Some Books I've Loved - The Catacombs, Experimental Film, and Mongrels

Periodically, I like to share some books I've loved. I constantly read in addition to writing and want to share what I think deserves greater attention. So if you feel like reading some good stuff, consider adding these to you list.

The Catacombs by Jeremy Bates

This was a truly solid read. While I've seen movies about the Paris Catacombs (An American Werewolf in Paris and the truly terrifying As Above, So Below), I've never read a novel set in the location. Bates layered a terrific narrative surrounding this locus making it a definite I'll never ever travel there.

   

Experimental Film by Gemma Files

I've fallen in love with this niche subgenre I'm calling Found Footage Fiction. From Marisha Pessl's prodigious Night Film which my mother said was too claustrophobic to read, to Adam Neville's Last Days, this subgenre has in its nature the need to create two distinct narratives, that of the protagonist and that which he or she is following. Truly, a unique format. Gemma excels at adding to this cannon with Experimental Film, taking me to places so unexpected, I actually exclaimed aloud on several occasions.

Mongrels: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones

If you wondered what a werewolf novel written by Cormac McCarthy might look like, then this is it. Not only is this road coming of age story fraught with the necessary bildungsroman angst one might expect with a young man growing up in a vulpine family, but the narrative style is so lyrical, I found myself reading it aloud. Seriously, when did you last read a werewolf novel. They are few and far between. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best among them.