Titus Crow: The Burrowers Beneath, the Transition of Titus Crow by Brian Lumley

Titus Crow: The Burrowers Beneath, the Transition of Titus Crow by Brian Lumley

Your mileage on this depends very much on how much you like Lovecraft, and how much of a purist you are.

The Burrowers Beneath is a Lovecraftian pastiche, with a scientific veneer. An epistolary novel, I find it disjointed and stilted at first, but a couple chapters in I am rolling with it, and quite enjoying things.

These are not toward the Horror end of the spectrum, there is much pseudo-science, and both novels are more adventure novels, the second leaning heavily toward a Dreamlands style.

The Transition of Titus Crow is bat-shit crazy, and a lot of fun, I found.

I like Lumley, and you can see the seeds of a lot of his later work here, and he does get much, much better when he creates his own worlds. But he’s fun here. He loves the stuff, I love the stuff, presumably you love the stuff if you’re reading this…if so, you might get a kick out of this. You might not, as well, depending on what it is specifically you like about the Cthulhu Mythos. Me, I like many different flavours, and this volume is a hot gumbo of different Mythos styles, and I read it for the most part gleefully.

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Review: In Praise of Older Women

In Praise of Older Women by Stephen Vizinczey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well written and engaging book. A bildungsroman, a novel of the education of a young man, in this case focusing on his sexual development and experiences with women. Set in Hungary Pre and Post War, with brief passages set in Italy and Canada. I found the narrator likeable for the most part, with some reservations, but the prose is well done and not overwrought. There are some keen observations, though sometimes I wish the author (or, if you prefer, the narrator) would spend more time describing the physical sights and sounds rather than dwelling completely in the region of the mind. The sex I found to be well handled, neither too much description, nor too little. This is a book I should like to read again.

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Review: Black Panther #1

Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked it, would have to go back and re-read it to make any insightful comments. I like Steelfreeze’s art, like always. Nice job of staying within Black Panther’s world, instead of immediately jumping in a whole bunch of guest stars from the greater Marvel universe so it turns into a team-up book.

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Review: Eyes of the Tarot

Eyes of the Tarot by Bruce Coville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found it to be well written with engaging characters, and an interesting premise. The Tarot is handled well, and there are some intriguing fantastical elements in this book. A quick, pleasant read. A nice cover by Ciruelo Cabral as well.

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Review: Plaisir D’Amour: An Erotic Memoir of Paris in the 1920s

Plaisir D’Amour: An Erotic Memoir of Paris in the 1920s by Anne-Marie Villefranche
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Supposedly an erotic memoir, according to the introduction, the recollections of the Pseudonymous author, it is in actuality a series of fictional erotic vignettes, loosely tied together by the familial relationships of the viewpoint characters. The prose is well done, and I found the vignettes to be enjoyable and surprisingly well written. If you read too many in a row there is a sense of sameness in the encounters, though there is some inventive variety sprinkled in here and there. Not my usual fare, but I found this engaging and pleasant, I enjoyed reading a couple of these per day before bed. If you enjoy erotic fiction with well written prose, this would fit the bill.

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Review: Valerie

Valerie by Jordan Park
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is written by Cyril Kornbluth under a pseudonym. It is a very well done little book set in 16th Century Scotland. Valerie is a well drawn and interesting character, and Kornbluth does a very good job of making the story fresh and including many interesting historical details and in having characters that do not have stereotypical beliefs for the time period. If you are interested in Witches and Witchcraft, and Witchfinders, and the moral implications of Witch Hunts, than you’ll find much of interest in this book. I heartily recommend it.

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Review: Loose Ends #1

Loose Ends #1 by Jason Latour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, I enjoyed this comic, though there were a few places I found it a little weak. I like what its trying to do, can’t say it always succeeds. The covers drew me in, and I like the output of 12 Gauge, but this one, the art is problematic for me. Everyone looks too similar, I have a hard time following the action because the characters aren’t distinctive enough. The story is decent, but starts out fragmented, and I didn’t find all the (loose) ends were drawn together very tightly in the first two issues. Its not a happy world to visit this one. I hope it all starts to come together in issue three. I am reading the reprints from Image, as I missed this one the first time around. I will have to re-read this as a whole and give it a bit more effort, I think I will be rewarded. If you like noir-ish storytelling, than this is worth your time, but you have to put in the work.

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Review: Slocum and the Hatchet Men

Slocum and the Hatchet Men by Jake Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have read a few Adult Westerns before, when I was younger and read very fast, I would sometimes add a few of these into my rotation in between longer and more in-depth books, as I could finish them in a couple of hours, and I would tend to skim the two or three obligatory sex scenes that appear in this type of book. Many of them contain pretty decent stories, though the quality in any given series can vary depending on the skill level of the ghostwriter involved. This one I found to be one of the more well written entries, with some interesting settings (Mormon Utah, and early San Francisco) with a minimum of items that detract from the narrative. The negatives I found in this book were a few modern colloquialisms slipping in now and again, and a very shoddy attempt at depicting a Chinese accent, in an otherwise fairly well done depiction of the Chinese characters integral to the plot. The action is well handled, and even the sex scenes are well done and actually flow with the story without seeming forced or tacked on. The settings are interesting and well drawn, and the plot is intriguing and handled well. Overall, a strong entry in the series, and one of the better Adult Westerns that I have read. If you like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you will like.

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Review: The First Evil

The First Evil by R.L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Surprisingly decent. I never read any of this kind of thing when I was the appropriate age, I was already off reading all the science fiction and fantasy I could get my hands on. I was aware of its existence, but never experienced any of it first hand, and truthfully, viewed it as beneath my reading level, etc. But to be honest…it’s fun, short and punchy, but I found it fairly well developed, the characters are interesting, and there are certainly some more disturbing moments, and some scenes are more graphic than I would expect. This is the lead in to a mini-series within the larger umbrella of the greater Fear Street series, and it ends abruptly, but it certainly leaves a desire to read the next book. As something light and quick to read in between my usual reading, I could see myself giving more of these a go.

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Review: Tomboy

Tomboy by Hal Ellson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is very well written book, and I find the characters authentic, and believable. Hal Ellson’s books come out of his work with juvenile delinquents, which would account for their ring of truth. I was drawn into this one due to the James Bama cover, not having any prior experience with this sub-genre of the ’50’s, though I have a few by Harlan Ellison from this period on my to-read pile.

This is a short book, 150 pages, but it draws its characters well, and gives an amazing sense of place, and time.

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