The Year of Cemetery Dance 2018
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...Deej, I was under the impression when I read this collection, that it was up to the authors involved....or maybe I saw it elsewhere, but I could be off my meds-there's always that.....71. He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson
by Various Authors, edited by Christopher Conlon
About the Book:
"A spectacular anthology of original, never-before published stories by today's best writers — stories set in Richard Matheson's own fictional universes, and published with Mr. Matheson's complete cooperation."
My Thoughts:
Harry O. Morris contributes the cover and interior artwork for this book. I always appreciate the art and love seeing the pieces represented.
I was particularly tickled to see two authors included in this tribute to Richard Matheson and they won't be the usual suspects:
Nancy A. Collins takes us back to Hell House. She does a nice job, although it is clearly stated in Hell House that only one person survived from a failed investigation 30 years earlier, Benjamin Fischer. She erroneously has two people surviving. Still, she is a good writer and I wish she was putting out more work besides her vampire novels.
My second nice surprise was the inclusion of Michael A. Arnzen. Long story short, years ago I had a moment in time with this author where he called me, "audacious." I took that as a good thing as he sent me out of the kindness of his heart his book, 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories and the audio CD of some of those stories. They were funny and disturbing and the audio was really great fun. I loved the creativity. Loved it. Anyway, his tribute in this anthology was to Matheson's, Born of Man and Woman. It follows in the same vein as the original story and just as bleak and interesting as I expected it to be.
Joe Hill and Stephen King's story, Throttle, combines two men's style that is almost identical. While I don't go out of my way to try to figure out which author wrote which parts in any book I read where a partnership is happening, at times I would think, that's old-school Stephen's way of saying something or that was Joe's way of wording the situation. Word choices tugged at me to choose one or the other but it was a rare moment of doing that.
The book finishes up with a screenplay of Conjure Wife by Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson that I enjoyed a lot. For some reason, I really like seeing how a screenplay is put together. The screenwriter's vision. Always interesting to me.
Lots of talented writers and I wonder, were each of these authors approached with a specific story that the editor wanted them to write about, or did the authors get to choose which story they wanted to honor?
I was just curious how they do this. What if everyone wanted to write about Hell House? Would that have been okay? Or, first come first serve -- get back to me with your choice and it's yours alone.
I'm sure you've read On Writing and in it, Stephen comments about the jocks and cheerleaders loving the writing assignments like, What I Did This Summer. And he doesn't mention that in a flattering way.
Well, if you want to be honest, these anthologies with a theme are very much the same thing. Only with a lot more talent.
And I'm sure there is a cheerleader and jock in the bunch somewhere.
Bev Vincent
In an anthology like He Is Legend where various authors chose a Richard Matheson story to be inspired by, generally, how does this work in regards to who gets what stories? Wonder if everyone wanted the same story? Or, does the editor assign a story to each author chosen to participate?
In this particular instance, you might not know the procedure, but there are many anthologies out there that everyone is writing to a theme or particular author's work.
Or maybe there isn't. This might be a unique situation. Generally, how does this work?
In an anthology like He Is Legend where various authors chose a Richard Matheson story to be inspired by, generally, how does this work in regards to who gets what stories? Wonder if everyone wanted the same story? Or, does the editor assign a story to each author chosen to participate?
In this particular instance, you might not know the procedure, but there are many anthologies out there that everyone is writing to a theme or particular author's work.
Or maybe there isn't. This might be a unique situation. Generally, how does this work?
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In general, it's a case of "first dibs" -- someone requests a story and if it's not already taken, they get it. In some cases, it might be possible for two authors to tackle the same story from a completely different angle, if they can successfully pitch that to the editor. I can't image an editor handing out assignments.
Thank you, as always, very informative.
72. GIDEON'S CORPSE
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
About the Book:
"A top nuclear scientist goes mad and takes an innocent family hostage at gunpoint, killing one and causing a massive standoff.
A plume of radiation above New York City leads to a warehouse where, it seems, a powerful nuclear bomb was assembled just hours before.
Sifting through the evidence, authorities determine that the unthinkable is about to happen: in ten days, a major American city will be vaporized by a terrorist attack.
And Gideon Crew, tracking the mysterious terrorist cell from the suburbs of New York to the mountains of New Mexico, learns the end may be something worse—far worse—than mere Armageddon."
My Thoughts:
INT -- Large studio. Center stage is a long table. Seated along the expanse -- sharks.
Motionless in the shadows, Mark Burnett. Drooling. Sweating. Eyes bulging. Excited.
Standing center stage in front of this audience, the entrepreneur. He speaks.
"Ladies and gentlemen -- I stand before you with the ultimate in military, law enforcement and personal protection -- I call it Crewlar. Stronger than Kevlar and superior to bullet resistant armor, Crewlar is untouchable!
As I speak to you today, we have Gideon Crew sitting in a hermetically sealed tube. With your investment, we can start harvesting his skin and genetically engineering thousands of vests for my future and yours! Just in time for Christmas!"
MARK CUBAN: SOLD!!!!!
annnnnnddd.... scene
*disclosure: No animal testing. No animals were harmed in the making of Crewlar.
*************
Tomislav Tikulin gives us a satisfying cover.
This book is a study in suspending disbelief and I did. Well, I tried. It was hard. The writing mechanics are topnotch. The actual thought of the plot was good but execution crawled along, slow and lumbering. The last 100 pages picked up and had a twist that was exciting! But I have never read a book where the lead character is shot at so many times by so many people from a wide variety of weapons over and over again and not even suffer a nick. It got to the point I was almost giggling at how often he was shot at. I was waiting for him to order a Big Mac at the drive-thru and get shot at by the high school senior with herpes and a horrible haircut begrudgingly handing him extra Ketchup. This guy is Teflon -- or Crewlar. Other than his AVM that is going to explode in his head at any minute -- and late in the book gets the holy sh*t kicked out of him without it doing so.
And the twist, while I really did love the twist, is also a vulnerable plot point for me. Too many, NO WAYS! And for the record, I knew IMMEDIATELY who the main bad guy was going to be as soon as this person was introduced in the story, so that wasn't a surprise when it was unveiled.
The story focuses our attention on nuclear armageddon and terrorists, two of the most boring topics for me personally. Reading material I would never choose. Gideon Crew is our protagonist sent to save us all. And then everything turned into the keystone cops speeding around to the soundtrack of yakkety saks. I've read other Preston and Child books and enjoyed the ride. This one, not so much.
For those of you who are passionate about law enforcement procedurals, FBI stuff, covert operations, nuclear war and terrorists, you might just swallow this whole cloth.
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
About the Book:
"A top nuclear scientist goes mad and takes an innocent family hostage at gunpoint, killing one and causing a massive standoff.
A plume of radiation above New York City leads to a warehouse where, it seems, a powerful nuclear bomb was assembled just hours before.
Sifting through the evidence, authorities determine that the unthinkable is about to happen: in ten days, a major American city will be vaporized by a terrorist attack.
And Gideon Crew, tracking the mysterious terrorist cell from the suburbs of New York to the mountains of New Mexico, learns the end may be something worse—far worse—than mere Armageddon."
My Thoughts:
INT -- Large studio. Center stage is a long table. Seated along the expanse -- sharks.
Motionless in the shadows, Mark Burnett. Drooling. Sweating. Eyes bulging. Excited.
Standing center stage in front of this audience, the entrepreneur. He speaks.
"Ladies and gentlemen -- I stand before you with the ultimate in military, law enforcement and personal protection -- I call it Crewlar. Stronger than Kevlar and superior to bullet resistant armor, Crewlar is untouchable!
As I speak to you today, we have Gideon Crew sitting in a hermetically sealed tube. With your investment, we can start harvesting his skin and genetically engineering thousands of vests for my future and yours! Just in time for Christmas!"
MARK CUBAN: SOLD!!!!!
annnnnnddd.... scene
*disclosure: No animal testing. No animals were harmed in the making of Crewlar.
*************
Tomislav Tikulin gives us a satisfying cover.
This book is a study in suspending disbelief and I did. Well, I tried. It was hard. The writing mechanics are topnotch. The actual thought of the plot was good but execution crawled along, slow and lumbering. The last 100 pages picked up and had a twist that was exciting! But I have never read a book where the lead character is shot at so many times by so many people from a wide variety of weapons over and over again and not even suffer a nick. It got to the point I was almost giggling at how often he was shot at. I was waiting for him to order a Big Mac at the drive-thru and get shot at by the high school senior with herpes and a horrible haircut begrudgingly handing him extra Ketchup. This guy is Teflon -- or Crewlar. Other than his AVM that is going to explode in his head at any minute -- and late in the book gets the holy sh*t kicked out of him without it doing so.
And the twist, while I really did love the twist, is also a vulnerable plot point for me. Too many, NO WAYS! And for the record, I knew IMMEDIATELY who the main bad guy was going to be as soon as this person was introduced in the story, so that wasn't a surprise when it was unveiled.
The story focuses our attention on nuclear armageddon and terrorists, two of the most boring topics for me personally. Reading material I would never choose. Gideon Crew is our protagonist sent to save us all. And then everything turned into the keystone cops speeding around to the soundtrack of yakkety saks. I've read other Preston and Child books and enjoyed the ride. This one, not so much.
For those of you who are passionate about law enforcement procedurals, FBI stuff, covert operations, nuclear war and terrorists, you might just swallow this whole cloth.
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...I'm certainly curious to your reaction here.....I genuinely enjoyed these.....Next Up:
I don't know why I like them so much , but I find screenplays so interesting.
...it took me a little while to get past the scripting, stage direction etc.-but once you develop that, they are fun....
see, I like reading that scripting, stage direction etc...
....oh no, no....that wasn’t a complaint, just an adjustment that I had to make myself....I look over the directions first, then pick up the thread of the story....see, I like reading that scripting, stage direction etc...
Oh, I knew you weren't complaining. Some people just don't like reading that, or aren't interested, or like you, just need to adjust their reading -- but, I will say, if the story itself is unenjoyable, then all that stuff just adds to the tediousness.
...yep, you right....
CORRECTION:71. He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson
by Various Authors, edited by Christopher Conlon
About the Book:
"A spectacular anthology of original, never-before published stories by today's best writers — stories set in Richard Matheson's own fictional universes, and published with Mr. Matheson's complete cooperation."
My Thoughts:
Harry O. Morris contributes the cover and interior artwork for this book. I always appreciate the art and love seeing the pieces represented.
I was particularly tickled to see two authors included in this tribute to Richard Matheson and they won't be the usual suspects:
Nancy A. Collins takes us back to Hell House. She does a nice job, and follows Matheson's script. I want to know why Benjamin Fischer is thought of as the only survivor of Hell House when he clearly wasn't? The characters in the book look at him as the only survivor, he himself states he is the only survivor, and any write-up about Matheson's story mentions Fischer as the only survivor. But, "Professor Fenley, an experienced psychic investigator, who's insane and crippled to this day" also survives. So I get the feeling that this is boiling down to something along lines of your definition of what "is", is. Maybe they mean Fischer is the only one who mentally survives. Nancy A. Collins is a great writer and I wish she were putting out more work besides her vampire novels.
My second nice surprise was the inclusion of Michael A. Arnzen. Long story short, years ago I had a moment in time with this author where he called me, "audacious." I took that as a good thing as he sent me out of the kindness of his heart his book, 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories and the audio CD of some of those stories. They were funny and disturbing and the audio was really great fun. I loved the creativity. Loved it. Anyway, his tribute in this anthology was to Matheson's, Born of Man and Woman. It follows in the same vein as the original story and just as bleak and interesting as I expected it to be.
Joe Hill and Stephen King's story, Throttle, combines two men's style that is almost identical. While I don't go out of my way to try to figure out which author wrote which parts in any book I read where a partnership is happening, at times I would think, that's old-school Stephen's way of saying something or that was Joe's way of wording the situation. Word choices tugged at me to choose one or the other but it was a rare moment of doing that.
The book finishes up with a screenplay of Conjure Wife by Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson that I enjoyed a lot. For some reason, I really like seeing how a screenplay is put together. The screenwriter's vision. Always interesting to me.
Lots of talented writers and I wonder, were each of these authors approached with a specific story that the editor wanted them to write about, or did the authors get to choose which story they wanted to honor?
I am currently reading Screamplays, another entry in my Year of Cemetery Dance. In this book is Richard Matheson's screenplay of The Legend of Hell House.
Benjamin Fischer is NOT the only survivor of Hell House. Why everyone fictional and nonfictional keeps insisting he is baffles me. Fischer clearly states another investigator gets out alive. And in the story (paraphrasing)" is alive to this day!." But, in my defense, he goes on to claim he WAS the only survivor.
As I state in my revision, I think this is boiling down to people's definition of what "is", is. Or in this case, "survive."
I want to give Nancy A. Collins credit for including Professor Fenley in her list of people who received one of the I-Slept-in-Hell-House-and-Survived! t-shirts.
I have changed what I originally said to include the correct information.
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I've never bought a Cemetery Dance book but from reading back over your posts I may just have to! Once delivery isn't too much!
They are very nice editions. Although if you ever do, be prepared to wait years sometimes for a book to get to you if it is a special one.
Really? Why do they take so long? Very limited prints?
Just checked the website and there's a lot out of print. Some great covers!!