Steve
Not as strong, on balance, as Mr. Gaunt or Wide, Carnivorous Sky, but it’s still Langan, so uniformly pretty good. Highlights are “Bor Urus” and the title story; lowlight was the final story, which I think works better if you have Catholic guilt.
Kelly Link might well be one of our great living authors. The first story (“The White Cat’s Divorce”) and the last (“Skinder’s Veil,” which I read first in Ellen Datlow’s excellent Shirley Jackson tribute anthology, and from which this book gets its Black Dog), are among the best she’s ever written. “Prince Hat Underground” also got me hard here. Nervous to get to her novel, as she works so well in shorter formats, but it’s the only thing I’ve got left of hers to read for now!
Did expect it to be gayer, but enjoying the slow myth-building. Wouldn’t mind a smidge more horror and still can’t stand the “Southern” accents.
Not sure anyone else walks the literary/genre line with the same accessibility and ability to gut-punch quite like Saunders.
Read straight through on a pair of flights home after a long week. Some of the most achingly readable language I’ve consumed in years, bringing to life beautifully tragic stories set not too far from where I grew up and yet worlds away. Wish he had ten more collections I could dive into immediately.
Absolutely lived up to the hype. A sensitive story of survival that sneaks up on you after 200 pages of tense horror. So glad I wasn’t spoiled—each successive reveal worked so beautifully. Need to read everything by Ward ASAP.
Very On Writing—half a very gentle biography, half a very personalized how-to. No incredibly revelatory glimpses into Ito’s mind, but fun to see him reflect on and discuss his path and process. He remains polite and humble, as always. Would have loved more process art, but what we got was fascinating to see.
My expectations were definitely skewed here from blurbs and podcast appearances that set this up to be SO EXTREME. An enjoyable enough read, but certainly not boundary-pushing for the well-traveled horror reader. Felt a bit like YA Manhunt before the end of the world. Would def recommend to friends with religious trauma. Hoping Maeve Fly is meaner.
I loved Only Good Indians so much, so not sure why the Indian Lake trilogy just doesn’t click for me in the same way. I spend half the book trying to fully grasp what’s going on, and then I get it by the midpoint, but am just never as drawn in as I want to be. Looking forward to Teenage Slasher and seeing how he’s reading outside of Jade Daniels these days.