Tuesday 21 April 2020

Alrightreads: More Dead Stuff

Harry Harrison, Deathworld

1960 / Audiobook / 154 pages / USA

***

It's no Dune, but this action-packed survival story in a superlatively harsh setting would've made a fun watered-down Saturday morning cartoon.


Michael Crichton, Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922

1976 / Audiobook / 288 pages / USA

***

I liked the faux scholary commentary and the historical melting pot, but the plot wasn't any more interesting than an authentic saga would have been, without the anthropological value.


Joe Pernice, The Smiths' Meat is Murder

2003 / Audiobook / 102 pages / USA

*

I never got into this particular Smiths album, for whatever reason, so hoped this appraisal might help me to remember and appreciate it. Unfortunately, the writer fancied himself a wild card and wrote an irrelevant fictional novella that gave him an excuse to perv over Lolitas instead. A waste of time, but at least not too much time.


Donnie Eichar, Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

2013 / Audiobook / 288 pages / USA

**

The incredible story of a self-important American who went to the rescue when Russians failed to solve their own mystery for fifty years.


Jeff VanderMeer, Dead Astronauts

2019 / Audiobook / 352 pages / USA

****

This psychedelic post-sense future congeals into clarity as it goes along. Apparently the second book in a series, but I recommend diving in here for optimal disorientation, as well as averting your eyes from blurbs or reviews. Including this one, fuck off.