Tag: Novella

The Ballad of Black Tom

November 4, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Charles “Tommy” Tester is a hustler in Harlem in 1924. He takes care of his dad and makes an okay life for himself – but after he delivers a most mysterious package, he becomes increasingly caught up in a world of strange happenings. After he’s invited to play a white man’s party in Queens, he disappears – only to reappear as something far darker and far less himself… The Review: I was reading the transcript of a […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, H.P. Lovecraft, Horror, Literature, Lovecraft, New York, Novella, review, Reviews, The Ballad of Black Tom, The Horror at Red Hook, Tor Publishing, Victor LaValle, Weird Fiction

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Roundup, October 2016

October 31, 2016 by Drew

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn 3 out of 5 The Short Version: A young woman on the margins, working as a fraudulent psychic, lands a gig investigating a creepy house and creepy child for another woman. What ensues is a classic gothic battle for sanity. The Review: Flynn’s voice is unmistakeable and it was great to hear it again, seeing as it’s been awhile since Gone Girl and we’re likely to have to wait a while longer yet for her next […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Poetry • Tags: A Head Full of Ghosts, A Thousand Mornings, A Visit to October Country, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Contagion, Dana I. Wolff, Disease, Exorcism, Fiction, Gillian Flynn, Heidi Julavits, Horror, Literature, Mary Oliver, Metafiction, Mikhail Bulgakov, North Brother Island, Novella, Paul Tremblay, Peace, Poetry, Psychics, Religion, Review Roundup, Reviews, Roundup, Russia, Speculative, Stalin, The Devil, The Grownup, The Master and Margarita, The Prisoner of Hell Gate, The Vanishers, Thriller, Typhoid Mary

The Devil in America

October 12, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: A elliptical tale of a black family shortly after the Civil War, of the magic that runs in their bloodline, and of the horrors both magical and mundane that stalked the world in the 1870s. The Review: I picked this up at the Tor Publishing fall party, as I was wandering around the bar full of awkward nerdy types and checking out what book swag the publisher had laid out before us. Part of me was fascinated […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Kai Ashante Wilson, Literature, Metafiction, Mythology, Novella, review, Reviews, Slavery, The Devil in America, Tor.com

Veniss Underground

June 29, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Sometime far in the future, in a city called Veniss, a young would-be-artist named Nicholas is down on his luck. He seeks a favor from a friend, an introduction to a powerful figure – and disappears. When his sister gets worried, she asks that same friend – Shadrach, her former lover – to look for him. So begins Shadrach’s journey into the depths of Veniss’ underground – a journey that will take him to the mouth of some […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Balzac's War, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Jeff Vandermeer, Novella, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Veniss, Weird, Weird Fiction

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The Old Man and the Sea

April 27, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: An old fisherman, down on his luck after a string of 85 days without a catch, sets out to sea again with the aim of catching a big fish. But when he snags a giant marlin, a battle begins that will take him to the edge of his abilities. The Review: What is there to say about this book that hasn’t already been said? It is a perfect novella. It feels handmade, in the way that the best […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 5+, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Classics, Ernest Hemingway, Fiction, fishing, Hemingway 2016, Literature, Novella, Reviews, The Old Man and the Sea

Winter

April 15, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Revolutionaries fleeing a failed operation in near-future England, in the midst of a Second English Revolution, head for the Scottish border. There, they hole up in a house with two strangers – one of whom might be more than first meets the eye… The Review: First, a little background. Unsung Stories is a new publisher out of the UK, with a few beautiful-looking novels to their name – and, kicking off just a few months ago with Winter, a series of […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dan Grace, Dystopia, Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Mystery, Novella, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Unsung Signals, Unsung Stories, Winter

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New Year’s

May 12, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: Aurit Arazi, a smart young writer, has struck up a friendship with another young writer named Nate Piven. They’re both seeing other people at the time and quickly become very close friends – but as New Year’s approaches and both of them are single, the question begins to float into Aurit’s mind: could they be more than friends? The Review: Adelle Waldman’s The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. was a rare accomplishment in a novel – it was a woman […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Adelle Waldman, e-original, Fiction, New Year's, Novella, Picador, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Novella

The Ballad of Black Tom

Roundup, October 2016

The Devil in America

Veniss Underground

The Old Man and the Sea

Winter

New Year’s