literature

Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.

Book Review: "1722" by Amy Cross
As I have said before, reading horror makes me feel at ease because I know that whatever I am about the read has come out of the consciousness of someone who is intentionally trying to frighten people. As I have also said before, whatever horror you are thinking about making it is best if the storyline is essentially simple because that way, you can develop twists and turns. If your storyline is too complex to begin with, your audience/reader won't even care if there are twists and turns because they will be too busy trying to figure out what the story is and who all of these zombies are. For those of you who recognised the reference to the story by Heinlein, good for you.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Our Haunted Shores" ed. by Emily Alder et al.
Full Title: Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles by Emily Alder, Jimmy Packham and Joan Passey As we have all known for a while now, my love for the British Library Tales of the Weird is pretty expansive. I love reading scary stories, some of which have no author named, others only published in Blackwood's Magazine and everything in between. The anthologies often cover a vast amount of different stories on a particularly weird theme. My recent reads in the series have included The Uncanny Gastronomic and Dead Drunk - both of which I have enjoyed a lot. This anthology I have just read is entitled Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles and is especially weird for me because I thoroughly dislike beaches and coasts (but mainly I dislike beaches) so everything in here only justifies my discontent with the beach. However, that is not to say it isn't frightening and weird at some points.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Normal Women" by Philippa Gregory
Full Title: Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History by Philippa Gregory As you may or may not know by now, I have practically read everything that Philippa Gregory has ever written. As my favourite living writer, she has made a career out of writing some incredible historical fiction about figures I would have never dreamed were worthy enough of telling the stories of. Philippa Gregory proved me wrong and wrote one of the most endearing works of historical fiction ever (in my humble opinion) - The Lady of the Rivers. Now, although my favourite book by Philippa Gregory is The Wise Woman, The Lady of the Rivers is a close second with The King's Curse being third.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" by Judi Dench
Is it true that when Trevor was asked if the Macbeths were the Nixons... He said, "No, they're the Kennedys." They're the golden couple. They adore each other. And she'll do anything for him. If he wants to be king then it'll come to pass. 'You are glamis, you are Cawdor, and we know what's been promised next. You're going to be the effing King, darling.'
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Hidden Pictures" by Jason Rekulak
I have read many different thriller books over my time and some have been brilliant and others, not so much. Modern thrillers tend to follow some rules and by doing this, it makes them seem almost boring. Many of them are books I feel like I can predict in the first few chapters and therefore, there is no denying I will be giving it a slightly more negative review. However, I have found a niche of modern thrillers in which have many twists and turns, more atmosphere and a slight mixture of horror - this does not mean they are definitely good but it might mean that they have something more to offer than the simple modern thriller.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Uncanny Gastronomic" ed. by Zara-Louise Stubbs
Full Title: The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird edited by Zara-Louise Stubbs As you know by now, I love the British Library Tales of the Weird books and this one is no exception whatsoever. The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird is perhaps one of the most varied books in the series I have read. With a ton of different kinds of stories, there are a few that stand out amongst the rest but also, each one has its own personality. From the absolutely horrifying to the darkly comical, these books often have an anthology quality in which the text is set on a theme. For this, we have food. From Robert Browning to Franz Kafka, from Shirley Jackson to Christina Rossetti, Saki, Angela Carter and even Jim Crace, this book is packed full of brilliant writers on the theme of food and eating in which we are given multiple different types of horrific texts that add to a truly creepy experience.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a new film by Wes Anderson, is now streaming on Netflix. The film is the first in a quartet of short films adapted from the works of British writer Roald Dahl.
By Brent J. Smith2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "1689" by Amy Cross
Now, when it comes to horror novels I like as always, to keep it nice and simple. I do not want a convoluted story filled with millions of characters, that's what the drama novels are for, or even literary fiction. A horror novel needs to keep its storyline nice and simple so that it can be expanded in some really interesting ways. In this novel by Amy Cross, the author explores several different avenues of horror all involving a simple case of a possibly haunted house aligned perfectly with aspects of revenge tragedy.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Dead Drunk" ed. by Pam Lock
Full Title: Dead Drunk: Tales of Intoxication and Demon Drinks edited by Pam Lock As we all know, under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, people turn into something else entirely. Some become happy, some become sad, some become loud, some go quiet and some turn into monsters. In this book edited by Pam Lock, we look at the interpretation of that from the Victorian Age primarily and see through the eyes of the past, the horrors that went wrong under the influence. From spectral stories to guilt trips of the worst kind, from Robert Louis Stevenson to Anthony Trollope, from simple drinking down to bawdy drunkeness. This book explores some of those stories that we tell amongst the horrors of ingesting the world's most acceptable toxic liquid.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
"Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November...". Top Story - November 2023.
"The State sanctifies its own violence as law. Yours it calls crime." Max Stirner I've quoted the above little observation by proto-anarchist and egoist Max Stirner, author of The Ego and What it Possesses, many, many times; perhaps too often, but there is no other way I could think to introduce an essay on Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, the most important graphic novel ever penned, a book so transcendent in its scope, so vast in its vision of humanity (both dark and light), it has become a piece of cultural iconography. The Guy Fawkes Face Mask is now an endemic, ubiquitous symbol of covert rebellion. Adopted by the Anonymous hacker group, it has gone the rounds of the internet and the face of the globe, a way for the most radical and dedicated and subversive elements of cultural fuckery to disguise themselves, as well as meld into one single "hive mind"; a collective unit pushing against repression and corruption; or, alternately, pushing the world forward past the edge of the envelope of nihilistic rebellion. V for Vendetta, more than any other single comic book creation I can think of (outside of Superman and Batman) has transcended the realm of mere entertainment into having a permanent place in the cultural zeitgeist.
By Tom Baker2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "He Who Whispers" by J.D Carr
"...if you were to attend a dinner of the Murder Club you did not go in by the front door. Instead you went round the corner to the side entrance in Greek Street. Beyond a low door and up a thick-carpeted flight of stairs - according to popular legend, this was once royalty's discreet way of entering - you emerged into an upstairs passage with the doors of private rooms along one side..."
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Playground" by Aron Beauregard
I normally feel myself wading through films and films before I get to a good horror film. Unfortunately, this also applies to books. I have to read lots and lots of terrible horror novels to get to the good ones. This is one of those bad ones I have to wade through. On the cover of the book, we are advertised a terrifying novel that will make even the 'most jaded' horror fan squirm. As someone who thinks that they are maybe not the most jaded, but somewhere in the ballpark, I can honestly say I neither was squirming nor was I very impressed.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks