Horror

God, I love the sci-fi-fantasy-horror-magicrealism-pagan-mystic genres, cause every once in a while you come across a book like Bride of the Fat White Vampire, by Andrew Fox. Funny, clever, and highly entertaining.

Tananarive Due writes a character driven adventure with an African-American heroine in a literary field of plot driven stories about white male heroes. That alone makes me recommend it. The fact that the book will chew you up, spit you out, and make you beg for more? Gravy.

Have you ever had a sore spot like an aching tooth, an ingrown toenail, or a spot on your arm where you just got a shot? You know, some place that kisses you with a sharp pain if you don’t leave well enough alone? What do you do? You touch it, squeeze it, push on it. There you go, a grown-up, intelligent human being with a toothache, and you’ll actually bite down hard. When you can’t take the pain anymore you let up and wonder at your stupidity. Then, you go and do the same thing again half an hour later.

The Darkest Part of the Woods, by Ramsey Campbell, was a toothache I wouldn’t stop biting down on. I don’t know how many times I set the book down after an hour of reading, completely bored, totally uninterested… just to pick up the book again the next day.