Author: Tracy
-
Burnt Offerings (1973) by Robert Marasco
Burnt Offerings (1973) by Robert Marasco is a quirky novel, full of things that might be interpreted as flaws: An ambiguous malevolent force, a lack of characterization, an element of tonal dissonance, and a series of loose ends. But Marasco is an alchemist who transforms this dross into literary gold. Or at least silver. While…
-
Rosemary’s Baby (1967) by Ira Levin
During my week off, I revisited some of the genre’s modern classics, the novels that moved horror from the moors and the gothic mansion into the city apartment or suburban home. While all of my selections were fun to read, one of them really stood out for its continued relevance: Rosemary’s Baby (1967) by Ira…
-
Live Girls (1987) by Ray Garton
Does it matter what part of the body a blood sucker bites? I asked myself this question after reading Ray Garton’s Live Girls (1987). If we consider the OG vampire, Dracula, the answer is a resounding “yes.” He leaves visible neck wounds to claim the women he wants and challenge the men who would stand…
-
Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley
Here’s an embarrassing admission: Until this week, I had never read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). The reason for this omission in my education is simple. Without having studied the novel, I already knew that it was an exploration of the existential questions raised by a hubristic and masculine science. Its plot and images are part…
-
Lone Women (2023) by Victor LaValle
Lone Women (2023) by Victor LaValle explores how the extreme conditions of a frontier setting can foster more fluid and creative affiliations. Without an entrenched social order to govern interactions, a Montana homesteading community makes it possible for Adelaide Henry, a woman of color, to adopt new identities and participate in unlikely partnerships. While this…
-
Kill Creek (2017) by Scott Thomas
This review contains spoilers, but you should read it anyway. It’s horror–things end badly. Kill Creek (2017) by Scott Thomas makes two moves at once: It describes the process of sanitizing America’s racist past while it participates in that process, modeling how black history is erased. If there is a critique of white-centric storytelling and…
-
I, Vampire (1990) by Michael Romkey
Review by guest commentator VamPullet I, Vampire (1990) by Michael Romkey avoids the potential challenges of organizational vampirism by giving us monsters with big personalities. Their nearly unlimited power poses a plot problem, but not one glaring enough to diminish my enjoyment of the book. The novel purports to be the personal journal of David…
-
How Dear the Dawn (1987) by Dave Pedneau
Review by guest commentator VamPullet In How Dear the Dawn (1987) by Dave Pedneau (aka Marc Eliot), a slaveholding vampire from the Antebellum South terrorizes a beach town. While this sounds like a mashup of Interview with the Vampire and The Lost Boys, it isn’t nearly as good as either one of these works. Still,…
-
Helpmeet (2022) by Naben Ruthnum
Helpmeet (2022) by Naben Ruthnum is a literary experiment that explores the relationship between language and pain. If you are interested in how writers negotiate the narrative problems posed by suffering characters, then I highly recommend this book. But I urge you to read it even if you have zero interest in the craft of…