Tag: Subterranean Press

Review: Collectibles edited by Lawrence Block

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cover of Collectibles edited by Lawrence BlockCollectibles edited by Lawrence Block
Subterranean Press (May 2021)
320 pages; $50 limited edition hardcover; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I’ve been a collector as long as I can remember. From Star Wars figures to comics to trading cards to wrestling magazines to movie posters to….well, you get the picture. This continues today as I peer anxiously at my encroaching dotage, indulging in an old(er) man’s passion for vinyl records and vintage books.

I’ve got my grails, for sure, and a few pieces in my collection(s) that I’d vigorously defend, but damn….I’d never kill anybody over them.Continue Reading

Review: Fishing for Dinosaurs by Joe R. Lansdale

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cover of Fishing for Dinosaurs by Joe R. LansdaleFishing for Dinosaurs by Joe R. Lansdale
Subterranean Press (November 2020)
378 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

In his introduction to this, his latest collection, Joe R. Lansdale writes, “It’s no secret that I like to write a variety of stories in a variety of genres, and my favorite of those is the Lansdale genre.”

Lansdale goes on to explain what that genre is, but all you really need to do to understand the “Lansdale genre” is to read the stories that follow the introduction. Reading these stories is like taking a peek into Lansdale’s mind, a one-of-a-kind universe where cowboys fire six-shooters at Tyrannosaurus Rexes; where apes don space helmets and fly to the moon; where one-eyed space aliens tend bar in an old mining town saloon.Continue Reading

Review: Edited By edited by Ellen Datlow

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cover of Edited By, a collection of short stories edited by Elle DatlowEdited By edited by Ellen Datlow
Subterranean Press (September 2020)
632 pages; $45 limited edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

If you look back over the history of horror fiction, there are a few names that have become synonymous with the genre. Stephen King. Edgar Allan Poe. Shirley Jackson. Clive Barker. Ellen Datlow may not have quite the same level of mainstream recognition as these authors, but her influence on horror fiction (not to mention fantasy and sci-fi) stands equal.Continue Reading

Review: In the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett

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cover of In the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett showing an old hotelIn the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett
Subterranean Press (August 2020)
120 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

If there’s one thing readers of horror fiction know to be true, it’s that old, isolated motels are not the place to go if you’re looking to get your life together.

Especially if said motel is brimming with secrets.

Especially if the person seeking sanctuary is bringing his own demons along for the ride.Continue Reading

Review: Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 edited by William Schafer

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cover of Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 edited by William SchaferSubterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 edited by William Schafer
Subterranean Press (July 2020)
234 pages; $40 hardcover; $150 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Like most anthologies, Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 is a bit of a mixed bag. There are no bad stories here, but some resonated with me more than others. No doubt each reader will have his or her own favorites; rather than try and predict what those will be, I’m just going to share a few of mine.Continue Reading

Review: The Darkling Halls of Ivy edited by Lawrence Block

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Cover of The Darkling Halls of IvyThe Darkling Halls of Ivy edited by Lawrence Block
Subterranean Press (May 2020)
328 pages; $50 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

A life in academia always struck me as a somewhat safe, even enviable career choice. I mean, what could be so bad about a career dedicated to increasing knowledge—your own, and that of others? What could be bad about a workplace where you’re surrounded by books and intelligent colleagues, and you’re encouraged to pursue whatever niche interest catches your eye?

Turns out there’s a lot that can be bad about it. Continue Reading

Review: Jane Goes North by Joe R. Lansdale

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Jane Goes North by Joe R. Lansdale
Subterranean Press (March 2020)
232 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I took a few road trips in my youth. While they were marked with plenty of shenanigans and questionable decisions (as was most of my youth), none of them came close to the craziness experienced by the women in Jane Goes North, Joe Lansdale’s new novel from Subterranean Press. It’s probably a good thing, too; Lansdale’s women barely flinch in the face of the inconveniences and dangers he tosses at them, while I would have crumbled like a cheap cookie.Continue Reading

Review: The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale

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The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale
Subterranean Press (December 2019)
296 pages; $95 signed limited edition hardcover; $40 trade edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I think that, sometimes, in the midst of all the discussion about craft and theme and structure, we—meaning writers and readers and reviewers—forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun. It’s so refreshing, then, when an author like Joe R. Lansdale comes along, manuscript in hand and shit-eating grin on his face, to remind us of that very fact.Continue Reading

Review: In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

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In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant
Subterranean Press (June 2019)
200 pages; $31.71 hardcover; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I love haunted house stories where the house is a central character. The Overlook Hotel, Hill House…those are places where malevelonce seems to rise not only from the characters that inhabit(ed) them, or from the actions that took place within their walls, but from the very brick and mortar itself. Mia Grant opens her short novel In the Shadow of Spindrift House with a spooky welcoming chapter that paints her own seaside creation in much the same light.Continue Reading

Review: At Home in the Dark edited by Lawrence Block

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At Home in the Dark edited by Lawrence Block
Subterranean Press (April 2019)
326 pages; $14.99 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

“So here we have seventeen stories,” Lawrence Block writes in the Foreward to At Home in the Dark, “and what they all have in common, besides their unquestionable excellence, is where they stand on that gray scale. They are, in a word, dark.”Continue Reading

Review: The Big Crush by David J. Schow

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The Big Crush by David J. Schow
Subterranean Press (February 28, 2019)
125 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

David Vollmand is like a lot of people: he has a job that confines him to a chair and a screen every day; he has a good friend to tip a beer with after work; he has a loyal dog waiting for him at home; and he has an unrequited love from many years ago. Like many people, he finally gives in to temptation and hops on the Internet to see where “the one that got away” got away to.

Unlike many people, reconnecting with an old flame could cost him his
life.Continue Reading

Review: Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant

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Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant
Subterranean Press (December 2018)
125 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Lisa Morris certainly isn’t the first eight-year-old child to fib about her health so her parents won’t cancel a much-anticipated trip to a giant theme park. She is, however, the first child whose fib led to approximately 10 million deaths and a dramatic shift in the way the human immune system works.Continue Reading

Review: Driving to Geronimo’s Grave and Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale

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Driving to Geronimo’s Grave and Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale
Subterranean Press (October 2018)
272 pages; $26.70 hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing several Joe R. Lansdale novels, collections and stories in my time. It’s almost to the point where I’ve run out of superlatives to share; where the limitations of my vocabulary and ability make me want to just say, “Here’s a new Lansdale book. It’s good, as usual. Go throw money at it.”

But Lansdale deserves better, and you do, too. So, please follow along as I attempt to find new and interesting ways to heap praise upon Lansdale and his new collection, Driving to Geronimo’s Grave and Other Stories.Continue Reading

Review: Hellraiser: The Toll by Mark Alan Miller

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Hellraiser: The Toll by Mark Alan Miller
Subterranean Press (February 28, 2018)
96 pages; $40 hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Over the years, the Hellraiser mythology has become something of a hash, combining elements of Clive Barker’s original novella The Hellbound Heart with bits from the Hellraiser movies (mainly the first two in the franchise: Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II). Nowhere is this more evident than in The Scarlet Gospels. In Barker’s 2015 novel, the cenobite known as Pinhead (but not to his face; no, never to his face) was a sometimes confusing mix of the elegant sadist from Hellbound Heart and a bloodthirsty, Hollywood-style slasher.Continue Reading

Review: The Weight of Words edited by Dave McKean and William Schafer

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The Weight of Words edited by Dave McKean and William Schafer
Subterranean Press (December 2017)
248 pages; $40 hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Like all great artists, Dave McKean has a style that is immediately recognizable as his and his alone. His unique visuals have graced everything from comic books (perhaps most notably his eight-year run as cover artist for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series and his collaboration with Grant Morrison on the graphic novel Arkham Asylum) to album covers. book covers….even stamps. So, what happens when you ask a group of authors to filter that style through their own distinct voices?Continue Reading