{"id":1804,"date":"2017-07-28T08:07:17","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T12:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2017-07-28T08:07:17","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T12:07:17","slug":"review-behold-oddities-curiosities-and-undefinable-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/review-behold-oddities-curiosities-and-undefinable-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: BEHOLD! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Step right up, if you dare…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was provided an Advanced Release Copy (ARC) in return for an unbiased review.<\/p>\n

I have a secret obsession with dark, disturbing, weird, and well-written anthologies. Crystal Lake Publishing has come out with a few of my favorites over the past few years, and BEHOLD! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders<\/em><\/a><\/strong> is the latest favorite, following on from last year\u2019s Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories<\/em> and their annual Tales from the Lake<\/em> collections.<\/p>\n

The Short Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buy it. It\u2019s amazing and editor Doug Murano did a marvelous job putting together the collection–which features amazing wordsmiths such as Clive Barker, Lucy A. Snyder, Neil Gaiman, Stephanie M. Wytovich, John Langan, Lisa Morton, Richard Thomas and many others. Oh, and a wonderful foreword from Josh Malerman that you really shouldn\u2019t skip over.\u00a0Five Stars.<\/strong>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Longer Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right from the gorgeous cover by artist John Coulthart, the reader is invited between the pages into a literary carnival of wonders and the grotesque.<\/p>\n

Behold!<\/em> is divided into three sections \u2013 Oddities, Curiosities, and Undefinable Wonders (as the title suggests). The choice of Lisa Morton\u2019s LaRue\u2019s Dime Museum<\/em> kicks off the Oddities section. It is a delightfully different and weird \u201cfreak show\u201d type tale that is both unexpected and fresh. Brian Kirk\u2018s Wildflower, Cactus, Rose<\/em> was a tough story to read based on the subject matter\u2014but was beautiful and spine-tingling at the same time. The Baker of Millepoix <\/em>by Hal Bodner is the story that most resembles a painting\u2014beautiful, colorful. Picturesque, even. Finally, Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament<\/em> is a marvelously disturbing tales of guilt and horror intertwined with desire and love.<\/p>\n

I was delighted at this point to discover that each section was separated by poetry by Stephanie M. Wytovich. An Exhibition of Mother and Monsters<\/em> is between \u2018Oddities\u2019 and \u2018Curiosities\u2019 and As a Guest at the Telekinetic Tea Party<\/em> dove tails into Lucy A Snyder\u2019s Hazelnuts and Yummy Mummies<\/em> close out \u2018Curiosities\u2019 and kicks off \u2018Undefinable Wonders\u2019<\/p>\n

Curiosities begins with John Langan\u2018s Madame Painte: For Sale–<\/em>a buyer beware story of sorts with a delicious ending. Chivalry<\/em> by Neil Gaiman is next and is a feel good story\u2026.of a sort. Gaiman always draws me into his world-creations. Fully Boarded<\/em> by Ramsey Campbell is a story that will give even the most stalwart traveller pause. Amelia\u2019s Wake<\/em> by Erinn L Kemper is a dark story of grief and sadness. Her story really resonated with me after the death of my dad last year.<\/p>\n

A Ware That Will Not Keep, <\/em>is an anecdotal story told by a grandfather about the atrocities of WW II and John F.D. Taft tells a sympathetic tale that is both sympathetic and horrific.<\/p>\n

Horror to me is taking the everyday and turning it onto itself. Was the creaking floorboard REALLY just the house settling? Ed Pruitt\u2019s Smoker<\/em> by Patrick Freivald takes bee keeping to a very different place and works so very well.<\/p>\n

Hazelnuts and Yummy Mummies<\/em> by Lucy A. Snyder had me laughing to myself (as it was 3AM at the time, my wife found this disconcerting). If you have a unique take on humor, you will adore this one.<\/p>\n

Undefinable Wonders begins with The Shiny Fruit of Our Tomorrows <\/em>was such a real-world story, that I think you might have to read this one for yourself to process it. A nice one by Brian Hodge.<\/p>\n

The Wakeful<\/em> is another one of those \u2018every day\u2019 stories that make horror so disturbing. I\u2019m just glad I was inside when I read it. Kristi DeMeester is now on my \u2018to read\u2019 list.<\/p>\n

Christopher Coake\u2018s strange story Knitter<\/em> , while clever was so different from The Wakeful<\/em> that it shocked me into a different place. It is very well written and presented\u2014I may just have not switched gears fast enough.<\/p>\n

I adore subtle anti-religion tales, and that\u2019s what Sarah Read gives us with Through Gravel<\/em>. Deliciously executed.<\/p>\n

The collection ends with one of my favorite authors, Richard Thomas and his short entitled Hiraeth<\/em>. Yes, I had to look it up, and I\u2019m glad I did before reading. Hiraeth, loosely translated, means homesick\u2014but so much more. There is a passion and a sorrow in the Welsh word that no English translation can capture. This story was beautiful and deep\u2014and is perfectly named. There is hope here. Beauty and wonder as well. And there is the knowledge that our world is unknowable in its complexity.<\/p>\n

BEHOLD! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonder<\/em> is a collection that you will read over and over. Pay the entry fee and discover the worlds within for yourself.<\/p>\n

But take heed. Some of these stories may change you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Step right up, if you dare… I was provided an Advanced Release Copy (ARC) in return for an unbiased review. I have a secret obsession with dark, disturbing, weird, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,26,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c40-myblog","category-reviews","category-s6-myblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions\/1807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}