#al sarrantonio

[thefugitivesaint]

Gary Ruddell, ''Campbell Wood'' by Al Sarrantonio, 1987

[detroitlib]

From our stacks: Cover detail from Sebastian of Mars. Al Sarrantonio. New York: Ace Books, 2005. Cover art by Matt Stawicki.

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Hell yeah, now I have all but five of the Babylon 5 novels. All I need now are Final Reckoning, Casting Shadows, and the novelizations of In the Beginning, Thirdspace, and A Call to Arms.

I love how the titles on some of these range from boring and utilitarian to amazing:

Also, they chose some interesting angles to show the station from on a couple of these:

[smbilodeau]

Stories

Finished reading (aloud, to my spouse) "Stories" edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.

An anthology of 27 stories by some of the best writers around (circa 2010) meant to make you ask "And then what happened?" Weird, wonder-full, creepy, thoughtful, horrific, heartwarming; there's something for every taste in here, and marvelously well presented.

Personal favorites include "Juvenal Nyx" (Mosley) and "Stories" (Moorcock.) Highly recommended.

[humanoidhistory]

Jim Burns cover art for Moonbane by Al Sarrantonio, 1989.

[retroscifiart]

Art by Gary Ruddell for ‘Campbell Wood’ by Al Sarrantonio (1987)

[sprachgefuehle]

First of all: as someone who would also love some weird/obscure books that aren’t YA, when you have a list would you be comfortable posting the recs you’ve gotten?

Secondly:

Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood. Retelling of Shakespeare’s Tempest. Really good.

American Gods, Neil gaiman. Long, kind of dense, good fantasy.

Stories, a short story collection edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.

Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell

Watership Down, Richard Adams

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer

Drive Your Plow over the Bones Of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk

People of the Book, Geraldine brooks

Dogsbody, Dianna Wynne Jones

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

World War Z, Max Brooks (no really)

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss—I’m genuinely unsure if this one counts as YA or not, but I came to it as an adult reader well past my YA phase and loved it, and it does not “feel” like a YA novel, so I’m including it. I’ll warn that it is the first of two books published in a proposed trilogy, and the third one has been stalled for like ten years, but genuinely I think it is worth a read even if the trilogy is never finished.

Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes, Henry van Dyke—I read this recently when I got it in a subscription box that focuses on reprints of older, out of print books the editors think deserve more circulation than they’ve gotten. I enjoyed it. Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott was in the same box, though I haven’t read that one yet.

Ah sorry, your ask must have slipped past me in my notifs! I don't really have a list but almost everyone added their recs in the notes, so you can find all of them there.

Out of those, I just read Schwarzenberg by Stefan Heym. It might be a bit dry for some people but it was just right up my alley and I will be thinking about it for some time for sure. And currently I am reading Perdido Street Station by China Miévielle. Final judgement is still pending but it does fall into the vague genre category of Weird Fiction and so far I like it.

And thanks for your recs of course!

[trioxina245]

‘Campbell Wood’ [by Al Sarrantonio, 1987], cover art by Gary Ruddell

[trashmenace]

Death ed Stuart David Schiff

Death ed Stuart David Schiff 1982, Playboy Paperbacks

Two Bottles of Relish by Lord Dunsany (orig Time & Tide, Nov 12, 1932)

A variation on a locked door mystery - a body disposal without leaving the house mystery. This one stayed with me since childhood, though the premise wasn't as locked in as it could be.

Deathtracks by Dennis Etchison

A Nielson family survey taker visits a couple who look for hidden messages in TV laugh tracks to explain why their son died in Vietnam.

Always Together by Hugh B. Cave

One elderly twin murders the other and keeps up a ruse that she's still alive. A good setup for a twist in the tale which never happens.

Toilet Paper Run by Juleen Brantingham

Engaging story set in a girls' reform school, but the ending felt tacked on to fit the genre.

The Green Parrot by Joseph Payne Brennan (orig Weird Tales, July 1952)

Another boring entry in the "that person you thought was alive turns out was already dead" style of ghost story.

Fragment from a Charred Diary by Davis Grubb

Comedy piece about a man using a voodoo doll to commit the political assassinations of the 1960s, escalating from there.

The Scarf by Bernice Balfour

A disfigured woman concealing her face with a scarf and a curious newspaper delivery boy.

Sentences by Richard Christian Matheson

Comedy twist in the tale about a man getting his life rewritten.

Prickly by David A. Riley

A child corrupting Satanist with a monkey familiar kills himself in a British tenement building. Years later, strange creatures scuttle the halls, and children sing nursery rhymes about Prickly.

The Kennel by Maurice Level (orig Tales of Mystery and Horror, 1920)

A cuckold husband finds the body of his wife's lover and disposes of it.

Onawa by Alan Ryan

An adoptive native girl with a taste for blood

A Telephone Booth by Wade Kenny

A gambler can get tips from the future from a pay phone.

Straw Goat by Ken Wiseman

Folk horror with murderous farmers and a sacrificial straw goat.

Horrible Imaginings by Fritz Leiber

Long piece about a creep being obsessed with his neighbor, which I skipped.

The Blind Spot by Saki (orig Beasts and Super-Beasts, 1914)

Comedy piece about a killer servant.

The Dust by Al Sarrantonio

A simpleton shut-in is obsessed with dust.

It Grows on You by Stephen King

A vignette of small town misery which feels more like background to a fuller story. It's been re-written a few times, and later versions may be more tied in to the Castle Rock mythos and be more explicitly horrific. Something about a house getting a new wing built connected with people dying, but not much meat on the bones here.

The Copper Bowl by George Fielding Eliot (orig Weird Tales, December 1928)

Nasty proto-shudder pulp yellow peril story of a French Legionnaire's love being tortured by a Chinese despot.

From Amazon https://amzn.to/3vkEvlR

[discoidal]

downloaded Stories edited by neil gaiman and al sarrantonio again bc LISTEN sometimes we need to reread the books that changed us at age 10

[eamcostyle]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Dangerous Visions 1967 BCE Editied by Harlan Ellison Fine Condition.

[ladybugsbookishcorner]

ladybug’s bookish corner

‘00 | they/them comparative lit student 

important links

storygraph rating system review masterlist

recent uploads

the ocean at the end of the lane by neil gaiman the final empire by brandon sanderson

currently reading

Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

some extra info

🕮 for the most part my reviews are spoiler free, and if it happens that I write something that does spoil, I will put a warning 🕮 every review is also up on storygraph 🕮 i dont have a set way i write reviews so they’re gonna mostly sound like ramblings, bc i mostly write reviews for myself 🕮 i made this to be able to talk about books with people who read the same as me, because there’s not a lot of common ground outside of the cirriculum and there’s a severe lack of discussions, so please hit me up with a recommendation, ask me a question, i am very interested in hearing other peoples thoughts

[thefugitivesaint]

Roger Garland, 'Roger in the Womb' by Al Sarrantonio, ''Heavy Metal'', Vol. 3, #1, May 1979 Source

[brightbeautifulthings]

Halloweenland by Al Sarrantonio

"'I've never seen anything like this, ever, Bill! I'm a doctor! Who the hell is this "Sam"?' Grant waited a moment before answering: 'He's the thing you fight every day, Doc.'"

Year Read: 2017

Rating: 3/5

Context: I picked this up at a used book sale because it had Halloween in the title, and I have a problem. (Maybe several? They include a bottomless love for horror and pathological book buying, to start.) I realized after I bought it but before I started reading that it was third in the series, and then went ahead and read it anyway. Life offers so few chances to be a rebel.

About: Detective Bill Grant is used to the "weird shit" that happens in Orangefield every Halloween, but either he's getting older or the shit is getting weirder. When a hit and run accident results on some strange events, Grant knows it has something to do with Samhain, the ghostly Lord of Death who rules over Halloween. It isn't until a sinister carnival called Halloweenland is set up outside of town that he realizes the "weird shit" this time might actually lead to the apocalypse.

Thoughts: I don't think it's completely necessary to read this book with the rest of the series. I didn't have any trouble following the plot or the characters, although I suspect a reveal late in the novel lacked some of its punch for me because it connects to earlier plots. It has a nice Halloween atmosphere, and it's a fun, easy ride for fans of paranormal detective fiction. I may go back and read them eventually if I happen across copies, but I probably won't go out of my way either.

The novel starts with an awkward sex scene that actually ends up being one of the creepiest moments in the book, but... I'm just not sure I would start a detective novel that way. I’m fine with an occasional steamy romance novel, but I probably would have put it down if that weirdness continued. Fortunately, it doesn't. The writing is passable but not overwhelming, and the pacing is strange due to a five year gap in the timeline and an unnecessary and undeveloped field trip to Ireland. Structurally, I wasn't that impressed by it.

Detective Grant is basically the stock detective: tragic past, drinks too much, but is incredibly good at his job. I like him because I like that archetype, but it isn’t exactly groundbreaking. The rest of the characters are fleeting and forgettable, with the exception of Samhain. While I love the idea of incorporating him as a character, it wasn't as effective as I'd hoped. The rule for most monster films (or books) is that the more screen/page time the monster gets, the less frightening it is, and Samhain gets considerably less frightening as the novel goes on. (My favorite Samhain character is still the one from Trick ‘r Treat.) The most interesting interactions take place between Grant and Samhain though, and if I were going to read any of the other Orangefield novels, that would be why. He's certainly more interesting than the actual villain, which is a flatly evil child of Satan that the story doesn't do much justice. Her motivation for ending the world is pretty much because that's what children of Satan do. Yawn.

The back cover promises a creepy, Halloween-style carnival, and I'm always chasing stories like this after falling fast and hard for Something Wicked This Way Comes--which is really unfair because who can compete with Ray Bradbury? No one. And Halloweenland doesn't even come close. The place barely features until well toward the end of the novel, and other than a nonsensical tour through the freak tent, there isn't much to it.

There's a novella called "The Baby" at the end of my edition, which is word for word the first seventy-five pages of the book with a minor twist in the last two pages. I was skimming after the first few chapters and a little annoyed that more hadn't changed--otherwise, why bother to include it? For all the buildup, the changed ending didn't make a lot of sense, and it doesn't bring anything more to either story.

[phantastische-illustrationen]

Al Sarrantonio - Exile of the Five Worlds (Donato Giancola)

[chaotic-luna]

So it's getting colder I'm Brazil since Autumn is coming (it's actually already Autumn but it's getting colder just now).

Today I finished 1984 by George Orwell and I'm impressed. Such an impressive book. Highly recommended.

Since I've finished 1984, I think it's time to renew my TBR and rethink my next reading list. For April I chose Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, an anthology organized by Al Sarrantonio and Neil Gaiman, it's Stories: All New Tales. The stories are all about magic and creatures.

And finally I chose an ebook which is the bear and the Nightingale in English.

I have already started it before but I ended up not finishing.

By the way I will continue Flores para Algernon. I can't remember it's name in English now. But it's such an amazing scifi book.