Matthew Pearl continues to mine the vein he struck six years ago with THE DANTE CLUB, and then THE POE SHADOW, with his latest literary/historical mystery, THE LAST DICKENS. And, as the title suggests, this go-round he takes on another Big Kahuna of English Literature, Charles Dickens, and his unfinished final novel, THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. There is quite a lot to admire about this latest from Pearl, but not without its price.
The story takes place mostly in 1870, when word of the death of Charles Dickens reaches Boston and the offices of his American publisher, Fields & Osgood. Dickens previously completed and published the first six installments of his latest novel, and the world awaits the final chapters that promise to resolve the mystery of the book’s title character. James Osgood, the publishing firm’s young partner, sends trusted clerk Daniel Sands to the shipping docks to receive the pages as they arrive from England. But then Daniel is found dead, and the manuscript is missing.
[click to continue…]
For seven years, Cemetery Dance’s has kept readers abreast of the best in modern horror short fiction with the Richard Chizmar-edited SHIVERS anthology series. After a short delay that derailed the franchise’s annual publication, SHIVERS V is now out, and definitely worth the wait.
It doesn’t take long to get properly unsettled, either, once Sarah Langan relates a road-tripping couple’s backseat encounter with “The Burn Victim,” an unwitting passenger who’s awfully messy after having his skin burnt raw by the desert sun. However, the cringes it induces are nothing compared to those generated by the acts of perversion in Mick Garris’ “Forever Gramma.” It’s worth repeating: The guy’s talents are best suited to the printed page, not the silver screen.
[click to continue…]
Most self-published books are self-published for a reason: Because no one else wants them. Brian Moreland’s SHADOWS IN THE MIST is an exception. After a successful run on its own in 2006, the occult horror thriller got a second chance last fall when Berkley issued it as a paperback original. Moreland tells BOOKGASM how the book that sits on the shelves today got there, and the changes it encountered along the way.
BOOKGASM: Not a ton of novels get a second chance at being published by the majors after being published by the minors. What is it about SHADOWS IN THE MIST that made it worthy?
MORELAND: I think it was a combination of hard work, persistence and luck. I had written a World War II thriller about the Nazis and the occult that I was passionate about getting published. After years of rejections from literary agents, I decided to put the destiny of my writing career into my own hands.
[click to continue…]
A sampling of some of the bizarro search terms with (thankfully) low numbers that brought people to BOOKGASM over the last 30ish days:
• reading is annoying
• phone call blackmail will kill book
• how can i get excited about my life
• how to become completely lame
• rabid nun
[click to continue…]
Hope everyone had a good Earth Day last week. Remember, we have five full sets of six earthy titles from Hachette Book Group to give away in celebration, including IS IT JUST ME OR IS EVERYTHING SHIT?: INSANELY ANNOYING MODERN THINGS by Steve Lowe, Alan McArthur and Brendan Hay, and Taylor Clark’s STARBUCKED: A DOUBLE TALL TALE OF CAFFEINE, COMMERCE, AND CULTURE.
Here’s who’s getting the goods:
• Carol Grubbs of Zephyrhills, Fla.
• Carol Mintz of Monroeville, Pa.
• Gerald Tilley of Decatur, Ill.
• Vanessa Dow of Smiths Falls, Ontario
• Amanda Brown of Anderson, Ind.
Everyone else, buy them at Amazon.
