This is an interview with one of the authors from our new anthology, TexArcana! Lamont Turner wrote the story “Looking for Laredo.”
Interview with TexArcana Author Lamont Turner
Cover Reveal: TexArcana
What happens when Texans encounter ghosts or when they stumble into mysterious underground lairs? What secrets lurk in the tall prairie grass on a dark night? What darkness might emerge from Texas' bloody past?
From spine-chilling tales of monsters, ancient orichas, and antediluvian horrors to light-hearted stories of wayward teens and library covens, TexArcana is a collection of twelve fantasy short stories from various authors, all set in Texas. These stories reflect some of the magic and mystique of Texas, from its days as a rugged frontier up to its dynamic present.
Review: Three of Neil Gaiman's Graphic Novels
I’ve been trying to take my children to the local library for books at least once a week this summer, and of course, I find tons of books there as well. However, I already have such a stack of books to read on my nightstand, that I decided on my last library visit to focus on checking out graphic novels, which are very quick to read, and often quite expensive to buy. Luckily, the local library has a nice collection of graphic novels.
The first to check my eye was Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples, which has a very beautiful, arresting cover. Once I’d picked it out, I decided I should go all in on reading Neil Gaiman graphic novels, so I picked out two more, A Study in Emerald and Violent Cases. I had read the short story versions of Snow, Glass, Apples and A Study in Emerald, but Violent Cases was completely new to me. All three books had very unique settings and very original art styles.
Cover of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel, Snow, Glass, Apples, illustrated by Colleen Doran
Snow, Glass, Apples had to be my favorite, both as a story and because I loved Colleen Doran’s illustrations, which suited the creepy, unsettling nature of the story. Gaiman’s story is so strange and yet based on such a familiar story, but with so many horrifying twists. I have read what Gaiman himself wrote about this story—that he wrote it to prove to an audience that fairytales, even in this day and age, even though they’re so familiar (or perhaps because they’re so familiar) have great power. And this one certainly does.
The art style is (according to notes by Colleen Doran), inspired by Harry Clarke, and Irish illustrator and stained-glass artist famous for his illustrations of Hans Christian Anderson fairytales and Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories. What ever inspired them, the art is gorgeous, free-flowing and surreal, yet exquisite and detailed.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes fairytales or fantasy (though it is definitely not a children’s book, so parents should be careful), and who enjoys graphic novels.
Cover of Neil Gaiman’s A Study in Emerald, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
A Study in Emerald is a Cthulhu mythos/Sherlock Holmes mash up (as you might guess from the title and cover). I enjoyed the story quite a bit, though I read it as a short story before I saw the graphic novel. I loved the world of this story—it would be a amazing to have a whole novel set in this kind of universe. Though, honestly, perhaps because my imagined imagery was different or more ominous, I felt the story lost a little something for me in the graphic novel format. Still, the illustrations are beautiful and disturbing.
I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes or Cthulhu, or anyone who enjoys creepy, unsettling stories.
Violent Cases is the first collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, and one of the first published comics either man worked on. The story is very dreamlike, sometimes highly realistic, sometimes very surreal. I liked the idea of these ordinary people knowing mobsters like Al Capone, and seeing both the monstrous and the human side of such a larger than life man. Somehow, the personal details of the stories make Capone even more terrifying. I also liked the idea of a half-remembered but very disturbing childhood memory sort of haunting the protagonist.
Overall, I’d recommend Violent Cases to anyone who enjoys dreamlike graphic novels, especially ones with a little bit of noir.
Review: Black Thorn, White Rose
One of the great things about having a nice long Christmas break is that I finally get the time to read through all the books I’ve steadily accumulated over the year. This Christmas, in part because Covid has kept us from going out or doing many parties/activities/concerts, I have read a lot of books!
One I read recently is Black Thorn, White Rose, a collection of fairytale retellings edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. I’d read a couple of other books in their collections of retellings (The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest and Black Swan, White Raven) quite a while ago, and I was interested to read more. Black Thorn, White Rose is the second book. Like other books, I didn’t love every story, but most of the stories were entertaining and fun to read, and a couple were brilliant little gems. I loved Godson by Roger Zelazney, Tattercoats by Midori Snyder, and The Black Swan by Susan Wade. Godson is a dark and clever tale with plenty of funny little twists to keep it interesting. Tattercoats is a sweet and touching story about a married woman reconnecting to her husband by exploring her dark, mysterious, and wild side. I loved that this story shows that even a happy marriage takes work, and that sometimes exploring and freeing ourselves is the best way to connect with another person. The Black Swan is something of the opposite of Tattercoats—it’s more of a haunting fable about the consequences of someone molding themselves to shape the desires of the people around them, and maybe about the subtle and heart breaking consequences of not recognizing that a true love would never want a change like that.
Cover of Black Thorn, White Rose
The only story I could not get into was The Sawing Boys by Howard Waldrop, which had maybe just too much dialect and too many characters with complicated names. I got confused and skipped over it.
I also had mixed feelings about Peter Straub’s Ashputtle. It was a very intense and horrifying story, but some of the madness and violence felt like it came out of nowhere. I could quite grasp the main character’s intense hatred of her stepmother or the child in her care, and some of the rest of the story felt too bizarre to really make sense. It did, however, have some visceral and powerful imagery.
There were also several stories I enjoyed, including Stronger Than Time, Words Like Pale Stones, Ogre, and The Brown Bear of Norway. Both Stronger Than Time and Words Like Pale Stones were haunting tales, while Ogre was a charming comedy about community theater. The Brown Bear of Norway was a strange and sweet romance about adolescence and change.
Overall, like their other collections, I’d recommend Black Thorn, White Rose to anyone who enjoys fairytales and fantasy short stories. It’s fun and quick to read, and I always love seeing a creative spin on beloved stories.