#Nicholas herring

[rain-goodreads]

“Some Hellish” by Nicholas Herring — Rain’s Book Review & Fan Cover (+ Speedpaint!)

Hey happy readers!

Rain here. Welcome to my first blog post. Today, I will be compiling my book review, fan cover artwork and explanation for said artwork for the rock-lobsterin’ book “Some Hellish” by Nicholas Herring! 🦞

(You can get the book from Goose Lane Editions using the link here! : https://gooselane.com/products/some-hellish)

I have already put the speedpaint of the fan cover above as an introduction, with the song “Bad Apple!!” by ZUN (Cover by RichaadEB and Christina Vee) playing in the background. Read my explanation below for more details.

Without further ado, here we go! 📚 🗣️

The Book Review (also available on DigitallyLit here: https://www.digitallylit.ca/product-page/some-hellish)

Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring is a charming blend of contemporary, philosophical, and slice-of-life fiction. It follows the expedition of a PEI lobster fisherman and his complicated relationship with himself, his life, and those around him. It is a reflective and empathic journey toward forgiveness, transformation, and love that also manages to balance the harsh realities of substance abuse, self-hatred, and regret.

The story follows a middle-aged lobster fisher named Herring, who leads a semi-impoverished life on the ocean harbours of Prince Edward Island. His life is falling apart at the seams: he buries the family dog on Christmas Eve, his wife and children leave him, he is in a constant losing battle against alcohol and financial struggle, his reputation is quickly dwindling, and his living room is now left with an enormous hole in the floor after a fit of blind anger. After being saved from a drunken truck crash by a group of passing monks, Herring and his similarly troubled friend, Gerry, go lobster fishing on the M&M (Herring's boat), high on acid, to cope with the misery of their lives. After a careless accident, Herring falls overboard and is lost at sea for days, presumed dead. But just when the world begins to mourn his loss, he miraculously survives, coming back to his broken life a new man: determined, bald, and willing to do better.

I found Some Hellish to be a beautifully written, thought-provoking work of literature in which I was thoroughly immersed until the very end, which gave me an equally undeniable impression that lasted even days after reading. It did an honest job of crawling inside the human psyche and exposing man's darkest, most vile contemplations and his most passionate aspirations and perseverance toward fulfillment and purpose. It did not hesitate to call out the thoughts that we hate to-- or would never—admit thinking (ex., secretly wanting a friend to suffer after they've wronged you or admitting to admiring the virtues we lack in someone we hate).

Additionally, it could paint a vivid, realistic picture of the Maritime lobster fisherman lifestyle, describing the realities of its intense physical toils, the general uneducated, drunken, anti-technological societal outlook, the turbulent weather, poverty and often quite disgusting normalcies of animal guts and lack of personal hygiene. (Needless to say, it isn't sunshine, lollipops and rainbows…).

I found the book's honest portrayal of both psychological and environmental aspects admirable, and I caught myself guiltily relating to Herring but happily comparing his unfortunate circumstances to my own many a time.

Though I found the book to be a bit slow in terms of plot progression, as most of it centred around character development and the slow harbour life rather than an action-filled overarching narrative like most stories, I ironically found that its sluggishness and focus on the people and personality rather than plot added to the charm, portraying itself as true-to-life and ultimately a story I enjoyed reading through. (After all, real life isn't a 24/7 MARVEL comic-book story with bad guys to defeat and cities to save… in truth, we're all living Herrings in one way or another.)

My favourite line from this book is:

"Well, at the end of it all," he said, "I guess you could say that I was willing to die so that people could eat. No matter all the stupid shit I've done, I'll always have this. Be able to say this about myself. And that's not nothing, huh." (paragraph 1, page 311)

In all, while Some Hellish may not be everyone's cup of tea (and if you can't stand the thought of reading the obscure existential crises of a middle-aged drunkard for 325 pages, this may truly be some hellish for you…), it is undoubtedly a book that merits its prestigious Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and one that deserves the recognition and praise it has now. With its poetic disquisition, memorable characters and environment, thoughtful philosophical overtones and humane message of hope, it is a truly unforgettable experience that I strongly urge any stoic, deep-thinker and enjoyer of moving storylines to dive into.

Overall, I give the book a solid 4.7 out of 5 rating.

I recommend this book!

The Artwork + Explanation

Before we begin, I’d like to first warn you of…

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!! 🚨 ‼️

So take caution before reading ahead…

Anyhow, here is the completed fan cover artwork and the explanations for its symbolism! Enjoy.

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this post and hopefully found your new fave! 😉

Thank you as well to DigitallyLit and Goose Lane Editions for the awesome read. 😎

And with that,

Rain out. ✌️

[pacipinka]

*taps mic* is this thing on? Yeah okay so every vampire in the vampire chronicles is turned at critical a moment in their lives and beyond just the body they are in when they are turned, their mentality stays at that standstill for their entire immortality, Lestat was turned against his will, he was clinging onto Magnus begging him to be freed, so he’s constantly seeking freedom and only finding loneliness and thus turning back to people again and again, however he can’t STAND being told what to do, since he desires agency in his life so desperately, Armand was turned after years and years of abuse and lack of control but such a desire for genuine love, by a man he ‘loved’ so wholly who he felt was barring his love from him, he needs control in his life, he needs a ‘master’ but he does not desire it, it does not fulfill him, he is trapped in a room but the door is unlocked! Louis was mourning his brother, he felt like an utter failure and so he’s always seeking family, seeking people he can care for, he can coddle, he can prove he is good too, but he loves people who either cannot stand coddeling and need a sense of looseness to live (Lestat) or people who grow out of coddling who prove to Louis he will always fail the people he loves (Claudia), Claudias turning, in many MANY ways mirrors lestats in that it was against her will, she was stolen from her home, and in her immortality she desires freedom but unlike Lestat does not have the agency/ form to get it, she will always be small, she will always be looked down on, even by Lestat who cannot deny how much she is just like him *taps mic* ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!! NONE OF THEM CAN BREAK THE CYCLE!!! TO BREAK IT WOULD BE TO UNDO THE VERY FIBER OF THEIR IMMORTAL SELVES!! THE CYCLE IS THE BLOOD THEY DRINK IT IS THE HEART IN THEIR CHEST AND IT ROLLS AND ROLLS DOWN THE MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS OF THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER AND IT CAN NEVER BE STOPPED BECAUSE THEY WILL NEVER STOP LOVING EACH OTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zipadeea]

RIP Lorna Wu, the only person who actually understood the purpose of the Witches' Road song. Nicky Scratch would have loved you.

[raepliica]

i think they should take turns cuddling for healing purposes

[ngatwa]

[kiaraalazulu]

stryfewood week day 1: accidental meeting

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

“You were made from scratch”

her own baby boy, made from her magic

that’s how he got the name Nicholas Scratch

[tolbyccia]

hi new people, here’s some mess i never posted on twit for the occasion

[zillychu]

local girl fights public bathhouse and loses

[checkadii]

they are picking up angelina from some repairs they cant diy

[allbuthuman]

part 7(?)

[ohitslen]

Sketch dump :)

[kaogens]

thats not nicholas the punisher thats THE CUNTISHER

[sarcasticmothdraws]

Fem!Wolfwood

[llamahearted]

they were playing & milly had been planning to lean in and catch her priest man off guard with some joke, but. well. now she's forgotten whatever-it-was she was gonna say

[appropriatelystupid]