Booth # 2: Bookworms Corner

[Thorngrub]

I gotta say I agree with JAC on Koontz being a "hack" writer - - - I tried reading FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE and I swear to god on every page -- nearly every paragraph actually - - there is blatant evidence of his overtly MELODRAMATIC style of writing, Dean ain't content with just stating events with direct simplicity, no, when an automobile crash occurs, it's all "And the cars collided together with a sound like the crack of thunder accompanying all the angels in heaven" and shit. I mean, I literally put the book down in annoyance at least several times per page. . . .managed to painstakingly hack my way through to page 50 . . . and then I just couldn't take the smarmy melodrama anymore .. .

...So I picked up Steve King's ROSE MADDER, and the contrast of writing styles was like relaxing into a hot, scented tub of relaxing water. From page one, Big Steve grips the reader with a lean, mean and direct prose utterly devoid of flowery hyperboles . . . by page 10 I was already feeling chills at the stripped-down depictions of Norman Daniels, the psycho wifebeating cop whom our protagonist escapes from in a moment of clarity, as she awakens from a 14 year nightmare of having been beaten by him, brought on by noticing one droplet of blood half drying on their floor one morning. It's why they call him the "King".

[Thorngrub]

Note* Despite my squirming discomfort levels of having to wade through Koontz' ridiculously exagerated writing style, I am going to literally force myself to read From The Corner Of His Eye all the way through, because it was a birthday gift sent unexpectedly from an old girlfriend of mine, and she raved about it so much in her letter, that the least I can do is read the damn thing to the end before I make any serious critical judgements about it. I'll merely have to accept that his writing style just doesn't appeal to me; so we'll see about the plot & story itself, once I'm done with this chore.

[Thorngrub]

Rose Madder satisfied.

- - - - -

Now reading this very copy:

[Thorngrub]

This is an utterly harrowing read.

Looks as if I've discovered a new "leisure" author.

Fack Koontz. After the sharply realized expositionary style of Jack Ketchum . . .I don't think I'll even be able to read Koontz ever again. This shit here is the real deal. It's based on a real crime, by the way:

www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/young/likens/1.html?sect=10

Just an intense book, through and through.

I'll be reading all of this author's stuff when I get a chance.

[Thorngrub]

(By the way . . . I've only ever read a single Koontz book. Twilight Eyes. It was pretty cool . . . back in the day. The 2nd one I tried was that From the Corner of His Eye, and the writing was sooo melodramatic, I could hardly stomach it)

[ken]

Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of beauty. Apparently, I am never gonna read anything for fun ever again. There's no such thing as a break from grad work.

[chrisfan]

I just finished reading A Long Way Down ... a book about 4 people from totally different walks of life who meet on New Years Eve when they're each planning on commting suicide by jumping off the same building. I was amazed by how hilarious a book with such a depressing premise could be. I loved every page except the last ... either because it was the last, or because I was thinking "you're going to end it like that?"

[ken]

The drug years continue.

[Rit]

a good author:

[Thorngrub]

Been meaning to read that, I have.

Must get my copy soon...

[Thorngrub]

ken said:

The drug years continue.

I lent that very copy of Naked LUnch to a friend .. .who has yet to return it. Thanx for reminding me ken .. .

~ ~ ~~

Currently reading:



Here's a couple overviews:

From Publishers Weekly

"Spiritually undernourished souls adrift in denatured worlds of anomie and isolation are the focus of these tales of contemporary horror and near-future speculation. Though uneven in execution, the 17 reprints and four originals in Shirley's third collection in as many years (after Stoker-winning Black Butterflies and Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories) alternate caustic critiques of the morally bankrupt with sympathetic explorations of personal salvation. "My Victim" is a creepy first-person account of an assassin-in-training whose mastery of dispassionate murder qualifies him to assume an ironically appropriate role in corporate life. In "Occurrence at Owl Creek Ridge," a frustrated housewife who sacrificed artistic ambitions for her family is magically allowed to sample the life of celebrity she might have enjoyed. Shirley's ire with irresponsible parents, greedy businessmen and socially detached leaders can be indelicately polemical at times, or, as in "The Prince" about a heartless real estate developer who learns compassion after a nightmarish experience in the squalor he has created emerge as unbelievably wistful idealism. His characters, however, are genuine specimens, developed with sincerity and sympathy whether embarked on killing sprees, discussing the nature of evil in the midst of a satanic rite, or, in the poignant "Nineteen Seconds," enduring the humiliation of an adolescent rite of passage. A conscientious and committed side of Shirley is on display in these tales, and it tempers the punky cynicism by which most readers know him. "

From Booklist:

"In 22 stories, Shirley proves that he is a noir master, regardless of whether a particular piece is set in the present or the future. "My Victim" deals with a young hitman; "Occurrence at Owl Creek Ridge" gives a woman a choice of two dire fates; "Learn at Home" allows a character to take a correspondence course in Nazism; "A Walk through Beirut" has terrorism as a theme; and "Where It's Safe" cannibalizes (literally) one of the polluters who brought on the Great Famine. This is variety. A substantial readership is devoted to Shirley and will rejoice at having his scattered stories assembled. Newcomers to his work who can cope with its high levels of sex, mayhem, and dirty words may come to rejoice, too, in a real master of a style of fiction that probably works better in short stories than novels."

~ ~ ~

From me:

John Shirley. One of my favorite writers.

[Thorngrub]

The short story "My Victim" is a modern day classic.

[ken]

That Shirley book is fantastic, Thorn. I like Occurrence at Owl Creek Ridge a lot as well.

[Thorngrub]

wow, another human being familiar with Shirley.
At long last I have found a true contemporary.

I really liked "In The Road" as well.

[Thorngrub]

Just arrived in the mail:



I can't believe I scored this rare pup. It's a 1st edition hardcover, 1988 - one of the few Shirley books I never read. It is a hefty, sturdy tome, and is sure to deliver the goods.

"A counter to his realistic vision of future-Earth in the Eclipse trilogy, John Shirley shows us, here, another dimension of his talent. A Splendid Chaos is a fantastic feat of imagination, populated with the most frightening succession of alien life forms since Harry Harrison's Deathworld. Although utterly fantastic, Chaos still has meaning and social comment. The garish images of horror are linked, and balanced, with a sober assessment of the human condition. "