I was very excited to receive this collection of stories. This is the third Ellen Datlow collection I’ve read, the second that I’ve reviewed, and I think she does a great job of choosing really interesting stories that all play to a theme. Blood and Other Cravings isn’t your typical book about vampires. These aren’t necessarily creatures that suck your blood and hate garlic, but they are creatures who steal something essential from you. They draw something — energy, will, love, vitality — from you and leave your diminished. They aren’t terribly happy stories, not surprisingly. Two of them were so cruel that I found them deeply disturbing. But all in all, this is a very good collection.

It’s always tough to review a book of short stories. Where do you begin? What if you love some stories and hate others? This is pretty easy review, though: most of the stories were quite good. I didn’t love the collection as much as I did Naked City, but I think that is partly because of the subject matter. Talking about something that sucks the life out of you — even if we’re not talking about your blood — is not cheery. But the stories aren’t all doom and gloom, they just aren’t as funny as in some of the other collections.

I particularly enjoyed “X for Demetrious” by Stephen Duffy. It is based on the true story of a man who was found dead in his apartment, surrounded by lines of salt, bottles of…waste, and cloves of garlic. It is a distressing look at a mind that is caving in on itself. I was also thrilled to see a story from Kathe Koja — I reviewed her novel Under the Poppy last year and loved it. “Toujours” is not a vampire story, but it is a story about losing the thing that sustains you, having it taken away from you. It fits right in, in its own way.

I also really enjoyed “Blood Yesterday, Blood Tomorrow” by Richard Bowes. I could easily understand the appeal of the mementos of “Myrna’s Place” and other, similar establishments, the feeling that you knew a little something that the world at large did not know. I have always found there is nothing quite as enticing as being in the inner circle, knowing the secret stuff that others can’t guess at — very, very alluring. And if you can profit from that, why not?

There were two stories that I found very disturbing. These were stories of cruelty that haunted me for a bit, a look at being the vampire that was not at all appealing. The first was “Mrs. Jones” by Carol Emshwiller. A lonely woman makes a discovery that lets her get something she desperately wants and also gives her a mean little triumph over her equally lonely sister. But what she is willing to do to get it! It brought out all my protective instincts. The second story was “Mulberry Boys” by Margo Lanagan. It’s a little difficult in the beginning, purposely so, to sort out exactly what is going on, but once you do…shiver. Again, you can’t help but feel a deep sympathy for the poor fellow, with his gentle protests. I found it much more distressing than the stories of more forthright violence.

Overall, this is an excellent collection. There are stories that look at the theme from a variety of angles. There’s a bit of humor (“The Baskerville Midgets” by Reggie Oliver) and a couple of good scares.

My copy of Blood and Other Cravings was an Advanced Reader Copy, provided free of charge.

Jokers Club is a quick read with plenty of twists and turns. Geoff is a failed writer with a brain tumor, returning to his hometown for a reunion with old friends (who, for the most part, were more tormentors than friends). His friends start dying and weird things start happening, but its uncertain whether these are real or caused by the tumor.

The Joker describes Geoff’s writing as “contrived” and he is definitely on to something. To me, it seemed like a mash-up of other work. At first, I thought it sounded far too much like It by Stephen King. As I kept reading, it seemed more like The Dark Half, with a little bit of the movie Identity stirred in. None of it seemed new or fresh to me.

The book isn’t a lost cause; I think a good editor could have helped Bastianelli pinpoint some weaknesses, areas where the story could be improved. It requires a lot suspension of disbelief. Would the people — some of them in desperate personal and financial straits — travel hundreds of miles to hang out with childhood buddies? Could it be possible that the sheriff, the local loony and others around town really haven’t changed a bit since Geoff left home? And even if there is a twist at the end that probably explains all of this, am I likely to hang on until the end if the rest of it seems unrealistic and not terribly compelling. While there are some interesting bits, too much of Jokers Club seems recycled.

Jokers Club came to me through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

It’s Christmas Eve and Vera Coffey is on the run. What she brings to the little town of American Rapids is certainly not holiday cheer. She has something with her, and the people following her will do anything to get it back.

In Pitch Dark, Steven Sidor sets an extremely creepy stage. A small town in the middle of nowhere, a blizzard, and the eve of a holiday, when no one expects bad things to happen. These are nice people — Vera, Adam, Wyatt, Opal and Max — and they have no idea what’s coming for them. Vera had a fight with her boyfriend and ran. She meets Adam on the road, heading home to see his parents for Christmas. Wyatt and Opal’s life together has already been scarred by violence; they thought running the Rendezvous Motel would give them the peace and quiet they wanted.

Pitch Dark is a quick read — mainly because you want to get through it and see what happens. The tension builds as bits and pieces of the story are revealed. There are old stories, truth and fiction, and there are connections you don’t immediately see. There is organization and method behind this, a terrible, dark intelligence. It sounds crazy at first, like the visions Opal has been having, but sometimes even crazy stories have a bit of truth in them.

This is a great little thriller – a perfect read for Halloween week. (It’s certainly not a Christmas story, no matter when it’s set!) It was easy to get caught up in the story, to start to worry about the characters and whether they’ll be okay, and to wonder about the mystery and the madman at the heart of the story.

Steven Sidor is the author of three dark thrillers Skin River, Bone Factory, and The Mirror’s Edge. Check out StevenSidor.com for more info on his earlier books and for a special prequel, A Chunk of Hell, available for free on his website.

My copy of Pitch Dark was provided by LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Oh, was I excited to get this book! I loved the first book in the series, The Strain – recommended it to everyone who was tired of sparkly vampires. The Fall was a little less successful (often the case with the middle book in a series), but still a very good read. I have been anxiously awaiting the final installment, in part because I figure the movie can’t be far behind.

The Night Eternal begins two years after The Fall ends. The Master has orchestrated the end of the human race and instituted a new vampire world order. There are still humans around; after all, the vampires could not survive without them; but most of them are completely subjugated. The size of the vampire population is closely controlled, so that it does not outstrip the available humans, and some of the surviving humans are similarly monitored. (Let’s just say that having B-positive blood is not a good thing.) The Master has used his psychic connection to the vampires he created to control the human population, which lives in nearly perpetual darkness thanks to the nuclear holocaust of the last book.

Ephraim Goodweather, Nora Martinez, Vasily Fet and Gus Elizade are still fighting the good fight. They have ways of undermining the Master and at the same time, they are working to discover the secret of the Occido Lumen, the book that holds the secret of the Master’s origins. In The Fall, the Master destroyed the other Ancients by destroying their birthplace, the site where they first rose as vampires. The book holds clues, but they are subtle and complex, and they will not reveal themselves easily.

Ephraim is not much good to his colleagues these days. He is obsessed with the fate of his son, Zach, who was captured by his mother, a vampire working closely with the Master. He is unstable and unreliable, but still part of the key to the mystery.

Del Toro and Hogan do an interesting job of weaving vampire mythology and Old Testament stories to create a really original vampire canon. Their vampires are unlike any others in recent memory. And they are not afraid to take the story to the extreme — in The Fall, they call down a nuclear holocaust — to see the story through. This third book is full of plot twists, unlikely allies and surprising enemies. In some ways, the book went far further than I expected, and I love a book that can truly surprise me. This is full of action and suspense and heartbreak; it’s a terrific end to the series.

All the same, I have to say that I hope this isn’t exactly the end. I thought from the very first scene in The Strain that this would make a great movie. The Strain has so much atmosphere and is so visual that you can almost see the movie in your ahead. (Exactly the sort of novel I would expect from such a great director.) There’s a lot of great material here that I believe would be great on the big screen. At least, a girl can dream…

My copy of The Night Eternal was a review copy provided free of charge by the publisher.

Okay, today we have a guest post that is not polite, not politically correct and not afraid to state a controversial opinion — what a great way to end the week! Just as I would caution people that Jake Bannerman’s book, Pitchfork Diaries, is not for the faint of heart, I would warn you that this guest post is not for the easily offended. I love a passionately-held opinion, so this was a lot of fun for me to read and I hope you enjoy it.

Jake Bannerman, author of Pitchfork Diaries
Middle Finger Salute

Today I would like to address the ongoing subject of people claiming or complaining or whimpering or dropping on their knees praying to Jesus about my writing being too graphic or too violent.

I happen to have a few different views on this subject.

Number one. I did not ask you to pick up my book and read it without there being provided with a synopsis or the availability of reviews for you to read and research in advance. And if the term EXTREME HORROR did not tip you off obviously it doesn’t surprises me that you would be one to bitch. YOU are the reason America sucks. YOU are the old lady who spilled coffee in her lap and sued McDonald’s. YOU are the teenager who didn’t wear a condom and ingratiated yourself to my tax money to pay for the baby you have no right to have. The information is obvious: coffee is hot, unprotected sex causes pregnancy, and if you did not know those things YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!

Number two. Sometimes we don’t take reviews or synopses seriously and do you want to know why? It’s because people will say whatever they need to say to sell their product. It’s an age old game; snake oil cures the sick, grows hair, and eases arthritis. Whatever it needed to do at the right time and place for the con artist to make money. Yes, it is true MEN are the worst offenders because we have noproblem telling you we can and will satisfy you just to have the opportunity……… Oh hell, I wasn’t supposed to divulge what’s in the Secret Guide to Being a Man.

Number three. Ok this is where Jake gets controversial… Guess what?? Violence, graphic sex, murder, rape, blood splatter, necrophilia, chain sawed abortions being fed to nuns, decapitating the pope, and flying planes into buildings and killing thousands is, and I hope you’re ready for this – IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT!!!!! Check the statistics on movies. People do not stray away from violence or sex or murder; have you seen the NEWS lately? Ever heard of NASCAR? How many times do you think people actually watch a race to see cars drive in circles???? NONE, NONE, AND NONE. We watch for the wrecks. Oh no, you say NOT ME. Really? The porn industry is larger than Hollywood in terms of income because NOBODY is interested in sex? How fucking silly do you think I am?

So what do I say when people say I am too graphic, too violent and too sexual? I say yes I am! I am a human being created by a God who programmed me with lust, sin, anger, and the desire to be interested in every damn one of them! It’s called the Pleasures of the FLESH and I indulge in every one of them every fucking chance I get. Just remember that the bible says the wages of sin are death…Wait, death and sin? HOW VIOLENT…

This story comes at a perfect time. As I posted earlier today, my current book is Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, full of stories about fae and other wildfolk, most of them taking place in urban environments. In the Dunes, a story/novella by John Leahy, runs along similar lines. Two good friends, on a golfing vacation in Ireland, find out that you ignore the warning signs at your peril, because you don’t really want to know what’s in the dunes.

Reviews like this are tough! The story is only 46 pages — not a lot of material to work with — and I would hate to spoil any of the surprises. It’s got a couple of themes I like to it: the silent, knowing townspeople, the perfectly innocuous nature of the warnings, a very surprising turn of events and time to lament your mistakes. After all, it’s no fun if you don’t have some time to savor the inevitable bad end!

My one criticism is that Leahy needs to work on writing in an Irish brogue. One character’s accent is spelled out for us, but it isn’t thick enough to seem truly Irish, and the spelling didn’t seem to match the pronunciation in my head. Perhaps he needs to hang out a bit in an Irish pub and try to translate what he hears. It’s an excellent excuse for a trip to Dublin!

Leahy has a few published stories to his credit and I hope he continues to write. This is a fun, spooky little bit of fiction and it should be nestled in amongst some other similar tales. That would make for a very pleasant bit of reading.

For more information on John Leahy, check him out on Facebook.

PUBLICATION CREDITS:
2011 – Novellette In The Dunes available under publisher Lillibridge Press
2011 – Novella Harry Wall’s Man available under publisher Melange Books.
2011 – Short story SpiderGirl167 available under publisher Racybunny.com. Writing under pseudonymn Mia Ryan
2010 – Novella Indomonu available under publisher Damnation Books.

The news reports talk about riots, civil unrest, perhaps some sort of viral epidemic. They have to say that — who would take them seriously if they started talking about vampires?  In The Fall, the second book in Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain trilogy, nothing less than the future of mankind is at stake.

The people massing in the lowest levels of the World Trade Center reconstruction site are not gang-bangers, vandals or victims of some exotic flu. They’re vampires. They’ve caught an age-old infection, an aggressive contagion, one that doesn’t even require a bite. This epidemic is spreading like wildfire, crippling New York City as well as other major cities across the globe.

Ephraim Goodweather is no longer the CDC’s golden boy. He has been discredited, accused of murder, and he’s in hiding with mysterious pawn shop owner Abraham Setrakian. Eph wants to fight this with science, wants to believe that he can count on the the Powers That Be to come to their rescue, or at least to take them seriously. Instead, Eph, Setrakian and their pal, exterminator extraordinaire Vasily Fet, are on their own, or very nearly so. They may find that they have some truly unexpected allies.

There are a couple of interesting developments since the last book. Eph’s son, Zack is being targeted by his mother, Kelly. Newly-turned vampires have a primal need to gather their Dear Ones and bring them into the fold. With all that Zack has seen, he still can’t quite believe that his mother is a danger to him. Eldritch Palmer, multi-billionaire businessman may be working with the vampires, but he definitely has his own agenda. And even some of the vampires may not be what they appear to be. This is an ancient conspiracy, and we finally learn a little about what is driving The Master and his relationship to the other Ancients, as well as learning that Setrakian knows far more than he has revealed so far.

These are not sparkly, happy vampires. These are ugly, disgusting creatures; no sex appeal here.  Goodweather, Setrakian and Fet are literally fighting for the survival of the human race. This fast-paced thriller keeps you turning pages, building suspense even as it begins to reveal its secrets.

My copy of The Fall was an Advanced Reader Edition, provided free of charge. The Fall hit the bookstores on September 21, 2010. For more information on the trilogy, check out The Strain Trilogy.com.

The prologue will give you nightmares. (Do you know what sort of sound human vertebrae make when they give way under pressure?) Other sections of the book made me want to cover my eyes and read through my fingers. The killer in Thomas White’s The Book of Matthew would give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. This is not a book for readers with weak stomachs or those prone to nightmares. Not a lot of outright gore — I’ve certainly read bloodier books — but the sort of enlightened cruelty that makes you double-check the locks before turning in for the night. Not that locks would save you.

Angie Strachan is a real estate agent. She has an odd but friendly relationship with her not-quite-ex husband. She comes from a family of cops and once upon a time she had ambitions of her own in the police department. That all came to an end when Angie came face to face with a monster — a monster the police couldn’t stop. She made a choice that saved lives but ended her career. Now, years later, she’s a member of the Police Reserve — basically unpaid grunt work for the San Francisco Police Department — and she’s about to get drawn into another media circus, hunting another monster.

Clemson Yao is the lead detective on the case. He’s already troubled by nightmares (mutant bugs and The Engine, churning up bodies and lost souls) and this case isn’t going to help. Their killer is very smart and the murders are planned to the smallest detail. The first crime scene they find is based on the favorite execution method of a rajah in Jaipur in the early 1700s. He draws inspiration from the Malleus Maleficarum, The Witch Hammer, a famous treatise on the interrogation of witches, written in 1486. He uses unusual implements, obscure poisons, leaves witty clues at his crime scenes. What his methods all have in common is extraordinary physical suffering and emotional anguish, the sort of torture that gives seasoned cops nightmares.

The SFPD gets a bad rap in this book. There is a lot of talk about low solve rates, incompetent detectives, promotions and prime job assignments decided by seniority rather than skill and a union that rules it all with an iron fist. I sincerely hope that is just artistic license on White’s part; if not, he really knows how to hold a grudge.

It seems strange to say that I enjoyed a book about torture and murder, but I did. I generally avoid the torture-porn movies (the first Saw was terrific, but I didn’t make it through Hostel); maybe it is easier to read than to watch. I loved the twists and turns of the story. I love mysteries and detective fiction, but I hate it when the answers are too pat, too obvious. I enjoy the stops and starts, the dead ends, the leads that could go in any number of directions; those are the investigations that feel more real. In The Book of Matthew, detectives have a lot of information to sift through, crimes that may or may not be related, clues left by the killer, and not everything takes them in the direction they think they should be going. It makes for interesting reading and a story that keeps you guessing, my favorite kind of mystery.

My copy of The Book of Matthew
was purchased from Amazon.com.

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache…and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

It’s a great beginning to a promising story: part thriller, part horror, part treatise on the nature of the devil. While Horns occasionally gets bogged down in reminiscence, it’s still an extremely entertaining read.

A year ago, Ig’s girlfriend Merrin was raped and murdered. Ig was the prime suspect — an alibi like “I was passed out in my car parked behind an abandoned Dunkin Donuts” is not very convincing — and although he was never charged, he was also never cleared. There is a cloud of suspicion hanging over him already, and growing horns is not going to make him look innocent.

Eventually, Ig discovers that the horns have their own terrible power. They make people want to tell him things, the things they really want to do. They want to get his permission, or his twisted blessing. When he gets rousted by the local cops, he learns a little more about Officer Posada than he intended:

“I’d like to put my hand in your pocket again,” Posada said. “And leave it there. You don’t know how hard it is not to use my position of power to cop a feel. No pun intended. Cop. Ha. I never imagined how much of my job would involve handcuffing fit, half-naked men.”

You’re not going to believe the advice he gets from his parish priest.

Ig finds out things he wishes he didn’t know, but he also sees a way to use this power, this ability to get answers from people, to find out who really killed Merrin. The parts of the story that involve Ig’s investigation are my favorites — filled with insights into the people around him that are both hilarious and horrifying. We really do not want to know what goes on in the minds of the people around us.

The story, for me, got bogged down in backstory. Some explanation of how Ig and Merrin got together, his relationship with his brother and his best friend, Lee, is necessary, but I didn’t find it very compelling. When a story starts in the present then jumps back to the past for an extended period, it’s hard to keep up the level of interest.

I’m also sure that some of the symbolism went right over my head (I never did figure out the whole Treehouse of the Mind thing), but I loved the commentary on the nature of the devil. Some of the ideas Ig lays out are the sort of questions I used to ask my very-Catholic grandmother, driving her to distraction; for example, if God hates sin and the Devil punishes sinners, aren’t they working on the same side? Seems perfectly logical to me. I’m sure that a lot of readers can relate to the comments about God and his “criminal indifference”. After all, who hasn’t watched a tragedy unfold and asked “why?”

“If you were in a boat and did not save a drowning man, you would burn in Hell for certain; yet God, in His wisdom, feels no need to use His power to save anyone from a single moment of suffering, and in spite of his inaction He is celebrated and revered. Show me the moral logic in it. You can’t. There is none.”

I enjoyed Horns, but not quite as much as I had hoped to. I found a lot of humor and suspense in the story, a couple of good scares and a lot of little touches that made it memorable. (Just for fun, take a minute to translate the Morse code on the inside cover — I got a chuckle out of it.) Author Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King and storytelling is definitely a family gift. I loved 20th Century Ghosts and I also enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box and I will be looking forward to his next novel — a good, scary story is hard to come by.

My copy of Horns was provided free of charge for review.

I saw the movie, Let the Right One In, last year and was immediately drawn in by it.  The stark settings and minimal dialogue gave the film a sense of isolation and dread.  Nothing good could happen in these surroundings.  As soon as I found out the film was based on a book, I had to have it.  It just took me a little while.

The book, Let the Right One In, resurrects all the chills the movie gave me.  Oskar is a lonely 13-year-old boy — chubby, friendless and a bit homicidal:

Strangely enough, he already knew the name of his victim, and what he looked like.  Jonny Forsberg with his long hair and large, mean eyes.  He would make him plead and beg for his life, squeal like a pig, but in vain.  The knife would have the last word and the earth would drink his blood.  Oskar had read those words in a book and liked them.

The Earth Shall Drink His Blood.

So, imagine this lonely boy, playing on a deserted playground in the middle of winter, surrounded by cinder-block apartment houses and Swedish forest.  He meets a girl, Eli – a strange girl — and the two of them develop a complicated relationship.  She tells Oskar she cannot be his friend (although she doesn’t tell him why), but she doesn’t act like she isn’t a friend.  Still, she hasn’t bathed and she isn’t dressed for the cold — just a thin pink sweater, no gloves, no coat.  When Oskar asks her why she isn’t cold, she simply says, “I guess I’ve forgotten how to.”

Eli is impervious to cold, remarkably strong for a girl her age, and only comes out at night.  Hmmm….

Eli also has a caretaker.  A much older man, who may or may not be her father, and who has decidedly sketchy motives for associating with a young girl.  Eli, we find out, is not above trading on those motives when she has to.  Things become even more complicated when Oskar begins to suspect that the new family on the block has a connection to a recent murder.  One body becomes two and a potential killer turns up in the hospital, horribly disfigured, and many more people are drawn into the devastating mix.

Frequently, I find that I either love the book and hate the movie or vice versa.  In this case, I found they worked together very well.  If I’d read the book first, some of the scenes in the movie involving Eli’s history and Oskar’s relationship with his father would have resonated more deeply — there is a lot of subtext there, a lot going on below the surface, only hinted at on film.  Seeing the movie first, I could place pieces of the story in a visual context, with my memory of the landscape and look of the places involved in the story.  If you’re not familiar with either, I would suggest reading, then watching.

I was fascinated by the book.  I kept thinking about the relationship between Eli and Oskar.  Eli appears fragile, but she is preternaturally strong.  She is most definitely older than her years.  She encourages Oskar to stand up to the bullies that make his life miserable, but what are her motives?  The book fills in a lot of blanks — about Eli’s past as well as Oskar’s — but that doesn’t necessarily make the picture clearer.  It certainly makes for a fascinating story.

Let the Right One In