by R.B. Ashton | Mar 22, 2022 | Book Reviews, Mainstream Literature
The Hollows series by Kim Harrison is quintessential urban fantasy, which is good or bad depending on your tastes. It has all the hallmarks of a society mingling with supernatural witches, werewolves and demons, and follows expected tropes of a private detective,...
by R.B. Ashton | Mar 15, 2022 | Book Reviews, Mainstream Literature
There’s a moment of scale in Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman that took me totally by surprise and immediately became one of my favourite things I’ve read. Jackson was an incredible writer who consistently managed to draw both unexpected humour and horror from the most...
by R.B. Ashton | Mar 8, 2022 | Book Reviews, Mainstream Literature
The Shrinking Man (aka The Incredible Shrinking Man) by Richard Matheson is a notable classic with good reason. What makes Matheson’s brand of incredibly invented sci-fi is his ability to tap into raw, honest and captivating emotion, and this example is no different....
by R.B. Ashton | Mar 1, 2022 | Book Reviews, Mainstream Literature
Small World by Tabitha King feels like a good place to start when considering female scale with a direct crossover into horror, particularly focusing on a cruel woman in power. King is the wife of Stephen King, who highlights the book in his history of the horror...
by R.B. Ashton | Feb 19, 2022 | Book Reviews, Mainstream Literature
I have a fascination with scale, and the idea of giants overpowering tiny people, especially where women are put in the position of power. Big size differences create very different dynamics – particularly where you have a callous and cruel giantess. It’s an area ripe...
