Cirsova magazine remains the best thing happening in retro SF today. I am way behind in my Cirsova reading, but that didn’t stop me from picking up issue number 9. Or from picking up five copies of Cirsova issue number 9. Obviously that is an amount of love I need to spread.
Issue no. 9 even features a story by official Friend of the Blog (FOB) PC Bushi.
So I’m giving away one copy. What do you need to do for a chance to win?
Today’s post over at Hillbilly Highways is a review of We Sold Our Soul, Grady Hendrix’s horror novel that updates the old story of selling your soul to the devil to a modern, metal context. His book is creepy, disquieting, unsettling…everything you want out of a horror book.
Originally I was just going to run my review of Grady Hendrix’s We Sold Our Souls over at my SF blog. But selling your soul to the Devil has a rich history in hillbilly storytelling, from Robert Johnson to The Devil Went Down to Georgia[1] to Some Dark Holler. Dolly Parton’s music is an important plot point. And it has lines like this:
Every song was the same song. These were songs for people who were scared to open their mailboxes, whose phone calls never brought good news. These were songs for people standing at the crossroads waiting for the bus. People who bounced between debt collectors and dollar stores, collection agencies and housing offices, family court and emergency rooms, waiting for a check that never came, waiting for a court date, waiting for a call back, waiting for a break, crushed beneath the wheel.
That?
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Volume 30 of The Walking Dead picks up where Volume 29 left off. An expedition from Alexandria et al. discovers a new community—the largest one The Walking Dead has ever seen. It looks to be fascinating, allows for one big reunion(!), and sets up potentially a lot of story. The slow moments and the emotional beats here are also very, very good. The volume is only hurt by some characters making some decisions that frankly don’t make a lot of sense and by some wooden dialogue. But I am really excited to see where this goes.
4 of 5 Stars.
It being the anniversary of 9/11, I have a post up over at the other blog using 9/11 to demonstrate the weaknesses of lumping people together into generational cohorts.
No review post today, but I should get a review of Vol. 30 of The Walking Dead up tomorrow (probably my only post here this week – all of the action is at Hillbilly Highways).
Some demographers—who are wrong—erroneously label me a Millennial. I prefer Generation X. Or at least the Oregon Trail Generation. I would demand satisfaction, but some from my cohort would acquiesce. And demographers are like cockroaches. You catch one out in the open, you can bet another ten are scurrying down the halls of some dank, outdated academic building.
On the other end of the range, some demographers extend the definition of Millennial to cover people born as late as the early 2000s. Pew uses 1981 to 1996.
As my thoughts turn again to 9/11, I am reminded of the limitations of grouping people by generational cohorts. I was in college during 9/11. I am teaching Millennial college students who may have no conscious memory of 9/11. Can we really fairly be categorized together?
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The Pre-Tolkien Fantasy Challenge was made by Alexandru Constantin over at the Barbarian Book Club. The rules are simple:
Identify 3 Fantasy stories written before Lord of the Rings was published. 3 stories written before 1954.
Review all three on your blog, focusing on pre-Tolkien differences or similarities, and making sure you let us know where we can find them for ourselves.
Share the challenge.
I will do him one better and review three fantasy stories that were published before The Hobbit was published in 1937. Although they will be less reviews and more focused on the comparison to Tolkien (you didn’t think I was done with Tolkien, did you!?).
I haven’t read any of Grady Hendrix’s fiction yet, but I love Paperbacks From Hell and his essays. His fiction is definitely on my radar. When I saw the premise for his newest book I had to jump on it. (And the publisher was kind enough to provide me with a review copy that I will be cracking open in the next few days.)
Can’t Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings.
August was a big blog month! Every month has been big for the blogs lately. I wrapped up my Tolkien 101 series after 19 posts. And, after a weak summer for both reading and non-Tolkien reviews, I posted 4 non-Tolkien book reviews and 8 total book reviews across both blogs. It was also my best month ever for views at Every Day Should Be Tuesday by a healthy margin, and I managed to finish 7 books (the same number that I acquired).
no-angel already knows dragons exist
