...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

Hmm... I feel like I haven't reviewed books in ages and at times like that the books usually accumulate and the shorts section is lusher, but that's not the case this time. Interesting... Anyway, I have been watching a lot of movies, work was crazy, all the while I'm giving my book translation its finishing touches and I'm desperately trying to assemble the ikea couch my mom gifted me (more to herself, so she can sleep on it, lol) so that my living room doesn't look like a battlefield anymore. And tomorrow I'm starting my Berlinale marathon, so I'll probably not have more time to read. Still, I'm just a little bit proud of myself because I have been able to stick to my plan of mostly reading books I already own and not to buy new ones, which I have been able to do in January. I only bought one new book in the past month, which is an enormous show of discipline for me, I hope I can keep it up. So I have been able to cross a few titles off my list, and I hope you get to enjoy the reviews of them!

The Transgressionists and Other Disquieting Works: Five Tales of Weird Fiction by Giorgio De Maria

In this peculiar collection De Maria's debut novel, The Transgressionists, is united with four of his later short works, The Secret Death of Joseph Dzhugashvili, The End of Everydayism, General Trebisonda and The Appeal: A Teleplay and features a myriad of colorful figures from a cell of malicious telepaths who plot world domination, to a dissident poet trapped in a psychological experiment conducted by Stalin, to a group of futuristic artists using corpses as a medium and many more.

I fell for the concept of this book but the brutal truth is, it didn't work for me. The translator Ramon Glazov's introduction was what helped me make sense of these stories most of the time and, that introduction was unfortunately what I enjoyed reading most in this book. I wasn't always able to identify the weird and unsettling elements stated in the blurbs either, so I read these stories without real engagement. Too bad, really, I was so sure that I'd love a book which uses the word "phantasmagoria" as often as De Maria does, but that wasn't the case. However, no matter how little I was able to enjoy this, I love this cover.

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

'Come to daddy', it said.
In her twenty-six years she had never heard an easier invitation to refuse.   

Frank fucks up all the way down the line - the lustfull man starts an affair with his brother's wife and in the search of infinite pleasure buys a curious box which sends him straight to hell. Now he's doomed to wait in an empty room in his brother's new home and beg for every drop of blood and flesh he can get in order to become the man he once used to be. Will she play along though and will hell let him escape? Unlikely.

The violence in Barker's writing is so bleak, so concentrated, there's seriously nothing unnecessary to the story he writes. I was struck by how much the Cenobites are merely background, and all the spotlight is put on the human villains. I forget that in the movies too they are mere setting. But in the films the image of them, especially Pinhead, is so striking that they have no choice but become the focus. I love everything about this story, movie and book. Just don't waste a good suffering while reading!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Novelization by Jeff Strand

Well, the title says it all – the tomatoes are attacking, and they’re attacking hard, sparking a worldwide diplomatic and military crisis. Mason Dixon finds himself leading a team of so-called experts, who are, in fact, not so much expert at all, and will try to save humanity from the wrath of the seedy red fruit. Is there really a way out?

If you know the 1978 movie by the same title you basically know what awaits you in this novelization. I can’t think of anyone better than Jeff Strand to write this book – his hilarious additions, like the inner thoughts of the tomato victims, or highlighting badly aged aspects or anachronisms make this novelization maybe a little better than the watch of the original movie.

Apparently there's a very funny TikTok clip from Strand circling around, if that's something that interests you...

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Although perfectly individually readable and enjoyable, it is most likely best to be aware that Victor LaValle's Ballad of Black Tom is based on, or rather a re-telling of the Lovecraft short story "Horror at Red Hook" – yes, that most racist of all Lovecraft's writing - and read it with that awareness. The blatant racism aside, the story is not one of his best-written pieces either, although I personally like the scary scenes towards the end. But it is not easy to put the blatant racism aside, the insults, the alternative facts and misunderstandings which stigmatize Yezidi people to this day - not good at all.

Against this backdrop it is quite noble and original of LaValle to give this story a second chance, and put his own twist inside it, telling the story set in Red Hook, that place old HP sees as infested, from the point of view of one of those people infesting it; Tommy Tester – a black musician who is called to play guitar at a very wealthy man's, Robert Suydam's, party. The place of this man is weird, though, and there's eerie things happening. Although the uncanny occurrences make him swear never to return to Suydam's place, circumstances push Tommy into doing exactly that and into an adventure which will turn him into Black Tom.

As I said above, this was very enjoyable to me. I also re-read the Lovecraft story and appreciate LaValle's work all the more. Nice.