Read: Screwjack by Hunter S. Thompson, At The Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Reading: Magic For Beginners, by Kelly Link

Got distracted, and never posted these. So:

Screwjack was short - almost criminally short for a book that’s sold as a standalone work, given that I finished it in about twenty minutes. It feels more surreal than Thompson’s usual work. There are a lot of elliptical lines, and less savage than Thompson’s usual work - the violent moments are more like a drug-fuelled fever dream than Thompson’s dark heart. Still interesting as an afterthought to his work, though.

At The Mountains of Madness is my first Lovecraft, and I don’t think I’m yet in love with the man’s style. The visual leitmotifs are really arresting, and some images will stick with me for a long time, but I couldn’t help but notice that the novella was essentially devoid of character and that there is a lot of repetition (not always employed effectively). It’s probably important to note that as far as writing weird fiction, Lovecraft was one of the first; sadly, beyond its seminal nature, other writers have since aped his style with a great deal more skill. I’ll continue to read him from time to time (I have his complete works), and I might shift - I can’t help but wonder if his short stories are better.

Zoo City was brilliant - bleakly comic, tantalisingly savage and utterly fascinating until the very last page. It’s also refreshing to see a female protagonist in this sort of story - parts reminded me of the video game Beyond Good and Evil, though this has a much darker tone. Not what I was expecting, but fantastic - so read it.

Magic For Beginners was just quoted on my dashboard, and apparently the book has a fairly ardent fanbase - I’m excited to read it. Also, short stories! Who doesn’t like short stories? (Please buy my short stories.)