protean depravity

Hey everybody! I have been away a lot, this last month was a little busy and I was a little lazy, but I'll soon be back with new books and movies, so hang on. I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is Halloween and that means the Final Girls Berlin* are celebrating Halloween at the City Kino Wedding with their best funny-scary short films, the screening of the disgusting cannibal movie RAW (2016) and a costume contest! You can find a list of their shorts - some of which I have discussed in the past - and the program here. So grab your cat ears and witch hats and see you there if you will!

Infuriated, devastated, exasperated, frustrated... Sometimes you'll read a book that leaves you with more emotions than you can list and you can deal with. Amanda Desiree's Bram Stoker shortlisted (for Superior Achievement in a First Novel) debut Smithy is the mother of those books. Even though I have finished this a few weeks ago, it so threw me off the tracks that I needed some time to collect my thoughts and especially feelings before writing a review. It’s not unusual for me to feel bewildered and my hate for humanity refreshed after reading stuff about what we, as a human species, are doing to animals and with which infuriating entitlement and ruinous normalcy we do it. Smithy , the story of a chimpanzee locked in a mansion in the early 70s for the purposes of a research experiment on the ability of apes to express themselves through sign language, spoke to that spot in me.

In my ever growing search for horror literature outside of the often formulaic and self-centered USA horror, I have often been bumping into really good books from Argentina which never fail to leave me impressed. This time it is shooting star Roque Larraquy's freshly translated work in which he explores themes such as exploitation or the limits of human ventures.