Homer & Langley by E.L. DoctorowHave you heard of the Collyer brothers? They were the reclusive brothers who lived in a mansion on
Doctorow takes the information he gleaned from news accounts and writes the fictional diary of younger brother Homer. Homer is relating his story through the use of a Braille typewriter since he has been blind since he was quite young. What’s so fascinating about this account is that in a strange way their hoarding and eccentricity begins to make sense in the framework Doctorow creates for the brothers. As the brothers cut off contact with the outside world, the house, and the writing, feels more claustrophobic and introspective. This is a thoughtful first person account by an intriguing character at once self-sufficient and dependant; an interesting juxtaposition that changes by degrees throughout his life.
If you’re fascinated by the television show Hoarders you may want to check this one out!
Cell by Stephen King
I love zombie books. Why? Because they truly scare me. Vampires and werewolves have been tamed by current television shows and novels, but zombies, the dead rising and going on a rampage is still terrifying!
As much as I love zombie books I hate cell phones. Which makes this book a perfect read in my mind. One beautiful day the pulse goes through all cell phones and those that answer are transformed into crazy, rampaging creatures spreading death and destruction. Those that are infected are “phonies;” those that haven’t gotten the call are “normies.” We follow a group of “normies” as they flee
So, while this isn’t exactly a zombie book (the phonies aren’t dead, they are just, well, zombie-like), it feels that way from the get go. Then, as with most Stephen King books, things get weirder and weirder…but unlike most Stephen King books, in the end there is hope!
If you miss the “old King” from classics like Christine and Misery you’ll want to check this one out. It’s classic King with his wonderful colorful descriptions and interesting plot twists all the way.
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
You know you’re having a bad day when you have to kill the terrorist you killed a few days ago yet again. Ordinary people coming back to life and trying to bite, infect and eat the living is the core problem at the center of this book. Since it’s a government agency doing the fighting they try to be all politically correct and call the infected walkers, but they often slip and call them zombies, which is what they are. (Had to get a REAL zombie book on here somehow.)
The scariest science fiction and horror is born from reality. Especially really scary reality. A genius bioterriorist creates a plague by tweaking a prion disease called fatal familial insomnia. It’s a disease where you literally cannot sleep. You eventually go crazy from stress and die. And yes, that disease does exist.
There is a lot of science and a lot of description of military weaponry. I’d suggest this one to fans of horror and action books.
Maberry’s latest The Dragon Factory came out recently, and I have a signed copy just begging to be read this summer. I can hardly wait!
This series is awesome. Scary and awesome. What would happen if a genius, the world’s most reknown computer game designer, faced with a terminal illness, decided to take over the world from beyond the grave? Sounds like fantasy, but Daemon explains how, using today’s available technology, it could happen.
Events are manipulated in a way that should get a respectful nod from all of us savvy library users. New programs, emails, and events occur once a previous event is over. How is it done? By searching for keywords in newsfeeds. Once the event is “detected” as happened, then next event is launched. Pretty cool, pretty creepy, pretty neat.
