{"id":17172,"date":"2022-06-15T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=17172"},"modified":"2022-06-16T22:05:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T02:05:50","slug":"review-venomous-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-venomous-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Venomous Words by Jeff Oliver and Gordon Reilly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"17173\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-venomous-words\/venemouswords\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/venemouswords.jpeg?fit=707%2C594&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"707,594\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"venemouswords\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/venemouswords.jpeg?fit=707%2C594&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-17173\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/venemouswords.jpeg?resize=350%2C294&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Venemous Words\" width=\"350\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/venemouswords.jpeg?resize=350%2C294&amp;ssl=1 350w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/venemouswords.jpeg?w=707&amp;ssl=1 707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 85vw, 350px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Venomous-Words-Oliver-Gordon-Reilly\/dp\/B09ZNMNKMR\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FV4KPCB00T9F&amp;keywords=Venomous+Words+by+Jeff+Oliver+and+Gordon+Reilly&amp;qid=1654655504&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=venomous+words+by+jeff+oliver+and+gordon+reilly%2Cstripbooks%2C196&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Venomous Words<\/i><\/b><b> by Jeff Oliver and Gordon Reilly<\/b><\/a><br \/>\n<b>Blurb (May 2022)<br \/>\n<\/b><b>126 pages; $148 deluxe hardcover edition (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blurb.com\/b\/11157838-venomous-words?fs=e&amp;s=cl&amp;fbclid=IwAR3Bzl02dCXTBIP-5hrURFEdP9lgkLyA1xTVeHCXiak4RA3RNkmiNIoNRSo&amp;fs=e&amp;s=cl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">buy direct from Blurb<\/a>)<br \/>\n<\/b><b>Reviewed by Joshua Gage<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born in Baltimore Maryland in 1982, Jeff Oliver has been writing from his soul for many decades. Gordon Reilly is a Special Operations Veteran who found macro photography of scorpions and invertebrates as a hobby. Their newest collaboration is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Venomous Words<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a collection of macro photos of scorpions and other invertebrates combined with poetry.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the outset, what grabs the reader are the images in this book. Reilly\u2019s images are beautiful nature macro photos. The images are slick and beautiful, and really bring readers up close to some very nasty and venomous creatures. Furthermore, on the pages without the poems, Reilly provides a bit of information about the subjects of the photographs that will inform and intrigue the reader. On alternating pages, Reilly\u2019s photographs provide the background for Oliver\u2019s poems. There are solo poems and collaborations with various horror authors, all of which make for an interesting hybrid collection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the individual parts of the collection each work for their intended audience, the attempt at collaboration leaves some questions for the reader. There are times when the poems seem to line up exactly with the images, as in \u201cGunpowder,\u201d which reads:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You must hit me first before my gunpowder ignites.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m not about to waste my venom<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I still have to eat tonight.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This paired with a close up of a Giant Asian Mantis, so the ideas of feasting on the dead combined with an extreme close up of a predator works. However, there are times when the poems don\u2019t seem to line up with the images, and the juxtaposition between the two seems incongruous and clunky.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, this is a unique collection of poems and images. The images are lush and gorgeous, and the poems do their best to engage the reader with themes of death and change. While the two occasionally seem too disparate from each other, the idea of this collaboration and the passion of the two artists comes through. This is a fascinating collaboration that is sure to engage and intrigue horror fans.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venomous Words by Jeff Oliver and Gordon Reilly Blurb (May 2022) 126 pages; $148 deluxe hardcover edition (buy direct from Blurb) Reviewed by Joshua Gage Born in Baltimore Maryland in 1982, Jeff Oliver has been writing from his soul for many decades. Gordon Reilly is a Special Operations Veteran who found macro photography of scorpions &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-venomous-words\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Venomous Words by Jeff Oliver and Gordon Reilly&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[2698,2697,506,79,2696],"class_list":["post-17172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-gordon-reilly","tag-jeff-oliver","tag-joshua-gage","tag-reviews","tag-venomous-words"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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