u/TheSkinoftheCypher

THE MUTILATION TRILOGY by Brian Evenson:

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MUTILATION with an introduction by Paul DiFilippo and a new afterword by Brian Evenson
LAST DAYS with an introduction by Peter Straub
PHANTOM LIMB with a new introduction by Luigi Musolino

Each is the first standalone hardcover of each tale. PHANTOM LIMB is the true first edition. All are Smyth-sewn with matching formatting inside and out, and all are signed by Brian Evenson. And all 3 titles are already published! Slipcases are in production and due within the next month or so.

There will be only 250 copies of each title, and offered in the following manner:

Copies #1-200 will be the 3-book set in a black slipcase with two-color stamping to spine and a red paper liner, and include a special bonus piece (more on this soon).
Copies #201-250 of each title will be offered as standalone copies, for folks who may desire only one or two of the books.

I'll share the full dustjackets soon. Prices still be finalized. The boxed set and the individual books will go on sale 1 week from today, on Tuesday August 25, Noon EST!

This novelette/short novella is part of an unconnected collection of books called Robot Dreams from Newcon Press. Deep Learning a is first person perspective of a servant robot who has their programming altered to suit different roles. This robot is named Unit 5709/aka Niner. Two scientists have created a new kind of software/functioning/etc to try on Niner which one of the scientists calls “deep learning.” Beyond this Niner is also connected to a special military unit of soldiers. We are not given specifics, but I presume these soldiers have implants in their brains. They transmit an overwhelming amount of information/stimuli/emotion/etc. to Niner.

Throughout the book Niner goes through more programming changes for various roles and we read about how it is affected as well as Niner describing the action/events/interactions/etc. Warom often uses short sentences, phrases, and dots to create a sense of robotic thought. This brevity is quite effective, engaging, and easy to follow.

The subject matter and themes are not new. However Warom's storytelling gives a compelling sense of what it might be like to experience the changes a robot goes though, or at least the changes in Niner. Definitely recommend, 3.5/5 stars.

My other recent reviews:
Alabaster: The Good, the Bad, and the Bird by Caitlin R. Kiernan, Daniel Warren Johnson, and Carlos Badilla(brief review of the 5th book in the Dancy Flammarion series)
Pradais by Fernanda Melchor(dark, disturbing novella)

This is an intense, upsetting novella. From the MC's perspective we experience his almost constant tirade of frustration, anger, rage, and humiliation. He dropped out of high school and only wanted to smoke and drink all day, yet he accedes to his mother's constant berating to apply for jobs and eventually she gets him hired to work at the gated suburb Paradais. We begin with Polo already working there and getting drunk after his shift with another teenager, Franco, who lives with his grandparents in Paradais. Franco is obsessed with another resident and is vulgarly regaling Polo with how he would fuck her. And thus begins the tirade of the book. Against Franco, who Polo calls fatboy; against Polo's mother, his boss, the place he works, the town he lives in, his cousin, his home, and more. It's an unpleasant and compelling read. I had to stop a few times because of how it was making me feel. When I read a book I become what happens, see it in my mind's eye and remember what I saw, instead of reading the text. So the visceral experience became too much. In this case due to it being Polo's thoughts of anger, desperation, frustration, etc I was often not seeing in my mind's eye, but becoming the tirade.

I'm unsure if Polo is an unreliable narrator. His thoughts are foul, hateful, and so forth, but he doesn't ever seem to lie about himself or what happens. Yet because of his hate, anger, and desperation I can't be sure he's skewing his perspective towards what degree of accountability he might have. He certainly doesn't think he's at fault in anything.

I read a few reviews saying this is about misogyny in the Mexican culture, as well as poverty, class, race etc. However I'm not so sure Polo is misogynistic, but instead filled with suppressed rage/frustration/impotence(not the sexual kind)/etc so he sort of hates almost everything, not just women? I'm not Mexican so there is very likely a lot of context I'm missing. I'm also not saying Polo is explicitly not misogynistic. Regardless of subject matter the prose isn't outstanding, and yet like I said it is a compelling read so the prose is definitely effective. 3.5/5 stars. Trigger warnings for >!child sex abuse!<, >!incest!<, >!descriptions of rape fantasies!<, >!murder!<, >!child abuse!<, and >!attempted rape!<.

I'm 70 pages into the book, though I think that equates to what normally would be 35 or so pages due to larger than normal text and large spacing between lines. At least in regards to what I'm used to. I'm not informed enough to make a discernment, but I'm wondering if it was made with genAI. It could very well not be. According to what I've read online Dereschuk is Ukranian, living in Russia, and is able to speak(and i assume read/write) in English. So if his first language isn't English it could be some of the reason why the book reads oddly. There are a lot of repeated statements, just worded somewhat differently. The prose feels kind of empty and overall from what I've read so far it needed an editor/better editor before being published as it is now.

So I'm curious if you've read it what do you think?

Also I am not implying or stating it is written with genAI.

If you have not heard of it, there's similarities. A wedding, growing dread, spooky stuff, stranger meeting the family for the first time, but I don't to spoil anything else. It's a movie, so obviously not the about seven hours of runtime as SVBiGtH. Very well acted, shot, etc. Highly recommend.

Do we every get any concrete hint about who killed Valance? I find it highly unlikely Ellen did it herself. Was Tom lying when he said he didn't kill Valance? Presumably this also means he didn't have someone else kill Valance. I've rewatched BSG a fair amount and never got any hint of who it was.

I've tried searching for this off and on over the years to no avail. The book might not have been published at that time, but the person who told me about it was reading a new looking hardback book and this was in 2001/2. The basic idea is that a cult of white people worshiped a god who was a black man in form or similar. That it was from ancient Egypt maybe? This cult needs a steady supply of black men(maybe women too?) to sacrifice to this god. This allows them to maintain their wealth and power. I'm not much for conspiracy stuff, but I am very curious as to what the author uses to support this idea. As if I'd be reading a horror novel, not something factual.

This book takes place in the south China sea area, the time period being I think between the two Opium Wars. The MC is a doctor, recovering opium addict, and an officer on one of the British navy's newest ships. This ship is massive(for the time period), have a lot of cannon, and a steam powered propeller. The ship is there to hunt Chinese, or of any other nationality, pirates. The crew notice a strange dot in the sky that gets bigger, then stays there. It does not disappear during the day or night. They assume it is a comet. You could call this cosmic horror in the sense that the horror is from the cosmos, but not in the traditional sense that of something humans can not comprehend. From my perspective everyone, save the 13 year old officer and maybe one other character, are bad people. Some more so than others. However the way Piazza writes about them I think we're supposed to find some of them ultimately honorable and decent men. They were the way they were because of the times, for which an argument could be made. I lack the knowledge required to evaluate the accuracy, but it seemed so. The only time I was taken out of this was the use of the term “neurons” and “neurology.” According to wikipedia neurons weren't discovered until 50 or so years later. I was able to finish this book, but I generally wouldn't recommend it. 2.5/5 stars. However, I think a lot of folks in r/horrorlit will enjoy it a fair amount more than I did.

If you're interested here are my other recent reviews:

Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyanchenko, audio book version. Urban fantasy academia.
Pretty Broken Punks: lipstick, leather jeans, a death or New York by Martin Belk. Memoir of Belk's time with SqueezBox! in Manhattan between 1988-2002.

I think the movie is from the late 2010s. 2020s is unlikely, but possible. A woman scientist/professor uses scientific apparatus to either study or contact the ghost/spirit world or both. If I remember correctly she has two assistants who are college students. One is a man, the other a woman. I think it was filmed in Spanish or Portuguese. I also think it's from South/Central America.