Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!
FIVE STROKES TO MIDNIGHT is a handsomely made and handsomely written hardcover edited by Gary Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble, with an introduction by Tim Lebbon. Authors Tom Piccirilli, Deborah LeBlanc, Christopher Golden and both editors contribute fine pieces of horror, although not the category horror of too many anthologies. And since each writer has two or three stories included, the reader gets a range of forms and styles. Highlights for me include Piccirilli’s “Berveavement,” one of his most powerful pieces; Braunbeck’s cleverly conceived and perfectly executed “Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway,” about the mercurial and confusing elements of relationships; LeBlanc’s “Bottom Feeder,” a great old-fashoned/new-fashioned take on magic; and Schwaeble’s “Midnight Boogie Blues,” the barn-burner of the book, and a tough tale; and Golden’s extraordinary “Breathe My Name,” a fusion of fabulism and folk tale. This is a collectible and a keeper in all respects. –Ed Gorman
Personally, I’ve never cared for them (it’s a texture thing; you wouldn’t understand), but journalist Dan Koeppel is simply, er, bananas over bananas. He pays tribute to and explores the mysteries of the ap-peel-ing food in BANANA: THE FATE OF THE FRUIT THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. He chronicles their beginnings – they were the true “apple” in the biblical Garden of Eden, he suggests – to the subjects of science they are today. I wasn’t as interested in the country-by-country history he details as I was the various cultural aspects, such as the original Chiquita banana theme, whose lyrics appear here, or the 2001 suicide of a leading banana scientist. Even during the brown slow spots, the chapters are so short that each can be read in the time it takes to eat a … well, you know.
Lower those expectations for THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER, kids. Although it’s not bad, it’s nowhere near the kick offered by its pair of predecessors. More of a transitionary tale, it follows younger versions of Allan Quatermain and Mina Harker as they play spy games, struggling to keep possession of a folder full of files on the League’s history. This includes pieces of rambling period fiction that utterly bore (yes, Alan Moore, we get it – you’re oh-so-clever), but also the occasional spark, such as a stitched-in Tijuana bible with Orwellian overtones. The end is in 3-D for no good reason, other than maybe to disguise the fact that the narrative has gone completely off the rails. Kevin O’Neill’s art still astounds, however.
After FANTÔMAS and ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF, Penguin Classics continues to show it’s open-minded when it comes to determining what’s a classic by issuing the anthology DASHING DIAMOND DICK AND OTHER CLASSIC DIME NOVELS. Forerunners to the pulps, the late-19th-century dime novels were serial-style publications covering a wide variety of genres. As compiled by J. Randolph Cox – who provides an informative intro – so does this collection of five short novels. The titular Dick tale is a cross between a Western and a swashbuckler, but also included are a baseball story, an airship adventure, a historical war story and an early mystery featuring detective Nick Carter. While some are clearly better than others, none are that particularly well-written. But that’s not the point; this one’s all about having it for posterity. Bonus points for including the original covers. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• ALBION by Alan Moore, Leah Moore and John Reppion
• BERSERK by Tim Lebbon
• BLOODSTAINED OZ by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore
• THE EVERLASTING by Tim Lebbon
• THE FEVER KILL by Tom Piccirilli
• FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli
• KEEPERS by Gary A. Braunbeck
• THE MIDNIGHT ROAD by Tom Piccirilli
• MR. HANDS by Gary A. Braunbeck
• THE MYTH HUNTERS: BOOK ONE OF THE VEIL by Christopher Golden
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