Review: Nightmare Ballad- Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Nightmare Ballad by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ethridge's newest book goes to a weird, weird place, which is saying something if you've read his previous works. As he's shown in previous writings such as Black & Orange, and Bottled Abyss, Ethridge displays a talent for creating or recreating mythos in order to create a really disturbing story. In Nightmare Ballad, there's a mythos there but it takes an investiture of time to start putting it together. A large contributing factor to this, and this may or may not put some people off, is the depths to which Ethridge creates a sense of logic in the dream world (where a lot of the book takes place) that carries over into the waking world. You know that dream where you're standing in front of Mrs. Taylor's English class buck naked, Suzy Petersen is laughing at you for asking her out, and your big fear is that you forgot all the questions to the spelling bee? You know how, at that time, it all made sense? Ethridge is able to instill that logical structure in depth in his characters, and I'll be the first to admit that the smoothness of it can cause some confusion over what's supposed to be happening in the waking world vs. the dream world. This can be gotten through with some careful reading, which leads me to the next point of saying this isn't a read that you can pay partial attention to. It requires some focus, but dammit if it isn't worth it.

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Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane- Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been waiting for this book for quite some time, and was not disappointed. Gaiman creates a beautiful story about childhood in specific, people in general, and how memory affects both. This story is more in the vein of The Graveyard Book than more intricately detailed stories such as American Gods or Neverwhere, but that's not to say it's not a complex story. Years ago, my father gave me a copy of Charlotte's Web, recommending that I read it at least once a year, as I'll get something new out of it with each reading. I strongly suspect that The Ocean at the End of the Lane will be the same way.

Gaiman did confuse the myth of Hathor with the myth of Sekhmet, but these things happen.

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The productivity of the bedridden

Had to take a day off from work today after coughing my way to injury. The Common Cold of the Pacific Northwest is a fascinating bug. You can have the actual cold for three or four days, but the after effects will last an entire presidential term. Last night when I was coughing the (hopefully) last remains of things phlegmy and Lovecraftian, I got a good wracking barrage going that resulted in something something getting hurt a lot in my side. Pain relief medicine did a good job, but it still left me bed ridden today. This is what I did:

*Got through a huge chunk of season four of Supernatural. This has probably been my favorite season so far since I decided to give the show a try. I'm not overly fond of Castiel, but friends are convincing me he gets better. I'll hold them to that.

* Read some more of this. I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, but the works of Robert Chambers really rules my roost. Very glad to see there are writers who are enthused by his works as well, and express it with great talent. Definitely recommended.

*Finished the second draft of a new short story. Don't think the pain killers got in the way too much, will know more tomorrow.

Enough from the Good Share dept., back to wallowing in bed. G'night!

Catching up

In the spirit of not falling off the face of the earth, here is the State of the Aaron address.

 In have a cold. Other than Maryland trying to kill me through various medical means back in August, I got through 2012 pretty much cootie-free. As such, a balance needed to be maintained so I got hit with your standard Pacific Northwest Death Cold three days before I had to head down to California to see family. This is as fun as you can imagine.

 Netbook asploded. Well, it didn't so much asplode as much as give me the compact computer equivalent of the finger and saying "You're not the boss of me." Got an Asus Vivobook today. Fantastically sexy piece of work. I can turn it on at 10:30, and at 10:32 I'm writing. After having a Dell for the past 2+ years, you might understand why this makes me giddy.

 From the Better Late Than Never Dept: Got another story published! Unfortunately, it was back in December and I suck at self promotion. It was through UK publishers Spinetinglers. It's a story for Christmas time, you can read it here.

From the Learning From My Mistakes Dept.: Got another story published! My tale, The King In Yellow's New Clothes, will be part of the future Dread Time Tales anthology through Alter Press. Watch this space.

In closing, here's a picture of Charro

Bottled Abyss- Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Bottled Abyss by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was introduced to Ethridge's work last year with Black & Orange which easily became one of my favorite books of the year. Ethridge's talent for turning folklore and myth into his own device stays strong in his new book, Bottled Abyss. The story initially starts off about Herman and Janet, a married couple who lost their young daughter recently to a hit and run driver, and all the trauma which that entails. While looking for their lost dog, Herman meets Charon the Boatman, and learns first hand the power of the Boatman's bottle. This spirals Herman and Janet's life down a dark spiral of horror, insanely dark realms of Greek mythology, and a glimpse of how genuinely damaged people can be.

Honestly it was that last facet of the book that made reading it such a visceral experience. As mentioned before, Ethridge is a master of creating a new world out of old myth. His legendary figures take on a new life that is vastly entertaining to read. I, however, was just amazed at how well he fleshed out the four main characters of the book, and how each of them were experiencing lives that were broken to a point where the dark myths that permeated the story almost took a back seat. It made the book incredibly hard to put down.

The resolution of the story is as terrifying in implication as it is in what is made known. If he ever did a sequel to it, I'd honestly be intimidated to read it. All in all, a fantastic, dark read from a consistently talented writer. Five stars definitely.

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Review: The Neon Court- Kate Griffin

The Neon Court by Kate Griffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been a huge fan of the series since I first discovered A Madness of Angels. Griffin's world of Urban Fantasy makes me think of what Jim Butcher would do if he was stuck on an island with a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, a complete collection of the Hellblazer comics, and no coffee. The world that main character Matthew Swift lives in is one of an amazing mythos, but it's a very modern one. There are beings within it that are from folklore (Such as the Neon Court in this book.) but they're existing and identified in a contemporary setting. This creates a fantastic atmosphere that gives one the feeling that Magic exists if you just look down an alley the wrong (or right) way.

The Neon Court differs slightly in tone from the first two books in the series in that the storyline pretty much takes place in the world that Swift has created/been thrown into as it stand right now. The first two books dealt with his resurrection and his advancement into the role he plays in London's magical underworld right now. The Neon Court has no real advancements of the character plot-wise that I could see, but I haven't read the fourth one yet, which could make me look like a complete idiot for saying this.

One stand alone comment: Griffin likes to break her toys. I did not see some things that happened to what I thought were major characters coming.

Definitely a good read and time well spent. Four stars.

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Just a thought.

75 years ago today, Howard Phillips Lovecraft died. What did you do today?

Rest in Peace, you magnificent bastard.