I very rarely stray into horror much anymore, except in the masterful hands of a Stephen Graham Jones, Joe R. Lansdale, Laird Barron, Lucius Shepard, Thomas Ligotti, Richard Laymon. So when I saw this title posted atop a Scariest 100 Horror Novels of All Time list at #1, I figured I should pay attention, particularly …
Highly recommended by readers (and writers) I trust, I was blessedly led to this most unique and memorable book by M. T. Anderson, much of which is the journal of the eponymous son of an African princess, raised and educated at a pre-Revolution center for philosophical inquiry in Boston, the Novanglian College of Lucidity. Octavian …
Wrapped Episode #296 of From the Top on Friday night under the aegis of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and Washington Performing Arts at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. FTT’s relationship with the Cooke Foundation has now been a 10-year partnership, and through their generosity and enthusiasm (Stuart Haney from Cooke has long been a …
Imagine going through life as a self-considered devotee of the cinema, with favorite directors (Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Coen Brothers, Tarantino, to name a few) occupying a place of worship in my heart. Imagine, then, a sudden discovery of a whole body of work, an auteur, who becomes your sole cinematic obsession. I’d heard of Bob …
Following a little break after my immersive experience with Madison Smartt Bell’s incredible trilogy of the Haitian Revolution, I’ve returned to his work with a road novel of a touring beach bar band, Anything Goes. He gets it right, not only in the telling, but he’s written a whole album of songs to go with …
Just tore through Royal Young‘s memoir, Fame Shark, recounting his growing up in the Lower East Side, born Hazak Brozgold to artist/social worker/psychologist parents. His father‘s work festoons several of the NYC subway stations (I’ve got some of his papier-mache masks shown below) gorgeous murals; Royal himself is a wonderful painter, whose work is now …