 Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities Netflix Series Review by Roy Peak Guillermo del Toro has been a bit hit and miss with me. His films always have an ambience to them, an atmosphere of dread and mystery, a most interesting color palette, unique stories, often with scenes of weird violence and grotesqueries unimaginable. Often the sets are a character as much as the actors. Pan's Labyrinth was all mood and horror mixed with a sweet fairy tale, but I figured out the "surprise" ending almost immediately. His Hellboy films have been nice to look at but I miss the fun and sense of embracing horror that creator Mike Mignola imbues his comics with. In The Shape of Water del Toro was able to seamlessly meld horror, dark fantasy, and romance into a one of a kind magical feature. (More like this, please.) In the Netflix series Cabinet of Curiosities del Toro himself introduces these eight tales of horror in the manner of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, using an intricate cabinet as a set piece for each show. Most of these tales are lifted straight out of pulp horror fiction literature, which works well with del Toro's style.
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 Photo courtesy Briianvision Dream Writing by Julie Carpenter I have a vivid dream life that sometimes crosses over into my writing. Of course, many times, dreams die with the light, cracking into dust and scattering. Poof! I’m no longer running in place through a field of skulls while zombies fling lime Jell-O bombs at my head or sweating through an interview with FBI agents in the guise of talking dogs, or whatever was happening in those immediately forgotten visions. Vanished nightmares disappear into a miasma of never-was. Just as well. But sometimes I have dreams that follow me into the waking world, hanging on in the light, refusing to dissipate, some lucid as the full moon behind inky tree branches, some hiding around corners and only jumping at me when triggered by an object, a word, or a scent. Those detailed dreams I sometimes put into words and stories. Dreams seem safer pinned in ink to a page. Is this cruel? I can’t tell but I reserve the right to defend myself.  Racewall Mosquitoes The Recital of Annie Lytle Review by Roy Peak Racewall Mosquitoes is what you get when you mix the songwriting, guitar playing, and singing of Matt Morgan along with the production of the indie-pop band Summer Obsession's Luke Walker. Chugging acoustic rhythms meld with layers of vocals and razor sharp electric guitar throughout, a soundscape fitting for this haunting, mysterious, and thought-provoking album.
 Wonky Tonk Breaking Patterns Review by Roy Peak Just over ten years ago Wonky Tonk and Juan Crosby produced her album SuperHolyFantastic & Hippie Dirt (Business and Pleazure). Now they’ve teamed up again for Tonk's latest album titled Breaking Patterns. This is an album of catharsis and rebirth, of soldiering on and taking chances.
 The Devil Takes You Home Gabino Iglesias Review by Roy Peak A while back I reviewed Gabino Iglesias' earlier novel, Coyote Songs, a book which successfully straddles the line between noir and horror. Barrio noir is what Iglesias himself calls it. Iglesias' most recent entry into the horror genre ups the ante with a tale of revenge, double-crosses, great emotional loss, second chances, and some of the scariest, grisliest scenes yet successfully penned by anyone.
 True Fiction, Short Stories by By Sohrab Homi Fracis Review by Roy Peak Sohrab Homi Fracis was born and raised in India, moving to America to become a systems analyst, before abandoning that idea entirely to teach literature and creative writing. He has won several writing awards, and this is his third book of fiction.
Sacred Chickens Classic: Uncle Morty and Kilgore Trout on the Intrinsic Value of a Human Being11/2/2022
Your old Uncle Morty is old and tired and dead, though not without the empathy that remains in the empty brain and metaphysical heart of anyone who has ever worn a suit of flesh. His previous embodiments leave him still puzzling as to why the living seem to value the miracle of being so very little. Even when they can be led to believe that they themselves might have some intrinsic value they seem always unlikely to give that benefit of the doubt to others. I will give you a few scraps of reasonable advice that I myself found when I walked among the living. It was expressed by two of the best men I have ever known, Kilgore Trout and George MacDonald.
 A Woman of Endurance Author, Dahlma Llanos- Figueroa Review by Julie Carpenter A Woman of Endurance tells the story of Keera, renamed Pola by her captors; it's a complex and heartbreaking tale, the history of a woman whose life pushes the limits of human endurance.
Young Keera has a special gift, given to her by goddess Yemayá, a deep sense of touch that allows her special knowledge - she knows and feels more deeply than other people, but when she is stolen from her homeland she begins to lose both her faith in the goddess and in herself. When she arrives in Puerto Rico she finds herself assigned to the cruelest of fates, she must work the cane fields and be used as a breeder for babies she herself will never mother.  Death in the Mourning by Jarad Johnson I was thinking about death this morning.
Cheery topic, I know. I’m full of them. I was thinking about death, and it made me ponder, as I often do, why we as a culture, are, “death- phobic.” After all, it happens to everyone. It’s the great equalizer with a 100% percent success rate. What else can you say that about?  My Xanthi Author, Stephanie Cotsirilos Review by Julie Carpenter My Xanthi is a timely story of family love, immigration, and political violence. It’s the story of
one woman’s ability to live through unspeakable tragedy make the terrible choices that follow. And endure. There’s a lot to love in this slim volume, a novella that punches far above its weight - a depth of discovery bigger than the words that fill the book, as the narrator considers the nuances of justice and the consequences of violence as they interact over generations and places. |
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