Kaiju Reviews > Recent Status Updates

this feels like it was written by a teen boy exploding with puberty... but has some good stuff in it

Solid story True Jing from Zack Be.

Starting a reread.

An exceptionally weak Persistence of Vision followed by a strange but engaging It flows from the Mouth

One of the strangest books I've ever read.

Great story by Dale Bailey, no surprise there. Okay story by Michael Cassutt. Well written but a letdown payoff that took awhile to build to.

Another really good Canto, but with some confusing character changes

The Dog's Home - very effective and truly horrific.
Tread Upon the Brittle Shell - didn't work for me at all

Reading this is like being a detective. David Foster Wallace spends more time trying to obfuscate than realize. More circular than Catch 22.

Love Suzzane Palmer's space opera stuff, and I do really like what she was going for here with Stones in the Water, but it didn't work all that well for me.

Meanwhile, KKR's Lieutenant Tightass was excellent, and I'm typically medium on KKR's space stuff, but this one really worked well. Character work (obviously) is key here, but the plot (which can sometimes not gel) also hits solidly.

Book III Canto IV was excellent. One of the easier to read. Marinell's story and Britomart's confusing journey.

Laird Barron's story here, like many of them, is difficult to tell what's going on which somehow always makes them creepier

Cover story Ephemera - good concept, reads more like a thought piece than a story. Just okay.

the coat of his back: can a story be redeemed by the last line? maybe not, but this one certainly takes a stab at it.

another pointless Gunn story

There's a happy medium between revealing everything and ruining the monster/story and revealing so little that the story just leaves you puzzled. Past Reno is the latter. Enjoyed it right up until the moment nothing was revealed.

"I will hear more of these bawdy arts."

Yes, I finally plan on making some time for the lunacy that is this book; the most unexpected, unfamiliar, and unconventional fantasy novel I've ever read.

Campbell McGrath's Santa Monica: love it, need to reread it a few more times.
Cynthia Cruz's Phosphorescence: also really liked, great rythms.
James Agee comments on NY did not work for me. I can see why they were cut. But I appreciate the historical context and haunting relevance to the future we are living in now.

Several good stories in a row by Kali Wallace, James Patrick Kelly, and James van Pelt, the last being the weakest due to the plot device and ending.

Chapter Six - an unconventional zombie story by Stephen Graham Jones, I'd have liked a little more 'meat' - but interesting

Gemma Files and Caitlin Kiernan stories back-to-back had similarities. I liked the Files one better, despite its clunkiness. The Kiernan was equally clunky, but had less going on. Both somehow engaging, despite...

Phenomenal story by Jonathan Escoffery. This is why I read PR. Guests by Terrier also very good.

Previously almost completely unfamiliar with these early 'novelists' - but two things are clear: they were influential on their more famous successors, and incredibly influenced/persecuted by religious beliefs/institutions.

disappointing r. garcia y robertson novella.

Nobody writes creepier fiction than Livia Llewellyn. Allochton is no different.