Book Review: Ghost Music
28 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: erotic, fiction, ghosts, horror, music, revenge
Ghost Music by Graham Masterton (pub date 11/15/11)
This was my first experience with reading British writer Graham Masterton. Although he writes in multiple genres, he may be best known for his horror novels. Ghost Music is one of his horror stories, and was truly a unique and interesting experience.
Gideon is a professional composer living in New York City. Upon moving into his new luxury apartment, he finds some of his neighbors to be rather quirky. Pearl is a senile but sweet elderly woman, and businessman Victor mostly keeps to himself. Gideon develops an instant friendship with Victor’s wife Kate, which quickly turns into a passionate affair. When Kate asks Gideon to go away to Europe with her for a few weeks, he imagines it will be a romantic getaway with just the two of them. But soon strange things begin happening to Gideon. He starts seeing horrible visions of people being tortured and killed, and finds Kate acting more strangely as time goes by.
I want to write more, but I would be doing a disservice by giving away more of the story. The plot of Ghost Music is intricate and enthralling, with twists and turns and a surprising ending. To describe this book as “erotic horror” sounds strange, but Masterton combines a horror story with erotic imagery to create a vivid and often disturbing reading experience. It’s about love, revenge, greed, death, and loneliness, and it’s awesome! I had to finish it in two days because I was so hooked.
Halloween might be over, but good horror stories are fun all year round. Definitely check this one out.
Early Review: The Printmaker’s Daughter
20 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fathers and daughters, historical fiction, Hokusai, japan, japanese women
The Printmaker’s Daughter by Katherine Govier (pub date 11/22/11)
“‘She paints but does not sew,’ they say. Hah! That could be my epitaph.”
Historical fiction can be hit or miss. Any author who writes in this genre has the doubly hard job of creating a compelling character and also staying accurate to the time period. When done just right, a historical novel is a great read, not to mention a fun way to get a history lesson. Set in 19th-century Japan, The Printmaker’s Daughter tells the story of a woman named Oei. Oei was the daughter of the famous Japanese artist Hokusai, best known for his piece “Beneath the Great Wave off Kanagawa”:
In the novel, Oei narrates her own life story, starting when she was a young child and was tasked with assisting her father in his work. Oei grows into an accomplished artist herself, and finds herself in a rivalry of sorts with her father. She struggles to balance her love for her father with her desire to be recognized for her artistic talent. Oei also describes other events in her life, from her friendship with the courtesans in a local brothel, to her love affairs and the politics of shogun-era Japan.
Oei is an awesome character. Living in a society in which women had few rights, Oei rejects the traditional gender roles and dedicates herself to her art. Having seen women being bought and sold at brothels, she vows never to be controlled by any man:
“If he had nothing else, a man had his own body. A woman too had her body. At least until she took an adult shape. Then, most likely, a man wanted it. If he took it, he gave it back worn and used. I watched these things and, perhaps without knowing, decided that I would be the kind of woman men did not want.”
The only man Oei is committed to is her father, the same man who is jealous of her ability as an artist.
This is an interesting historical novel. Little is actually known about the life of Hokusai, and almost nothing is known about his daughter. Some art historians have speculated that many of Hokusai’s later works were actually painted by Oei. That concept is explored in this book, but it seems that no one really knows for sure what really happened.
My only criticism of this book is this: It. Is. Too. Long. Rarely do I say that a novel needs to be cut down, but at over five hundred pages, this book is quite a long read. There is simply not enough story to justify the book being this long. Some passages go on and on without advancing the main story at all. Aroung the middle of the story the tense changes from first person to third person and then back again for seemingly no reason. While overall I enjoyed the book, it would have made a better impression on me if I did not have to lumber through the more long-winded chapters. Still, the writing is solid and the time period is fascinating. The Printmaker’s Daughter is a novel rich in history and with a feminist soul that touches on the often difficult relationship between fathers and daughters.
Early Review: Shatter Me
14 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: dystopian, fiction, science fiction, special powers, YA
Shatter Me is the latest entry in the already oversaturated market of dystopian YA novels. Written by 23-year-old newcomer Tahereh Mafi, it’s a book that starts off with a lot of promise and unfortunately deteriorates into a derivative mess of flat characters and exhausting, overused metaphors. Take X-Men and mix it with a 1980s Paul Verhoeven film (minus a good portion of the violence of course) and you’ll end up with this book, more or less.
Set in an undetermined point in the future, Shatter Me presents a world in which our natural resources are all but used up, where people live in disease and desperation, and a militant group known as the Reestablishment has seized control of the country. Seventeen-year-old Juliette is a girl born with an unusual ability: she absorbs the energy of anyone she touches, killing them in the process. Locked away in an insane asylum after accidentally killing someone,
Unfortunately, that’s where the book stops being good. After that it felt to me as if someone else took over writing the book and made it up as they went along. Gone is the moral conflict, the character development, and even the writing style, replaced instead by Juliette mooning over Adam for a hundred or so pages, and then a haphazard non-ending that naturally sets up for a sequel.
I get that this is a YA book, but I’m also willing to go out on a limb and assert that most teens are too intelligent for this book. The entire second half of the book reads like the diary of an overly dramatic 11-year-old, complete with obnoxious hyperbole and ridiculous metaphors on every other page:
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“Realization slams into me like two hundred pounds of common sense.”
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“My heart is a field of lilies blooming under a pane of glass, pitter-pattering to life like a rush of raindrops.”
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“I’m a cumulonimbus existence of thunder and lightning.”
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“My stomach is filled with beating drums pounded into synchronicity by my heart.”
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“He’s a hot bath, a short breath, five days of summer pressed into five fingers writing stories on my body.”
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“His eyes are a midnight moment filled with memories”
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“I’m oxygen and he’s dying to breathe.”
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“His skin is 100 degrees hotter than it was a moment ago.”
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“There are fifteen thousand feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart.”
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“His eyes are two buckets of rainwater.”
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“Every organ in my body falls to the floor.”
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“My heart is a stick of butter melting with reckless abandon.”
Interview with Indie Filmmaker Justin Timpane!
09 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: filmmaking, indie, Intervention Con, Kickstarter, Ninjas vs Monsters, Ninjas vs Vampires, Ninjas vs Zombies
A few posts ago, I mentioned my trip to the Intervention Con in Maryland. Going to cons is awesome, because you never know who you will meet. If you’re lucky you can meet people you can establish creative connections with. Among the interesting people I met was Justin Timpane, director of the indie film Ninjas vs Zombies (which is a lot of fun, so definitely check it out). Through Justin I learned about Kickstarter, an online fundraising venture for people who want to fund creative projects. Kickstarter is not just for filmmakers! If any of you who follow this blog is looking for funds for a book project, here is a way you can do it. In the interview below, Justin talks about his work and what it’s like to fund projects from the ground up:
Tell us a little about yourself.
Hi, my name is Justin and I am a filmmaker! (But, Jen, I thought you mostly did stuff about books?!) Well, as an indie filmmaker, I spend a LOT of time writing. Since I started on NINJAS VS ZOMBIES so many years ago, I have had to write two screenplays, begin and abandon three more, and become a co-writer on a comic book. It’s hard when you do it at this level because this is all while managing a job and a family with two kids! I live in the Washington DC area, and it’s a great place to be an indie filmmaker!
How did you discover Kickstarter?
What has your experience with Kickstarter been like?
Tell us about your current projects.
I am attempting to finish the rarest of projects, a microbudget Film TRILOGY. We have completed and distributed “Ninjas vs Zombies”, and “Ninjas vs Vampires”, and we seek to finish it out with “Ninjas vs Monsters” – which pits our heroes against the classic movie monsters. It’s basically Clerks meets Buffy with a bit more blood – but we definitely consider ourselves equally horror and comedy. Actually, I honed in on Jen because she was wearing a Buffy-related shirt. Our films are steeped in homages to Joss (the great one) Whedon and Kevin (the other great one) Smith. Plus, I have an Angel puppet on my wall…gotta count for something.
Do you plan to use Kickstarter for any future projects?
Clear your schedule for the time of the campaign. You will be doing this full-time. Make an interesting video and get the word out however you can. Try not to despair when it gets slow, and get some good folks to help you get part of the way there. It helped us that the creator of the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT gave us a shoutout…turns out he’s a fan and put down on video that we were the best indie-film around to donate to. You can actually see that video at www.ninjaswin.com. Get ready to blast your Twitter and Facebook accounts and to dig in…oh, and find wonderful readers like Jen who will say to themselves “Hey, I wanna help that guy out.”
Book Review: Double Dexter
04 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: crime, fiction, miami, murder, serial killer
**PLEASE NOTE: This review does not give away any spoilers in this book, but it does discuss major plot events from the previous Dexter books.**
The Dexter books are by far my favorite book series, and in my opinion one of the best book series currently in print. The books are very different from the television show, and that’s why people keep reading them. I’ve been a Jeff Lindsay fan for more than fives years, and I’ve found it interesting comparing the books to the show over the past few years.
Double Dexter is the latest entry in Lindsay’s best-selling series. As always, the seemingly mind-mannered Dexter Morgan is still working for the Miami Police Department, while balancing his responsibilities as a husband and father with his “extra curricular” activities. One night while disposing of a child killer, Dexter suspects that someone has accidentally seen him committing the murder. He eventually tracks down the person who saw him, only to find that this person has also been tracking Dexter down, with the intention of punishing Dexter for his crime.
For me, this was a pretty good entry in the series, but not one of the best. Lindsay’s writing style is still sharp, and Dexter’s wit and insight are still as cutting as ever. The story just seemed a little too simple this time, a few of the plot points a little obvious, and all the chapters about Rita and the kids wore thin after a while. I enjoyed Dexter is Delicious a lot more; the story was more engrossing and the action was more intense.
Still, I think Lindsay is setting up his readers for some amazing plot lines in the future. Earlier in the series, he introduced the idea that Dexter’s adopted son Cody would someday follow in Dexter’s murderous footsteps. I’m dying to see how this will play out in future books. And now that Dexter’s brother Brian is back and here to stay, there is a lot of potential for new conflicts and plot twists. Maybe Dexter, Brian, and Cody will make murder a family affair. I’m holding out hope that the next book (as of now no title or pub date has been announced) will be the best yet.
