The Novel of the Tumpinamba IndianWhen I heard that a novel written by a surrealist artist was being published in English for the first time, I knew I needed to read it. I was fascinated, both by the subject matter and the writer. The Novel of the Tumpinamba Indian is a surrealist take on the Spanish Civil War and was written by E. F. Granell, artist and revolutionary.
In CalabriaBooks steeped in myth and folktale are ones that I am always drawn to, so it is with no surprise that I found myself with a copy of In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle.
Claudio Bianchi needs no one, opting to remain on his farm with his animals and his poetry to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. But one day a unicorn that, if he isn’t mistaken, is about to give birth wanders onto his farm and calls it home. Suddenly entrusted with this magical appearance, he finds himself beset upon by those who want the unicorn for their own ends, some of whom refuse to take no as an answer.
AutonomousA book I had my eye on for some time was Autonomous by Annalee Newitz. This is a book about autonomy, what makes someone autonomous, and a race across the globe as an illegally distributed drug begins to rack up an unexpected death toll.
Autonomous is, in a lot of ways, very dystopian. Or it wanted to be. I can’t help but feel that everything wrapped up much too nicely to be considered dystopian. (In the traditional sense of the genre and not counting the Young Adult Dystopians that relate more closely to dark fantasy/sci-fi than to adult dystopian).
CarnivalesqueCarnivalesque by Neil Jordan is a story about a boy named Andy who finds himself sucked through a mirror in a carnival’s house of mirrors. His reflection enters the real world and goes home with his parents, leaving Andy stuck and alone on the other side of the glass. He is not alone here, for this is the world of the Carnies, the carnival people, a place where magic is real. Meanwhile Andy’s mother watches the Not-Andy living with her family, wondering if this is merely Andy growing up or if this is something else, something more sinister.
HorrorstörThe more I think about it, the more I like this book. Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix is a traditional haunted house story turned on its head. Familiar themes are explored, changed, and discarded while remaining happily familiar and easily readable.
WantedI have been on a manga buying/reading spree lately. I’m a little late to the manga scene, at least compared to my husband, and have been trying to make up for it by picking up more or less every old manga I find at used book sales. Wanted by Matsuri Hino was one such purchase. That’s right. This is a standalone manga from the creator of Vampire Knight.
RiverkeepI had my eye on this book for a long time. As in way before it was published. I only recently got my hand on a copy courtesy of the library, and delved in immediately upon getting home. Riverkeep by Martin Stewart is a coming of age story set in a fiction world where magic and monstrous creatures lurk just on the edges of civilization.
Spacer and RatI recently picked up a copy of an old library book at a used book sale. It had a minimalistic, but interesting looking cover, an author I wasn’t familiar with, and title I’d never heard. So of course I picked it up immediately. Spacer and Rat by Margaret Bechard is a young adult science fiction novel that I am very happy I discovered by accident.
Pilot XPilot X is a new science fiction novel by Tom Merritt being released today, March 14, 2017. This is a fun, fast read, perfect for a lazy weekend. Which, incidentally, is exactly when I read this book.
So what did I think of it?
The Family PlotEvery once in a while I just need to read a good ghost story. I haven’t picked one up in some time, so I was quite excited when I discovered The Family Plot by Cherie Priest. This is a ghost story set in the American south at a beautiful old mansion which holds more then the usual dusty family secrets and furniture for the salvage team to pick through.
Welcome to Looking Glass Reads! We review speculative fiction novels as well as manga, light novels, and graphic novels.
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