venusofthesnakes's review
4.25
Listen, this is a good book.
I really loved the worlds on some of these stories. I think the author is generally good at changing his voice for the different narratives.
And some of these stories has really, really lovely narration. Whether it was grotesque or simple or poetic. He has a way with words I really like.
The stories I liked:
I really loved the worlds on some of these stories. I think the author is generally good at changing his voice for the different narratives.
And some of these stories has really, really lovely narration. Whether it was grotesque or simple or poetic. He has a way with words I really like.
The stories I liked:
- Sundowners
- Suitcase Sam
- Royal catamite
- Lotus Bread
- Sick Days
- Lowbear
All had really great tension and had me curious for more.
gerhard's review
3.0
Eclectic though uneven collection of short stories from the talented author of Green Thumb, winner of the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT SF/fantasy/horror. These stories range from eroticism to whimsy to horror – often in a single story.
The standout story for me was the first one, ‘Lightning Capital’. Unfortunately its sexy joie de vivre is not replicated in the subsequent tales, which quickly descend into the disgusting (‘Bottom Feeder’) to the truly grotesque (‘Suitcase Sam’).
For me the story with the most potential was ‘Yolk’, a melancholic story about a man reborn in the body of his lover, experiencing him from the inside out, as it were.
The tone of this collection is difficult to pin down. Best described as Neil Gaiman fused with Clive Barker, it represents interstitial genre fiction at its most transgressive and transcendent.
My only gripe with this Lethe Press edition is the sloppy copy-editing. Well worth reading for fans of the offbeat and weird. Cardamone is definitely a writer to watch.
The standout story for me was the first one, ‘Lightning Capital’. Unfortunately its sexy joie de vivre is not replicated in the subsequent tales, which quickly descend into the disgusting (‘Bottom Feeder’) to the truly grotesque (‘Suitcase Sam’).
For me the story with the most potential was ‘Yolk’, a melancholic story about a man reborn in the body of his lover, experiencing him from the inside out, as it were.
The tone of this collection is difficult to pin down. Best described as Neil Gaiman fused with Clive Barker, it represents interstitial genre fiction at its most transgressive and transcendent.
My only gripe with this Lethe Press edition is the sloppy copy-editing. Well worth reading for fans of the offbeat and weird. Cardamone is definitely a writer to watch.
apostrophen's review
5.0
This short story collection, which I listened to via Audible, was a wonderful example of a collection of short fiction that shows the range and breadth of a genre without coming across as limited or rote. Tom Cardamone has a way of making the most unique, horrifying, strange, or unreal seem perfectly viable, and in turns these tales will charm, disturb, horrify or amuse.
The downside of an audio collection is not being able to look at the list of titles thereafter, but I will say I was captivated throughout, and more than once took the longer way home to get to the end of a tale before I'd have to turn off my iPod.
River Rat, the boy who rescued lightning, Suitcase Sammies (shudder), parents who may have the last surviving children of an epidemic, and letters from the dead... There is something here for everyone. I do warn you, however, that whatever you expect?
You'll be wrong.
The downside of an audio collection is not being able to look at the list of titles thereafter, but I will say I was captivated throughout, and more than once took the longer way home to get to the end of a tale before I'd have to turn off my iPod.
River Rat, the boy who rescued lightning, Suitcase Sammies (shudder), parents who may have the last surviving children of an epidemic, and letters from the dead... There is something here for everyone. I do warn you, however, that whatever you expect?
You'll be wrong.
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