Three more very good novels

Some novels I have no problem summing up in a few lines; for others it's an agony and far too much time goes into trying to write something intelligible. Here are a few for which I've had a very difficult time (partly because I enjoyed the books so much, I want to do justice to them). All I can say is read them! They're terrific.

Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand (Small Beer) is the author’s first foray into the psychological suspense thriller and it’s a doozy. Cass (Scary) Neary is a prickly, pill popping protagonist best known for the photographs of dead people she took during the punk scene. Now she’s on an assignment/pilgrimage to backwoods Maine to interview the reclusive photographer who so strongly influenced her own work. What ensues is engrossing and horrifying.

Spook Country by William Gibson (Putnam) is not horrific, but there’s a dark undercurrent of paranoia threaded throughout this tense and satisfying, overtly political “caper” novel. It’s a perfect successor to Pattern Recognition. A former rocker, now a journalist is on assignment for a magazine that doesn’t yet exist, a pill popping break-in wizard is stuck with a paranoid secret ops loony, and a young Cuban is involved in mysterious information transfers. And they’re all converging on a huge shipping container with a mysterious something inside. This all makes for great entertainment.

Fangland by John Marks (Penguin) is a surprisingly original vampire novel about a young associate producer sent to Transylvania to vet a mysterious crime lord for an interview on The Hour (modeled on 60 Minutes, Marks’ former workplace), a major newsmagazine show in New York. The crime lord, actually a vampiric creature who infects victims with the voices of humans killed in atrocities throughout history uses the woman’s connections to worm his way onto the twentieth floor of The Hour—dubbed “fangland” by its denizens. Every time the reader thinks she knows where the story is going, it takes a neat half turn away from the obvious.

Some favorite collections in 2007

I'm still reading but these are so far the outstanding horror collections:

The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books) is probably the most eagerly anticipated debut horror collection of 2007 and it’s one of the best of the year. Barron’s a stylist who creates believable and flawed characters, and his short fiction (usually novellas or long novelettes) often delves into Lovecraftian depths and brings up new takes on very old monsters. The eight reprints and one original novella are completely engrossing. Three of the stories were reprinted in earlier volumes of YBFH and two others would have been if they’d been shorter. A special nod to the jacket artist and designer respectively: Eleni Tsami and Claudia Noble.

Stains by Paul Finch (Gray Friar Press) is the author’s second collection. Finch’s fiction is visceral and usually is set in the contemporary UK. His first collection, Aftershocks, won the British Fantasy Award and this new one will likely be on the award’s short list. Included are eight stories, including three new novellas, two of them very good. The attractive hardcover has jacket art by Zach McCain and an introduction by Simon Clark. Not as consistently good as Barron, but very good indeed.

Old Devil Moon by Christopher Fowler (Serpent’s Tale) features mostly new stories from this prolific writer of horror and mystery fiction. Although some of the stories are thin, they’re all entertaining, and there are a handful that are wonderfully creepy.

Dirty Prayers by Gary McMahon (Gray Friar Press) has some effective stories among the twenty-five pieces of fiction, but it would have been a stronger collection if the interstitial “psalms” were deleted along with the vignettes, preserving only the cream of the crop. That said, there are some very good originals in the book.

And just so you all know, I rarely spend much time on collections with no original material. So I may very much like a collection that's all reprints, but unless I'm very familiar with the author's work, I won't say much about it.

Fiction collections I've received in 2007 so far

Twice Dead Things AA Attanasio Elder Signs Press galleys
The Complete Stories David Malouf ( two originals) Pantheon
You are the Fly James Cooper Humdrumming Press
The Attic Express Alex Hamilton Ash-Tree one original
The Imago Sequence Laird Barron Night Shade
Over the Darkening Fields Scott Thomas Dark Regions Press
That’s Entertainment Robert Neilson Elastic Press
World Wide Web & Other Lovecraftian Upgrades Gary Fry Humdrummung
The Best of Robert E. Howard vol. 1 Crimson Shadows Del Rey
Fairy Tales for Writers Lawrence Schimel A Midsummer’s Night Press
HebrewPunk Lavie Tidhar Apex
The Spiraling Worm David Conyers & John Suneri Chaosium
Dirty Prayers Gary McMahon Gray Friar Press
Stains Paul Finch Gray Friar Press
The Guild of Xenolinguists Sheila Finch Golden Gryphon
The River Knows Its Own Jay Lake Wheatland Press
The Girl Who Loved Animals Bruce McAllister Golden Gryphon
Cat O’Nine Tales Jeffrey Archer St Martin’s
Voyeurs of Death Shaun Jeffrey Doorways Publication
12 Collections & The Teashop Zoran Živković PS Publishing galleys
Ugly Stories for Beautiful People James Burr Corsega Press
Lair of the Dreamer Franklin Searight Hippocampus Press
When it Rains Christopher Fulbright Doorways Publications
God Laughs When You Die Michael Boatman Dybbuk Press
Worshipping Small Gods Richard Parks Prime
A Thousand Deaths George Alec Effinger Golden Gryphon
Vanilla Bright Like Eminem: Stories Michael Faber Harcourt
The Nail and the Oracle Theodore Sturgeon North Atlantic Books
When we were Six Heather Shaw Tropism Press
Stranded V.L. McDermid Amble Press
Dagger Key Lucius Shepard PS galleys
Closing Time Jack Ketchum Gauntlet
Matinee at the Flame Christopher Fahy Overlook Cn galleys
Omens Richard Gavin Mythos books
The Fat of Mice Susan Palwick Tachyon
The Last Mimzy Henry Kuttner Del Rey
Going Back Tony Richards Elastic Press
M is for Magic Neil Gaiman Harpercollins
Out there in the Darkness vol 1 Collected Ed Gorman PS
The Moving Coffin vol 2 Collected Ed Gorman PS
Scratching the Surface Michael Kelly Crowswing
The Midnight Hour Neil Davies Screaming Dreams
Smothered Dolls A .R. Morlan Overlook Press Connection galleys
Living Shadows John Shirley Prime
The Mathematics of Magic L. Sprague de Camp & Pratt NESFA Books
In Fear and Dread Derek M. Fox Rainfall Books
Cthulhu Australis David Conyers Rainfall
Death Songs of Carcossa John B. Ford & Steve Lines Rainfall
Tales of the Phantom Moon Andy McILvain Rainfall
The Involuntary Human David Gerrold NESFA Books
Balefires David Drake sw2e3Night Shade
The Door to Saturn Clark Ashton Smith Night Shade

If you've got a collection out this year, it has horror or very dark fiction in it,and it's not on this list, please ask your publisher to send it to me (or ask first, there may be a few things not yet logged in).