Sometimes when reading a Cormac McCarthy novel I can’t help but wonder what kind of man he is, what kind of man would create such bleak and miserable worlds? This is pointless since I know from his biography that he is to all appearances a genial and downright nice human being. And perhaps writing books like this helps him in that regard, serves as a form of exorcism, his demons expelled onto paper allowing him go on living peacefully. But these are just useless random […]
Scooby-Doo Meets Nancy Drew
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore (Ember, 2011) reads like something written by Zane Grey after an all-night peyote bender and Veronica Mars marathon. It mashes up tropes from a half-dozen different genres–the plucky girl detective, the hot cowboy, the lost Spanish goldmine, the restless ghost–and gently pokes fun at itself for doing so. In another writer’s hands, the book could have been a disjointed mess, but Clement-Moore’s breezy, self-aware style manages to pull it all together into a mostly enjoyable read. What’s it about? During […]
Cowboys can be detectives too
I first discovered Steve Hockensmith in my library with his Pride and Prejudice and Zombies books. While I am a big fan of the original Pride and Prejudice, I thoroughly enjoyed Hockensmith’s addition of the zombies and his humour, so looked for more of his books. Happily, my library has the Holmes on the Range mystery series as audiobooks, and I listened to the first four in quick succession. By the last one, The Crack in the Lens, it was getting a little repetitive and I […]