Review: What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre

What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre by John Joseph Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

John Joseph Adams has a well-deserved reputation as an editor; I own several of his anthologies, and they're usually high-quality stuff. For this book, he teams up with Douglas Cohen.

This anthology's theme is reflected in the title: in every story, a character must say "What the [blank] is that." (Usually "fuck," although there was a "hell" and a "devil.") According to the forward, the book was originally slated to be a Lovecraft mythos anthology--and it is still dedicated to Cthulhu--but the subject matter was eventually expanded to include all monsters. In my opinion, this is a good thing, as it enlarged the anthology's scope (and, I believe, its quality) considerably. (Not that I'm down on Cthulhu in and of itself, but twenty stories of blood, guts, slime, gore and various unidentifiable body liquids and/or parts would get tiresome after a while.) The horrors here are wide-ranging, from the surreal to the straightforward Lovecraftian to an old-fashioned werewolf noir.

Most of the stories ranged from good to very good, although the one I downright disliked, Laird Barron's "Mobility," was unfortunately the lead-off tale. Needless to say, these stories are not lighthearted, and more than half of them have depressing downer endings. This naturally flows from the anthology's theme, but be warned. Some highlights include "Little Widow," by Maria Dahvana Headley, a delightful magical realist piece about three sisters, the survivors of a cult, and angelic dinosaurs (and just about the only story with a halfway happy ending); Christopher Golden's "The Bad Hour," about an Iraqi war veteran dealing with PTSD, both the normal and the supernatural kind; Seanan McGuire's "#ConnollyHouse #WeShouldntBeHere," a story told as a series of Tweets that overcomes its gimmicky premise to become genuinely scary (you have to pay attention to the timestamps with this one); and "We All Make Sacrifices: A Sam Hunter Adventure," by Jonathan Maberry, the aforementioned "werewolf noir" story and possibly my favorite in the book.

This anthology is well worth your time. Recommended.

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Poem of the Day

This poem sums up this godawful year.

A Carol for Children
(The Holy Innocents is commemorated
December 28 or January 11)

God rest you merry, Innocents,
Let nothing you dismay.
Let nothing wound an eager heart
Upon this Christmas day.

Yours be the genial holly wreaths.
The stockings by the tree;
An aged world to you bequeaths
Its own forgotten glee.

Soon, soon enough come crueler gifts,
The anger and the tears;
Between you now there sparsely drifts
A handful yet of years.

Oh, dimly, dimly grows the star
Through the electric throng;
The bidding in temple and bazaar
Drowns out the silver song.

The ancient altars smoke afresh,
The ancient idols stir;
Faint in the reek of burning flesh
Sink frankincense and myrrh.

Gaspar, Balthazar, Melcheor!
Where are your offerings now?
What greeting to the Prince of War
His darkly branded brow?

Two ultimate laws alone we know,
The ledger and the sword
So far away, so long ago,
We lost the infant Lord.

Only the children clasp His hand;
His voice speaks low to them.
And still for them the shining band
Wings over Bethlehem.

God rest you merry, Innocents,
While Innocence endures.
A sweeter Christmas than we to ours
May you bequeath to yours.

— Ogden Nash



(Image gakked from Balloon Juice.)

Review: Red Right Hand

Red Right Hand by Levi Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wish there were separate stars for plot, characterization, etc, because I would rate this book higher than it is. In terms of plot, pacing, and atmosphere, it passes with flying colors. But there is one element of the protagonist's characterization I absolutely abhorred, and it damn near ruined the book for me.

This is another of the recent crop of Cthulhu Mythos reimaginings, but this author plays it completely straight. The hook is simple: “Imagine that one of Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones (in this case, Nyarlathotep) showed up at your door and said, ‘You work for me now.’ ” (From the back cover blurb) Needless to say, this book is bloody, gory, slimy, and overflowing with all sorts of bodily fluids, both human and alien. A strong stomach is required, and I would recommend not trying to read it during a meal. That said, if you can stand it, it is a fast-paced rocket ride, a dark Lovecraftian noir that I’m sure many people will like.

However.

**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**

Gah. There is an absolutely unnecessary bit of characterization that made me angrier the further along I read in the book. The main character, Charlotte Tristan (Charlie) Moore, H.P. Lovecraft's great-grandniece, has a Tortured Past that includes gang rape. This, to put it bluntly, is gratuitous bullshit. I mean, for frak's sake, the basic setup (The Elder Gods fighting over humans and the planet) is quite fraught enough all on its own, without dragging in this disgusting bit of sexism that adds nothing to the character and the stakes. I am so sick of this trope. Anyone thinking about trying this book, be warned.

The book ends suddenly with the main plot thread unresolved, so expect a sequel. I'm not sure I will be reading it, though.

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Review: Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume 1

Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume 1 by Grant Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is apparently yet another reboot (or "reimagining") of Wonder Woman. Most of us know the basic story, of course. So my goal in reading something like this is to see if the writer can find something different, add some new tweak to the legend. Looking at it from this angle, the results were definitely mixed.

First, the upside: writer Grant Morrison seems to have a good grasp on the characters of Diana, Hippolyta and the other women of Paradise Island. Diana is very young (she's described by one man as a "teenage swimsuit model who can benchpress a Jeep") and at the beginning of her journey. Needless to say, she gets quite a shock when she first sets foot in "man's world." Etta Candy has become Beth Candy, who is a larger-than-life delight. This writer, at least, does not sugarcoat the obvious: with no men to be found, the women of Paradise Island can and do form relationships with one another. Queen Hippolyta is a complex figure, wanting to protect the daughter she created out of her anger and the seed of Hercules.

The most drastic change is Steve Trevor: he is now African-American. As such, he states that "like a lot of people in 'man's world,' my ancestors were enslaved and persecuted by men with too much power." He does not want to see that fate happen to the women of Amazonia. But Diana, the daughter of Hercules, is, as her mother describes her, "proud, restless and rebellious." The final panel shows her taking her robot airplane and setting it down in the middle of a town square, coming out on the wing and saying, "Hola, Man's world--it's time we had a talk."

The art is...well. It could be better. It's way too busy in some panels. The pacing of the story seems a bit uneven in spots. I think this reboot shows a lot of potential, but it's not quite there yet.

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