Joe R. Lansdale: Devil Red

It's been a while, and I'm still looking for guest reviewers/bloggers! If you have a favorite novel you'd like to review or just write about, send me an email or message on Facebook. If you're a gothic romance writer or gothic novelist, let's set up an interview or a guest post. :)

Now, on to the review of Joe R. Lansdale's Devil Red.

Let me begin by saying I love Hap and Leonard. I feel like I know them and can picture them both in my mind easily, though I've never met a guy quite like Leonard. Hap-- actually, I've probably met a few since I'm from Alabama, and these are good ole Texas boys.

With that said, I have a feeling this series is reaching its end. The first 3/4 of the novel was bland. Hap and Leonard have been hired to find the killer who marks his victims with a red devil. The other novels in the series, Mucho Mojo, for example made me laugh so hard I thought I would die. This one had a few laughs, but it was lacking in those as well as snappy dialogue. The girlfriend, Brett, is bland. I miss Florida Grange, and the whole thing seemed to coast for a long time. Hap's angst over killing folks felt contrived and drawn out where it had felt visceral in past novels.



Then suddenly, bam! There is the climax of the novel. It came as a surprise and felt uneven since things had been very flat line to that point. I teared up a bit in that section, and I was glad to see the resolution, but I didn't feel the suspense I usually do in these novels or the catharsis. I knew what was going to happen, and I thought "meh." Some of these Hap and Leonard novels have left me in tears, feeling woebegone and in existential crisis.

In short, this one lacks the magic of the series. I'm thinking perhaps it's near the end. It's been a good run if so. Have you read it? What do you think?

I look forward to future novels by Lansdale. Maybe it's just time for another series or some good stand alones.

I give Devil Red 3 stars. It's good enough to read, but it's not the best in the series.


Rating: *** Stars

Phyllis A. Whitney: Woman Without a Past

I love the hard cover design of this novel. It looks like the Old South to me and is mysterious and wistful.

This novel was published in 1991 and is one of Whitney's later works. As I've mentioned before, I prefer her earlier gothic romance novels. Woman Without a Past didn't change my mind on that.

The novel moves slowly to its conclusion, and the most appealing character was Honoria Phelps.

Characterization 3/5: Twins are part of the central story here, and Whitney handles them well at first, but there is little tension after the first third of the novel. Honoria Phelps is spritely and easy to picture. I do like some of the names in the novel: Amelia Mountfort and Cecelia Mountfort-- very pretty.

Plot 3/5: The plot moved too slowly for me, and the abduction mystery just left me feeling "meh." I picked the novel up and put it back down many times. Also, Molly's meeting with Charles Landry was so contrived/annoying from the outset that it colored the rest of the novel for me.

Atmosphere/spooky elements 2/5: Very few. The twin thing and birthmarks, etc. was interesting, but there was little suspense or spookiness to the novel and that was with a "ghost," a pyschic, and more.

Literary elements 3/5: The history of Charleston, South Carolina is interesting. If you like Southern settings, you might check this one out. I'm not sure Whitney fully captured it, but she did a nice job with some of the details.

Romantic elements 3/5: I like the red herrings Whitney threw in early in the novel, but overall, this book wasn't terribly romantic. It's one that I would have liked a different ending/choice of lovers for.

Rating: almost 3 stars--  **+

I recommend this if you're a big fan of Southern settings (maybe) or a diehard Whitney fan.

My Gothic Romance Novel Theme Song :)

I hope you enjoy this live performance of Gordon Lightfoot singing his song, "If you Could Read My Mind." It evokes images of gothic novels for me, and it was written in the heyday of the era. Here are the lyrics from the song (1969).

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see. 
                                        
If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take!
                                        
I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let's be real;
I never thought I could  feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feeling's gone
And I just can't get it back. 
                                        
If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong.
With chains upon my feet.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back!

Do you have a gothic romance theme song? :) 

Stephen King: Full Dark, No Stars

With King's work, a novella or a novel either gets me or it doesn't. I have long admired him as a writer because he speaks plainly about his success and is down to earth. Favorites by him include Pet Sematary and The Long Walk. I know others' favorites will be different. I also enjoy a majority of his short stories.

I enjoyed Full Dark, No Stars. It's a hit because I'm still thinking about it, and that's one of my main criteria for good writing.

Each novella in this collection presents the dark side of human nature. Man or woman makes choices, and consequences follow. There aren't too many ghosts or ghouls to blame things on, and even when there are, the person making a choice didn't have to be persuaded much to do the bad thing. I like the angle of the collection because I think there's a lot of truth in it.

1922, the first story in the collection, presents life in the heart land in hard times. The protagonist makes his choices between land and his wife. This one has plenty of gore in it as well as rats and things to make one shiver, but it dragged a bit for me. It was the most Gothic of the set, though, with a ghost and murder.


Big Driver kept me on the edge of my seat, and I like that the heroine was an author. If you enjoy a good revenge story, this is it.

Fair Extension explores the consequences when a man makes a deal with the devil. Who pays? It feels grim and real in a way. I like King's understanding and fleshing out of the concept that one person's pleasure is another person's pain. If that is true, then it explains a lot of what happens in the world, and I think that's what King is getting at.

A Good Marriage is my favorite of the novellas. What happens when a woman in a long, good marriage finds out a horrific secret about her husband? I think this one is "real" in the sense that the choices wouldn't be as easy as they are often portrayed as being in movies, etc.

If you enjoy shorter works and suspense that makes you think, this collection is worth picking up. It's nice to be able to read a novella in a couple nights, too.

Just a check-in post mainly...

I'm still here. I've just been really busy. So, if you have guest book reviews, author interviews, movie reviews, or other Gothicked type stuff you want to do, please let me know! :)

I'm still reading Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars, and it's grim indeed. I'm enjoying the second novella in it, Big Driver. I hope to have a review of the book up in a few days.

If I owe you books, I'll be mailing them this week, too.

Best Gothic Romance Titles!

A Facebook friend posted a title of a romance novel that was full of win today, and it got me thinking about gothic romance titles. Let's see. Post the best gothic romance title(s) if you want and about why you like them. Opinions will vary wildly, and that's fine. I just thought this would be fun.

Then, post the funniest ones. I'll post a few for starters. The person(s) who post the best ones wins some gothic romance novels with great or zany titles! I'll keep this up for a few days. Have fun with it! :)

Best:
Greygallows-- by Barbara Michaels (I like the alliteration and the connotations of the title).

The Dark on the Other Side (also Michaels and because it's from a quote by Plato)

Dragonwyck-- by Anya Seton

Nine Coaches Waiting-- by Mary Stewart

The Ivy Tree-- by Mary Stewart (I just love it).

Rebecca-- by Daphne DuMaurier

Wuthering Heights-- by Emily Bronte

Holy Terror-- by Josephine Boyle

House of the Dancing Dead-- by Aola Vandergriff

                             The Shivering Sands-- by Victoria Holt
                            
                             The Winter Bride-- Carola Salisbury

                             The Winter People-- Phyllis A. Whitney
     
                             Wait for What Will Come-- by Barbara Michaels

                             Vermillion-- by Phyllis A. Whitney

                             Damnation Reef-- by Jill Tattersall

                             Winterwood-- by Dorothy Eden

                             The Voice of the Dolls-- by Dorothy Eden

                             The Silver Leopard-- by Zoe Cass

                             Prince of Darkness-- by Barbara Michaels

                             Mistress of Mellyn-- by Victoria Holt

                             Dig a Narrow Grave-- by Mary Linn Roby  

                             The Shrouded Walls-- by Susan Howatch



 Funny/witty:

House of the Strange Woman-- by Monica Heath

The House is Dark-- by Rebecca James

Jack O'Lantern-- by Kathleen A. Shoesmith

Satan's Coast-- by Elsie Lee

Mansion of Golden Windows-- by Elsie Lee ( Love it! This author knew how to name gothic romances).

Mystery Castle-- Elsie Lee

                            Dark Moon, Lost Lady-- Elsie Lee (I got on a roll once I looked hers up!)

                            Sleep in the Woods-- by Dorothy Eden

                            The Frightened Lady-- by Marilyn Ross

                           
                           

Nancy Thayer: website and spooky story

I was browsing Netflix and found this movie today:



I immediately put it in my instant queue because I love Thayer's novel by the same name, Spirit Lost. This novel looks like the only one she has written in the gothic romance genre, but I really enjoyed it a few years ago. It's a spooky ghost story with a memorable heroine and an amorous spirit who haunts an old Nantucket house.

Then I browsed for an author page, and I found one along with a short ghost story. I started reading it and thought some of you might like it.

http://www.nancythayer.com/the-family-ghost.php