BONES OF THE MOON
This is one of the Jonathan Carroll’s loopiest novels, and believe me: that’s saying a lot.
BLUE PAGODA
This 1946 novel, one of two A. Merritt novels “completed” by Hannes Bok, has intrigued me for some time
BLUE CANOE
T.M. Wright has written many strange books, including THE ISLAND, THE WAITING ROOM and COLD HOUSE. BLUE CANOE makes those novels look downright conventional,
BLOODY BAUDELAIRE
This novella, the first by R.B. Russell, is the essence of low key, or quiet, horror: literate, restrained and elegantly drafted, with a decadent flavor redolent of the output of its original publisher Ex Occidente Press (which specializes in neo-decadent fiction). I think the orgasmic blurbs BLOODY BAUDELAIRE has received are a bit excessive (example: “Russell is a master of subtlety, enfolding the reader in a smart net of elegant prose and ambiguous facts”), but it is a diverting little tale that leaves a pleasing gothic aftertaste.
BLOODHOUSE
With this outrageous novel Australia’s late Kenneth Cook turned out his finest work since WAKE IN FRIGHT
BLOOD AND SHADOWS
This isn’t the best comic miniseries scripted by the great Joe R. Lansdale, but it is almost certainly the craziest. It’s safe to say that in this time-tripping, epoch-spanning 4-issue epic about the fearsome God of the Razor (introduced in Lansdale’s novel THE NIGHTRUNNERS), Lansdale has gone clear over the top in every possible respect.
Open Grave: The Book of Horror
This new book is stronger, executed with much greater confidence and originality–indeed, stories like “Monday Night Dive” and “Cold Spot,” with their unpredictable narratives and wildly off-kilter yet satisfying conclusions, really aren’t like anything else I can think of, heralding the development of an altogether fresh and distinct voice.
BLOOD & GRISTLE
Having read Michael Louis Calvillo’s two previous books, the novels I WILL RISE and AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT, I know to expect the unexpected from this defiantly individual talent. BLOOD & GRISTLE is Calvillo’s first collection, showcasing 20 short pieces distinguished by Calvillo’s tightly controlled, sensory-inflected prose and brilliantly disturbed imagination. I already knew those attributes worked well in novel form, but it turns out they make for equally vital short stories
BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN
I’m not as fanatic about Haruki Murakami as many mainstream critics, but do appreciate his gift for the oft-kilter, amply evidenced in the 24 stories collected in BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN
THE BLIND OWL (Book)
“There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a kind of canker.” That’s the opening sentence of THE BLIND OWL, and it adequately sets the tone for what follows.