My Booklist #10

Just Finished: Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, by Claudia Gabel. Okay, I'll admit it - this one was campy fun. Shakespeare borrowed plenty from the myths and histories of his time and rewrote them, so this actually makes some sense. Wasn't so happy with the epilogue-ending but the rest I liked fine, plus Benvolio's got more guts in this version.

Currently Reading: Don't Take Away The Light by J. N. Williamson. Picked this and few others of his up after reading Gary Braunbeck's writing memoir, To Each Their Darkness. Took a few tries, (mostly because I'm still obsessed with Repairman Jack), but I'm into it, now. Williamson is another one of those horror writers who wrote stories of substance rather than falling on the same old cliches and tropes, so I'm sure this'll be a good read.

On Hold For Now: Ghost, by J. N. Williamson. See above about Williamson. This one, however, didn't take for some reason. Mostly because I think I've decided I don't like the mix of first person and third person, plus it took too long to get INTO the story, seemed to waffle too much in tongue-in-cheek satire of the agents of Hell and Heaven. Anyway, I'll come back to this later.

Recently Finished: Reality Check, by Peter Abrahams. Really liked this. Tight narrative, clipped tone - very noir, and nary an emo vampire sparkling anywhere. Some teen adventure that WASN'T paranormal romance, you dig? My only quibble with this is its ending: seemed to wrap up too neat and nice and convenient. Other than that, I loved it.

Reprisal, by F. Paul Wilson. If I'm gonna dive into a new mythos, then I gotta cover all the bases. Reprisal follows up The Tomb and Reborn, tracking the rebirth of Rasalom, Repairman Jack's future enemy. Not only was this some satisfying, good old fashioned horror - once again, with a vampyric monster that's ACTUALLY frightening - I love how Paul Wilson can switch voices. The master of POV and characterization, he is. To quote Abe Isher of Isher Sports Goods: "I should be so good as him."

JUST Finished RIGHT THIS MINUTE: Infernal, by F. Paul Wilson. He continues to do it. Drag me from novel to novel. Of course, I'm playing catch-up so it's more addicting knowing I've got all the sequels on my shelf, waiting to be read - but STILL. Anyway, I've already said it, but it bears repeating: if I can give my characters as strong and as varied voices half as well as Paul does, that will be a very, very good thing.