Nate
Shit.
Finished this like a month ago.
Meant to write some stuff about it but forgot.
Leaving this here now to try and guilt myself into writing more about it soon before anything I remember about it completely evaporates from my dumb brain.
Epic prank bro!
Super fun, weird as fuck, constantly surprising and entertaining as hell. No one does it the way SGJ does.
Whenever I read one of his books I'm always reminded of this quote from an interview with him, “[...]So the deal I made with myself was: you can go to grad school, but you have to be in ninja mode. Go in and steal the good craft and smuggle it back out to science fiction and western and horror.[...]”. He brings big MFA energy to pulpy horror and I fucking love him for it.
Ok. This is almost definitely my #1 book of the year. Zahler is, I think, my favorite person doing it right now. He's such a riveting storyteller.
I've almost worked my way through his entire public oeuvre (2 books and a comic left) and I think I'm starting to realize exactly what really makes me vibe with his work. It's not the gritty violence, it's not Zahler's provocateur stylings, it's not the modern day exploitation sensibilities (is MAGAxploitation a thing? Because this is definitely that), but something much simpler.
If there's one consistent theme or through-line in his work it's probably systemic violence against characters trying to reach above their station. It's smart, ambitious characters who are too smart and too ambitious for their own good in an unfair world where the status quo refuses to be bucked. Zahler's morally ambiguous (besides Hug Chickenpenny, that boy is a fucking saint) protagonists look above them and want what they see. They see the tactics used by the powerful and use those tactics thinking the same rules apply to everyone. This works out for a time until the world takes notice and the jaws of reality snap shut in a black hole of blind violence sucking in everyone in the vicinity. This reaffirms my view of reality.
Now... Congregation of Jackals or Mean Business on North Ganson Street next?...
Despite everything that follows, I think this is basically a perfect novel. Grady Hendrix's modern output is immaculately plotted, richly detailed, eye-burningly addictive, and chockablock with vibrant three dimensional fully realized characters. He is a fucking master of his craft and an author I'll never not be excited to devour a new release from.
That said, I think his current output is bordering on being TOO perfect? It's not that the books are predictable, and it's not like they're dumbed down or overly simplified. It's almost like, and I hate this comparison but, it's almost like they're the horrorlit version of Marvel movies? Like, written by committee almost, focus tested and data-driven to perfection. Inorganically designed to be the least offensive and most broadly acclaimed?
Again, this is a 5-star nearly perfect book and I'm basically nitpicking here, but I think my biggest issue is that it's just TOO digestible. It goes down so quick and so easy. It's a popcorn novel. I devoured it and when I was finished I was still hungry. After I finished it I was left kind of empty. No lingering wondering or questioning, no real thoughts besides “that was great! ok now what's next?”
A large part of why I like to read books, especially horror books, is that I like to feel challenged. I like ambiguity and open-endedness and unclear motives and confusion and maybe just a little bit to reaffirm my belief that nothing happens for a reason and everything is chaos. This definitely isn't that. It's very neat. It's very clean. It's absolutely perfect. I loved it. I also want more from Grady Hendrix. I hope he doesn't languish in this space for long. I'll keep reading his perfect books, but I'll also keep craving his experimentation.
Also now that I've read all of his ‘modern' output, here's my GH ranked.
#1. My Best Friend's Exorcism
#2 We Sold Our Souls
#3 The Final Girl Support Group
#4 The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
#5 Horrorstör
(Excluding Paperbacks from Hell, I own it, and it's incredible, best coffee-table book ever made, but in a completely different category)
Wish this one had just a liiiiiittle bit more plot to help push me through and recommend it.
Right up my alley though, deliciously Kafka-esque and dreamlike. Love me some Japanese surrealism.
While the sex and violence at times are grotesque to the point of pornographic and make portions of the book a nearly unreadable slog, the intricate way the myriad narrative threads fall into place by the end is delicious.
Oof. Went into this with the same desire I had with Damned and Doomed, to read a newer Chuck and disagree with the popular opinion that his recent novels are trash. I couldn't do it.
This is the kind of book I would write if I was trying to emulate Palahniuk. It feels amateur-ish and low-effort.
Started Snuff immediately after finishing Adjustment Day and the difference is obvious. What draws me to Palahniuk's work is scathing subversive satire, and a deep, painfully intimate, understanding of the mentally ill. Broken people on the fringes of society making strange connections through stranger circumstances. For example, Snuff's main character is the abandoned child of a porn star. He accidentally discovers his heritage, and through wild deviancy (buying sex toys of mom, watching her videos, etc) and childlike sweetness (saving images of her fully clothed and vacuuming, cooking, folding laundry, etc) he begins to forge a confusing relationship with her. This is relatable satire.
I also feel like this book was poorly researched, or at the very least written without the bravery necessary to approach this topic. Writing a book like this, at this moment in time, and not mentioning Trump, or George Lincoln Rockwell, or The Turner Diaries or any of the myriad manifestos that would have been a direct through-line to Adjustment Day actually occurring was a massive mistake. What this book needed was something that made it visceral and possible, what it didn't need was a ripoff Wakanda, psychic black people, and a woefully problematic golliwog caricature (BUT SHE WAS ACTUALLY WHITE AND DYED HER SKIN BLACK SO ITS OK RIGHT?).
Fuck, dude. I miss the old Chuck-ye. Still a forever-stan though.
Book takes a weird PhilDickian genre turn near the end that I hated, but makes up for it in the last few chapters. Started as decently hard sci-fi and pivoted jarringly into soft territory.
Very clearly a prime inspiration for Cixin Liu's Remembrance trilogy (modern day masterpiece, best SF series ever, fite me) and I loved seeing the parallels.
Prose is fantastic, characters interesting, and dialogue solid. Immersive and wonderful.
There is a super unfortunate N-bomb dropped in the middle in the most old white-guy way possible. It's weird.
Barely any characters to speak of. Neither plot nor story. Just hooptedoodle, stacked on prose, wrapped in lyrical language, punctuated by fierce, sudden acts of horrific violence and meditations on life, the duality of man, and our place in the world. Rooted in disgustingly accurate history. Kind've fucking incredible.
I love Grady Hendrix so fucking much. This one might even be better than ‘My Best Friend's Exorcism'? I can't decide.
Either way, I absolutely loved this book. Grady Hendrix isn't so much an artist as an entertainer. His prose isn't anything special and there aren't any deeper hidden meanings behind his stories. Everything is right there, right out in the open, what you see is what you get. It's sincere as fuck and super charming.
He writes believable loveable characters. His callbacks are always perfectly timed and get me all choked up. His books always build to these rampant page-turning climaxes that leave me absolutely floored.
I love allegory and satire and digging for meaning and art and being draped in elegant prose, but sometimes I just want to read something fun. Grady's books are the perfect novels for making you remember how much straight up fucking FUN reading can be.
Every story in this collection is great. The opening story, “The Finkelstein 5” is alone worth the price of admission.
I'm a huge fan of this style of satire through urban fantasy/magical realism. It works so well.
This series is the best current science fiction being published. Full stop.
If some literary alchemist distilled the choicest bits of KSR, Andy Wier, and Douglas Adams, the result would be Dennis E. Taylor.
Book 4 pls
Holy shit.
Was not expecting to love this as much as I did.
Joe is relatable in the worst ways. Like holding up a mirror to the most fucked up side of yourself. Oof.
Was randomly made aware of this through a reddit thread and decided to give it a shot. Ended up finishing it in one sitting D:
Mediocre translation, confused identity, disregard for its own internal logic, and middling writing, but for some reason I couldn't put it down. I had to find out what happened, and am prooooobably gonna finish the entire series.
Great guilty pleasure and palate cleanser between more highbrow works.
Just straight up fucking fun from beginning to end. This novel takes off at a dead sprint and doesn't let off for a second until the end. Really really liked it.
For a book so tight and hyperfocused it did a great job with the world-building. Very quickly established the delicate balance between multiple crime families, big pharma, the cartels, a lone-wolf incel redpill crimelord, the cops, and the protag's own small weird congregation and double life and then threw some snakes at it.
Felt a lot like the kind of movie they don't make anymore. A little bit Crank, a little bit Jackie Brown. This would definitely make a really good movie..
Straight up one of my new favorite books ever.
Surreal speculative horror with a nearly indeCipherable (heh) allegory at its core, but at the same time makes perfect sense on an instinctive level? Gorgeous prose that makes my skin crawl and my heart hurt? This is exactly what I want out of a book.
Repetitive writing over top-tier worldbuilding.
Hyboria is an amazing setting filled with incredible locations, interesting (albeit kinda racist) cultures, and badass characters. It's a shame Howard plays everything so safely. He quickly locks into a repeatable structure, and never gives it up.
His minority and female characters go from being capable, strong, and interesting in earlier stories, to being relegated to trope-y garbage by the end. He was writing for mainstream appeal and not feeding his inner-auteur and it shows.
There is so much unachieved potential here, and it's super depressing it was never fulfilled.
One of the best fictional universes ever created. Shit stories though.
Standouts include “The Hour of the Dragon” (best story), “Red Nails” (setting is too fucking cool. Definitely stealing for a DnD campaign. Could do without Conan being so rapey in this one. Also racism.), “The Tower of the Elephant” (Lovecraftian as fuck, probably the best overall, and first I'd recommend), and “The Slithering Shadow” (Drugged out city of sleeping sorcerers worshipping a timeless tentacle god? Coolest shit ever. Story? Pretty bad).
This series is incredible. I love it so much.
Compared to the raucous fun of ‘We Are Legion', ‘For We Are Many' focuses much more on the Bobs' lost humanity and his increased separation from who he used to be. Howard's story in particular is heart-rending.
For a series that loves referencing other franchises, I was disappointed the dreadnaughts didn't decide to use Culture GSV style naming conventions though. Was realllllly hoping for a ship with a name like “The Unreliable Narrator” or “He Who Sows Wind” or “Don't Have a Cow Man” or something similarly goofy and fun.
Really really enjoyed this.
Loved the realistic collision between the working class and cosmic horror/weirdness. Hits that depressing soviet-era nihilism vibe perfectly.
Also loved the explanation for the title.
Been on the hunt for a certain type of book and was hoping this might scratch the itch, but no luck.
Overall a fun read though. Really breezy and digestible. Propulsive, with a great sense of pacing. One of those, “whoops, I accidentally stayed up til 3am reading” types of books.
Not a huge fan of the content. It's surprisingly hard to find wuxia that isn't full blown xianxia :/. I might come back to the series later. I can't say I'm not interested.
Better than the first one. Closer to a 3.5.
The writing could definitely be better, the visuals in particular lack clarity and imagination, but I do really appreciate how digestible it is. Started it on a whim while working through some denser books and accidentally devoured the entire thing so there's that.
I don't love the world building, it feels somehow both overly expansive AND hollow? It's weird.
Has some great moments, and I did immediately start the next one so it probably deserves the bump to 4.
I fucking love this book.
Witty and lighthearted romp through some of my favorite concepts and thought experiments.
Unremarkable prose, but kept aloft by wonderful character(s?) and tight dialogue.
Very evocative of Douglas Adams and David Wong.
Will be recommending this book to everyone I know.