“Falling Down”: Charlie Fletcher’s “The Oversight” (2014)
Jun24

“Falling Down”: Charlie Fletcher’s “The Oversight” (2014)

It all begins at nighttime on a dark, gaslit street in Victorian London, with a young woman who seems to only speak French, prone to screaming, bound and gagged in a sack, carried by a brutish-looking man called Ketch, who knocks on the door of a particular house on Wellclose Square that is owned by someone only referred to as “the Jew.” As Ketch tells the three figures who answer the door–one a mesmerizing young...

Read More
“It’s Only Forever”: “Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’: The Novelization”
May08

“It’s Only Forever”: “Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’: The Novelization”

Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite Jim Henson productions. I have gone on about it at length in the past. That is why I was particularly excited when I found out that the Archaia Company would be re-releasing a special edition of the novelization written by A. C. H. Smith that accompanied the film’s original release, along with subsequent new editions of the The Dark Crystal and The Storyteller novels. Now, practically...

Read More
Vampire Redux: “Generation V” and “Iron Night” by M. L. Brennan
Mar06

Vampire Redux: “Generation V” and “Iron Night” by M. L. Brennan

I know what you’re thinking: another vampire series? And, believe me, so was I. Except M. L. Brennan’s Fortitude Scott novels, Generation V and Iron Night are different. No, really. Fortitude is a vampire. Or will be. But he’s not exactly like any vampire or almost-vampire you’ve seen before. In the world of Brennan’s books, vampires aren’t immortal, although they have dizzyingly long life spans,...

Read More
Literary Love: “S.” by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
Mar03

Literary Love: “S.” by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

S. might very well be the most meta novel ever written, being a book about a book while also itself being the very book that it’s about. To simplify, S. is the story of a pair of university students–one undergrad, one grad–who are poring over the contents of Ship of Theseus, the last novel of a famously cryptic author who ostensibly died in the 1950s, V. M. Straka, whose very identity has never been confirmed. The...

Read More
By the Book: Jim C. Hines’ “Libriomancer” and “Codex Born”
Feb06

By the Book: Jim C. Hines’ “Libriomancer” and “Codex Born”

There are a lot of urban fantasy mystery series out there, and after a while, they can all start sounding awfully samey. Investigative protagonist with some level of magical aptitude. Run-ins with vampires, werewolves, and other sorts of supernatural creatures. Noirish tropes. Gradually building mythology-heavy background story arc involving mysterious forces. To be honest, overall, I’ve grown a bit tired of them. And then I...

Read More
The Perfectly Just City: Mark Helprin’s “Winter’s Tale” (1983)
Jan13

The Perfectly Just City: Mark Helprin’s “Winter’s Tale” (1983)

Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale is my very favorite book. I first read it when I was 12 years old, at an age I now admit was perhaps a bit too young to fully grasp all of the nuances and complexities of this rich and cavernous novel. Or perhaps not. What first truly swept me away into its kaleidoscopic, mystifying world were the words. The back cover of my edition quotes a book review from Newsday, proclaiming the novel...

Read More