review – nosferattitude

You Suck is the sequel to The Author Guy’s foray into humorous, bizarro vamp-lit, and it’s just as zany and enjoyable as its predecessor, Bloodsucking Fiends. I won’t go too much into the story except to say that C. Thomas Flood is now forced to accept his newly acquired pale force, a first reaction being to promptly apply liberal amounts of both orange-hued tanning lotion and intense monkey love with his partner in blood, Jody Stroud. Add to that goth-chick and minion extraordinaire Abby Normal, a blue entrepreneur of the night, vamps obsessed with tracksuits, and a huge shaved cat named Chet. That’s it, go read the thing for yourself.

I will say though, that Moore has a definite knack for the unexpected in his tales. He simply can’t be categorized an author of the funny, since any characters are fair game for an imaginative and grizzly maim or demise. That being said, his ability to absorb the ever-changing and complex vernacular of today’s disaffected youth is really an experience to savor, a prime example being his excerpts from the diary of Abby Normal. I can’t think of any better description than…gonzo.

PS – While on the subject of the vampire genre, the new series True Blood, though less gonzo than the works of the author guy, is well worth a view.

forthcoming…or frothcoming?

Egads!  It appears as if the author guy will be offering his latest..offering, and in no time quick!  Tell your friends.

review – lust lizard

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove – Christopher Moore

This is the fifth book I have read by Christopher Moore. It was a good choice after reading Blood Meridian, as it cleansed my system of the willies precipitated by the deep philosophical ruminations so often sponge-bathed in the sweat-distilled bloodstains upon the dry desert floor, or on the equally weatherworn dusters of those among us who would kill in the face of opportunity and not think twice.

But enough of such prior ill vibrations. This particular book, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, is a typical offering by Christopher Moore, a giant among current pontificators of all things gonzo. Take one part psychiatrist with an overdose in conscience, the town constable whose “Sneaky Pete” and victory garden are his only best friends, another part the local pharmacist with an overly eager taste for the cetacean variety, a mega-mechanized bar owner itching to grease her own wheels (literally speaking), and an aging actress past her prime of defending the Outland for aspiring Warrior Babes the world over. That should be about enough, except for the pinch of a Nat’chal bluesman looking for work, and a dash of gigantic sea beast looking for love being the fuse for havoc erupting in the unsuspecting hamlet of Pine Cove.

As one can tell, this is a tale where the sum of its parts is truly greater than the whole, or however the phrase goes. Even Moore describes this in the prologue, whereby Pine Cove serves as the powderkeg ignited by three seemingly separate, mutually exclusive occurrences . Such is the style of Moore, a writer who with a talent for both the whimsical and noir can consistently whip up something so humorous, bizarre and at the same time strangely believable, that a sloth of a reader like myself will finish the novel faster than a shark smelling newly dumped chum in the ocean. I get too caught up in the parts to even hypothesize how the whole will conclude itself; yet it always seems to happen, and it’s just a fun time floating throughout the whole experience.

There is a bit of cultural commentary treading just below the surface in this story. The plot revolves around drugs, and our decisions and indecisions to take them (or not), whether they be prescribed, OTC, or illegally obtained. It underscores the grandioseness of the sea beast’s shenanigans in this nutty town, but Moore does pose the scenario, from multiple points of view.

I’m not sure it’s my favorite book from Moore, but it’s every bit enjoyable as his other books I’ve read. Quite funny, quite weird, quite entertaining.