Just posted at Interzone Digital, the online presence of Interzone magazine, are my reviews of Stephen Graham Jones' latest, Dont Fear the Reaper, a sequel to his homage to all things Slasher, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and of a bold and compelling novel by a writer new to me, Mariana Enriquez, Our Share of Night.
I'm pretty sure most of you will be familiar with Jones' work, particularly his award winning The Only Good Indians (read my review here), but while there are moments of savage black humour and some dazzling set pieces, on the whole the novel failed to enthrall me in the way that ...Indians had done.
While I hadn't come across Enriquez's work before, some of you may well be familiar with her two short stories collections, both translated into English by Megan McDowell--The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, and Things We Lost in the Fire. Both feature stories that combine elements of classic gothic, pyschological horror, and magical realism. Both now are on my want to read list, partricularly after reading her disturbing and wildly ambitious novel which uses the conventions of horror fiction to explore the dark and disturbing history of the aftermath of Argentina's Dirty War in which thousands of innocent people were 'disappeared' in atrocities committed by the military junta. Read what I have to say about both Don't Fear the Reaper and Our Share of Night at IZ Digital.