EDIT: CAVEAT (24 OCT 09): By nature of this experiment, spoilers are not intended but there may be inadvertent ones. You may wish (i) to take that risk and read my reviews as their sections are posted in real-time, before or during or after your own reading of the book, or (ii) to wait until you have finished reading the book. In either case, I hope they give useful or interesting or unique perspectives.

============

Mark Valentine to me about review of 'The Nightfarers', quoted here with permission:

"The way you turn the pages of the book releases ideas and images that present the stories freshly even to me."

HERE: Ramsey Campbell: "Awed by your thoughts, Des - I'll say no more."

HERE: Des, your reviews are almost as well-written as the book themselves. Well done, sir.

Allyson Bird HERE: "This is such a unique experience. It's like having my own subconscious talking to me."

Neil Williamson's blog HERE. "Had an interesting experience this week of watching an “as live” review of The Ephemera taking shape as it was being read."

Tim Nickels' website: HERE: The full effects of this revelation have yet to manifest themselves... and yet the truth, little by little, is seeping out: a Major Excavation by an eminent Field Expert was conducted over several days in May 2009. His results may be found HERE...

Jai Clare to me about review of 'The Cusp of Something', quoted with permission:

"Your comments were very insightful and I particularly loved that you got the placing of the last story and all it contained and meant for the collection."

Simon Bestwick HERE: "Des, just wanted to say a heartfelt thankyou for this ongoing review. Very grateful. And oddly touched."

Joel Lane (in blog comment on actual review page): "Des, thank you for these thoughtful and heartening comments. I mean the stories to find some resonance in the concerns of readers as well as my own concerns – so, for example, the fact that some of these stories strike you as referring implicitly to the Internet may not reflect my intentions, but it shows that you're relating the stories to what you think and feel about the world. Which is exactly what I would hope for. Cheers!"

Gary McMahon: HERE: The legendary Des Lewis has seen fit to assemble a stream-of-conscious review of my latest collection.

Matt Cardin's blog here about the DFL review of his book: HERE. "So here’s a sincere thanks to Des for his perceptive and insightful reading of my work."

A review of DFL's review of Ligotti's book below: HERE. "If you're looking for a brief romp through weird literature and the banker Meltdown, or have wondered what one weirdmonger on the fringe thinks of another wordsmith of the high weird, then you have found your destination."

HERE: "Des you make me want to buy books. My dream is to have you one day do one of these enlightening reviews about a collection of my stories. Brilliant stuff!"

Paul Meloy: HERE: "Des, this has been an absolute pleasure! Delightful, unique, touching...an honour. I predict these stream-of-consciousness reviews will become the essential thing to have and be in great demand! Thanks for taking the time to do this, Des!" and LATER publicly on the same thread: "I have to say I'm awestruck by the amount of hits this review is getting. It says so much about the respect Des has as a renaissance man of strange otherness. If I wore a hat, it would probably be a fez. And I would lift it to you, Des."

Allen Ashley HERE: "....an astonishingly detailed and complimentary review of my collection “Somnambulists” by the wonderful writing and editing legend Des Lewis. All I can do is to recommend that you have a look at it if you have 10 or 15 minutes to spare. [...] Thanks again to Des for such a great review and thank, of course, to Andrew for helping make it all possible in the first place."

August 2009: Simon Strantzas: HERE: "Fascinating stuff!"

EDIT (22 APR 09): These reviews have developed into what I now call Real-Time Reviews of Books. The more recently dated ones below show this development more markedly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2007: DFL's review ('On The Hoof') of Thomas Ligotti's 'Conspiracy Against The Human Race': HERE

with TL's reply.

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Nov 08 - Jan 09:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/glyphotech_by_mark_samuels.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/beneath_the_surface_by_simon_strantzas.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/omens_by_richard_gavin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/divinations_of_the_deep_by_matt_cardin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/rain_dogs_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/teatro_grottesco_by_thomas_ligotti.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/how_to_make_monsters_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

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(3 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/tamar_yellin.htm - Tales of The Ten Lost Tribes

(17 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_reach_of_children__by_tim_lebbon.htm

(21 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_impelled__other_headtrips_by_gary_fry.htm

(7 Mar 09): World Wide Web And Other Lovecraftian Upgrades - by Gary Fry

(11 Mar 09): Beneath The Ground - edited by Joel Lane

(15 Mar 09): UNBECOMING And Other Tales Of Horror - by Mike O'Driscoll

(20 Mar 09): The Ephemera - by Neil Williamson

(25 Mar 09): Somnambulists - by Allen Ashley

(29 Mar 09): The Villa Désirée and Other Uncanny Stories - by May Sinclair

(11 Apr 09): Sanity and Other Delusions - by Gary Fry

(12 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/sleepwalkers__marion_arnott.htm

(15 Apr 09): ISLINGTON CROCODILES by Paul Meloy

(20 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/mindful_of_phantoms.htm by Gary Fry.

(6 May 09): The English Soil Society - by Tim Nickels

(6 May 09): The Cusp of Something - by Jai Clare

(15 May 09): Visits To The Flea Circus - by Nick Jackson

(27 May 09): Mostly Monochrome Stories - by John Travis

(30 June 09) Bull Running For Girls - by Allyson Bird

30 June 09: Allyson Bird HERE: "The title story is set in late June 2003 - '4,000 dead in Spain and over 18,000 in Italy by the end of summer.' It really is a strange coincidence that you are reading it today of all days. It is cooler up here on the moors though.
It's an important experience for me - reading your real-time review. I'm very much alongside you as you write."

5 July 09: "That was quite a journey Des and it was a wonderful experience to take part in the small parallel observations too. I read the real-time review of that last story and shed a tear too."

(6 July 09) The Terrible Changes - by Joel Lane

(9 July 09) Pictures of the Dark - by Simon Bestwick

(16 July 09) ANONthology (HarperCollins)

(20 July 09) Primeval Wood - by Richard Gavin

(25 July 09) Ghosts and Grisly Things - by Ramsey Campbell

(30 July 09) The Exaggerated Man - by Terry Grimwood.

(30 July 09) Cold to the Touch - by Simon Strantzas

(1 August 09) Bloody Baudelaire - by R.B. Russell

(2 August 09) The Night-Farers - by Mark Valentine

(17 August 09) Black Static - issue 12

(25 August 09): The Alsiso Project

Re Alsiso, from Alasdair Stuart HERE: A few years ago, I contributed a story to Andrew Hook’s ‘The Alsiso Project’ anthology. It was a gloriously odd idea, taking a spelling mistake and using it as the starting point for twenty three completely unique stories. Mine was a lecture, delivered by someone who has discovered that Alsiso is the name for something we haven’t quite reached yet, a linguistic tenth planet of sorts.It was also pretty much hated on release, which is fine, each to their own after all. However, CERN Zoo just put up a spectacularly good review of both the book and my story which I’ve linked to here. I always rather liked my Alsiso story and it’s a real pleasure to see someone else does too.

(3 Sep 09): Extended Play

(4 Oct 09): Different Skins - by Gary McMahon

(17 Oct 09): CERN Zoo - a DFL real-time review - the Collider made me do it!

(21 Oct 09): Black Static - issue 13

(23 Oct 09): All God's Angels, Beware! - Quentin S Crisp

======================================================

Real-Time Review of 'Weirdmonger' by DF Lewis" by DF Lewis

"As I turned the pages I had the feeling that, step by step, I was following the map of a sick and broken mind. Line after line, the author of those pages had, without being aware of it, documented his own descent into a chasm of madness. The last third of the book seemed to suggest an attempt at retracing his steps, a desperate cry from the prison of his insanity so that he might escape the labyrinth of tunnels that had formed his mind."

from 'The Angel's Game' by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

============================================================

Review of the TWELVE NOVEL SERIES: Warriors of Love (begun 30 July 09)

4 Oct 09:

I endorse the passage below by the author that he has posted in 'conversation' with me on the latest Chapter of WoL that he has counter-commented my own comments there:

<<I agree that it would be interesting to know the view of someone coming to “Jane” entirely afresh.
Life is complicated, and so is “The Warriors of Love”, in all sorts of ways. The text has a prehistory that haunts you and me, but will be unknown to new readers. How that would seem (to a new reader) is a matter for which I have only intuition as a guide.
The quotation beginning “We are all a mixture of the praiseworthy and the blameable…” seems to me to say something that lies at the heart of “The Warriors of Love”. Indeed, I think that the same thing is summarised succinctly in the series title. “Warriors” suggesting harsh deeds and “Love” suggesting gentle ones. Yet love is often harsh, and warriors can be gentle. The novels (I hope) generally have a moral tone, but it is a complex morality, often in shades of grey rather than black and white. Or, more properly, good and bad intertwined – and often interdependant.>>

That passage is posted here:
http://weirdmonger.blogdrive.com/archive/321.html as a comment by the author.

=========================================================================

Mark Samuels' WHITE HANDS: http://nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/8/752.html?1227381699 (June 2003)

Real-time notes on Robert Aickman: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/robert_aickman.htm

==========================================================================

REAL-TIME REVIEWS BY OTHERS:

Karim Ghahwagi: October 2009: NEMONYMOUS TWO (2002) here:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/nemonymos_two_2002__realtime_reviewed_by_karim_ghahwagi.htm

One of the stories inspired Joel Lane's acclaimed novella: "The Witnesses Are Gone".

The authors' names are given here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemonymous

comments (4)

1. Weirdmonger left...

Saturday, 7 March 2009 4:55 pm

As most of my reviews are of books I have *bought* in the normal course of wanting to read them, I am not surprised that I praise more than I criticise. But the reviews are intended to be forensic in a true 'nemonymous' spirit - which I think you will find to be the case when you read them. I certainly hope my 61 years (58 of which have been spent reading!) ensure I have a critical spirit, in this way. :)

When setting out on a time-sensitive on-going self-nurturing* review as I did with, say, The Impelled by Gary Fry, that was damn serious stuff. Maybe it shouldn't have originated on a discussion thread, because it gives an impression of bon-homie rather than critical exposition - but I find that method of reviewing 'in media res' leads to a genuine evolution of self-generated observations that I wouldn't have otherwise made on later stories in the critique process.

*When I say 'a self-nurturing review' that's the review's self not mine - e.g. as in self-perpetuating fountain!

2. Weirdmonger left...

Monday, 9 March 2009 12:08 am

These are not necessarily intended to be 'interactive reviews' as such but rather *my* reviews as facilitated by the method of writing them piecemeal (as and when I happen to read each story) - with or without intervention by whomsoever in the world.

3. Weirdmonger left...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 1:42 pm :: http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/topic/10

Discussion thread about Real-Time Reviews at link immediately above. Please join in.

4. Weirdmonger left...

Sunday, 26 July 2009 6:38 pm :: http://www.knibbworld.com/campbelldiscus

Further thoughts of mine quoted from forum linked above:

I aim to use words and styles that unlock a book's leitmotifs best. My words are inteneded to paint a picture that befits any book that I take on and to raise it (or even lower it*) as a a thing-to-read ... not only by taking new things from it but also by giving things back to it. I hope that doesn't sound too pretentious.

*it is unlikely that I will choose a book to treat that I anticipate not enjoying so this aspect is not likely to happen with any of my real-time reviewing. All books I treat are usually those I have bought (or in rare cases exchanged for editions of Nemonymous) and somehow I never end up buying books I don't enjoy. A good instinct, I suppose.

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