A mixed bag of horror fiction from three of Britain's most innovative practitioners—Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, and transplanted Texan Lisa Tuttle—in the third volume of an ongoing series. Editor Martin introduces the fare by delivering the sort of "horror fiction is literature" testimony that today is de rigueur for any horror collection with literary, pretenses—like this one. Martin promises that this "showcase anthology" gives its writers "freedom, and the challenge of producing the very best work of which they are capable" in 30,000 words each. Who says the British love a challenge? Overall, the work here is a cut above average for the genre, but only at par for the represented authors. Of Campbell's seven stories, only the first, "In The Trees"—a spooky gem about a man lost in a woods haunted by what appear to be animate, craved walking sticks—and the last, "Bedtime Story"—an unsettling tale told from the point of view or a boy who may or may not be a psychopath—rise sharply above the drearily experimentation of the others. Tuttle's three stories share the vagueness of Campbell's, but, in a refreshing change of pace, all feature female protagonists; the best of the lot is "The Dragon's Bride," detailing the eerie ways of a matriarchy of—dragons? Rounding out the collection is Barker's contribution, "The Hellbound Heart." Although not creme de la creme Barker, this novella is a nerve jangler—and confirmation of why his is the most exciting voice in horror fiction today: a deft blend of poetry and gore about a lacquered-box puzzle, whose solution permits access to a fantastic world of excruciating, overwhelming sensuality. A sturdy collection, somewhat disappointing given the proven talents of the contributors, but still better than most of its kind.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0913165123
Page Count: 225
Publisher: Dark Harvest
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1986
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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