BOOK REPORT

LORNE CHAMBERS

Author + Poet + Journalist

BOOK REPORT — What I've BEEN READING

SILVER NITRATE

When I heard that Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new book Silver Nitrate delved into classic horror cinema, the occult, and a mystery surrounding a “cursed lost film,” I couldn’t wait for its release this summer. As a movie buff and a huge fan of her work, I couldn't have been more excited about this one. Ever since 2020's Mexican Gothic, she has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Moreno-Garcia's stories live right on the edge of eerie while resisting typical horror tropes. To me, they're more character-driven thrillers with majorly creepy elements that always have a touch of the supernatural. A modern master of speculative fiction, she has a knack for making the preposterous somehow seem plausible, often by providing explanations for strange phenomena that are rooted in some kind of hard science.

In both Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau Moreno-Garcia uses botany and biology respectively to explain things that are otherwise unbelievable. In Silver Nitrate, she toys with chemistry and its role in the occult. While the science may not completely check out in the real world (at least in our world), she does always make it feel possible, and that's enough for me.

Moreno-Garcia clearly does her research when writing a novel. This is something I really respect in her work, especially for an author who seems to be heading toward a Stephen King-level of prolificacy. Since 2019 she has produced a novel a year with no signs of slowing down. In Silver Nitrate, Moreno-Garcia flexes her cinematic knowledge, especially with classic Mexican horror, as well as the occult.

All that being said, this book has not resonated with me in the way that I had hoped it would or in the way that Moreno-Garcia's previous novels have. Maybe that's just because my own expectations for it were so high. Even still, it's an entertaining yarn.

For me, the protagonist lacks the sparkle that is the trademark of the author's previous leading ladies. Montserrat is literally described multiple times as "plain" but then given a limp as an easy way to try and make up for her utter lack of anything remarkable. Of course, this is supposed to be why Montserrat is often overlooked in her career and her social life. But it doesn't make for the type of compelling characters that I've come to expect from the author. On top of that, the dialogue falls flat in many places, even cliché at times.

Despite any knocks I have on this book, Moreno-Garcia remains a wildly entertaining storyteller who knows how to weave a spooky tale. For that alone, Silver Nitrate is a fun summer read.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED

A Novel by S.A. Cosby

This is not your standard crime/suspense story. S.A. Cosby is carving out his own corner in the genre with his new novel All The Sinner Bleed. A book that's equal parts gritty crime thriller and Southern gothic creep-fest.

Titus Crown is not your cliché hardboiled cop character from a pulp fiction paperback or noir novella. He's a Black, former FBI agent-turned sheriff of a small town in rural Virginia who's faced with an unthinkable evil. He's also tasked with trying to keep the town's racial tensions at bay, which are being stoked on all sides at all times.

While Cosby's many metaphors are at times overwrought, they do pay homage to the crime novels of yore from which he surely draws inspiration. At the same time, the author takes great care to not rely on stock characterizations. He also doesn't tiptoe around the topical and very real social issues that divide this country, particularly below the Mason-Dixon line.

Cosby exposes the racism and bigotry that's pervasive in small towns all across the South. He looks the Confederate flag-wavers straight in the eyes and calls them out for being the hypocrites they are.

But beyond the poignant social commentary is a really, really cool crime tale full of twists and turns and oozing with eerie Southern Gothic goodness. It's all packaged in a tight novel chockful of beautiful writing. All the Sinners Bleed is bold, unflinching, and refreshing. Cosby breathes new life into a tired genre.

THE BEAST YOU ARE

Stories by Paul Tremblay

Admittedly, I'm a horror junkie. I grew up reading every Stephen King book I could get my hands on, flipping through the newest issue of Fangoria every month, and renting whatever scary movie that Video Variety and Pic-a-Flic had to offer. I still love it. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is to sit at a near-empty movie theatre at like 1 o'clock on a Tuesday—when all decent people are at work—get a bucket of popcorn and a box of Bunch-a-Crunch (I have to smuggle it in because my local theatre no longer carries it) and watch whatever new horror movie is out (the good and the bad).

While I'm fine with a good slasher flick, I tend to steer away from the Saw torture-porn stuff if possible. What really gets me excited though are haunting and strange stories that crawl under your skin and bed down for a good while. I feel the same with horror literature. And this is why I love Paul Tremblay. His stories have a way of starting sweet and cute and then slowly turning and turning and before you realize it you're uncomfortable.

The Beast You Are includes 15 off-kilter short tales (well 14 short ones and a novella-length title story). They're deliciously creepy and many will stick with you long after you close the book.

Tremblay is a rare talent that crafts horror narratives that are also literary gems and not formulaic commercial cash grabs. They're beautifully-written stories that still manage to scare the crap out of you.

If you're not familiar with Tremblay's work, he's best known perhaps for writing The Cabin at the End of the World, which was recently made into a feature film by M. Night Shyamalan entitled Knock at the Cabin. And The Pallbearer Club remains one of my favorite works of modern horror.

Anytime that you have 15 stories in a collection, there are sure to be some clunkers, right? That's really not the case with The Beast You Are. These stories are tight and entertaining. While most feel like a version of our world that is just a little off-center, the titular story is a wild tale about a civilization of anthropomorphized creatures who must sacrifice one of their children to a monster every 30 years. Meanwhile, there is a cult and a serial killer on the loose. On the surface it sounds bonkers—and it is—but Tremblay is able to pull it off in a way that you become fully-engrossed in the story.