Monsters of Horror Book Group (Hackensack) - 2014 Books Read Thread

[Phil]

This is the Thread for Books Read by the Monsters of Horror Book Group in 2014:


WICKED..................................................Gregory MaGuire............11/06/14
HOW THE W.T.Z. GOT HER GROOVE..........Diana Rowland...............10/02/14
BLOODSUCKING FIENDS...........................Christopher Moore........09/04/14
ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD........................Kendare Blake...............08/07/14
SKELETON CREW.....................................Stephen King.................07/03/14
GOOD OMENS..........................................Pratchett & Gaiman.......06/05/14
SIDE JOBS.................................................Jim Butcher..................05/01/14
ODD THOMAS...........................................Dean Koontz.................04/13/14
MAGIC & LOSS..........................................Nancy Collins................03/06/14
MOONSHIFTED........................................Cassie Alexander............02/06/14

[Phil]

The following accounts are reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2014 Philip J De Parto.


WICKED, Wicked Years 1
WICKED (The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) by Gregory Maguire was discussed at the Monsters of Horror Book Group at the café of Barnes & Noble in Hackensack, New Jersey on Thursday, November 6, 2014.

Jeni and Karen had previously read the book and felt that it did not hold up very well upon a second reading. Karen complained that "Gillikin," the portion of the book set at school in Shiz, reminded her of a mix of MEAN GIRLS and HEATHERS. Phil disagreed. He enjoyed the book and particularly liked that section.

HOW THE WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE GOT HER GROOVE BACK, Angel Crawford 4
The zombies in this series are the product of a virus and have been around since antiquity. As long as they can feed on brains, they can function just fine in society. It is only when they go without eating to long that they lose their intelligence and become mindless feeder.

The book is competently written and there are certainly some nice moments along the way, but the series works best when it focuses on Angel's day-to-day concerns. The focus here is on the evil corporation trying to weaponize the undead. There is a major plot-twist in the end which may lead Angel down some interesting paths in coming books.

BLOODSUCKING FIENDS, Love Story 1
Everyone liked the book. Highlights included the antics of "The Animals" (the night crew at the Safeco store), the chick-lit bits like the women's magazine multiple choice tests, and the Emperor of San Francisco (based on a historical charater). Jeni and Audrey talked about their experiences in San Francisco and the Midwest and what the author got right and wrong. Phil's favorite line was about Michael Jackson's lead in Jonestown: The Musical (the book is from the mid-nineties).

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD, Anna 1
This is the first in a series featuring teenaged Cas (actually, Theseus Cassio) Lowood who carries on the family business of slaying restless ghosts after a spirit got the drop on his father while he was a child. Anna is no ordinary ghost, however, and doing a drive-by ghost bust is not going to work this time. Instead, Cas has to settle into the community and spend a lot of time learning exactly what is going on with Anna.

There were a number of nice bits to this story. The minor characters were generally well detailed. We particularly liked the non-stereotyped mother of Cas and also Carmel Jones, the school Queen Bee with a heart and a brain, and especially Anna. None of us cared for the Obeah / Voodoo subplot which entered late in the book, There was also some discussion of the age-appropriateness of the book as one library listed it as a juvenile.

SKELETON CREW
The collection consists of 22 works plus and Introduction and Notes. It opens with the novella, "Mist." Other stories which elicited comments were "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet," "Gramman'," "The Raft," "The Reach," "The Wedding Gig," and "Word Processor of the Gods."

GOOD OMENS
OMENS is a light-hearted look at the last eleven days before the Apocalypse, and those who wish to prevent it. Among those who are trying to avert the end are Aziraphale ("An angel, and part-time rare book dealer") and Crowley ("An Angel Who did not so much Fall as saunter Vaguely Downwards"), as well as a number of humans who are attempting to interpret "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter."

The group agreed with Phil's assessment that the book worked better in the beginning when the writers could simply write comic bits than later on when the authors had to advance the story from Point A to Point B. This is a problem common to most comedies. High points included a number of supporting characters including Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell, Sister May Loquacious of the Satanic Chattering Order of Saint Beryl), and Dog, the cute, little canine companion (and former hell-hound) to Adam, the Anti-Christ, plus lots of funny footnotes.

SIDE JOBS
There are eleven stories in the tome, with two of them, "Backup" and "Aftermath," told from the point-of-view of Harry Dresden's half-brother, Thomas, and best friend, Karrin, Murphy respectively. Notable stories included "A Restoration of Faith," which chronicles the first meeting between Harry and Karrin before the start of the series, "Day Off," a screwball comedy in which problems keep interfering with Harry's attempt to prepare for a date with Anastasia, "The Warrior," in which Harry learns that simple acts of kindness are as important as magic swords in the war between good and evil, and "Aftermath" in which Karrin and others work to carry on after Harry's death.

ODD THOMAS, Odd Thomas 1
Lilz B felt the supporting characters were very interesting. Jeni found the book hard to get into, though it picked up somewhat as it went along. Phil liked the characters better than the plot and felt that Koonz telegraphed the twist ending of the book. There were a lot of side tangents about other Koonz works.

MAGIC & LOSS, Golgotham 3
The Golgotham is the Manhattan neighborhood of the supernatural community in this fantasy. The heroine is human and her fiancée is Kymeran, (an elf -like race). Thee are people in both communities who are unhappy with the impending nuptials.

Phil and Jeni had read all three books. Phil thought it was the best in the series and Jeni, the worst. Phil particularly liked the glimpses of the world-building and the backstory on Tate's mother. Jeni found the characterization unconvincing.

MOONSHIFTED, Edie Spence 2
Despite no one else liking Phil's selection of MOONSHIFTED, the second book in Cassie Alexander's Edie Spence urban fantasy series, it was a very successful session. Suggestions were made for titles for the next six months. As for the book itself, the group felt it read much too much like a trashy romance novel and that neither the heroine nor any of the other characters was at all likeable. Any time Phil attempted to say something positive about the book, he was cowed into submission.