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Whats it all about?
The Wide Carnivorous Sky (subtitle and Other Monstrous Geographies) is a collection of nine modern horror stories.
Why did I want to read it?
I came across the work of John Langan through the annual best of horror anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow where his stories stuck out as something exceptional. I wanted to read more and got a hold of this collection as a good starting point. He is clearly highly regarded by his peers.
What did I think about it?
I really enjoyed this collection which nicely covers the full range of horror themes. Cannibalistic children? Check. Zombie apocalypse in the style of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town? Check. Werewolf-type things? Check. Unspeakable Lovecraftian entities breaking into our world and creating havoc? Why yes. Reasons why you shouldn’t hitch-hike? Indeed.
Particular favourites were
- Technicolor – what was Poe up to in his lost week, what’s the Masque of the Red Death about, why you should really pay attention in your English Lit class
- The Wide Carnivorous Sky – space vampires meet USA’s finest but not in a good way; assuming there is in fact a good way….
and my absolute favourite in the collection
- Mother of Stone – the story of an academic investigating what appears to be an urban legend of about the events that follow the digging up and installation in a local hotel of a statue of headless pregnant woman, taking in myths, ancient religions, all manner of Fortean stuff and turning it into a disturbing tale of what happens when you don’t leave something well enough alone.
The collection also includes an introduction by Jeffery Ford and an afterword by Laird Barron, as well as notes on the stories by the author himself (I love author’s notes and aways read them where they are included) which give some insight into the genesis of the stories and what he was trying to achieve.
I’m pleased that my initial feelings about Langan’s work have been reinforced by the stories in this book, and I’ll definitely be looking out for more.
I read this as part of the 2015 Horror Reading Challenge. I also learned that I have real problems typing the word “carnivorous”.
I don’t normally pay a huge amount of attention to book awards (well, I keep a bit of a weather eye on the Booker, who doesn’t?) but I was interested to see that for once we actually had a couple of the Costa category winners already chez Bride:
- the first novel winner, Elizabeth is Missing, which I bought ages ago based on a recommendation in a blog somewhere (I’m sure) and which will now be hoiked to (near) the top of Mount TBR; and
- the children’s book winner, Five Children on the Western Front, which the Book God finished and enjoyed over the holidays (he’s a bit of an E Nesbit fan, I’ve only ever read The Railway Children)
I quite like the sound of the Ali Smith novel, The Ghosts of Heaven is already on my wish list (I’m not buying books at the moment) but none of the others are grabbing me at the moment. Wonder what will win.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to the Sunday Salon but I’m going to use it to keep track of my reading on a weekly basis. This won’t be a replacement for formal reviews, but sort of a reading diary for the unfinished, the abandoned, the reading in progress, how I’m getting on with challenges and other bookish stuff.
As this is the first post of the New Year and I did a round up of my reading year (which you can find here) I won’t repeat myself – this is all stuff that’s been happening int he last few days.
Challenges:
I”m currently involved in three challenges:
- the Sci-Fi experience which started in December and runs until the end of January
- the Clear Your Reader challenge which runs throughout January
- the TBR Double Dog dare which runs until 31 March
I’m doing pretty well, reading things for each of them but not finished anything just yet
In progress
My main read at the moment is The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. I’m about a fifth of the way through and enjoying it very much (though at the moment I’m not sure I understand what it’s all about, but that’s always the pleasure with Mitchell I find).
Abandoned
I went through my pile of books and took decisions on the ones I knew I wasn’t going to finish. Some have been totally abandoned including Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep which I was reading for the Sci-fi Experience at the behest of the Book God but stalled at roughly the same spot I failed at the last time I tried to read it, which I took to be an omen. Also gave up on The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (just too fey for me), The Dark Lord of Derkholm (though I’m not convinced I won’t try it again in the future), The Talented Mr Ripley (which I just didn’t take to at all though I got over halfway because I thought I should, given it’s a classic of its type) and Catching Fire (because I’d rather watch the movie).
Other bookish stuff
I have put in place a book buying embargo to run in parallel with the Double Dog Dare. No books to be purchased between 1 January and 31 March 2015, the only exceptions being books pre-ordered last year for delivery in 2015 (not a vast number of those I think) and gifts (my birthday is at the end of January). Apart from that things of interest go on a wish list for later.
So I was working my way through my feed reader this morning and I came across this challenge via Elizabeth Michelle (who is also taking part) and I couldn’t resist as it both fits in with the TBR dare (stuff I already own) and highlights something I’m very conscious of – just because you can’t see the books on your e-reader doesn’t mean they aren’t there, lurking and (sometimes) forgotten and (often) unread.
Clean Your Reader – sign-up
- What’s your e-reader of choice? – the Kindle app on my iPad Air
- What e-books or e-book deals are you incapable of saying no to? – I’m usually OK with deals, I just can’t resist recommendations from other bloggers, especially for short stories which I really enjoy as e-books (for reasons i can’t adequately explain).
- How many e-books are you going to try to tackle in January? – a minimum of four, hopefully six.
So I’ve already signed up for the TBR Double Dog Dare (and posted about it here) which means that not only will I be reading solely from books I already own I will not be buying any new books. At all. For three months. Only exceptions are birthday presents and books I pre-ordered before 31 December. I don’t know how much of a difference that’s going to make given I rarely read a book as soon as I buy it, but it should help my credit cards at the very least 🙂
I’ve also decided to sign up for another challenge, the 2015 Horror Reading Challenge hosted by Cornerfolds. I actually signed up for its predecessor last year (see here) but failed miserably; I think (actually I know) I read quite a bit of horror in 2014 and didn’t properly link it back to the challenge, but as it’s a genre I really enjoy I’m going to try better this year. My aim to is to be a Brave Reader, which means reading 6-10 books during the course of the year. I’m not going to make a booklist because history demonstrates that way madness lies, but I have several good collections of short stories, Maplecroft by Cherie Priest, and Horns by Joe Hill (which I’m keen to read as I’d like to see the film at some point) on my TBR pile as well as that long-promised Carrie re-read.
I think I can manage that!
Bride of the Book God 