What's Up, Berlin? Pt.2

Sure, I'll gladly play the broken record again and let me not miss another opportunity to express my despondency over the weather this summer, which has been five hot days and raining cats and dogs on all of the other time. I swear at some point I will move somewhere warmer, but not yet. Not as long as there are such great things going on as in this summer so far (just not good weather).

For starters, a shout out to the impressive horror section at the bookstore Dussmann! They are doing such fun new things in the English part, and one of them is an amazing horror section and campaigns like "Judge a Book by Its Cover", showcasing the amazing cover art circulating out there right now. Someone just had to pay homage to that and I'm glad Dusmann does!

I usually receive a gift card for Dussmann for my birthday or New Year, so I usually have some credits for new books in store. I recently used some to purchase  Natalia Theodoridou's Sour Cherry, Gabino Iglesias' House of Bone and Rain, The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories 1, and The Little Book of Shakespeare's Insults, and not (only) because of their beautiful covers.

June started with a fun and very busy birthday week at Hammett, and the following weeks there were some nice author events, including Brian Evenson, who was at the Otherland Bookshop to meet and chat with his readers. He read from his latest short story collection Good Night, Sleep Tight the titular short story, which was received well, and he was received with great interest and many questions about his work, his kind of horror, if he agrees with being called a genre author, and he left the impression of a very kind, thoughtful and cerebral person. He talked about the writing course he teaches, trigger warnings, writing in general, his foible for unusual names and much more. It was incredible to see an author I have been a fan of for so long in person and hear him speak on his work. Of course, I've got my signature too.

Another signature I've got is from French horror author Morgane Caussarieu, who ever since has become a friend of mine, as I loved her openness, her unapologetic, genuine love for what she does. I'm currently reading her book Visqueuse, as far as my rusty French allows me.

As someone who dedicates a lot of time to horror fiction, as a fan and a member of the horror community, it always stings a little when authors or filmmakers whose work I love don't really commit to the genre and say they don't see themselves as horror authors or directors (it is a little bit what happened with Brian Evenson, there was even someone in the audience who said something along the lines of "I never would have thought of you as a "genre" author, isn't that the easy way out?" as if it were something to be ashamed of). Many authors do this, and it was so refreshing and heartening to meet someone like Morgane, who is from the heart of horror, who researches, writes and illustrates within the genre and is just generally a very genuine person and a genuine horror fan, I'm totally gushing. The past week she came into Hammett and asked me to help her choose books on feminist body horror as she's writing an article on the subject, so we went to Otherland and chose books for her. It was so much fun to give her recommendations, she was so receptive, and see her leave the shop with a tower of books was a blast!

I also had the chance to meet lovely Nuzo Onoh who was in Berlin to visit relatives, and since we recently did her interview, and she happened to be here we went to have a drink together, and she was sooo lovely! I absolutely adore her now and I'm very psyched and excited about all her books to come. 

Another blast was the Nine Inch Nails concert on July 1st... After they declared that they have basically dissolved, I really wasn't expecting to see them in a concert ever again, and I was so so happy to hear they are touring again. It was such a big thing for me - the venue, Trent, the sound, the light show, everything was so perfect that I was high on the concert for the whole week afterwards, and it felt like, if I died now, it would be fine for me. It was the first time I saw a gig at Uber Arena and I wasn't aware of how amazing it was there. It was a fantastic experience all around.

Jumping to the Creepy Crypt at Rollberg Cinemas - the Summer of Craven is in full swing, people! Wes Craven is one of the biggest names in horror cinema, whose work has influenced a whole generation of horror creators that followed him. The Summer of Craven screenings are admittedly full of giggly people who don't really go with the flow of the movie, but come to take the shit and piss of how films were made differently back then, which is normal, I guess, but a little bit of a shame because it totally undermines what a good director Craven was and you can sometimes miss very neat details. But it's all still in good fun. Yesterday was again time for a Sneak Preview, and I was so lucky this time, because they showed Together, which was on my list anyway, and an indie movie I was very curious about. Having seen it now, I think it's not as life changing a movie as everybody says it is, but it was a fun romp. Nothing more. A couple of years ago I saw A Folded Ocean at the FFF, a short film revolving around the very same theme Together is dealing with, namely lovers literally merging together when getting intimate, and the anxiety over losing one's individuality and oneself in together-ness, represented through body horror (The short film did it times and times better!). I really disliked the ending of Together, and what it implies, but all around, it was an entertaining film. Next week they will screen a sneak preview again, and as long as it's not young adult, I'm down for it. I'm very much hoping it will be Bring Her Back.

 

Peter F. Hamilton, who was at the Otherland about exactly one year ago, did it again last evening, and presented his latest book Exodus to an audience of about forty people. I must admit I had decided to read much more SF when he visited Berlin last year, but I didn't do it. I guess I must return to my old book club days for that to happen, as I prefer and enjoy horror more. It's still good to go talk to authors outside of my comfort zone now and then, and Peter was as kind and pleasant as we remembered him. 

Even though I'm guessing that I'll be going to some place warmer in August and do a little vacation, I still hope it gets better here for us to go to parks and lake shores to read books and relax, though it doesn't look like it so far. I hope you're all having a good time too, enjoy!