Book Review: Philip K. Dick The Dream Connection Edited by D. Scott Apel

 

 

Philip K. Dick The Dream Connection Edited by D. Scott Apel

 299 pages, Paperback
Published May, 2014 by The Impermanent Press

Full review on the way...

Book Review: Why Call Them Back From Heaven by Clifford D. Simak

Why Call Them Back From Heaven by Clifford D. Simak

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

 

Full review on the way....

 

 

Book Review: Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton

 

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton

 288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 24, 2024 by Tor Nightfire

I met the author of this book briefly at Stokercon and heard him on the Talking Scared podcast, a few days after I made the mental note that I had to read some of his work an arc sounded up in my mailbox. So when I finished reading Forgotten Sisters (for a great modern horror double feature) I decided to dive in without reading anything about the plot, or setting, and I went in totally cold. Now that I have read it, I would say part of my enjoyment of the first act was entirely based on not being spoiled about major elements of the plot. 

So, if you want that cold entry, and you trust me this is a fine work of Supernatural horror fiction. I recommend this book to most horror readers. It tells an epic tale, with an economical style that in the 80s would have played out over 600 pages. It is refreshingly lean without sacrificing the elements that work. 

 I have to talk about elements of the story in this review so if you trust me you can go read Devils Kill Devils and report back here for an in-depth look at why it works. If you don’t mind a little background to be sold then keep reading.

So not knowing the plot helped with the first act so again this is your final warning. Sarita is a little worried about her in-laws when her wedding day comes, but despite a little drama with her biological mother-in-law the marriage goes okay until a brutal attack leaves her new husband murdered right in front of her. The mystery is well set up when Sarita admits to her family she knows who did it but didn’t tell the police for reasons…

This was an interesting mystery, and sure a part of me speculated in other directions from a traditional monster set-up. Yes, DKD is a vampire novel, I didn’t know that. I am glad I didn’t know that. There are plenty of twists to the story. I enjoyed how the mystery was all laid out. You Sarita felt invincible for years because of her Guardian angel who has saved her life multiple times, and her family who have all seen the evidence call him Angelo. The dynamic of this relationship provides many powerful moments.

“None of that would bring him to her, though. Save for the one horrible exception of her wedding night, Angelo only appeared when she was in mortal peril.

She put the loaded gun to her head and waited for him to come to her period she told herself she wasn't bluffing, said it aloud a few times hoping he would hear her she even considered squeezing the treasure trigger and relying on an Angel being faster than a bullet, her being able to use divine means to save her, but she wasn't quite ready to risk that.”

Why would this mysterious spirit who saved her life over and over brutally attack the love of her life? The mystery leads to a family of monsters that reminded me of the True Knot from Doctor Sleep. Sarita, her brother David, and her best friend find themselves in the middle of a battle between monsters and gods.  “Who are they? Who are you?”

“They are demons of a sort,” Myra said, then paused and seemed to gauge Sarita's reaction to this how did she expect Sarita to react?”

Devils Kill Devils starts with a light Rosmary’s Baby-type mystery and explodes into horror action, and along the way, there are moments of great character and suspense. Compton wields little details with great strength. “The ones who were free to go appeared to obey an instinct, like animals heading for high ground in advance of a tsunami no human could sense coming. She thought the last of them had left, heard cars starting in the parking lot, she surveyed how many remained. There were those at her table, Everett’s three boys the two who had eyes on her at the park, and seated in the corner behind her the third member of their party. The fake runner. His chest heaved as he stared past her, toward the entrance of the restaurant. She gathered that the crisis that the rest had fled was arriving at last.”
 

This is a fantastic novel, and for me a good introduction to an author I want to read more of over time. Devils Kill Devils is a great modern spin on the monster novel. Big thumbs up.

Book Review: Good Men Do Nothing by John Brunner

 

 

Good Men Do Nothing by John Brunner

 204 pages, Paperback
Published May, 1971 by Pyramid

This is the second part in a trilogy?  I didn’t find out this fact until after I finished reading and that explains many of the shortcomings I felt. Not sure it is fair to rate or review this book as most of my issues were the lack of set-up and how we seemed to jump into the middle of a story. 

John Brunner is one of my favorite SF authors so the weird oddity of a popular genre author (who is a very white dude) writing a black James Bond was strange to me.  As good as John Brunner’s finest work is, he has written plenty of quickie books for money and less quality.  So what is this book?  Outside of the curiosity factor, there is little reason a modern reader would be interested. As a John Brunner fan and eventual completionist (I am not even close to reading all his stuff) I had to read this. John Brunner is one of the best authors who like Philip K. Dick started publishing in the tail end of the Golden Age and ended up benefitting from the weird direction of the New Wave. 

His novel Stand on Zanzibar is to me the best SF novel of the 20th century, he has several bonafide masterpieces including The Jagged Orbit(I have not read it yet, but I have read about it) that deals with racism. As good as a proper liberal leaning in radical ideals could be on race issues in 1970 John Brunner probably had good intentions when he decided to write a black James Bond.

I wonder who thought of this? Max Curfew is an interesting character, had he been written by a black author might have seen a little better of a story/reaction. In recent years there has been a push for Idris Elba to be Bond. The problem of course is his age. Maybe John Boyega would be better.  

Regardless, this book is hard or nearly impossible to judge on its own, so I am going to at least find book one before I judge it.

 

Book Review: Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo

 

Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo

 303 pages, Paperback
Published March, 2024 by Thomas & Mercer

Around the time that Del Toro’s amazing Pan’s Labyrinth was being discovered as a part of the Oscar season, there was a rush or a push to find Horror novels that connected to fairy tales. I remember agents in their manuscript wish lists asked for dark fairy tales constantly. Certainly, there are plenty of those novels if that is your thing from directly related takes like Sarah Pinborough’s Tales from the Kingdom Trilogy or modern retellings like Victor LaValle’s The Changeling. The former is a book that I would compare to Pelayo’s dark fairy tale and vivid Chicago gothic. These books are natural cousins.

 I grew up one state over from Chicago but had family and friends in the city and spent much time there, so I enjoyed the setting. Chicago is a character in this book make no mistake, and as such you get both a gritty ground-level description of the city while learning some history about the city.  The novel is connected to one of the city’s most tragic events the shipwreck of the SS Eastland.

Anna and Jennie live in an older house along the Chicago River, it is one of those old creaky houses that echo the past. “A house is alive, as we are alive. In many ways a house is always recording, and when ready it will recount to us images and sounds, maybe more of the secrets it holds. A house always watches, waits, and listens for its caretaker, but it also recognizes when a new tide is coming, and it will warn us.”

The relationship between the two sisters is deep but know that (without spoiling) it is complicated. This is a feature, not a bug. Anna is your main POV, although ever few chapters we get the point of view of the detectives working a murder case. This is an interesting choice in a first-person narrative.

The mystery involves a series of bodies being found in or around the Chicago River. The victims are in various forms of decay. Anna had a unique way of seeing the city, obsessed with the dark history and corners of a city that was once centered around the industry of slaughter. 

Much of what makes Anna a compelling character is confirmed in the final acts, so if you want to know my non-spoiler thoughts. I think this is a great novel for fans of Chicago. Urban horror, modern fairy tales, and character. This is a very good novel, that didn’t fully win me over until the final act when parts I was unsure about ended up paying off nicely.

I want to be careful of hyperbolic over-the-top reviews because I very much enjoyed this novel, but it is not perfect. I was a bit confused by the choice of first-person when the POV shifts so often. That might be a writer problem, I don’t think many readers worry about who or why the story is being told that way. I was engaged enough with the story I forgot all that stuff. I understood the choice in the final and thought the pay off was worth it.

So, if you have read it and want my thoughts… here-be spoilers as the reason I dug it is mostly in the details of execution. I am serious about SPOILERS…

The best elements of this novel certainly involve spoilers, and yes there were moments where I thought this book lost me. There were 10 or 15 pages when I was confused about what exactly was happening. There is a confusing POV shift in the final act when Anna’s sanity and grip on reality is tested. The good news is I stuck it out. The setup and pay-off worked for this reader. 

What makes Forgotten Sisters special is the blending of modern and historical. CP works with a foundation for this ghost story on two tracks. The Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid on one track and on the other the historical Tragedy of the SS Eastland, a ship that crashed in the Chicago River killing 800 people. A ghost story inspired by two sisters who died on the ship, this novel is about a haunting, but the ending works because the twist that Anna’s sanity and break from reality was in front of us the whole time. The tragic thing is Anna lost her sister, and the reason she was afraid the leave the house, the reason her sister did want her to leave is the haunting couldn’t follow her.

“Can't you finally understand? Can't you finally see that it's that city will not let you leave? You are the steel in the skyscrapers. You are the cobblestones hidden beneath the asphalt-covered streets you are the Chicago River.”

The fairy tale, gothic and crime elements are the building blocks but the final act is when the novel becomes a modern horror novel. The twist is heartbreaking the nightmare of the faces in the water, the bodies in the river…truth is Anna is alone. Great reveal.

“I want to tell her about my nightmare last night and the waking terror I experienced. I suppose they were both nightmares, seeing those faces in the river and the siren in my room, who seemed so real.”

Cena Pelayo is an author now officially on my radar. Forgotten Sisters is a wonderfully structured genre-blending novel. Big thumbs up.