bookish
Blurbs
I remember not long after House of Leaves came out, with Lethem’s way cool blurb on back, that there was an article or interview somewhere, where he (Lethem) was saying his agent was making him not do blurbs for six months or a year. Just because he, being him, wanted to do them all, of
VHS Book Covers
Not sure why, but I’ve been stashing these as I stumble onto them. Will add more as I find them, probably. They’re kind of cool. The Darnielle is more like the actual iridescent tape from a VHS, but still, it’s kind of on the same shelf: And, guess this is kind of the same? Taking
Couple New Ones
Neither actually new, but both getting to me yesterday: Sovereign Traces has a piece of Mongrels in it, courtesy of the amazing Delicia Williams (artist), and Fortune Smiles I already read, of course, and really dug—one of the stand-out collections from recent, or any, years—but got to hang with Adam some last night, thanks to
Best of 2018 so far—the December roundup
that “Herpes of the Heart” story: http://the-toast.net/2015/05/29/herpes-heart-short-story/ that comic strip: http://overcompensating.com/oc/index.php?comic=1243
Best couple of stories I’ve read lately
“J.J. FTW” at Yale Review “Greased Lightning” at Pidgeonholes Well, I mean, aside from pretty much ever story in Cat Valente’s The Future is Blue. Especially and forever “Planet Lion.” That story’s right up there with Peter Watts’ “The Things,” for me.Â
Four years, man
Doesn’t feel like it. To me these stories are stil churning in my head. Thanks, Richard.Â
Pirates & Pirating
Man, looks like I’m just embedding tweets here all day—I did just wrap an extensive novel rewrite about five minutes ago—but, here’s another one, a good one, an important one: Dear person who decided to upload an e-ARC of THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SILK GOWN to an illegal download site more than a week
Monster Covers
Stumbled onto this Vamp poster on Twitter, which got me thinking of The Howling novel cover, and now I’m just wishing there were covers as good for any version of The Mummy. There’s wonderful amazing stuff in places like this or this or this, but, man, for me, it’s when the art and the title combine
Best of 2018 — halfway through
Every year when I cobble together some best-of-the-year list from half-remembered this and that, I always end up remembering stuff from the last few months instead of the whole year, and feeling like that’s all unfair. So, in an effort to work around that, and trusting that I actually come back and LOOK at this in five months, but mostly because I’m just now thinking of it, here’s my favorites so far:
Comic Book:
Best of 2018 so far—the July roundup
[ I keep forgetting to do these the day-of. So, at least this one’s the week-of . . . ] Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Fear Not
It’s Becky Spratford, star librarian, laying down all the horror: https://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2018/06/best-of/best-genre/fear-not-genre-spotlight-horror/
Five Native SFF Books
https://www.tor.com/2018/06/27/five-indigenous-speculative-fiction-authors-you-should-be-reading/
Back cover copy redux
Though, I’m not super sure that’s an exact-proper use of ‘redux.’ Anyway, if you click the pic, or the link below, you can then click a link in that cool post—it’s star librarian and horror champion Becky Spratford—and then click BACK to here. It’ll make sense once you see: http://raforall.blogspot.com/2018/06/author-stephen-graham-jones-captures.html
Best of 2018 so far—the June roundup
[ late with this one, oops—been in California since the end of May, and am evidently not thinking much . . . ]   Â
Ladies of Fright, Me, & Elizabeth
Ken Greenhall’s Elizabeth, which is a-a-a-a-amazing. https://www.ladiesofthefright.com/podcast/2018/5/29/lotf-11-elizabeth-discussion-with-guest-host-stephen-graham-jones
Late March in Bookland
First two books I bought this morning, just out today: These are two of my by-far favorite writers. Excited. And, just read the first two Longmire books—missing the television series—and, man, Craig Johnson, he can flat out write. If you scratch the names off the covers, I couldn’t tell him and James Lee Burke apart.
Ready Player One
This is kind of the music-only equivalent of Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, yes? Just got word that I can finally share my rejected theme song from @readyplayerone. They went with Alan Silvestri’s theme, but I still want to thank Steven Spielberg & @WarnerBrosEnt for the wonderful opportunity. pic.twitter.com/aK32ZOUA16 — demi adejuyigbe (@electrolemon) March
The Gothic Romance
One of the better threads I’ve lucked onto in birdland: Today in pulp I look back at one of the most popular paperback genres of all time, now all but forgotten about. This is the story of gothic romance… pic.twitter.com/W8d6mmNX9Z — Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) February 17, 2018
Why Horror Seduces
Man, seems forever now that when interviewers ask me why we keep telling each other scary stories, I always say it’s because we evolved to need horror, because we expect teeth in the night, we’re hardwired for it, horror just lets us feel human, but now, finally, thank you, someone smart’s saying that, and with