Peter Straub is an intellectual horror writer. He writes stories that are multilayered with meta, self-referential within and between themselves, and take the reader for a real ride into the deep psychology of his characters.

However, I wouldn’t say love his books, but I do like his complex intellectualized horror writing…with the caveat being, the women in his novels suck bilgewater. They’re just so cliche that I crack my teeth from clenching my jaw so hard, sometimes.

lost boy, lost girl and … READ MORE

Not only Zombie apocalypses, but ye plain olde apocalypses!

Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been reading:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan– Ryan’s first novel, classed as YA, takes place in a future in which surviving humans don’t believe the stories they’ve heard of their past, before zombies (the unconsecrated) emerged. One girl does believe the stories handed down to her, and becomes obsessed with finding the ocean. Her chance arrives when a mysterious girl, mistakenly turned … READ MORE

Just finished the first vol. of the series the Secret Circle. Smith’s an amazing YA writer — her characters are generally distinct from both one another and from other series, which is always fun. While her plots can be a bit rote, she infuses them with fresh life because of her able prose and her quirky details.

On to the plot. Cassie has to move out to Cape Cod because of MYSTERIOUS FAMILY REASONS her mother won’t tell her. After starting  … READ MORE

As The World Dies: The First Days

(part one in a zombie trilogy)

I’m an apocalypse junkie. I adore the genre. It doesn’t matter what the cause is—nuclear war and winter, plague, engineered viruses, whatever (okay, I do draw the line at Left Behind) –I enjoy how everyone survives or not in a damaged or empty world.  But it’s not exactly easy to find apocalyptic fiction that stars female protagonists. You know. As the main characters.

Rhiannon Frater’s self-published entry into the zombie … READ MORE

Wowzers. The movie’s pretty faithful to the book, and, at times, is a little bit brilliant in terms of the cinematography. The book itself is a genuinely scary psychological thriller of one Patrick Bateman, who’s a serial killer and an investment banker.

When the book was originally published, it received a lot of critique due to the graphic sexual violence and blatant racism displayed by its characters. The sexualization of violence is handled really interestingly in the context of the text; … READ MORE

I accidentally ordered this book while trying to request the movie featuring OutKast. While I was initially disappointed, I’m glad I got the heck over myself.

Sagan’s a relatively new talent on the SF scene. He uses Idlewild to talk about understandings of reality, memory, and innocence. He does this by introducing the reader to Gabriel Hall (AKA Halloween), the amnesiac narrator who wakes up in a pumpkin patch convinced someone’s trying to kill him. I think we’ve ALL been there.

Anyways, … READ MORE

I actually started Deliver Us From Evil: The True Story of Mexico’s Most Famous Kidnapping intending to dislike the author. I have a really hard time reading about the lives of the glamourous without wanting to punch them in the face. I figured it be like Paris’ Confessions of an Heiress, except with, you know, kidnapping. I was extremely, extremely wrong. First, you gotta know I don’t normally like books with heavy themes dealing with spirituality. But seriously? Ernestina’s quiet … READ MORE

This was a great read til the last five minutes. Basically, what’s going on is that our narrator, Ariella, is realizing that her dad’s a vampire. Also, she’s realizing that SHE might be a vampire as well. Little things like her (human) mother’s disappearance, the fact that her dad won’t let her leave the house, and that he doesn’t appear to age all point to vampirism running in the family. Amidst her own burgeoning sexuality and the mysteries surrounding a … READ MORE

My goal when I began rereading the Anita Blake books was to finally write up a post centering on Obsidian Butterfly. I wanted to talk about how OB stood out as an awesome treatment of mixed race issues. Because it takes Anita out of her surprisingly monoracial St Louis context, and plunks her down in the middle of New Mexico, you’d think there’d be tons of discussion of Anita as a mixed race Latina. Since the plot revolves around Aztec … READ MORE

Ultimately, Lisey’s Story is an unmemorable foray into King’s trademark prose. While it’s certainly compelling, it doesn’t really stand up to some of his classic works like The Stand or to some of his more recent works like The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I mostly read it because I’m a pretty rabid King fan, and have a thing about reading everything by certain beloved authors.

Really, it’s this love that got me through. King takes some of his more awesome … READ MORE