kurtwombat's reviews
880 reviews

 Christopher Moore was strongly recommended to me over a decade ago by I can’t remember who and I can’t remember when but I’m glad I finally dipped in my toe. Over time I have managed to add four or five of his books to my personal to-read pile at home. Early on while reading this one, I had visions of possibly donating the rest of my Moore pile to the local library for resale. It was odd and kind of engaging and mildly humorous but it hadn’t grabbed me. Something changed about midway through. All the characters locked into place and the mildly humorous became genuinely funny—and kind of  engaging became a romp.  Maybe it took me that long to adjust to the fantasy elements—or should I say one really big fantasy element named STEVE. There was a nice payoff with STEVE  and a certain pharmacist but I might have been just as happy hanging out with the regular townsfolks and their irregular problems. Oh, but I did love that set up and payoff with the pharmacist. Moore’s books are apparently quite popular and there is an element that I appreciated that may factor into it—several of the characters despite what they might be going through maintained a certain gentleness at their core. That being my shorthand for a certain candlelight of decency that hasn’t been snuffed out. (kinda reminds me of the scene from THE INCREDIBLES when the family is escaping and Mr. Incredible joyfully says, YOU KEEP TRYING TO PICK A FIGHT WITH ME BUT I’M JUST HAPPY YOUR ALIVE) While I might generally prefer a harder edge, this is done so well I warmed to it. I will be reading more Moore. 

A very thin mystery, even by novella standards, that never gained any momentum. The Ghana setting helped but I wanted more Ghana. Some decent characters but I wanted more from them. An interesting crime who's author was obvious half way through and some oh so brief action at the end are teases that don't satisfy. Feels like the author was clearing out a closet in his brain before getting back to his popular series of Detective Darko mysteries--this hasn't put me off trying one of those (or his Emma Djan series) but I may not get to it as fast. 

 

 

 

I will admit that before listening to this book—I too occasionally found myself confused betwixt the Naomi’s. Naomi Klein—feminist, social activist, author, professor known for her  criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, Eco fascism and capitalism. Naomi Wolf—former feminist who famously authored the ground breaking THE BEAUTY MYTH but turned right wing agitator & conspiracist. From those descriptions you can see why Klein wouldn’t want to be social media confused with Wolf. Once they   appeared to have much in common but now are looking glass opposites. I won’t be confusing them again. 

 

I have graded the stories of this collection below and while they average to roughly a B, the stories collectively deserve higher praise for offering new perspectives and reaching for something more. Playing off the trope of black characters being the first to die in most horror genre experiences, this book makes the black girl the hero. This isn’t done by just swapping skin tones like a black Barbie or by having black characters run through white situations. Instead, most of the characters here arrive with the weight, knowledge and experience of being black in America and what they are forced to endure is often a result of that very experience. No coincidence that the stories I liked more exhibited this the most. And these stories aren’t just about survival but overcoming and a modicum of revenge—a payment for historical services rendered. There is also an effort to be inclusive of the LGBTQ community which is always welcome. Read this book and you will step through the horror genre looking glass. 

 

HARVESTERS   B+  Solid teen story with a deftly delivered twist—lean and mean. 

WELCOME BACK TO THE COSMOS   C   Creates a good atmosphere but ultimately just deflates. 

GHOST LIGHT   C-  Okay gimmick wasted with flawed characters. 

THE BRIDES OF DEVIL’S BAYOU   A-  Good character work & myth building—very tense. 

TMI   B  Not bad but disappointed when the gimmick I suspected was the gimmick I got. 

BLACK PRIDE   A-  Loved the central idea of this revenge fantasy enough to just go with it. 

THE SCREAMERS   A+  Easily my favorite of the book—genuinely scary all the way through. 

QUEENIUMS FOR GREENIUM   D  Annoying inconsistent characters in a who cares situation. 

INHERITANCE   C-  Keep forgetting what this story was—for a reason. 

BLACK GIRL NATURE GROUP   A  Good characters in a unique trap well told. 

CEMETARY DANCE PARTY    D+  Some fun moments but how it plays out doesn’t make much sense. 

THE SKITTERING THING   B+  Didn’t like at first but it didn’t let go and had me by the end. 

THE BLACK STRINGS   B-  Kinda interesting but the central idea wears thin and finally makes no sense. 

LOCAL COLOR   C+  I love a treasure hunt but I didn’t care for what I found here. 

FOXHUNT   A-  Kind of a history flash back without the time travel—quite satisfying.  

 I read this memoir by Jessie Conrad about her life with husband Joseph Conrad online. The edition was a rare hardback scanned into The Internet Archive. Had I not stumbled upon it on this site, I likely would never have heard of it let alone read it. Very few editions were printed during the author’s lifetime and it doesn’t appear to have been republished since. The combination of my fondness for Joseph Conrad and the rareness of the material has likely inspired some generosity when rating this book. With that in mind, the material is slight and uncritical and seems to drift—yet this is an intimate view of their lives—a window into history not opened anywhere else. The writing is very accessible and while clearly influenced by years of reading her husband’s work Jessie Conrad remains restrained and avoids parody. She mentions in her preface that she had been wanting to write something for much of their marriage but Joseph had requested she wait. Much of the memoir reflects how involved she was in his work, especially early on, and clearly the thought of finding her own voice surfaced somewhere along the way. And her creation is modestly admirable. As a fan I enjoyed reading as Joseph Conrad’s books were produced with a little bit of context and how their fortunes were affected by them. Also of interest was impact of one of their son’s going off to fight as part of the British forces in WW I. The drama of their long-distance concerns as they awaited any news good or bad about him does hit home. Accounts of the time present the much younger Jessie as an unremarkable and unlikely match for the genius but like most women of her era she was expected to serve her husband—this appears to be the point of the union. She certainly deserves credit for sustaining Joseph’s desire and ability to create but her memoir also shows her engagement in his work and perhaps influence. I suspect it was greater than she references, this being a habit of deference to her husband.