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Musings: Transmetropolitan, vol 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis, art by Darick Robertson

Transmetropolitan, vol. 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis, art by Darick Robertson

Vertigo, 2009

ISBN-13: 978-1401220846

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology

 

As I was writing this, it became a little too personal to call it a formal review. Suffice it to say, I was wowed by this graphic novel and by Spider Jerusalem.

Transmetropolitan is science fiction, taking place in a near-future dystopia that is far too close to our present culture and government– uncannily so. The protagonist, Spider Jerusalem, is a former investigative reporter forced into contact with civilization after five years in hiding, in order to fulfill a book contract. Once back in the city, he reverts to the hard-hitting journalist he used to be: a foul-mouthed, vulgar, cranky, wily, angry prankster, ready to take on city government, police, religious cults, and even the President ( who is frighteningly similar to our president-elect, although this issue was published originally in 1997). Ellis has imagined a seedy, violent, consumerist future that challenges what it means to be human. Spider faces it head-on: to him, “journalism is a gun. It’s only got one bullet in it, but if you aim it right, that’s all you need”. As we are living age of false equivalencies, fake news, and media mistrust, it’s inspiring to see that in his world, Spider is on the scene, live, and in the face of anyone claiming to have authority or truth. Outrageous, obnoxious, and blunt to the point of rudeness, Spider is not anything near a traditional hero– but his world, feels so close to ours that they could almost touch, and that someone like him (well, maybe not exactly like him) might exist outside a fictional future gives me hope.

Given the setting I have described, it should not be a surprise that the storylines are dark and gritty, and Darick Robertson’s art brings Spider and his grim world to life. The artwork for the Angels 8 riot is fiery and explosive, and Robertson doesn’t shy from depicting dripping blood and bizarre bodies. In a separate storyline, he impressively manages to depict action, along with despair and anger, as Spider attempts to watch an entire day of television, something which requires almost no movement at all. Ellis is a master at character development and world building– not every issue covers a great crusade, but there are moments that are either small victories for Spider, or illuminate aspects of the society Spider is reporting on, both positive and negative. Transmetropolitan portrays a messy world through the eyes of a complicated character, with moments of both bleakness and laughter, and leaves a space for optimism in what seems, recently, to be a very dark time for the First Amendment. Very highly recommended.

I would like to credit Susie Rodarme at Book Riot for cluing me in to this series. She did me a great service.

Transmetropolitan, vol. 1: Back on the Streets includes issues #1-6.

Contains: body horror, violence, gore, nudity, language, drug use.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski


Posted on December 25, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow

Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror edited by Ellen Datlow
Tachyon Publications, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1616962326
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Nightmares is a collection of stories chosen by Ellen Datlow as the best stories of 2005-2015. It is a companion volume to Darkness, a previously published anthology of stories chosen by her as the best stories written between 1985 and 2005. Not being as widely read in contemporary short horror fiction as Datlow is, I can’t say whether I agree with her choices or not, but I can say that the stories she chose do live up to the book’s title: in one way or another, they are all nightmares.

Datlow chose stories that take a variety of approaches to instilling horror, from the understated to over-the-top: you’ll find weird fiction, cosmic horror, twisted fairy tales, disturbing family secrets, ghosts and hauntings, Gothic horrors, body horror, incestuous relationships, and more than enough blood and gore. As a reader who prefers creepy and atmospheric writing to graphic descriptions, I found this book to be emotionally, mentally, and even physically exhausting. I received it as an ebook from NetGalley and am not sure how long it actually was, but it required several days for me to read it through. However, as a sampler of well-done short fiction in the horror genre, I think it is successful. Certainly, I have found that several stories have stuck with me even though a few weeks have passed since I finished it.

Standout stories include “Shallaballah” by Mark Samuels, a surreal tale that takes a disoriented plastic surgery patient through a disturbing Punch-and-Judy inspired hospital experience; “Dead Sea Fruit” by Kaaron Warren, about a dentist with a taste for revenge who destroys a man whose kiss drives girls to starve themselves to death; “Closet Dreams” by Lisa Tuttle, the story of a girl who was trapped in a closet by her kidnapper;  “The Goosle” by Margo Lanagan, a horrific take on the Hansel and Gretel story requiring the reader to have an iron stomach; “The Shallows” by John Langan, a tale of a gardener trying to keep going after his wife has died, his son has left, and tentacled aliens have begun their invasion; and “Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8)” by Caitlin Kiernan, a bloody tale of a road trip of serial murders by vicious, incestuous, necrophiliac sisters that you won’t soon forget.

For those horror readers who enjoy variety in their short fiction,  Nightmares is an excellent way to discover authors they may not have tried out before. With her choices for this collection of short fiction from the past decade, despite her disclaimer, Ellen Datlow continues to show not just her enthusiasm as a fan of the horror genre, but her excellence as an anthologist. Recommended.

Contains: graphic gore and torture, cannibalism, incest, necrophilia, violent murders, disturbing sexual situations, body horror, rape


Posted on October 31, 2016 by , 2 comments

Book Review: I Can Taste The Blood edited by John F.D. Taff and Anthony Rivera

I Can Taste the Blood  edited by John F.D. Taff and Anthony Rivera

ISBN-13: 978-1940658728

Grey Matter Press, 2016

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

This anthology contains five stories, or “visions”, all written with the same title: I Can Taste the Blood. The editor gathered five authors, each presenting a unique take on the phrase, which originated from graffiti in the bathroom of a dive bar, which read “I can taste the blood.”

The first vision, by Josh Malerman, is the story of Rab, a traveler who begs for help at the home of Madmannah, Sammi, and their child, Aart. It is a windy night when the desperate traveler knocks on their door and demands shelter for a short time. At the encouragement of their visiting friends, they admit the stranger into their home. Rab then tells them the story of how he came to be in their humble abode, what is chasing him, the horrors that he faced in this person’s presence… and what he has done. Everything is not as it seems with the traveler, or with the entity pursuing him.

The second vision, by J. Daniel Stone, is one of violence, underground snuff films, and heroin. Bok can’t escape the clutches of Laurenz, an elderly German man with a taste for extreme violence who creates films to feed his urges. Bok discovers, through his lover Jared, that the old German’s films hold a transformative contagion. As a warning, this story is extremely explicit in its depiction of bloody violence, snuff film material, and sex.

Joe Schwartz presents a vision of a man who earns his keep as a hired strong-arm for someone known simply as Caretaker. The man and his partner, Joe, kidnap a young woman as she leaves her home. We get a series of short memories of crimes he has committed when he first started in the “business,” and snapshots of his personal life. As the story returns to the present, and the kidnapped woman, things don’t quite go as planned for the dastardly duo.

Erik T. Johnson’s vision tells of Canny, who is trying to cope with his strange mother and her death… I think. I read and reread this story a few times, and I’m still not sure what to make of it. It reads like a stream of consciousness piece, and Canny’s thoughts are incredibly disjointed. There are subtle, perhaps too subtle, connections between his thoughts. At times I felt like I should be getting more from this story than I was, but things just weren’t connecting for me. I will say it is very poetic, and there is a lot of rich imagery in this story. Just be prepared for an exercise in attempting to follow a lost man down the rabbit hole.

The final vision in the anthology, by John. F.D. Taff, is probably my favorite out of the anthology. Merle, a divorced father of one, lives in the small town he was raised in, where he knows everyone and everyone knows him. One evening at the local bar, his friend, Gun, points out a bandage on his arm. Merle doesn’t remember giving blood, but the alcohol he loves so much tends to make him forgetful. Things change that night, when the two men venture to the VFW for the weekly spaghetti dinner. Merle gets very sick, and experiences disturbing and hyper-realistic hallucinations. What happens to him in the following days is enough to make anyone crazy. He struggles with his illness, he sleeps for days on end, his ex-wife is a constant nag, and all he wants to do is see his daughter. Oh, and his hands are growing teeth.

I Can Taste the Blood is an incredible anthology, full of nightmare fuel. I don’t recommend it for squeamish readers, though. There are times where the material delves into uncomfortable themes, or it just gets gross. If you don’t like transgressive dark fiction, this won’t be your cup of tea. If you do, dig in. You won’t be disappointed. Recommended.

Contains: blood, gore, sexuality, torture, rape, body horror

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on October 7, 2016 by , Reply
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