A Momentary Taste of Being

Sometimes you're browsing through the fiction in the library and for no reason at all a book falls off the shelve and into your hands.  You look into it, evaluating, wondering.  You're caught by a sentence on the first page, or perhaps your eye crosses a paragraph further on in the novel and you're caught. I have many such experiences, but, like most blind dates, they don't work out.  You take them home for a leisurely read and you wonder, "Now what exactly did I see in this book?"  I bring home piles of books every week.  In fact, I am single-handedly responsible for keeping the library funded in my county--I keep those books and other materials moving in and out at a pace defying imagination.  Bring home two bags with thirty potential candidates and wind up returning sixteen of them the next week.  The others age well on my to-be-read shelf, but eventually they too make it back to the library--mostly unread. Michael Zadoorian's book was one s...

I last had the pleasure of reviewing Mr. Zeltserman's work with the really creepy and wonderful The Caretaker of Lorne Field .  That book was superb, readable, in all ways truly a fine example of the type of work it was. I'm pleased to say that this book was also rewarding and entertaining, although I must say that it didn't quite hold together as well as Lorne Field.  Mr. Zeltserman has a strong prose style that draws the reader in and holds his or her attention until the book has ended.  His characters are interesting and the plot--a serial killer loose--was sufficiently interesting to hold our attention. In addition we are introduced to a character with a very special and very rare ability--a fascinating ability that I am certain shall play an important role in the books to come.  And it seems fairly clear from this one that there is at least one more book to come.  This is certainly a welcome note for me. I think my biggest quibble with the book is tha...

21 Stories sounds wonderful

Blood Crimes reviewed Mr. Zeltserman produced one of the bang-up books of last year, and it has become obvious that I will have to look more carefully at his oeuvre.  This series, in particular has garnered praise in many corners.

David Zeltserman, author of one of my favorite books last year, blogs on Vampires

The Succubus Vlado Zabot This one sounds as though it could be quite interesting.

Stefan Zweig--an author it sounds like I must become more acquainted with Via Books Inq.

A review of The Angel's Game

In a word--superb.  A horror novel, a meditation on faith and belief, the story of a modern Job, and perhaps much, much more.  I tore through this book at a prodigious rate--especially notable given the reading doldrums in which I have found myself for the past several weeks/months. The Caretaker of Lorne Field is the story of Jack Durkin, the 9th generation of Durkins given the task of tending to a field in the middle of nowhere.  And 9 generations of Durkins is only the beginning because one gets hints that Native Americans before this also tended the task.  Bound to the laborious task of weeding the field from sun-up to sun-down from first frost to winter thaw by an elaborate contract that details every aspect of the job, Durkin is paid $8,000 a year and given a house to live in.  This is not enough for his wife, who while happy enough at the prospect of the job at the beginning has seen no cost-of-living increase in the 20 or so years she has lived with Ja...

One of the great books of science fiction, indeed a great, thoughtful book by any measure, Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light is reviewed at the Guardian Books Blog.