Book Review: The Satanic Bridegroom, by Joe Gola

 

So many book reviews...

 

The Satanic Bridegroom (TSB), by Joe Gola, was a very, very well crafted book.  I am a big H.P. Lovecraft fan (in fact, I just finished reading his complete works earlier this year), and I was impressed with how well this novel fit into the weird fiction canon.  It really does have all the trappings of a traditional weird story: ancient civilizations, mysterious artifacts, old gods, etc.  Gola even manages to throw in the word “cyclopean,” which I’m pretty sure is some kind of requirement.  Clocking in at around 270 pages, and combined with mystery, action, and adventure, this was a very fast read.  270 pages would normally seem short to me, but the story had good pacing, and the shortness was very much in line with the old weird short stories and novellas of the past, so it worked.

Book Review: Nation to Nation

Nation to Nation was a fascinating read. Native American history is odd in that the one thing that everyone knows about it is how little everyone knows about it. Native American history is held up as the very epitome of white-washing and eurocentrism rampant in US history. And, while most history books will probably devote a chapter to Native Nations now, it’s still a gaping hole in our curriculum. I note this because, even knowing that I knew very little about Native American history, Nation to Nation shocked me by showing me that I essentially knew nothing. I tried to keep this review focused on the book itself, but I learned so many things that I just need to share, so there’s a fair bit of content below.

Book Review: A Vision of Fire, by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin

It's book review time!  I received a copy of A Vision of Fire, by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin, through the GoodReads First Reads program.  A Vision of Fire is a sci-fi thriller about a child psychologist named Caitlin O'Hara who has been called in to (discreetly) help a UN ambassador's daughter.  The daughter, Maanik, witnessed an assassination attempt on her father and broke down shortly afterwards.  The strange nature of Maanik's illness and the emergence of similar cases around the world, however, lead Caitlin to believe that this is more than just PTSD.  There are some spoilers ahead, although I try to stay away from anything too big.  Just to be on the safe side: Read at your own risk.  Also, I felt a free book deserved a detailed review (i.e. - it’s pretty lengthy), so...read at your own risk?

Book Review: Bird Box, by Josh Malerman

 

I really enjoyed Bird Box.  At first glance, this book has many of the traditional post-apocalyptic trappings: the havoc-inducing creatures, the mass hysteria, the scrappy band of survivors, that one guy who just has to fuck everyone over, etc.  But even with all this, the story kept my interest (I finished in a little over a day), and I was a little more nervous than usual when walking home from work (in the dark - thank you, Daylight Savings Time).