...the Soul of Wit - Latest Short Reviews

Here's my wrap-up of last month's reads - I will try and include as many short story collections as possible in 2022, plus, since last year I discovered that I really enjoy reading a good thriller, that streak will continue too. Enjoy!

Dancing on the Edge of a Blade: The Extended Director’s Cut by Todd Rigney

Detective Leonard Rumble, aka Rummy, is a grumpy police officer who just has no rhythm in his blood. His latest case consists of a series of femicides committed by a couple of really strange murderers: a dancer wearing a pink leotard and his companion who plays tunes on his portable keyboard during the killings! This will not only put his patience to the test, but also his dancing skills.

This book is absurd and hilarious and Todd Rigney takes every possible exploitation topic to exploit them some more. I’m not sure I’m a fan of his style- the narrator talking directly to the characters or to the reader - but other than that the idea is simply genius and the music/dance descriptions particularly enjoyable. Plus, it’s rare a book can rock such a galactic ending, I really wish I could see those final moves!
The final scenes hint that there might be a sequel and I’d love that!

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

Seven children around the ages of 12-13 are unable to continue to go to school for being badly bullied, so they stay home. Soon they discover that through their mirrors at home they can step into a parallel world, into a castle run by a shrill and strange little girl in a wolf mask, the Wolf Queen. In this place where they each have a room and games and books, they can spend their days they're staying at home and it offers the tormented children an escape and a refuge from their real lives. There are rules, though; they have to be at home at five in the evening, the castle will only exist for one year and they have a big task of finding a key that will grant one of them one wish. When the one year is over or when the key is found, the castle will vanish, together with every memory they have of this adventure.

This was clever, heartwarming, twisty and very very touching...
The buildup was a little slow, but the last third was really breathlessly readable and emotional.
I loved all characters, I loved the structure, I loved reading it.

Full Throttle by Joe Hill

I haven’t read much by Joe Hill, only The Fireman some years ago which I liked well enough but did not LOVE. So, I can’t really judge Full Throttle as compared to his other work, but seems like he’s really great at writing short stories – and anything else too, since I devoured this book from the introduction to story notes and acknowledgements in record time!

My favorites are;
“Wolverton Station”, which was quite absurd and even hilarious, really, about a man on a train ride with werewolves – I think I like this one so much that in fact I’ll re-read it right away;
“Faun”, revolves around rich safari/hunter-tourists hired to enter a different universe and hunt mythological creatures;
“Late Returns”, I’m sure Joe Hill is kind of sick being compared to his father but what does he expect writing a story like this? The story of a mobile library driver who serves people across time is just destined to remind of the best of King’s feel-good stories;
"Mums", a sad story about a young boy who unfortunately inherits the very worst of the mental health issues of his parents;
and finally, in “You Are Released” it is not only the psychology of being about to die stuck on a plane with strangers that is explored. This story is also a case study of USA/world politics and its effects on people.

I’ll definitely read more Hill, especially his short stories. I heard that 20th Century Ghosts is THE Hill short story collection to read, so that will probably be next.

Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology Ed. by A.R. Ward

"Whether the natural world was always sentient and held out hope for us eventually didn’t matter; what mattered was that nature rose up universally, in a single instant enacting a simple plan: do unto them as they have done to us."

With horror being a mirror to society’s fears and concerns, the emergence of the subgenre eco-horror is no surprise, really. If anything, I’m surprised it hasn’t yet gone beyond a rather paltry movement of cryptid-related nature horror, post-apocalyptic catastrophe or dystopic horror claimed mainly by science fiction and a few dedicated authors, like Brian Evenson or Jeff VanderMeer, who weave environmental anxieties in varying amounts into their work. So, it was a blast to discover Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology, a collection of short stories and poems with artistic and/or politic ambitions focused on ecological problems, because well, it was about time.

In 37 short stories and 13 poems you can find the full range and every aspect of environmental horrors; vegetables and plants revolting, toxic air, overpopulation, alien creatures of the sea taking control over humanity, hunger, drought, bees dying, trees and mushrooms and kudzu bushes taking revenge… I’m not a great fan of poetry in English but I have a few favorites among the short stories:

“The Calcium Chimes Will Sway” by Hazel Ragaire, in which the end of the world from the hand of trees (the arbocalypse, he he) and plants is described in a really superb prose;

“Neon Fly” by S.J. Townend in which themes like food scarcity, contamination, pandemic, and the hope of life on a new planet are being tackled;

“The Red Sea” by G. B. Lindsey – this one is amazing! The very horrific and psychedelic descriptions of a day on a beach of different kind,

 

and finally

“The Uyturoi” by Zé Burns where we discover a new marine species and they’re not very nice, to say the least.

I hope that this book opens a new trend for more radical writing on ecological themes in horror, Chlorophobia is very highly recommended for sure.

 

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank 

 

There are books in this world that are just not meant for me. Books that I usually deem "too American" or for which I am not American enough to enjoy and Alas, Babylon is one of them, alas.

I grabbed this book because a couple of years ago I had read the post-apocalyptic classic A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter J. Miller and was bored out of my mind, not really understanding how it ever could have such high reviews. During the discussion many people recommended to read Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon instead, since it offers a more sociable and solidary community after the much-dreaded nuclear attack by Soviet Russia on USA. Well, it is true that the people of Fort Repose don't create a dog eat dog world and therefore should be given their due, but I personally found it difficult to read a book written in the 50's US-state of mind and I got stuck on things like how women or black people were presented, and it bothered me. And I felt this way even though this is apparently a very progressive book for its time! Not mine.

 

 All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Thriller time! Ellice Littlejohn is a woman who made it from a miserable small town and a hopeless family to an Ivy League law degree and a well-paying job as an attorney in Atlanta. She leads a good life, has good friends and a secret affair with her boss, Michael. When Michael is found in his office with a gunshot to his head, everything changes for Ellice, who is offered Michael's position as the first black person to do so and is kind of forced to accept it. She soon discovers shady businesses inside the company but that's not all that is shady in this book, because Ellice too has huge secrets. And somebody seems to want to play those secrets against her.

This was a seriously grabbing and captivating thriller with a lot of action, social commentary and a main character that I personally really liked. There are passages in this book about the life of a black woman in today's world that really need to be heard and taken seriously. 

Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

The insanely rich and enviable Winthorpes greet their new neighbors in the estate next door with seeming warmth and hospitality. New neighbor Neena Ryder is a woman with lots of issues though. She is a little too anxious to move up in the world and thinks that all she needs to make her wishes come true is William Winthorpe. But that tree is guarded by his wife Catherine and Neena will soon realize she underestimated her.

Gosh, this was so over the top… The characters over the top, their intentions over the top, their actions and reactions over the top, blunt and lacking subtlety, their inner monologues over the top. It’s safe to say that every single person in this book acted like an idiot.
I like to think that as human beings, we have various interests, struggles and facets in our lives and that we’re not stuck on thinking and plotting 24 hours on romantic relationships. Thus, I dislike books that pretend exactly that and that’s the main reason I didn’t enjoy Every Last Secret. I was expecting a little more from a thriller.
On the plus side it grips you and isn’t boring at all.