Recent Stuff

Some mini blurbs from things I've enjoyed recently; or, rather simply procrastination from finishing the other, more in-depth reviews for a handful of books I start writing and don't finish for weeks. Certainly someone on the internet needs to review Big Orvie!

Swan Song
Robert McCammon
1987

This monstrous tome always intrigued me due to my infatuation with post-nuke stories. Primarily you'll read others categorizing this as a horror novel since McCammon's name is usually tied to the genre, but it hardly is. It's more Dark Fantasy/Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi if anything, with a slight touch of the demonic at times. I'll rarely touch something this large because it seems unnecessarily so -- and it is -- so I went the audiobook route through Amazon for my relatively short commute, and a form of influence for my gaining midsection to listen while at the gym.

While infinitely long, it moves at a steady pace, never boring and introducing only a handful of characters. It's a pulp epic and I can't see it trying to be anything else, which is a relief, so you don't have that Stephen King level of bloat that permeates his lengthy tomes.

In short, it's about a handful of people surviving after Russian and the U.S. simultaneously bomb each other through Mutually Assured Destruction. The sense of dread and hopeless is palpable, which is where McCammon really succeeds here. When he keeps it grounded into a simple survival story it's great; people struggle for food, fight diseases, and scour the remnants of a dead America. The groups of survivors are strictly categorized into two groups, which is essentially the personification of Good and Evil. Here's where McCammon really loses it for me. It's just too damned silly and black and white for my tastes, almost like a morality tale. Within the first few chapters the conclusion is already apparent and there's no surprises along the way, which really questions the validity of its length.

Still, the good outweighs the bad. Swan Song is pretty nasty and bleak at times, and that's when it prevails, through describing cultish encampments and the war between them, or a supermarket ran by the escaped denizens of an insane asylum. The fantasy, goodie nature of the protagonist though really grates, and McCammon isn't too skilled at dodging the clichés, which reaches an almost unbearable degree near the end. Almost impossible to recommend to read based on its length, but as an audiobook it made a largely entertaining affair that I could get lost in.

Biotherapy
Akihiro Kashima
1986

I really enjoy this great time in the 80s and early 90s in Japan where a string of great, SFX heavy DTV films -- usually at a runtime no longer than an hour -- were coming out on tape. Out of the ones I've seen, they're almost always a great display for quick, pulpy fun, usually showcasing the creative abilities of those involved with monsters, robots, gore, and everything in between.

Biotherapy is especially short, at only 36 minutes. A group of scientists are creating a formula that could potentially wipe out all plankton and completely screw up the world, but they're all getting wiped out in horrible ways by a trenchcoated being that glows blue, via eye-stabbing, stomach-gouging, and even ripping out the intestines.

It's short and sweet, but the narrative at times feels pretty stiff despite such a short runtime, so it almost feels a bit longer than it is, but only by a bit. Another worthy addition to this great period to sit alongside things like Gakidama and Cyber Ninja to name a few.

Original Release Cover

Hostesses in Hell
Russell Gray (Bruno Fischer)
1939

I usually get pretty bummed when there's a "rational" explanation to any sort of pulp stuff, like in Doc Savage or the few Weird Menace stories I've read. If there's a monster or something supernatural, I want it to be a monster or something supernatural, dammit! Needless to say, I was quite pleased when I purchased this wonderful collection from Dancing Tuatara Press through Ramble House, that during the introduction they talk about how those "rational" climaxes were growing stale, and a few writers started amping up the supernatural and violence without logical explanations.

Hostesses in Hell, the first novelette from the collection, is a lot like The Island of Dr. Moreau, except full of naked women, and the beasts that inhabit the island weren't created there. I won't spoil much, but it's basically one guy and his gal and all her babe relatives get on a boat and get lost at sea, then end up on this island. There's a fancy old estate there that's like an insane asylum, except these are all humanoid creatures (that look like slugs, crabs, and snakes) that were kin to rich relatives that paid to put them on this island to be taken care of. This gorgeous woman/creature, whom is basically just a voluptuous beauty with fangs -- and no soul. She's lets all the monsters out and seduces our hero, causing chaos amongst the island, as the monsters run amok, tearing apart naked women. This sort of no-nonsense storytelling is what I live for. Eagerly looking forward to the later stories (and volumes) from Mr. Gray!