Melissa's Slanted Book Reviews

or, What I've Been Reading Lately

• A Specter is Haunting Texas Fritz Lieber

• A Spell for the Fulfillment of Desire Don Webb

• A User's Guide to the Millenium J.G. Ballard

• Against A Dark Background Iain M. Banks

• Alias Grace Margaret Atwood

• Alien Resurrection A.C. Crispin

• Ambient Jack Womack

• American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis

• American Sex Machines: The Hidden History of Sex at the U.S. Patent Office Hoag Levins

• Amnesia Moon Jonathem Lethem

• Angel Garry D. Kilworth

• Anno Dracula Kim Newman

• An Inhuman Condition Clive Barker

• Ancestral Hungers Scott Baker

• Apocalypse Culture Adam Parfrey

• Apocalypse Wow! James Finn Garner

• Are You Loathsome Tonight? Poppy Z. Brite

• As She Climbed Across the Table Jonathan Lethem

• Asylum Patrick McGrath

• Automated Alice Jeff Noon

• Back to the USSA Eugene Byrne and Kim Newman

• Bad Jobs: My Last Shift at Albert Wong's Pagoda and Other Ugly Tales of the Workplace edited by Carellin Brooks

• Bag of Bones Stephen King

• Beauty's Release A.N. Roquelaure

• Black Butterflies John Shirley

• Black Wine Candas Jane Dorsey

• Blade Runner: Replicant Night K.W. Jeter

• Blood of Mugwump Doug Rice

• Borderlands edited by Thomas F. Monteleone

• Borderlands 2 edited by Thomas F. Monteleone

• Borderlands 3 edited by Thomas F. Monteleone

• Brand New Cherry Flavor Todd Grimson

• Burning Chrome William Gibson

• Burnt Lance Olsen

• Canal Dreams Iain Banks

• Children of God Mary Doria Russell

• Children of the Mind Orson Scott Card

• Children of the Vampire Jeanne Kalogridis

• Complicity Iain Banks

• Concrete Island J.G. Ballard

• Consider Phlebas Iain M. Banks

• Crash J.G. Ballard

• Crystal Express Bruce Sterling

• Cult Rapture Adam Parfrey

• Curses! Broiled Again! Jan Harold Brunvald

• Cybersex edited by Richard Glyn Jones

• Dark Advent Brian Hodge

• Dark Matter Thomas S. Roche

• Dark Sun Richard Rhodes

• Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague Richard Rhodes

• Death Be Not Proud John Gunther

• Delta of Venus Anais Nin

• Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan

• Desmodus Melanie Tem

• Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany

• Distorture Rob Hardin

• Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook Scott Adams

• Door Number Three Patrick O'Leary

• Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic: A Novel Terry Jones

• Dr. Adder K.W. Jeter

• Dracula: Or The Undead Bram Stoker

• Drawing Blood Poppy Z. Brite

• Eat Me Linda Jaivin

• Ecstasy Club Douglas Rushkoff

• Elvissey Jack Womack

• Endymion Dan Simmons

• Eros Ex Machina: Eroticizing the Mechanical edited by M. Christian

• Erotism: Death & Sensuality Georges Bataille

• Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century Mark Dery

• Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups Robert Anton Wilson

• Excession Iain M. Banks

• Exegesis Astro Teller

• Expiration Date Tim Powers

• Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite

• Falling Idols Brian Hodge

• Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture edited by Mark Dery

• Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes

• Fool's War Sarah Zettel

• Fool on the Hill Matt Ruff

• Forbidden Flowers Nancy Friday

• Fractured Fairy Tales as told by A.J. Jacobs

• Forrest Gump Winston Groom

• Galilee Clive Barker

• Geek Love Katherine Dunn

• Generation X Douglas Coupland

• Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman James Gleick

• Glimmering Elizabeth Hand

• Going Native Stephen Wright

• Gojiro Mark Jacobson

• Good Omens Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett

• Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon

• Grimm's Grimmest illustrated by Tracy Arah Dockray

• Gun, With Occasional Music Jonathan Lethem

• Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque Joyce Carol Oates

• Headcrash Bruce Bethke

• Herotica edited by Susie Bright

• Holy Fire Bruce Sterling

• Homunculus James P. Blaylock

• Hyperion Dan Simmons

• I Want to Buy a Vowel: A Novel of Illegal Alienation John Welter

• Idoru William Gibson

• Islands in the Net Bruce Sterling

• Juliette Marquis de Sade

• Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings Marquis de Sade

• Kalimantan Lucius Shepard

• Killing Me Softly edited by Gardner Dozois

• Last Call Tim Powers

• Lives of the Monster Dogs Kirsten Bakis

• Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

• Lord of the Dead Tom Holland

• Lord of the Vampires Jeanne Kalogridis

• Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind

• Lost Boys Orson Scott Card

• Love in Vein II edited by Poppy Z. Brite

• Madlands K.W. Jeter

• Magazine Beach Lewis Gannett

• Maldoror and Poems Comte de Lautreamont

• Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh

• Masters of Deception Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla

• Media Virus! Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture Douglas Rushkoff

• Memory & Dream Charles de Lint

• Metamorphoses Ovid

• Microserfs Doug Coupland

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Berendt

• Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie

• Mona in the Promised Land Gish Jen

• My Mother: Demonology Kathy Acker

• Naked David Sefaris

• Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs

• Neverwhere Neil Gaiman

• Night Relics James P. Blaylock

• Nihilesthete Richard Kalich

• Of Saints and Shadows Christopher Golden

• Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex edited by Ellen Datlow

• Pandora Anne Rice

• Polaroids from the Dead Douglas Coupland

• Pollen Jeff Noon

• Polymorph Scott Westerfeld

• Prototype Brian Hodge

• Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing

• Quantum Moon Denise Vitola

• Random Acts of Senseless Violence Jack Womack

• Raw Deal: Horrible and Ironic Stories of Forgotten Americans Ken Smith

• Requiem Graham Joyce

• Resume with Monsters William Browning Spencer

• Return to the Chateau; Preceded By, a Girl in Love Pauline Reage

• Retrohell: Life in the '70s and '80s, from Afros to Zotz editors of "Ben is Dead" magazine

• Revelations edited by Douglas E. Winter

• Richard Feynman: A Life in Science John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin

• Rim: A Novel of Virtual Reality Alexander Besher

• Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space Linda Jaivin

• Room Temperature Nicholson Baker

• Rushing to Paradise J.G. Ballard

• Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth

• Sacrament Clive Barker

• Sandman Book of Dreams edited by Neil Gaiman and Ed Kramer

• Satan Speaks! Anton Szandor LaVey

• Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy: A Novel Matt Ruff

• Shackled Ray Garton

• Silk Caitlin Kiernan

• Slow Chocolate Autopsy Iain Sinclair & Dave McKean

• Slow River Nicola Griffith

• Smoke and Mirrors Neil Gaiman

• Software Rudy Rucker

• Song of Kali Dan Simmons

• Spider Patrick McGrath

• Stardust Neil Gaiman

• Stealing My Rules Don Webb

• Story of O Pauline Reage

• Story of the Eye Georges Bataille

• Strange Angels Kathe Koja

• Symphony Charles Grant

• Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the Man Who Did It Tsutomu Shimomura with John Markoff

• Technicolor Pulp Arty Nelson

• The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade

• The 37th Mandala Mark Laidlaw

• The Acid House Irvine Welsh

• The Alienist Caleb Carr

• The American Way of Death Revisited Jessica Mitford

• The Anubis Gates Tim Powers

• The Artificial Kid Bruce Sterling

• The Beach Alex Garland

• The Best American Erotica 1997 edited by Susie Bright

• The Best American Erotica 1999 edited by Susie Bright

• The Best of Cemetery Dance edited by Richard Chizmar

• The Best of Interzone edited by David Pringle

• The Bighead Edward Lee

• The Black Carousel Charles Grant

• The Book of Common Dread Brent Monahan

• The Book of the Beast Tanith Lee

• The Bridge Iain Banks

• The Butcher and Other Erotica Alina Reyes

• The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe

• The Calcutta Chromosome Amitav Ghosh

• The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (also Beauty's Punishment) A.N. Roquelaure

• The Club Dumas Arturo Perez-Reverte

• The Convulsion Factory Brian Hodge

• The Crow Road Iain Banks

• The Crow: Shattered Lives & Broken Dreams edited by J. O'Barr and Ed Kramer

• The Crow: The Lazarus Heart Poppy Z. Brite

• The Crystal World J.G. Ballard

• The Dead School Patrick McCabe

• The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich Fritz Leiber

• The Decadent Cookbook by Medlar Lucan & Durian Gray, edited by Alex Martin & Jerome Fletcher

• The Decadent Gardener by Medlar Lucan & Durian Gray, edited by Alex Martin & Jerome Fletcher

• The Difference Engine William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

• The Dilbert Future Scott Adams

• The Doomsday Book Connie Willis

• The Dragon and the Unicorn A.A. Attanasio

• The Earth Strikes Back edited by Richard Chizmar

• The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit Storm Constantine

• The Explanation & Other Good Advice Don Webb

• The Eyes of the Sphinx Erich von Daniken

• The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons

• The Fermata Nicholson Baker

• The Field Guide to North American Monsters W. Haden Blackman

• The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy

• The Golden Lucius Shepard

• The Golden Bough Sir James Frazer

• The Grotesque Patrick McGrath

• The History of Torture Brian Innes

• The Ignored Bentley Little

• The Joy of Work Scott Adams

• The Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation Steven A. Egger

• The Last Days of Christ the Vampire J.G. Eccarius

• The Lost Jonathan Aycliffe

• The Lunatic Cafe Laurell K. Hamilton

• The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes

• The Meaning of It All: The Thoughts of a Citzen-Scientist Richard P. Feynman

• The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or Fanny Hill John Cleland

• The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker

• The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie

• The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco

• The Nightmare Factory Thomas Ligotti

• The Postman David Brin

• The Prince and the Pilgrim Mary Stewart

• The Redneck Manifesto Jim Goad

• The Resurrectionist Thomas F. Monteleone

• The Return of Count Electric William Browning Spencer

• The Rise of Endymion Dan Simmons

• The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie

• The Secrets of a Telephone Psychic Frederick Woodruff

• The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County Cyra McFadden

• The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell

• The State of the Art Iain M. Banks

• The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age Fred Lerner

• The Trial Franz Kafka (translated by Willa and Edwin Muir)

• The Troika Stephen Chapman

• The Vampire Armand Anne Rice

• The White Boy Shuffle Paul Beatty

• The X-rated Bible: An Irreverent Survey of Sex in the Scriptures Ben Edward Akerley

• This Fish Is Loaded! The Book of Surreal and Bizarre Humour edited by Richard Glyn Jones

• Throat Sprockets Tim Lucas

• Time Famine Lance Olsen

• Timequake Kurt Vonnegut

• Tonguing the Zeitgeist Lance Olsen

• Trainspotting Irvine Welsh

• Treks Not Taken Steven R. Boyett

• Vamphyri! Brian Lumley

• Venus in Furs Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

• Vermillion Sands J.G. Ballard

• Violin Anne Rice

• Vittorio the Vampire Anne Rice

• Voices of the Fire Alan Moore

• Vox Nicholson Baker

• Vurt Jeff Noon

• Waking Beauty Paul Witcover

• Waking the Moon Elizabeth Hand

• Walking on Glass Iain Banks

• War with the Newts Karel Capek

• Wetbones John Shirley

• Whit Iain Banks

• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Gregory Macgruire

• You Bright and Risen Angels William T. Vollman

• Zod Wallop william Browning Spencer

• Zodiac Neal Stephenson

• Zombie Joyce Carol Oates

Begun 27 June 97