Corey Redekop's Blog, page 50

Quick interview in Seattle's The Stranger

Who is that wonderfully handsome man gracing the front page of Seattle's only newspaper The Stranger (online edition) ? Why, it's me!

Book editor and swell fella Paul Constant has done a quick overview of the benefits of self-torture though the infamous 3 Day Novel Writing Contest. In the course of his research, we contacted each other, and he gave a brief email interview of yours truly on the history of my debut novel (and once-upon-a-time contest entry) Shelf Monkey.

Click here to read the...

Now you too can smell like a moist netherworld beast.

Tired of perfumes that lend you the aroma of flowers and Jennifer Lopez? Looking for a replacement to that library-related scent I told you about a few months back?
Well, your prayers to the demon underlords of your nightmares have been answered!
Presenting The Lovecraft Collection from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab; "scents inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos."
Who's Lovecraft? Why that's H.P. Lovecraft, early 20th century teller of tall tales, many of which...

Arthur Slade's the Hunchback Assignments

Once in a great while I do a few reviews for the venerable Canadian publishing magazine Quill and Quire. They have just posted my review of Arthur Slade's terrific new steampunk novel for young people, The Hunchback Assignments.

Slade's London is an engrossing mélange of the historically precise and the ridiculously imaginative. Working within the genre of steampunk, a mode of speculative fiction that posits a world of technological invention within the trappings of the Victorian Era, Slade...

Monkey droppings - a trio of pleasures both subtle and gross, and not for the timid

On today's agenda, a triumvirate of testaments to creativity. And zombies. Lots and lots of zombies.




The Stress of Her Regard
by Tim Powers

For me, the fantasy genre has always been a mixed bag of pleasures. For every tasty chocolate truffle of pure imagination (Lev Grossman's exemplary The Magicians, for instance), there are three or four of the cheap Hallowe'en candy no one likes, the post-Tolkien 'orcs and trolls' variety a la Ed Greenwood, wherein each novel reads like a particularly dense...

Critical Monkey! Update the second!

Another month, another batch of goodness. Check here for the rules if you're a newbie. Enough preamble! Get to the stats!

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Depression (six reviews)
Anger (five reviews)
Guilt (four reviews)
Bargaining (three reviews)
Denial (two reviews)
Corey Redekop
Twilight by Stephenie MeyerThe Justice Riders by Chuck Norris et al.gypsysmom
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. CoetzeeInterview with the Vampire by Anne RiceSteve Zipp
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas PynchonSketches of a Small To

Monkey droppings - Hater by David Moody

Today: A return to the wonderful scares of old, in a new novel equal parts Stephen King, George Romero, and Richard Matheson.






Hater
by David Moody

"If I find I cannot terrify the reader, I will try to horrify, and if I can't horrify, I'll go for the gross-out." – Stephen King, Danse Macabre

Terror is arguably the hardest emotion to evoke from the page. As the maestro of modern horro says above, horror is easier to instill in a reader than terror, and gore easier than horror. Horror makes you think,

Monkey droppings - The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Who like fantasy? 'Cuz I gots a doozy of a tale for you!







The Magicians
by Lev Grossman

Quentin is a typical teen; imaginative, too smart for his own good, and positive he is meant for more than life offers, that somehow his real life has been "mislaid through some error by the cosmic bureaucracy."

Oddly, Quentin is absolutely right, and his acceptance into the ethereal Brakebills college proves it. After all, it's not every eighteen-year-old who gets to practice sorcery, as most people "lack the tou

Monkey Droppings - ManBug by George K. Ilsley

Today, we go subterannean to underearth a hidden Canadian gem.




ManBug
By George K. Ilsley

Sebastian, along with so many others, was a geek before geek was chic.
Also at that point in the history of the development of human culture, it must be acknowledged, frankly, that "gay geeks" were yet to be identified as a niche market.
Sebastian was ahead of the geek chic curve, and ahead of the gay geek curve, and to this day, has never even heard of a gay geek chic curve, or square, or whatever form such a

Critical Monkey entry #2: The Justice Riders: The Best Little Roundhouse in Texas

In the second instalment of Critical Monkey, I risk a roundhouse kick to the head as I take on the might of literary heavyweight Chuck Norris and his debut novel:

The Justice Riders (!)
by Chuck Norris (!!), Ken Abraham (?), Aaron Norris (?!), and Tim Grayem (??)

Why I might hate it: I do try not to let people's political or personal views mar my appreciation of their work, but let's be real, that rarely works. I used to enjoy Orson Scott Card, but his virulent and grotesque attitude toward homosex

Monkey Droppings - Darwin's Nighmare by Mike Knowles

[image error]Today, we boil away society, leaving only the hardened nubs of humanity behind.



Darwin's Nightmare
by Mike Knowles
ECW Press, 2008

"People die because I live. I'm what Darwin dreamed of at night. Top of the food chain, no remorse." – Paolo Donati

Writing hard-boiled fiction is hard.

Scratch that. Writing good hard-boiled fiction is hard.

Example:

I saw a woman in a fitted business suit make her way up the stairs. I imagined her at first to be a lawyer or doctor, but her bag was just a bit too shiny to