Literary Horror discussion

Please join Vanessa and Bill for a buddy read of J.A.W. McCarthy's recent novel, Sleep Alone!

McCarthy's collection Sometimes We’re Cruel and Other Stories was a finalist for the Stoker and Jackson awards, and (more importantly!) one of our best recent monthly reads here.

Let's start close to the weekend.

I'm liking the coincidence of reading this during the second week of Coachella. Day 1 was very pop for me, so I read the first third while watching Sabrina Carpenter, but it still was live music. Tomorrow will at least be Bleachers and No Doubt (and Tyler the Creator and Le Sserafim, but I'm aiming for the rock bands for my reading).

I'm liking it so far. There was a lot of setting up the story in the first third of the book, but I thought it all felt very natural. The succubi mythology is interesting. I do hope that the band members get a little more characterization in the next third. So far, it's Jack, the lead singer, and the other two guys.

I really liked the first three chapters, especially the band tour shenanigans, when we're still trying to figure out the relationships between the narrator and the band, and what was really going on. I thought Chapter 4 explained too much though.

Things pick up when Helene comes on to the scene. The wet squishy supernatural sex reminds me a bit of L.S. Johnson's "The Pursuit of the Whole is called Love" from Vacui Magia.

The milieu in this one was cool, sort of “Near Dark” meets "Hardcore Logo". I like stories where the supernatural creatures are forced to live on the fringes of society and to keep moving, sometimes barely keeping afloat. Mongrels had a similar situation with a family of werewolves.

I really liked how gender was completely irrelevant to who the band members were 'hooking up' with. Succubi seem very enlightened in that regard.

I also would have liked the band dynamics to be explored a little more.

I'm not at Coachella, but my coincidence is that I'm currently reading There Is No Antimemetics Division, which also involves characters having their memories sucked out.

I can't say I'm a fan of the last third. I don't find the band members that interesting, and we've seen most of what the succubi can do. I also tend not to enjoy these climactic blowouts. McCarthy's short fiction is much tighter and more open-ended, more to my taste than this short novel.

I'm only on chapter 7, so, Bill, does your comment mean that Drew's bellybutton wound does not turn into an Alien-like succubus bursting-out-the-stomach birth across a cafe's table at the next group breakfast?!!
#disappointed

The Ending: (view spoiler)[I liked the off-screen big escalation at the concert. The last chapter could have used a bit more emotion. I had to go back and reread to make sure Jack was dead and not mostly killed and left to die the rest of the way. (hide spoiler)]

I thought the succubi were actually not explained enough. (view spoiler)[Did she take Dave and the other guy's personality when she changed them? Can she sing and play the drums now?(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Marc wrote: "#disappointed"

Sorry!

Vanessa wrote: "The Ending: [spoilers removed]

I thought the succubi were actually not explained enough. [spoilers removed]"

I kept wanting to know the difference between feeding on a human and turning one into a succubus.

Overall, thought it was an interesting concept that just needed a little more character and story development. I think I read in the back of the book that McCarthy wrote this in part to explore the aging woman character… While I fully felt that she had created the band family out of loneliness, she never really felt old or undesirable to me in the telling.

You all have read short stories by this author? Any particular stories or collections you recommend?