Interesting. Didn't realize so much was known about the real Faustus, will have to look more into him at some point. Bit of a problem with the book isInteresting. Didn't realize so much was known about the real Faustus, will have to look more into him at some point. Bit of a problem with the book is that it's so diffuse, I felt it sort of went off the rails a bit when it got into engineering. The author does connect it back to the art of magic but at times why he was taking certain paths. 'Why this guy in particular?' I kept asking myself. That's not to say the book is ever uninteresting, there's a lot of weird little freaks in here, inventing cryptography and carving designs on turnips so no one can steal them when they rot, and all kinds of stuff....more
Put off reading this for a long time but I'm glad I finally did. I think seeing that it was a crime novel with a supernatural element put me off a litPut off reading this for a long time but I'm glad I finally did. I think seeing that it was a crime novel with a supernatural element put me off a little, not that I was worried that it wouldn't be wrapped up neatly (who cares about that?), but because to my mind good crime novels right now are about exploring place, and hearing there was a supernatural element made me guess there wouldn't be any of that. I was right, but this isn't a crime novel. It just has some cops and murder to kick things off. Anyway none of that matter because this one is good. It's really good.
Could be just the southern setting but this reminded me a bit of Charles Portis, although maybe it's just because they both wrote books that have some extremely funny bits but that would be spoiled if they were sold as comedies. ...more
Thinking about how John Dolan had a thing about how literary and genre fiction shouldn't meet, and it's one of the few things IWasn't really my thing.
Thinking about how John Dolan had a thing about how literary and genre fiction shouldn't meet, and it's one of the few things I've really disagreed with him on (because I love both and want to write both), but now I'm starting to see he has a point.
Okay yeah, this is getting five stars because my story "Diary of the Wolf" is in here and I think it's the best thing I've written so far. It's about Okay yeah, this is getting five stars because my story "Diary of the Wolf" is in here and I think it's the best thing I've written so far. It's about werewolfery and it's set in Samuel Pepys' 17th-century London and written in the style of his diary.
But that said, there's a lot of great stuff in here. One of the great things about submitting your short stories for publication is seeing who you get published alongside. Dariel Quiogue's "The Marchers in the Fog" and R.L. Summerling's "Corpse Wax" are both a lot of fun, but I think my story was Matt Holder's "Towards a Justice." What I like about Holder's writing--here and elsewhere--is that he's really able to evoke a medievalesque mind, and the in the course of the story force it to confront something totally alien to its experience.
Also I really liked the editors' intro. Normally when someone tries to do this sort of thing in character it comes off really cringe, like someone doing a bad Stan Lee. But this one was good and I actually ended up understanding my own story a little bit better....more
Three Low Masses by Alphonse Daudet. The first story of the book and already we have something instantly becoming one of my all time favourite storiesThree Low Masses by Alphonse Daudet. The first story of the book and already we have something instantly becoming one of my all time favourite stories. The Devil himself infiltrates a church in an effort to get the oafish priest to sin. The central image of (view spoiler)[a rushed midnight mass, the priest stumbling over his words and the congregation confused as to whether they should sit, stand, or kneel, but no one bothered because they all want to throw themselves on the post-mass feast (hide spoiler)] had me in stitches. And yet the familiarity/solemnity of midnight mass at Christmas combined with the strangeness of the castle chapel on a mountain setting, somehow these elements allow the story to take a serious, haunting turn.
The Tall Woman by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón. Liked how it used framing devices to complicate, "Yo, I saw a ghost once." But yeah, pretty straightforward ghost story.
On the River by Maupassant. Another nice, neat ghost story. The river doesn't come off as all that creepy or even atmospheric though, and I don't take him seriously when he says it's scarier than the ocean in its way.
Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev. I remember bugging out as a kid hearing some ghost story on the radio about a dead mother (father?) who woke up during her wake/funeral and resuming life as normal, except she stopped smiling and refused to talk about her experience. Lazarus brilliantly evokes the same terror.
The White Dog by Fyodor Sologub: awwwoooouuu (wolf howl) <-- me when i get a werewolf story
On a Train With a Madman by Pan-Appan. For such a hokey premise it was actually one of the most compelling stories so far. I think it works by interrupting the narrative with exposition, giving your brain time to mull the situation over?
Poems by Baudelaire and Schiller. Feel like there's not a whole lot I can say about poetry, though I guess they are atmospheric. And short.
A Masterpiece of Crime by Jean Richepin. Sort of a reverse Edgar Allan Poe, who is even mentioned in the story, where a criminal goes crazy because no one will believe his confessions to a series of heinous crimes.
The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. My favourite story yet. Paints a vivid picture of gambling culture in Russia, as Herman the German, an officer in the engineers of the Russian army, hears a rumour about a friend's grandmother who might know three cards secretly guaranteed a win.
The Severed Hand by Wilhelm Hauff. Really loved the pan-Mediterranean setting of this, as the guy is just constantly hopping from one place to another.
The Mystery of the Four Husbands by Gaston LeRoux. The initial premise and framing story are really interesting, as is the murder method, but the reveal of the murderer and the method both left me wanting a little more. The method really comes out of left field, whereas the true murderer's reveal is fitting, but doesn't quite feel earned, somehow? I dunno, didn't really care for this one.
The Long Arm. A guy returns to his hometown in Germany after years away and meets a friend who who confesses to using black magic to off his his father, his first wife, and their former schoolmaster. The guy hearing the story doesn't quite believe it until he realizes he's next.
A Passion in the Desert by Honoré de Balzac. These sort of Beau Geste stories are so out of fashion that I kept imagining it in my head with the one pop culture analogue I have: those old cartoons where Yosemite Sam is chasing Bugs Bunny through the desert. It works because the main story is a really straightforward one about a muttering man and an animal (it wasn't quite clear to me if it was a lion or a panther, although the part where he talks about the rings on its tail made me wonder if it was a actually a cheetah) becoming friends in the desert but also still ready to kill each other at a moment's notice. There's some really beautiful descriptions of the desert, and the otherworldly element is revealed in retrospect when the narrator describes the desert as 'God without mankind.'
Siesta by Alexander L. Kielland. A dinner party of madness.
A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant. The better of the two Maupassant stories, and the one that feels more like a traditional ghost story....more
Wonderful debut novella about an artist on a strange retreat. I'm really starting to come around on horror, it was always the genre I disliked most asWonderful debut novella about an artist on a strange retreat. I'm really starting to come around on horror, it was always the genre I disliked most as a kid, I guess I just didn't take to some of the movies that everyone else loves. But I'm starting to see it has more potential to examine our lives than other forms of genre writing. I dunno.
The prose is vivid, and the plot refuses all of the easy turns this sort of thing might otherwise take. Lots of fascinating nature imagery, all culminating with the Lichen Woman, such a great character/image that all I can really say is you have to read it for yourself.
Loved the ekphrastic bits at the start of each chapter. Something very tactile about the protagonist's art?
Made me think a lot about my grandmother, who died a little over a year ago now, and who I associate strongly with the pond near her place back home in Nova Scotia (one that can be upgraded/downgraded to swamp or lake depending on what sort of dignity you're trying to lend it)....more
Amusing, but I really ended up skimming it more so than reading it. A lot of repetition and a lot of latin.
I couldn't but sympathize with his hypothetAmusing, but I really ended up skimming it more so than reading it. A lot of repetition and a lot of latin.
I couldn't but sympathize with his hypothetical monkish oaf author who has terrible latin and slowly loses his ambition to find a place at court....more
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