jdhacker's review
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I have several anthologies Sean Thompson's shorter work appears in, though what really prompted me to seek out a longer work by him was hearing about 'Hate From the Sky' on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast, which I still have yet to read. The concept intrigued me enough that I wanted to dip into something longer of his. Especially as while I generally find Bizarro overall a bit hit or miss (more often miss than hit), in particular bizarro themed collections, I had enjoyed his shorter form work in more 'weird' and straightforward horror collections.
'D3mon' is interesting, in that it stylistically reads almost like two different books. The first half reads like a more traditional horror novel, with same sorts of suspense, tension building, and shocks one might expect in that genre, albeit through the lens of technology being the delivery method for the supernatural/demonic/occult horror. It takes place over the course of approximately 10 months, and the storytelling (from some highly unreliable narrators) involves us hearing about or seeing made blog/vlog entries, but not presented as documents. It begins to evolve into an almost-zombie/almost-satanic cult story, and by the second half really starts to go off the rails (not in a bad way) into the bizarro realm. I noticed some other reviews stating that the story started off 'slow' but eventually took off, and I think this stylistic/genre shift is what they're referring too, though I'd argue that first part is not slow, but rather the natural tension building that long form work requires to be more than a string of vaguely connected scenes.
I'm interested to see if in further longer form works this obvious tension between two styles will be synthesized into something more cohesive and unique, with a less distinguishable switch between the two. I think that's the sort of thing that's going to be required for bizarro to reach wider audiences and gain recognition in more 'respectable' literary (even horror) circles, rather than just leaning into absurdity and shock value. I can easily see authors like Sean Thompson and J.R. Hammentaschen (for different reasons entirely) spearheading this kind of shift while retaining some of the fun and outlandish elements of bizarro.
'D3mon' is interesting, in that it stylistically reads almost like two different books. The first half reads like a more traditional horror novel, with same sorts of suspense, tension building, and shocks one might expect in that genre, albeit through the lens of technology being the delivery method for the supernatural/demonic/occult horror. It takes place over the course of approximately 10 months, and the storytelling (from some highly unreliable narrators) involves us hearing about or seeing made blog/vlog entries, but not presented as documents. It begins to evolve into an almost-zombie/almost-satanic cult story, and by the second half really starts to go off the rails (not in a bad way) into the bizarro realm. I noticed some other reviews stating that the story started off 'slow' but eventually took off, and I think this stylistic/genre shift is what they're referring too, though I'd argue that first part is not slow, but rather the natural tension building that long form work requires to be more than a string of vaguely connected scenes.
I'm interested to see if in further longer form works this obvious tension between two styles will be synthesized into something more cohesive and unique, with a less distinguishable switch between the two. I think that's the sort of thing that's going to be required for bizarro to reach wider audiences and gain recognition in more 'respectable' literary (even horror) circles, rather than just leaning into absurdity and shock value. I can easily see authors like Sean Thompson and J.R. Hammentaschen (for different reasons entirely) spearheading this kind of shift while retaining some of the fun and outlandish elements of bizarro.
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