Carlos > Recent Status Updates

Have I lost my capacity to read fiction? I can see the stylistic similarities to Ligotti or Michael Cisco, and yet that now that style isn't enough to get me to push through on an opening that's up its own ass about the in-story "author," their mental health and publication history, and what they're NOT going to write before telling us about the grayness they see in the world. It's like an anti-hook.

The first story follows a private detective investigating the disappearance of three youths. I've come to the conclusion that I kind of hate character work in horror stories. If I wanted to read about a middle-aged guy lamenting his divorce, I'd stick to Raymond Carver.

The Tale of Toad Loop.
In theory, a middling Lovecraft riff which borrows a little from Dunwich Horror, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Curse of Yig. The faux folksy style really makes it grating, though.

Finally slogged my way through the end of The Black Massif.

In the middle of a Clark Ashton Smith pastiche that reminds me why I never really plugged into Smith.

"While the content of his writing is often offensive against and oppressive of minorities, Lovecraft's larger vision ... opens up the very possibilities of ethical alterity and encounters premised on the destruction of the privileged subject of the white male that are necessary in order to lead to liberation of all lives as unique emergences."

The language is overly academic but still gets at something.

Sometimes it can take me a while to plug into what a book is doing, but Human Eaters by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers feels like that for me. Equally parts sad and creepy, with a strong voice that uses the fantastic to speak about the real.

So far, it's a mixed bag -- to be expected with anthologies -- but there are some real bangers.