THE IMMACULATE VOID by Brian Hodge

He had never witnessed anything that felt more unholy than this.

It’s always been difficult to define cosmic horror. It’s one of the most elusive of subgenres. The best way to describe cosmic horror is the fear that comes from witnessing something that is beyond the realm of human comprehension, the fear of something so vast that it defies all logic and understanding. This book is one of the best examples of the genre I've read. It’s a difficult feat to write about something that is “beyond human understanding” and make it palpable to read. But Brian Hodge pulls it off here, grounding the fantastic and other-worldly into a story that is relatable and engaging on a human level. It's proof that once your reader is engaged with familiar emotions and characters that they will go along for whatever ride you take them on.

It's a hard book to describe but Hodge instantly locks us in with parallel stories of a man trying to track down his missing sister, and the sister coming to terms with her traumatic past and what it could mean for her future. But in the midst of all this, Hodge somehow also deals with sadistic god-worshippers, colliding comets, and gazes into the infinite. It's a stunning novel that took me completely by surprise with its passionate writing, its creepy implications, and the touching relationship between the two main characters. If you have any curiosity or interest in cosmic horror, look no further than here for how well it can be done.

He longed to die. He longed to live. He longed to die to live again in some smarter version of this life. He yearned for it, prayed for it, then wept a tsunami when he realized he was the very god he was praying to, and that it was even more helpless than he was.

GRADE: A-

DRY COUNTY by Jake Hinkson

"We all had our chance to do the right thing, and none of us took it."

Any new release by Jake Hinkson is a day one purchase and read for me. I'm a huge fan of his dark noirs that tell tales of complicated losers trying their best to dig themselves out of trouble and making a terrible job of it. While it might lack the manic energy of his earlier books, Dry County might be his most widely accessible book. But he never strays away from his usual tackling of taboo material. In this new novel, he brings together several members of a small Arkansas town, as they collide with each other in the wake of a respected local preacher's decision to pay off his former gay lover in exchange for silence.

There are no good guys or bad guys here as Hinkson passes no judgment on any of the players. Although there's a constant theme in his work critiquing the dangers and hypocrisies of religion, here it's done with a maturity where he just lets the characters loose with all their flaws and without commentary. And I as a reader was riveted as usual watching them desperately dig themselves deeper into their respective holes. Great, constantly entertaining work as usual.

"I'm drowning, and drowning men don't call out for God. They gasp for air."

GRADE: A-

CORROSION by Jon Bassoff

For a few minutes I wished that I were dead but then I worried about hell and what it would bring.

I would describe myself as an avid reader of noir and dark fiction. I feel like I've read lots of great work in these genres. But every now and then I find something that takes me by surprise. Author
Jon Bassoff has been on my radar for a while and I've finally made it to his work with this pitch black, mind-blowing debut noir.

Back up the mountain, shotgun over one shoulder, bride over the other. And now, forever, snow falling, wind howling, boots crunching, breath wheezing, devil laughing.

I don't want to talk too much about the story but it treads familiar waters in regards to content but in an original and creative way that makes it totally addictive and compulsively readable. From its fiery, crackerjack prose, its parallel POV structure, its evolving narrator, and its heavy themes, this is sly, sneaky, and nimbly controlled work that is constantly surprising as the revelations are slowly revealed. And most importantly, it's a brave examination of its troubled protagonists. This one puts Bassoff even more on my radar in a major way.

I used to not believe in God, his father has said, but now, I'm a changed man, a true believer. Only a Supreme Being could create such misery and mayhem.

GRADE: A

AFTER THE STORM by Marietta Miles

Although she's published as a crime author, Marietta Miles once again fools everyone and defies all genre expectations, focusing on subtle, but all-too-human emotional conflict, showing the struggle to rebuild not only after physical and natural disasters, but personal, intimate ones as well. And in After The Storm, she shows that sometimes those efforts fail.

After The Storm is a follow-up to her previous May, and we follow May and Tommy sticking together after the devastating nor’ easter levels their lives and how their story intersects with two siblings fleeing a traumatic past. The book fits right into Miles’s growing body of work, concentrating on similar themes not just from May but also from her novella Route 12.

GRADE: B

SONGS FOR THE UNRAVELING OF THE WORLD by Brian Evenson

There's nothing more exciting than reading work by an author who's completely singular and unique, an author that almost defies description. Brian Evenson is one of those writers. Anyone who's ever read any work by him knows what I'm talking about. I'm not quite sure how to even catogerize the stories included here, which is the first full story collection I've read by him. They're mostly horrifying, but not quite standard horror, there are some pieces with aliens and spaceships but I wouldn't quite call them science fiction or fantasy. What I love about the stories is that there is very little valuable time spent on going into full detail about the setting. The effect is that the stories have a timeless, otherworldy feel, where I wasn't quite sure if the story took place in the future, the present, on Earth, or even in another dimension. This adds so much to the heavy, oppressive atmosphere in most of these stories.

I was there for days, weeks perhaps, and the things that happened to me were far too terrible, are far too terrible still. There was light and noise, a flutter of wings that were not wings, a man screaming who both was and was not me. The press of other creatures tugging at my extremities, the seepage of one skin through another skin, the loss of most of one foot then the loss of most of the other, a man pounding on the door and begging in a voice not entirely his own to be set free. 

Evenson's unique imagination is on full display here as he weaves tales of identity, existensialism, and paranoia that are perfectly bite-sized. Some of my favorite stories here are:

"Wanderlust," about a man who gets the feeling that someone's watching him and goes to great lengths to avoid the ever-present gaze
"A Disappearance," a surprising tale about a man investigating the death of his best friend
"No Matter Which Way She Turned," a moody story about a girl with no face
"The Cardiacs," where a magician's trick fails in a dark and mysterious way
"Line of Sight" and "Room Tone," two stories of filmmakers obsessed with the devil in the details
and the title story, an unexpected, surprising story about a father's dedication to his daughter that takes dark turns.

If you're looking for stories that stray from the normal and will linger in your subconcious long after reading, read Brian Evenson's novels and short stories. And this collection is a perfect place to start.

After all, I already know I am not as stable as I have been led to believe. How hard could it possibly be to no longer be me?

GRADE: A-

COME TO DUST by Bracken Macleod

There's so much dramatic potential in a story that focuses on the death of a child and their subsequent and questionable "return." How do you reckon with the horrifying implications of a child being reanimated from the dead, when all you feel is happiness at their return?

This book tackles this idea and its opening third shows so much promise, with an ex-con struggling to make ends meet as he's trying to keep his niece safe after his sister abandoned her, and having to face his greatest fear when she dies. Then, after a number of kids around the world inexplicably wake from the dead, he has to deal with her return. This first third is emotional, deliberate and well-paced, really putting you in the protagonist's shoes. 

But the final two-thirds of the novel betrays all of that as it devolves into a generic and forgettable action thriller that loses most of the thoughtfulness that it promises in the beginning. It doesn't go very far at all in the exploration of its great conceit, and that's pretty disappointing. 

GRADE: C-

RECURSION by Blake Crouch

This might be one of the most batshit crazy novels I've read in a while. It features a high-concept plot that I'm not sure didn't contradict itself and break it's own rules, but it's so complicated and so damn entertaining that I didn't have the time or the brainpower to pick it apart. And I kinda don't care either. Similar in design and tone to Blake Crouch's previous banger, Dark Matter, this novel begins as a curious mystery about false memory and builds from there into something that I'll only describe in two words: MEMORY. WARS. If that's not enough to get you to buy this book right now, I don't know what would.

In it's final third, the book starts to fly off the rails. But instead of simply plummeting to a fiery death in the canyon of silliness, it sprouts wings and starts to soar on it's own winds. It really is awesome to witness a writer so in command of his work, and have the balls to be able to pull something like this off. And not only does the book have moments of high-concept, speculative brilliance, but (like Dark Matter before it) Crouch also never sacrifices character depth and emotional weight. By the end, the novel stays memorable not only for it's sci-fi flair, but also for the journey with the characters. It's possible that a better novel might come out this year, but I'm willing to bet money that there won't be one that does it with as much style.

GRADE: A-

HARD COLD WHISPER by Michael Hemmingson

There aren't many contemporary crime noir novels that attempt to recreate the manic intensity of the best classic pulp paperbacks and succeed quite as well as this one. It's about a Southern California process server who falls for a teenager and gets entangled in her plot to fast track her aunt's death and gain her inheritance, and it's written with direct prose that's full of mischief and a sly smirk. It's apparent that Hemmingson was having a ball seeing what dark turns this story would take as he wrote it, pushing our ill-fated protagonist deeper into a cursed nightmare, all for our sadistic entertainment. It's wicked, short, and swift, just like the best novels of the Gold Medal days, recalling the work of people like Gil Brewer and Harry Whittington.

GRADE: A-

THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB by Craig Davidson

This is yet another very affecting coming-of age I've read recently and it wears it's heart on it's sleeve like the best of them. I've been interested in reading Davidson's work for a while now and this was definitely a great place to start! I was constantly taken by the vivid, sensitive quality in his writing on every page. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be semi-autobiographical because there's a really intimate, personal quality to the work, that lent to the bittersweet but romantic atmosphere that's important for the story. The book details half a year in the childhood of Jake Baker as he explores the lingering past in his Canadian town of Cataract City with his new best buddy and his eccentric uncle.

I surprisingly really enjoyed the aside's to the main character's present day work as a brain surgeon and how that related to and lent more insight to the book's main theme of the malleability of memory  and recollection.

Not only is it about childhood, loss of innocence, nostalgia, and growing up, it's also about regret, memory, and the emotional importance of storytelling. It's a quiet, but nonetheless romantic and affecting tale from a talented, promising author.

Reality never changes. Only our recollections of it do. Whenever a moment passes, we pass along with it into the realm of memory. And in that realm, geometries change. Contours shift, shades lighten, objectivities dissolve. Memory becomes what we need it to be.

GRADE: B+

SNOWBLIND II: THE KILLING GROUNDS by Michael McBride

Author Michael McBride is quickly becoming a creature horror writer I can really depend on, who never fails to provide tense, atmospheric, and well-paced, popcorn-ready tales of suspense that are easy to read and always satisfying. This is the sequel to his great novella Snowblind, a wintry monster tale that was also a great read. This sequel really works on it's own as it doesn't exactly follow-up on the events of the first book, but features all- new characters who get stuck in the remote Rockies during a search mission after they encounter something truly bloodthirsty in the snowed-in forest. This novella is short but somehow McBride finds the time to really develop compelling characters, especially the character of John Avery, who's desperate dedication to finding his missing girlfriend is potent, relatable, and sympathetic. This book is just as good as the first but can also be read as a total stand-alone.

GRADE: B+

CARDINAL BLACK by Robert McCammon

*Book 7 of the Matthew Corbett series*

It's always a grand adventure when I jump into a new Matthew Corbett book! I've always called these books the most consistently enjoyable series out there, and this 7th book doesn't break that trend. This picks up right after the end of Freedom of the Mask and Matthew is now forced to work for his arch-enemy Professor Fell and track down a valuable book of potions stolen by the even more evil Cardinal Black in order to find an antidote to cure Matthew's poisoned paramour Berry Grigsby.

I'm constantly blown away by how refreshingly modern these books feel, given the fact that they take place during the very formal times of the early 18th century. If you've heard about these books and think that they sound like they would be slow and boring, you couldn't be anymore wrong. This book finds Matthew and his murderous traveling partner Julian Devane running headfirst into a dangerously high-stakes undercover operation and they manage to put themselves squarely in the sights of Europe's entire criminal underground.

I'm always worried that McCammon's long-windedness would ruin things for me, but again, there's so much awesome that it's easily ignored. McCammon's big strength, what makes his books so enjoyable, is his uncanny talent with characters. All the supporting cast is instantly memorable, from Julian Devane, to Samson Lash, to RakeHell Lizzie, to Miles Merda, and definitely the creepy Satan-worshipping Cardinal Black. And Matthew himself continues to be one of fiction's best heroes, and this time he faces his biggest moral challenges, as he tries desperately to cling to his honor, even at the cost of survival.

Once again, I would recommend these books to anyone, but especially if you've enjoyed the other novels. As usual, this book ends on a great cliffhanger that sets up the next historical adventure. So now begins the long wait until the next installment.

GRADE: A-

BAY'S END by Edward Lorn

Bay's End falls right in line with many other great coming-of-age novels that I've read, like IT, The Body, The Accidental Siren, and Boy's Life, where we witness a boy forced to grow up fast during the most important summer of his life. The boy in question here is Trey Franklin, who, later in life, is trying to exorcise his demons by recalling the summer as a kid when he met his best friend, fell in love, and lit a cherry bomb in a policeman's car, setting off a deadly chain reaction in the small town of Bay's End.

This was Lorn's debut novel and it's an impressive one. It moves at a good pace, the characters jump right off the page, and the prose is tight. And I love how the author takes his time to lull you into the comfortable setting of the story, bathing you in the innocent freedom of adolescence, so that when the dark shit hits the fan, it's surprisingly brutal and wicked. This definitely isn't for the faint of heart or for people not willing to explore humanity's pitch black dark side, especially in the type of people you encounter everyday. Every piece of work I've read from Edward Lorn has been worth it and he is proving to be pretty dependable. I'll pick up any of his work that's released. 

GRADE: A-

THE BORDER by Don Winslow

*Book 3 of The Cartel Trilogy*

This was one of the most epic reading experiences I've had in a very long time. This is the massive conclusion to Don Winslow's Cartel Trilogy, THE definitive piece of fiction that focuses on the War on Drugs. Throughout these three big books, Winslow leaves no stone unturned in this subject and passionately challenges what you know about the Border Crisis and the American/Mexican Drug War. But even more importantly, he tells the great story of the tumultuous, decades-long personal war between DEA agent Art Keller and Sinaloa Cartel patrón Adan Barrera.

After the big turning point in the finale of the previous book, The Cartel, Art Keller is now the head of the DEA and is trying to fight the Drug War from the very top levels of government.  But at the same time, a new breed of cartel leaders are threatening a new level of violence in Mexico.

With this book, Winslow expands his focus ten-fold, the same way The Wire did with each of it's episodes, and begins to focus on every conceivable corner of the Drug War and all its players: from the cartel leaders, to a NYPD undercover officer, an aging hitman who comes out of hiding, a 10-year-old Guatemalan illegal immigrant, a tormented young Staten Island junkie, and finally a reality-show host and real estate mogul running for president with a love of Twitter and a desire to build a bigger wall along the Mexican border. This large cast of characters shows how far reaching this war is and helps give the story it's epic scope. Winslow also brings back storylines from the previous novels and brings it all to a satisfying end.

There's no other writer quite like Don Winslow. This book shouldn't have worked for me. It's filled with documentary-style focus on detail and sometimes feels like a political essay. But it's so goddammned entertaining that it never bothered me. His writing is so readable that I could've kept reading happily for 500 more pages. I don't want to talk too much about the story but there are so many exciting moments, and even one moment that made me actually shout and clap, and then stop in embarrassment because I shouldn't be cheering at an inanimate object.

The book isn't the most subtle, with it's blatant and inelegant, but spot-on Trump avatar character and a final speech that's basically Winslow's Drug War dissertation, but I had such a great time reading this and was so engaged by the riveting, horrifying, sometimes amusing, and always important story that I can't give it anything but an A-grade. This was fantastic and exhilarating and would recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed the previous books, except maybe sensitive Trump fans.

GRADE: A

THE BROKER OF NIGHTMARES by Jon Padgett

I've been hungry for anything by this author since being blown away by The Secret of Ventriloquism, one of the best works of horror I've read in years. So when I saw that he had a small chapbook novella coming out I jumped right on it! It doesn't disappoint as the story, about a doctor who trades painkillers for vivid dreams, has a similarly unsettling vibe as his previous work.

The atmosphere is due to Padgett's evocative language and the detail of the creepy nightmares explored here. It's so impressive how reading this book actually feels like walking around in a dream. It's a story about addiction and the dark side of imagination, and another stand-out work of horror by Jon Padgett.

GRADE: A-

SHORT RIDE TO NOWHERE by Tom Piccirilli

High on my list of favorite authors, Tom Piccirilli has been known to have written some dark shit. This novel is no different as it's one of those downer noirs that we wrote in the last half of his career. It's narrated by Jenks, a man who's lost everything in the recession, now homeless on the streets of Manhattan, and now searching for answers in the wake of his old friend Hale's violent death, a man who shared the same economic fate.

The worst thing about having a wife and kids and dog was trying to keep it all. Once it was gone, Jenks had to admit, so was the pressure of fighting for it. You were never so free.

Prepare yourself for a dreary and gut-wrenching odyssey through the grimy streets of New York, from homeless shelters to hooker alleys, as Jenks not only trolls for answers but seems like he's aching for to vent his frustrations through violence. In an interesting look at how destruction can not only be contagious but possibly destined, we watch as Jenks flirts with bloodshed everywhere he goes. No one does true modern noir quite like Piccirilli.

He would listen to the sound of the blade opening and shutting, the way he was listening to it now, and he would discover in that last moment what the next page in the great book of life, written in God's own hand, would have to say about his sins.

GRADE: A-

A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF by William Boyle

William Boyle's latest book might also be his most accessible, with a tone that's pretty different from his two previous novels. While it's set mostly in the same outskirts of Brooklyn where the other books take place and it's just as offbeat, this one is filled to the gills with quirk, witty comedy, and hope; a bit of a departure from the earlier crime downers and melancholy character pieces. It tells the story of a mob widow, an ex-pornstar, a precocious teen girl, a mid-level gangster, and an 80-year-old Viagra-popping pervert, bouncing off each other as they flee the wrath of a psycho hitman armed with a sledgehammer.

It's fun, suspenseful, and delightfully oddball, What few action scenes there are never go quite the way you expect. The chapter in the first third where all of our characters collide in the Bronx is one of the best chapters of any book I've read in a long while! It's well-written with absorbing characters, but Boyle does show a constant issue with narrative momentum as he's always interrupting the flow of the story at the worst moments just for the characters to reminisce. It always helped to learn more about these characters ut I wish it was done with a bit more finesse. But I had a great time reading this one. It's a tale of how friendship can be found in the most unlikely places, and how all you need is the right people around you in order to discover who you really are.

*Advanced Copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review*

GRADE: B+

STUMPTOWN VOL. 1 by Greg Rucka

Greg Rucka crafts a really commendable hard-boiled mystery that checks off all of the right boxes. It's got twists, turns, reveals, fist-fights, a missing girl, good dialogue, and most importantly, a memorable protagonist. That detective here is Dexedrine "Dex" Parios, a private dick with a gambling problem, who agrees to find the missing daughter of the local casino owner in order to get out of mounting craps debt. Thus begins "The Case of the Girl who Took Her Shampoo But Left Her Mini."

Rucka is well-known for creating memorable female characters, and Dex is definitely someone that I would rush out to read more about. She's smart and tough but she's constantly unlucky and prone making bad decisions, and is always getting her ass beat down for some reason or another. And with her, there's no need for much backstory. We learn all we need to know from her determination to find answers, her bravery in the face of danger, the way she interacts with her brother Ansel with Down Syndrome or the way that she interacts with the police chief she had an affair with. Rucka shows how much info you can get across with a few well-placed bits of dialogue. And Matthew Southworth's art could've been a little more refined but definitely fits. This was a good one, buying the next!

GRADE: A-

COLD DEAD HANDS by Jeff Strand

This won't be forever changing lives through it's poetic and artistic examinations of character and theme, but it will prove to be a gripping, quick, bloody read one night before bed!

I always say this, but Jeff Strand is like his own genre and his books have a feeling of their own. This story is FAR from being a comedy but not many people can infuse levity into such a dark story but still maintain the dread the way Strand can. The ending is a bit underwhelming but the rest of it moves at a great pace and will definitely keep your attention.

GRADE: B

BLACK SCIENCE PREMIERE VOL. 1: TRANSCENDENTALISM by Rick Remender

A big advantage that second books have in a series is the fact that they don't have the burden of exposition holding them back. And that's definitely the case here. So we're free to ride the fast-paced tidal wave of action from the very beginning of this book. And I'm glad because it gets pretty crazy, let me tell you! After the cliffhanger of the first premiere edition, I was eager to where our characters end up and where it all goes from here, and I was not disappointed. More imaginative sci-fi thrills, jaw-dropping twists and turns, family drama, and shifting character dynamics makes this yet another great Black Science read.

GRADE: A-

A SCHOLAR OF PAIN by Grant Jerkins

Let's get this out of the way. If you're on the search for a book with likable characters that will make you smile and strengthen you outlook on humanity, don't even look in this direction. There's nothing for you here. But if, like me, you're a weirdo fascinated by the darker side of humanity and shifty morality, then step right up.

What you'll find here is one of the best story collections I've read in years and marks the first time I've read anything by Grant Jerkins. The stories mostly focus on societal deviants of questionable ethics, stalkers, religious fanatics, child molesters, sizzurp addicts, and up-skirt peepers. It even takes leaps into the cosmic and metaphysical in ways that I won't spoil here.

Most of these characters aren't in denial of who they are and it leads to a bold and unwavering look at things that aren't all that comfortable to explore.

"I had a bowel movement in your commode. And I did something to your toothbrush so that you will have molecules of me inside of you too."

And Perkins is an exciting writer, tackling all of the subjects fearlessly and with sly, smirking prose that's exciting to read and darkly comic. But I'm not sure if I should even call this collection dark comedy. Because while it's too odd and outlandish to be grim, sometimes it's too painfully accurate and on the mark to be funny. What it is though is a stellar collection of stories the like of which you won't find anywhere else. Read this now. And then get ready to want to read more Grant Jerkins.

GRADE: A

WALK IN THE FIRE by Steph Post

Steph Post seems to be getting better with each novel! This book, a direct sequel to Lightwood, is even more engaging than it's predecessor. One of the reasons might be the fact that there was no need to acquaint myself with the main characters and I was able to watch Post develop them even further here, taking them into interesting directions. This over-arching story Judah Cannon story reads like a Florida Godfather, showing a man who wants nothing to do with his family empire, but realizing that it might've been his destiny all along, a destiny fueled by his last name.

I loved the new characters introduced here as well, who help to really make this look stand out further ahead of the last, such as the increasingly desperate ATF agent Clive Grant and the unsettling Weaver, who might be an even scarier villain than Sister Tulah. And speaking of Tulah, the sly and manipulative preacher is back as well, and we travel further into who she is as a character and what motivates her.

It all provides a great set-up for another sequel and I personally can't wait to see what happens next and what Steph Post has up her sleeve.

GRADE: A-

BLACK SCIENCE PREMIERE VOL. 1: THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ENTROPY by Rick Remender

Bold. Imaginative. Visionary.

I was not sure what to expect with this series but it hit me like a runaway train as it pulled me away on it's adventure. I don't want to go into too much detail about the plot as it might be best to go in almost completely fresh the way I did, and jump headfirst into this trip down the rabbit hole and into the onion as this flawed crew of travelers try to survive their dangerous trip through countless dimensions.

The biggest thing that struck me was how fast the story moves. It drops the reader right into the middle of the action from the beginning and NEVER stops. There is no exposition to get you acquainted with the world at the start, and there is no time to take a breather during the entirety of its 400+ pages.

I've seen reviews talk about the speed of its storytelling was a problem with it being too confusing but I totally disagree. I really appreciated that the creators didn't treat the reader with kid gloves and trusted the readers to keep pace with the story. And learning more about the rules, the background of the expedition, and info about the characters while the story was moving forward really added to the experience. So buckle your seatbelt before jumping into this one, and keep up!

The artwork here, especially the inking and the color work, was a real standout here, providing a singular atmosphere that's really memorable. Whenever I think about this story in the future, I'll visualize those sharp lines and bold neon-ish colors.

There are a few reasons why my grade for this was dropped a couple points though. The constantly shifting POV narration became a little obnoxious and sometimes distracted from the flow of the story, I wish that there was a bit more variety in the nature of the different dimensions, and I wish some of the action was easier to follow. This story also seems like it might benefit from it being read in big chunks like this premiere volume, which collects the first three trade paperback. I seemed to have responded to this better than other friends who started reading it in the shorter paperback volumes.

For me, this was a wild ride and I can't wait to continue.

GRADE: A-

THE CLEANUP by Sean Doolittle

This was a simple little noir with a familiar story about a disgraced cop on a shit detail working security at a convenience story who gets himself caught up in a murder cover-up involving the checkout girl he’s crushing on. There's some good dialogue and it can get pretty suspenseful. But what made this one really enjoyable was bearing witness to Doolittle’s skillful plotting. Every action and every character turns out to have an important role to play and watching it all come together is like seeing Doolittle set up a complicated array of dominoes, then tipping one over and watching them all fall gloriously!

GRADE: B+

THE SEA WAS A FAIR MASTER by Calvin Deemer

Flash fiction is a difficult form to really pull off. I've found that some flash stories I've read come off as small scenes from a bigger story that the author is hoping to publish someday (the case with many short stories, even the longer ones), or come off as simply mood poems that go nowhere. Calvin Deemer seems to have a sense of how to really pull it off. He keeps things simple, to the point, and knows that the point of flash stories isn't to develop a character or deep thematic material but that it's all about conceptual brevity, plot, and an ending reveal. Deemer packs a lot into just 3 or 4 pages in every story, knowing how to set the stage almost immediately.

Although my favorite stories were the ones that were more emotionally resonant, like the unlikely poignant love in "Yara," the sad regret in "Graves," or the look at tragedy and requital in "The Snakes or the Humans." In most of the other stories, the author seems to simply have a good time, coming up with his fun ideas and letting us into his head. Even though in some of the stories the potentially powerful and slightly ambiguous endings are weakened by final lines too obvious and literal, most of the stories are worth your time!

GRADE: B+

OLD GHOSTS by Nik Korpon

I feel like you can always depend on Nik Korpon for a solid tale of modern noir with dark and evocative language, and Old Ghosts doesn't disappoint. Not totally. This early novella follows Cole, a man trying to make ends meet with his wife Amy, while trying to make a baby with her as well. But things get complicated when old friends come back into his life and bring the old ghosts with them.

I liked the book fine superficially and the writing made it compulsively readable, but I wish that more time was spent on detailing the complicated past relationship that Cole had with Delilah and Chance. It seems like something was compelling him to work with them again even though he knew it would lead to tragedy, but I never fully understood what that something was, so I couldn't get fully invested in his decisions. He seems like he hates them and wants to stab them both in the face all the time, so why does he feel like he has to help them? I'm sure it's something along the lines of feeling some sort of familial loyalty that is hard to break, which I understand on a surface level, but not on an emotional one. We really need to get a sense of their past relationship more. An example of where this is done well in the novella format are in several of Tom Piccirilli's novellas, which deal with similar themes. This one was alright but for a stunning look at what Korpon can do, read By The Nails of the Warpriest.

Also, the editing in this edition left much to be desired too as there were many typos that were pretty dam distracting.

GRADE: B-

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2018

2018 was another great year in general but whoa, it seems like I get more and more busy every year. I feel like my reading attention was at its worst this year and that may have affected my enjoyment of many of the books overall. I definitely jumped pretty heavily into reading more superhero comics, which was pretty fun. I definitely noticed a few things:

*I've been neglecting reading more older classic pulp and westerns. I miss them. So much to read!

*I also noticed that I didn't read that many short story collections. Maybe only three I think. That has to change.

*I realized that I enjoyed more books that were published this year than the ones that I read that were published earlier.

Anyway, here are some favorites. My humble awards, with less categories this time. 
(*) indicates my top favorite

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Favorite Book I Read in 2018:

*Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias
The Man Who Came Uptown by George Pelecanos
The Listener by Robert McCammon
Cemetery Road by Gar Anthony Haywood
The Line That Held Us by David Joy

Favorite Novella:

*The Nobody by Tom Piccirilli
In The River by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Pretty Marys All In A Row by Gwendolyn Kiste

Favorite Short Story:

*"Finn's Missing Sister" by Jen Conley (from Cannibals)
"Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" by Damien Angelica Walters (from Cry Your Way Home)


Favorite Superhero Comic Book:

*Ivar, Timewalker by Fred van Lente
Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Two by Tom Taylor
Archer and Armstrong by Fred van Lente
Astro City: Confessions by Kurt Busiek
Black Hammer Vol. 2: The Event by Jeff Lemire

Favorite Non-Superhero Comic Book:

*Scalped: Book Three/Book Five by Jason Aaron
Trillium by Jeff Lemire
Southern Bastards: Book Two by Jason Aaron

COYOTE SONGS by Gabino Iglesias

"Whatever is happening there smells like blood and bad news."

Gabino Iglesias's novel Zero Saints was one of my favorite books I read in 2016. I also mentioned in that review that it was completely original and unlike anything I'd read before. This latest work follows that trend and goes even further. It's even harder to pin down than that previous book.

The silence on the other side of the door struck him as forced, pregnant with something tense, something that belonged to the world of screams, but that was forced to stay quiet.

Coyote Songs almost completely defies description. I won't even try. And good luck trying to pin it down to a genre. It's equal parts magical realism, crime noir, supernatural horror, manifesto, and who the hell knows what else. It's a mean and poetic ballad of la frontera: a place that's even darker than la frontera he explored in Zero Saints, a place filled with monsters, both human and otherwise. This book isn't for everyone, and I admit that I probably didn't understand all that it offered. But I was held rapt by it's imagery and language, a reading experience unlike anything else this year. Books like this make me happy that there are writers like Gabino Iglesias out there in the world, and publishers like Broken River Books brave enough to publish them.

"La frontera es un sitio malo, especially if you start caring about shit. La frontera es un sitio donde hay que ser un hijo de puta para sobrevivir. You have that, mijo. Don’t lose it. Nunca.”

GRADE: A