    
Ian Alexander Martin (Iam)
Username: Iam
Registered: 10-2009
Posted From: 64.180.64.74
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 - 05:22 am: | |
Pardon me for promoting the work of an author other than the delightful Ramsey's, but James Cooper's been compared favourably to our own RC several times before now (head here for one of them), so it's likely that people here will take to this collection.
It turns out that at the start of last month, there was a review in the American Library Association's publication Booklist about James Cooper's book The Beautiful Red. Until James told me about it today, I'd not heard that it had appeared!
Here's the newest review:
quote: At the heart of every tale in Cooper’s latest collection of meticulously crafted horror is a disquieting, iconic figure or image. More often than not, the image serves as a metaphor for people as vulnerable objects, as manipulated things. In “There’s Something Wrong with Pappy,” it’s a papier-mâché model home built by a little girl whose father has been imprisoned by a malevolent force in the toy’s real counterpart on a nearby hill. For “Eight Small Men,” the figure is an actual woman, albeit caricatured as the Matron, who exemplifies the worst in bad parenting skills while acting as stepmother for two tormented brothers. In “The Family Face,” a writer moving to the country for creative inspiration regrettably crosses paths with a rural doll maker whose lifelike creations depend on harvesting real eyeballs, animal and human. While independent publisher Atomic Fez may not yet be positioned to introduce Cooper to a wider audience, the quality of his output so far easily matches that of the best-known talents in contemporary horror.
—Carl Hays Booklist, April 1st 2010
To order a copy for posting to your home, head to The book's page on the Atomic Fez site here} |