Del James

Oh. My. God. I've said this about one other book, and this one qualifies also: I think I need a Penicillin shot.

I am obviously not the typical target audience for this collection of stories, or, maybe I am. Or need to be. But I am pretty sure Mr. James didn't have the most tight-azzed, white-bred old woman who is the nanny of two little boys, watches Little Women of L.A., crafts, quilts and who finds a good nap really really exciting as someone who would take the time to read these stories show more let alone speak about them without going full-on Tipper Gore.

Stick with me till the end of this, though. I may surprise you.

Many of these stories were pornographic not only in a sexual sense, but there was a pornography of violence too. Most times when I read anything, I see myself in the stories, the characters or the situations. I was so far removed from this work, I felt very uncomfortable and voyeuristic. I wanted to turn away but was drawn back time and time again to worlds and people that scared the sh*t out of me.

Mr. James dragged me places I didn't want to go. He showed me things I didn't want to see. He fed my curiosity about lives I have never lived and hopefully will never live. He introduced me to the Edge People. Those among us that take every moment they stay breathing to that edge -- that line -- and cross it.

I've never held to the old adage, "write what you know." I think that's pretty crap honestly. How could Bradbury write about Mars? How could L. Frank Baum write about OZ? How did J.K. Rowling write about Hogwarts? It's called imagination. Fiction writers must have an imagination.

But having said that, this book felt very personal to me. I felt like he bled on this work. And I very much believe that Mr. James was writing what he knew and weaving the fiction throughout. He gave us a look into what he's experienced, what he's witnessed. The cast of characters that has come in and out of his life are on these pages in some form. I believe that. Okay, minus maybe the supernatural stuff, and even then, I'm not so sure he didn't have a power lunch with Satan and cut a deal.

The writing is powerful. The characters sad and tragic. I felt disgust, pity, fear, anger, curiosity, shock -- page after page pulled these emotions from me and that's what good writing does. It challenges you and it makes you think. About life, death, love, hatred, indifference and man's inhumanity to man.

I applaud Mr. James's bravery to not self-censor the pieces. It would have been really easy to leave scenes out because what would his grandma say? Or the people in his life that he might want to keep separated from this side of him and whose thoughts and opinions mean something to him for fear they wouldn't approve.

He would not have been true to the atmosphere of the stories had he changed a thing. It would not have been honest writing. He had to write what he did to make them as powerful as they were. I would love to hear him speak to the inspiration of these works. The process he went through to get them down on the page. Did he struggle putting himself out there?

Mr. James did his job as a writer -- he took me by the hand and tilted my world.

Now I am going to crawl into the fetal position and take a nap. show less

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss. However, I had trouble accessing it so this review is based on a finished copy I borrowed from the library. Content warning for violence, including rape and murder.)

-- 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 where necessary --

Krysten Moore is a Texas tomboy with dreams of being a stunt woman. Unfortunately, there aren't any schools for stunt people in El Paso. But maybe a decent wrestling education could help get her foot in the show more door? That's the plan, anyway, until a brutal assault at the hands of her trainer leaves Krysten scarred and disillusioned.

Fast forward a few years, and Krysten and her bestie Nina are working up the ranks as Luchadoras in Mexico. Known professionally as Viuda Frankenstein and Luna Vampira, they're a tag team of heels who just scored a pretty major coup in their league. The night of their first upset victory, the woman are pulled into the violence of the cartel by a series of mishaps. Krysten must call upon all her training - and righteous rage - to make it out alive.

This is a tough one to review. The artwork is striking, and I mostly vibed with the storytelling, BUT. Krysten's assault comes almost immediately, and the blurb about Zack being her "trusted trainer" doesn't hit me as authentic. He feels like a small time bully at a local dojo more than anything else - not a guy that had Krysten's trust and then broke it. (A little more back story could have helped here.) Not that this makes the assault any less horrific - those panels truly are something awful to witness, and they make the story's conclusion so, so satisfying.

The plot line with the cartel feels a little outlandish, but perhaps that's fitting, since it takes place in the world of wrestling.

I think my biggest problem though is that James did Nina dirty. Definitely didn't like that. show less

I was pretty mixed on this collection. However, rather than my disappointment being with the stories, I think it was self-induced. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but these stories didn't really match my expectations. Going off the title, each story did have blood splatters of some sort, so I should have been happy there. And each story centered on a different approach to a politically sensitive idea: AIDS, social activism, gun control, and religious guidance. I think that I was show more expecting the politically incorrect portion to be a bit more bizarro and less political. My thoughts on the individual stories are below; as for the collection, enjoyable but not as offensive and I had hoped.

"Sick Puppy" by Del James - This story focused on AIDS, more specifically an AIDS infected werewolf. A cool idea but I don't think it was taken in an exciting direction. A fair amount of pure data on the AIDS epidemic which nicely provided the background for what was happening to the werewolf. But the ending was more conspiracy than reality and proved disappointing.

"A Revolution of One" by Brian Keene - This story involved social activism. It also worked its way in subtlety. The story is basically a big rant of how someone is saving the world from all the passively active, ineffective, want to help but only from a consumer point of view, type of people. And while there is some stuff in that to disagree with, there is also a lot of stuff to cheer for someone doing something and to demand a fix. Then it ends fast and hard with a quick punch to the gut. My final thoughts were "but... but... oh, nicely done, Mr. Keene".

"Real Gun Control is Hitting What You Aim At" by Thomas F. Monteleone - The title gives this one away as the gun control story. Monteleone kept the story brief but it unfortunately didn't work for me. There were too many moments of "Really? That makes no sense for him to do." It ends with a nice bit of irony but at the same time, there was no punch or shock. Or maybe I was still reeling from Keene's gut punch that it took away from Monteleone's story.

"Testify" by Lee Thomas - This story was about religious guidance, or more accurately a public relations scandal. The story is told as a series of press releases and interviews, all focused on a preacher testifying against a gay lifestyle while simultaneously getting publicly caught in his own homosexual affair. His solution is much more interesting than the normal way these things play out in that he uses voodoo to solve the problem. show less

Yikes. These stories are dated, and not that horrific. I had high expectations for 'Without You' and was really kind of disappointed.