L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 3

Review of The Onyx Book of Occult Fiction by Various

The first modern anthology brought to you by Snuggly Book in their definitive series, numbering 6 volumes thus far. The editor is none other than the pre-eminent author of the occult working today. In his introduction, Damian Murphy invokes a wide-range of authors tangential or central to his understanding of literature of the occult persuasion. […]

Review of Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates

I often wish JCO would write more science fiction. This felt a bit like A Handmaid’s Tale. The initial sections describing the system of rewards and punishment, how society has morphed into this recognizable, twisted near-future I found less compelling than the love story at the heart of the novel. This not her most popular […]

Review of Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland by Carlton Mellick III

One of his longest works, something labored over for longer, it seems, and continued in an equally long sequel, I found myself at times missing the brief length of his accustomed method and not necessarily wanting it to go on as long as it did.   It had its moments, but ultimately could not rank with […]

Review of Breathe by Joyce Carol Oates

A heart-rending meditation on grief. Our protagonist’s battle with losing her partner encapsulates all the stages, every sidereal and ethereal sentiment imaginable.Shaped within the austere landscapes of New Mexico, through achronological snippets of her university life, in and out of the hospital as Gerard succumbs to a generic illness, our protagonist recounts her days intimately, […]

Review of Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Shteyngart knows how to bring the beef. Politically incorrect ranting, raving, and livestreaming.Much chuckle-worthy correspondence featuring an upper middle-class Jewish American, a Korean American and her family, and an upper-upper-upper-upper class American CEO-type with sub-human morals. Highly polished, irreverent bashing of this, that, and the other. Prescient, but really just an extrapolation of what you […]

Review of Black Boy by Richard Wright

A harrowing memoir of a sensitive artist. Having read most of Wright’s books by now, I wasn’t expecting to be blown over by this as I was.Memoirs don’t often strike home for me, but this may be my favorite of the handful I’ve read.A rounded picture of the author is presented here. He doesn’t shy […]

Review of Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

Didion’s clear and poignant reportage is always thrilling. Here, perhaps, her most famous pieces evoke a now-distant time when America was defined by resistance to war, and droves were trying out the Hippie lifestyle, spawning great protest music and a whole body of literature. Ranging from California, to New York, to Mexico, to Hawaii, the […]

Review of The Blood-Guzzler and Other Stories by Rachilde

An interesting introduction to Decadent literature. Or a good choice for those already familiar with the genre.Rachilde is apparently a big deal in the genre, having sparked much controversy in her time. I wonder why I hadn’t heard of her until recently.Bravo to Snuggly books for making readily available, a few of her choice productions.This […]

Review of The Troika by Stepan Chapman

The first Philip K. Dick Award to go to a small press. Jeff Vandermeer published this when 120 other publishers declined it. Chapman was a very accomplished author with hundreds of short stories in high profile magazines way back in the days of what I consider the most entertaining science fiction boom, and boasting, I […]

Review of The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

A posthumously published novel by Wright, who told this story in his collection Eight Men. The expanded version is full of pathos and rage. Injustice in America was nowhere better elaborated than this author’s poignant works.This makes for a great shorter foray into the awful relations between races at this time. Like his protagonists in […]