50% cute, 50% acid-trip unhinged. I don’t think I want to be friends with these unicorns - they look like they’d shake me down for my lunch money, then threaten to cut me if I told.

Yet at the same time, I kind of want a bag with them on it.

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Bad Book Covers Friday Archive
BBCF: The Saga of Recluce
BBCF: Moonsinger’s Friends
BBCF: The Alphabet Mysteries
BBCF: Diamond Star

Date: 2.22.10

Book: Horns

Venue: Porter Square Books

Reviewer: Kakaner

Porter Square Books is a quaint bookstore tucked away in Porter Square, Cambridge and features a popular fair-trade cafe. We arrived early for front row seats, and discovered while waiting that we had been seated in the… SAT prep and pregnancy help section. Huh?

Anyway, enter Joe Hill, tall and lanky, and a spitting image of his father. He exuded a very distinct “accomplished nerd” appeal, as in awkward yet confident. I have to say I was a little taken aback by his appearance because the only photo I had seen of him was this:

Which incidentally kind of coincides with the mental image I have of Judas Coyne from Heart-Shaped Box– jacket, rock, auto-enthusiast. Oh author portraits. How you mislead us so!

Anyway, Joe Hill read an excerpt from Horns, his newest horror/thriller novel in the same vein as Heart-Shaped Box, in a smooth, confident drawl. He has this way of uniquely elongating the vowels in the last word of very sentence. I recognized in the excerpt familiar characteristics of Hill’s writing– great attention to sexual awareness, a small-town backdrop, strong dialogue, and a large dosage of boyish fun. Honestly, I wasn’t very taken with Heart-Shaped Box and probably will not read Horns; I am, however, a HUGE fan of Locke & Key. I don’t find Hill an exceptionally lyrical writer, and I find his imagery and overall sentence-stringing a little banal, but I will touch upon that later.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the Q&A. Hill added a little twist to the night by providing blinking red horns to everyone who asked a question (until supplies ran out) to encourage people to come forward. The rules were you had to wear the horns while asking the question, and then for the rest of the night. Much merriment ensued.

For the most part, I was put off by the questions, which were largely uninsightful and could have been answered by a simple Google search (inspiration, how long did it take to write, what are you working on next, what is your brother up to) but there were some quirky and memorable answers (note: Paraphrasing):

Q: (Something along the lines of) Do you like writing comics or novels better/ How are they different for you?

H: In some ways, comics are almost easier than novels. You don’t have to worry so much about sentence structure and imagery, and you can focus on the story and dialogue more. I could spent hours writing a couple sentences to try to make them sound right but comics are more forgiving on that front.

[Interesting he should say this because I think it is for these very reasons that he is such an excellent comic writer and not so much a novelist]

Also, I think that one of the greatest losses for literature was the change sparked by Hemingway. Prior to Hemingway, books were illustrated, and then suddenly they weren’t and I find it unnatural for the reader to not be able to see the author’s vision. Additionally, back in the day books were serialized, and I just find that process of creation very natural, to write and and develop a story in installments.

Q: You cited Alan Moore as one of your influences. Could you just geek out a bit and discuss more in-depth what exactly you drew from him?

H: Well, Alan Moore has influenced me in so many ways, but there is one particular concrete example. He has this specific method of doing transitions in comics. For example, in the last panel of one page, a person will be fanning his shirt and remarking that it’s very hot, and when you turn the page, there’s a huge panel of a factory on fire.

Hill also commented on the fact that this is the prime time for reading and writing genre. He talked about the increasing quality of fantasy/sci-fi, with a little shout out to Kelly Link who was in the audience, and how there exists an increasingly larger intersection of literature and genre (ex. Michael Chabon). I am inclined to agree =)

~~~

On a related note, we’re having a signed book giveaway!!! Featuring Joe Hill himself =) I snagged a signed 20th Century Ghosts, Joe Hill’s first published short story collection which I have yet to read, but have heard is excellent. To enter, tell us what you think has been your favorite post thus far, whether it be a review, feature, or random tidbit, and why. You can comment here on this post with your answer to enter. Shipping will be covered by me, and the winner will be announced on March 11th.

Tell your friends! And happy booking!

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Author Event: China Mieville

These covers actually work the best without much commentary, so prepare for some scrolling -

See a running theme here yet?

Oh hello, yet another cover featuring two burly men about to hammer each other with their lances of energy. (This is my favorite of the bunch, for the record.)

Change it up - here’s a female (!) officer with some PIRATES.

Yes, yes, this is another situation where I can’t really judge because I haven’t read the books, and I’m sure the way in which whatever magic they’re using is performed is integral to the series, and having identical consistent posing and imagery helps brand the series, etc. etc., but you do have to wonder if literal illustrators ever step back from what they’re doing and look at it.

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Bad Book Covers Friday Archive
BBCF: Moonsinger’s Friends
BBCF: The Alphabet Mysteries
BBCF: Diamond Star
BBCF: The God Engines

Jason Chapman’s “Brief Candle” is a clever, winning tale of an unpreposessing sanitation robot onboard an imperiled ship. In a sort of AI-fueled homage to Flowers for Algernon (down to the name of the protagonist), the robot finds himself taking on much more responsibility than, literally, he could have ever imagined. It’s a marvellously entertaining story, with a quick, crisp narrative that revels in the meticulously imagined details that it unfolds.

Some of the humor was a bit too cute and obvious to work for me, and by the same token, the efficacy of the ending may depend on your willingness to have your heartstrings tugged; I felt a little resistant to the overt emotional appeal, but possibly I’m just being curmudgeonly. After all, I do tend to smile whenever I think of this story - it’s hard to be a grump about something so warm and fun.

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Jason K. Chapman

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Various children’s books - stuff like Tommy dePaola’s books, and The Weaver’s Horse, of which there are apparently NO cover images available online. Agggh! Did anyone else read that book, though?

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Currently, I’m supposed to be finishing Konrad Lorenz’s King Solomon’s Ring, but I don’t actually have it with me; I’ve been sneaking rereads of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber instead. Last read was Robert Stone’s Bear and his Daughter. Next read… not sure. Possibly Peter Beagle’s The Innkeeper’s Song.

3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Usually I love books that everyone else hates.

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Ummm. Moby-Dick would be one of the major ones.

5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
What does that even mean? All the books I know want to be read NOW. :P

6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
I used to occasionally read the last page halfway through the book (or read half the book out of order, really) when I couldn’t bear the suspense, but NO MORE. Partly because I no longer read as many epics… inevitably there are points at which your attention flags during those, and you just want to see if something better is coming up, so you mine for snippets of telling conversation or hints of pivotal scenes. The impulse to spoiler oneself just ends in tears and rankling sensations, though.

7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Don’t mind them, especially when there are interesting, contextualizing tidbits - contextualizing as to the creation of the book, or actual historical background, or whatever.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Off the top of my head, pretty much any of Robin McKinley or Patricia McKillip’s characters, and Garth Nix’s Lirael, especially when she’s working in the Library of the Clayr. (Someone get me a spiral-shaped library, a red waistcoat, and an emergency mouse, stat.) I always wanted to live in Rivendell, also. And of course New Crobuzon, except I’d probably die in a horrific and embarrassing fashion there in under an hour.

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
All of them. But picking somewhat at random, The Hobbit, since my dad read it to me on the couch before bedtime for two years, and Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series, most of which I read over a summer, lying outside on a bench - I have particular memories of being extremely unsettled by Greenwitch as a green, sticky summer evening came on. Also, my first collection of Greek & Norse mythology (Usborne’s) - first book I can remember getting caught reading with a flashlight in bed.

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Man, I know I have some good stories, but I can’t think of one right now.

11. Have you ever given a book for a special reason to a special person?
*looks significantly at Kakaner* Probably 50% of our gifts to each other, for all occasions, have been books, or book-related.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
A random subset of my poetry books goes back and forth with me, since I have to have them around if I’m going to get any writing done. About the same goes for The Bloody Chamber, with particular regard to prose.

13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Again, I always liked the things that other people hated. I’m going to go off of Maureen’s answer a bit, though, and say that I have become increasingly obsessed with Hamlet.

14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
My copy of Orlando has some beautiful, inscrutable scribbles in faded brown fountain-pen, but I can’t think of any exciting objects.

15. Used or brand new?
Depends on how cheap I’m feeling, what edition I’m looking for, and whether I’m more interested in supporting a particular bookseller or a particular author.

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Stylistically he’s too self-indulgent a lot of the time, but I think he is a really, really sharp writer, particularly in his emotional experience and intelligence. There’s a lot of real hurt and thought in his stuff, and of course he knows how to tell a story hella well. Basically, I believe in his integrity as a storyteller. I really need to find the time to read his Dark Tower series.

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Let the Right One In.

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Pretty much all of them.

19. Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
REDWALL HOLY CRAP. Honestly, anything that has a half-decent description of food in it… I love reading about food, or any kind of sensual experience, really.

20. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
Kakaner. I can probably count the number of times we’ve been wrong about book recommendations for each other on one hand.

21. Name one book you will never, ever buy.
To steal from Maureen: Take a wild guess. (Hint: it starts with ‘T’ and has an apple on the front cover.)

- E

Theodora Goss’ “Her Mother’s Ghosts,” recommended to me an age ago by Maureen, is a brief, achingly beautiful meditation on family and heritage. The language is simple, rhythmical, and carefully chosen, and the strength and purity of the emotion that it evokes hit me particularly hard since… okay, for personal reasons that I don’t feel like talking about in detail (massive backpedaling there). Suffice it to say that this was one of those stories that I had to read twice for it to really click, but when it did - ow. hurty (but in a good and thoughtful-making way).

I love the feel of the descriptions, too - they feel like late-afternoon sunlight on a chilly day, or one of the story’s faded watercolors.

Go to:
Theodora Goss

Technically, it’s not bad, it’s just very… very.

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Bad Book Covers Friday Archive
BBCF: The Alphabet Mysteries
BBCF: Diamond Star
BBCF: The God Engines
BBCF: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16

I originally found “Descending” through Ellen Datlow’s wonderful online selection of classic sci-fi short fiction, and was aggrieved to discover that with the passing of the original scifi.com, it’s now only available with the help of the Wayback Machine. But to get on with the real thing -

I’ve always been vaguely leery of escalators (where are those steps really going, when they sink into one another at the bottom? - I had a childhood fear that my feet would get sucked in with them if I didn’t step off quickly enough); Thomas M. Disch’s “Descending” has ensured that I’ll never trust one again. “Descent” begins with an unrepentant debtor’s delinquent spree in a department store, and ends in a state of perfect horror. It’s pleasingly precise and surprisingly rich in its details both of setting and character, packing a huge amount of atmosphere and subtlety into just about 4000 words, and the humor is wicked and ominous. Great stuff - I’ll have to look up more of Disch’s work.

John Schoffstall provides a wonderful reading and historical contextualization of the story here - also brief and rich - and Matthew Cheney at The Mumpsimus follows up with a quick consideration of how the story works as a piece of short fiction here.

On a side note, I’ve been running into increasing trouble picking tags for posts, given how frequently the line is all but invisible between, say, dark fantasy and horror, or science fiction and fantasy. (Let’s not even get into the argument that all fiction is fantasy, because there’s nothing there to even argue about, at the most basic [or pedantic, depending on how you want to look at it] level.) Well, I’ll just keep going with the policy of “whatever seems the most helpful.” I just feel horribly reductionist labeling something as nuanced as “Descending” “horror.” Do I need to start a category for “literary horror”? “Existential horror”? “Definitely not splatterpunk”? “Stuff that could be read without derogatory comment by people who don’t make a regular habit of visiting the genre hinterlands in Barnes and Nobles“?

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Thomas M. Disch

Summary

When Elizabeth Philpot and her sisters move to Lyme Regis, resigned to a life of spinstershood tucked away in a modest English seaside village, she finds herself befriending a queer fossil hunter, Mary Anning. Through Elizabeth’s education and readings, and Mary’s instinctive knowledge of the shore, they grow together in their mutual love for paleantology and fossil hunting. But the lives of the Philpots, Annings, and the very town are turned upsidedown when Mary discovers a prehistoric extinct fossil, causing an uproar in the scientific community and the entrance of many distinguished gentlemen in the field. Behind the scenes, Elizabeth and Mary explore a friendship that is strained by their respective failures to find a suitor, and interwoven with the fervor and drama of scientific discovery in a male dominated intellectual society is the sorrow and resignation that comes with spinsterhood.

Review

For me, Tracy Chevalier has never quite accomplished the same breathtaking, luminous achievement that was The Girl with a Pearl Earring  with her other books, but Remarkable Creatures is a complete turnaround. I ran away to BNN one day, picked it up for two hours, and simply could not put it down so I paid the $26.95 + tax to have the privilege of finishing it that very night in my bed. Overall, Remarkable Creatures is the historical novel I’ve been craving for a long while, whisking me off to 19th-century seaside England and embroiling me in the scandal, loneliness, and scientific discovery of the time.

Remarkable Creatures made me fear for my own life, made me examine my aspirations and accomplishments, and specifically the incredible brevity of a lifespan. Elizabeth and Mary have such purpose and drive, and are both gripped by an urgency to uncover more and more truths, working furiously to overcome social and cultural barriers. I, on the other hand, sit in my cubicle writing mundane scripts and am safe from the discrimination and prejudice of a century ago. And once Elizabeth and Mary reached a certain age in their lives, the despair seeped in, and both resigned themselves to many stagnant, loveless remaining years.

I love how Chevalier boldly strives to illuminate those lesser-known pockets of history for the world. In particular, the focus on the concept of spinsterhood, the idea that in certain places and times, there existed an unmarriageable age, a stark contrast to the presence of the 60+ dating scene in our  American world that is not necessarily thriving, but still there. Chevalier forces an appreciation for the privileges and rights that many of us take for granted. She also focuses on the feelings of failure and self-disappointment as Elizabeth and Mary are to be shunned for the rest of their lives, their many achievements never able to break down the barrier of social discrimination.

This book is also a triumph for the nerds out there since it spotlights science and the process of discovery. The research is evident in this narrative, and it is particularly refreshing to see the field of paleontology being used as a backdrop. Chevalier works in so many aspects of the science, including the classification debates of the day, the importance of technical skeleton drawings, the religious conflict sparked by fossil discoveries, and the very preservation and extraction of scientific evidence. Chevalier recounts and records these aspects of the story boldly and meticulously, and in doing so, lends an air of eclectic grace to the novel. I was absolutely fascinated by the prehistoric species and the subtle differences between related animals.

I only knew that these characters were actual historical figures after reading the book, I had the chance to reexamine the book in a whole new, profound light. The characters linger and haunt, a testament to the extremely evocative storytelling, and after I put the book down, I felt emotionally hollow on behalf of Mary and Elizabeth. I left the book with respect and awe for Elizabeth and Mary’s friendship, and a desire to know more about everything– Lyme Regis, Mary and Elizabeth, prehistoric fossils, and 19th century English class warfare.

Go To:

Tracy Chevalier

Remarkable Creatures Website

Deeply mediocre, in a “we had no budget so we gave our cover designs to a 6th grader with Word Art pretensions” kind of way. Simplicity has its advantages in terms of recognizability, of course - as evidenced by my inability to not see these everywhere now - but. well. You could try to make it look a little less like you spent 5 minutes in Photoshop per cover doing these.

Also, on first look, the juxtaposition of the title and the cover blurb on the above cover made me think that “refreshing heroine” referred to the titular corpse. Did this happen to anyone else?

A couple more under the cut…

“Yarrrr, I am embossed”

Dunno why the ones I picked out all ended up being blue.

As a general note, apologies for the deadness around here lately - Kakaner and I have both been swamped. (Hence also this rather tepid post.)

- E

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Bad Book Covers Friday Archive
BBCF: Diamond Star
BBCF: The God Engines
BBCF: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16
BBCF: The Gathering Storm