Tag Archive for 'dark fantasy'

Book Review: The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers - 1979If you’re a regular reader here, you probably know that I’m something of a Tim Powers fan. See reviews here, here, and here. I’m getting near to having read his entire output. Imagine my delight when some members of my rat army showed up with a mint first edition copy of Powers’ 1979 The Drawing of the Dark. What I do when I get a collectible book is I make a paper book cover out of a paper bag and do my best to gentle on the spine. My goal is to leave the book looking like I never read it. Making brown paper bag covers for books always makes me think that anyone seeing me read the book might suspect that I was reading pornography or a romance novel. Luckily I’m a proud book geek and I have to assure you that I’ve read plenty from both those genres and probably will again before it’s all done with. For that matter, the copy of Jim Thompson’s Savage Night that I own has a ridiculous, lurid cover that would really need to be hidden in public. Not that I ever go out in public, considering that I’m a MONSTER and people would try to KILL ME. What was I talking about?

Powers researches real events and produces stories that are as historically accurate as possible, and then puts a major twist on them, and sort of tells a “secret history” of the event. The event being re-framed in The Drawing is the 1529 siege of Vienna by the Ottomans. If you have read and liked The Anubis Gates, the good news is that this book has something of the same flavor. It’s about adventure and strange underworld goings-on in 16th Century Europe. Powers also explores his interest in the Fisher King, which also figured into the plot of his later book Last Call (1993). To give you a summary, The Drawing of the Dark is about an aging mercenary who is hired by a wizard to be a bouncer at a brewery in Vienna. On his way to his assignment from Venice, things start getting weird. Different groups of people try to kill him. Supernatural beings, including a troop of dwarfs, come to his aid at strange times. Once he gets to Vienna he gets pulled deeper and deeper into a struggle between near-mythological forces. He feels like an ordinary mercenary, but it becomes obvious that larger forces are at work.

There is fighting, romance, adventure, and plenty of weird magical realism. The fighting is painful, the romance is complicated and maybe a little sad, the adventure is imaginative and interesting, and the magic is strangely plausible. This book also has a humorous edge to it. Sadly, for me the book really got bogged down about halfway through. Although some of the characters still don’t get what’s going on, the reader will have it figured out, and that tends to water down the tension of the narrative. Also, the ending ended up being a little anti-climactic.

Let’s see those numbers.

Creepy Factor: 2 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5

Final result: If you’re already a Powers fan and are working your way through his books, you’ll probably like this book. If you’re curious about Powers, I would instead recommend Three Days to Never (2006), or the oft-mentioned-here, Anubis Gates (1983). If you are interested in the One Thousand and One Nights (a.k.a. 1001 Arabian Nights), you will probably find Declare (2001) to be an amazing read. I thought it was really mind-blowing, but a friend of mine couldn’t get through it.

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers – Del Ray – 1979
Buy The Drawing of the Dark on Amazon

Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. See you next time!

Published on August 12, 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Awful Dreck: Baltimore by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden

Baltimore by Mike Mignola and Christopher GoldenUsually I write up a fat, juicy little intro to my reviews, but today I’m going to cut to the chase. Baltimore SUCKED! Here’s what I think happened: A very talented artist who does some very cool and goofy things got it into his head to write something serious and fumbled the genre he chose. Or something like that.

The setup: Three men with haunted pasts are summoned to a cursed town by soldier-turned-vampire hunter, Lord Henry Baltimore. Baltimore has been searching for a vampire king in order to avenge the loss of his family and wife to the scourge. The three men will join in the battle for Baltimore’s very soul and spirit. The book is illustrated throughout with drawings by the very talented Mike Mignola. Readers may remember Mignola from the Hellboy series and The Amazing Screw-On Head, among other things. Here’s more information about Christopher Golden, who I am unfamiliar with.

What’s good about Baltimore? Vampires, adventures on the dark side, and one good story (out of 4) about a haunting. I think that the book aspires to be something interesting and unique. To me, it hearkens back to some older adventure fiction, and has a kind of steampunk sensibility. For instance, it has something of the flavor of Jules Verne novels like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, or Wells’ War of the Worlds. (Except that, unlike those books, it sucks). It has adventure, travel, and moral fortitude.

What’s not so good about Baltimore? I was reminded of Moby Dick, of all things, but probably not for the reason you’re thinking. When I read Moby Dick, I was like “It’s halfway through the book and the ship hasn’t sailed and we’re reading about a pastor!” The book is practically over before anything really happens. The first part of the book tells how Lord Baltimore becomes the sworn enemy of the vampires. The second part of the book consists of the three men swapping tales of their own brushes with the supernatural. The third part gets you somewhat caught up with what Baltimore has been doing recently, in epistolary format. Finally, the fourth part of the book is the showdown between the vampire king and Baltimore (and his henchmen).

What sucks about Baltimore? Dull, two-dimensional, interchangeable characters; a vampire hunting hero with a jointed wooden leg who carries dumb vampire-hunting gear; a vampire novel with absolutely no eroticism or even titillation; no meaningful female characters at all; mechanical writing; a weird thing in the beginning about toy soldiers that doesn’t really figure into the rest of the book.

Let’s see those numbers.

Creepy Factor: 3 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 1 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 0 out of 5

Final result: Because of Mignola, the artwork, and the subject matter, this book jumped off the shelf at me and demanded to be read. Finishing it ended up being a dull chore, and I am especially bitter because I expected better. Guys! Guys! Don’t bother writing a vampire novel without any eroticism. You might as well just make it about werewolves or something. Don’t get me wrong – I like werewolves. Some of my best friends are werewolves, but they’re not sexy like vampires.

Baltimore by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden – Bantam Books – 2007
DON’T Buy Baltimore at Amazon

Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. See you next time!

Published on July 29, 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Pinup of the Week: Weird Tales September 1925

Weird Tales 1925 09

THE GARGOYLE
A TALE OF DEVIL WORSHIP
by Greye La Spina

Stories by
O. Henry
H.P. Lovecraft
Frank Belknap Long Jr.
and other authors

What exactly is going on here? The guy dressed like a ninja appears to have a trunk like an elephant. Mmmm: Redhead.

darkinthedark does not claim copyright on this image. If you are the copyright holder and object to this image appearing here please contact me.

Published on June 25, 2010 in Pin-up of the Week. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Book Review: Finch by Jeff Vandermeer

If I wasn’t a monster, I would be a detective. Actually, that’s not true. If I wasn’t a monster, I would be a mad scientist. I would be a mad scientist who might have dreams sometimes of being a detective. The mad scientist would emerge from these dreams feeling haunted and maybe sometimes beaten up. The characters who populated his dreams would swim with the fishes, or become wallpaper. The guts of the mad scientist would be twisted up like hamburger. Of course, this is all if I was a mad scientist. What was I talking about?

Finch is a something of a science fiction fantasy book written like a detective novel. The front and back covers bristle with references to noir fiction greats like David Goodis and Raymond Chandler, but it reminds me more of James Elroy. The main character is hyper-masculine in an Elroy way. Finch follows the classic noir trope of the lone righteous man in a pressure cooker. Which is:

  • Our Detective is assigned a seemingly impossible case.
  • Said case stinks of political corruption and/or is an obvious play in a deadly chess game between two or more interested parties.
  • One or more interested parties puts pressure on the detective to:
    1. Solve the case their way, or
    2. Drop the case, or
    3. Join their side.
  • The department chief has questionable motives and is one of the above-mentioned parties.
  • The detective’s sex interest is not to be trusted.
  • The detective is haunted by his past and/or is deeply heartbroken.
  • The detective continues to investigate the case in spite of (or because of):
    1. Escalating threats.
    2. Escalating physical violence.
  • The following occurrences are generally required, but not in any particular order:
    1. The detective is knocked out and wakes up tied to a chair.
    2. The detective’s partner is taken out of action.
    3. The detective is restrained by hoodlums while a gang boss uses him as a punching bag.
    4. The detective is told repeatedly that he is in over his head.
    5. The detective is officially taken off the case, but continues to pursue it.
    6. The detective is pushed too far by one of the interested parties and retaliates in an extravagant manner.
  • In the end, the detective solves case his own way despite opposition. Justice is served and the city/town realigns with the cosmos.
  • The detective wonders, bitterly, if he took the correct action.
  • The detective’s sex interest turns out to be washed up. An interesting moll or frail met during the investigation replaces her.

You can’t tell me that you haven’t already read this story. It doesn’t matter. I’ve read this same story in countless other books, and in the hands of a skilled author, it’s still worth reading. In fact, I had a hard time putting Finch down and read it in two or three days.

Author Jeff Vandermeer fully imagines a dystopian world where fungi have replaced technology, food, weapons, disease, AND drugs. Think about that! Monstrous mushrooms have taken over the city and life has become dire for its inhabitants. Reading it, I was also reminded of Philip K. Dick: The detective is not a detective. There is nobody to trust. The story has nightmarish qualities and the main character struggles to keep a grasp on what is real and what is not. The goings-on are mostly depressing.

It wasn’t until I was about halfway through Finch that I found out that it is the last book in a trilogy. Luckily, it appears that all three novels can stand pretty well alone. Besides wishing that I had a little more information about the creatures called “gray caps,” I don’t think that I was missing much. Of course, maybe I was and don’t know it.

Creepy Factor: 4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 5 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 2 out of 5 (hmmm. There is sex but not so erotic or weird.)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 5 out of 5

Final result: You might not be able to tell by my review but I really loved this book. If you’re a fan of dark fantasy, this book will be straight up your alley. Vandermeer has created a compelling world, populated it with interesting characters, and used it to tell an old story in an exciting new way. Finch has been nominated for a Nebula award. (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the awesome cover to this book was illustrated by John Coulthart.)

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer- Underland Press – 2009
Buy Finch now at Amazon

Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. See you next time!

Published on March 31, 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Book Review: Martyrs and Monsters by Robert Dunbar

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Recently I played this game with a friend. I commented that if there’s a hell for monsters, and I ever end up there, my punishment will be to wash dishes in a restaurant. Like any good creeper in basements and attics, I hate the three basics of washing dishes: Being wet, being covered with chewed-up bits of food and soda, and working. My friend helpfully pointed out that this might not be horrible enough. What if all the dishes came covered with saliva? What if I had to lick all the dishes to clean them? How could that get worse? Answer: Hundreds of paper cuts.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Robert Dunbar. If the question is “What’s the worst that could happen?” Robert Dunbar is the man with an answer. Martyrs & Monsters is a collection of short fiction by Dunbar and a lot of it is harrowing. I’m not usually a fan of short story collections, but every once in a while I’ll run across an author who can fill out a compelling one.

The stories here are varied. While most of them are horror stories, they run quite a range of subjects. Martyrs & Monsters covers everything from post-apocalyptic zombie fighters to murderous drug addicts. From a wildly dysfunctional geek love triangle to a straight-up ghost story. A few of the stories are quite humorous. Some others are horrifyingly bleak. To me it seems like the one common thread is that the characters in all these stories are battling their own demons.

Strangely, the book finishes with a story that is very much like an L-Word episode. It’s about a gay man who introduces his new boyfriend to a bunch of his friends at a beach house gathering. And his friends don’t like the guy. That’s as horrifying as the story gets, so I was left scratching my head. Maybe I missed the point. In the bigger picture, though, it barely matters.

Dunbar’s writing is creative and engrossing. As the background to each story is set up, Dunbar provides just the right amount of information. Everything is full formed. He’s very good at painting a bleak, horrifying picture with only a few strokes. As I mentioned earlier, Dunbar can certainly answer the question: “What’s the worst that could happen?” If you’re trying to save your brother from a succubus, what’s the worst that could happen? If you get bit while defending your children from a zombie and, as a result, turn into a zombie yourself, what’s the worst that could happen? If you think your neighbor might have been replaced by an alien doppelganger, what’s the worst that could happen? The truth is, you don’t want to know! Or, if you enjoy horror: You do want to know, and here you will be amply rewarded.

Creepy Factor: 5 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 2 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5

Martyrs & Monsters made the final Horror Writers Association 2009 Stoker Awards ballot for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection, and it’s clear that it belongs there. The writing is imaginative, the atmosphere is haunting, and the sexy witch really does have a collection of – of – uh maybe you don’t want to know. Or maybe you do. What’s the worst that could happen?

Martyrs and Monsters by Robert Dunbar – 2009 – DarkHart Press
Buy Martyrs & Monsters by Robert Dunbar on Amazon

Many thanks to the author for sending me a review copy of this book. See you next time!

Published on March 26, 2010 in Book Reviews. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .