Monsters of Horror Book Group (Hackensack) - 2012 Books Read Thread

[Phil]

This is the Thread for Books Read by the Monsters of Horror Book Group in 2012:



THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES.............Charles Stross.................11/14/12
DISCOUNT ARMAGEDDON............Seanan McGuire..............10/10/12
EMPIRE STATE.............................Adam Christopher...........09/12/12
EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL...........Stephen King...................08/08/12
CHASING THE MOON....................A Lee Martinez................07/11/12
THE OCCULTATION.......................Laird Barron...................06/13/12
SANDMAN SLIM...........................Richard Kadrey................05/09/12
LEFT HAND MAGIC.......................Nancy Collins..................04/11/12
IRON KISSED................................Patricia Briggs.................03/14/12
UNHOLY GHOSTS.........................Stacia Kanes....................02/08/12
FEED...........................................Mira Grant.......................01/11/12

[Phil]

The following accounts are reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2012Philip J De Parto.


THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES, Laundry Files 1
This is the first of the author's Laundry Files series and consists of the novella, "The Atrocity Archive" and the novelette, "The Concrete Jungle," an introduction by Ken MacLeod and an afterword by the author.

The stories are a mixture of Len Deighton and H P Lovecraft. Agent Bob Howard is an operative for the Laundry, a secret British agency which combats terrorists and other madmen trying to summon Cthulhuoid creepy-crawlies and other monstrosities to do their bidding. Inter and intra agency politics and intrigue prove every bit as dangerous to one's health as neo-Nazis and jihadists.

Although Jungle won the Hugo Award, I thought Atrocity was by far the better story, giving Stoss a larger canvas which he could fill with greater detail. The trip to the lifeless world whose moon bears the image of Adolph Hitler is particularly creepy. I look forward to reading other books in the series.

DISCOUNT ARMAGEDDON, InCryptid 1
This is the first book in the author's InCryptid series featuring monster hunter Verity Alice Price. The Price family business is cryptozoology, the study of ghouls and other non-human creatures who walk among us and slaying them when necessary (but only after giving them a chance to mend their ways). However, the Prices are not the only monster hunters in the picture. Most people in the business are members of the Covenant, a secret organization is basically "the only good non-human is a dead non-human." This sets up a complicated relationship between monster-hunters and cryptoids, some of whom get along fine with humans, others who would prefer to prey upon them but refrain from doing so out of fear of the Prices, and creatures who are simply irredeemable.

Although we enjoyed the characters and the writing, Taras found the morality of the situation appalling. The Price family code is that everyone deserves a second chance, so when Verity tracks down a ghoul who has already slain over a dozen women, she lets him off with a warning to either leave town, stay in town but reform, or face death when next they meet. Phil was less judgmental, seeing the merits of both the Price and Wolansky points of view.

EMPIRE STATE, Empire State 1
The book is an odd mixture of Rocketeer-type superheroes, noir, steampunk and metaphysics. It has the flavor of DARK CITY, with a bit of Amber thrown in. The presence of a killer robot gives the opus a monster of sorts, a fig leaf to cover it as suitable for the group. I think it worked better as a concept than as a realized novel. Your mileage may differ.

EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL
The collection consists of 14 stories. It is impractical to comment on that many tales in this space. Common elements which recurred in a number of talks included divorce and smoking. "The Little Sisters of Eluria," a Black Tower yarn, "The Road Virus Heads North," and "Lunch at the Gotham Café" were among the stories which generated the most discussion.

CHASING THE MOON
Martinez has carved out a niche for himself writing humorous horror, science fiction and fantasy. His works include GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER, MONSTER and DIVINE MISFORTUNE, all of which we have explored at one or another of our book groups. Chasing begins when a down-on-her-luck young woman named Diana gets a terrific deal on an apartment. Of course there's a catch. Once she signs the lease, the door disappears and she is trapped in there. The only way out is through a closet. In the closet is a polite monster, Vom the Hungering. Vom will eat her if she opens the door. Diana eventually does figure a way out, befriends Vom, meets her eccentric neighbers who have nonsters or weirdness of their own, and ultimately saves the world.

I enjoyed the book for the pluck and intelligence of Diana and for lines like these: "That's just Keith," said Chuck. "He doesn't exist." "And don't feed me any of that karma or subconscious-desire bull. If life worked like that I'd have gotten a winged unicorn when I was six, and I'd be an astronaut who hunts vampires in her spare time."

THE OCCULTATION AND OTHER STORIES
George liked the work a good deal more than Phil, praising the author as a writer of literary horror. Both felt that the non-supernatural horror tale "Strappado" was among the strongest works. It is the story of a man who finds himself enmeshed in an exhibit of horrific performance art. We were also in agreement that his longer pieces tended to be stronger than his shorter works, and that the author is very good at handling scenes set in the wilderness.

SANDMAN SLIM
Club members Philip De Parto and George Galuschak attended the Monsters of Horror discussion of Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey on Wednesday, May 8, 2012 at a mystery location in New Jersey. The book is the first in an urban fantasy series about a man who has escaped from Hell and is out for revenge on the wizards who killed him.

George liked the book a lot, finding it reminiscent of the Parker novels by Donald Westlake. He liked the voice, the non stop pulp pacing, the dialogue and the imagery and felt the magic coin was "awesome." Phil was less impressed, feeling Mike Carey and Simon Green had worked in a similar vein to better effect.

LEFT HAND MAGIC
This is the second in the author's Golgotham series which is set in an alternate reality in which the supernatural community was deeded a section of southern Manhattan in return for their help against the British during the American Revolution.

Everyone has praised the world-building here but some reviewers have been critical of the book's characterization. While I see their point, I believe that the author may be deliberately keeping the lead's emotional states close to the vest for a more gradual reveal as the series continues.

We learn more about the world as throw-aways. JFK did not die in Dallas in 1963 because he heeded the warning of a soothsayer. Elvis had a grand 50th birthday bash attended by a number of rock stars who died young in our reality. The glossary of Golgotham slang continues to grow. There is a wonderful set piece of a series on incidents which result in a riot in Chapter Six. Recommended.

IRON KISSED, Mercy Thompson 3
The heroine is a Native American who can shape shift into coyote form at will. Native American supernaturals are rare creatures who were pretty much wiped out when European supernatural folk like werewolves and vampires came over with the settlers. Like many other urban fantasies, some elements of the supernatural community have made their existence known to dominant human population while others remain secret. The plot of this work concerns a series of murders in the fae reservation and the theft of magic artifacts.

While the novel is certainly readable, I don't think it or the second book, BLOOD BOUND, were up to the standard of the first story, MOON CALLED. I liked the continued depiction of werewolf society and was relieved that Mercy finally decides between the two alpha wolves who have been courting her. The author lost Pam with the aftermath of Mercy's mind-control rape. A mixed verdict.

UNHOLY GHOSTS, Downside Ghosts 1
This is the first in an urban fantasy series featuring exorcist Chasse Putnam.

There is some interesting world building in the book's set up. Twenty years before the start of the book, the spirits of the dead rose. Both traditional religion and secular governments were powerless to do anything against the restless spirits which killed a third of the populace. Into the breach stepped a new power: The Church of the Real Truth, an alliance of witches and sorcerers with the ability to control or banish the dead.

The Church now runs the world, but not everyone with magical ability is pleased with this state of affairs and the Church itself is not the harmonious monolith it presents to outsiders. And some ghosts are still loose in the world and have their own agendas.

The author puts a new spin on many of the urban fantasy conventions. For example, the tattoos on the heroine have a functional, and not merely decorative, purpose: they serve as channels for her arcane abilities. Chasse is a different sort of heroine, a drug addict haunted by the horrors she has witnessed. Recommended.

FEED, Newsflesh 1
FEED is a science fiction zombie novel. You don't have to believe in the origin of the zombie virus to appreciate the world-building that went into envisioning a post zombie apocalypse world. The lead characters are a team of young bloggers (George felt the work had a YA feel to it) covering a presidential campaign. Bloggers are the rock stars of this society because while respectable media were slow to recognized the existence and severity of the zombie problem, bloggers were instantly on line saying zombies are real and this is how to deal with them. The author surprised us both with some late-book plot twists. Definitely recommended.