Long listed for the 2024 Booker Prize, it struck me as an interesting concept and-- being the shortest of the entries-- I thought I could squeeze thisLong listed for the 2024 Booker Prize, it struck me as an interesting concept and-- being the shortest of the entries-- I thought I could squeeze this one in before the prize was awarded.
This is told from the viewpoint of six astronauts (two identifying as cosmonauts) orbiting the Earth in a space station. I was fascinated from the start. We are immediately transported into the character's mindsets, how they have to adjust to everything. The concept of time is turned upside down; we are programmed to measure it by sunrises and sunsets, so they have to be very deliberate with the 24-hour clock. "Space sheds time to pieces."
The cast here also struggle with distortions of reality brought on by the immense distances, by the separation from family, and even the physical toll that the lack of gravity extracts from the body. Late in the book there is an intriguing passage linking a spacewalk to memories from the womb.
Author Samantha Harvey does an amazing job getting into the heads of these people. This is more philosophical than plot-driven, however, and started to get a little long (even at 208 pages). It is the third entry I have read of the long list, and I do not really see it moving on to the short list.
***AND, showing my power of predictions, I was mistaken, and "Orbital" was just announced as a short list nominee for the Booker Prize***
Thank you to my library for securing this copy for me!...more
“The Ancients” is a complex dystopian novel that I found challenging to connect with. Revolving around three sets of characters, the backstory remains“The Ancients” is a complex dystopian novel that I found challenging to connect with. Revolving around three sets of characters, the backstory remains ambiguous. This seems to be in a future where conditions are primitive, possibly due to a climate disaster. I understand the sermon the author was preaching; the pacing was just sluggish and the journey too long.
Thank you to Viking and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review....more
“Quickly, While They Still Have Horses” is a wildly robust collection. Short story compilations are often such a mixed bag. It More Than Just Troubled
“Quickly, While They Still Have Horses” is a wildly robust collection. Short story compilations are often such a mixed bag. It can be dizzying making the adjustment from one selection to the next. Even with a master like George Saunders, I remember reading “Tenth of December” and loving one, only to lose a step when reading the next. Sometimes it is the shifting tone, sometimes a question of quality; some pieces are brilliant, some are just so-so. Here, I admit I kept expecting to write off an upcoming story as a clunker… or, at the least, one that was not going to land with me. Happily, I was wrong. I was drawn into each one right away.
These are set in Northern Ireland, and while this is not a book about The Troubles, life here is lived in its echoes. In “Grand So,” I was struck by a phrase one of the characters used, “He holds his silence like a riot shield...” This was said casually, but of course, this reflects how the conflict still permeates this world. I never had occasion to use that description while growing up in suburbia.
“Grand So” was my first favorite among these. We have a grumpy spirit, of the Catholic persuasion, still riding in the back seat of what was his car. The driver is a Protestant grandmother, oblivious to the ghost, selling homemade jam to people, regardless of what neighborhood they live in. Her granddaughter sees and communicates with the ghost, melting his heart and dissolving the lines that have divided these people for hundreds of years.
In the first offering, “A Certain Degree of Ownership,” we find a woman watching an infant crawl its way into the sea, justifying it with the belief it has nothing to do with her– that the parents did not deserve the baby or this beach. The final entry, “Family Circle,” also has an infant in danger with equally harsh characters withholding vital assistance.
Not all of these people are as despicable. “Caravan” is about a ten-year-old girl who throws herself into refurbishing an old caravan, making it all her own. What we witness is her learning some life lessons and redefining her relationship with her parents. “Tinged” has a family struggling with a mother’s cancer, their religious convictions versus the hopes that superstitions tempt them with. There are sixteen stories total, with not a bad one in the bunch,
And here is the caveat I find myself inserting into quite a few Irish literature reviews: This stuff is funny. With all the heartbreak and suffering, there is always a saving sense of humor running through. In Colin Barrett’s fantastic collection, “Homesickness,” we have story after story of hard times, but the people never lose that twinkle in their eyes, never lose their way of lightening the seriousness of it all. Last year’s “Queen of Dirt Island” by Donal Ryan centered around a woman and her mother-in-law, women under a lot of pressure who constantly bickered and fought in what would seem a miserable existence– remarkably, this turned out to be the most loving and joyous relationship.
So, “Quickly, While They Still Have Horses” delivers a variety of slices of life in Northern Ireland, showing glimpses of a land trying to define itself as more than The Troubles.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review....more
Black 47. The Great Hunger of 1847 to 1849 saw unthinkable misery and human suffering with roughly one million Irish deaths from starvationDesecration
Black 47. The Great Hunger of 1847 to 1849 saw unthinkable misery and human suffering with roughly one million Irish deaths from starvation or disease. This is the backdrop of Stephen Black’s “The Famine Witch.” This was a time of nightmares.
The plot begins two hundred years earlier, with Belfast plagued by a supernatural serial killer, “Bloody Hands," who butchered and fed on the lives of young women. One victim he set up was Fionnuala, the legendary Black Lady, framed as a witch and subsequently put to death in a scapegoating frenzy. She cursed not only Bloody Hands, but on the whole of Belfast.
“She would have her vengeance.”
So now it is the time of famine. Bloody Hands is once again soaking the city streets in the blood of his victims. Fionnuala steers a disease infested ship into the harbor, primed to spread more death. A girl named Maggie, vaguely a disciple of The Black Lady, is cast as a puppet in the battle between the two supernatural enemies. The fate of Belfast, of the whole of Ireland, is in the balance.
“The Famine Witch” is well written. It is populated with evil villains and a very few honest souls who rise to seemingly insurmountable challenges. The pacing is quick and the action pays off satisfactorily in the inevitable confrontations. I would rate this somewhere between a three and four.
But...
I am torn. Black 47 can seem like untold years ago, something out of the Dark Ages. Yet, there is the history and the stories handed down from family about the masses dying in the street. I am not sure the horror needs to be embellished with witchcraft and the supernatural. The greed, the callousness, the utter disregard for a whole nation of people is enough. Accounts of The Holocaust need only to be spoken, I could not fathom distorting them with fantasy. So, yes, this time of Irish genocide is a trigger for me… one that bothered me more after finishing the book.
In the Preface the author posts a warning: “A dark, foreboding story that told of vengeful witches and bloodthirsty demons, yet nothing compared to the real horrors that befell the people of Belfast in 1847.” There is also an “Appendix B,” a trigger index. So, again, this is a well written tale– I just have mixed feelings about the need to play in this graveyard.
Thank you to BookSirens, Stephen Black, and Quill and Crow Publishing for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review....more
I guess I stumbled onto the wrong kind of book. I can appreciate that “Land of Lost Things” is creative, imaginative, and very well thought out… but iI guess I stumbled onto the wrong kind of book. I can appreciate that “Land of Lost Things” is creative, imaginative, and very well thought out… but it did not land with me. I utilized the audiobook as well as reading the eBook and, frankly, I could not wait to be finished with it. I understand that it is the second book in the series to “The Book of Lost Things,” and perhaps being familiar with that one would have provided more momentum, but I am just not going to bet on that happening.
Three stars because John Connolly’s writing is beautiful, and I am sure fantasy fans are going to adore this. I just did not care about more magical forest creatures popping up (gawd, I sound so grumpy!). My gaze is drifting over to my shelf to a five-hundred-page book of his, “The Furies,” which I will tackle someday. It is classified as a mystery-supernatural-thriller, and I am optimistic.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review....more
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a treasure. Not confined by genre, she conjures up atmosphere while illuminating corners of Mexico we hardly Reel in the Years
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a treasure. Not confined by genre, she conjures up atmosphere while illuminating corners of Mexico we hardly knew existed. “Silver Nitrate” is a supernatural thriller reminiscent of a Shirley Jackson journey… we are going to slowly drift until we are shrouded in the horror.
1990’s Mexico. Montserrat is a woman battling to get by as a sound editor in one of the film industry’s smaller production companies. Her long-time on-again-off-again boyfriend, Tristán, is also struggling to make ends meet in any acting and voice-over roles he can hustle up. He chances onto a neighbor, the legendary and semi-retired cult horror director Abel Urueta. Tristán and Montserrat are big fans and dine with him as they listen to stories of the director’s past glory days. When Montserrat quizzes him on the long-lost classic film, “Beyond the Yellow Door,” they are intrigued to hear this production was doomed by the supernatural, by magic, and that the destinies of everyone involved were cursed.
Silver nitrate was a volatile chemical treatment once used to enhance the film quality. The co-writer of the film was a powerful Nazi occultist, Wilhelm Ewers, who believed the silver would enable him to cast a powerful spell. Ewers had met an untimely death and only one secret unfinished reel still existed. Urueta believed if this portion could be finished his fortunes would change, the curse broken. Montserrat and Tristán jumped at the chance of resurrecting a part of film history, nefarious or not.
“But sometimes, when you’ve been around magic, you tend to attract the attention of other things that lurk in shadows. Monsters, ghosts, and the evil eye.”
Things start to twist. Spirits seem present, just out of focus, just outside the frame. Bad luck turns a corner… at first. Threats from other interested parties soon manifest themselves. It cannot be possible that evil from the afterlife is returning to play its hand.
“...just what I needed. Some good old thermonuclear black magic.”
Montserrat is a particularly resilient character. She has never backed down working in a male-dominated arena. Here she understands curses cannot be outrun and is determined to square-off against the supernatural forces at play by researching what they are dealing with and arming herself with that knowledge. Tristán is a little less bold, a weaker hero, but together they form a good team.
After the initial introduction of the characters and plot, the pace slows down as we are filled in on some of the occult practices and the real-life racist Nazi influences present. This is one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s major gifts to us in a number of her works– a real insight into Mexico in a time rarely explored in the media. Our patience is then rewarded when the finale pits the powers of all involved in a thrilling showdown.
Thank you to Random House Publishing / Ballantine / Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Reading the blurbs now I see Philip K. Dick and The Twilight Zone as references. I really only knew of Jason Starr as a writer recommended by author KReading the blurbs now I see Philip K. Dick and The Twilight Zone as references. I really only knew of Jason Starr as a writer recommended by author Ken Bruen. I love Bruen’s work, have read dozens of his books, and expected a traditional hard-boiled-private-eye sort of thing. Things started off normal enough– until the world flipped upside down.
The world is a hall of mirrors to Stephen Blitz. One night his wife runs him out of the house demanding a divorce, he narrowly avoids a car crash, and then is fatally wounded trying to save a woman he had never met. He wakes up in a hospital (now) having crashed his car but is no longer fatally wounded… and his loving wife is at his side.
Everyone in the world is acting differently and apparently colluding in some conspiracy to trick him, a fairly common Twilight Zone theme. Stephen also discovers he is a little less of a decent human being than he thought he was.
“...This version of me has made some bad decisions…”
Changes are not limited to Stephen’s life. Like any good “butterfly effect” story there are alterations in the world, as well. Al Gore is president and Donald Trump can not run for office, as he is serving twenty years for sexual assault. There are other differences– but the plot revolves around a murder that Stephen in this reality had something to do with.
“The Next Time I Die” is an enjoyable quick summer read with pretty recognizable plot twists. Thank you to Hard Case Crime and Edelweiss for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. ...more
In the spirit here, I ask that if you are currently deceased, it is imperative that you resume living at once and begin reading – (very loosely taken In the spirit here, I ask that if you are currently deceased, it is imperative that you resume living at once and begin reading – (very loosely taken from part of the digital galley).
New Orleans. There is no place like it, except in “The Ballad of Perilous Graves.” Alex Jennings fires up the torches to show the real Nola. Music always felt like the heartbeat here, we just never realized it is the heartbeat. Evil is out to kill nine essential songs holding this world together. Take away the songs, songs manifesting themselves as spirits, and the city collapses against a collection of all the storms ever visited on the area.
A chosen few are tasked with using magic to fend off the attack. Three are children who will face off against the likes of legendary song villain Stagger Lee and a gruesome ghoul he reports to. The fourth defender is Casey, an ex-tagger who abandoned his art when he saw his creations coming to life on their own. Graffiti can float on the air now and people passing through the graffiti become disoriented, one person vomiting flower petals after going through a tag. These episodes have been coined “Color Rushes.”
Musical spirits and ghosts are not unusual in Nola, but we bridge other oddities not found on your travel agent’s brochure. Zombies are commonplace walking the streets and when you look up you see the sky trolleys. Parades of P-bodies pass by, dazzled souls who spent a little too much time under the effect of the paint of the graffiti tags. Now things are getting grave and even the air pulses with the oncoming storm– a destruction promised.
A good deal of the book is spent preparing our unlikely heroes for their battle against the dark forces. Casey is a trans male coming to grips with the death of his cousin and the magic they both created which now runs rampant in the city. Perry, just out of fifth grade, and his younger sister Brendy are thrust into their roles as warriors by a fate reinforced by family. Then there is Peaches… a mysterious and astonishing girl who seems to live alone and is really the leader the other kids look up to. She could really be the focus of another book all herself.
Wait… am I following all this… I am not lost here am I? With all the POV changes and strange events you find yourself taking a leap of faith that the tide is flowing forward. It is a journey and demands some patience getting to where it is going– there will be people who will not finish it. I found the payoff well worth the effort, though. “The Ballad of Perilous Graves” is super-charged with imagination, filthy rich in characters I have not even mentioned, and captures a Nola feel so well you can hear the music playing and capture the images moving as you go.
Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Now to tape a coin to my record player needle and put my scratchy Dr. John “Gris-Gris” record on. #CocoRobichaux...more
…and when Pandora opened the jar, multitudes of evil and mayhem were unleashed onto the world. The one item left trapped inside was hope…
In the near f…and when Pandora opened the jar, multitudes of evil and mayhem were unleashed onto the world. The one item left trapped inside was hope…
In the near future our messing around with DNA and gene manipulation have caused so much havoc that a whole new governmental Gene Protection Agency has been created. Any work on genes is illegal now and researchers and scientists are being aggressively prosecuted. Logan Ramsey is an agent for the GPA, having once served time in prison for his work. Not coincidentally, his mother’s work in the science was unintentionally but directly responsible for the death of millions. She drove off of a cliff to her death, leaving Logan cursed with the legacy of Ramsey’s Famine.
Logan is attacked by a boobytrap while leading a raid on a suspected gene lab. While he seems to have recovered, little aftereffects develop. Physical and mental powers begin strengthening. Someone has messed with his DNA and he is both enthralled and terrified. Inevitably his government employers have taken a keen notice.
Is this mutation a good or a bad thing? Logan may be in a position to replicate these changes in others. Is the tampering with the mind necessary for our survival? The world in “Upgrade” is in a precarious position. New York City has been flooded and is now a giant homeless encampment. Miami is uninhabitable. Global warming is just one of the many threats to the planet. Is a radical transformation of man’s intelligence the only shot we have at saving ourselves?
“Upgrade” zooms along as a thriller without getting bogged down by a heavy handed techno-speak. The science is explained in a reader friendly manner with relatively few points where you want to gloss over the details. There is a code-breaking sequence where I took a leap of faith and accepted the logic without caring to verify it (okay, that is how you solved this Rubik’s cube, I believe you). These types of passages were minimal, however, and did not slow down the flow.
Blake Crouch has given us a suspenseful sci-fi thriller which poses thought provoking issues. I particularly appreciated his main character’s conclusions at the novel’s end. Highly recommended.
Thank you Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #Upgrade #NetGalley...more
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wizard… or just an incredibly gifted writer unrestrained by literary genre. Her most well known novel, Shaking Up the Island
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wizard… or just an incredibly gifted writer unrestrained by literary genre. Her most well known novel, “Mexican Gothic,” strikes its note in the horror genre, “Velvet Was the Night” is historic fiction and noir, while “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau” has taken the science fiction outline of H. G. Wells’ “The Island of Doctor Moreau” and retools it with a fusion of modern themes.
During the 1870’s in a remote spot in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, Doctor Moreau and his beautiful daughter Carlota run a secret sanitarium. The patients are unusual, creations of the doctor himself, they are part human, part animal hybrids. This operation is funded by a wealthy landowner, Hernando Lizalde, whose primary interest is finding a source of cheap labor. Traditional slavery is gone, the indigenous population is rebellious, and importing Chinese or European labor has become costly. Doctor Moreau’s labor force will be Lizalde’s to own, unconditionally.
The Doctor takes great pride in his early results, fantasizing about accolades awaiting him during a fanciful European tour. He has given the world life forms which have never existed. He also has a controlling power over these hybrids. They are dependent on him for life-sustaining injections containing a formula he keeps secret.
Carlota is the dominant voice of this story. A devoted daughter, she feels herself being pulled apart as she perceives her father’s callousness to the creatures he has produced. It dawns on her that he has been needlessly cruel: “He shaped pain into flesh.” She feels a responsibility to assume control at the same time she is being pressured into a future she has no control over.
The third main character, Montgomery Laughton, is recruited to oversee the operation of the residence, the post of mayordomo. He is a disillusioned wanderer, burned by love and fueled at this point by alcohol. After an initial shock he befriends the hybrids and finds himself adjusting well to his position and the relative anonymity it provides. He is significantly older than Carlota and strong protective feelings emerge– as well as a physical attraction he understands would be doomed by the age difference.
This paradise starts to unravel as Doctor Moreau’s results are not paying off satisfactorily for his investor. Then, as now, the world demands support from the cheapest labor pool. Business demands results. Morality and ethical questions are insignificant when faced with the bottom line.
“The Daughter of Doctor Moreau” is an intoxicating read, transporting us to another time and place in history. The various movie treatments of the H. G. Wells original bring expectations of ridiculous-looking special effect creatures. Here the written word mixes with the imagination to provide stronger images and to enhance the enjoyment rather than spoiling it.
Thank you to the Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheDaughterofDoctorMoreau #NetGalley...more
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