Saturday, May 25, 2013

NOS4A2


                  
                Okay, so, the rundown is as follows: Upon opening this book and reading the first two chapters, I immediately thought "Oh, this is Joe Hill doing a sort of Stephen King thing." By two or three hundred pages in, I thought he'd gone soft, gotten kindly in his success. Then his story proceeded to bite me when I was unawares and hang on with razor-sharp teeth. There have been a lot of books that approached the idea of "stolen childhood" and the nature of innocence when it comes to monsters. Few have been as gleefully and delightfully nasty about it as this. This book subverts the usual plotline of childhood magic winning out against adult monsters, turns it inside out, and makes it a hand puppet. And it does it with style and grotesquerie to spare. 

               The bad parts are a tendency to lose itself in its own language a little, some nods and name-checks that I didn't really think fit well, and the way it sort of feels too loose. Like it's trying to cover too much ground, or trying too hard to be like something else. But these are very minor nitpicks, and the book is a relentless, nasty, but still fantastic read. 

           This is a book people should be recommending, and if they are, this is a book people should recommend for many years. It'll stay with the people who read it, I guarantee.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Summer Hours Announcement

Starting this week, due to some increased RL issues and things picking up in meatspace, as well as a feeling that I'm trying to "grind" through books instead of reading them, I'm going back on summer hours. What this basically means is that I read books, I'll finish them, and the schedule will be much more relaxed. Hopefully you'll all join me as I transition back to this for a bit. Sorry for the delays. Next up will be Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter

-- Caius.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

ANNOUNCEMENT!

        SO! I have been gnawing on an idea for a little while now, and finally I decided "why the hell not"? 

The basic gist is, I have a lot of stories about the places I've been. Some of you know these stories, others of you have never heard them, and there are a few I've said I was going to tell but didn't.

NOW THESE STORIES HAVE A PLACE!

So welcome, one and all, to Pictures At An Exhibition! The place where I put my hazy, half-remembered and embellished recollections of things I have done and things I have seen done. Some of these are true. Some of these have parts which are true. Occasionally, there are things I have made up. Never things in anyone's detriment. And if there is a glaring error, I'll try my best to correct it. But please, look. Indulge. Stuff like that.

If there are any stories anyone wants to hear, leave them in the comments or tell me. Lord only knows I can't run out of material as long as I'm alive*.


*If this new blog is an affront in some way to you, please don't kill me in the hopes I'll stop. Just ask/tell me.