
Four Torches (Out of Five)
Every time Holly Black’s short stories show up in an anthology, critics always say the same thing: grim, lush, deeply-imagined fantasy.
The Poison Eaters: and Other Stories is her first solo collection, and because it only includes two new tales — “Going Ironside” and “The Land of Heart’s Desire” — I wasn’t expecting to be entirely overwhelmed by it. But I read/reread all 12 stories in one sitting because Black is a skilled wordsmith and her stories are even better piled together in a heap of dark magic.
Black’s short stories are billed as Modern Faeire Tales, which as an apt description because of the vampires and elves and unicorns and anthropomorphism. Yet, even though the themes are consistent, every story is delicious on its own.
(Warning: Mild spoilers below.)
“The Coldest Girl in Cold Town” introduces a homeless, alcoholic teenager who has to stay liquored up so she doesn’t give into her vampire cravings — a total bummer for the guys who want to roofie her at the beginning of the story. (”Let me spell it out: if you don’t get me some alcohol, I am going to bite you.”).
The teenagers in “A Reversal of Fortune” and “The Night Market” take a cue from The Charlie Daniel’s Band and makes actual deals with the devil. Instead of golden fiddles, though, it’s saving pets by an eating competition. And saving lives by entering into pacts with faeires.
“The Dog King” is an age-old quest that will have you rooting for the villain.
“Virgin” tells the complex and tragic story of a teenage junkie who is the kind of handsome that “girls draw obsessively in the corners of their notebooks.” And “The Coat of Stars” is a whole other kind of tragedy that explores the life of a closeted gay fashion designer.
“In Vodka Veritas” is light-hearted and a winner, simply because of the truth of the title.
In “Going Ironside” faeires try to get humans to impregnate them.
“The Poison Eaters” is about three sisters who are poisonous to the touch.
My favorite story in the collection is “Paper Cuts Scissors,” because it’s one of those rare love stories to both readers and writers, and it has the unique gift of not being overly-indulgent. (It’s easy territory to fall into when magical authors are writing about magical readers.) The main character in “Paper Cuts Scissors” has the gift of putting stuff into (and taking stuff out of) books, so that the plot is custom-fitted for whoever is reading it.
After a fight, the main character’s girlfriend thrusts herself into a Russian novel and he has to find the exact book she used to get her out again. There’s a definite Inkheart feel to it, but it’s different enough to be exciting.
The only complaint I have about Black’s stories is that they don’t really have the timeless feel of some other modern fairy retellings (like Malinda Lo’s Ash, for example). The stories are marketed toward teenagers, and while I think actual adults will enjoy the texture and depth, they probably will resonate more with younger audience (unlike Malinda Lo’s Ash, which is written for a young adult audience, but is a goer for all ages.) (Btw, I think you should read Ash. Can you tell?)
Holly Black is a gift to the fantasy genre. She makes reading fun for young people. And she makes sleeping a little harder for everyone.
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And for the most part, the atmosphere works. Since the aforementioned thin-line-between-humans-and-animals theme is such a large part of the story, they do a great job of showing how, in 19th century England, human beings and animals exist side-by-side: there are dogs, horses, mounted animals on walls, hedges in the shapes of animals, the occasional gypsy bear, even lots of animal furs mixed in with the costumes.


Not only were the books an enormous amount of campy, melodramatic fun, Carey did something bold: she brought full-fledged erotic writing — even S&M! — into the sometimes-staid world of fantasy fiction.
Necessary? Absolutely not. But enjoyable? Definitely!
Sendak, who is openly gay, had a miserable childhood, still hates his parents, never wanted children himself, and is obsessed with death.
So far, this particular story arc has been low on action, which has been fine by me because that allows for a lot of wonderful character moments, and with the reunion between Oz and Willow — who last saw each other in the year 2000! — we need that time to soak it in. And with the exception of Joss himself, there’s no writer I’d rather soak with than Jane Espenson, also known as my girlfriend.
All of these things occurred to me as I watched Zombieland, a zombie comedy that plays like a ne’er-do-well nephew of 2004’s superior British zom-com Shaun of the Dead.
When the movie is a comedy, and we’re spared all the pesky social commentary found in most zombie films — I swear, if I see one more movie where we learn that the humans are actually worse than the zombies (No! But they’re human! How could they!) — than you can just let loose and enjoy the ride, snickering at the methods Tallahassee uses to kill the undead, including the use of unorthodox weapons like a banjo.

Jennifer’s Body is the second film from Juno scribe Diablo Cody, who once again puts her ear for snappy dialogue to use and turns it into the unbilled third star of her film.
It is in these moments when you have to surrender to Cody’s clever vision — a horror movie that’s fun. Twisted and dark, yes, but it never goes too long without a laugh. While it’s my belief that Cody will never find a better actor to deliver her dialogue than Ellen Page, Seyfried and Fox do an admirable job.
In the season premiere, airing this Thursday on Fox (opposite Supernatural, damn them, at 9 PM/8 C), Olivia comes back from that other dimension.
Here’s the set-up: four months after her parents were killed in a car accident, 17 year-old Elena is barely keeping it together in the small Virginia town of Mystic Falls. Then a mysterious new student comes to town, Stefan, and even distraught Elena can’t help but be drawn to him. Alas, Stefan has three big flaws: (1) he’s a vampire (albeit a “good” one), (2) he’s in love with Elena because of her resemblance to his true love, who died ages ago, and (3) his brother, with whom he has an ancient feud, is a “bad” vampire, and he’s suddenly shown up to do everything he can to get between Stefan and Elena.

