Artigos

unpleasant tales by brendan connell

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A real-time review by Paulo Brito.

From the comic to the shocking, from the refined to the visceral, and blurring the boundaries between all four – Unpleasant Tales is a remarkable new collection of some of Brendan Connell’s darkest stories. Drenched in gluttony and decadence and with a scope stretching from the depravity of rulers in ancient Greece and Renaissance Spain, to phantasmagorical body alteration in Zürich and New York, these are supremely refined and elegant, creepily intelligent and, of course, exquisitely unpleasant stories that pack a tremendous punch, both individually and collectively. Stories that will not easily be forgotten.

quote from http://www.eibonvalepress.co.uk

 

“Unpleasant Tales by Brendan Connell” it was published by Eibonvale Press.

It features 22 stories.

This is will be my second real-time review thanks to Des Lewis.

a dance with dragons

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Tenho este livro, A Dance with Dragons, para ler desde 2011. Li os primeiros 4 livros de uma assentada com um grande prazer. Depois esperei pacientemente pelo lançamento do quinto volume. Assim que esteve disponível comprei a versão original e comecei de imediato a sua leitura.

A questão é que até ao dia de hoje ainda não finalizei o livro e não estou, também, a visualizar a série – deixei de a ver na temporada 3 (salvo erro).

O motivo que me leva a não pegar no livro e retomar a sua leitura está envolto na penumbra: ou é o peso, mais pesado que um tijolo, ou o número de páginas, são 1152, ou apenas o não ter, realmente, paciência para histórias que se prolongam ad eternum.

São mais pensamentos avulsos ou diários de sanita.

caledonia dreamin’ – strange fiction of scottish descent

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Glaikit, mockit, droukit, drouthy, couthy, scunner, thrawn – the Scots language is rich with words too gallus not to glory in, dialect terms that deserve better than to be boxed away as precious oddities. Here we’ve collected some of the strangest writers of Scottish descent to bring these terms to life – that’s Scottish by heritage or residence, adoption or initiation…

Eibonvale Press

An anthology is only a good anthology if the stories that comprise it are balanced. If the quality of each story is more alternate than the electric charge, that anthology loses its value. And to achieve a uniform quality depends on both the writers / stories chosen as the theme that unites them. “Caledonia Dreamin’ – Strange Fiction of Scottish Descent“, edited by Hal Duncan and Chris Kelso, has a very interesting and challenging premise (“Our aim here has been to mine the language for its wealth, tasking writers to draw out of it whatever gem of a word caught their eye and to build a story around it in celebration, to stake a place for these words in the wider culture, beyond their usual confines.” page 11), but which may prove to be complicated to attain such uniformity.

Shortly I will say what I think.

sylvow by douglas thompson

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I write this review after rereading the book on telegram mode.

If at the turn of the millennium technology started to get better and better the human race also learn to use it without worrying to live in symbiosis with nature. Why to worry about nature if with our intelligence we can overcome nature, right? We see nature more as a powerful rival than an ally.

Some of the premises of Sylvow are based (or maybe not) on this idea, but the overall text’s semiotics are remarkably more significant and complex; Sylvow goes beyond… and is terrific and simply breathless the whole time.

Sylvow is a meaningful and thought-provoking book. Right from the start, I knew this was going to be a sur(real) book, and my opinion was not changed throughout the reading. It delivers such a strong message of fear, survival, hope and love, that leaves your mind devoted to thinking about it for a long while after. It made me think about all my creature comforts, and what is actually necessary in life.

Well done, Douglas Thompson!

a glimpse of the numinous by jeff gardiner

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“Impressive”, that’s the best description I could come up to label this book.

A Glimpse of the Numinous by Jeff Gardiner gave me the opportunity to travel between genres, images and identities, and with only one ticket. With comedy, romance, thriller, horror, this book it’s a truly marvel of multitasking; it is impossible to get bored during its reading – we are facing an astounding writer.

All in all, A Glimpse of the Numinous is no ordinary book. If you’re searching for linear stories, then this book isn’t for you. But if you want to experience something different, then by all means, buy the book. You will have some much fun.

baku, últimos dias de olivier rolin

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Este livro foi como a minha primeira leitura de Olivier Rolin puro encantamento. É um livro feito de farrapos. O autor cria com esses pedaços uma ligação profunda, não apenas com Baku, mas igualmente com o leitor.

Um autor que recomendo.

prioridades

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Ando realmente e totalmente alheio. Imerso na minha escrita, leituras, pesquisas, trabalho só hoje soube da morte de Mr. Nimoy. A verdade é que mesmo que soubesse não parava mais de dez segundos a pensar no assunto. Vivo com a dolorosa falta de quem realmente me faz falta e a amar perdidamente quem vive e me faz falta. São prioridades.

a thread of truth by nina allan

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After “The Silver Wind” I read the book “A Thread of Truth” also by Nina Allan (both published by Eibonvale Press), and I can’t get this book out of my head; but is normal that the stories by Nina Allan can affect the reader because she was a writing that’s dark, honest, emotional, brutal.

It was difficult to escaped the terrors of being a prisoner of a so well weaved stories, especially the last one – in short an astonishing book.

what the giants were saying by david rix

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What the Giants Were Saying is accompanied here by the shorter work that inspired it, Red Fire, a piece that pushes the boundaries of extreme horror into a visionary and surreal world of love and pain, great white moths and tattooed skin, and above all, into the world of story itself.

Eibonvale Press

What the Giants Were Saying, with a perfect set up and with a great structure, is a strange story about domination and guilty, about dreams and fear, about pain, about hell and anguish, about refuge: no salvation, no cure. What the Giants Were Saying is a trip in your mind. Is deep, complex and multi-layered. Lots to take in, lots to read again and enjoy.

David Rix takes things to the extreme. It’s delightful how the story constantly establishes new points without ever getting monotonous. It gets hard to believe that the ending will be able to explain everything and I start speculate about that there can only be one possible conclusion for all the events – no conclusion at all.

To me the biggest achievement of the book is, that it’s never creepy just for the sake of freaking the reader out; every line has its purpose. Nonetheless, it is a very disturbing, but also compelling and mesmerized, book.

the slow regard of silent things by patrick rothfuss

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Some days simply lay on you like stones. Some were fickle as cats, sliding away when you needed comfort, then coming back later when you didn’t want them, jostling at you, stealing your breath.

from The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Esta história de Patrick Rothfuss é realmente diferente, não me recordo de ter lido algo em que a personagem principal, Auri (tão frágil, tão forte), interage com objectos inanimados como se estes tivessem alma. Sem qualquer diálogo o livro narra sete dias da sua vida com uma mestria imparável.

É um história estranha, mas que adorei, porque existe “a place for everything and everything in its place“