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Review Round-up: The Werewolves of Genre

Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf, Allison Moon's Lunatic Fringe and Benedict Smith's The Pack - three 2011 werewolf releases. Are werewolves the new vampire?

If Glen Duncan is to believed: absolutely not.

In The Last Werewolf, Jacob Marlowe, werewolf, is as thoroughly un-vampiric as possible (both in the classic and modern interpretations of the monster). Marlowe is a visceral, passionate, animal - filled with a  pungent predatory aggression that permeates his every action. The problem is, he's all musked up with nowhere to go. Marlowe's the last of his kind, and has spent the last two hundred years coming to terms with this morbid fact.

Mr. Duncan's book focuses on Marlowe as the animal-man - both superhuman and subhuman, a sort of walking Id. That alone would fill the pages of a dozen books. (Marlowe, in fact, keeps a fairly detailed journal. I'm surprised it hasn't been optioned by Starz.) He fucks and eats and smokes and fucks and fucks a bit more (there's a lot of fucking - not lovely passionate sparkle sex, but panting, sweaty mounting).

But, after two centuries, now what? Marlowe's tried indulging himself and reforming himself, and all variations in-between. But even the lustiest animal eventually tires and he's become a very old dog indeed.

Golden Tentacle Finalist: The Samaritan by Fred Venturini

Horror isn't about fear of death, not really. Horror is about something more primal, more basic: fear. The best horror novels (and the worst, and a lot in between) are steaming with fear: fear of death, yes, but also fear of pain, fear of anger. Of rejection. Incompetence. Meaninglessness. Vulnerability.  Sex. Society. Identity.

Fear of one's self.

Is it any wonder that so many horror novels feature teen-aged or college-aged protagonists, characters who are of an age when those concerns are totally consuming?

Fred Venturini's The Samaritan begins where a lot of horror begins: middle school. Thirteen-year-old Dale finds himself at the mercy of a group of really awful, but attractive, girls; going along with whatever humiliation they're inflicting on him is terrible, yes. But it also makes him the center of their attention, however briefly, and (being a horny 13-year-old boy), that's exactly where he wants to be - again, however briefly.

[A few unavoidable spoilers from here - sorry! To be safe, skip the next few paragraphs.]

The experiment yields unexpected results when Dale winds up making friends with a guy called Mack, an all-around awesome, athletic, funny, boys-want-to-be-him girls-want-to-do-him type, who tries to teach Dale about self-respect. Their friendship continues through high school, though Dale's self-hatred never quite allows him to buy what Mack is trying to sell him. A series of testosterone-fueled run-ins with a violent senior (high school senior, not senior citizen) named Clint leads to tragedy, when Clint rapes the girl Dale's in love with and murders her and four other students. He also gives Mack a career-ending wound and shoots Dale through the hand. And possibly the head.

The day Dale removes his bandages, he finds he's wholly healed - everything that had been shot off has regrown.

Inky Tentacle Finalist: The Last Werewolf

The Last Werewolf
Glen Duncan
Design by Peter Mendelsund
Canongate

The cover of The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is elegant and understated with beautiful proportions. Each word and graphic is placed purposefully on the page in a balanced and deeply pleasing composition - the hardback is an object I want to hold and show off as I sit on the train.

It is smart in so many ways; it's clean and its economy of imagery leaves it refreshingly unfussy. The title and author's name are the same size font, equal, no unfathomable hierarchy here. It is also a well-chosen font with just enough serif to keep things interesting but not so much that it becomes a faff; contemporary but not so fashionable that it will be evoking cringes in six months. The texture of the paper gives a density to the deep blue-black; Anish Kapoor void-like, it rings of an eternal midnight sky. And, of course, the simple and evocative phases of the moon shining out. Full to new, graphic and eloquent, nothing more is needed. [Catherine]

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From 16 January to 3 February, members of The Kitschies' judging panel will be discussing all of the 2011 finalists. Each review only reflects the view of that judge, and should not be taken as representative of the panel's collective opinion or final selection.

You can find the complete list of Inky Tentacle finalists on The Kitschies' site. Please join in the discussion below and on our Facebook page.

PK Interview: The Girls' Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse

One of our favourite new sites is The Girls' Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse. And judging by the numbers, we're not the only ones charmed by their madcap and far-ranging discussion of one of genre's hottest topics. The blog's editors have given us Christmas music, cocktails, tips on dating and accessories and a seriouss discussion of which of the Crowleys would be the last to die.

We got in touch with Adele (reviewer, zombie queen and feral leader) to get a look behind the scenes. Why is the Apocalypse such a hot topic right now? And why a guide specifically for women? The "Apocalypse Girls" delivered us a half-dozen answers to these burning questions.

Tales to Terrify - Scared Yet?

Tony Smith, the Hugo award-winning podcaster behind Star Ship Sofa, is taking a step towards the scary with his new project, "Tales to Terrify".

Mr. Smith's recruited a crack team as well. "Tales" will be voiced by Lawrence Santoro, edited by Smith and literary blogger Harry Markov (one of our personal favorites) and supported by reader Sarah Hendrix and art director Church H. Tucker (see the foxy image to the right).

The podcast has a mission to "interpret horror in all of its nuances and manifestations", and has already promised stories from Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Gary McMahon, Caitlin R. Kiernan and Nick Mamatas. 

The first episode of "Tales to Terrify" will be released on 13 Friday (of course)

We're not podcast listeners by nature, but with "Tales", "The Readers", "Dark Fiction" and rumors of a return from another of our old favorites (no spoilers here), we're dusting off our headphones. 

New Releases: 13 - Tales of Dark Fiction

A quick look at Morpheus Tales' new collection, 13: Tales of Dark Fiction (2011), reveals gratuitous mayhem, many varieties of unpleasantness and quite a lot of black humor.

The collection brings together some of the darkest minds in horror and lets them roam free. As a result, the collection is a mixed bag - with some definite gems and a few tales that are a little too unrestrained.

My preference was for the stories that maintained a slightly tighter focus. Although Andy Remic's "Mongrel Days" introduce his Anarchy series (including the recent Theme Planet), the story is an excellent standalone shoot 'em up. Mr. Remic excels at MegaViolent^TM action and cliff-hangers and both these specialities are on full display in this dystopian gun-brawl.

10 Recommendations for Your New e-Reader

Well, according to everything we've read (mostly from the Amazon News Corps), something like 112% of humanity just received some sort of digital e-reader thing for the holidays. 

In the off-chance you're one of them: congratulations! If there's one thing that eBooks are great for, it is enabling the discovery of new and wonderful books, books you never would've stumbled upon otherwise.

To help get you started, here are ten great books that we've found recently - and never would have, if it weren't for our digital toys.

Review Round-up: High school, horror and hooved mammals

Another skim through short stories, featuring Catherynne Valente's "White Lines on a Green Field", Oliver Onions' "The Beckoning Fair One" and O. Henry's "Hearts and Crosses".

Catherynne Valente's "White Lines on a Green Field" (2011) is a creative retelling of the Coyote myth, set in a contemporary American high school. Coyote, that charismatic troublemaker that he is, brings both his blessing and his curse to West Centreville High. This average Everyschool suddenly becomes a hub of excitement and activity. On the field, Coyote leads the football team to victory after victory. Off the field, Coyote leads the entire school into a libertine berserker state. The parties grow wilder, the fights grow bloodier, the drinks go stronger... basically, his very mythic presence turns a real high school into that of "Gossip Girl". I like "Gossip Girl". I also like the Coyote stories, football and a good teen movie. But somehow, this still left me feeling a bit cold.

I've struggled a bit with Ms. Valente's writing in the past (I think referring to Deathless as "like being beaten to death by dried flowers" pretty much encapsulates my relationship with her work). And I found many of the same challenges in "White Lines on a Green Field". The characters are icy, poetic avatars with neither warmth nor humanity to them. The style is beautifully composed, but also quite affected, turning the narrator into a fairly incredulous imitation of a high school student. Bunny (yes) is a mythic archetype of a different tradition - the airy, artsy, savvy, sassy, sensitive poet that we all wanted to be but never were. 

The Readers x Halloween Special

We make a cameo appearance on this week's episode of The Readers, listing some of our favourite horror books.

Our picks are below the jump, but if you'd like to hear our so-called 'reasoning' behind them (as well as a few anecdotes), you should swing over and listen to a mighty fine podcast. 

Friday Five: Horror Movies

Halloween is all kinds of wonderful. When we were kids, we used to go trick or treating. Then we had about ten years of dressing up as sexy witch/cat/scientist/aliens and doing horrible things to our livers. Now we just want to go trick or treating again. But until society says that's not creepy, we'll bide our time by watching scary movies.

Our Friday Five guest this week is Solaris & Abaddon's Jonathan Oliver, who edited the recently released House of Fear anthology, one of the scariest collections we've read in years. As the hottest name in horror, we thought we'd get Mr. Oliver's recommendations on some scary movies to watch in the dark.