NIETZSCHE’S KISSES by LANCE OLSEN
(FC2 paperback, 244pp, $15.95)

This short novel chronicles the last hours of the great German philosopher’s life when, after many years’ illness, he had retreated into a solipsistic fantasy world and his literary heritage was in the hands of his fascist sister Elizabeth. (more…)

Tags: Black Static • Book Reviews • Lance Olsen • Nietzsche • Peter Tennant

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE BY MAX BROOKS
(Duckworth paperback, 254pp, £8.99)

This book has an intriguing concept. Subtitled “Complete Protection from the Living Deadâ€�, it operates under the premise that zombies are real, the victims of a virus called solanum, albeit their existence has been covered up by the authorities, and that an outbreak could happen near you at any time. In themed chapters Brooks details how to recognise when an outbreak is occurring, the best weapons to use against zombies, how to run from them and hunt them down, the difficulties posed by various types of terrain, the best structures to offer protection from zombie attack, surviving in a zombie world, should the worst case scenario ever come to pass. And so on and so forth, all of this delivered deadpan and with a potted history at the end of various zombie outbreaks during the course of history (more…)

Tags: Black Static • Book Reviews • Max Brooks • Peter Tennant • Zombie Survival Guide • zombies

NO-MAN AND OTHER TALES by TONY RICHARDS
(Pendragon Press paperback, 340pp, £9.99)

This collection of four novellas will be reviewed in Black Static #3, due out later this month, but one of the novellas, Postcards From Terri, was previously reviewed in The Third Alternative #39 back in 2004, when it appeared as a hardback from Sarob Press. Rather than repeat myself, I’ve decided to post the original review of that novella on the website (more…)

Tags: Black Static • Book Reviews • No Man and Other Tales • novellas • Peter Tennant • Tony Richards

The Case Notes section of Black Static #2 will contain a review of the short story collection Little Moscow (Tindal Street Press pb, 272pp, ¬£7.99) and an interview of sorts with author Mick Scully (a regular contributor to Crimewave). To whet your appetite for that, here’s Mick reading from one of his stories:-

Pete reviews many more books, and interviews authors, in Black Static. Subscribe now!

Tags: Black Static • Crime fiction • CRIMEWAVE • Mick Scully • Peter Tennant • Tindal Street Press

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY by GIANRICO CAROFIGLIO
(Old Street Publishing hardback, 288pp, £12.99)

Giorgio is a young man with a promising future, but then he falls under the spell of the charismatic Francesco, who lures him into a life of debauchery. Francesco teaches him how to cheat at cards, and at first they only swindle those who deserve or can afford to be gulled, but then as easy marks become hard to find anyone is a target. In other areas of his life Giorgio is persuaded to compromise on his own standards, abandoning his studies to be a lawyer and cheating on his girlfriend, getting drawn ever deeper into a life of crime and lulled by the ease with which everything falls into his lap. Concurrent with this is another plot strand in which a lieutenant of caribinieri is investigating a series of attacks on women, with the violence mounting each time. As the two strands near each other, Giorgio faces hard choices about his future and must question where his own boundaries lie. (more…)

Tags: Black Static • Book Reviews • Crime fiction • Gianrico Carofiglio • Italy • Peter Tennant • The Past is a Foreign Country

DEAD MEN’S BOOTS by MIKE CAREY
(Orbit paperback, 534pp, £7.99)

This is the third Felix Castor novel, set in a world where the existence of ghosts and other supernatural beings is taken for granted and exorcists like Castor protect humanity from their schemes. (more…)

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SOMETHING BORROWED by PAUL MAGRS
Headline hardback/trade paperback, 310pp, £19.99/£11.99

The sequel to Never the Bride, Magrs’ latest novel continues the fan boy sensibility of his recent work with yet more of the adventures of Brenda, the Bride of Frankenstein, who now lives in Whitby and tackles mysteries with her good friend Effie, the descendant of a long line of wise women. And the ladies certainly have more than their fair share of troubles to contend with, what with their old friend Jessie being transformed into a flesh eating womanzee, a plague of poison pen letters that have the town held in the grip of fear, a troublesome haunting and a set of wicker garden furniture with attitude, to name just a few. To complicate matters further, Brenda‚Äôs former beau Henry is back on the scene, an immortal who stirs old memories of things best left forgotten, of their long ago involvement with the Smudgelings and fight against Count Alucard. (more…)

Tags: black • book • Borrowed • Bride • Frankenstein • Magrs • reviews • Something • static • Tennant • Whitby

UGLY STORIES FOR BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE by JAMES BURR
Corsega Press paperback, 271pp, £11.99

This is a collection of short stories that steadfastly refuses to be shoehorned into any genre niche, though those who enjoy horror will assuredly find much of what they like within its pages. If you pinned me down and asked for a writer James Burr is similar to, my answer would be Russell Hoban, though even that may be stretching a point, with perhaps a hint of the early Vonnegut. Though he has some notable credits, Burr seems to have slipped through the nets cast by Elastic, Pendragon, Gray Friar et al, and my suspicion is that Ugly Stories for Beautiful People is self-published (I can find no website for Corsega Press, or evidence for its existence independent of Burr), but while often a sign of poor quality that isn‚Äôt the case here. These stories deserve to reach a wider audience. (more…)

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THE CAGE by KENZO KITAKATA
Vertical paperback, 230pp, $14.95

The author is billed as ‚Äòthe undisputed don of hardboiled and mystery writing in Japan‚Äô, which is fair enough, but there‚Äôs nothing distinctively Japanese about this book. Change some of the names, substitute mafia for yakuza, or use the more generic gang, and it could just as easily be set in New York or LA. Plotwise it in part reprises Cronenberg‚Äôs A History of Violence, or any Bellow/Updike novel about a man undergoing a mid-life crisis, with the proviso that in this case the man is a gangster. (more…)

Tags: black • book • Cage • Japan • Kitakata • Peter Tennant • reviews • static • Tennant

BAD MONKEYS by MATT RUFF
Bloomsbury paperback, 234pp, £10.99

The book opens with a young woman imprisoned in an asylum for murder, but as the resident psychiatrist talks to her a strange tale emerges. As a child Jane Charlotte was involved in the capture of a serial killer preying on young boys and thus came into the orbit of an organisation calling itself the Bad Monkeys. Years later she was recruited as a field agent by this organisation, which takes a pro-active stand in the battle against evil by killing the bad guys and has advanced technology at its disposal. And then there‚Äôs The Troop, a rival organisation dedicated to evil and with a special interest in Jane Charlotte. Naturally the psychiatrist has no difficulty demonstrating that these are all simply delusions, brought on by the guilt felt over a childhood trauma, but of course there‚Äôs more to it than that. (more…)

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