony column podcast. One of my favorite concepts Rucker introduced in one of those interviews was the Sci-Fi Power cord. He talked about how certain tropes in speculative fiction such as androids, flying saucers, Alien invasions should not be looked upon negatively as cliché, no more than the power cord in a AC/DC or Ramones song. Through his long career Rucker has explored these power cords always putting a unique spin on familiar topics.

I knew I wanted to read this book when Rucker said after recovering from a health scare he decided to write a book about traveling in the afterlife. Rucker didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel, but was inspired to explore the idea. What we end up with is a novel that is kind of like Matheson's What Dreams May Come' meets Slacker.

It is the story of surfer slacker Jim Oster, a former bio-tech engineer turned mailman who accidentally cuts a hole in a electron and sets off a chain of events starting with the death of his beloved wife Val. In this novel the after world known to it's residents as Flimsy is not above us in the heavens but all around us in each and every electron. This leads to my favorite dialogue from the novel, “Heaven is everywhere. It's a hall of mirrors, but over here only one electron has a nick, thanks to you fuckhead.”

You see, Jim created a tunnel, not only has he some of the various species of flims escaped to earth, but he is given the chance to leave his body and search for his wife in Flimsy.

This is where things get weird, really bizarro. Rucker takes us on a wild adventure across flimsy, a land made up of strange creatures and landscapes. I can hardly do them justice in this review. In Flimsy water flows across the sky, flying intelligent beets, and blue baboons run amok. The characters travel across the land on a cruiser couch that Jim makes with his mind out of a material called Kenessce which all flimsy is made out of. Along the way the book also has has one of the most bizarre sex scenes between Jim and a woman also discovering her astral body.

Jim has to navigate the strange community of Santa Cruz surfers and flims so he can not only find his wife but of course save the earth. Rucker's strength is an amazingly bizarro creative imagination that matches his obvious intellect. Unlike many bizarro books Jim and flims finds humor without appealing to the gutter. The prose has a whimsy, that a lot of science fiction lacks, and frankly could use. It reads like a lucid dream, the kind where you wake up laughing and wondering how your brain came up with that.

So yeah, Rudy Rucker strummed this power cord with a lot of gusto and I think if you have not read his stuff before it's a excellent place to start.

Book Review: Tattered Souls 2 (due out Aug. 2011)

2011-07-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Tattered Souls 2 Edited by Frank Hutton
Chopping Block press
218 pages

I reviewed the first book in this series and based on the strength of the first book choose to read this one. While the first book was not a perfect collection it was a great introduction to several authors I had never heard of before. I was very excited by a novella in the first book that I thought should have been a stand alone novel, and have followed and looked for the work of it's author Matt Wallace ever since reading Tattered Souls 1. That is the greatest function of an anthology, introducing us to authors we have not already found. This is usually done by splitting books between well known authors and new authors.

TS seems to be focused on newer authors as I had only heard of Forrest Aguirre before reading this book. That being said I found Aguirre's story to be the strongest of the collection. His story called The Arch:Conjecture of cities was somewhat Lovecraftian, not in the tired mythos tropes style but in the way the story unfolded.

The book opens with a very Phillip K. Dick inspired dark Sci-fi tale called “Yellow called and Mom was there.” by Tim Burke. Most of the stories are on the longer scale coming close to the line where short stories become novella. This worked in Aguirre's story but made a few of the stories such as Stephanie Shaw's Mademoiselle Guignol drag. A few of the stories could have benefited from being shorter.

TS is a great concept, and should be supported for bringing new authors to the table. I think the first book did a better job, but I can tell you I will read the third when it comes around. Libraries with a focus on horror in their collection should have this for sure.

Book Review: Super amazing and brutal Post Apocalyspe novel 'Through Darkest America'

2011-06-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Through Darkest America By Neal Barrett Jr. (Issac Asimov Presents)
259 pages
(Out of Print)

I can't believe this book is out of print. I can't believe this is not considered a classic. I don't say that lightly. Probably my my favorite subgenre of fiction is the post apocalyptic epic – the Stand, Mad Max, the Road and hell I even liked Book of Eli. This wasreleased the same year as the book I considered the greatest in the genre - Swans Song by Robert McCammon. I admit that I have no experience with author Neal Barrett before reading this book, but to say I was blown away is an understatement. This book slapped me around while I begged for more.

While this novel is certainly Post apocalyptic it feels like a western. It explores issues of violence and inhumanity, ecological devastation and in my mind does almost as good a job of exploring humanity's messed up relationship with animals they consider to be food as any animal rights book I have ever read. It is one of the single darkest and brutal novels in a subgenre speculative horror that is well known for being brutal. If I have already sold you do yourself a favor and buy a used copy on amazon(this book is not easy to find), because I have to give away some early plot points to talk about why this novel is so brilliant.

Through Darkest America takes place sometime after a great war, was it a nuclear war? Biological warfare? The author doesn't explain but we do know it was several generations in the past. Our main narrator is Howie Ryder son of a livestock farmer who provides meat for the government fighting rebels out in the western frontier.

You might think this sounds pretty normal but after the war, the majority of the mammals have died out sometime in the process of the war. A few prized horses are left to be used transportation, so what so the people eat? They eat stock. What are stock? Well as Howie's dad explains to him Stock look like humans, but they are not. You see Stock don't speak and they don't have souls.

Just as Howie is set to take over his father's herd, He witnesses a brutal crime. A group of soldiers sexually assault a female “Stock.” Howie's father kills the rapist and gives Howie a speech about what separates people from stock. Howie is confused because the victim looked human, he even found her attractive. This incident sets off a chain of events that ends with the killing or kidnapping of his family. Howie barely escapes.

The rest of the novel we go with Howie on a coming of age journey that includes him joining an old fashion cattle drive, except the drive is made of stock. Along this journey Howie falls in love, and questions the leader of his gang. I refuse to give away the very end but it sets up a sequel I am dying to read.

Through Darkest America being out of print is a crime. This might be one of the most important works of speculative fiction I have ever read and it's only dumbluck that I read it. You see a couple months ago I picked an issue of Twilight Zone magazine publish in 1988 at a vintage store. In this issue Through Darkest America was reviewed on the same page as Robert McCammon's Swan Song( as I mentioned above). As soon as I read the review I knew I had to read this book. That wasn't easy since it's out of print, I looked at every used bookstore, library I could but I had to break down and order a used copy off amazon.

The story works as a coming-of-age story, it works as a post apocalyptic epic and most of all it is a gritty tale of the wild west. More than anything it is a slap in the face that explores many issues. He might not be vegan I would think Barrett is at least a vegetarian. As a Vegan myself the idea of “stock” in cannibal America is not much of stretch. Since this book was written before terms like “free-range,” and “Humanely raised” are used and argued with in many of the same ways Howie's dad explains the ethical reasons behind raising Stock.

Just as meat-eaters try to explain away the emotions, and feelings of so called “Livestock animals” the characters of this dark future dismiss the lives of their food. They are just souless stock after all. As you might guess the ethical standards for what makes someone a person or stock gets blurred. In the end Howie discovers truth about stock. They can't talk because they are disfigured, they can't rebel because they have never been taught and their spirits have been broken. And just as we have that truth revealed the book ends setting up perfectly for the sequel.

As speculative fiction author who means to express himself on important political and social issues I have never been so jealous of a novel or an idea. A genius work speculative activism, this novel should be a goddamn classic. Read it. Think about it. Maybe if enough of us write about it, Barrett can get it back into print.

Book Review: In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley

2011-06-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley
320 pages
Underland Press
(Due out August 2011, Available for pre-order on amazon now)

Every year at the world horror convention writers compete in an annual “Gross-out contest.” If you have a strong stomach the stories tend to be funny or unbelievably awful. One might think when they see the title to this book is 300 pages of gross-out madness. That is however not what makes John Shirley's short fiction extreme. Forget gross, (although a couple of the stories certainly qualify) the extreme nature is found the unflinching peek into the dark realms of the human condition. Opening this book is like staring through one of the worst peepholes you can imagine.

There is no author working in the horror genre today that does a better job of shining light of the horrendous human condition while maintaining a moral center. Horrible and brutal things happen to many of the characters but even the more outrageous and darkly funny pieces Shirley is not mocking or exploiting the suffering of the characters.

I often read collections out of order but Shirley has taken great care to create a rhythm with the stories revolving between comical, brutal, thoughtful and at times moving. Some highlights include CA heart breaking story of a bike messenger trapped in a subway during an earthquake called 'Cram', the haunting ghost tale 'Just a Suggestion,' The hilarious “I Want to get Married says the World's Smallest Man, and to me the most heartbreaking of all was the Science Fiction short 'Call Girl Echoed.' I read Call Girl Echoed when it was first collected in the best Dark Wisdom – It is the story of technology and the horrible dis connect we are headed towards. Shirley is a master at story and non- preaching message, the reality is there is only one better example than this story. Near the end of the collection a powerful story called Animus Rights. Worth the cover price alone, some might think this story is a little heavy handed but considering the title of the collection an extreme point of view works perfectly for me.

I know the word extreme is quite connected to hyperbole, and creates visions of motor bikes doing triple flips but the word couldn't describe this collection better. This best on display in stories which involve characters that are very non-traditional when it comes to Horror fiction. We as writers are taught to create characters that the reader will care about or relate to. Shirley does an amazing job of involving us in characters like methheads, sex-workers, homeless junkies etc.

His masterpiece horror novel Wetbones took place in the same arena and here some of the best stories features characters you don't often see in horror fiction. Stories like 'You Hear What Ray and Buddy Did,' is about bi-sexual junkies turning tricks,'Tighter' is about a single mom/prostitute who has a John who never thinks he is close enough to dying during sex, and 'Just like Suzie' is just as gore drenched as anything by Edward Lee, but this story of a prostitute who dies while giving oral sex to a John is so disturbing that it makes you cringe, feel gross and awful for being amused all at the same time. I am not sure in all my years of reading horror I have been more uncomfortable reading a single story.

Only two stories failed to connect with me, 'Ten Things to be Grateful for' felt like a predictable filler, it felt like a bit of heavy handed messaging, and certainly Shirley has plenty of amazing stories that could have filled that spot.

The horror short story is an art form all to it's own. Stephen King and Clive Barker in my opinion are masters at the short tale, they sometimes suffered from the word count. King has Skeleton Crew and Night Shift as amazing examples of master doing some of his finest works. Take any of six books of blood and you could teach master classes on the short story. In Extremis to me is the third in a trilogy of collections by John Shirley that rank that highly. Black Butterflies (which one the international horror award and the Bram Stoker), Living Shadows and now In Extremis. Any serious student of the short story needs all three books on their shelf.

Book Review:Anthology Historical Lovecraft

2011-06-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I love the concept of this collection. Ever since Lovecraft encouraged others to play with his mythos, that open door has lead almost everyone to crash the party. Stories set in the mythos throughout history is a valid idea, I am little underwhelmed with the execution. Certainly different periods of history are all there, but I found the stories to be a little ho-hum. A great indication of that was that by the time I finished the collection I had to thumb back through the book to even remember the stories. I didn't really have a favorite.

Some stories like Sarah Hans' 'Shadow of the Darkest Jade' had a great concept but the first paragraph copied Lovecraft opening style so closely I found myself rolling my eyes. In her defense we have all done it writing mythos stuff. One thing I did like is that the stories were all pretty short, sometimes I think was a curse that Lovecraft was paid by the word.

If you are serious about having a complete Loveraftian collection this book could be an important addition. I think there are plenty of nuggets for the readers who are addicted to all things from the unknowable and unspeakable beyond. For the general reader or fan of Lovecraftian fiction I don't think much new ground is explored and to me that is a problem. I am not sure if it was on purpose but the authors who are almost always in Lovecraftian collections such as Michael Shea, CJ Henderson and Cody Goodfellow were absent. That hurt this book in my opinion, such they are almost always there but those three authors not only understand the mythos deeply they are consistent about breaking new and interesting ground.

That was the piece that was missing for me. That is not to say there were not cool stories, but as an anthology I think hardboiled Cthulhu was a better example of an anthology that explored Lovecraft in a a new genre

Book Review: Fathers and Sons: Blackguard Book one by Edward R. Morris

2011-06-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Fathers and Sons: Blackguard (Book one) By Edward R. Morris
242 pages
The Borgo Press (Wildside books)

I am a sucker for many things this novel does well. Blackguard does not fit in to one speculative fiction subgenre perfectly but what it does is blend a lot of them together. Edward Morris is an extremely well read genre writer. He wears his influences on his sleeves like patches sewn on on punk rock leather jacket. What we end up with is an edgy novel that is not quite cyberpunk, military sci-fi, First Contact story or distopia. It is all those things and more.

Written in the similar non-traditional structure as Brunner Classic “The Sheep Look Up,” don't expect they same tired tropes of sci-fi structure. It is the story of several characters who lives are somewhat connected by the mile long uber dance club that future downtown Portland Oregon has been turned into. Sean Mallory is our primary character and after being upgraded mentally and physically by the military creates a new life for himself by starting a team of bouncers called the blackguards. It is their job to secure a dance club the size and scope of which is beyond anything we know.

One of the best characters of the novel Kano is a man Mallory met in the japan during a future war, Mallory also has a son who is fascinated by the life his dad leads as a bouncer. Character wise we learn a lot about Mallory philosophy of bouncing which is informed by experience and eastern philosopher. This suggests a direction in the future books in the series, Mallory likes samurai books and The Art of War.

Morris forces you to get to know the characters before he includes us in on the future history, he avoids the traditional science Fiction disease of “info-dumping” by spending 78 pages building the world. So don't expect this new world to be dumped in your lap. The strangest part is a subplot about first contact with extra terrestrial species that has been watching us.

Morris appears to hiding the direction of the next books in plain sight. The Aliens have arrived but it doesn't seem to be much of a big deal at first. Is this an author slight of hand? This appears to be one of few weaknesses of the novel, the non traditional structure might turn off some readers. I hope not the The characters are strong and the action is exciting.

Morris is a gifted writer that never wastes a word. This brilliant work blurs the many sub-genres of speculative fiction in to a potent cocktail. A work of high literature that explores characters forced into the chaos of an all to possible future. A punk touch on a gritty style makes this novel a MUST-read. Portlanders take note this novel is very much about the rose city.

Review: Eco-horror classic JG Ballard's The Drought

2011-06-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

The Drought by JG Ballard
192 pages
(out of print)

Ballard like a lot of amazing writer's is better know for the films based on his excellent work. Despite several decades of during excellent thought provoking science Fiction novels that managed to crawl out of the genre ghetto to be praised as literature. His most well know work is a semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the sun made into a film by Steven Spielberg, his most famous Science Fiction novel Crash was made into a film by David Cronenberg.

The drought is a fantastic work of both horror and Science Fiction, a gut wrenching and brutal look at one small corner of the world dealing with a ten year drought that nearly ends our species. As a work of speculative eco-horror it ranks with classics in the growing sub-genre. What is most stunning is when it was written, in the middle 60's just few years before fellow British Science Fiction writer John Brunner wrote his eco-horror classic “The Sheep Look Up.”

In the last few years Brunner's novel about chemical pollution and Government manipulations by corporations has been heralded as Prophetic, but Ballard's work is no less telling of a future we are just now seeing come into focus. Just this last week I heard Worldwatch founder Lester Brown on NPR's Fresh Air talking about a coming global food crisis. Population growth, a shift to a western diet, and climate change are creating a world where we have to worry about wars over water, not oil.

But even more directly Ballard's novel suggests the drought is caused by chemicals creating a lifeless dead zone off the shore that prevents evaporation and rainfall. He wrote this in the sixties and now we have an island of plastic forming in the pacific ocean the size of Texas. IS it the same thing? No but it is scary none the less.

The novel follows the character of a Doctor, as he tries to stay at home as the world drys out. While some of the depths to which the characters go to survive might seen tame compared to recent post apocayltic fare, it is pretty hardcore for it's era. The story is well paced, and moves quickly through it's short page count. It should be in print, considering the issues we face in the coming century it is a story that needs to be heard. This kinda of warning is what speculative fiction does best.

It also makes you wonder how recent Eco-horror classics like John Shirley's Demons, and Skip and Spector's The bridge will be judged further down the line.

Cody Goodfellow's Radiant Dawn Trilogy! Complete review

2011-06-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

In The Shadow of Swords by Cody Goodfellow
Perilous Press
44 pages.

Cody Goodfellow is my favorite writer from my generation of horror writers, I have written at length about his work. I decided to re-read his first trilogy of works the Radiant Dawn trilogy.

It starts with a Chapbook novella(44 pages) prequel called “In the Shadow of Swords.” This insanely detailed a researched novella is a barn burner. It is far more directly Lovecraftian than Radiant Dawn. It tells the story of A UN weapons detection team searching 1998 Iraq for banned weapons. The cool thing is Cody did such a great job with the setting, that if I didn’t know better I would assume he worked in Iraq at one time for the UN.

The story builds to the reveal of a hole in the earth like a bathtub drain that was plugged and holding in crazy-ness of a cosmic horror beyond our imagination. Not beyond Cody’s imagination thankfully. This has a very traditional horror reveal that manages to downright creepy. Super worth the $7 cover price.

Radiant Dawn by Cody Goodfellow
Perilous press
320 pages

And then Radiant Dawn. This was Cody’s first novel and it was met with a firestorm of hyperbole on release. It is so strong of a first novel that many found it hard to believe. What I find hard to believe is that Cody was not bought out by a big mass market publisher but hey this novel is not only amazing but it is different, unique and probably to smart for New York publishers to understand or market.

Something I didn’t get the first time was the amazing subtext. You see Radiant Dawn is a monster novel sure, and while still fiction the monsters are in sense very real and already feared by millions in our society. How many of us can relate directly to fearing the monster that is Cancer. In this novel a cult wants to use Cancer to jumpstart the next phase of human evolution by using Cancer cells.

Radiant Dawn is Lovecraftian but not in a traditional YogSagothing way, Goodfellow re-invents the mythos in modern way. At the same time he creates a detailed universe populated by cool characters. Not the least of which is Spike Team Texas, a team of former special forces in a secret war is defend humanity. Cody Goodfellow has grown a lot as a writer since then. At times this book is wordy and over written compared to his current work.

That being said this is an amazing first novel, few writers have come out of the gates with such skill and strength. This was my second time and well worth a second spin.

Ravenous Dusk
Perilous Press
582 pages

The word epic as been tortured by over use in recent slang but the word fits like a glove here. To say that this book is a Lovecraftian epic is an understatement. Elder gods, saggoths, government conspiracy, military battles, race issues all these issues get one of Goodfellow's tenticle touch. It all ends in a satisfying ending that works unlike Stephen King's huge epics.

I think of this as part three in the radiant trilogy, if you count the novella prologue chapbook. I do, this novel pays off the brief touches of the Lovecraftian mythos which are more clear in the chapbook than the first novel. I remember the first time I read Radiant Dawn I kept thinking where is the Lovecraft? The mythos stuff takes center stage in the Ravenous Dusk for sure. Not only that but the book becomes an in direct sequel of sorts to LoveCraft's classic novella “At the mountains of madness.” Goodfellow connects the dots from the mythology explained in that classic novel to the government conspiracy and secret war that he cooked up in Radiant Dawn.

The story of Saggoths using technology to radiate humans to evolve into the next step up the ladder is not only Lovecraftian but in a way it's also Cronenberg-ish body horror and the hybrid is what makes the Radiant trilogy original, interesting and above all fun. The action is over the top and worthy of a John Woo stunt team and the horrific descriptions of the mutations are gross and funny at the same time.

At times the book comes off like Military science fiction, and the creation of of a badass team of mutant ex-special forces dudes named Spike Team Texas is probably my favorite chapter. None the less so much story is packed into the 580 pages it is surprising it didn't actually take more.

I am a huge Goodfellow fan, this is an amazing work of horror fiction but as a friend and reader I can tell you he has grown a lot as a writer since this book was finished.

This book breaks one of the fundamental rules we as writers have drilled into us. We are always told “show don't tell” and this book has hundreds of pages of telling. I am not sure goodfellow could have done anything else as complicated as this story is, but entire chapters consist of characters explaining what is happening behind scenes in conversation. For that reason The chapbook and the first novel tend to be the stronger entries in the trilogy as the mystery was still intact.

That being said it still a fantastic trilogy and it is more unbelievable when you consider that this is a first time author working almost without an outside editor. The Radiant Trilogy is a fantastic achievement, I would not start your Goodfellow journey with it. His more recent novel A Perfect Union and his Wonderland award winning collection “Silent weapons for Quiet Wars” are a better place to start. After you read those then it is time to dip into the madness and glory that is the Radiant Trilogy.

Book Review: Archelon Ranch by Garrett Cook

2011-05-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

Archelon Ranch by Garrett Cook
Legumeman Books
111 pages

This is a weird book, but you knew that going in right? It's a bizarro novel by Garrett Cook who won the first ever bizarro showdown at the first bizarrocon so I knew it would be weird. In a way I would say this novel is a mix of dark city and Adaptation. Bernard the main character is being used in an experiment, the world seems to be trying to convince him that he is a hat. Sometimes other objects, all the while he is being shot with hallucinogenic mud.

The point is not that he is an object, as in a hat, or a dresser drawer. He is object, - protagonist of a novel. As he goes to greater levels he loses more of his sanity, and it's up to his brother Clyde to save him. Clyde is an interesting character,and he knows it. I mean literally he knws he is a character, he is aware that Garrett Cook is writing the book. It seems he has read a lot Garrett's work, and is fairly critical.

So if you have not figured it out it gets a little weird from there. There is a religion that believes in following the word of our author, and Clyde is trying to save Bernard from all the cruel intentions of the author putting him through the experiments.

Is this a horror novel? well I can't say it is not, but I was expecting something a little more horrific,maybe a little darker. That being said it is a great dip in to meta-fiction. If anything was missing, was a feeling that Garrett Cook as a author, and creator of this work was out of his mind. He did such a great job with this novel i felt he was in complete control. He wrote a brilliant piece of meta-fiction but because it was so well written I felt he was solid and in control of the work. That is impressive, but the novel lacked the bat-shit crazy-ness of say Phil K Dick in Three stigmata, where it was so crazy I had no idea where it was going, that novel just felt dangerous. We could have used a little more of that feeling of danger. That is not an insult, Cook is just to good to be that out of control.Well crafted bizarro meta-fiction. Read it, you'll be glad you did.

Interview: Indianapolis horror writer Maurice Broaddus!

2011-05-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

An Indianapolis based horror and fantasy writer? I must know more. I just finished reading his debut novel The King maker and thought it was great, more than anything I wanted my Indiana peeps to know more about him, and to check out his books. That being said there is alot for everyone to enjoy in this book.

David Agranoff: This is your first novel can you give us some background how you ended up being a writer?

Maurice Broaddus: I’ve been a writer for almost as long as I can remember. The first story I wrote was in fifth grade called The Big Mac Attacker (http://mauricebroaddus.com/?p=1239). From there, it was all downhill. I was encouraged to pursue writing by a high school English teacher. After a few years in college when I tried giving up writing, I came back to it to give it a full go. King Maker was actually my fifth novel written, though first published, so it has been a long an interesting journey.

DA: So I grew up in Indiana too, I am wondering what impact Sammy Terry had on you?

MB: Wow, Cowboy Bob (the morning cartoon host) and Sammy Terry (host of the horror movies showcase) were like the book ends to my day. Throw in the Saturday afternoon kung fu marathon, and you pretty much cover my formative years of television.

DA: King maker is a modern re-telling of the King Arthur legend set in the Indianapolis gangland. The Wire meets Excalibur is a valid comparison. I grew up in Indiana, and my experience with the city is mostly through punk rock and north of fall creek, as I read this book I found myself what you directly about the gangs of Indy? Is it research or first hand?

MB: It’s a bit of both. The novel found its origin in my working with homeless teens through the ministry, Outreach Inc. Also through them, I connected with the gang ministry, Save the Youth. Between the two of them, I encountered a side of Indianapolis I never knew existed.

DA: I enjoyed the 70's prologue with its reference to cowboy bob, and such. Any chance we might someday get novel set in 1970's Indianapolis?

MB: I wouldn’t rule it out.

DA: One feedback I saw was that some readers were interested in some of the more minor characters, Do you plan to expand characters Like Omarosa or Burke?

MB: Some of the characters get expanded upon, especially as their connection to the legend of King Arthur gets explored. It’s very much the overall legends of each of the knights that get expanded. So we get to see a variation of The Green Knight in King Maker, The Red Knight in King’s Justice, and The Black Knight in King’s War. Characters like Omarosa may not be who people think they are.

DA: This is origin tale and you built the characters methodically, are you worried that might lose some urban fantasy fans?

MB: This is not the urban fantasy many people will be used to. For a start, I still have my roots in horror writing which shows through at times. Second, this isn’t the world urban fantasy diehards, despite having “urban” in the description, may be used to. Thirdly, the way I tell the story (and what I do to the canon of King Arthur) may lose some folks. That said, I hope to pick up an entirely different set of readers who may not realize they are urban fantasy readers.

DA: Can you tell us about Devil's Marionette? When I first read the description it seemed like the set-up for a satire but the reviews I have read say that it is quite disturbing.

MB: Devil’s Marionette (Shroud Books) is a novella about a cast of an all-black sketch variety show who is haunted, literally and figuratively, by the ghosts of its past. In a lot of ways, it explores the pressure of black artists to be “true to their community”, this tacit pressure to put their best foot forward for the sake of the race. Balanced against a history of racism as a part of their story and experience. You combine all of that with murder, mayhem, and madness, and you have a potent tale of anger and loss, if I do say so myself.

DA: Can you tell us about working with Wrath James White? It seems no mistake that your king Arthur is named after him?

MB: I named a couple of characters in King Maker after a couple of close friends of mine in the writing world. Wrath James White is one and Chesya Burke is another. Wrath and I have an interesting relationship in that we are polar opposites. We come at the world, spirituality, and writing in such different ways, but we have a fundamental respect for one another … even as we passionately disagree. Which is what makes projects like Orgy of Souls (Apex Books) so much fun, well, a disturbing kind of fun. People who know both Wrath and I can easily see us in the main characters of that novella. And it’s also why we are currently working on another project that I can’t talk about just yet (but can tease the mess out of folks about).

DA: Last can you tell us about your convention you put on in Indianapolis?

MB: Whenever there is a writer’s convention, there are always room parties at night, where people unwind, lower their guards and have great conversations over food and drinks. Mo*Con (http://www.mocon.indianahorror.org/) is like that room party for a whole weekend. What also makes it different is that it takes place in a church. So we have all of these horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers from various spiritual backgrounds who come together and hang out all weekend in a church. We have a couple panel discussions ranging from spiritual issues to social issues to writing issues all over meals. It’s very much a time rooted in getting to know one another and one of the highlights of my year.

check out the new look of http://www.mauricebroaddus.com/

Book Review: King Maker by Maurice Broaddus

2011-05-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

King maker: The Knights of Benton Court 1 by Maurice Broddus
412 pages
Angry Robot

This is an excellent and original first novel of urban fantasy, with dark horrific over tones. King maker is most easily described as King Arthur's court in reset in the ganglands of Indianapolis. Having grown up an hour south of Indianapolis, I grew up going to Indy to go to sporting events, metal and hardcore shows. So I was interested in this novel that took place in a city but familiar and unknown to me.

I think many of my friends who has lived in or around Indianapolis might still feel they have a little to learn about the from the point of view Broaddus provides. I admit I probably enjoyed the geography and local references a lot but there is plenty to like even if you have seen been to Indianapolis.

This book is a origin tale and has the difficult task of setting up characters who stand-in for King Arthur and his knights. Not to mention all the gang riff raff they have to deal with. It was smart to include a a chart at the front of the book.

The fantasy elements are pretty restrained, and only appear in small doses until the end of the book, also it sets up the future books having a greater level of fantasy. This worked for me as Broaddus focused his energy on building strong and well defined characters. In this sense the first ¾ of King maker has more in common with The Wire than Excalibur. This is an excellent choice on the author's part because more than most Urban fantasy novels the world felt raw and real.

This is an excellent debut, but it is an origin novel and it's strength lies in strong characters and the road ahead. It's fortunate that Angry Robot has already released books two and three. They are already on my list.

Seattle Vegan Revolution...With Zombies Reading!

2011-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 8th, 2011
2:00 PM
Vegan Author Reading
David Agranoff
Cortona Cafe
2425 E Union St, Seattle
(206) 327-9728
#2 Bus Line

Check out my interview on The popular Seattle blog Vegan Score:
http://www.veganscore.com/2011/04/vegan-author-david-agranoff-reads-vegan.html

Vegan Revolution With Zombies reading in Olympia, WA

2011-04-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

With the amazing Kevin Shamel! Still trying to find a venue for the next day in seattle with Gina Ranalli, should know on Monday.

Hunting The Moon Tribe Book Release party at the Hollywood theater!

2011-04-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Art: by Eisner award winning artist Eric Shanower.

Hey Portland SAVE THE DATE! Thurs May 5th! Hollywood Movie Theater! My novel Hunting the Moon Tribe's Crazy awesome book release party! Vegan cake! Classic Kungfu and horror movie trailers on the big screen! Books on sale, signing total geek madness!

At the end of April my novel Hunting the Moon Tribe will be released by Little Otick press. It began life as an award nominated amateur screenplay (Dimension films open door contest, the Nicholl Fellowship), and was reborn as an epic Wuxia Pan (Chinese) Fantasy featuring kung fu crazyness and monster madness.

I have worked on this novel off and on since 1994, So this book means alot to me. I can't wait to share this night with old friends and fellow geeks. I promise this night will be a blast. We'll be showing movie trailers on the big screen that inspired the book. The trailers will be riot, super fun. This is a night you'll remember I promise.

Promo video for the event

Advance praise for Hunting The Moon Tribe:

"David Agranoff's HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE mashes up Chinese mythology, some seriously unnerving horror, Maoist politics, a sweet coming-of-age story, dark magic, and high-kicking martial arts into a compelling and unusual page-turner. I've never read (or seen) anything like it, and HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE should mark Mr. Agranoff as one of the most original and exciting new voices to emerge in genre fiction in a dragon's age." - Lisa Morton Three time Bram Stoker award winning author of The Castle of Los Angeles and The Cinema of Tsui Hark.

“Remember that old Shaw Brothers / Hammer Studios flick The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires? HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE is what that movie should have been. It is an extremely entertaining epic of kick-ass martial arts and bloody horror. Agranoff not only dazzles us with breathtaking action scenes and vampire violence but also tugs at our heartstrings with realistic family drama and romance. It’s a scary martial arts fantasy that will please just about everyone. David Agranoff is a gifted storyteller.” - Jordan Krall Author of Fistful of Feet and Squid pulp Blues

“As terrifying as Richard Laymon, and just as good, David Agranoff reshapes the vampire mythos in ways never experienced. The horror is visceral, the action brutal, and at its core, there’s a poignancy typically left out of today’s horror. A circus between worlds, vampires, and martial arts aplenty – “Hunting the Moon Tribe” reads like “Brotherhood of the Wolf” encompassed in Chinese folklore and culture. One of the strongest new voices in horror fiction that I’ve read.” - Eric Mays author of Naked Metamorphosis and host of the Authors Speak Podcast

Try Vegan PDX looking for a volunteer Graphic designer!

2011-04-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Try Vegan PDX looking for a volunteer Graphic designer!

Hey our all volunteer vegan mentoring organization teaches people the nuts and bolts about being vegan. We are looking for someone who can design posters and newspaper ads for us. It's only for 5 to 8 events a year. Looking for vegans interested in helping us out. You don't have to live in Portland, although that wouldn't hurt.

Drop us a line if you are interested? put those skills to work and help us make new vegans!

info@tryveganpdx.com

Interview: Jonathan Moon Horror and Bizarro author!

2011-04-02T18:16:00.001-07:00

DA: Mister Moon, Tell us about your back ground where you grew and how you discovered horror and bizarro?

JM:I was born in southern Idaho and lived there until jr high. My family moved to Nevada and I graduated high school there. I bounced back and forth a half dozen times before hauling ass up to northern Idaho (sick of southern Idaho and Nevada).
I grew up with horror kinda’ ingrained in me. I remember my parents reading Stephen King and Dean Koonz out loud to each other on long car rides. Something about the darkside of things has always fascinated me. I always cheered for Cobra Commander and Skeletor-alas, to no avail. Once I hit high school I discovered Clive Barker and H.P. Lovecraft. Both blew my mind and gave my mental warping a direction. My brother has an incredible collection of horror DVDs and I spent many nights pillaging it and watching a wide range of horror cinema. Yep, I’ve been horror for ever.
Bizarro I’ve only discovered the past few years and the more I read the more I love. I think bizarro is a bubbling mix of pop culture, every literary and cinematic genre known to man, raw emotions, and unforgiving humor all stirred together by some men and women with huge vats of imagination and dedication. I can’t stop reading bizarro…I tried to take a break but it pulls me back. Bizarro is a genre every writer should, in my opinion, read. I’m a horrorhead with a major bizarro-jones.

DA: How long have you been involved in writing fiction?

JM: I’ve been writing stories since I was just a little half a Moon. When I was still in elementary I wrote, drew, and stapled my first comic book, The Blue Ninja, and sold copies for 25cents apiece. I’ve always had the urge to write and I’d fill double lined notebooks with long rambling violent tales that made little sense. Over the years I’ve honed my craft and found my style. I self published Heinous and then put together Mr. Moon’s Nightmares. Once I set my mind on writing I began receiving acceptances and they just encouraged me…and now here I am- kicking up dust and talking to the guy who wrote The Vegan Revolution…With Zombies.

DA:You refer to yourself as a horror-core author, how do you define that?

JM:When I was young my dad took us to Yellow Stone National Park all the time. I grew up walking the paths and sniffing the sulfur. When Yellow Stone burned I was there. I saw trees I had known since I could walk mere smoking shells of themselves. Entire mountainsides were blackened and dead. In my minds eye I could still see the beauty I had always seen over the burnt trees and earth. I watched butterflies flitting around wisps of smoke from charred path markers. Something stuck with me….there is beauty in the terrible and there is terrible in the beauty…that’s what I see as horror-core….finding the frightful in any thing and every thing. Horror and beauty swirled together.

DA: Tell me about Mr. Moon's Nightmares? It's great title for collection. Is there a theme?

JM:Thank you. There is a wide variety of stories in M.M.N. including two novellas, a 100 word flash piece, a limerick, and a serial story. I didn’t set out to do it but the majority of the stories contained within do take place in the same fiction mountain region. There are stories with werewoloves, witches, vampires, as well as a few baddies of my own creation. It is a collection I’m very proud of and I think fans of dark horror will dig it.

DA: Tell me about the process of picking and the stories and how much did you think about order they went in?

JM:I loved putting the stories in order. I think it awoke memories of mix tapes in high school. I read a lot of different stories in different orders just try to gauge the feel and the flow of the entire collection. I feel like each story stands well on its own but I wanted the overall feel of the collection to intensify as you read it. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

DA: You co-wrote a dark bizarro novel called The Apocalypse and Satan's Glory Hole, Tell us how that came about and how did you divide the labor?

JM:Hahaha. Tim Long posted up on facebook asking if anyone felt like collaborating on a novel. I was wrapping up Mr. Moon’s Nightmares and was looking for something to tackle next. Tim is a big fan of bizarro as well and we decided to have a little fun a write a bizarro apocalypse. It turned out to be more fun than I ever expected. To be honest I didn’t know I could write comedy until I started working on Apoc!
We hammered out a few characters and a thin plot line through emails and phone calls and each followed a set of characters and two each of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. As far as all the work of putting a novel together all I did was write my parts. Tim on the other hand is a whirlwind of talent and he did the formatting, worked with the cover artist and editor, and everything else I can think of. Really he spoiled me and I’ll be a useless collaborator from now on.
We are actually planning on splitting it up into smaller books and writing a third part to wrap the entire madness up. We hope to have the first book available by May.

DA:You just edited a collection of bizarro horror called Houdini Gut Punch can you talk about the theme and what you were looking for in this collection?

JM:Yes, Houdini Gut Punch was my first editorial offer to the world. It is 15 tales of weird horror. I feel like I was fortunate enough to get some really great stories from some very talented established authors and a few first time stories from previously unpublished authors. All in all a think I built a very entertaining collection for fans of the weird and the dark.
My main goal with the Library of Bizarro Horror is to publish great weird dark fiction and spread it to new people. Submissions are open for the next anthology I’ll be editing, Technicolor Tentacles. Along with that I’ve got a number of super cool things cooking from the Library of Bizarro Horror this year including a duel novella book from Jordan Krall and William Pauley III.

DA: Your first novel, HEINOUS, is going to be re-released by The Library of Horror can you tell us about it?

JM: HEINOUS is the story of a demon and the boy he possesses. If I had to describe it with one word I’d say ‘brutal’ if I had two words I’d say ‘brutal’ and ‘emotional’. I originally self published it a few years back and ended up very unimpressed with the company I was working with and the quality of the book. I sent Doc Pus (my publisher over at The Library of the Living Dead and all of its sister imprints) a copy for Christmas two years ago and he loved it. He saw through my half-assed editing and the shitty formatting to the twisted story beneath. I was lucky enough to get the chance to re-work it. I’ve added quite a bit and re-written most of it so it is becoming the beast I always knew it could be. It should be available end of April/beginning of May. HEINOUS is the most powerful, as well as, darkest, most vile and hardcore violent thing I’ve written (yet).

DA:Five films that most resemble your work?

JM:The entire Hellraiser Series, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Creeping Terror (1964), Zombieland, and, although it was really a television show, Twin Peaks.
I should also give credit to Guy Richie and Quentin Tarantino for being major influences on my writing as I progress and get comfortable in my style.

DA: You could only read books by 5 authors for the rest of your life who would they be?
JM:Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft, David Dunwoody, Jordan Krall, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Population Zero By Wrath James White

2011-03-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Population Zero by Wrath James White
Deadite Press
103 pages

Ok I fully expected to hate this book. The world of fiction has not been kind to vegans, the depiction in the media is pretty awful. The worst being the scene in 12 monkeys when a group of animal rights activists celebrate by making monkey sounds and scratching themselves.

So when I heard extreme horror writer and former MMA fighter Wrath James White had written a novella with a vegan environmentalist serial killer I was afraid to read it. I am sure not all vegans will be happy about White’s Vegan character, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is not a politically correct book by any means and I think many will call it classist, maybe even subtly racist.

The fact is this is a challenging book, like many great works of ecological and political horror it challenges us to look hard at things we refuse to see, in this case that is not the torn and ripped up fetuses, and mangled limbs. This book has those but that is not what makes this book extreme horror if you ask me. It is just how much this book challenges the notion that having children in our seriously overpopulated is always a reason to congratulate someone.

Todd Hammerstein, is vegan, rides his bike to his social services job at the welfare department. This is a short novel but White does a great job, giving depth to Todd’s environmental beliefs quickly and for me that is more interesting than the blood and gore in the second half. An incident with the family dog that was his first love plants a seed with Todd, if you can’t support the population, you shouldn’t breed. His father tells them that is why they have to kill the dogs accidental puppies.

From his job at the welfare department he sees an endless stream of people with children they have no means to support. When he fails convince some that they should have an abortion Todd resorts to violence.

I clearly don’t agree with serial killing as a means of population control but I love this method of story telling to talk about the serious issue of human overpopulation. Add population zero to the cannon of great Ecological horror with Skipp and Spector’s The Bridge, Shirley’s Demons and Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up.

New interview up with me on another blog...

2011-03-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

Check it out here:
http://mrmoonblogs.blogspot.com/2011/03/mr-moon-interviews-david-agranoff.html

Find who I think would win in a death match between Dee Snyder and Regan. Details on my upcoming novels Hunting The Moon Tribe and Goddamn Killing Machines!

Also stay tuned for interview with Mr. Moon here on my blog. It was a trade.

Book Review: The Ghost Way by Lance Smith

2011-03-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

The Ghost Way
As Told by EOT and Jak Ramankajia
Translated and adapted by Kung Ramankajia
Written by Lance Smith
Self-published(I think no publisher is listed on the book)
108 pages

This is a self published book and frankly, that is the only reason it ended up in my hands. In all the years I have been doing reviews for my blog, and Monster Librarian this is the single worst book I have received. When I read the description that author sent my editor it sounded like a Thai version of the Amityville horror. The first suggestion I have to the author (and I am very confused to know just who that is) read that classic before working on another edition.

This is simply an awful book, it was a painful slog for me. I feel bad saying it, but I have to be honest, I would love to say this is a self published DIY gem that deserves to transcend amazon self publishing(they exist) but I can’t. Based a true story according to the book of a haunted farm house in Thailand would make an intense campfire experience but you can’t just transcribe someone talking and expect it to turn into a readable book. According to the credits it appears that a family friend and former Roger Corman screenwriter was brought on to write the novel of Ramankajia family experience.

I see no sign of thought out structure, narrative pacing or attempts at stylized prose. It reads like a hundred pages of storytelling transcription. Little to no Character depth, and absolutely nothing stuck in my memory. No library or collection needs this book except Ramankajia family library. I know it sounds harsh but if I was the author I would take it out of print and work on a second edition. The only reason I read past page 5 is because I had to. This is not a Thai flavored Amityville Horror, too bad because it could have been and that would have been cool.

Book Review: The Samhanach by Lisa Morton

2011-03-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

The Samhanach by Lisa Morton
98 pages
Bad Moon Books
Novella series

I am huge fan of Lisa Morton already, and I becoming a big fan of Bad Moon’s novella series. Morton is a three time Bram Stoker award winning author, her first novel “The Castle of Los Angeles,” made my 2010 top ten list and I have been a fan of Morton’s very solid short stories for years.

She is also the author of two non-fiction books about her favorite Holiday – Halloween. This novella is about Halloween and who better to write it. Spanning 300 years of Halloween and Scottish folklore this is the story of family curse, every one hundred years on Halloween night a monster seeks revenge on McCafferty clan. In 2010 Mother Merran McCafferty looks into the family’s history to see if she can avoid the curse.

Morton brings her amazing depth of Halloween folklore to this complex story. When I say complex it’s amazing just how much story is tightly packed into the page count.

That is something I noticed about the last two Bad Moon novellas I reviewed (Jade by Gene O’Neil and Blood Spring by Erick Williams). All three books I read on flights, and they were perfect plane reads. You can get the whole story in one sitting, perfect length for a short flight. The books are not cheap, but keep this in mind, Bad Moon is an independent press putting out works by authors who fresh, they are worthy of your support.

Another home run for Lisa Morton, fans of Halloween fiction should not pass this one up. Picture a copy and read it on Halloween night!

Book Review: Innswich Horror by Edward Lee

2011-03-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Innswich Horror by Edward Lee
165 pages
Deadite press

Ed Lee is know for his very modern, very splatterpunk influenced extreme horror, and while we share the same publisher I have not always been a huge fan of his work. I liked Flesh Gothic which reminded me of a more extreme Eyes Wide Shut. I read his recent stab at the Lovecraftian mythos the Innswhich Horror and can say that I was very impressed.

If you are a fan of the classic Lovecraft Novella - the Shadow over Innsmouth just stop reading this review. Just trust me and pick up this book. I think of it as a sequel or companion piece. Lee not as known for Mythos fiction like CJ Henderson or Brian Lumley, but I would say Lee has created as strong an entry to the mythos cannon. Some of those same writers have devoted entire careers to Playing in Lovecraft’s sandbox, but here in this short quick volume Lee shows a deep understanding of Lovecraft and his work.

The story follows Foster Morley a Lovecraft devotee who traces Lovecraft’s path and research and finds a city and location similar to the events in the Lovecraft story. Lee builds the mystery and suspense perfectly and to me this is his best work to date. Mythos writing is as tired and over done as gothic vampire romance, so I have to hand it Lee who knocked this mythos novel out of the park. Lovecraft fans will enjoy this work, and it should be in your collection.

Book Review: Crucified Dreams Edited by Joe R. Lansdale

2011-03-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

Crucified Dreams Edited by Joe R. Lansdale
350 pages
Tachyon Publications

There are some authors you get tired of heaping praise on. Joe R. Lansdale is a force of nature, but the author of over thirty novels, hundreds of short stories and Graphic novels doesn’t ever put out crap. The guy is just an amazing writer. So if at this point, your thinking, “I have not read any of his stuff.” Start adding his books to your TBR.

As for this anthology, it’s hard to resist the usual hyperbole, but damnit this is the best anthology I have read in years. Hands down. In his introduction Lansdale described it as fiction that is in a similar vein to what he writes. And in a lot of ways if you started reading it without the authors name it would be possible to believe he wrote many of the stories.

Like the best of Lansdale's own fiction you will find yourself involved in the stories, flipping pages quickly and constantly feeling the range of emotions you want from a book. You will laugh out loud, cringe at events you know are coming, and shaking your head in delightful disgust.

The list of authors in this volume is impressive from Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, Tom Piccirilli and many, many more. There is not a stinker in the bunch, (outside of one story by Jonathan Letham, whose unbroken structure grated on me) top to bottom this book is brimming with creative insanity.

Some of my favorites included David Morrell’s revenge tale Front Man, Lansdale’s The pit, Octavia Butler’s bitter tale of disease, and Portland’s own Lucius Shepard with a tale of a not so over the hill boxer. Tom Piccirilli had the best story opener and my absolute favorite story of the book of “The Mojave Two Step” by Norman Partridge.

This is a must have for any serious horror reader or library. Lansdale has given us a gift here, I only wish I knew more about how and why he selected the stories. If you like short stories you will love this book.

Book Review: Degrees of Fear by CJ Henderson

2011-02-17T19:47:00.001-08:00

Degrees of Fear by CJ Henderson
Introduction and story introductions by William Jones. Afterword by Joe Mauceri. illustrations by Ben Fogletto.
Dark Regions Press, 266 pages

This is a great collection by an author I had read here and there in various Lovecraftian style anthologies over the years. According to the introduction Henderson has been plugging away for thirty years. Most of these stories are from the last ten years but two are new to this pretty edition. It has a pretty full color cover art and eight neat illustrations throughout. The writing is tight modern Mythos style Lovecfraftian fiction that borrows not just from Lovecraft but second generation mythos writers like Lin Carter.

I was most impressed by two of the shorter stories "Hope" and the title story "Degrees of Fear." Hope is genius tale of hell and damnation that paints an ugly picture in a short word count of how a demon just might torture you in hell. Powerful stuff. The title story to me riffs on Lovecraft style the best without relying on the long dead authors characters or monsters. the story is a neat slight of hand and I thought it closed out the book on a strong note.

My only problem with this book is how many times I saw the name Lovecraft mentioned in the the introductions that come with each story. I don't mind authors playing in the master's sandbox but it gets frustrating for me as reader when it seems like that is the only terrority the author is going in. Cody Goodfellow is a great example of an author who writes excellent mythos stories but also writes very un-lovecraftian stuff as well.

Henderson not only writes about elder gods but also went as far as to write a story about Herbert West(The Lovecraft character who inspired Re-animator). Henderson is a talented writer with a sharp imagination, this book is filled cover to cover with impressive tales. They would be more impressive to me if they didn't all exist in Lovecraft's world. I read in his bio that he has a series of his own creation, I intend to read that.

If you have a focus on Lovecraftian fiction in your collection, or if you are looking for modern Lovecraftian stuff this volume is essential.

Vegan Revolution...With Zombies T-Shirts Now!

2011-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks I'm still trying to raise money to pay of the damage done to the car we used to the trailer for Vegan Revolution...With Zombies. I have another cool way to help us out! My Buddy Magik (who I made into a character in the book) has a T-shirt print shop. He is printing these amazing T-shirts on Organic cotton.

Front: "When there is no more meat in hell, the vegans shall walk the earth."

Back: Has the cover art for the book.

Organic Cotton, ethically made, zero waste printing process. Grey shirts(It's the color where the design looks best. Any funds left over after paying the car will be donated to to Try Vegan PDX. Guys and ladies shirt designs available.

$20.00 (including Postage,International rates may vary)
$15.00 (Bike delivery in Portland,Oregon)

Payments to Paypal: Count.Agranoff@gmail.com
E-mail me Shirt size and Address you want the shirt shipped or Delivered to.

Book Review: The Fall (Strain book Two)

2011-02-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro And Chuck Hogan

309 pages

William Morrow

Guillermo Del Toro is to horror geek-dom what Eddie Van Halen was to guitar playing in the 80’s. A master who can do no wrong, his films, his art, and now his novels are fantastic. I feel bad because Chuck Hogan who is also a bestselling author seems to be overshadowed by GDT(literally and figuratively). There is a good reason for that beyond the fact that movies are more popular (although the success of “The Town” will help), the strain trilogy is very much Del Toro’s baby. He can and will write novels on his own some day I am sure, but he teamed up with Hogan because Hogan had skills to write the police procedural stuff.

I liked The Stain book one, it was a great introduction. The authors have said that each book stand alones, and while that sounds nice, I am not sure that is true. The first book is a great introduction to the characters, and as the second book does a good job of reviewing the events it would be a shame to miss out on the first book. That being said the first book is not as strong as the second.

The story of The Fall lends itself to kicking ass. The first book was world building and information dumps it was a lot of stuff as a novelist you have to do. How do the Vampires work? Who are the characters? What are the rules. So for book two we have all those things established and we are ready to rock.

I knew I would dig this book, I love a great end of the world apocalypse novel, McCammon’s Swan Song is perhaps my favorite and while it’s not as sprawling as swan song or as intimate as I am Legend the strikes perfect balance. Not too long, not a lot of wasted fat, the story cooks along at a great pace.

It also ends with a great cliffhanger and set up for the third book that makes you wonder why no other vampire author ever thought of the end these two did.

The Fall follows the same characters Eph Goodweather the CDC guy, Fet the exterminator, and Vampire hunter Setrakian. It deepens their story and that of the Vampire ancients and master. Also introduces new characters like a retired Mexican wrestler now as the silver angel.

The pace is exciting making it a quick read, the characters are solid and fleshed out without wasting word count on it. The chapters split back and forth between setting and characters with such perfect pacing that you feel like your watching film. The film editing and writing influence GDT brings to the table works really well in this novel.

Near perfect science fiction horror end of the world novel with the addition of a vampire mythos, how can you go wrong? You can only go wrong by missing the chance to read this.

Book Review Praise the Dead by Gina Ranalli

2011-02-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has followed my blog knows I love Gina Ranalli and her wide range of horror and bizarro books. House of Falling Trees to me is her at her horror best and Suicide girls in the Afterlife is her bizarro best. Gina returns with a unique spin on the zombie tale, see I’m not the only vegan with a zombie novel out.

Gina plays it serious with a mini-epic written in minimalist style. She tells a story in 170 pages that would take Stephen King a bible thick 1,000 pages or more to tell. At times it does feel like we are reading the final chapter of a bigger story but Gina has said we have not seen the last of some of the interesting characters in this novel.

Praise the Dead is the tale of two gifted kids born in other parts of the country each with strange talents. Lindy talks to birds and they tell her important things from a young age. Andrew has the power of resurrection, he starts with small animals and before long he is killing and returning humans.The forces of good and evil are taking sides behind Andrew and Lindy, with a great battle coming Andrew builds his army.

Ranalli has done a good job of finding a interesting hook to update the zombie story, in a re-telling of the Joan of Arc myth. This one doesn’t focus on siege or survival and in that sense it is different. It has more in common with the second half of the stand than it does Night of the Living Dead. I don’t think it’s as good of introduction to her work as House of Fallen trees, but it is hint of the trilogy it is meant to kick off. Can’t wait to read the next two.

Book Review: He is Legend a Tribute to Richard Matheson

2011-02-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

Richard Matheson is one of the greatest living writers in any genre but in the fields of Science Fiction and Horror he is a giant. To the mainstream you can always say he is the guy who wrote and name any of several classics. People know and love his work but often don’t know his name. The man behind several of the best Twilight zones, I am Legend, Somewhere in Time and Duel to name a few.

He is Legend is a long overdue tribute to Matheson. This anthlogy has sequels and companion pieces to Matheson tales by Stephen King, Joe Hill, John Shirley, Mick Garris, F.Paul Wilson, William F. Nolan, Gary Branbeck, Thomas F. Monteleone and many other giants in the field.

Fans of Matheson should find this book to be essential. There are no stinkers in this collection, but favorites came early in the collection. Throttle is a excellent sequel of sorts to Matheson’s story/screenplay Duel written by father and son team Stephen King and Joe Hill. This is a great piece and had sentence that made laugh hard enough I put the book down.

Mick Garris has interesting prologue to I am Legend written from thye point of view of the annoying neighbor Ben Cortman. Another favorite is John Shirley’s companion piece to Matheson’s classic Somewhere in Time. In Shirley’s piece a historian uses the same method of time travel to try and stop the events at the OK Corral.

Now that is book is out in trade paperback, it’s great way to celebrate one of the greatest 20th century writers to ever expand the genre.

Book Review: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

2011-02-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

This book is destined to become a modern Halloween classic and should be read in the days leading up to Hallowen to get full enjoyment. A slightly darker take on the Midwestern Halloween tale than Bradbury’s Something Wicked this Way Comes but it’s in the same vein. It’s period piece that takes place in a nameless Midwestern town. Each year the Halloween becomes with a great sacrifice.

The harvest guild has to make sure or the crops they depend on might not come back after the winter. So every year on Halloween the residents make “The Run”. The teenage boys hit the street and compete to be the first to kill October boy AKA: Sawtooth Jack, a Pumpkin headed monster that bleeds wrapped candy.

Our hero is Pete McCormick who is out to win the night and kill the October Boy but the mystery heats up when he gets clues to the person behind the Jack o’ Latern.

Dark Harvest is a brilliant short horror novel, written by acclaimed author Norman Partridge. The style is jarring at times, Partridge breaks down the forth wall, talking directly to the reader in second person. Most of the book is written in third person and the point of shift slightly from time to time. In the hands of lesser writer it would have totally turned me off but Partridge has a master’s touch. Bottom line is it works. Pick up the paperback and put it on the TBR until Halloween week. You’ll be glad you did.

Three Novels On The Way...

2011-02-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

Three New Novels this year:

Hey there, just wanted to give you an update on what is going on with my novels for the next year. First I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who bought, borrowed or found another way to read Vegan Revolution…with Zombies. I really had fun writing that book and promoting it has also been an adventure. Thank you for supporting the book and helping me promote for an artist at my level word of mouth is crucial.

So I have three more books due out from various imprints of Eraserhead press. Each one is very different from each other and I think if you enjoyed my collection Screams from a Dying World you could get a hint of the range I am shooting for over time with the novels. Here is a short preview of the books.

March/ April 2011

Hunting the Moon Tribe

After years of delay I have a firm date for the first novel I wrote Hunting the Moon Tribe. It’s an epic Wuxia Pan (Chinese kungfu fantasy) horror crossover. Bram Stoker award winning author Lisa Morton who wrote that awesome Castle of Los Angeles..."I've never read (or seen) anything like it, and HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE should mark Mr. Agranoff as one of the most original and exciting new voices to emerge in genre fiction in a dragon's age." Or the bizarro author Jordan Krall had this to say "Agranoff not only dazzles us with breathtaking action scenes and vampire violence but also tugs at our heartstrings with realistic family drama and romance. It’s a scary martial arts fantasy that will please just about everyone. David Agranoff is a gifted storyteller.”

Summer 2011

Goddamn Killing Machines

This a military Science Fiction novel in the tradition of the Dirty Dozen, The Forever War and Starship Troopers.

GKM is the story of a team of military contractors in 22nd century who are wanted around the various planets and colonies of human expansion for various war crimes. They are given a deal. Kill one target and all is forgiven. The problem is the target is the one member of their team they fear and he is hiding the most hostile planet known to humanity.

Somewhere along a river eleven times the length of the amazon on planet filled with vicious wildlife is the greatest psychopath these professional killers have ever known. If they can survive this epic journey they met yet discover the horrible truth behind their mission.

Fall 2011

Bootboys of the Wolfreich

It’s the summer of 1989 sixteen year small town anti-racist Skinhead Paul Jackson is moving with his family to Chicago. He is excited to hang-out,drink beer, fight and go to shows with the big city skins. The SHARPS were winning the turf with the Nazis from the Westside suburbs.

Sonny is smarter than your average Nazi skinhead, he is tired of losing battle after battle in the streets with the SHARPS. After their leader is put in prison an old man with thick German accent walks into their lives, he brings with him the message of thousand year Reich and magical wolfskin.

Overnight their evil ideas and desire for belonging turns them into monsters with a appetite for flesh. The tide starts turning as bodies of mangled rude boys, skins and straight edgers turn up around the northside of Chicago.

Count agranoff's Best Mosh parts ever!

2011-01-31T10:14:00.000-08:00

In honor of my 18th Vegan anniversary I give you my favorite Mosh parts of all time…

I love going off at shows…these are my favorite songs to go crazy to…

Earth Crisis: Born from Pain

Every second of this song makes me want to go crazy, the music, the lyrics, the speed, every thing. I can’t point to a moment. They first time I saw Earth Crisis after years of being broke up in Seattle they opened with this song. I thought I was going to go crazy but by the end of the song I was covered in blood, sweat and felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I was so happy to be alive and be me.

Abnegation: Hopes for Harmony

One of my favorite songs of all time, this song is nuts. You got to forgive the recording Abnegation never had money or got a good recording. The snare has a crazy snap, but this song has amazing energy. If you watch the video of three songs from 1996 Cleveland fest you can see the amazing energy they had live. At 1:02 seconds the song breaks down into a killer mosh. I can’t even tell you how crazy I went singing along in the pit to this song.

Another Victim: Martyr

Late 90’s in Syracuse AV shows were like mini-prison riots. Hatebreed was really the first 100% mosh band, and by that I mean it’s dance music like techno – there is little point to hatebreed except a soundtrack for a violent mosh pit. Another Victim to me had the same crazy mosh but had lyrics about Veganism, straight edge and in this song anti-Pornography. It always cracked me up seeing tough guys lose their shit to a song that was anti- porn. :55 seconds…my favorite mosh part of all time.

Race Traitor: Curse

Ironically another feminist mosh anthem. I believe this song is about the cycle of domestic violence. Chicago’s Race Traitor. Andy (Fallout Boy) Hurley kills it on this song. This song brings the Mosh in 11 seconds in with a killer breakdown. But this song has three levels of mosh. :35 seconds in we get an even heavier mosh part. After the speed picks up to explode with the emotions of the lyrics “How could you fuckin touch him!” and breaks it down one last time. In a 1:40 seconds RT produced an epic of mosh brutality.

Undying: teratisms

I could only find a live version to share, I saw them the night before this show at the Che and you can bet I was wind willing and going crazy at 1:07 into this song. Undying has tons of amazing mosh parts, Jimmi is a Vegan mosh master. The chorus of this song is a genius mosh that is played at to slightly different speeds and fits in the song so amazingly. Love it.

Day of Suffering: Eternal Jihad

Might be my favorite record of the 90’s. Brought death metal into vegan hardcore, and the lyric “Tormented by the legions of evil and their infernal hatred of life” makes me feel better every time I hear it on a bad day.

Book Review: Dominion by Greg F. Gifune

2011-01-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

This my second Greg F. Gifune novel, the first Children of Chaos I reviewed in April 2010, I got Dominion based entirely on the strength of that novel. It was knock-out of a book. I knew I wanted to read more Gifune, and this was important to my enjoyment of the novel. I went in blind, I didn't even read the back description on the cover. After the prologue which was intense, brutal and ugly I wasn't sure I could read a whole book like that.

Thankfully, that was just a much needed introduction as extreme as Ed Lee but important to the story. If you trust my opinion or my reviews just stop right here and read both Children of Chaos and Dominion. I think I liked the subject of COC a little bit more but Dominion was very tightly constructed and I enjoyed reading this novel.

OK, I am going to try to do this first part without spoilers but like I said you'll have a better time going into this book blind. Dominion is the tale of Daniel Cicero, A Boston Radio ad salesman who loses his wife in a tragic accident. She is killed crossing a highway, and the novel handles the grief in heart breaking and realistic way. After months of grief Daniel begins to wonder, what was she doing there? The only logical explanation is a late night meeting at the motel across the street from the mall where she was parked after hours. That is when the phone calls start a mysterious man calls insisting that his wife is alive.

Dominion is a great mystery, and has plenty of surprises and misdirection. Gifune is a talented Horror writer who is well known and respected in the horror underground and deserves to be breaking into the Mainstream.

Ok now for the spoilers review....

My only problem with Dominion came in it's final act. I think Gifune had done a wonderful job setting up the mystery and suggesting through out the story that supernatural explanation, or one based in Quantum physics was needed to explain the events. When it is revealed that his best friend had stolen and used his wife's identity I thought it was an excellent twist and made me feel effectively tricked. I was impressed because I thought the supernatural story thing was nothing more than misdirection. When the supernatural story line is re-introduced I felt like the end of a Friday the 13th movie when Jason got up one to many times. That said I really enjoyed the book, and will continue to work my way through his books.

Book Review: Burning Fight 90's hardcore book by Brian Peterson

2011-01-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound. by Brian Peterson

Punk and Hardcore music is impossible to explain to someone who has never been apart of it. I thought about it a couple years ago when I saw a Vegan straight edge band from Southern California playing in Portland. I had friends around me that grew up in California, New York, Oregon and Indiana counting myself. We all grew up in different states but we all got into this loud music with similar ethics.

Hardcore to the outsider is loud aggressive music that sounds like screaming. During the 90’s hardcore peaked with a vital age. Peterson has taken on the nearly impossible task on documenting 90’s hardcore music scene. This is harder to do than a music scene that is all over TV and covered in mainstream magazines.

Hardcore is small, personal and often regional. The fans and bands are interchangeable, the fans make the records, put out the zines and perform in their own bands. To say this is an important book is a massive understatement.

Broken in four chapters that address the major issues addressed by the bands in lyrics like Straight edge, Animal rights and Spirituality. Next Peterson interviewed many of the major hardcore bands of the 90’s. Highlights include several interviews with Rob Fish and his bands, Earth Crisis, Downcast, Trial and Vegan Reich. Several of the interviews like Undertow and threadbare highlight how local hardcore is.

I have little nitpicks why interview Texas is the reason (not hardcore) and Cave-in (Ok, they were good but what impact), while amazing bands like Day of Suffering, morning Again, Birthright and Undying didn’t get entire chapters devoted to them.

I first got into hardcore music and straight edge in 1989, I was the only kid in my town who was straight edge and there were less than a dozen who were fans of or ever heard of New York Hardcore bands like Agnostic Front and sick of it all. When I got involved hardcore was different.

We didn’t have an internet DJ Rose of Path of Resistance always said we were like Gypsy tribes. In the 90’s hardcore exploded and it did so in many ways. It is hardcore to think back to a scene that existed where no one had ever heard the song Firestorm or Shelter was some weird new band by Ray of Today.

Burning Fight might also serve as tool for us weird hardcore kids to explain to friends and family what we gave up our lives for in the 90’s. Why did we drive all over the country for shows, why we did bands, why we got into all these radical new ideas. This book only Sctraches the surface. You had to be there but you know this as close as you are going to get.

Book Review: Werewolves and Shapeshifters edited by John Skipp

2011-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Werewolves and Shapeshifters
Edited by John Skipp
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers

This is a must read for fans of horror fiction. John Skipp has done here something that editors always try to do when they do a theme anthology. If this is not the ultimate collection of shapeshifter stories I want to pointed to one that is better.

Featuring classics from as far back as Hp Lovecraft’s Shadow over innsmouth to 80’s classics by David Schow and George RR Martin. The collection goes from strength to strength with original stories from some of my favorites Cody Goodfellow and Jeremy Robert Johnson.

The biggest surprise for me was an amazing short story by YA author Tessa Gratton. “The Cold that Flays the Skin,” this is emotional wrecking ball of a short story that is effective in a very short word count. Cody Goodfellow’s bizarro post werewolf takeover vision of San Diego is both funny and twisted. Jeremy Robert Johnson’s tale is of life changing parasite, a running theme in the life of this author and a strong edition in the comeback of this hibernating dark bizarro author.

For me the highlights were gonzo 80’s blood drenched novellas by splatterpunk legend David Schow and George RR Martin’s classic Novella “The Skin Trade.” I read both a long ago but I am realizing now I was too young and not cultured enough to get every level these tales were operating on.

Martin’s Skin Trade is excellent modern noir tale with a detective, haunted houses, werewolf cults and it’s all blood soaked as 80’s horror tended to be at the time. Skipp calls it the centerpiece of the collection and yes it is a must read classic.

I really want to hand it to Black Dog for working with Skipp on these books, they are not just another anthology. These are important documents of horror that track the evolution of the genre as well as highlight the bold new work coming out of the genre. Big thumbs up, get this book on your shelf.

The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies reviewed in Famous Monsters!

2011-01-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

Famous Monsters of Filmland is the longest running source of geek news out there. Decades before Fangoria and now Famous monsters has a review of my novel...

"This is a comedic zombie tale that really works." and "The main characters were very well thought out and three dimensional, the story contained enough violence and gore to satisfy the gore hounds with enough comedic relief to balance it all out. You wouldn’t think comedy would work in a zombie novel but David pulls it off fabulously."

You can read the whole review on the Famous monsters website click on books...

Count Agranoff's Top Ten Books of 2010

2010-12-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

The idea behind this post is to make a few suggestions that will benefit some struggling artists. But this is an honest top ten list of my favorite books I read this year that were released during 2010. You see that there are no authors or books on this list that are sold in airports or on the bestseller list. I didn't do this on purpose, but after I looked at I was excited that so many independent authors made this list. It's not that I didn't read any major authors this year. I read a few classics(they don't count) but I also read major releases from excellent authors like F.Paul Wilson (Ground Zero), Kaaron Warren (Slights) and David Morrell (The Spy who came home for Christmas) as great as all three were they didn't make my top ten.

The one thing I am bummed about is the lack of Non-fiction. I just read mostly fiction this year, and besides Jeremy Rifkin's disappointing new book there was much I was interested in. This is the list and believe me these days most writers depend on the independent press. You can safely bet the only authors making a comfortable living off their art are the ones you see in airports.

When you buy a book by a independent author, each sale means a lot to us. We get excited when we have sold 8 books in a month! Each one counts. So as a lover of books, storytelling and struggling artists I thought I would suggest some writers and books for you or for gifts. Dig deeper to find authors you that are not in the mainstream. So think of these as gifts that “give” not only to your friends and family but to the author and the independent press who published it.

A book is a gift that can pass on ideas, and hours of entertainment, but make sure the people you give these gifts too that that they understand why they are such wonderful gifts. Of course it's based on my tastes and opinions but I am going to tell you why with each one. Also if you bounce around my blog you will find interviews with many of the authors on the list that I did.

Honorable mention goes to Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. It is basically a study that lays out why civilization has been more negative than positive for our species. A little dry at times but mostly awesome.

Number Ten: Bizarro Starter Kit (Purple) Okay I have a bias because my novella, Punkupine Moshers of the Apocalyse is in this book. He is what you have 10 novellas by 10 bizarro authors including some of my favorites like Cody Goodfellow, Cameron Pierce (Lost in cat Brain Land), Jeff Burk (Shatnerquake), Garrett Cook (Murderland) and many more... 10 novellas from new authors basically one dollar a piece. This is the third bizarro starter kit. It is a great way to explore the authors outside the mainstream. Sample 10 authors for 10 bucks. Hard to fail if you like strange, out there fiction.

Number Nine: Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness by Robert Cheeke: If passion ever bled through the pages of a book about veganism, this is the one. While some of the information about bodybuilding competitions is not for everyone this is a great motivational book about veganism and fitness. Robert brings his trademark passion and energy to this excellent well thought out guide to vegan fitness. It works for both the newcomer and can also help vegan veterans.

Number Eight Werewolves and Shapeshifters Edited by John Skipp: This is a must read for fans of horror fiction. John Skipp has done here something that editors always try to do when they do a theme anthology. If this is not the ultimate collection of shape shifter stories I want to pointed to one that is better. Featuring classics from as far back as Hp Lovecraft’s Shadow over innsmouth to 80’s classics by David Schow and George RR Martin. The collection goes from strength to strength with original stories from some of my favorites like Cody Goodfellow and Jeremy Robert Johnson. Skipp combines classics and the voice of new bright stars in both the bizarro and horror movements. Fantastic anthology.

Number Seven Fistful of Feet by Jordan Krall: The best thing I can say about Jordan Krall's bizarro horror Spaghetti western is that I pictured it in my head with grainy old VHS look and the dialogue in the soundtrack was dubbed and slightly off. Got to love a western with Lovecraftian Cthulhu worshiping native Americans and saloons named after Charles Bronson characters. It's also well written and a heck of a lot of fun. Fistful of Feet is a excellent western that just happens to be amazingly weird as well.

Number Six Jade By Gene O'Neil: A 101 page novella released by Bad Moon books is a charming post apocalypse story, yep you read that right. O'Neil is a talented story teller through and through and this story set in the ruins that had once been San Diego is emotionally gripping from the first page to the last. I read this on a flight in one sitting, only stopping flip down my tray for my drink.

Number Five Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp: Nominated for the Bram Stoker Award this is the third fiction release of Jeremy C. Shipp who is quickly making a name for himself in two fields of dark medicine. A word surgeon with skills that cut like a knife across the genres of horror and bizarro. A first rate surrealist who is assured enough in his craft to throw out the rules completely. It takes amazing skill to weave a horror tale the way he has without the benefit of a standard structure. Disturbing and funny all at the same time, this is a first rate piece of bizarro as literature.

Number four Castle of Los Angeles By Lisa Morton: She has won the Bram stoker award three times, and this is first first novel. Morton has packed in an unbelievable amount of story for it's length. She doesn't waste pages and paces the story so well the pages fly by. I read the book in 48 hours that included two work days. Lisa Morton takes a familiar riff, tuned slightly to her pitch and the result is a near perfect traditional horror novel. The first of three haunted house stories on the top ten list, each has it's unique take.

Number Three House of Fallen Trees by Gina Ranalli: I can't say enough about Gina. Her books have crazy range from surrealist laughers like Wall of Kiss to political commentary of Mother Puncher. This year saw the paperback release a classic grade A horror novel. HOFT shows mastery of pace and deep knowledge of genre that Gina has never had chance to show off in her many bizarro books. A Creepy story with strong characters and a little early Stephen King influence. A short but effective read. Gina followed it up with a very original take on the zombie genre. A Vegan warrior and effective horror writer, if I had sister author it is Gina Ranalli.

Number Two Deadheart Shelters By Forrest Armstrong: I have actually delayed writing this review twice because I didn't believe I could do this novel justice. If you do the right thing and get this novel you will understand. I found myself, reading sentences and feeling compelled to read them out loud. DHS is a surreal novel filled with poetic prose that is disturbing and beautiful all at once. This story of an escaped slave is like a journey on a spiral staircase into another world, Armstrong creates a surreal landscape that is vivid, and the prose itself has to be savored like fine chocolate that slowly melts in your mouth. This is an amazing book, it deserves to be celebrated.

Number One Perfect Union by Cody Goodfellow: Perfect Union is a weird masterpiece. Influences ranging from Cronenberg body horror, Evil Dead style gore comedy to a fascinating political dissection of Marx and Thoreau. The combo make this a genius horror novel destined to be mis understand by the the masses, but loved by the readers ready to get in the ring with Cody. It's not for everyone, The sex scene between tweakers in the opening chapter is beyond gross and a signal to potential readers....can you hang? Cody Goodfellow can disturb, offend and amuse in a single sentence, he has done all three to me in a speech tag before.
This is a book where a woman bites the heads of fetuses and throws them at people, but also intelligently explores the failings of communism. Cody leaves the rest of us in his dust, it is hard to describe Goodfellow's writing without sounding over the top or hyperbolic. The man is a diabolical genius.
As I said in my review of his short story collection...This is more than Lovecraft on acid, this is Lovecraft after a smack bender in Tijuana, one where he wakes up handcuffed to bed and covered in someone else's blood. Goodfellow's fiction has the otherworld -ness of Lovecraft, the sarcasm of Joe R. Lansdale, the mojo of a Motley Crue tell-all and best of all it's wrapped together with prose that would satisfy fans of high literature in horror.

Magazine Review: Dark Discoveries #17

2010-12-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

Dark Discoveries #17

I posted a review of another horror magazine Cemetery Dance last month, now time for a review of my favorite. The locally produced Dark Discoveries. Editor James Beach and his partner Jason Brock have done it again, making each issue better than the last. Without a doubt this is my favorite issue so far. The Dark Science Fiction issue features stories by Ray Bradbury, John Shirley, Jeffery Thomas, Bruce Taylor and Portland’s own Jeremy Robert Johnson.

All the fiction in this issue is top notch in this issue. Jeremy Robert Johnson’s The Oarsman was exciting to read as he is a gifted author who has been in hibernation for the last few years. This is a short science fiction, but it doesn’t take long to show a growth in JRJ’s use of language. He was already a great writer but I loved this story.

John Shirley has an excellent short called “Raise Your Hand if You’re Dead.” This returns Shirley to familiar territory that will excite his fans it is cyberpunk with a subtle but effective environmental setting.As is the case with the best short stories I finished it wishing it were a novel. Bruce Taylor's tale of surrealist humor he is known for and the Bradbury piece is poetic.

As for the non-fiction the highlight for this huge fan was Jason Brock’s excellent interview with John Shirley. A great introduction for readers unfamiliar with his work and for those of us who have read everything a peak a little deeper into the writer’s mind. I enjoyed Nolan’s piece about Phillip K. Dick and James Beach’s piece on Dark stories of Star Trek the original series. There were fascinating features abut J.G. Ballard (a writer I need to explore), Rod Serling and lots more.

Jason Brock continues to make the magazine look better with each issue. It’s clear he puts a ton of energy into the look and design of DD. It looks light years better than it did a few issues ago.

I only have one small problem with this issue and one with Dark Discoveries in general. The small problem first, I was excited about the David Cronenberg interview as it was the Dark Sci-fi issue. I was hoping for a look back at videodrome, scanners and the other fantastic films he made that crossed both genres. The interview was almost entirely about Eastern Promises. A good film, and a good interview but a small let down. I don’t blame The DD crew for including it, I just have to admit I was hoping for some dish on the early films.

Now for the only big, huge problem with Dark Discoveries! It’s so damn good I read it almost all in one sitting. Granted It was over a whole afternoon, but I slammed through this issue, and I did that the last two times as well. Now I gotta wait for another issue. I’ll be keeping my subscription.

Book Review: Slights by Kaaron Warren

2010-12-08T09:10:00.001-08:00

Slights by Kaaron Warren
Angry Robot
498 pages (20 pages of extras)

This is a powerful first novel by Australian writer Kaaron Warren. This novel is marketed as horror, but as I read I had a strange feeling. This novel felt like the kinda of novel that is sold as literary fiction, when we damn well know its horror. For example American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis or in Science Fiction Mary Dorian Russell’s The Sparrow. Those are books that are clearly genre but we have to explain, argue and debate those titles into genre as if it’s a ghetto.

Slights feels like one of those novels, because while it is clearly horror it doesn’t follow any previously used horror structure. Those structures are often hidden to the reader, but to us students of the genre they are easy to detect.

It was a interesting read for me. I enjoy Slights a lot but because I am so comfortable with the structure that when it went off the rails it was a little off putting for me. I have had huge problems with the ways some books have unfolded but I could tell most readers would enjoy the book. Sometimes the missed chances for suspense drive me nuts but I know most readers don't know the difference.

When I was 300 pages into this book, I told my partner Cari that it was a good book but needed to lose two hundred pages. I was convinced that the story could have been told in much more streamlined way.

Thankfully I stuck it out, because I think the page count is paid off by the end.

Slights is disturbing and the most original psychological horror novel I read in years. It seems very Chuck Palahniuk influenced. A fasinating puzzle about Stevie a eighteen year old woman whose mother dies beside her during car accident. But Stevie died too, and before she came back she didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel She was in a dark room with as the people she had been bad to in her life.

Stevie is brought back to life and with each chapter when visit with Stevie a year older and more damaged. Early in the novel you have to wade through some jerky flashbacks, but dealing with Stevie's childhood is very important to the story.

The back of the novel sells a story of serial killer but that part of the story doesn't really become clear until you have read a novel's worth of pages. it doesn't matter the journey that makes this a must read book is the decent into maddness that drips off every single page.

Book Review: The Black hole of Carcosa by John Shirley

2010-12-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Kamus of Kadizhar: Black Hole of Carcosa
John Shirley
1988 St. Martin’s press
(Out of Print)

I have not worked my way through every book that cyberpunk and extreme horror pioneer John Shirley has written, but I have read the majority. Black hole of Carcosa is the most bizarro one I have read so far. 1988 is way before the bizarro literary movement kicked off but this book has more in common with the likes of D Harlan Wilson than it does the vulgar insanity of Carlton Mellick III.

Set on Darkworld a future human colony where technology doesn’t work but magic does. This is the surreal setting where noir style Kamus of Kadizhar is the world’s only detective.

I wouldn’t say this book is a satire, but it is as tongue and cheek of a science fiction novel I have read in a long time. So even though the plots are very different that is why it reminded me of D Harlan Wilson’s amazing science fiction surreal comedy Dr. Identity. If you compare the two Dr. Identity may seem a little bit more gonzo consider the time and place in his career that John Shirley was at.

Rudy Rucker was in a lot of ways cyberpunk’s comedian, and Shirley was at the time in the middle of a dark trilogy of world war III novels. The Song Called Youth Trilogy was a brutal look at the growing conservative fundamentals, so a whacky tongue in cheek surrealist comedy at the same time was a bold move in 1988.

Now there is a movement and peers that support this kind of off the wall novel, but at the time I think this was a pretty bold novel. Bizarro fiction fans need to find this book if they can. Maybe if its cult status grows Shirley can write sequel set on the punk rock planet mentioned on page 43. That would be awesome.

Special edition benefit sale! Exclusive deals!

2010-11-30T18:01:00.000-08:00

Hey a quick update on the state of my novel The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies. Since day one the love and support this novel has received has been overwhelming. Thank You! News stories on websites ranging from ecorazzi, discovery channel's planet green, authors speak and NPR to name a few. It's been great. A large part of that is due to the fantastic book trailer that we made to promote the book. If you have not seen watch it again but make sure you read the rest of this message after you do...

The budget of the trailer was about $25 dollars for make-up and stuff. It was filmed by the amazing Tim Khan who have volunteered his services and equipment to film. He volunteers like this all the time has filmed the Let Live Animal rights conference, and also the Vegan Iron Chef. To get zombies I just made a facebook event and posted around the internet asking people to show up. And asked if anyone with a Prius could volunteer one for the key scene.

It was important to me to make a big splash with the trailer. The book was released in September and all author profits through the end of this year are meant to go to Try Vegan PDX. Try Vegan is a one on one vegan mentoring organization that has organized an Annual Try Vegan Week (with 30 events), Vegan prom, and Vegan Iron Chef here in Portland.

During the filming we did some cosmetic damage to the volunteered prius and it is going to cost a a few hundred dollars to fix it. I can't afford to fix it, but clearly I want to do the right thing and pay for it. Maybe you can help! I don't want to take it out of the money that would otherwise go to Try Vegan, but at home we need every dime.

I am hoping that if you enjoyed the trailer, and the novel that you will help us out by supporting this special sale.

I am selling four special edition packages with every dime going to fix the prius!

The packages include:

A Personalized Signed copy of “The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies.” signed by the author, and by Magik and Bru-Dawg – The real life inspirations of two of the major characters.

A Personalized Signed copy of the limited edition “Screams from a Dying World” Chapbook. Only 150 copies of this limited first edition zine style chapbook collection were ever printed. It has the first six stories from Afterbirth edition, and pretty full color cover. Super weird art by mister Rick Clarke. (I only have 5 of these left, so these are the last four for sale.)

An Exclusive unreleased short story. Each package will have a different original short story.

An Exclusive List of Bru-Dawg's approved zombie movies,including full reviews of Burial Ground and Nightmare City signed by Bru himself. If you have not read the novel yet, Bru-Dawg is a zombie movie expert inspired by a real life friend of mine. He also played himself in the Trailer

A signed exclusive 10 page preview of my upcoming Kungfu vampire monster mash dark fantasy novel Hunting the Moon Tribe. With full color Art work by Eisner award winning comic book Eric Shanower.

The price for this cool package is a $40 donation. Every dime goes to fixing the car and making sure I can make a complete donation to Try Vegan PDX.

I only have four of these to sell so if you want it, jump on it. Once they are gone they are gone. If you already have a copy of Vegan Rev. Donate it to the library, or pass on to a friend. If you are interested drop me an e-mail Count.agranoff@gmail.com if you are interested.

Book Review: Slaughterhouse high by Robert Devereaux

2010-11-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

Slaughterhouse high by Robert Devereaux
Deadite Press

For most people high school is a painful experience, I am Keenly aware of this not just because I endured it myself but my day job as a para-educator in a high school gives me a daily view. It is a hard gauntlet that seems impossible to survive. When you are facing the four years of daily education and social indoctrination getting out alive can feel like struggle to survive a slasher movie. And what about the cream of the crop? The prom queen and king have mastered the bullshit that is high school. Worse yet those assholes often take a nosedive and end up crashing into a life of mediocre tedium.

This to me is the brilliant heart of the satire that is Slaughterhouse High by Splatterpunk’s saintly uncle Robert Devereaux, the man behind a pre-bizarro but very clearly bizarro classic “Santa Steps Out.” This book is four parts bizarro and one part horror but is an all around visceral and deadly satire.

It takes place in the Demented states of America, where the greatest spectator sport is the serial killing of the prom queen and king across the country. The plot circles around the functioning of a small town and the big night at Condrum high school.

Devereaux has wicked and dangerous imagination and this novel exists in fictional universe every bit as real and fully formed as the world in science fiction novels like Dune or fantasy like Lord of the Rings. But it’s demented take on our own world similar but messed in that sense to Phillip K. Dick’s “Flow My Tears the Policeman Said.” But this not like putting goatee on Spock, this is a deeply fucked-up alternate universe. Don’t enter this world unless you are ready for blood and guts dripping down the walls.

Now I have given you lots of reasons to get this book. All valid, is there a weakness? A small problem but the only one I had with the novel was a lack of strong POV. There is no character that I felt I could relate to strongly, and there are so many characters and shifting Point of views that I think the novel suffered a bit for it. The invention of the universe it takes place in more than makes up for this minor shortcoming.

In the scope of the whole novel that is a minor complaint. Slaughterhouse High is master work socio-political bizarro satire.

Book Review: John Dies at the End by David wong

2010-11-20T10:06:00.001-08:00

John Dies at the End
Permuted Press

I heard this was re-printed by St. Martin’s press. So this novel began as an online serial, and it shows a little bit when you’re reading it. Lets get back to that. You can discount this review if you want because I admit I could not read it word for word after 150 pages. I began to skip and skip.

This is the story of two friends who get involved in a drug known on the streets as Soy Sauce. It causes an out of body experience. They fight meat monsters and travel around in time. There are tons of interesting ideas and lots of laugh out loud funny parts. Certainly David Wong has talent but this book needed a serious and strong editor.

The novel lacks serious structure, I know it started as a blog serial but the author noted that he did a pass before it got printed. Really? My biggest problem with the book was it seemed like Wong would take a page and half to describe what should have taken a single paragraph. It drove me nuts. (for the record this is problem I am trying to clean up and out of my early work)

I read it for the same reason several other people decided to do it in the last month. Don Coscereli director of Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep is currently filming an adaptation of the novel I was interested so I picked it up. I posted about it on Facebook and I had two other readers say they were having the same experience with the book.

Did I finish it? Sorta I started skipping huge chucks, a reading tactic that as an author I find disgusting but it was that was the only way to make it through. This book lacks rhythm so for all the funny and interesting moments it comes like a really awesome band with an awful drummer.

Magazine Review: Cemetery Dance #64

2010-11-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

Cemetery Dance #64

One of my two favorite magazines in the world I was excited to see a new issue of CD on the shelf at the book corner in my hometown of Bloomington Indiana. I did chuckle at the stupid looking cover. I understand it was inspired by a Bentley Little novel but you know what it didn’t grow on me. Thankfully you can’t judge a book or a magazine by it’s cover.

This is the Bentley Little special issue, and I admit I don’t know his work as well as I should. I have read several short stories and only one novel. So I enjoyed the feature interview by author David Silva, and piece breaking down Little’s novels by Mark Sieber. There were a few other articles about Little and two excellent short stories written by the man himself. The first story was a strange story called “the wheel” that I enjoyed quite a bit.

CD has several regular features including mediadrome, news from the dead zone and so on. Those are all strong entries and something I look forward to as a horror reader. It’s hard to have relavent commentary when your magazine comes out a few times a year. Battling the internet would be impossible but CD manages to provide the deep commentary that justifies the wait.

I enjoyed the interview with Brian James Freeman (co-editor of CD) and he sold me on his novella The painted Darkness which is now on my mental “to read” list. I enjoyed the fiction in this issue with stand-out stories for me were “Long Black Coat” by Benjamin Percy and “Out of Touch” by Simon Strantzas

Thomas Monteleone gives us another hilarious piece about absurd Hollywood plot twists and probably the only let down comes from Stephen King. As you can see on the cover there is a sneak peek of King’s new limited edition novella Blockade Billy. It’s a baseball story and did nothing for me. That’s ok, I still love the man and hear that his new novella collection is quite good.

Bottom line…If you like Horror Cemetery Dance is a safe bet.

Hunting the Moon Tribe will not be released by Afterbirth books

2010-11-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

Art: by Eisner award winning artist Eric Shanower.

This is a bad news / good news post. I have decided to pull my novel Hunting the Moon Tribe from Afterbirth books. I had agreed to do my short story collection and my first novel with Afterbirth. I was super excited as I have alot of respect for Afterbirth and their catalog.

After the release of my wonderland award nominated short story collection Screams From a Dying World I expected Hunting the Moon Tribe to be released pretty soon after. Not long after Screams was released Karen let her author's know that she had decided to close afterbirth. I respect Karen's reasons and was thrilled that she had agreed to finish the books she had on her plate. After a long wait, Karen and I agreed to end the contract.

So here we are two years later, and the book is back at ground zero. That is the bad news. The good news I have a renewed commitment to see this book in print and soon. I have worked on this novel off and on since 1994, if it means I put it out myself I am going to make sure this book is available in the next couple months. Consider that a promise.

I say that is good news because three days ago I had no idea when or if the book would happen. So I am looking for a publisher for Hunting The Moon Tribe, but if it doesn't happen soon I am going to do it myself in the mean time. Keep your eyes peeled for that. Here are some blurbs so you know why you should be excited...

"David Agranoff's HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE mashes up Chinese mythology, some seriously unnerving horror, Maoist politics, a sweet coming-of-age story, dark magic, and high-kicking martial arts into a compelling and unusual page-turner. I've never read (or seen) anything like it, and HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE should mark Mr. Agranoff as one of the most original and exciting new voices to emerge in genre fiction in a dragon's age." - Lisa Morton Three time Bram Stoker award winning author of The Castle of Los Angeles and The Cinema of Tsui Hark.

“Remember that old Shaw Brothers / Hammer Studios flick The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires? HUNTING THE MOON TRIBE is what that movie should have been. It is an extremely entertaining epic of kick-ass martial arts and bloody horror. Agranoff not only dazzles us with breathtaking action scenes and vampire violence but also tugs at our heartstrings with realistic family drama and romance. It’s a scary martial arts fantasy that will please just about everyone. David Agranoff is a gifted storyteller.” - Jordan Krall Author of Fistful of Feet and Squid pulp Blues

“As terrifying as Richard Laymon, and just as good, David Agranoff reshapes the vampire mythos in ways never experienced. The horror is visceral, the action brutal, and at its core, there’s a poignancy typically left out of today’s horror. A circus between worlds, vampires, and martial arts aplenty – “Hunting the Moon Tribe” reads like “Brotherhood of the Wolf” encompassed in Chinese folklore and culture. One of the strongest new voices in horror fiction that I’ve read.” - Eric Mays author of Naked Metamorphosis and host of the Authors Speak Podcast

Book Review: Super giant monster time! by Jeff Burk

2010-10-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Super Giant Monster Time!
By Jeff Burk (illustrated by Chrissy Horchheimer)
Eraserhead press

The third of the choose your mindfuckfest bizarro parody of the classic choose your own adventure novels this time written by Shatnerquake author Jeff Burk. You gotta hand it to Burk first and foremost he is a master at the high concept bizarro. Both of his novels just excite people when they hear the ideas behind them. This book is is not quite as funny as Shatnerquake but is still a really fun read.

You get to choose from three character's a scientist, a punk rocker, or an office drone. It's not long before the giant monsters show up to destroy earth. You make think choosing to be the scientist is the safest option but being in super secret lab wont protect you. As with many classic godzilla movies there are aliens around for some unexplained reason. They also have lazer guns that turn you into a punk rocker.

Look bottom line this is a giant monster novel, but not any giant monster novel, it's a one where not only do you direct the plot but you have chances to end up drowning in pool of monster sperm. What else would happen if a monster humped your office building? That is perhaps my favorite part of the book.

I could have been offended when my own subculture of punk rock (Vegan straight edge) is made fun of, but honestly if you read the book enough times and roll your dice( yes you have to roll dice) then you'll see Jeff makes fun of every kind of punk rocker you can think of.

You will laugh a lot and it will look great on the shelf next to Shatnerquake which is also super, duper funny.

Book Review: the Skinner by Neal Asher

2010-10-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Skinner By Neal Asher
Tor
424 pages

My first time reading Neal Asher was a far future bizarro science fiction short novel called Africa Zero. This is a longer more epic tale, but it is also one of the most bizarro modern Sci-fi novels I have read. It has sold me on Asher as a bold new voice. Entertainment weekly called it Dune meets Master and Commander and I can't disagree with that. The plot and and setting are so strange that I struggled a little bit trying to explain it to others.

It takes place in the same “universe” as Asher's first novel Grindlinked, I have not read that yet, but I don't think I suffered much for it. This is a stand alone novel.

Not since Dune has the landscape and ecosystem of a world come to such vivid life. What is most exciting about that is Spatterjay, the planet where skinner takes is what a horrible place to be the planet is. It makes the novel feel icky in a way. This is not a world where you want to take a vacation. SpatterJay, named after Jay Hooper the human who found the planet is mostly ocean. But the planet is teaming with life, including leeches both giant and small. The ecosystem is so interactive after a few bites from the leeches human are integrated in way that makes them almost immortal. Jay was using this unique ecosystem to take murdered humans, re-animated and devoid of life to be sold to the Prador, a crab like race the humans were at war with.

Humans who live on the planet are called Hoopers, and most have lived hundreds of years constantly being rebuilt by the leeches. This is explained well as two hoopers in one part fight in a tearing each other up, their bodies keep repairing themselves.

The book opens following a few humans as they arrive on the planet. My favorite of the characters are Sable Keech And Janer. Keech is A monitor (Basically a cop) who has been hunting a this planet's funder for 700 years after his death. How is that you ask? He is cybernetic his dead body linked to computer that stored his mind. His target is not doing much better, Jay Hooper's (known also as the Skinner) body has been living with out his head. Spatterjay seas captains have been keeping it alive in a box.

As for Janer he is a human who was punished for killing a hornet after he served his time as host to a hive mind of sentient hornets. After his time is up he stayed with the hive mind and is traveling the universe looking for adventure.

At the same time the human race is in a time of peace after years of war with the Prador,but They also want to kill the skinner and any other witness to the war crimes they committed together. The only part of the novel I did not enjoy were the seemingly endless battles between the Polity A.I. Who oversaw the planet and the Prador. That stuff wore me down a bit in the last 100 pages.

None the less I loved this inventive, brutal and super fucking weird science fiction epic. Asher made a fan out of me with this novel and I'll check out his other work for sure. Along with Richard K. Morgan, Neal Asher and China Mieville it seems the most exciting speculative fiction belongs to england.

Classic novel Revisited: Space Vampires by Colin Wilson

2010-10-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

Space Vampires AKA(Lifeforce) By Colin Wilson
216 pages
Out of print

This science fiction horror crossover is remembered mostly from the Cannon films adaptation of the novel. The film while produced by Cannon films the schlock studio behind the cinematic ascension of Chuck Norris and the Sho Kosugi Ninja trilogy is not that bad. They certainly hired excellent cast and crew. Directed by Texas chainsaw massacre director Tobe Hooper, adapted by Alien Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon and scored by Harry Mancini. Lead by an impressive bat shit crazy performance by Steve Railsbeck, a small role by the future enterprise captain Patrick Stewart and of course the naked space vampire who excited overly hormonal horror fans by walking around London naked played by Mathilda May.

It was sci-fi and horror so I have seen a few times over the years. Recently I saw a tie-in paperback on the shelf at powells and thought I would give the book a shot and re-watch the movie. The first 80 or so pages of the book I was impressed thought it was much better than my memory of the film. First off I think the novel takes place a little further in the future. The discovery of the “stranger” spaceship and the discovery of the vampires is handled excellently. The creepy-ness of finding a old dead space ship in space is well done and I felt the charcters nervous-ness come through the text.

“The stranger ship” in the novel has a very cosmic horror, lovecraftian-ness that exists in the novel but it is deeper in the book. One of the blurbs on the cover called it fast paced. Yes at times it was fast paced too fast paced, some times scenes and action transitioned so fast and I to go back and re-read sections. Wilson just skipped ahead if the part of the story bored him at least it seemed to me.

Any of my friends on Good reads might notice that I started this book in July and finished in October. I am a fast reader generally. But once this book hits the wall. For 20 or 30 thirty mind numbinging pages the main character Carlsen gets a history lesson on vampires. This is meant to connect traditional vampires to the three energy sucking space vampires. The major difference between the movie and the book is O'Bannon didn't use any of this material. Good on him, it is boring ireallavent and just straight ruined the main work of the first 80 pages.

The movie turned out a little better. Yep it's one of those rare cases like Children of Men or the English Patient where the film is much better than the book. While the movie comes off now as campy, and little over the top most of that is due to being out of date. Perhaps it seemed less cheezy in 1985,certainly when I watched it in the 80's it looked better to me.

Interviews and events About Vegan Revolution with Zombies

2010-10-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Lots going on with Vegan Revolution with Zombies. I didn't realize how many people read Ecorazzi! It started with a interview done by bizarro author and activist Mickey Z. It appeared on the discovery channel's planet green website with the title "The Vegan Revolution will start with Zombies." then it seemed a dozen other eco and veg websites reposted a full-up article on Ecorazzi. Cool, thanks to all the people who re-posted it. This is a DIY project, with a independent publisher so we need a the help we can get!

Check out the articles:

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/david-agranoff-vegan-revolution-zombies-interview.html

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/10/13/the-vegan-revolution-will-start-with-zombies/

and there are a bunch more you can find by google.

Also this Sunday October 24th I've got a 20 minute interview on an El Paso Texas NPR radio show called Animal Concerns of Texas. We talk about my vegan story, Try Vegan PDX and how Vegan Revolution with Zombies happened.

Sunday night at 7:30pm Mountain time and can be heard by going to ktep.org
After it airs it will be available in the archives at ktep.org and be found
by clicking the 'listen to past shows' button and then going to Animal Concerns
of Texas.

Those of you in Indiana, my beloved homeland. I am doing two readings and book signings during halloween week.

In Indianapolis The reading will be Thursday October 28th at the Dojo, right before a hardcore show. 7 PM 2207 N College Indianapolis, In 46205

In Bloomington October 29th at 6:30 pm at Rhinos all ages club. (331 S Walnut St in Bloomington)

I'll have books for sale, will do a short readings and Q and A if anyone is interested.

Also remember if you enjoyed the book it really helps if you write reviews for Amazon and good reads. But I can't thank everyone enough for the help. I saw that the link to the book on amazon has been posted on Facebook 124 times.The trailer has been view 2,577 times as of this morning. Not to mention good reads,twitter and message boards. Thank you it all helps. Keep it up all sales through December benefit Try Vegan PDX and vegan mentoring in Portland.

Thanks!

Book Review: Lost in Cat brain land with Cameron Pierce

2010-10-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Lost in Cat Brain land by Cameron Pierce
Eraserhead Press
136 pages

There is a word you will hear over and over when talking about this short story collection and this author. Imagination. That is because Cameron's weird as hell imagination bleeds through every page with a syrupy thickness like no other author I've read.Culled from the pages of various Bizarro and horror zines, websites and such Pierce tells stories that are surreal, aburdist and sometimes disturbing. Unlike some authors that are just trying so very hard to be weird the strength of Cameron Pierce as a bizarro author is that he is excellent writer and most important it's natural.

Nothing feels forced in this collection. It doesn't have the "Look at me I'm weird and different feel that alot surreal fiction suffers from.

Take the title story Cat Brain Land or my favorite a flash piece A Scorpion in A Calfornia Town. the later story's opening paragraph made me laugh out loud and never did I feel like Cameron was writing with a neon sign flashing over his head that said "look at me I'm so weird." That is not to say that Pierce doesn't know what he is doing because he certainly does. A good example was a a sad little tale called the depressed man that really was a sad story to read and evoked sorrow for narrator in it's two and half pages.

I am sold on Pierce's skills as writer and not enough can be said about his imagination. I am interested in seeing if these types of stories can be extended into a novel. If anyone wants to find out he already has three novels, after this book they are on my list.

Book Review: Kaiki: Uncanny tales from Japan

2010-10-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Kaiki: Uncanny tales from Japan
Volume 1: tales of old Edo

Kurodhan Press
271 pages

This is a collection of weird tales, only a few of which I would consider horror that take place in ancient Tokyo that span the tradition of weird literature in Japan from 1776 to 2005. I am not sure this book is for everyone but those who are serious at knowing and understanding the roots of supernatural storytelling will learn a lot from this collection. I thought it was personally important not only as a fan of J-horror, and samurai movies but as a author who dabbles in stories that take place in this very era and region of the world.

Many of my favorite stories were about samurai, personal favorites included the 1928 story the face in the hearth by Tanaka Kotaro. I thought the best part of the book were the opening essays, “The origins of Japanese weird Fiction” and “the Value of the Supernatural in Fiction.” Don't get me wrong the stories were great, but the depth of knowledge and understanding I drew from these essays were the best value of the books.

Book Review: Morning is Dead by Andersen Prunty

2010-10-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

Morning is dead by Andersen Prunty
139 pages
Grind house press

Laugh out loud funny at times this novel is a surreal trip into the mind of Alvin Gentry who lies in coma in a Dayton hospital. Is it in his mind or has he been sent to a hell where there is no morning. The night never ends. Sex, violence and humor lace this nightmare of paranoid delusion. A short but effective little book that I enjoyed.

It is hard to talk about this book without giving away the plot or the twist, but it involves two storylines and depending on your interpretation, which time line is reality and which is a nightmare is in question throughout.

I'm back in Dayton Ohio, where the last noevl I read was also written. I read Prunty’s book right after another Dayton author Tim Waggoner's Like Death. I set out not to compare them but i don't see how I can avoid it. I got Morning is Dead because Jordan Krall(Bizarro author of the amazing Fistful of Feet) described it as Phillip K. Dick-ish horror. With that idea in my head and the fact just enjoyed Waggoner’s novel that I would describe as mind fuckingly PK Dick-ish I might have seen it more than way.

They both feel Dick-ish in different ways. The twisting of reality to me was more effective in Like Death, but Prunty captures the hilarious dialogue wry sense of humor Dick was underrated for. Morning is Dead is a nightmare and a great little bizarro read laced with laugh out loud moments. Very entertaining, nice little book and reason enough to support the cool line of books Grindhouse press has starting putting out. I am also looking forward to reading Slag Attack by Prunty.

Book Review: Like Death by Tim Waggoner

2010-10-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Like Death by Tim Waggoner

I have read lots of short stories by Mister Waggoner but this was my first time reading a full novel. I have very mixed feelings on the book. I personally loved it, thought it was an excellent mind fucking horror novel, but it goes off the rails a little bit at the end.

Some of the reviews I read on line have complained that the book doesn’t have enough plot, the people who say that didn’t read far enough. Infact if I had any problem with the book is that the plot becomes far too complicated towards the end. With too many threads and ideas. I didn’t mind but I could see how casual reader might get confused by the knotting twists and turns the book takes. The last 100 pages of the book introduces many interesting concepts and ideas, but i just thought a simpler approach to end would have helped.

The story is about Scott Raymond a man recently separated from his wife and son. He is crime writer who throws himself into his work, investigating the case of missing young girl Miranda Turner. While looking into the case he meets a girl by the same name who is a few years older. She seems oddly obsessed with Scott. His marriage is getting worse not better and he can’t seem to stop helpself from flirting no matter how wrong he knows it is. The young woman who seems interested in his case, and doesn't seem to mind dragiing him closer to the frayed ends of sanity.

Scott begins to have delusions and as this slow burn horror novel starts unfold the reality of comes into question. This is one of the best unreliable narrator novels I have read in some time. For the first two thirds of the novel it felt like horror novel written by Phillip K. Dick and then the last third felt like Clive Barker trip into a dark fantasy realm.

I feel like Waggoner tried to pack too many ideas into the last act of the novel, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to serious horror fans. I think a simpler end while less surprising could have felt a little more solid and in some ways more horrific. Find out for yourself. It’s one of the best novels Leisure put out. This is also a rare case where i really liked the cover art of this Leisure edition. Most important is Waggoner sold me on his other books as I intend to read more.