Surreal – S.B. Howell

The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster

Jun 16, 2024

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by

in 4 Star Books, Jewish, Literature, Memoir, Surreal

Rating: 4/5, good The back cover of The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster reads (at least the 2007 Penguin edition of the book first released in 1982): “’One day there is life… and then, suddenly, it happens there is death.’ So begins The Invention of Solitude, Paul Auster’s moving and personal meditation on fatherhood.…

Chthon by Piers Anthony

Aug 30, 2020

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by

sbhowell

in Adventure, Black Comedy, Erotic, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Surreal

Rating: 3/5, average TW: rape This book is either brilliant or stupid and I’m not sure which one… possibly both. I saw this as #1 on a list of Weirdest Science Fiction some years ago and tried to read it, but only got about 30% in because there’s a pretty brutal rape scene that seemed…

Best of Apex Magazine

Jan 26, 2019

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by

sbhowell

in 5 Star Books, Asian Authors, Black Authors, Fantasy, Horror, Literature, Post-Modern, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Surreal

Edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner Rating: 5/5 This story collection totally blew me away. There are 21 stories and they’re all so good. The thing I like about them most is they’re all really unique. Genre fiction can get a little formulaic sometimes, so I think it’s good to shake it up. Apex…

Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari

Jan 19, 2019

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sbhowell

in Asian Authors, Classics, History, Horror, Japanese Authors, Literature, Philosophy, Short Stories, Surreal

Rating: 3/5, average (note: I’m rating my experience of reading this, not the quality, which is phenomenal because it’s a Japanese classic. It is beautifully written and painstakingly translated, but quite dry.) Tales of Moonlight and Rain in a nutshell: Ghosts of thwarted noblemen and mistreated women Decrepit thatched-roof houses Lovers undeterred by death Sages,…

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

May 6, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in 4 Star Books, Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction, Surreal

Rating: 4/5, good I saw the movie version of Annihilation before I read the book, and I really liked it. The movie does a great job of balancing its horror and science fiction aspects, and has a lot of great terrifying and surreal moments. The book is more Lovecraftian than the movie. It has more…

Who Fears Death By Nnedi Okorafor

Mar 2, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in Black Authors, Fantasy, Gender, Race, Science Fiction, Surreal

Rating: 3/5, average Who Fears Death is a science fantasy novel by Nnedi Okorafor, PhD, a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing instructor. Who Fears Death has been optioned for an HBO show directed by George R.R. Martin. I’ve been hearing a lot of hype about this book. I’ve been following Nnedi Okorafor on Twitter since…

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Feb 9, 2018

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by

sbhowell

in 5 Star Books, Asian Authors, Erotic, Gender, General Fiction, Horror, Literature, Mental Health, Surreal, Tear-Jerkers

Rating: 5/5, excellent Have you ever felt like a book was written specifically for you? That’s how I felt reading Han Kang’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Vegetarian. I’ve been a vegetarian on and off over the years, and depressed sometimes, and I feel a kinship with Yeong-hye, the protagonist of this book. Yeong-hye…

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Jul 22, 2016

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by

sbhowell

in 4 Star Books, Fantasy, General Fiction, Humor, Politics, Post-Modern, Romance, Science Fiction, Surreal, Young Adult

Rating: ☆☆☆☆✮ January 2016 I’ve been following Charlie Jane Anders’ career for a couple of years now, and so I was super excited when I heard that she released a science fiction/fantasy novel. She was a writer and editor at i09, a science, science fiction, and pop culture news blog. Charlie Jane Anders is also the host…

Oreo by Fran Ross

Feb 8, 2016

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by

sbhowell

in 4 Star Books, Adventure, Black Authors, Black Comedy, Gender, General Fiction, Humor, Literature, Race, Surreal

Book Title: Oreo Author: Fran Ross Year Published: Originally 1974, reprinted in 2015 Publisher: New Directions Pagecount: 240 Rating: 4/5 It’s witty, dirty, socially smart and a little bit visionary, but no one’s heard of it. At least until now… Oreo didn’t get a lot of attention when it was first published in 1974 by…

Principia Discordia

Dec 11, 2014

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by

sbhowell

in Humor, Philosophy, Post-Modern, Religious, Surreal

Or “How I Found Goddess, And What I Did To Her When I Found Her” Principia Discordia is the central text of Discordianism, a batshit-crazy-awesome pseudo-religion which is part parody and part Zen. It is structured around the worship of Eris, the Greek goddess of Chaos. The book itself is a collage of mock-Biblical chapters,…

Category: Surreal