A Screaming Life: by Kim Thayil

  A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond by Kim Thayil with Adem Tepedelen

 A Screaming Life book cover

Founding Soundgarden guitarist and author Kim Thayil 

Big thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond by Kim Thayil with Adem Tepedelen. Thayil was a founding member of Soundgarden, one of the bands of the late 80s and 1990s that helped to reshape punk, psychedelic, and hard rock. Although Soundgarden is often lumped into grunge music since they were formed in Seattle along with bands like Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden had been making music for several years prior to the year punk broke (1991) and had their own distinct sound that drew from 1970s hard rock, punk, and psychedelic influences. As the lead guitarist, Kim Thayil was one of the primary architects of Soundgarden’s sound. However, as someone who enjoyed the 1990’s output of the band, I didn’t know a lot about Thayil. While Chris Cornell is often seen as the face and voice of the band, Thayil’s distinct use of wah-wah peddles for solos in songs like “Black Hole Sun”, the chugging, rumbling riffs for songs like “Outshined” , and the screaming, feedback drenched guitars of songs like “Rusty Cage” and “Jesus Christ Pose” helped to establish Soundgarden as not just a unique voice in the Seattle scene, but a really heavy band that crafted great songs. Thayil’s memoir of his time in Soundgarden is a fun read, especially for someone who likes music memoirs, but also as someone who followed the band in the 1990s. Just as Thayil’s distinct guitar sound contributed to Soundgarden’s unique sound, his recollections and reflections on his time building the band, creating music collaboratively with his band members, and touring are also distinct. Like his music, Thayil doesn’t delve into the specifics for each song, discussing the meanings or technical aspects. Rather, his memoir is more about tone and feel, examining not just the events that led to work on Soundgarden’s albums and eventually chart success, but also his own experiences navigating the evolving dynamics of the band and his ambivalent feelings about success, recognition, and fame. While the book isn’t overly descriptive or literary, it does provide an amazing look into one of the prominent bands of the Seattle sound of the 1990s, often going behind the scenes to learn more about the challenges Thayil and his bandmates experienced as Soundgarden became more well known.

Thayil recounts his childhood, growing up as the son of Indian immigrants, and how forming a band was an unlikely path for someone like him. In fact, it’s interesting to learn that Soundgarden was started by two Asian Americans, and was probably one of the only bands in the 1980s to feature two Asian Americans. I really enjoyed learning about his early musical influences and how he had to beg his parents for a record player to begin listening to music. It’s an important reminder of how much radio and major record companies influenced what kids and others listened to. Thayil also talks about his adolescence and how growing up in the Chicago area of Forest Park enabled him to form bands and learn more about punk and hard rock. After graduating high school, Thayil was eventually kicked out of his house and kind of adrift for a bit. He stayed with friends, one of whom was the Pavitts whose son, Bruce, eventually formed Sub-Pop records. After trying a few colleges, Thayil and his band member Hiro Yamamoto eventually moved out to Washington State, visiting Evergreen State College in Olympia, where Pavitt attended and was a DJ. Evergreen was also the school where Kathleen Hanna and Carrie Brownstein attended later and formed bands Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney. From reading their memoirs, Calvin Weston and Beat Happenings were also influential around Olympia, encouraging a DIY approach to making and releasing music. Nevertheless, Thayil and Yamamoto eventually ended up in Seattle, meeting Chris Cornell, their eventual band member. Reading about Thayil and Soundgarden’s formation and early days was exciting and interesting. Furthermore, I enjoyed seeing how diverse and different the musical influences were for the different band members.

In addition to reflecting on the band’s formation, Thayil examines the creative process of the band, discussing how songs often came about as a result of extended jamming and practice sessions. It was cool to learn more about this creative process and how it functioned more as a collective than an one individual taking creative control. Throughout the book, Thayil remains democratic in his approach to the band whether it involves finding new members, song writing, or even developing things like logos and fonts for the band. Although the band practiced a shared decision making, everyone in the band wasn’t always accepting or appreciative of the outcome. Thayil explores some of the challenges they experienced with founding member Yamamoto, who eventually left the band during their first European tour, as the band became more popular and were signed to a major label. Throughout period leading up to Yamamoto’s departure, Thayil notes that Hiro was becoming increasingly more difficult during tours and seemed disconnected from the creative process. Another interesting element of the band that Thayil noticed was how challenging Soundgarden’s sound was for record companies. While independent labels like SST had no issues incorporating a progressive and unique band like Soundgarden into their roster, major labels look for comparisons or genres, and Soundgarden didn’t easily fit into any of the categories, especially the popular hair and glam metal categories that dominated MTV and radios in the late 80s and early 90s. Thayil repeatedly returns to this point about how Soundgarden’s sound was so confounding for record companies. Nevertheless, record companies often tried to pair them with metal producers who may have also contributed to reshaping their sound.

Regardless, Soundgarden would eventually become one of the biggest grunge/alternative bands of the 1990s with their mid-90s releases Superunknown (1994) and Down on the Upside (1996). It’s weird to think of these albums as “classic rock” now, but they are more than 30 years old now, and as Thayil notes, many classic rock radio stations continue to play these songs. Although the band experienced both critical and commercial success, making these albums was a challenge since the band had to adapt to more imposed control from the record labels and their producers, as well as the challenges of frequent touring and other requirements for band promotion. I appreciated how Thayil took us into the control room to learn more about the process of working with a producer, and how that can impact a band’s sound, for better or worse. Thayil and his bandmates seemed to be committed to their founding ethos and were strongly rooted in punk, so even though the producer challenged their creative approach to making music, they had enough integrity and awareness to fight for their own sound to come through the albums. As Thayil notes, this didn’t always come naturally and it was a repeated challenge to battle with producers and record labels about their sound. However, Thayil details how his more philosophical approach allowed him to be more critical and thoughtful rather than being reactive like other band members. That was something else that came across in this memoir- how Thayil, who has a degree in philosophy, is always willing to learn more about a situation or consider the various sides before drawing a conclusion about events or situations. His thoughtful and considerate approach to music and his career is somewhat different from more traditional rockers’ lives and careers. One of the more relatable aspects of this book is how Thayil experiences common issues like struggling to communicate his feelings after a break-up of a 10-year relationship or eventually buying a house and learning more about caretaking (like with HVAC filters). While I loved learning about the experiences of recording and touring with his band, these other revealing moments from his life had me empathizing with him.

The later chapters focus on Soundgarden’s eventual break-up due to Chris Cornell’s interest in pursuing a solo career (and eventually joining corporate-created supergroup Audioslave) and their eventual reunion 15 years later. Thayil details his attempts to continue to make music and work with other artists, but he also appears adrift at these points. Nevertheless, he has some interesting stories about working with Krist Novoselic and even Jello Biafria for a project that was meant to challenge the WTO meeting in Seattle that eventually led to riots in 1999. Thayil also explores the challenges of maintaining Soundgarden’s legacy at a time when digital media wasn’t really existent and there was no real support from the record label. As he documents, it became like an uphill battle as the record label was focused on Chris Cornell’s solo career, so Soundgarden gradually drifted from record shelves and merch stores. After Audioslave broke up, Soundgarden got back together, recorded a new album and toured for a few years. As Thayil describes it, Chris Cornell was changed. Thayil implies that it could have been various factors, but ultimately it seemed like not having his Soundgarden family to take care of Cornell led others to be a negative influence on him. It is interesting that some other Seattle bands had drug issues and lost members due to addiction, but Soundgarden wasn’t known for drug use or excessive partying. They were really into the music. These later chapters lead up to Cornell’s tragic death in 2017 while the band was on tour. While the reunion was bittersweet, it allowed Thayil to continue to work on compilations and rarities releases since there was renewed interest and support for Soundgarden. Thayil ends the book detailing the band’s battle with Cornell’s estate for vocal tracks, which the band eventually won and used to finalize their last album.

Screaming Life is a fun read, especially for 90s music fans. I loved hearing from one of the distinct bands from my youth, and especially from one of the quieter band members. Thayil not only takes fans behind the scenes to learn more about the creative process that helped to birth some of the greatest rock albums from the 90s, but also his shares some of his formative experiences and philosophies, which make him out to be even cooler than I imagined. The one thing I missed about this book, though, was that Thayil didn’t discuss his involvement with one of my favorite albums from the 2000s- Boris and Sunn O)))’s Altar, which I was really surprised to see that Thayil was involved with and also wrote the liner notes for. While there are some other Pacific Northwesterners who contribute to the album, Thayil remains probably the most well-established musician on the record. At the time when the album was released, I was perplexed and captivated by this drone and doom-soaked dark album that rumbles and quakes with Sunn O)))’s low frequencies. After reading Thayil’s book, I can see how he would be drawn to bands like Sunn O))) and Boris who are willing to experiment not just with sounds but use sounds to shape the tones and emotions of their albums. That was one aspect of Thayil’s approach to music that comes across throughout the book. However, he doesn’t talk about this collaboration at all. Maybe it’s because the liner notes share details about the project, but I was really hoping to learn more about their collaboration, how it came about and whether he keeps in touch with anyone from the album. Regardless, this was a fun and engaging book to read. Highly recommended! 

 Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America by Greg Tate

Flyboy in the Buttermilk cover

Author and Critic Greg Tate

Big props to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley for allowing me to preview an advanced copy of Greg Tate’s powerful collection of essays from the 80s and 90s Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America. I’ve heard of Greg Tate, but I can’t believe I’ve never read anything by him up until now. Reading the three introductions by Questlove, Henry Louis Gates Jr, and Hanif Abdurraqib provided some great context for understanding not only Greg Tate’s interests and subjects for his writing, but also his vast influence on music, popular culture, and writing in general. While the introductions are awesome, they don’t entirely capture the breadth of Tate’s interests captured by the essays in this book. Whether it’s funk, pop music, hip hop, reggae, art, literature, sci-fi, or movies, Tate’s writing clearly and enthusiastically shows his passion for these arts and more importantly, his emphasis on promoting artists uplifts many Black voices that were often silenced or relegated to the underground at the expense of more mainstream pop acts and artists. Tate’s collection is the kind of book that requires some notetaking to follow up on the many different references, albums, songs, and titles he champions, and I’m so appreciative for it.

One of my favorite elements of this book is Tate’s unique voice in his writing. I absolutely loved his writing, especially about music. The only music writers/critics I could liken him to are Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus, who are both passionate and emphatic champions and critics of music they like and dislike; however, Tate also has his own unique register, adding elements of funk and hip-hop to his writing that emphasize his own distinct voice in criticism. I noticed that this approach changes somewhat when he writes about literature and politics in the latter sections of the book. However, the first section that focuses primarily on his writings about music is so much fun to read; I can only imagine Tate reading these essays out loud. Furthermore, I was amazed to read phrases and lingo Tate uses in his early 80s essays that are still in use today. I think this speaks to not only Tate’s influence, but also his close ear and understanding of culture.

Although this book was originally published in 1992, it’s still completely relevant today. In fact, I was surprised to see how much Tate’s writing about African American literature and history was relevant to my undergraduate studies, which again made me wonder why Tate wasn’t included in any of the anthologies or required reading lists from my professors. Whether it’s discussing the battles between Black leadership in the early 1900s in the quest for either assimilation or equality or the burdens of Black writers and artists to represent culture or to capitalize on the larger market for white audiences, Tate’s writing remains relevant and trenchant, focusing on important considerations for Black culture, artists, writers, and America in general. I double checked my Norton Anthology of African American Literature edited by Gates Jr. just to see if Tate was included in my 1997 edition, but he was not. I hope that Gates Jr. has eventually included Tate in either subsequent editions or other anthologies since I feel like Tate’s approach to many of the canonical texts and arguments from African American literature and history is such a unique, relevant, and engaging voice that challenges readers to question and rethink their understandings of these texts, figures, and events.

The book is divided into three sections. Part One focuses on music criticism, Part Two focuses mostly on literary and art criticism, and Part Three focuses on current events and politics, mostly from the late 1980s and early 1990s in New York. My favorite section was the music criticism section, which was also the longest section in the book. This section is where we see not just the breadth of Tate’s interests (Funk, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Hip-Hop, House), but also the depths of these interests that Tate is willing to pursue to further untangle and share with his audience. I loved how much he writes about Miles Davis, especially reevaluating the electric and later stages of Miles’ career, looking at Miles’ role as not just a Black artist, but an American force of culture who reshaped art and popular music by pursuing his own passions and interests. Tate also explores areas in Jazz that fragmented in the 1960s and 70s, examining the kind of schisms that created paths for standard bearers like the Marsalis family and the paths that diverged to other space ways and areas carved out by avant-garde and free jazz artists. It’s an issue about Black art that re-appears throughout Tate’s book in different forms including fine art vs. graffiti, R & B vs. Pop Music (Prince and Michael Jackson), and literature (Amiri Baraka). Tate seems to update DuBois’s notion of the veil but situates it in the context of American popular culture and the cultural marketplace of the latter 20^th century, where an artist’s existence is sometimes dependent on an audience. One of Tate’s targets is Michael Jackson, whose most popular albums Thriller and Bad, Tate criticizes for their emptiness and pursuit of mass audiences at the expense of the kind of soulfulness or artistic integrity that are apparent in other Black contemporary artists of Michael’s time. My favorite pieces, though, were focused on Public Enemy, whose music from the late 80s and 90s is such an integral part of my life. Tate’s writing about Public Enemy is so accurate and fun, and he captures the energy and power of the band’s sound and vision and how it helped to shape and redirect the hip-hop scene into something more conceptual rather than commercial.

Although Section Three deals with events from NYC in the late 80s and early 90s, I was surprised to see how relevant Tate’s analyses and criticisms are for today. Furthermore, since I was younger and not living in the NYC area at the time, I wasn’t as familiar with the murders of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach or Yusef Hawkins in Bensonhurst, except from the references from PE. Tate critically examines these incidents and contextualizes them along with the Central Park Five injustice to criticize the press, the police, and leadership at all levels for allowing racial violence and intolerance to continue to fester in the city. Even though Tate’s book was originally published nearly 35 years ago, his critiques and observations are still relevant and on point. While I have many annotations throughout the book, the last essay “Love and the Enemy” has a particular quote at its end that surprised me with its relevance and prescience. The essay is powerful in its message of love for and in the African American community, in which Tate calls out white supremacy for fomenting hate among African Americans. He cites both Malcolm X and Bob Marley as calling for love for self rather than the love and desire for the oppressor. For Tate, these power structures enable people to ignore systemic inequalities because they are more concerned individual status. “When reactive rage is the dominant form of our politics, when it takes police or mob violence to galvanize us into reaction, it means that there is an acceptable level of suffering and misery.” I’m not saying this is still true, but I think it’s a powerful quote that should move all people to recognize that the fight and struggle continues today as politics and culture remain reactive rather than accepting or accommodating. This is an incredible and important collection of essays, and I’m so glad that it is being republished. I can only hope that Greg Tate’s voice reaches more eyes and ears as a result of this new edition, and people can learn to appreciate the critical eye and humor in his work. Even though the essays are between 35-45 years old, they are still relevant, prescient, observant, critical, and engaging. Highly recommended! 

Exploring Unexplained Phenomena in High Strangeness

 High Strangeness by Daniel Noah, Christopher Condon, Zac Thompson, Christopher Cantwell, Cecil Castellucci, and Christian Ward with various artists. 

High Strangeness Deluxe Edition cover

Many thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of High Strangeness Deluxe Edition. I was intrigued by the cover and title, which featured a kind of mysterious element with a little bit of sinister mixed in- and this edition does not disappoint. This unique collection features several stories bound by the mysteries of the unexplained. Furthermore, each story contains both a comic depiction and an essay that provides some background, history, and personal connections with the unexplained phenomenon. I read the comics first, but I really appreciated the essays that follow since they provide a unique insight into how the writers experienced these phenomena, as well as some history about the phenomena. The comics and essays/articles work well together, but it’s also important to note how the comics share connective threads not only through the theme of unexplained phenomena, but it was really cool to see the artists incorporate some shared visual themes and motifs throughout the comics that are eventually explained in the essays.

I really appreciated the unique approach that this collection takes in exploring the unexplained phenomena across different eras. The first one explores UFOs from 1967, and follows an investigative journalist, Jack Kean, who is based on John Keel, the journalist who wrote the Mothman Prophecies and investigated UFOs. In terms of both story and art, this was probably my favorite comic in the collection. It uses a fake UFO sighting and the disappearance of the person who faked the sighting to create questions and skepticism around what is known and what is hidden with UFOs. The story has a great twist and reminds me of X-Files, as Kean becomes haunted by the possibility of UFOs.

 

Book 2 takes place in 1975 and investigates Sasquatch/Bigfoot. I also really enjoyed this one. The story is interesting, and the artwork is also compelling, especially around sightings of Sasquatch. Furthermore, reading the essay helped me understand the artwork and various evidence that some believers cite as evidence for the existence of Sasquatch. The story takes a surprising turn and calls into question whether Sasquatch is a monster type cryptid or something else that many may not have considered. It tells the story of an inmate named Ellwood who ended up escaping from a prison transfer during a snowstorm with help from a sasquatch. He ends up in a nearby town, squatting in a cabin and building a new life for himself. However, he remains haunted by the encounter with the sasquatch, and as the birth of his first child nears, he heeds the call of the sasquatch (a wood knock, glowing eyes, and a stick structure in the woods. Elwood leaves the confines of his cabin during a storm to investigate these mysterious signs and see if the Sasquatch is lurking for him. This is also the story where some of the visual themes and repeated symbols appear (hello mantis). I really loved the essay as well that provided more background information about wild men and sasquatch myths around the world. In particular, it was exciting to learn about the author’s personal experience in the woods of Pennsylvania. I wasn’t even aware that PA had any kind of sasquatch legends. I really appreciated how both the essay and comic provide background information into these signs of sasquatch and possibly present sasquatch as a beneficial caretaker of the wild.

Book 3 takes place in 1983 and deals with synchronicity. It’s an interesting story about the chance encounters that occur in a father and daughter’s relationship and lives. The artwork for the story is great, and the author of the related essay presents some interesting and meaningful incidents of synchronicity in her own life. The comic story explores how meaningful events can occur on similar dates, and how these events can sometimes influence future events. It’s a touching story, but not as mysterious or phenomenal as the others. Reading the essay gave me a deeper appreciation of the story, but it also demonstrates something the author mentioned about meaning being inherently personal, which is harder to explain to readers. The essay does a good job noting how specific coincidences are connected and add meaning, helping to shape the author’s future decisions about love, work, and life. The comic presents some of this as well, but there are some other events occurring that make the story a little harder to follow than some of the others in this collection.

Book 4 takes place in 2001 and deals with out of body experiences (OBE). The artwork for the comic is well done and engaging, and the essay does well explaining these phenomena, using some personal experiences. The story for the comic is ok. I initially found the main character Adeline a little annoying at first. She seems to rely on coin flips to make decisions, often abandoning responsibilities because a coin told her to. Yet, the ending of the story is interesting, and it seems like she gains significant insight from her OBEs, learning how to access the astral plane and gain some additional information about events in her life. Like Book 3, I felt like the essay was more helpful I explaining the phenomenon of OBEs, but I really enjoyed the artwork in this section.

Book 5 is titled “Infinity” and takes place in the future. It’s a wild ride that provides some essential information about how these phenomena are connected. The artwork for this section is also incredible, and varies from many of the other comics in this collection. It’s a surreal exploration of meaning and myth to better understand how these unexplained phenomena can impact our lives. I also appreciated the last essay from Daniel Noah that explains how he moved from skeptic to believer based on his experiences in the Stanley Hotel. The essay also explores the connective tissue among the various phenomena and how the visual themes and symbols are related in the various stories. It’s a clever and creative way to synthesize these stories and note how much wonder is in the world when we leave open these doors of explanation, even if it’s just a crack.

Overall this was an interesting collection that was fun to read. I love these books that explore mysterious and unexplained phenomena, so this was fun to read. I typically lean more towards the scary, monster type stories like the first two, but I also found the last two stories that explore synchronicity and out of body experiences to be also interesting and somewhat emotional in a heartfelt way. The artwork for this collection is phenomenal, and the essays that conclude this deluxe edition provide further exploration and background information about these mysterious events and phenomena. Although I read the comics first and the essays last, I wondered how reading the essays first might impact my understanding of the comics and these phenomena. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to approach this- just two different paths that lead to potentially similar outcomes. Nevertheless, this is a fun and very different read than what I was expecting. Highly recommended, especially if you like learning about unexplained phenomena.

 

 New Paramount Merger Brings the Horror of the Trump Administration to Big Screens

While horror is experiencing a resurgence in the box office, some cultural critics note that popular and meaningful horror tales often reflect the growing disillusionment and violence in society. The 70s saw films like The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Last House on the Left take horror, gore and violence to new levels as America was embroiled in a worsening economy and traumatized by the horrors of a war in Vietnam that American propaganda could not spin. In the 80s, films like Robocop and They Live! brought a critical eye to Reaganism and the growing conservatism that wiped out some of the progress and advancement that was made in the 60s. Similarly, films of the early 2000s frequently depicted extreme scenes of violence and gore that some critics thought reflected the growing disenchantment with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first Trump administration in 2016 brought films like Jordan Peele's Get Out, The Purge, and Hereditary, which all reflected some of the anxieties and concerns around issues like race, class, mental health, and family. 

The current Trump administration continues to bring us more and more horrors, whether it is reflected in the gross incompetence, their thirst for blood and vengeance, or their incredible acts of venality. We are living in a horror film on a daily basis where decisions and policy are not based on science or reason, but are based on vibes and feels, especially those vibes and feels of resentment, jealousy, anger, and humiliation. 

In addition to bombarding us daily with unpleasant and disturbing news, Trump Inc. has sought to control the messaging. It makes sense that his election rose the wave of social media, where two owners of social media companies (Trump and Musk) were able to manipulate messages to make people ignore reason, to abandon critical thinking, and operate at the basest of human emotions: fear, loathing, resentment. Trump has pushed further into the media landscape with helping to strongarm the acquisition of Paramount and its subsequent mergers with other media companies and studios. As we've seen from recent moves, the new leaders of these companies are not usually brought in to help grow the company or inject fresh, new ideas that appeal or reach new audiences, but rather they are sent to strangle and choke out existing programs, content, and shows, most notably those that Trump views as a threat to his image. 

Nevertheless, I think that Paramount has a chance to capitalize on the horror trends in movie theaters and use all the horrors of the Trump administration IP to create a new production company that churns out horror films based on the stories from the Trump administration. 

Bobby's Beds

Sometimes tan is deader.

Bobby's Beds a tanning horror film based on recent FDA approvals to allow teens to use tanning beds. We know that this administration loves its tanning beds. Whether it's Trump's orange hue or RFK's charred meat, the members of this administration like to give the impression of spending a long day in the sun, and they frequently appear to be suffering from some kind of sunstroke. Is it any wonder that they want a crew of young, tanned adolescents? Careful though; while the FDA has recently pulled the restrictions for teens, there's got to be something behind it. Bobby's Beds is a movie that questions what's inside the bed, and why are all the tanned teens disappearing. In this film, a scion of a dynastic family is often left to his weird projects and beliefs. A product of privilege and parental permissiveness, Bobby develops strange obsessions with dead animals. His family line often dies young, but Bobby wants to be the sole survivor in a race against aging. Although his tanning habits have weathered his skin into a leathery flesh robe, Bobby sees another source for his pathway to rejuvenation. His new tanning beds, marketed for the young, extract the youthful essence and ferments from the young, which Bobby ingests on a daily basis to fuel his desire for regeneration and youthfulness. However, once the essence and ferments are extracted, the youth become mindless zombie health influencers, who regularly do Bobby's bidding. Will the town fight for its youth, or will it trade its future for a shot at the present? 

Karoline's Baby

What Have You Done To Its Lips?

Karoline's Baby is a new installment in the Rosemary's Baby series of films. Like in the original Rosemary's Baby, a group of men and older women command the womb of a younger woman to harvest a future child. These pro-natalists also continually question the woman's appearance, creating a sense of doubt and uncertainty about her femininity. Although Karoline has never doubted her womanhood, the administration's insistence on traditional gender norms requires women to receive gender affirming care, some of which is taken to the extreme to generate excessive facial features. Furthermore, women are expected to not only reproduce, but also to monetize and promote their pregnancies to further emphasize their femininity. For these pro-natalists, women are either vessels or unhappy, unmarried cat ladies. As a result of these binary views, Karoline seeks out gender affirming care, unaware that she has been impregnated after a strange stop the steal style ritual rally in which she drinks diet coke that's been secretly spiked with ibogaine and MDMA. This domestic and political thriller is sure to swell and plump the anxiety and emotions of audiences. 

Catching Vapes

Make America Gasp Again

Catching Vapes is a melting horror movie in the vein of Street Trash. However, it deals with a top secret scientific experiment conducted through the FDA and the CBP. This is based on the FDA's recent  approval of flavored vapes, despite these flavors appealing to teens. Many see this as a gateway to smoking and nicotine addiction. However, the FDA and CBP realize that these flavored vapes can also serve as a method of population control. With the increase in immigration enforcement, the government faces a shortage of places to store all the recently detained immigrants. While there have been some attempts to repatriate immigrants to different countries (often not their country of origin), many countries are closing their borders and refusing flights to repatriate these immigrants. That's when FDA scientists approach CBP for a new plan to reduce the immigrant population with addictive results. 

By sending these flavored vapes to minority and immigrant communities, the FDA and CBP can work to eliminate the populations they deem as un-American. While these vape flavors may be highly desirable and addictive, they also bring a terrible side effect that melts vapers shortly after their first inhales. In fact, word of the addictive properties of these vape flavors spreads so quickly, there's actually a surge in illegal immigration where people are crossing the borders to try a taste of "Liberty Mist", the latest vape creation from these mad FDA scientists. 

D.H.S. (Domestic Homicide Squad)

We Don't Negotiate. We Eliminate. 

Although not a horror movie, this is a movie that hearkens back to the 80s action hero era. In this case, Tom Homan, credited as Rex Bloodstone, takes the commanding lead as the head of a new, elite government crime fighting group: DHS- Domestic Homicide Squad. Created to counter the American carnage that has erupted across the country, DHS fights back with lethal force against the drug dealers, human traffickers, and violent gangs that have invaded the country. 

DHS head Tom Homan shown at a recent press conference. 

While the Oracle acquisition of Paramount and its merger with Warner Brothers seems like it will just dilute entertainment and move movies and television programs to their least common denominator, I think there are also opportunities for exciting new films and stories that reflect the current horrors of this administration. 

When the Horrors are Real: Racism and Medical Experiments Crownsville by Rodney Barnes

 Crownsville by Rodney Barnes; artwork by Elia Bonetti

Crownsville book cover

Author Rodney Barnes

Artist Elia Bonetti

Many thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for allowing me to preview Rodney Barnes’ latest graphic novel Crownsville. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this graphic novel, but the fact that its setting is a notorious segregated all-Black psychiatric facility that has been abandoned seemed interesting to me. I love haunted facility stories, and I’m particularly interested in these kinds of abandoned buildings. However, I wasn’t prepared for the utter horror and fright that is in this book, but Crownsville takes readers on a wild ride that directly confronts the horrors of racism, segregation, and the kinds of unethical medical experiments conducted on minorities like the infamous Tuskegee Experiments or the experiments conducted on inmates in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison between 1951 and 1974. Sometimes it’s the reality in which the horror is rooted that makes it so terrifying, and Crownsville’s emphasis on these unethical medical experiments and exploitation of vulnerable and marginalized populations helps to capture the horrors of racism and segregation.

The story starts with three main characters- journalist Paul Blair, who just lost his mother before she is able to reveal a confession about her work at Crownsville on her deathbed; detective Mike Simms, who is nearing retirement and jaded from the increase in drug violence that plagues the Annapolis and Baltimore areas; and Todd Hicks, a newly hired security officer, tasked with guarding the abandoned Crownsville facility during his first day on the job. The three men’s lives converge when Todd, after hearing some strange noises as he arrives for his first shift, discovers the body of the guard he is set to relieve in a room in Crownsville. Although it appears to be suicide, investigating officers are skeptical of Todd, who reports seeing a toy by the body. However, we can also see that the investigating officer views Todd’s race as being another factor in questioning him. Blair is assigned to investigate the story, and with his mother’s deathbed revelation about something not being right about Crownsville, Blair reaches out to Detective Simms for some background information about Crownsville. Hicks eventually goes missing as he continues to hear and see the lingering remnants of Crownsville’s fraught and hidden history of human experimentation.  Blair and Simms begin to unravel the mystery of Crownsville’s experiments after some incredibly discoveries are unearthed, leading them to a nearby military base, where they eventually learn the true depravity of these experiments and the human cost in Annapolis’s Black community.

This was a wild and exciting graphic novel that expertly blends mystery, horror, and social commentary in an engaging and exciting way. Although the first part where the characters are established is a little slow at first, the story really picks up in Part 2 and propels readers forward into a crazy and eventful ending. Although this story has supernatural elements to it, the underlying specter of human experimentation on Black populations in the 20^th century makes the story all the more horrifying. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of Tananarive Due’s excellent book The Reformatory, which similarly uses supernatural elements to frame the real-life horrors of racism and segregation to show how these ghosts of the past continue to haunt us. Rodney Barnes’ writing is excellent in this story, presenting realistic and engaging characters who pursue the truth despite the potential horror and dangers that lurk within the abandoned Crownsville facility. Furthermore, Elia Bonetti’s artwork moves from an eerie tone to outright horror with terrifying images of the human experiments that continue to haunt Crownsville. This is an exciting and engaging read. Highly recommended!

Exploring Racial Identity and a Notorious Word: Something We Said by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor

 Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor

Something We Said book cover

Historian, researcher, and author Dr. Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor’s heartfelt and thoughtful book Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me. While the book is categorized as a memoir, it’s much more, as Pryor, a professor of US history and race at Smith College, shares her reflections growing up as a multiracial daughter of Richard Pryor and Maxine Silverman in the 1970s and 1980s, navigating her Black and Jewish identities as she forged a deeply loving, but complex relationship with her famous father. Blended between these childhood and adolescent memories are more recent recollections of Professor Pryor’s teaching and research and how she grapples with the notorious n-word, which her father made a staple of his comedy routines during the 1970s, reclaiming a complicated and racist term, and according to her research, shifting the term into another direction, creating a bifurcated meaning and usage. It’s a fascinating look at not only growing up multiracial at a time when racial identities seemed to be either/or, but also examining how Professor Pryor’s racial identity evolved as society and racism shifted and evolved in the 70s and 80s, helped along by her father’s fearless and groundbreaking comedy addressed race head on.

First, I’ve always loved Richard Pryor. Although my introduction to him was in some of his more forgettable 80s films (I wasn’t allowed to see his concert films until I was older), I didn’t appreciate his comedic genius until more recently, especially after reading Becoming Richard Pryor by Scott Saul. This book is more of a critical biography of Pryor’s evolution from his attempts to be the next Bill Cosby to a revolutionary comedian who embraced Black power and challenged racism and inequality through his routines and movies. While the book is excellent, it also details Pryor’s messy personal life, which in the 70s and early 80s included many relationships with women, addiction, and run-ins with police. Although Pryor became tabloid fodder, he also became the highest paid Black actor at the time, and signed studio deals that were unheard of for Black actors and writers, opening the doors for more Black creatives in Hollywood. While Professor Pryor’s book examines a similar time period, it paints a much different picture of Richard Pryor as a loving, doting father, who despite growing up in Illinois with an abusive, brutal father and a stern grandmother who served as his mother, tried his best to be an attentive and engaged father to his many children. I was nervous reading about her initial visits to Pryor, meeting him and staying at his house when she was young, and one story about bringing home the class pet was a little wild, Stordeur Pryor’s experiences show that Richard Pryor was a caring father who made many efforts to take care of Elizabeth, or Dizzy as she was called, and his other children. As their relationship develops and she spends more time with him, I was moved by how Richard involved his daughter (and other children) in his life. There are some great stories about Elizabeth playing around the house with Rain, her sister from another mother, or going to Georgia to be with Richard while he filmed Greased Lightning.

Although Professor Pryor presents a touching and heartfelt view of her father, showing how he cared for his children, she also remains observant about the racial and class differences that she experienced moving between her white Jewish mother in Boston (and later LA) and her father’s extended family and friends who also were in the house. Professor Pryor also notes that at school, her complexion and hair were different from her peers, leading to questions and occasional name calling about her racial identity. One word, whose use in her father’s home among his friends and family and on the playground directed at Professor Pryor, seemed to raise many questions for her. Professor Pryor recounts how her father (and her great-grandmother, Mama) taught her lessons about being Black in America and to be proud of her racial identity.

Nevertheless, Pryor recounts the confusion in understanding the difference between the n-words usage among her father’s friends and family and when it was directed at her on the playground or in one unfortunate recollection, from her mother. While the n-word continues to remain a complicated word with a fraught history, it wasn’t until Professor Pryor was teaching and a white student deployed the n-word in class quoting a line from Blazing Saddles that her father wrote that rekindled the complicated feelings and questions about the word. As a teacher, I loved reading these challenging classroom moments when we may have to challenge students’ misconceptions, biases, or attitudes, and show solidarity and support for students’ whose voices may be misrepresented or misunderstood. Professor Pryor not only shares this incident, but also the challenges she grapples with in trying to call attention to the word, support the Black students in her class, and establish rules and procedures for the word’s usage in class. The incident seemed to not only serve as the catalyst for Professor Pryor’s research into the history of the n-word but also reconnects her to her relationship with her father (who had passed away at this point) and listen to some of his groundbreaking comedy from the 1970s that directly confronted racism with humor and satire. Furthermore, Professor Pryor includes these interludes that trace the impact of the n-word in US history, society and popular culture. These range from examples of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington to the Harlem Renaissance, Gone With the Wind, and NWA. It’s fascinating to see how this word’s use evolved and split, largely because of Richard Pryor’s comedy. Interestingly though, Professor Pryor notes that her father eventually disavowed the word in the 1980s, refusing to use the n-word in his comedy anymore. As Professor Pryor notes, it was Richard Pryor’s visit to Kenya that brought about this epiphany realizing that the word was no longer necessary to define Black people. Her recollections and memories of her father also show the evolution of a Black man and his complexities and interests that were often hidden or shoved aside for more of the tabloid fodder that the public craved from Richard Pryor’s life. I loved learning how interested Richard Pryor was in African and African American history and culture, and how his racial pride as a Black man never wavered but gradually evolved to a different kind of appreciation and insight about his identity. Professor Pryor similarly experiences her own kind of evolution of her own racial identity, as the later chapters chart her journey through college, questioning her belonging to different friend groups and navigating relationships. While the later chapters move quickly through the 80s and 90s, it’s still fascinating to read her experiences about developing her racial identity in her late adolescence and early adulthood. While this book is not necessarily an academic treatise on the n-word and racial identity, it is written by an academic, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether Professor Pryor had encountered researchers like Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, whose research was used in Brown vs. The Board of Education, or Beverly Tatum, whose book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? addresses similar issues of society and racial identity development among Black children and adolescents. Nevertheless, Professor Pryor also recounts the challenges of young adults leaving college and searching for their professional identities, and it was exciting to read about her challenges and how she eventually ended up as an academic studying African American History.

While I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, it’s more than just a straightforward memoir. Professor Pryor fearlessly recounts her search for love and acceptance from her famous father but also details her own questions and quests to define her racial identity, recognizing that it’s not always an either/or, but it can be an and/also. I also didn’t expect to be so emotionally moved by this book, especially the sections that present a more tender and loving side of Richard Pryor that rarely is discussed. It’s a beautiful book about parenting as well, showing how important that kind of interest and attention can be, especially as Elizabeth sought to learn more about and connect with her famous father. However, what makes this book stand out as a unique memoir is Professor Pryor’s research and insight into the history of America’s most notorious word, which her father helped to reshape and popularize, breaking the word off from its racist connotations and injecting it into mainstream Black and popular culture. Her experiences in the classroom only further add to the complexities of this word and highlight her own complicated relationship with her father. Something We Said is the best “memoir” I’ve read this year, and it is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. I was unable to put this down not just because it’s about Richard Pryor, but because it’s about a Black and Jewish daughter’s experience connecting with her father and navigating her racial identity in an America that is still wrestling with the color line. Highly recommended! 

Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez - A Gothic Tale set in 1968

Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez

Muñeca book cover

Author Cynthia Gomez

Big thanks to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for sending an advanced copy of Cynthia Gomez’s spellbinding Gothic tale Muñeca. I’m so glad that I read this book, as it came after reading a deeply serious and complicated book about race and politics. While Muñeca is a short and highly engaging read, it also features some interesting commentary on race, class, gender and sexuality, as well as detailing California’s complicated history with the indigenous people, Spanish land grants and white settlement right before statehood. In fact, I was amazed at how subtly and deftly Gomez is able to include these complicated historical elements in a novel that was also fun to read. It’s a testament to her knowledge and skills as a researcher and writer. Furthermore, it’s one of the reasons that Muñeca operates on different levels and transcends typical boundaries in genres. The book was not what I was expecting, but I ended up loving the character of Natalia, or Nati, Fuentes. Although the book takes place in 1968 around the Bay Area, when young people flocked to San Francisco, leaving flowers in their hair, Nati searches for her own tribe, seeking to define herself through the women in her life. Plus, she’s got such great taste in music, especially soul and R & B, which features prominently throughout the book. Furthermore, I loved that as she’s taken on the job of caretaker for Violeta Miramontes, a young heiress who seems to be locked into a kind of paralysis that prevents her from speaking or moving, Nati secretly reads her The Autobiography of Malcolm X  covering it up with a copy of Rebecca, a book about a husband who harbors a secret from his new wife, while Malcolm X speaks to the kind of revolutionary spirit that Nati brings to the Miramontes’ estate, seeking to empower and transform those who are trapped by the oppressive forces of the house. I really loved Gomez’s subtle signaling about Nati’s character, whether it was through these book choices or her awesome musical taste in Aretha, Otis, and Carla Thomas. She just seemed like the kind of character I’d want to hang out with and listen to records.

Nati is not only really cool, but she’s also thoughtful and strategic. She takes the job as Violeta’s caretaker because her mother previously worked for the Miramontes, one of the various Mexican American housekeepers who populate and maintain the estate. However, as we learn, Nati’s mom also worked in a factory, organizing her co-workers for better conditions, but ultimately developed lung cancer, like so many of her co-workers. Through Nati’s reflections on her mother, we learn that she also considered becoming a teacher but ultimately worked for the Miramontes to help secure opportunities for Nati. We see her striving for a better life. Nati’s mom, though, differs from Nati in other ways. As we learn, Nati’s grandmom is a spiritual healer who has used her ability to make spells and potions to make money. As a young mother emigrating from Mexico who struggled to work and care for 2 daughters, she found the spells and potions a means to an end, not really caring or considering the impact they might have or how they might be used. Nati’s mother, recognizing that some of these spells are misused or end up harming others, rejects this way and ultimately distances herself from her mother. Nati, on the other hand, seeks out her grandmother as she gradually discovers her own skills and abilities with spell casting. As Nati begins to explore her newfound sense of self and seeks her grandmother’s knowledge and insight, her mother finds out and puts a stop to it. Yet Nati recovers the magic box she threw away and practices in secret. For Nati, magic and spells are not only a connection to her identity and culture, but they also serve as a means of empowerment in a society that deems Latinx women as only fit for work as maids and cooks. While Nati also pursues a college degree, she can only find work in a bank. Furthermore, Nati’s mother sought to fight this same system and worked to organize her colleagues in the factory, only to lose her job and end up working as a maid for the Miramontes, one of the more powerful landowning families in the Bay Area. And with Nati’s mother eventually contracting cancer, I couldn’t help but look at Nati’s pursuit of magic and spells as a means to power and identity outside of the system that defines and relegates women like her to pre-determined positions.

The other analogy that Nati’s life and pursuit of magic follow are the fact that Nati loves women. She never calls herself a lesbian or gay, which I’m not even sure these terms were used in the 1960s, but her language to describe her love of women and the kinship she seeks in the house parties and bars points to something more meaningful than just sexual attraction. It was really moving to see how powerful and deep her attraction to women is, and how she realized this from an early age. Similar to the magic, it’s something that she feels is deeply a part of her identity, but also something that she feels she needs to keep discrete and somewhat hidden from others who might not understand. Nevertheless, Nati moves in with Doris, and they frequently host other women whose families kick them out for their sexuality. Not only does this subtle example speak to the kind of discrimination and challenges that people identifying as LGBTQ faced in the 1960s, but it also speaks to the kind of community they established to support one another. It’s another brilliant, subtle detail of the book that I found packed in to this brief book, and I was amazed at how much it conveyed about Nati’s life and character.

The main challenge of Muñeca, though, is focused on Nati’s care of Violeta and her attempts to break Violeta out of her paralysis, which Nati believes was induced by a spell. Thus, she uses her own magic in various attempts to bring Violeta back, enabling her to walk and talk. First, though, Nati discovers a way to communicate with Violeta through blinking, something neither Violeta’s mother nor Violeta’s husband, Andrès. We later learn that Andres’ family fled Cuba during the revolution, leaving their wealth in Cuba, and ending up in California. As a result, we learn that Andrès married Violeta for her land and family’s wealth, and not for love. Furthermore, Andrès continues the bad behavior of these kind of wealthy, landowning men who seek out fortune and other women, while they know their wives must remain silent and faithful at home, seemingly powerless to divorce or alter their husband’s behavior. We see this with Mrs. Miramontes, and the cycle repeats with Violeta and Andrès, and even though Mrs. Miramontes understands the pain and suffering this causes, she continues to allow Andrès to treat her daughter harshly. Again, Gomez packs so much into brief reminiscences or memories that not only serve important plot points but also highlight the kind of gender, social, or class inequalities that existed at this time and continue to persist in some ways. Despite being a relatively short book, it’s filled with meaningful events and exchanges that operate beyond plot points.

Although Nati’s first attempts at reviving Violeta fail, she finds a way to transfer Violeta’s spirit temporarily to the body of a doll, which seems is partly where the title of the book comes from (Muñeca is Spanish for doll). I also wondered if the title was partly a reference to the roll of dolls, and how they are often silent toys who represent ideals of beauty and dress for women. They can often be shaped and altered to fit the owner’s desires and goals but have no autonomy or agency of their own. Similar to her work to free Violeta, Nati gives new power and life to the doll, bringing some sense of agency and the ability to communicate to someone who was largely ignored and relegated to a room of her own. We also learn that part of Nati’s concern for Violeta is that she is in love with Violeta. As Nati experiments with different ways to attempt to break the spell, she finds new ways for Violeta to experience the freedom of inhabiting different bodies, one of which is Nati’s. Nati develops a spell to switch bodies temporarily. I loved this kind of creativity, and how Violeta leaves Nati letters and notes before she returns to her paralyzed self. It’s an inventive element of the story and creates both tension and romance as the two women briefly become one, enabling each to inhabit the lived life of the other.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The chapters are short, and this kept me reading, wanting to find out more about how Nati’s plan to rescue Violeta was going. This book was recommended to me based on my interest in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s other books, most notably The Bewitching. I can see how Muñeca shares some similar themes with The Bewitching, including strong Latinx female protagonists willing to challenge male dominated and aristocratic, traditional families who seem to control large portions of society. Both books also feature elements of spells and magic used to gain power and access. However, I also kept thinking of Isabel Cañas’s book Vampires of El Norte, which also contains strong Mexican female protagonists who are seeking to challenge land rights that largely prevented women from being landowners at the time. Muñeca is a great book to add to growing collection of books by writers like Garcia-Moreno and Cañas, yet it’s also unique and beautiful. Although it’s a relatively short book with brief chapters, it will keep readers engaged, and there’s so much depth and meaning to the various details in the story. It’s also steeped in wonderful Gothic details and decay, and some really amazing magic spells. It’s a wonderful, fun, and exciting read, and something that should appeal to a broad range of readers, but especially those who like a good Gothic story featuring magic. Highly recommended!