When Koja is good, she's mind-altering, pure awesomeness in every sentence. But when she's bad, when her stream-of-conscious gets out of hand, I find her unreadable. Either way, she's never afraid to go where the story takes her. She's a master.
I’m always happy to see one of your reviews pop up on TH-cam. I might add that the Patreon content that you mentioned is excellent and I recommend it to people who enjoy your take on science-fiction, and now perhaps horror, sometimes? It’s all good stuff. Any book you give a 10 out of 10 is something I’m looking forward to reading.
You're missing some great stuff... Robert Aickman's "The Wine-Dark Sea," Theodore Sturgeon's"Some of Your Blood," Ray Russel's "The Case Against Satan" Fritz Leiber's "Our Lady of Darkness" Jean Ray's "Malpertuis," and "Cruise of Shadows" Ramsey Campbell's "Incarnate" Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird Stories" ALL of Shirley Jackson's novels Disch's "The Businessman," and "The MD" Daphne Du Maurier's "Don't Look Now"
Really made me want to read bad brains I rarely read horror these days so that’s saying something keep reading Wyndham he’s done a lot of great great stuff mate👍🏻
Seems like there was a Jefferson Airplane-related album coming out every three months in the late 60s and early 70s (lots of side-projects and solo records from the band members) A lot of it is fantastic, I need to get my records out of storage 😢
Yet there remains a connection with Science Fiction in your first review here: Barry N. Malzberg stated that Kathe Koja is the only author with whom he ever collaborated who could pick up where he left off (with the reverse being equally true) as if they were a united mind.
I'm reading The Chrysalids next, thank you for keeping the description brief. Also, I heard of the Barlowe book, that should be interesting if and when I come across it. Gracias.
I think "The Cipher" by Kathe Koja is also pretty good. It's about these bros who find a hole in the basement that leads to literally nothing. They do different experiments on it to see what it's all about.
Fascinating how you rank the Wyndham books. I love that everyone I have seen that love his books rank them differently. That says something about the quality I think.
Thanks for your analysis and opinion on so many SciFi books. You have read so many, and so I am curious about wether you have made a list available of all of the books that you've read.
ps -- if you want something horror, but rather much different, i highly recommend: Adrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson, or any book by him. he wrote creepy haunted sea stories in the lovecraft style. one of them, the voice in the night, was adapted into one of my favorite japanese monster movies in the 1960s, matango aka attack of the mushroom people.
Recently I have read a horror story book named Adams descent into darkness, it was really spookiest book I have ever read .I suggest this book to those of you who love horror, suspense, thriller stories😊
Matt, I noticed you didn’t hold up a copy of “Bad Brains”. If you are fortunate enough to have a copy, hold on to it. It’s hard to find and worth in the $75 and up range. I am personally a horror reader who also likes SF. Good review as always.
Will absolutely check out the first 2, thank you! Never read horror, but actually read the acclaimed debut Monstrilio (set partially in CDMX) two weeks ago and was so disturbed by one scene that I almost passed out lol That's the power of books for you
so i wanted to say -- i really think you really found a groove here with the 3 book mini reviews, buffed up and out via the patreon. its smooth. i dont read horror either, but brains and demon booth sound intriguing. i hope there is some kind of resolve with the bad brains plot because although the protagonist sounds like kind of an ass, he certainly doesn't deserve that.
Idk if it is horror exactly, but i recommend Thomas Ligotti! Even though i dont usually read short fiction, but there is something uniquely disturbing and potent about his writing that usually leaves a greasy residue of bad feeling.
I just wanted to add: Please have a look at Dennis Etchison's short story collection The Dark Country. I think you will be moved by every story in the same way as Kona's novel moved you. The titular story will move you. I promise. Even better if you can read it before you leave MX, where it's set (the main character is an American, trying to escape his own inner pain/demons.
The Chrysalids is one of my all time favourite books, Ive read it only the once but never forgot it. I thought it funny that you considered it almost YA, but then I realised I read it when I was 12, so you may have a point there ;) Ive just put Gods Demon on my list, thanks for the recommendation :D
Another great video, thanks! I'm tempted by Bad Brains, though my own brain is a bit too highly strung for horror content! And the fact of it being emotionally engaging and well crafted may just bre3k it... Interesting to hear your take on Chrysalids, and yes, it has a big partner in Cuckoos. One element that made it stand out for me in contrast to other "religious-fundamentalist-dystopia" novels is how bluntly and clearly it frames divergent body/minds as blasphemous. The whole passage of "Man is made in God's image, and this is the image..." gave me a very clear idea of the relationship between fundamentalist thinking and disableism. I think any spec fic book that targets you as the reader has an extra layer of resonance.
Read this book on your recommendation and agree with the 10/10 rating. It was mildly disturbing to me due to my own experiences with health and health care. I hate to say "triggering" but that seems to be the universally used term nowadays.
so in this guy's world science fiction is high brow literature? I nearly spat out my drink when he said with a straight face that horror didn't have as much meaningful context and content like science fiction.
"The Father Thing" -Philip K. Dick (1954) "The City" -Ray Bradbury but whatever you say, about lines between scifi & horror and stuff. Look, I just suspect that your opinions might be much more interesting in about 40 to 50 years. Unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely I'll be around that long, so I'll just say good luck.
I watched the old Movie of _The Day of the Triffids_ when I was about 12 and then read all his books. I need to revisit them, thanks to your review, However, I think I will hunt down Bad Brains first.
Wyndham probably read better in the 1970s when I read him than now. The Chrysilids wasn't as YA back then as now, I suspect. I still enjoyed it when I re-read it a couple of years ago although I sympathize with your criticism. Sadly Kathe Koya's work (as well as Barlowe) does not appear to be widely in print outside of Cypher which received the fine Press treatment last year from Centipede Press.
@@Bookpilled Inferno is, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle writing a novel (with lots of contemporary SF references, the protagonist is a dead scifi writer (fell out a window at a con)) in Dante's Hell. It's fun. There's a sequel that's (IMHO) less good.
I agree with you about how religion is treated in sci-fi and by scientists all too frequently. People can be small-minded and intolerant and ignorant about all sorts of things, and religion is one of them. Agressive, hyper-critical, and abusive behavior toward people you disagree with is always a bad thing, but people tend toward hypocrisy when they feel they're in the right. Bill Nye, for example, might be a hero to millions, but he's also an asshole to religious people, and I respect him a lot less for it.
I still have House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski) - a kind of post-modern horror book sitting on my shelf unread. Maybe if I see a review I might get the motivation to read it.
I first came into Koja through the Abyss line Cipher . She writes in what i can only cast as nonlinar ? Yet believable , in Cipher its a guy with a hole in the palm of his hand . Yes you read it right . There is art here , art plays a part in the stories. Bad Brains is great . Ok off to check out your reviews . Gods Demon sounds like my kind of fantasy . Blishs " The Devils Day " . Ps Religious sf is a cup of its own .
It's been a long time since I've branched out into horror. Probably due so I'll be looking for Bad Brains while I'm in the wild. BTW I swear I'm not trying to post videos at the same time as you. We have just synched up for the last couple 😅
Thank you for pointing out how tiresome and irritating the "religious, but actually they're the sinners!" trope is (and has been since, I dunno, 1968?) Jesus (non-theological sense, here)! It's right up there with corrupt southern sherriffs, and the tragedy that could have been avoided if only the dimwitted townsfolk had just listened to the teenagers who foresaw everything. Lazy, hackneyed and pandering. Love the channel.
"Elevated horror" is considered the horror for non horror fans! And I can see why you dont like King since most of his plots have religious zealots as antagonists. It is a tired trope, and I cant stand organized religion.
De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault Head of a dead young man Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....
Such a wordy guy, and you haven’t read The Shining? Please, man. If you dismiss Stephen King on the basis of his third ever novel…I really wonder why I’m watching you. It’s like watching JJ Abrams talk about movies.
![The 5 Best Science Fiction Short Stories Out of the 46 I Just Read [100 Book Challenge #65-67]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n566xGpJ9lQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![The 5 Best Science Fiction Short Stories Out of the 46 I Just Read [100 Book Challenge #65-67]](/img/tr.png)
![This Book Has Sold 8 Million Copies - Is It Good? [100 Book Challenge #77-79]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/piNdNZBVtF4/mqdefault.jpg)
I would never find these books if it weren’t for you. Your work is much appreciated
Same.
Happy to help
When Koja is good, she's mind-altering, pure awesomeness in every sentence. But when she's bad, when her stream-of-conscious gets out of hand, I find her unreadable. Either way, she's never afraid to go where the story takes her. She's a master.
I’m always happy to see one of your reviews pop up on TH-cam. I might add that the Patreon content that you mentioned is excellent and I recommend it to people who enjoy your take on science-fiction, and now perhaps horror, sometimes? It’s all good stuff. Any book you give a 10 out of 10 is something I’m looking forward to reading.
You're missing some great stuff...
Robert Aickman's "The Wine-Dark Sea,"
Theodore Sturgeon's"Some of Your Blood,"
Ray Russel's "The Case Against Satan"
Fritz Leiber's "Our Lady of Darkness"
Jean Ray's "Malpertuis," and "Cruise of Shadows"
Ramsey Campbell's "Incarnate"
Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird Stories"
ALL of Shirley Jackson's novels
Disch's "The Businessman," and "The MD"
Daphne Du Maurier's "Don't Look Now"
Clive barker - books of blood, Majica, Weaveworld
Matt gives a 10/10 for the first time in forever and multiple comments are asking why there is so much barbed wire behind you lol
Really made me want to read bad brains I rarely read horror these days so that’s saying something keep reading Wyndham he’s done a lot of great great stuff mate👍🏻
Fun fact: The lyrics to Jefferson Airplane's song "Crown of Creation" are lifted word for word from dialog in The Chrysalids.
Seems like there was a Jefferson Airplane-related album coming out every three months in the late 60s and early 70s (lots of side-projects and solo records from the band members) A lot of it is fantastic, I need to get my records out of storage 😢
Post-apocalyptic Canada. That means there’s no more hockey or poutine.
Yet there remains a connection with Science Fiction in your first review here: Barry N. Malzberg stated that Kathe Koja is the only author with whom he ever collaborated who could pick up where he left off (with the reverse being equally true) as if they were a united mind.
Cool, didn't know that
I'm reading The Chrysalids next, thank you for keeping the description brief. Also, I heard of the Barlowe book, that should be interesting if and when I come across it. Gracias.
I think "The Cipher" by Kathe Koja is also pretty good. It's about these bros who find a hole in the basement that leads to literally nothing. They do different experiments on it to see what it's all about.
Fascinating how you rank the Wyndham books. I love that everyone I have seen that love his books rank them differently. That says something about the quality I think.
Yeah opinions seem to split
A horror book review with beautiful scenery and razor wire in the background. Excellent framing, sir! I need to find this book.
Thanks for getting that
Another great Koja book worth checking out is “The Cipher”.
I have a copy in storage back home, need to read it
I took your advice and started Bad Brains. This is elevated, poetic prose disguised as horror and I can't get enough of it!
Well put, it's wonderful
Started Bad Brains. Prose took a while to get used to but think I’ve finally hit a groove with it. Really had to slow down my usual reading pace
Thanks for your analysis and opinion on so many SciFi books.
You have read so many, and so I am curious about wether you have made a list available of all of the books that you've read.
ps -- if you want something horror, but rather much different, i highly recommend: Adrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson, or any book by him. he wrote creepy haunted sea stories in the lovecraft style. one of them, the voice in the night, was adapted into one of my favorite japanese monster movies in the 1960s, matango aka attack of the mushroom people.
Recently I have read a horror story book named Adams descent into darkness, it was really spookiest book I have ever read .I suggest this book to those of you who love horror, suspense, thriller stories😊
Could you please provide more information on this book? I am intrigued, but cannot find anything other than a navy based book?
Matt, I noticed you didn’t hold up a copy of “Bad Brains”. If you are fortunate enough to have a copy, hold on to it. It’s hard to find and worth in the $75 and up range. I am personally a horror reader who also likes SF. Good review as always.
He does have a physical copy, it was in a haul video a couple weeks ago
Mailed it home
Thank you for introducing me to Koja, wow, what an incredible vision she has
Will absolutely check out the first 2, thank you! Never read horror, but actually read the acclaimed debut Monstrilio (set partially in CDMX) two weeks ago and was so disturbed by one scene that I almost passed out lol
That's the power of books for you
I read the first chapter or so as a preview of Bad Brains, and the prose was phenomenal. Instantly sucked me in. Can’t wait to read the full book!
Prose just gets better as you keep reading
I liked the review so much I went to ebay to grab a copy. Saw the current prices and noped right off
Ebook maybe
@@BookpilledDidn’t think of that! Thank you! Bad Brains is only $4 on kindle. I’m such a luddite I sometimes forget ebooks exist.
so i wanted to say -- i really think you really found a groove here with the 3 book mini reviews, buffed up and out via the patreon. its smooth.
i dont read horror either, but brains and demon booth sound intriguing. i hope there is some kind of resolve with the bad brains plot because although the protagonist sounds like kind of an ass, he certainly doesn't deserve that.
Black Easter reference made me smile - read that nearly 40 years ago. Recommend The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
A great suggestion I think you might like is "Our Share of Night" by Argentinian author Mariana Enríquez.
Prose was hard at first and took me a chapter to get into the rhythm. Then I loved it.
i love horror books and i never heard anyone talk about bad brains before. sounds pretty neat i may check that out.
I’m glad you moved to that courtyard, because it’s just beautiful.
It's nice
Try Thomas Ligotti, very underrated.
keep an eye out for any brian hodge novels, specifically PROTOTYPE. bleak and brutal with beautiful prose. great video!
Idk if it is horror exactly, but i recommend Thomas Ligotti! Even though i dont usually read short fiction, but there is something uniquely disturbing and potent about his writing that usually leaves a greasy residue of bad feeling.
I just wanted to add: Please have a look at Dennis Etchison's short story collection The Dark Country. I think you will be moved by every story in the same way as Kona's novel moved you. The titular story will move you. I promise. Even better if you can read it before you leave MX, where it's set (the main character is an American, trying to escape his own inner pain/demons.
The Chrysalids is one of my all time favourite books, Ive read it only the once but never forgot it. I thought it funny that you considered it almost YA, but then I realised I read it when I was 12, so you may have a point there ;) Ive just put Gods Demon on my list, thanks for the recommendation :D
Hope you enjoy it
I read like 120 pages and didn't like it at all and I was wondering if it gets good in the end or if it's the same stuff like at the beginning
Another great video, thanks! I'm tempted by Bad Brains, though my own brain is a bit too highly strung for horror content! And the fact of it being emotionally engaging and well crafted may just bre3k it... Interesting to hear your take on Chrysalids, and yes, it has a big partner in Cuckoos. One element that made it stand out for me in contrast to other "religious-fundamentalist-dystopia" novels is how bluntly and clearly it frames divergent body/minds as blasphemous. The whole passage of "Man is made in God's image, and this is the image..." gave me a very clear idea of the relationship between fundamentalist thinking and disableism. I think any spec fic book that targets you as the reader has an extra layer of resonance.
Alien works for me because it's Science Fiction. I don't know if I would be as interested if it didn't have that alien and space-ship aspect to it.
Read this book on your recommendation and agree with the 10/10 rating. It was mildly disturbing to me due to my own experiences with health and health care. I hate to say "triggering" but that seems to be the universally used term nowadays.
so in this guy's world science fiction is high brow literature? I nearly spat out my drink when he said with a straight face that horror didn't have as much meaningful context and content like science fiction.
"The Father Thing" -Philip K. Dick (1954) "The City" -Ray Bradbury but whatever you say, about lines between scifi & horror and stuff. Look, I just suspect that your opinions might be much more interesting in about 40 to 50 years. Unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely I'll be around that long, so I'll just say good luck.
I watched the old Movie of _The Day of the Triffids_ when I was about 12 and then read all his books. I need to revisit them, thanks to your review, However, I think I will hunt down Bad Brains first.
Happy hunting
Wyndham probably read better in the 1970s when I read him than now. The Chrysilids wasn't as YA back then as now, I suspect. I still enjoyed it when I re-read it a couple of years ago although I sympathize with your criticism. Sadly Kathe Koya's work (as well as Barlowe) does not appear to be widely in print outside of Cypher which received the fine Press treatment last year from Centipede Press.
Yeah her books are scarce. I think Barlowe's novels are still in print though
Read The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.
If you want to read something a little more on the humorous side of hell, I recommend Hell by Robert Olen Butler.
Repeatedly mentioned TENDER IS THE FLESH & THE WAREHOUSE, both similar. 🖤☠️💯
I've heard Tender is the Flesh talked about on youtube a couple times, sounds interesting
@@Bookpilled Chomp chomp
Reading Kraken Wakes atm, never read Chrysalids.
Have you read Niven and Pournelle's "Inferno"?
"The Chrysalids" -- I know it as "Re-birth", from a big omnibus anthology from the fifties.
Haven't read that one
@@Bookpilled Inferno is, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle writing a novel (with lots of contemporary SF references, the protagonist is a dead scifi writer (fell out a window at a con)) in Dante's Hell.
It's fun. There's a sequel that's (IMHO) less good.
Fyi - Barlowe wrote a sequel to God’s Demon called Heart of Hell.
For a better SF take on religion try The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber. He also wrote Under the Skin.
*obligatory comment to support this channel*
thank
If you liked God's Demon you might enjoy Lost Gods by Brom.
Great stuff.
Thanks
Good video.....but is that concertina wire on the top of your apartment?!?
Yep
If you're in trouble blink twice.
Thats just how it is in latam
Have you read Shirley Jackson? The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Live in the Castle are masterpieces of 20th c horror.
Haven't yet but I know the reputation
I agree with you about how religion is treated in sci-fi and by scientists all too frequently. People can be small-minded and intolerant and ignorant about all sorts of things, and religion is one of them. Agressive, hyper-critical, and abusive behavior toward people you disagree with is always a bad thing, but people tend toward hypocrisy when they feel they're in the right. Bill Nye, for example, might be a hero to millions, but he's also an asshole to religious people, and I respect him a lot less for it.
That’s a lot of barbed wire.
Indeed
I still have House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski) - a kind of post-modern horror book sitting on my shelf unread. Maybe if I see a review I might get the motivation to read it.
That book's a trip! I definitely recommend it
that book's a favorite on booktube, haven't read it
I first came into Koja through the Abyss line Cipher . She writes in what i can only cast as nonlinar ? Yet believable , in Cipher its a guy with a hole in the palm of his hand . Yes you read it right . There is art here , art plays a part in the stories. Bad Brains is great . Ok off to check out your reviews . Gods Demon sounds like my kind of fantasy . Blishs " The Devils Day " . Ps Religious sf is a cup of its own .
Yeah religious SF can be turgid as well
I love horror books, but they stay with me, so I have to be careful.
Top ten movie episode?
#1-10 = Alien
Yeah, gotta admit, the FOOTLOOSE scenario does get a bit old sometimes.
Actually have not seen it but checks out
Did you go to prison. Just curious abut the barbwire 😂
Yes
Be carful, don’t get shivved.
I'm very sad that I can't hold bad brains as a physical book, don't really like E-reading (really sad face emoji, lol)
I got very very lucky
It's been a long time since I've branched out into horror. Probably due so I'll be looking for Bad Brains while I'm in the wild. BTW I swear I'm not trying to post videos at the same time as you. We have just synched up for the last couple 😅
Im wondering if Pet Sematary would shift your thinking?
Cant answer for him but to me it felt like a very average king's novel
try JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I've read 2/3
Thank you for pointing out how tiresome and irritating the "religious, but actually they're the sinners!" trope is (and has been since, I dunno, 1968?) Jesus (non-theological sense, here)! It's right up there with corrupt southern sherriffs, and the tragedy that could have been avoided if only the dimwitted townsfolk had just listened to the teenagers who foresaw everything. Lazy, hackneyed and pandering.
Love the channel.
If you haven't read it yet, you should give The Elementals by Michael McDowell a go. A beautiful little gem in the horror genre, in my opinion.
Dude gets tired of living in the US so he goes somewhere that needs barbed wire on the rooftops.
"Elevated horror" is considered the horror for non horror fans! And I can see why you dont like King since most of his plots have religious zealots as antagonists. It is a tired trope, and I cant stand organized religion.
based on the landscape and the endless background noise I''m assuming you are still living in Mexico City
Oaxaca
@@Bookpilled hope you're enjoying the weather then
De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read
Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault
Head of a dead young man
Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....
I apologize for asking, but where do you live that you need barbed wire behind you?
You have something Elon Muck can never have...a beard. Enjoy!
And common sense
He could own my beard if he really wanted to
@@Bookpilled Gah! Sellout!
Stay safe man xx
PS: Apparently these are the good days.
Such a wordy guy, and you haven’t read The Shining? Please, man. If you dismiss Stephen King on the basis of his third ever novel…I really wonder why I’m watching you. It’s like watching JJ Abrams talk about movies.
Why is there razor wire behind you?