Princess Nonomi by Micheal Grin

No one can accuse Princess Nonomi of being down on herself. On the contrary, she sees herself as ‘twenty-first century royalty,’ and pursues her cruel, violent, and sexual desires with fiery disregard to the consequences, both for herself and others. As the narrative flashes between past and present–and between reality and fantasy–the pitch black driving force behind her drives and her snarling view of the world becomes starkly clear.

Micheal Grin’s first novel took me some getting used to–the whipsawing between past and present and real and unreal lost me a few times–but as the book progressed I realized how well it was suited for putting me behind Nonomi’s eyes, and as more of her twisted, scarred psyche was laid bare, the more I was drawn in. I was hooked well before the end, and recommend it to horror lovers with both strong stomachs and willingness to take a perverse, haunting, tragic, and unhinged ride through some very dark mental country.

The Evil Gazebo by Bernie Mojzes (with illustrations by Linda Saboe)

On a particularly dismal Thursday, two evil girls in an evil house by an evil lake are waiting for something–anything–to happen. Since nothing ever does happen in this evil environment, they are quite surprised when something does: a new thing arrives. It claims to be a boy, and it claims to be lost, but are they just to take it’s word for it?

Bernie Mojzes’s story could be called short–it’s less than 50 pages, including the illustrations–but I would call it exactly as long as it needs to be. There is a delicate balancing act going on, writing a fairy tale-type story dark enough to appeal to older fans of the macabre without being so dark as to lose the younger ones. The sly humor that leavens the story helps in this, without detracting from the subtly menacing atmosphere. Linda Saboe’s illustrations throughout the book add to this mix, blending strangeness and a touch of dark humor. I enjoyed my visit to this strange, dismal, evil land very much.

Wild (The Vargulf Trilogy, Book 1) by Naomi Clark

Lizzie, the protagonist of Naomi Clark’s Wild, is not unlikeable, but starts in a place where she seems that way. Addicted to hard drugs, trying to maintain in an abusive relationship on the verge of bottoming out, living for the next party–she inspires sympathy, and pity, but did not strike me as someone I’d want to get to know. But there are sides to Lizzie that have, it turns out, not seen air in a long time, and after a werewolf attack changes her body and her life, they come out. Along the way, she meets weres who encourage her baser instincts, and others who encourage her finer ones.

Naomi Clark presents this struggle with an unflinching realism that makes effective use of the fantasic elements of dark urban fantasy and werewolf lore without losing focus and wandering off into those elements. I ended up liking Lizzie more and more as the book progressed, and will be looking forward to see where she goes in the next book, and how she fares in facing the consequences of her decisions in this one.

Armageddon Bound (Book 1 of the Demon Squad series) by Tim Marquitz

Dark urban fantasy is a subgenre I’ve grown a taste for in recent years. Life in a packed city environment seems tailor made for stories mixing dark urges, tension, suspense, action, and the right amount of humor. Simon R. Green and Jim Butcher have both successfully mined this territory in their respective series (The Nightside series and the Dresden Files). Now Tim Marquitz has done the same, unleashing a fast, furious, and compelling story in the opening volume of his Demon Squad series.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding on display throughout, positing a world in which God and the Devil have both abandoned the Earth, leaving angels and demons and humanity to get on as best they can. Naturally, this results in scheming and plotting that brings the world to the brink of armageddon (hey, there’s a reason the book isn’t called “Puppies and Ice Cream Bound”…). It falls to Frank Trigg and his occult-wise, heavily-armed allies to somehow figure out how to derail it.

There is a lot of action in this book, and Marquitz does a very good job at keeping it clear and focused without lots of ‘telling.’ I also enjoyed the personality of Frank Trigg, who, while hardly an angel (part-demon, actually, and at times all-libido), has his limits, and knows when it’s time to take a stand against impossible odds. I expect I’ll very much enjoy the following books in the series.

One note before I begin this, the first reviews post in this here blog. If I review something here, it’s generally going to be something I like overall (whatever caveats I may express). Books I dislike get quietly pushed into dark corners where they can be food for the varmints that live there; any pleasure I might get from ripping on them is eclipsed by having to actually think about them for that length of time. I’d rather point people at books what I like.

That said, on to Velan the Reticent, by James L. Grant.

Barbarian sword-and-sorcery books have never been of great interest to me. It’s one of those genres, like military science fiction, high fantasy, and paranormal romance, where I can see where there are elements that other people might be drawn to (and are, in great numbers) without being drawn to those elements myself. So I came to Velan the Reticent, a novella suggesting a send-up of works such as Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja, I was not entirely sure it would work for me. Parodies I like; parodies of things I’ve never seen or read, less so.

Fortunately, James L. Grant has wrote a book that is both funny and entertaining regardless of how much or little one knows about the genre. He does it the old-fashioned way – by creating real, complete characters who deal with the strange situations they face (scavenging warbirds, scheming townspeople, hidden temples) in realistic (for the genre) ways. The humor flows from the characters and their situations, rather than any forced wordplay, joking, or overt silliness, and is all the more effective for it. While I suspect there are depths I missed due to unfamiliarity with the genre, I nevertheless thorougly enjoyed the book and look forward to Velan’s return.