Category: Reviews

The Devil in a Forest by Gene Wolfe (1976)

On By Christopher TuthillIn Books, Fantasy, Reading, ReviewsLeave a comment

Gene Wolfe is one of my favorite writers, and this is a wonderful book of his that I found some years after reading his epic Book of the New Sun, an amazing series that I want to reread soon. Unlike that dense, lengthy work, this is a shorter novel of mystery, adventure and myth, but like Wolfe’s other novels, it is  beautifully written, tightly plotted and great fun to read. I just re-read it over the holidays, after hearing the carol, ‘Good King Wenceslas,’ which reminded me of the book. Wolfe explains his writing inspiration for this novel in the epilogue:

“Shortly before Christmas one year, Gene Wolfe was singing the carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and was struck by the king’s questions to his page: “Yonder peasant, who is he? Where, and what his dwelling?” And by the page’s answer: “Sire, he lives a good league hence, Underneath the mountain, Close against the forest fence, By St. Agnes’ fountain.”

Wolfe recalls, “I found myself wondering who, indeed, was that nameless medieval peasant from whom most of us are, in one way or another, descended.”

The Devil in a Forest is Wolfe’s story surrounding this peasant, whose little village becomes involved in a struggle between a nameless evil and the forces of good. There is a dangerous highwayman, a mysterious murder, and strange powers that converge upon this village and create havoc for Mark, the protagonist. The attention to detail in Mark’s day to day life, and that of his fellow villagers, is quite well done and made for some interesting reading. Mark’s trials and his battle for survival are suspenseful, keeping you guessing right until the end. I enjoyed this one very much—it is so different from some of Wolfe’s other books, but his concept and the execution are excellent. I don’t want to spoil the fun for those who may be interested in reading this one, but I recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Wolfe’s more well-known books. Fantasy writing doesn’t get much better.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (1999)

On By Christopher TuthillIn Books, Fantasy, Reading, ReviewsLeave a comment

I recently read the first of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series, Gardens of the Moon. I had a fun time with this book, and enjoyed the epic scope of it. This is a long and dense series, and this first installment is a huge doorstop of a novel, with a cast of dozens of mages, wizards, soldiers, fighters, assassins and those caught up in the war enveloping the Malazan empire and the city of Darujistan. There are plenty of plot twists, political intrigue, and enough magic and battles to satisfy any fan of epic fantasy. If you like reading writers like George RR Martin, Tad Williams, Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson, I think you’ll definitely enjoy this book. An added benefit is that this series is already completed, though the ten novels in it may seem daunting. Gardens of the Moon was first published back in 1999, and though I’d seen his books in the store and the library, I’d never read Erikson before. I’ve already picked up the second of this series and will continue with it after finishing some of the other books I’m currently reading. Highly recommended for fans of epic fantasy.

Frank’s Truck Stop, by Glenn Jochum (2025)

On By Christopher TuthillIn music, Reviews, SongwritersLeave a comment

Glenn Jochum’s latest album, Frank’s Truck Stop, is a joy to listen to. Fans of roots and country rock will find so much to enjoy in this collection of songs. Jochum has a soulful, sincere voice that really engages you, and the playing of Don Cerce Jr. complements it perfectly. Cerce is an amazing player and an inductee of the New York State Country Music Hall of Fame who brings his talents to this record. His emotive playing is a fine counterpoint to Jochum’s singing and lyrics—they’re quite a dynamic duo.

“Rose in her Hair” starts off the fun—Glenn gives us a bluesy vision of better days here, singing “Come share the vision that life on the land brings/Come see the world with an innocent face” advice that all of us can take to heart in these hyper-connected, tumultuous days. You have to like his optimism here– it’s infectious.

The title song is a jaunty, fun tune that evokes a place where ‘We’re down-home folks, who like telling jokes, where food tastes like the frying pan.’ It’s a song that reminded me of listening to country music with my dad when I was growing up in the 80s, and would feel right at home in your collection of Glen Campbell or Johnny Cash albums. It’s a neat trick to tell a story and evoke a little world out of time in just three minutes, but Glenn accomplishes that here, has you tapping your feet along with the song, and he makes it sound easy.

No collection of country tunes would be complete without a heartbreaking tale of loss, and Glenn doesn’t disappoint, with “Smithereens,” among other tunes. “I can see the misty mountains…but I’ll never see this place again, cause I sabotaged my dreams…I smashed it all to smithereens,” he croons, and you can hear the regret and sadness in his voice. It’s not the cheeriest thought, but sung with such conviction and sureness that you can’t feel too sad about it. Like the best blues and country songs, it leaves you wanting more. Reflections is another song that speaks to loss and love, a brooding, sad tale of a broken relationship.

Copyright Blues is my favorite song on this collection. It has the kind of humor that I love in music, and Glenn is great at this sort of song. “Everybody told me about you, they all said that you would leave me blue, but I didn’t mind, my love for you was blind,” he sings, and you can almost see him grinning through the blues. “They might steal your copyright and walk away from you,” he says, concluding that he’s going to confiscate pictures of his lover and toss them in the sea to exorcise his loss. If you’re heartbroken and need to see the humor in it, this is the song for you. I was laughing at the image. It’s excellent advice for the broken-hearted. “What if?” is another great song in this vein, where he’s musing on the uncertainties of life and songwriting.

The other songs on this album are just as good as the ones I’ve highlighted. It’s been on rotation in my collection since I bought it, and I hope it will be in yours, too. Glenn is a poet, a fine songwriter, and if you enjoy your country and blues with a dash of humor, you’ll be happy you got this record.

The Lord of the Rings 25th Anniversary

On By Christopher TuthillIn Fantasy, Movies, Reviews, TolkienLeave a comment

Somehow, it’s been a quarter century since The Fellowship of the Ring first hit multiplexes. That was half a lifetime ago for me. I recall waiting for the movies eagerly, feeling very concerned that they wouldn’t be any good, that they’d get Tolkien all wrong and mess up my favorite book.

I needn’t have worried. They were great films, much better than anyone had a right to expect, and I loved them from the start. Oh, there were plenty of complaints from lots of people about what Peter Jackson and his team got wrong about Tolkien, but such criticisms were in the minority, far outweighed by the millions who loved the movies. The artistic achievement here was really beyond what even the most ardent fan might have hoped. The music, the costumes, the cast, the locations, the attention to detail, the story all came together in a way that rarely happens. The filmmakers created something grand that has stood the test of time.

            I am somewhat surprised that a bigger deal hasn’t been made of this anniversary, but never mind that. I saw that the extended version of Fellowship was in the theater and asked my thirteen-year-old son what he thought. He’s read the books and seen the movies and was enthusiastically in favor of seeing them on a big screen, an experience he’d never had. My ten-year-old daughter also wanted to see it; she fretted a little that she’d not yet read the books, but she soon got over this and happily came along.

            My daughter’s response to the films was quite sweet, and for me, it put to rest once and for all the idea that these films were somehow no good. I know Christopher Tolkien, as well as some Tolkien superfans, hated the movies, but whenever I heard such criticisms over the years, I couldn’t have cared less, and after seeing my daughter’s adoring reaction to the movies, I think whether someone disliked these films is not something I could ever be persuaded to care about. She loved the epic scope of it, the characters and the settings and the battles. She loved Gimli and Gandalf and the hobbits and everything in between. Again: she is ten years old and now can’t wait to read The Lord of the Rings. It was her introduction to this vast, glorious epic. She knows about Tolkien, since she’s heard me talking about his books and has seen all the games and memorabilia I have, but these movies further sparked her imagination, just as Harry Potter and other books and movies have. There is nothing at all wrong with her uncritical love of these movies, nor with the way the rest of the audience have found happiness or escape or emotion in it. Any critic, no matter how well versed (or not) in Tolkien, is free to dislike the movies as much as they wish, but it’s quite clear they are missing the point and need to perhaps understand that we all come to these things differently.

            For my part, after having lived with these interpretations of the books for so long, I was amazed at how well they held up. They still look better than anything else out there, which is a real testament to the craftsmanship, hard work, and love with which they were made. It’s of course condensed and simplified from the novel, but I don’t care about that at all. Filmmakers are required to do things to sell a movie; it’s a different medium that requires different things than a book does, especially when so much money is at stake. Given such constraints, it is a miracle these movies were as good as they were.

            My children loved seeing The Fellowship of the Ring so much that we went back Saturday to see The Two Towers, and Sunday for The Return of the King. We are now reading the books together. I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend. If you’ve never seen these movies on the big screen, I highly recommend it.

The Navigator’s Children, by Tad Williams (2024)

On By Christopher TuthillIn Books, Fantasy, Reading, Reviews3 Comments

There are a lot of fantasy series out there, but in my view, Tad Williams’ Osten Ard novels are some of the very best. I was a huge fan of his epic Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy back when it came out; I was in high school when the first volume arrived, and I was hungry for more fantasy adventures after reading Tolkien. I found Williams to be great in his own right, very different, much darker. I loved the series and read some of his other books over the years.

A few years ago, when I learned he was going to write a sequel series set in Osten Ard, I was overjoyed. The Last King of Osten Ard has been a fun and engaging trip for me, and for many of us who love epic fantasy. These four volumes exceeded my expectations. There were also two shorter, superb prequel novels for the series that I highly recommend.

I finally read The Navigator’s Children over the holidays–it deftly ties the series up in a satisfying conclusion. There is a war to be fought, backstabbing villains, heroic deeds, and endless intrigue. There are also no easy answers or morality here. I really am in awe of how Williams finished this series, after so many years away from these characters. The story is dense, the world is staggeringly vast, and it is hard sometimes to keep track of all the interweaving story lines. I think Williams deserves so much credit for doing justice to all these characters and this story. It is no easy task. Most writers struggle to write convincing prose for much simpler kinds of tales, but he has again managed to do it in a lengthy, sweeping narrative.

I was happy to adventure again with Simon, Miriamele, and their many friends. In my view, what Williams really excels at is keeping the fates of all these characters in doubt right until the very end. They face such impossible odds that you think there must be no way out, again and again. I don’t wish to spoil anything for those of you who haven’t yet read the books, but I want to encourage those of you who have enjoyed books like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, or other epic fantasy, to read these as well. If you’ve not read the original trilogy, start there, with The Dragonbone Chair. It may be an investment of time, but it’s well worth it; if you love epic fantasy novels, and haven’t read these, you are missing out. I was sad when it all ended, but pleased to see that Williams has a new Osten Ard book planned for later this year, which I will happily devour.

One observation about marketing from me, a guy who is an avid reader but who is not a businessperson or bookseller: I think bookstores could have made a better effort to promote this excellent novel. Maybe it’s just me, but my local Barnes and Noble didn’t have it when it came out, which I found shocking. I would think there would have been a major effort to promote it, with its own table, quotes from admiring authors like George RR Martin, and so on. I guess people who know and like Williams’ work were going to buy it, but it was surprising to me that there wasn’t more publicity. My local bookstore also didn’t have the latest Philip Pullman novel when I was last there, which seems very odd. Perhaps those of us who read these kinds of novels are getting older, but in my opinion it’s a missed opportunity on the part of booksellers when they don’t make a bigger deal out of new releases from major authors.

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

On By Christopher TuthillIn Movies, Poetry, Reading, ReviewsLeave a comment

I just watched Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet with my thirteen year old son, and we both enjoyed it so much. I last viewed it when I was a Freshman in high school, nearly forty years ago. I recall being very moved by it, but doing my best to keep my enthusiasm for it hidden from my classmates. I still have many lines from it committed to memory thanks to my ninth grade English teacher.

In viewing it now: my goodness what an amazing production. The costumes, the sets, the locations, the cast are all superb. This has got to be one of the best film versions of a Shakespeare play ever made. One of the things I found quite arresting was the duel scene; the sweat and dirt and grit and athleticism of the cast made it feel startlingly real. The same is true of the passionate desperation with which Romeo and Juliet fall for each other. Completely reckless and irresponsible, as the young so often can be.

There’s the beauty of the language, of course–my son remarked with surprise at several points in the play, when he realized where some famous quote came from: “A plague on both your houses!” “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” On and on it went. Only in reading and seeing these plays performed do you get a true appreciation of how magnificent they are, and how much of our culture owes a great debt to Shakespeare.

I found this tragedy terribly sad as a fourteen year old, so upsetting that I didn’t much want to watch it or read it again. I have read it a few times since then over the years, but now that I have children of my own, the story was far more wrenching to me. When you’re young I don’t think you really know just how inexperienced and innocent you are. The passage of time and a different perspective have made this play much greater in my eyes.

Friendship and The Chair Company

On By Christopher TuthillIn Comedy, Movies, ReviewsLeave a comment

Friendship, with Tim Robinson, was great fun; if you enjoy the over-the-top characters and situations in his sketch comedy, you’ll find plenty of laughs in this tale of a misfit who can’t seem to act normally. The movie reminded me of The Cable Guy, the equally hilarious story of a man who wants so badly to be friends with a customer that he stalks him, committing crimes in the hopes of forging a connection.

This story was a bit more dramatic than that, as Robinson’s character, Craig, desperately craves the approval of his new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd), an incredibly cool dude and local weatherman who at first takes an interest in Craig, before finding out how unhinged he is. When Craig acts like a lunatic at Austin’s party, Austin politely suggests they go their separate ways. But Craig, who has no other friends, and seemingly no other hobbies aside from buying clothes and obsessing over them, feels totally betrayed by this rejection. He has bought a drum kit, lost his phone, and started acting like the carefree spirit he believes Austin to be, and won’t let this bromance die without a fight.

What follows is the relentless destruction of Craig’s life—he loses everything—his wife, his job, and what little dignity he once possessed, as he pursues his lost friend, only to find that Austin isn’t who he seems. At one point, in total despair, he screams at Austin “You all accepted me way too fast! You can’t do that! You made me feel too free! People need rules!”

These lines, delivered with Robinson’s trademark, bug-eyed wildness, had me dying with laughter and encapsulated this poor man’s dilemma. He’s an awkward psychopath who holds a good job, with nice clothes, a nice house and family, but he is emotionally stunted, living through his phone, spending his days wishing he could fit in and be a normal guy, something he enviously watches his colleagues and coworkers do with seemingly effortless ease. For work he creates an addictive app, when not making up ad campaigns for local politicians. His wife, who has recently beaten cancer, cannot stand him, nor can his teenage son.

If there was a flaw in the movie, I thought it was in this home life. It seemed beyond belief that Craig would have married so highly above himself and had such a good job. But then again, most sitcoms have this same exact setup: an oaf with a beautiful wife and family who barely tolerate him. And there are lots of weirdos walking among us, doing all sorts of crazy things under the veneer of normality. I really enjoyed this movie, even if I am more partial to Robinson’s more light spirited anarchic stuff.

Speaking of which, I found the first episodes of his new HBO show, The Chair Company, to be totally hilarious and loved everything about it. In this one, Robinson again plays a suffering everyman, this time seeking justice against an office furniture business after enduring a hysterically funny mishap in front of his entire workplace. Robinson is so good at these kinds of characters, barely holding his life together, trying to keep a lid on a brimming rage that bursts out over and over, through minor and major inconveniences. After his fall, he is determined to root out the villains who have embarrassed him, no matter the cost. The first two episodes moved him down this dark path in a painfully funny manner, and I can’t wait to see just how outrageous it gets over the course of the story.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (1936)

On By Christopher TuthillIn 31 Tales of Halloween, Books, Fantasy, Halloween, HIstory, Horror, Reading, Reviews, Short Stories6 Comments

“It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth’s dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.”

Lovecraft is another of those giants of horror who could fill this list all on his own, but I had to pick just one story, and this is one I really enjoy. A group of ill-fated scientists from Miskatonic University make the terrible mistake of going to Antarctica where they find evidence of a race of beings far older than anything known to humans before, beyond a range of mountains larger than any that have ever been recorded. They explore buildings left behind by this civilization, which have been devised through ‘non-Euclidean geometry,’ and find hieroglyphs that help them learn about Elder-things and shoggoths, monsters that populated the place and whom they have foolishly awakened. They escape, but not before losing several members of the party. The novella serves as a warning to others who might want to return to study the antarctic.

Lovecraft has of course been highly influential and much has been written about him and his work. “Who Goes There?”, John Campbell’s horror tale set in the arctic with a group of explorers, immediately comes to mind, as do the films based upon it, including the 1951 version “The Thing From Another World,” as well as John Carpenter’s excellent “The Thing” from 1982.

I think it’s best to learn about Lovecraft straight from the source. There are many entry points for his mythos, but I think this is a great place to start. You could also read the Call of Cthulhu, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Dagon, or any number of others. The Library of America has a wonderful collection of his tales that I highly recommend.

So there you have it. Thirty-one tales of gothic terror and wonder over the month of October. I think it’s a pretty good list of some of the gems I’ve read over the years; I chose them in no particular order as the month went by, but I stand by each of them as tales that are either unique, or influential, or just plain scary enough to keep you up at night. Perhaps I’ll choose another 31 next October. For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed perusing this list, and that you’ve been inspired to read something you haven’t before. If you have your own favorites, or if you like what you’ve read, be sure to let me know in the comments.

Happy Halloween!

Something Wicked This Way Comes…

On By Christopher TuthillIn 31 Tales of Halloween, Books, Halloween, Horror, Reading, Reviews4 Comments

I was quiet the past few days due to a campout, which was a bracing seasonal treat. It was a gorgeous weekend, the foliage was on full display, we heard owls at night as we enjoyed the fire, saw turkeys and deer and other small critters. It’s great to reconnect with nature when you’re able.

Today I’ll offer three short reviews of seasonal stories, to keep this October project going.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (1972)

“Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.”

This is a wonderful treat, a book that can be savored and read aloud to kids as the date draws near. I love doing that with my own children, and it holds up so well to repeated readings. It’s the story of a group of friends who go out trick or treating only to find that one of their pals, Pipkin, is extremely ill. To save him, they must accompany the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud on a journey across the world and many different cultures, learning about various rituals of death and the spirit world. This really is the perfect Halloween book for tweens and dreamers of all ages. In 1993, it was made into an animated special starring the great Leonard Nimoy as Moundshroud.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)

“And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.”

Bradbury was so prolific and wrote so many fine tales that it is hard to narrow it down to his best. In fact, you could have a list of 31 Bradbury stories for the season. But this one is a personal favorite of mine, bringing together all of Bradbury’s great themes in one place, in an extremely satisfying story of two friends, Jim Nightshade and Will Holloway, and the strange carnival that comes to Green Town one Halloween. I’ve written essays on this book and have read it a number of times, and to me it just gets better as the years go by. I love this story, and I think anyone who enjoys this season will love it, too. Probably my favorite book on this list, and that is saying something. Bradbury was heavily involved with the feature film from 1983, which is also a lot of fun.

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (1984)

“Not until midlife did she truly believe that she had a right to exist, that the forces of nature had created her not as an afterthought and companion—a bent rib, as the infamous Malleus Maleficarum had it—but as the mainstay of the continuing Creation, as the daughter of a daughter and a woman whose daughters in turn would bear daughters.”

John Updike needs no introduction from me or anyone else. I was intrigued by the idea of this book about modern day witches living in Rhode Island, since I knew Updike from his Rabbit books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve yet to read a better saga about an American everyman in crisis, and find Updike’s prose to be really wonderful. This book is a total departure from that sort of novel, though his poetic command of language makes the book a joy to read. Told from the witches’ point of view, this is a fun, feminist update to these kinds of legends. If you are looking for a great literary read, this book’s for you. It was made into a successful film in 1987, with an all-star cast, directed by George Miller. Updike wrote a sequel in 2008 called The Widows of Eastwick.

Mort by Terry Pratchett, 1987

On By Christopher TuthillIn 31 Tales of Halloween, Books, Comedy, Reading, Reviews1 Comment

“There should be a word for that brief period just after waking when the mind is full of warm pink nothing. You lie there entirely empty of thought, except for a growing suspicion that heading towards you, like a sockful of damp sand in a nocturnal alleyway, are all the recollections you’d really rather do without, and which amount to the fact that the only mitigating factor in your horrible future is the certainty that it will be quite short.”

Today’s post is brief, as I’m heading out for the weekend, but I wanted to keep adding to my Halloween list of capsule reviews. I’ve been doing short reviews of some pretty heavy and disturbing horror fiction this month, and I thought I’d lighten things up and add the great Terry Pratchett to this reader’s guide to Halloween. There are a great many places you can start with the wonderful Discworld series, but Mort is as good as any of them. The fourth in the saga, published in 1987, this is the first in his ‘Death’ sequence. Mort is Death’s apprentice and he’s pretty unsuited for the job. He falls in love with death’s daughter, believe it or not, which leads to plenty of magic, slapstick and other hijinks as always in Ank-Morpork. If you like this kind of humor, it doesn’t get much better than Pratchett, and this book will give you lots of laughs, which we can all use right about now.