Forrest > Recent Status Updates

I underestimated the number of people Kalam would kill in one chapter by about half . . .

Okay, even this anglophile has to be convinced (and is) that Weird Americana is a real thing.

What gives me the feeling that Kalam is going to kill a bunch of people very, very soon? Oh, that's right: because he is Kalam!

I think in the FHR review with Gary Lachman I have found a kindred soul. So much of what he said resonates with me on the level of "spirituality" (a term he spurns, but principles he lives), a fondness for much of the same art, and shared experience regarding the evolution of taste in music. I would love to sit down and have lunch this this guy. Incidentally, he used to be the bass player for Blondie.

Aaaaand, I'm a grandfather again! Alaïa Carolynne Aguirre Brellenthin was born this morning. Mom and daughter are both doing well (as are Dad and big brother).

Good grief, nearly halfway there and this has flown. Erikson is easy to read, that's for certain.

Well, one essay partially skipped, but with a book this broad and thick, you can't help but not connect with something, amirite?

This is a wild and wooly volume like A Year in the Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, which is to say that it's not easily defined or corralled. And I like that: variety is good. Plus, like A Year in the Country, I am being given a thousand threads to chase regarding folk horror. That makes me a very happy reader!

The more I see of Felisin, the less I feel sorry for her.

Well, I will surely be watching every episode of BBC "Ghost Story for Christmas" series.

Now I REALLY want to see what Coltaine is up to. Fascinating character that is currently off-stage, but clearly in the thick of things.

All roads lead to Tremorlor . . . and the dead(?) Sha'ik . . .

I need to know how the whole ascension into a patron god works. Anyone have a quick primer on Malazan ascension into godhood? Anyone? Bueller?

At least some of the characters are as confused as I am about this convergence thing.

Sharon Krauses essay "Subtle Magic and the Thrill of the Wicker Man" takes the seminal (pun intended) folk horror movie and explores the subtleties of the magic of music, masks, sexuality, and dance presented therein. An excellent analysis, if a bit short.

Felisin's story is uncomfortable, to say the least. Makes you hate her sister, that's for sure.

So, really, Malazan is faaaaar post-apocalyptic. But what were the original societies that spawned the disaster that created the deserts? Or am I completely off-base?

I should probably mention that my short story "All the Stage is a World" appears in the newest issue of Vastarien. And just take a look at that table of contents - there is some great stuff in there!

What a smorgasbord!

Man. Sucks to be Felisin. Seriously, that sucks. Why do I get the feeling she's not going to get anything she wants?

I still can't picture what a Trell and Jaghut look like. Maybe I should do a Google search.

i bought five books in five days. I don't see this as a problem.

I love the dialogue in the story "The Feast of the Sphinx". A lot of people, a lot of readers, in fact, would say "no one really talks like that"!

You know what? You're right. No one really does talk like that . . .

AND THAT'S WHY I LIKE IT!!!

Banality is not automatically "artistic" or "daring" or "outre". Give me a pile of adjectives, strange syntax, beautiful metaphors.

Give.

It.

To.

Me!

This is what I love about this series so far, and it's the same thing I love about Dune - the reader is immersed in a complex culture with little or no explanation. The book allows itself to be explored and ruminated upon. It is not a spoon-fed reading, one must savor each bite and yet the appetite is so strong for the sweets that one gobbles it up quickly and licks their literary fingers afterwards.

Imagine Jan Svankmajer, Angela Carter, and David Lynch getting together to do a long story about prisoners fleeing soviet agents and finding themselves in The House of Leaves - but worse. A different tone for Clark, to be sure, but not bad-different, just different. A phantasmagoric cabinet of wonders.

Erikson has a gift for packing complexity in his characters and revealing it with the subtleties of dialogue. As a writer who struggles with dialogue (I really have to work at it and edit it like crazy), I admire that. He's pretty amazing at it.

Ah, Whiskeyjack, et al. I seem to recall liking these guys from the first book. But it's been so long since I've read it that my memory could be messing with me.

The high are brought low and the lowly "exalted" - in a way. A bloody mess of a start, and that's not a statement about the quality of the fiction, it is literally true.

I now own 23 of the 35 books on my "Want to Read" list and, guess what? I'm going to read all 23 of those. THAT is how you do it! Tight and right!

What a way to end the collection! "Bargette" is all about the loss of innocence, the squelching of fantasy and dreams. A fitting end to this most excellent book! Four stars, as there could have been something more done - I can't even articulate it, but there's something, just a little something missing from this story. Alas.