James Stark, Proximate to Normal

CBR10BINGO – Dream Vacation

It’s so hard to talk about the 10th book in a series without getting into spoilers. The Sandman Slim series is my very very favorite book series. Of all time. It is currently unfolding, but I truly do love it more than any series I have ever read or am currently reading. It’s difficult for me to talk about because I want everybody to read it, so I go into too much detail and then start reading whole chapters out loud. But I want you to have to experience I’ve had of not knowing what’s going to happen next.

The way I’ve found to try to sell you on this series without giving too much away is to talk about Kadrey’s romanticized Los Angeles. I have never been to LA, so for all I know it is full of magic people, angels, God and the Devil, ghosts, spirits, the wicked and the profane. It might well be ground zero in the battle for the Universe and the damnation or redemption of souls.  It probably isn’t. I know enough Los Angelinos to know that the traffic is so shitty that the spirit of the open road would probably flee in horror. In Kadrey’s magical LA, the rich assholes make deals with angels who are also assholes, there is a tiki bar with amazing food, a great donut shop, a video store with movies that have never been made, and a mystical drive in theater. It’s part 50’s noir, 70’s punk, 90’s manga and contemporary Beverly Hills.

At the end of The Kill Society, Stark makes a deal with some bad guys to solve a problem for them in exchange for being fully brought back to life. He makes the deal in part to be with Candy, but also because Los Angeles is the only place he wants to be. He is half dead and dying a little more every minute. The closer he gets to death the more he wants to soak in LA. I’ve always focused before on Kadrey’s language and characters, but LA is always the place where the Sandman Slim story shines brightest. The characters are still great and the language is amazing.

I have some idea where Kadrey is going with this series, but I have no idea how he will get there. I’m just along for the ride on the mythically empty freeway.