Critical Mass reviews THOUGHT FORMS

At talented author and rabid book collector Don D’Ammassa’s review site Critical Mass, he has this to say about my new horror novel THOUGHT FORMS (Dark Regions Press):

Here’s an unusual horror novel.  There are two separate stories, the protagonists of which are cousins, and which eventually converges into a single narrative.  Ray has never gotten over the unsolved murder of his parents when he was a child and is fascinated with handguns.  Paul works at a business which seems to collect ghost stories and strange sightings faster than it does customers. Ray is troubled by weird dreams and is living in the house where his parents died; Paul seems less affected even though he himself has seen something that couldn’t have been real.   Ray begins to encounter odd people who may be connected with the murders while Paul finds himself trapped by deadly and possibly inhuman creatures. This one is likely to keep you guessing for a while, and then hit you when you’re not looking.  Thomas is one of the few authors who never seems to run out of new twists and turns.

Check out Critical Mass for loads of reviews of horror, fantasy and SF books, here:

http://www.dondammassa.com/index.htm

(And one can order my novel THOUGHT FORMS from the publisher, here: http://www.darkregions.com/thought_forms.html)

Favorite Weird Books

A few weeks ago, Michael AKA the Mad Hatter at The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Book Review asked me to participate in a feature he was planning to run, in which he would ask a number of authors what is the strangest book they’ve ever read. Some pretty cool people participated, and a few days ago Michael posted the results. Here’s my own response:

I’ve read a lot of bizarre books, perhaps more bizarre than my choice, but I also have to consider literary merit…so the book that comes to mind is the novel The Other Side of the Mountain by Michael Bernanos. Bernanos was the son of the well known French author, George Bernanos, and if I recall correctly he was a troubled soul who died young. My aunt gave me this novel when I was a teenager, and its haunting imagery and desolate atmosphere have remained with me over the decades. The story itself is simple: a merchant vessel becomes becalmed at sea, and then wrecked, the only survivors being the young protagonist and an older cook. They reach an eerie island, where the trees all bow down to the ground at night, and where the statues (or are they statues?) of human beings can be found on the slopes of the island’s ominous central mountain. Did the characters survive the wreck after all, or are they actually in Hell? Their efforts to survive are both depressing in their futility, and inspiring, in that the characters never cease to struggle against their circumstances, and their friendship sustains them where nothing else can. The story can be seen as a descent into madness (the author’s?), and its hellish feel may have been inspired in part by the fact that Bernanos’ father was a devout Catholic. The novel was republished a few years ago by Cherokee Publishing Company; it’s a short read and I encourage readers of horror, dark fantasy, and the surreal to check it out.

Please read the entire article to see what other authors/editors like Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Lou Anders had to say:

http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-weirdest-book-youve-ever-read.html

And if you’re interested in ordering my choice, Michel Bernanos’ THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, it can be found here at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0877971803/?tag=jeffreythomas-20

BTW — please forgive me; I gave the author’s name as Michael in my response, but it’s actually Michel. Maybe I was thinking of the Mad Hatter himself.

Pictured above is Michael Cisco’s novel THE TRAITOR, one of author Ekaterina Sedia’s choices for weirdest book. I had considered choosing one of Cisco’s books, too, but they’re ALL so wonderfully weird! He’s one of my favorite authors. I haven’t read THE TRAITOR, yet, but I did see Michael (another Michael!) read an excerpt from it at Readercon a few years ago — he always does a mesmerizing reading.

I’d like to ask those of you who read my blog to comment below — what’s the weirdest book YOU’VE ever read…hmm?

SF Signal reviews VOICES FROM PUNKTOWN

(The cover of my collection from Dark Regions Press, VOICES FROM PUNKTOWN, with cover art by Travis Anthony Soumis and graphic design by Dave Barnett.)

John DeNardo, who has previously given very rewarding reviews of my novels DEADSTOCK and BLUE WAR over at the great SF SIGNAL site, has just done a very gratifying review of my recent short story collection, VOICES FROM PUNKTOWN:

 “The dark, gritty city of Punktown is the perfect backdrop for Thomas’ blend of science fiction and horror…while each story delivers it’s own vibe, the sum is truly more than it’s parts: Punktown feels like a living, breathing entity in it’s own right, a place I want to visit even more. And that disturbs me.”

Read the review in full at SF SIGNAL:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/02/review-voices-from-punktown-by-jeffrey-thomas/

(And the book itself can be ordered here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1888993634/?tag=jeffreythomas-20)

A little BIRD told me…

Well, I’m back from my trip to Vietnam, but too busy…lazy?…to write a full post or series of posts about whatever cool things I experienced there. I’ll just work in little fragments here and there as I go along, once I’ve had some pictures developed to help illustrate my anecdotes. In the meantime, let me tell you about two fascinating new books I’m in…

IN CONVERSATION: A WRITER’S PERSPECTIVE, edited by JAMES COOPER

This is a collection of interviews with horror writers, such as myself, conducted by the very nice James Cooper and handsomely produced (what a striking cover!) by the British Fantasy Society (ahem!). The writers interviewed are:

JOE R. LANSDALE – RAMSEY CAMPBELL – GRAHAM JOYCE – BRIAN KEENE – CONRAD WILLIAMS – STEPHEN GALLAGHER – TIM LEBBON – MARK MORRIS – NORMAN PARTRIDGE – TOM PICCIRILLI – JEFFREY THOMAS – PETER CROWTHER – RAY GARTON – GREG F. GIFUNE – GARY McMAHON – GARY FRY

Very cool book, and it can be ordered here:

http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=19&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=73&vmcchk=1&Itemid=73

LAST DRINK BIRD HEAD, edited by ANN & JEFF VANDERMEER

Another quirky and fun project from the quirky and fun VanderMeers. This one is also a handsome hardcover, limited to 1000 copies, with wonderful cover art by Scott Eagle — and my copy as a contributor came with a blue quill and a very groovy little metal LAST DRINK BIRD HEAD pin. But I’ll let the editors describe the nature and intent of this anthology:

Last Drink Bird Head is a variation on a surrealist writing game: we gave the phrase to over 70 writers and asked them “Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head?” The results run the gamut from the hilarious to the terrifying, with each writer bringing their signature style and voice to the enterprise.

All proceeds on Last Drink go to ProLiteracy.org. WHAT IS PROLITERACY?
Help promote worldwide literacy through the ProLiteracy organization. ProLiteracy “champions the power of literacy to improve the lives of adults and their families, communities, and societies. We envision a world in which everyone can read, write, compute, and use technology to lead healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives.” For more information, visit ProLiteracy.org.

The contributors to this intriguing anthology are:

Daniel Abraham, Michael Arnzen, Steve Aylett, KJ Bishop, Michael Bishop, Desirina Boskovich, Keith Brooke, Jesse Bullington, Richard Butner, Catherine Cheek, Matthew Cheney, Michael Cisco, Gio Clairval, Alan M. Clark, Brendan Connell, Paul Di Filippo, Stephen R. Donaldson, Rikki Ducornet, Clare Dudman, Hal Duncan, Scott Eagle, Brian Evenson, Eliot Fintushel, Jeffrey Ford, Richard Gehr, Felix Gilman, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Rhys Hughes, Paul Jessup, Antony Johnston, John Kaiine, Henry Kaiser, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tessa Kum, Ellen Kushner, Jay Lake, Tanith Lee, Stina Leicht, Therese Littleton, Beth Adele Long, Dustin Long, Nick Mamatas, JM McDermott, Sarah Monette, Kari O’Connor, Ben Peek, Holly Phillips, Louis Phillips, Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, Mark Rich, Bruce Holland Rogers, Nicholas Royle, G Eric Schaller, Ekaterina Sedia, Ramsey Shehadeh, Peter Straub, Victoria Strauss, Michael Swanwick, Mark Swartz, Alan Swirsky, Rachel Swirsky, Sonya Taaffe, Justin Taylor, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jeffrey Thomas, Scott Thomas, John Urbancik, Genevieve Valentine, Kim Westwood, Leslie What, Andrew Steiger White, Conrad Williams, Liz Williams, Neil Williamson, Caleb Wilson, Gene Wolfe, Jonathan Wood, Marly Youmans, and Catherine Zeidler

That’s right, you saw Peter Straub’s name in there. So many other great people, too.

My brother Scott Thomas has a story in here, also, and his follows mine. Something funny: we start out with very similar opening lines, though we weren’t aware of what the other was writing, and though are stories are very different — Scott’s being in his usual Victorian ghost story style, while mine is a mini Punktown tale. My story begins:

“Pre’tu hated holidays to begin with. Holidays reminded him of his wifelessness, childlessness, his pennilessness in having to buy presents for others who – with mocking grins of joy, or at least drunkenness – embraced each holiday only too readily, like birds enticed by any bright bauble however broken and petty.”

Scott’s protagonist is also without wife, chldren, or much else going for him. His story begins:

“Poor John Burnham died alone and unloved with no wife, no children and only a fever to keep him warm.”

Maybe I’ll have to sue Scott once I’m done suing James Cameron (see previous posts).

A really exciting, offbeat project, and for a good cause, too. LAST DRINK BIRD HEAD can be ordered from the publisher, Wyrm Publishing, here:

http://wyrmpublishing.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20

So read, people…read!!!!!

I’m so blue over AVATAR

My Thi Gonh of BLUE WAR and DEADSTOCK is blue-skinned, too, but doesn't have the tail AVATAR's Navi has. I'd still do her, though.

A few weeks ago I received an interesting email from a guy named Dave Figueroa, who had just seen the movie AVATAR and thought it reminded him of a story he’d read a few years earlier – this being my short story IN HIS SIGHTS, in the anthology THE SOLARIS BOOK OF NEW SCIENCE FICTION #1. (See my post of 10/15 on the weird similarities between AVATAR and my novels BLUE WAR and DEADSTOCK, and the related short story IN HIS SIGHTS: http://punktalk.punktowner.com/?p=343) Subsequently, Mr. Figueroa has done two fascinating blog posts on the subject, in which he notes these similarities, too, and then discusses my own earlier blog post on the matter:

BLUE DEJA VU, from 1/3/10 http://daedahl.blogspot.com/2010/01/blue-deja-vu.html

And BLUE WORLDS REVISTED, from 1/9/10 http://daedahl.blogspot.com/2010/01/blue-worlds-revisited.html

I’m sure any movie, but particularly one so effects oriented, would have been in the works long before my stories came out — even if they did actually appear first — but it’s still pretty damn strange. I suppose I can’t expect James Cameron to come groveling for my forgiveness with a huge check in his hand, but maybe he’ll call me up one of these days and say, “We think alike, Jeff…I like you. How about you script my next movie — I’ll make you the next king of the world!”

Tweets from Vietnam!

I’m not getting to the internet cafe often enough or for a suitable amount of time, this (7th) trip to Vietnam, so I haven’t been posting the lengthy reports I had hoped for. However, I’ve been shooting out the occasional “tweet,” should you care to check those out. Or “follow” me, as I believe the lingo goes. My Twitter profile is to be found at:

http://twitter.com/Punktowner

For now, pending a later report — though that may even have to wait until after I come home, on January 23rd — here’s a photo of my wife Hong and I in Dalat, Vietnam, from an earlier trip I made…visiting the home of the famous poet Duy Viet, whom I wrote about in this blog a few years ago.

Enjoy the last few days of 2009, friends!

My Xmas gifts to Germany: Hell and Cthulhu!

In the past, the wonderful German publishing house Festa Verlag has done a limited edition hardcover of my collection PUNKTOWN (each copy signed by Michael Marshall Smith, who did the intro, and cover artist H. R. Giger!), a paperback edition of PUNKTOWN, and a paperback of my novel MONSTROCITY.

Now, I”ve just signed contracts for Festa to do a German-language translation of my novel LETTERS FROM HADES, and a collection of my Cthulhu Mythos fiction. Not sure yet what the title of the latter will be, but the contents are probably going to consist of the stories:

THE BONES OF THE OLD ONES, AVATARS OF THE OLD ONES, THE YOUNG OF THE OLD ONES, CHILDREN OF THE DRAGON, I MARRIED A SHOGGOTH, SERVILE, CONGLOMERATE, THROUGH OBSCURE GLASS, OUT OF THE BELLY OF SHEOL, THE FACE OF BAPHOMET, CORPSE CANDLES, and PAZUZU’S CHILDREN, for a total of about 79,000 words. 79,000 English words, anyway! Though how do you translate “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” into German?

Anyway, I’m off to Vietnam on Weds. morning, to return on Jan. 23rd. In case I don’t have an opportunity to blog during that time (though I would hope to share some of my experiences over there, as I’ve done in the past), I wish anyone who might read this a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MORE PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Visit the Festa Verlag web site, HERE: http://www.festa-verlag.de/

Plus they have a MySpace page with a freaky-ass video advertisement, HERE: http://www.myspace.com/festaverlag

“Magnet & Steel” Meets “Rake & Widget”

Everybody’s heard it, the great hit song “Magnet and Steel” by Walter Egan, from his 1978 album “Not Shy.” But my favorite of his songs has long been ”Tunnel O’ Love” from his debut album, 1977’s “Fundamental Roll,” perhaps the raunchiest song I’ve ever heard (with the lovely Stevie Nicks wailing in the background like a sexy banshee). About a year ago I started devising a strange singing duo, Rake and Widget, to appear in a story sequence I was working on called NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS (which should be coming out from Dark Regions Press in 2010). Well, for some reason I had the strange idea to have Rake and Widget cover the song “Tunnel O’ Love” (you’ll have to wait until the book comes out, and you meet Rake and Widget themselves, to see why this might be funny). Then I had a stranger idea, yet. What if I made Walter Egan a character in that story, who is invited to watch Rake and Widget shoot a video of the song? So I found Walter Egan’s official web site and shot off an email to ask if I could use the song’s lyrics, and Walter himself, in the story — not sure if he’d actually get my message himself. Sure enough, he did, and replied, “I got your note and would be happy to allow the use of the lyrics, and my persona should you like to use it. Sounds like fun.”  Wow! I was bowled over, I can tell you.

Well, the story (if not the entire story sequence) is now complete, and its title is…”Waltered States.” I let Walter read it a couple days ago, and he said: “I must say I loved the story, your slightly twisted alternate, er, walternate reality brought a smile and some out loud chuckles as I read it. What a trip!…How very cool…I can’t wait to see the entire Nocturnal Emissions in print.” Double-wow! Long-time fan that I am, it was a thrill to not only get Walter’s blessing, but to win feedback from him like this. I hope the book’s general readers will find “Waltered States” fun, too. In the meantime, you can get your dose of Walter Egan himself at:

His official site: http://www.walteregan.net/

A great fan site called “Walternative” (its name taken from the clever title of his 1999 CD): http://walternative.com/

Walter’s own MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/mistermagnet

His Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Egan

And of course you can hear his music/see his videos over at YouTube:

TUNNEL O’ LOVE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_C3C9o598M&feature=PlayList&p=ED6999E2F85F5734&index=6

MAGNET AND STEEL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYyEaQnT60&feature=PlayList&p=ED6999E2F85F5734&index=1

FOOL MOON FIRE (Walter as a werewolf!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP7AFXFFKwI

And so on. And please do check out the Walter Egan store at Amazon.com, too: http://www.amazon.com/Walter-Egan/e/B000AQ1H4C/ref=ntt_dp_epwcd_0

I can tell you, this guy rocks! Thanks so much for the “collaboration,” Walter!

P.S. – And it’s not too late to buy a little Walter Christmas music; he’s also long been a member of the surf sound band Malibooz, and they have an album called “A Malibu Kind of Christmas,” to be found at Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000GWX6/?tag=jeffreythomas-20

A WEIRD Way to End the Year!

So I was able to sneak in one last book (this time I’m sure…I think) before the end of the year. This one was WEIRD INHABITANTS OF SESQUA VALLEY by the gifted fantasist  W. H. Pugmire (see the link to my interview with him, below). Earlier in the year I read the revised edition of his great collection SESQUA VALLEY AND OTHER HAUNTS. Anytime I read one of his books, it’s like coming home again; Sesqua Valley has great seductive power, which enfolded me in tendrils of mauve mist a long time ago. This is a slim but rich collection of brand new stories and heavily revised reprints, including an expanded version of my favorite Pugmire tale, “The Million Shadowed One,” which he wrote for my autistic son Colin. Over the years I’ve seen Pugmire’s stories — once very short, like prose poems or dream vignettes, and there was certainly nothing wrong with that! — become longer and longer. One story here, “One Last Theft,” is surely the longest piece I’ve ever seen by him, and a fine tale for sure! I’ve also seen his stories gradually feature more dialogue and character interaction, and feature recurring characters like the fascinating and sinister Simon Gregory Williams, the inhuman “firstborn” of the haunted Sesqua Valley. Williams has a strong presence throughout this book, which includes sequels to H. P. Lovecraft’s tales “The Hound” and “Pickman’s Model.”  Though as I said in the introduction I did for this book, Pugmire is no mere HPL imitator by any means! I like my little intro alot, and I provided the cover art, too, per Pugmire’s request; it’s good but he deserves better. New publishing house Terradan Works is to be commended for putting this project together (and their first book was Pam Chillemi-Yeager’s cool crime thriller novel THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS: DEADLY TATTOO, so they’ve been treating my friends right!). WEIRD INHABITANTS OF SESQUA VALLEY serves beautifully as an introduction to Pugmire’s work, if you haven’t read him before — and as a welcome return to Sesqua Valley for those of us who are already hooked. Check out the book at the publisher’s website, here:

http://www.terradanworks.com/

And if you haven’t read it before, I did an interview with Pugmire a while back, that you can find here:

http://www.jeffreyethomas.com/blog/?p=154

Bone Chilling Zombies

Not sure if I can slip another book under the wire for 2009, at least before I embark for Vietnam, so these might be the last two reviews I do this year of books recently completed. They are, in order of completion:

1. BONE CHILLER, by R. M. Heske and various

This is a graphic novel-format collection of short stories, written and produced by R. M. Heske, under his Heske Horror imprint. Robert organized two multiple author book signings I participated in, back in October, and I enjoyed talking with him — he’s very polite, ambitious, and enthusiastic about his various projects. As I say, Robert penned all the stories in BONE CHILLER, with a variety of artists interpreting them. I think the proper title of the collection might be a little confusing — the striking cover (this is a VERY slick, professional-looking production) has BONE CHILLER in the lower right corner, but more prominently across the top: COLD BLOODED CHILLERS. Anyway, what matters is what’s inside, and I enjoyed that a great deal. As a kid I worshipped comic books (some of my favorites being MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER and the old TUROK comics — and in a horror vein, CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA), but as an adult I fell away from them with the exception of HEAVY METAL in the late 70’s, early 80’s. (I was underwhelmed by a HEAVY METAL I bought about a year ago while waiting for a train — the art didn’t seem to compare to what I remembered.) Though no huge fan of Japanese manga, in recent years I’ve greatly enjoyed a few books such as Hideshi Hino’s harrowing PANORAMA OF HELL, Senno Knife’s creepy MANTIS WOMAN, and the amazing cyberpunk series BLAME!. Then there’s WATCHMEN, which my friend Paul Miller (of Earthling Publications) gave me as a gift and urged me to read, which is now one of my favorite books, graphic novel or otherwise. So I’ve largely been away for a while, but once I got started on BONE CHILLER it was like coming home again, to those good old days of EERIE and CREEPY, particularly. One’s first instinct would of course be to make comparisons with the old EC comics, such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT, but these stories have a more modern slant — the horror stressing the psychological over the supernatural. Heske’s ultra-dark plotlines deal with paranoia and guilt, contemporary anxieties like sending your child to daycare, dating a person you meet online, child abuse and so on. There’s sexual content and cussin’, too, so it’s definitely for mature readers (or immature old readers like me). The artwork varies in effectiveness, naturally, with standout work from Reno Maniquis, Monty Borror, and “Zeu.” My favorite story is probably SYNCHRONICITY, because while a number of the stories have the classic approach of mini morality/revenge tales with twist endings, this was a very enigmatic piece about strange guardian angels, armageddon, and second chances. It’ll make you scratch your head, and that’s just what I like about it. Another great story, TRANSCENDENCE, conveys a strong sense of loss and loneliness. Much of this kind of atmosphere depends on the skills of the artist, and here Reno Maniquis (and in the opening story, HER FIRST DAY ALONE, Monty Borror) creates a haunting emotional atmosphere that quite fulfills the writer’s intentions. (Not to mention, Maniquis accurately captures the look of the New England Aquarium, which I’m sure inspired local boy Heske!) So, I heartily recommend that others like me who enjoyed the bone chillers of the past delve between the covers of BONE CHILLER, and experience those dark thrills and chills again. (You can order BONE CHILLER from Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1427635250/?tag=jeffreythomas-20)

2. WORLD WAR Z, by Max Brooks

I’m sure a lot has already been said about WORLD WAR Z, so I’ll keep it simple: this literate and ambitious novel must now stand beside other favorite horror novels of mine like THE EXORCIST, HOUSE OF LEAVES and I AM LEGEND. It’s always gratifying when a book with an unusual narrative approach, like HOUSE OF LEAVES, becomes a bestseller, and that’s the case here. While not quite as weird as HOUSE OF LEAVES, WORLD WAR Z takes the unique approach of telling its zombie apocalypse story through the individual stories of many of its survivors. There are too many truly creepy moments of horror to begin to discuss here, and plenty of icky details, so zombie fans should be well rewarded if they’re willing to play along with the approach. I can’t imagine there ever needing to be another zombie apocalypse novel (please, in fact, no more zombie apocalypse novels!) after this one. Maybe a lot of the characters’ voices start to sound a little similar after a while (and maybe that’s unavoidable), but there’s still a fascinating, international cast of characters here, some (particularly at the onset) being realistically unlikable and/or very complex rather than strictly heroic. My favorite of these mini stories involved two Japanese men, cut off from their society (one living in the world of cyberspace, the other a blind outcast), who are forced to confront their country’s new reality, and in the course of this rediscover their own culture while discovering for the first time their personal strengthes, and personal destinies. What impressed me most about the novel, perhaps, was the amount of research that obviously went into it, in order to so convincingly discuss miltary operations, foreign cultures, and so on. It’s an almost exhausting, but richly rewarding, experience. It’s also a very human book — with boundess intriguing, biting, and satirical comments on the world’s societies and the human condition — all inhuman creatures aside. (And that may be another, very tiny gripe; that despite the many viewpoints here, the zombies are not really portrayed as former loved ones, friends, human beings, but primarily as cannon fodder.) I’ll be interested to see what Brooks (THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE) does next; he has immense talent that should not be limited to the realm of the undead, alone.