“Black Friday” Human sacrifice are good deals to the gods

Another Black Friday passed. The first thing I did after the rush was Google search “Black Friday Death.” It happens every year, so this one shouldn’t be any different. In some ways, it’s the American counterpart to Spain’s running with the bulls. Injuries and death are acceptable outcomes in both occasions. Last year, a full-grown, 270-pound man

Bangkok Express is a bloody good ride

Indie pulp writer James A. Newman gives us a guided tour into the criminal underground of Bangkok, Thailand in Bangkok Express. It’s a tropical pulp fiction with an international cast of characters caught in a spider web of corruption–with coldblooded murder for cash at the center. Newman’s depiction of Bangkok makes the city come alive in

The Faithful Lover by Massimo Bontempelli cracks the mirror of reality

  The Faithful Lover (1953) is a collection of short stories by Italian writer Massimo Bontempelli, the father of realismo magico (magical realism). This genre works as an evolved form of traditional French surrealism. Bontempelli has commented on the writing style by saying, “the real norm of the art of narration is to describe the dream as

“Buzz” by Robert Zverina. A stellar indie read.

I just finished reading Buzz, the debut novel by indie writer Robert Zverina. The cover depicting an old school ride cruising by the dark side of the moon told me I was in for something special. I dived into the book without the slightest idea what it was even about. “Robert Zverina? Never heard of

a review of “the happy birthday of death” by gregory corso. Beat poetry and the anarchy of language.

It was strange, I still don’t know exactly what to think of The Happy Birthday of Death (1960),  except that I enjoyed it greatly. At first Corso’s poems seemed like pure chaos. I picked up this book at a second hand store, it was the first time I had even heard of Gregory Corso (1930-2001). The