Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies

Like many short story collections, Corpsemouth has its share of hits and misses. Homemade Monsters for example is a brilliant example of the short story form, full of imagination with an excellent narrative and unexpected climax. I also enjoyed The Open Mouth of Charybdis and Kore. The Supplement was the pick of the bunch.

The two much longer stories, Corpsemouth and Anchor were less enjoyable and in Anchor I found myself willing something to happen. It was dull and convoluted and seemed to be quite pointless other than to show off how clever it is to have the main character explore the narrative of his father, who explored the narrative of his friend (so POV shifted 2 people away from the narrator but still narrated by the narrator). show more Clever but not gripping in terms of content.

Langan is clearly a talented stylist, and when he gets the balance right, the results can be striking. He’s at his best when working in shorter forms, where atmosphere, imagery, and suggestion have room to breathe without being smothered by digression. Unfortunately, his tendency to over-elaborate sometimes drains the energy from his storytelling. I found this when I read his novel, The Fisherman, which in the same way went off on a very lengthy and unhelpful digression which removed the momentum of the story.

Overall, this is a collection that contains flashes of genuine brilliance. There are some excellent contributions to the short horror canon here. There are also long stretches of self-indulgence and I came away wishing Langan had reined himself in more often and kept the stories focused on delivering a powerful punch. As it stands, Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies is a mixed read that is worth dipping into for the stronger short pieces, but not a book I would rush to revisit cover to cover. show less

I was lucky enough to be seated beside John Langan about a month ago at a gathering of horror authors somewhere in the Hudson Valley, and I picked up both THE FISHERMAN, that I was actually halfway through listening to as I'd made the drive down to the event, and I also grabbed this book, primarily because the "OTHER AUTOBIOGRAPHIES" part of the title caught my eye...because a lot of my own horror writing is often partially autobiographical.

Langan did not disappoint here. Each of these absolute jewels is a study in short story creation. And I'll state right up front that, while Langan often uses the same template for coming at each story, each one is very much its own beast, and a completely unique creation.

What you'll find in these 11 show more stories is a slow, careful build up of the world in which the story takes place... Langan takes pains with the narrating character, as well as the other key players, and the setting, often providing a lovingly detailed backstory as necessary. Does he occasionally perhaps give too much information out? Maybe, but I will say that at no point did I feel any of my time wasted with anything he chose to deliver.

Then, once the stage is set, Langan brings in the weird. And his imagination knows no bounds here, however the common element seems to be that we inhabit just one of the various realities on tap, and sometimes we get glimpses into the other ones, and it rarely goes well for us.

What Langan excels at—aside from bringing both the wonder and the dread—is the truly real emotion that would go along with whatever hell he's offering up. I find that, in a lot of horror, while there's initial panic, it's often quickly supplanted by a "well, it's happening, lets try and survive!" mentality that mostly sidesteps the ongoing mental anguish that the characters should struggle with throughout the ordeal. Langan brings that.

And that, to me, is what makes these incredibly fantastic stories frighteningly real to me.

I absolutely loved this collection.

And, even better? To then discover in his story notes that most of these things really do spring from various elements of Langan's life? Well, that's just icing on the cake. show less

The stories in this book were all wonderful. Two that stood out for me trace Langan's experiences as a child with his mother (Caoineadh) and father (Anchor). They felt authentic and had less of a terrifying edge to them, but they were impactful nonetheless. Both left me sorting through my own melancholic feelings, thinking about the deaths of my own parents, who both passed away with their own secrets not shed.

The Supplement was probably my favorite. Regrets and a longing for an altered past crop up as you age, and knowing that there is no do-over can nearly drive you to madness until you come to terms with the paths you've taken. Also, time speeds up in ways that you never imagined when you were young and thought you'd never reach 18 show more or 21.

As stated in the afterward, Laird Barron captures the theme of Corpsemouth's short stories perfectly. Time is a prominent element in some of Langan's best stories (The Fisherman), and it is clearly the motif running through this anthology. show less

Not Langan's best, but decent enough. A solid collection that suffers somewhat from having few stand-out stories ("Anchor" probably the sole exception). It does, however, hold interest as a sort of companion piece to his stellar novel The Fisherman, as several of the stories touch on similar themes (and indeed, in several cases cases, on fishing). The look into how Langan reiterates on themes and plot points to build his version of the mandatory author mythos is faschinating, but maybe for the already initiated rather than horror fans looking to discover a new author.

Verdict: Well worth reading, but start elsewhere.

I read one of Langan's other collections, The Wide Carnivorous Sky, and loved it. Each story in that book was a fresh new idea that seemed to jump out of a creative mind replete with innovative ideas. The writing wasn't the best (that I've read, I mean... not that it was bad, mind you) but the stories were fantastic. In this one, he lost that fantastic creative edge. I suspect he was deliberately trying to write stories with more of an autobiographical slant to them (hence the title) but that pulled away from what, I felt, was his strong suit. Ultimately too many of these felt like a chore to read.

This was incredibly disappointing compared to The Fisherman.