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Feb. 3rd, 2010 11:56 amPost-op update +Preliminary Stoker ballot +Twisted Ladder review
I had my post-op checkup on Monday and everything is healing fine, although there is still a bit of achiness and some slight bleeding. I made an appt. to get my new pair of prosthetic eyes made in mid-March, after LJ user alexx_kay gets back from GDC. A. did a bunch of online research so he is armed with all srts of pictures and descriptions of the Delirium eyes that I want, so we will find out if my ocularist is going to stop being such a mundane about this.
Mostly I have just been reading and sleeping--Elizabeth Kostova's _The Historian_ (2005) was my favorite book to nap to, hundreds of pages in which nothing happens, and considering it is about Dracula and evil books, that is quite an accomplishment.
Ellen Datlow has posted
the 2009 PRELIMINARY STOKER BALLOT
http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/245990.html
but I have only read two of the books on it: _The Writer's Workshop of Horror_, which I highly recommend, and _Twisted Ladder_, by Rhodi Hawk, about which I feel really conflicted. I'm including my review below the cut, and if anyone is interested in having my print copy, I can bring it along to Boskone. I'm also culling the fantasy section of my print library and, if I remember correctly, will bring the results to Boskone and add them to the free books table. I'll post a list of what I am bringing next week, in case anyone wants dibs.
Kestrell's review of Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk (2009) [scanned myself]
It's rare that I feel this conflicted about a book but, while there is plenty to recommend this novel, it also has some serious shortcomings, which probably would not stand out so much if the overall quality of the writing wasn't so well done.
What I liked:
Rhodi Hawk does an outstanding job at portraying the richness and diversity of New Orleans and Creole culture, and includes an impressive amount of detail on everything from the food to the various and varied forms of architecture.
The novel has a great premise:
( continued below cut )
I had my post-op checkup on Monday and everything is healing fine, although there is still a bit of achiness and some slight bleeding. I made an appt. to get my new pair of prosthetic eyes made in mid-March, after LJ user alexx_kay gets back from GDC. A. did a bunch of online research so he is armed with all srts of pictures and descriptions of the Delirium eyes that I want, so we will find out if my ocularist is going to stop being such a mundane about this.
Mostly I have just been reading and sleeping--Elizabeth Kostova's _The Historian_ (2005) was my favorite book to nap to, hundreds of pages in which nothing happens, and considering it is about Dracula and evil books, that is quite an accomplishment.
Ellen Datlow has posted
the 2009 PRELIMINARY STOKER BALLOT
http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/245990.html
but I have only read two of the books on it: _The Writer's Workshop of Horror_, which I highly recommend, and _Twisted Ladder_, by Rhodi Hawk, about which I feel really conflicted. I'm including my review below the cut, and if anyone is interested in having my print copy, I can bring it along to Boskone. I'm also culling the fantasy section of my print library and, if I remember correctly, will bring the results to Boskone and add them to the free books table. I'll post a list of what I am bringing next week, in case anyone wants dibs.
Kestrell's review of Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk (2009) [scanned myself]
It's rare that I feel this conflicted about a book but, while there is plenty to recommend this novel, it also has some serious shortcomings, which probably would not stand out so much if the overall quality of the writing wasn't so well done.
What I liked:
Rhodi Hawk does an outstanding job at portraying the richness and diversity of New Orleans and Creole culture, and includes an impressive amount of detail on everything from the food to the various and varied forms of architecture.
The novel has a great premise:
( continued below cut )
