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Clarification of Our Review Policy

I’ve recently received a number of emails from authors offering to pay a fee for Monster Librarian to review their book.

I know I’ve said that Monster Librarian struggles financially, but it is an important part of our mission that our reviews, positive or negative, are honest. We do receive many requests for review, and sometimes advance copies of books for review, but we do not profit financially from the reviews we publish, unless Amazon miraculously decides to credit us for a reader’s purchase of one of the books, something which hasn’t happened since 2014. You, our readers, deserve an honest appraisal before purchasing a book for your library or personal collection.  That is what we aim to do.

We do not accept payment for reviews or for advertising.

I’ve also received requests from people offering to write guest posts for the blog. We will sometimes publish those if they are on topic, but understand that all writers and reviewers for Monster Librarian are volunteers.

For further information on submitting reviews, blog posts, and advertising, please visit our Author FAQ.

 

 

Posted on May 15, 2018 by , Reply

Musings: The Gift of James Herbert and the Rats Trilogy

Today would have been the 43rd birthday for the Dylan Kowalewski, the founder of Monster Librarian.

Dylan grew up in a little bitty town in upstate New York. It didn’t have a lot going for it, but it did have one thing beloved of book lovers everywhere, and very rare indeed these days: a used bookstore. The store, Granny’s Attic, was in walking distance of his house, and whenever he had the means, he would head there. It was in Granny’s Attic that Dylan first fell in love with horror– and especially killer animal horror. I have a considerable collection of it in my possession now, most of which looks like it was well-loved even before he owned it. I’ve written about Guy N. Smith and his Crabs books before, and he just loved those (and pretty much everything else Guy N. Smith ever wrote) but he also discovered, at an early age, The Rats by James Herbert.

As Dylan planned out the beginnings of Monster Librarian, he realized that he would need to start with some reviews already up, and since nobody knew about us or was sending us books to review at that time, he started with his own collection, including reviews of a few books by James Herbert, including The Rats. So at this time, as a birthday gift, I’m sharing with you some of the earliest reviews from Monster Librarian, written by the man himself about books he truly loved.

Reader’s advisory note: If you ever read reviews of Herbert’s killer animal books, you will see that the readers he has are huge fans, and, for many of them, one of his books is the one that got them hooked on reading. If you’re trying to engage a bored reader, you might want to keep it in mind.


The Rats by James Herbert

New English Library, 1974

ISBN:0450053296

Available: New and Used
 

Giant killer rats invade London, and it is up to a small group of government folk to find a way to stop them. Herbert’s style of writing is easy to read, and the story is by far superior to the many killer rat movies made over the years.  Once it starts, the plot moves very quickly and is engrossing.  It is followed by Lair  and Domain.

Editor’s note: The Rats was republished in 2014 with a forward by Neil Gaiman. The 2014 edition is is not the edition reviewed in 2005 by Monster Librarian– he reviewed the original, 1974 paperback edition– but I’m sure Dylan would approve. How can you not like Neil Gaiman?


Lair  by James Herbert

Pan Macmillan, 1999

ISBN: 0330376195

Available: New and Used
 

Second in the killer rats trilogy by James Herbert, Lair continues the story of mutant killer rats invading England. The book doesn’t break any new ground, but if you enjoyed The Rats then you will probably enjoy Lair.  Sometimes, when reading a sequel, it isn’t that you are necessarily looking for something new, but rather you liked the first book and just want more of the same. This isn’t a bad thing at all, just be aware of what you are getting.

Contains: Rat violence.

Editor’s note: The currently available edition of Lair is not the version reviewed here, which was published in 1999, but is a reprint edition published in 2012.


Domain by James Herbert

Pan Macmillan, 2000

ISBN: 0330376233

Available: New and Used
 
Talk about having a bad day– the survivors of nuclear war in England have to face not only a lawless world with roving gangs of thugs, but also a pack of killer giant black rats. This is a plain, old-fashioned, fun read. Herbert does a fine job of keeping his story moving along. It is a fine addition to his other giant rat books, The Rats and Lair. There is a movie tie-in, Rats.

Contains: violence

Editor’s note: The currently available edition of Domain is not the edition reviewed here, but is a reprint edition published in 2012.

Enjoy!


Posted on September 5, 2016 by , Reply

Ten Years of Monster Librarian

 

Tomorrow marks the tenth anniversary of Monster Librarian.

The first review was published on January 1, 2006. The Monster Kid had just recently joined the family, and Dylan was working two jobs and going to school part-time to earn a master’s degree in library science. His internship in a public library, and his experiences in library school, showed him how disregarded the horror genre was in libraries, and as a lover of genre fiction he felt this was a real disservice to both readers and libraries.  There is also research showing that horror and suspense are successful hooks for reluctant readers, and developing lifetime readers is essential for both individuals and society (this is part of why our original logo is of a kid literally reading to survive). But mostly he just wanted to connect readers of all kinds and all ages with books, and since most of the librarians he encountered had no interest in or knowledge of horror fiction beyond the most perfunctory, he felt that a resource like this was a need for the library community.

Much has changed since then. A lot of the debate over ebooks and self-publishing has been put to rest. The Internet has made small presses more accessible. Mainstream publishers, who had more or less abandoned the horror genre, are publishing horror again. Vampires have ceded their popularity to zombies, and all kinds of people have embraced horror tropes in popular culture, across a variety of media. The horror genre is more diverse and welcoming than it was ten years ago, and that’s really fantastic. What hasn’t changed is our desire to help match readers to books that will make them want to keep reading, to paraphrase S.R. Ranganathan, and to celebrate the love of reading whatever you love as reflected in our Genre Reader’s Bill of Rights.

Now is a good time for reflection and for input from you, our readers. Where should we go from here? What is most useful to you? Is there something you’d like to see here that we haven’t covered? Comment here or on our Facebook page, or email me at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com and tell me what you’d like to see.

Here’s to a great 2016!

 

Posted on December 31, 2015 by , 2 comments
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