protean depravity

Realizing I didn't have a favorite book yet for the year 2023 until I recently read the new Bazterrica made me question the books I have been reading these past six months. None of them could hit me hard enough and that made me ponder why. I don't really have an answer for the why, maybe I was more focused when mostly at home during the pandemic, maybe the books really aren't that great, I don't know.

  In der Maschine schläft das Lied Gisle.

It really is a special kind of pleasure to read really short, bite-sized stories which nevertheless succeed in capturing strong moments, like Agustina Bazterrica does in Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird . A pleasure which I in fact would compare to reading poetry, as all twenty of these mini stories are written with utmost wit and make you return and re-read a passage or two which touches you particularly strongly. That's how I ended up, many times over in the past week at the subway station to work, and instead of flowing with the crowd, I stood in a corner re-reading the story I just finished in the train with a big smile on my face. And when I came home in the evening, I couldn't wait to read them again. Bazterrica has already proven with her achingly devastating cannibalistic dystopia Tender is the Flesh that she can write a poignant novel. Now she captivates her readers with these absolutely delightful mini stories too.

With everything going on, I feel like my reading rhythm is a little disrupted right now and I'm a little slower, but it is the way it is. I hope you can still find some enjoyment in the short reviews.

Although I'm usually trying to keep my private somewhat out of my reviews, I'll make an exception here as Ari Aster's work touches me on a deep level especially at this point in my life. The review is also highly spoilered for his two works Hereditary and Beau is Afraid and presupposes the reader watched both.

The latest short reviews are here, finally - enjoy!

Attila Veres is a filmmaker and an author from Hungary who got introduced to international horror readers as recent as last fall through the Valancourt publication The Black Maybe , an outstanding collection of ten of his short stories which has since been nominated for the esteemed Bram Stoker Awards.

  Ugress is back! And not only do they have a new livestream scheduled on youtube for June 23rd, they will also be performing tomorrow, Wednesday May 24th at 12:30 CEST for the Festspillene i Bergen, “ What is the City but the People? ” at the royal opening ceremony, Festplassen, city centre. If you happen to be in Norway, admission is free, go pay a visit. If not, it will be livestreamed by the festival at fib.no !

My favorite final girls in Berlin* are back with another Brain Binge weekend on the 3rd and 4th of June. The discussions this year are pretty awesome ranging from women's contribution to horror sfx makeup, to the lesbian vampire following the model of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, to motherhood and the reluctant mother as monster in horror cinema and so much more.