Mar 27 2024
subtitled Stories Inspired by J. G. Ballard. And what stories! In fairness, it’s hard to write anything nowadays about climate change, dystopias or class-stratified urbanization (and certainly not technological erotica, vehicular or otherwise) without being able to trace influences back to that same scrappy, complicated kid who was the focus of Stephen Spielberg’s WWII movie …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/27/reports-from-the-deep-end-edited-by-maxim-jakubowski-rick-mcgrath/
Feb 24 2024
As settings for a post-apocalypse story go, the Moscow Metro is pretty cool. It’s vast, it’s full of secrets, parts of it were actually designed to survive a nuclear war, it lends itself to an episodic tale with lots of changes of scenery. I’m not sure that a whole lot more thought went into it …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/02/24/metro-2033-by-dmitry-glukhovsky/
Feb 11 2024
Vasily Grossman is one of the great writers of the twentieth century, and The Road is a very good place to start reading his work. Born in the Ukrainian city of Berdychiv when it was part of the Russian Empire, Grossman experienced the Bolshevik Revolution and the ensuing civil war as a teen. He began …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/02/11/the-road-by-vasily-grossman/
Feb 08 2024
I genuinely did not expect this first installment of the new middle grade horror series The Doomsday Archives to be quite as accomplished as it is but dang, what an impressive series debut! New Rotterdam is one of those creepy coastal New England towns that definitely inspired H. P. Lovecraft’s Innsmouth (OH! I wonder if …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/02/08/the-wandering-hour-by-zack-loran-clark-nick-eliopulos/
Dec 12 2023
This somehow slipped through the cracks for me at Halloween, but it’s a really tremendous read for the end of the year — or any time of year if you’re struggling with your emotions, and especially if you’re LGBTQ+, teenager or otherwise. Confetti Realms starts in a diner on Halloween, with three high-school-age friends making …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/12/confetti-realms-by-nadia-shammas-karnessa-hackto-oshiro-micah-meyers/
Oct 31 2023
I thought I’d bend my own scheduling rules and do a quick graphic novel twofer, reading and reviewing this for the last official day of Spooky Season, and I’m so glad I did! First, let’s talk about how creator Ennun Ana Iurov is actually Romanian, living in Romania and writing this brilliant little cautionary tale …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/31/whisper-of-the-woods-by-ennun-ana-iurov/
Oct 28 2023
Reader, I was invested. Possibly even enthralled. At one point, I thought “Matt Ruff, if you XXXXX, I am throwing this book right out of the train window, and possibly Lovecraft Country too as soon as I get home and put my hands on my copy.” Not because the event would have been cheap or …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/28/the-destroyer-of-worlds-by-matt-ruff/
Oct 16 2023
It should give you some idea of how expertly inhabited this male-protagonist-driven graphic novel is that I was genuinely surprised that the author and artist are both women. The story itself takes place just as pandemic lockdowns are easing in the USA. People are going to fan conventions again, tho with greater precautions than before, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/16/parasocial-by-alex-de-campi-erica-henderson/
Oct 04 2023
I love world mythology and folklore, so books like this are right up my alley. I super appreciate how Wendy Shearer and Teo Georgiev cover all the inhabited continents and draw out lesser-known scary stories from each corner of the planet, with a little extra bit about more famous tales to round out the experience …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/04/spooky-stories-of-the-world-by-wendy-shearer-teo-georgiev/
May 30 2023
The hallmark of a great graphic novel is that even in the wordless panels, you can still hear precisely what’s going on. There’s a big, climactic battle scene near the end of this book that’s entirely devoid of the written word, yet I could hear every single thing that was happening and to loud, orchestral …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/05/30/avas-demon-book-one-reborn-by-michelle-fus/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire