In between these weekly reading recaps, there is an actual purpose for this newsletter and site: detailing my investigations into the history of urban fantasy. And I think I’ve made a decision about the reading order for those investigations. I think I’m going to throw it out (a little).
I’m nearly done on an essay for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and I can feel the thoughts forming for what I want to say about Frankenstein. I’m currently reading Dracula (my first reread). At the 1-2 books per month pace I’m on, and looking at the reading list I’ve assembled, I will be stuck in the pre-1970 for most of, if not all, of 2023.
And that’s just no way to live.
So next month (June) my intention is to try to read one earlier novel and something from the post-1970 period, specifically Interview with the Vampire. After June, I will pull around two books from the reading list, one from the early side and one from the later side. And I’m pretty sure I’m not going to go in precise chronological order.
I think this change will realize multiple benefits:
I will start consuming the actual “Urban Fantasy” (capital-U, capital-F) before I turn 40. The biggest issue I’m having with this project at the moment is spending all of my focus on the “deep history,” which is very interesting and valuable, but isn’t specific to UF. Frankenstein, Dracula, A Christmas Carol—these works are (as Clute and Grant call them) “taproot texts” for all kinds of genres. By prioritizing the precise reading order, I risk alienating potential UF fans who are less interested in these historical diversions and want to learn more about books that they may be more familiar with.
I’m one of those UF fans, so this is a bit of self-preservation. If I stick to the precise chronological order, I think I risk burning out on the project before I even get to the “good stuff.”
Not sticking to a specific order will make it so much easier for me to mentally justify and accommodate adding or subtracting books from the list. I just know that if I stuck to the order and then found a book from well before where I was at I’d be a bit psychically troubled by the untidiness of it all. So why not break that intentionally now?
Pairing books across time and doing the project in a somewhat haphazard order will allow for fun coincidences.
I don’t think the cons nearly outweigh the pros that I’ve just described, so I think I’m decided. Onward.
On Repeat
Ever since reading Equus by Peter Shafer in high school I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the line: “moments snap together like magnets.” Almost all this week I had been mulling over what song I would talk about in this recap and then on Friday several moments snapped together.
While I have not yet featured Carly Rae Jepsen in this newsletter (I’m just waiting for the perfect set of moments), she is one of my all-time favorite musical artists. I’ve seen her four times on tour: once for Emotion, once for Dedicated, and twice for the So Nice tour—in Toronto where Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers opened for her and a week later in Washington, DC.
It’s the Washington, DC show that brings me to the song on repeat this week. Her opener in DC, and for most of the tour, was the Hounduran-American Empress Of. I had never heard of her before, but I was into it and so was the crowd. She had music you could dance to. The highlight of the night was her cover of “Man’s World” by MARINA. She also did “Save Me,” a song that I can’t say made much of an impression on me at the time.
So, we have my abiding love of CRJ, we have this interesting act I wasn’t familiar with, and we have her song “Save Me,” that I mostly forgot. The next magnet to fall into place was Spotify placing it in a daily mix that I listened to on Friday. I drive about an hour and a half on Fridays to see my mother and I mostly listen to music, so it’s a good opportunity for these magnetic moments.
As the balladic opening transitions into the club beat around 30 second it scratched an itch that had been set at the concert. The driving beat of the drums. The strange, minor key string hits. The provocative line:
If you need me baby
Take me in the back of the room tonight
Before I knew it, I had listened to the song a half dozen times. The moment had become nearly half an hour.
When I got home, I immediately looked to see if it had a cool music video. And it sure does. Enjoy.
Finished This Week
Nothing! I’m reading six books simultaneously, which even for my ADHD brain is a bit much. Hoping to finish several this week.
Still Reading
Witch King1 by Martha Wells
Tor very graciously sent me a finished hardcover of Witch King, the newest fantasy book by Martha Wells (of Murderbot fame). I’ve already discussed receiving the book on my TikTok, which was an interesting experience.
Interesting because most of my friends and fellow travelers on BookTok who have read ARCs of Witch King haven’t loved it. I was not planning on reading it any time soon until I received the copy from Tor.
I’ll keep my powder dry on my thoughts for now, but approximately one-quarter of the way through, I’m mostly enjoying myself. We’ll see how the rest of the book unfolds, but I don’t see myself giving this less than 3.5 stars. I think a combination of right book-right reader and some other readers maybe expecting something more like Murderbot combined to bring about this dissonant experience in the Bookish community.
Witch King is available for pre-order now and will be released May 30, 2023.
King by Jonathan Eig
So I did not receive King early, it was just put out (presumably mistakenly) at my local Barnes and Noble. This biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., by the same author of the seminal Ali: A Life, has the hallmarks of being the definitive one volume, whole life biography of MLK Jr. for years to come.
I’m about 70 pages in and it’s breathtakingly written. Much more to say in the coming weeks when I’ve finished it.
King will be released May 16, 2023.
Lotería by Cynthia Pelayo
This is an interesting book. Lotería is the graduate school thesis project of noted Latinx horror author Cynthia Pelayo (originally written between 2008-2009). Pelayo took the Mexican board game of the same name, which uses 54 named cards, as inspiration for a number of short stories and even shorter flash fiction (some stories run barely a page) that portray a wide variety of Latin American folk lore, urban legends, and myths2. The work was subsequently published in 2012 and has gotten a re-release with some minor changes and a new novella.
I have two overriding thoughts about this book: 1) I think the writing and storytelling is often a bit weak, which is no surprise given when and how it was written and 2) despite that I think it’s a book that should be widely read.
My partner is Guatemalan, and he has told me about some of the urban legends that crop up in the book. There’s even a story set in Guatemala that features the “quitapena” or “worry dolls” that you can find throughout the country (and in our apartment). It was in this book that I learned about Chilean mine workers who formed early unions and fought back against hostile, deadly conditions forced on them by Western industrialists (the mine is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
Pelayo provides a wide-ranging overview of these stories across all of Latin America and in a digestible form with Lotería. Non-Latinx people could learn a lot just by reading this book.
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
I’m sure I got recommended The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner by BookTok, it’s where I get most of my recommendations these days. And on my shelf it sat until this month it drew my eye and I put it on the don’t-call-it-a-TBR-pile.
I just picked up this middle grade thief/heist/political adventure today and I’m nearly a third of the way through it. I can’t say what I thought it was going to be, but it’s pleasantly different from any expectation I might have had.
I believe the reason to read this book is to move on to the more elaborate sequels but for now I’m just enjoying the ride.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
I’m a little over halfway through and I’m continuing to enjoy this reread. Lucy has just become a vampire and all hell is breaking loose. It’s great. I don’t think I realized as a younger reader just how strong a writer Stoker was.
I’ve just started noting all the great lines and moments, such as the rapid development of trust and friendship between Mina and Van Helsing as seen by the changes in the signatures on their correspondence:
Van Helsing’s first signature: “Van Helsing.”
Mina’s first signature: “Wilhelmina Harker.”
Van Helsing’s second signature: “Yours the most faithful, Abraham Van Helsing.”
Mina’s second signature: “Your faithful and grateful friend, Mina Harker.”
And this interaction between Van Helsing and Dr. Seward:
“My thesis is this: I want you to believe.”
“To believe what?”
“To believe in things that you cannot.”
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Purdue Pharma has just invented OxyContin and started pushing it like there’s no tomorrow. Which is also true for the 100,000 people who died from opioid overdoses last year. A harrowing and well-told piece of nonfiction.
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The collection of stories and the tone of many of them remind me of the HBO International animated series Fantasmagorias, which had a similar goal.