Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham This is the story of Stanton Carlisle, a carnivalsideshow mentalist, who decides to strike out for the big time bygoing into the spiritualism racket. With his knowledge of humannature…
By Tim Powers. I’ve been a big fan of Tim Powers’ urban and historical fantasy books since I read The Anubis Gates back in 1984. Powers was part of a California group of writers that…
I first encountered the author of this book, Chris Knowles, in a podcast interview. He’s had a rich and interesting career as a blogger, writer, and comic book historian. The novel was described as a conspiracy thriller. Intrigued, I…
One of the greats of 20th-century genre writing, Frederick Brown was accomplished in all areas of popular fiction. Science Fiction, fantasy, detective, mystery, thrillers; the man wrote in every area. I’m sure there were a few…
Four Sides of the Triangle From my latest novel: He told her about the strange boxes they moved into the club from the back of a trailer. How they didn’t feel like beer bottles inside…
Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown is one of those books which defined the sixties. The latter half of the decade was famous for all manner of innovative science fiction and gave rise to the “new wave” of the genre. Rockets became fertility symbols and cigars spaceships. There were plenty of the old guard still banging away at the typewriters, but even Philip K Dick was working on overload to find out how Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
In The Fabulous Clipjoint, we see why Frederic Brown was one of the greatest short story writers and novelists of the 20th century.
Kim Oh #7; Real Dangerous Plan continues the Kim Oh series in excellent form. In this episode, Kim Oh, the tiny twentysomething Korean American gun woman, is stuck in the hellhole of the American Southwest. One thing I have to admit about Jeter, no one does a better job of portraying the depressive state of being lost in America.
Haunted by Books by Mark Valentine (2015, Tartarus Press) Haunted by Books is an excellent collection of essays by weird literature expert Mark Valentine. I can’t recommend this collection enough if you have an interest…
If you have ever seen the David Niven movie Where the Spies Are, you will be familiar with Host of Extra‘s author James Leasor (1923-2007).
