Roots of the Swamp Thing, though it is a horror comic, is one of the most vibrant and colorful collections I own. Though we no longer have Saturday morning cartoons, anytime I have that yearning, I know how to satisfy it. With a solid dose of grimness.
Dark Horse has provided us with a chance to experience the work of a contemporary Japanese master, working at the peak of his form, adapting the work of one of our own beloved past masters.
HARLEM SMOKE is an ambitious novel. Within its covers one will find eldritch horrors, magical rituals gone horribly awry, serial killers, horrorcore rap, you name it, it’s in there… it is not only an engrossing read but also a manual of great art, literature, music and philosophy wrapped within entertaining covers.
Carlson’s work grapples with larger themes of historical pressures without resorting to the easy relief of societal approved scapegoats and ready made bogeymen. Carlson’s use of separation, be it of time, subject matter, or genre expectations allows him to tread Huysmans’ second highway with ease while engrossing the reader in a compelling narrative.
Avalon Brantley’s work is addictive because it is the combined result of a profound knowledge of humanity’s past, an exquisite prose style and a deep love for the act of storytelling. More than anything it is an all-consuming love of writing that lends its luminosity to DESCENDED SUNS RESUSCITATE.
These novels stand just slightly off the beaten path awaiting discovery, yet when the right audience stumbles across them and begins to unravel the myriad threads Levenda has woven throughout, a devoted and multi-faceted fanbase will emerge. I’d snatch these hardcovers while you can.
I’ve been eagerly following the progress of ELDRITCH TALES for a long time. I feel we need an RPG such as this for the Mythos market. Joe Salvador, IMHO, has hit that fabled Goldilocks spot OSR gamers live for. Just enough rules to provide guidance when needed yet not so many they entangle the GM or the players.
To read The Searching Dead is to relax comfortably in the knowledge you are in the presence of a master storyteller at the apex of their craft, one who has studied and absorbed the works of past masters and brings those insights to bear with a thoughtful dignity.
THE SCARLET SOUL is a testament to the love and dedication Swan River Press put into their craft and they should be applauded for the physical allure alone. This is a book one can see becoming an heirloom object. My advice would be to snap up a copy of The Scarlet Soul while they are still available and keep an eye out for future releases by Swan River Press, while their price range is affordable their books are imminently collectible.
I closed THE HOUSE OF SILENCE with a grateful sigh, knowing I would pull it from my shelves again and again with the eagerness I greet a long-lost friend.
It is often a shopworn and tired cliché to say in the wake of one’s passing, “there will never be another like him,” yet in the case of Mark E. Smith there is indeed a perilous chance this statement will bear true. In this milieu it is not hard to imagine the loss of yet another long-standing English tradition.
With WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON: VOICES FROM THE BORDERLAND Hippocampus Press once again proves why they hold such an esteemed position within the world of weird fiction. As I continue through their Library of Criticism I am continuously impressed with the rigorous standards of scholarship, craft and dedication evident within each volume.
I recently had a conversation with a friend where we discussed the idea that terror is the emotion one feels preceding an event and horror is the emotion one feels witnessing the effects of that event. Gafford employs both to devastating effect within Whitechapel, building a foreboding sense of malaise and then, most importantly, delivering when called upon.
Read Dead Corpse for the wonderful fiction and let its deeper truths settle into your soul.
Jac Jemc’s writing conveys the easy grace and simplicity achieved through years of work, sweat and toil that causes onlookers everywhere to say, “Well that looks easy, I bet I could do that,” after watching a championship athlete or performer at work.
The Lovecraft eZine 