C.L. Methvin (Editor of Small World)

C.L. Methvin rated a book it was amazing The Employees by Olga Ravn	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Hard to overstate how delightful this book was. Written in the form of multiple transcribed audio-recordings, The Employees recounts the events aboard an interstellar spaceship as the human and humanoid crewmembers begin to react differently to their ...more
Nov 25, 2025 01:00PM · 3 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Employees by Olga Ravn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Employees by Olga Ravn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
C.L. Methvin rated a book it was ok Strange Houses by Uketsu	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Fluctuating between a two and a three rating on this one. It started out with promise, as the concept of the book intrigued me, and I was definitely engrossed by the way the mystery of the houses was presented. Unfortunately, in the final third of th ...more
Nov 04, 2025 08:37PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Strange Houses by Uketsu. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Strange Houses by Uketsu <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
C.L. Methvin and 1 other person liked Rachel's review of EUSECT: "These stories are so good, horrifying, disturbing, and stressful to read. I did not exactly enjoy them but I was very much engaged while I read them. I would recommend this collection to anyone who likes horror."
Oct 21, 2025 09:57PM · see review
C.L. Methvin rated a book liked it Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories by Brian Evenson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
At the beginning of this book, I was ready to give it a five-star review. Evenson does a great job creating unsettling atmospheres, worlds where everything is ever-so-slightly off, and I think the first 70% of the collection is consistently enjoyable ...more
Aug 25, 2025 01:19PM · 1 like · like · see review
C.L. Methvin entered a giveaway Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 18, 2025 01:58PM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
C.L. Methvin rated a book really liked it Amygdalatropolis by B.R. Yeager (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was born into the early internet era and have a vague enough familiarity with online spaces such as 4chan and /b/ that Amygdalatropolis felt both quite sinister, and quite real. If the author told me conversations in this book were plucked straight ...more
Jun 12, 2025 08:26AM · 2 likes · like · see review
C.L. Methvin rated a book liked it His Black Tongue by Mitchell Lüthi (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I listened to the His Black Tongue audiobook on Spotify, which only includes "His Black Tongue," "The Bone Fields," and "The Knights of the Non-Euclidean Table." This excludes "Necropolis," which appears on the table of contents in the pr ...more
Jun 02, 2025 04:48PM · 1 like · like · see review
C.L. Methvin rated a book it was amazing Read and Then Burn This (Seasons, book fall) by Ryszard I. Merey (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I did not like the protagonist, and I am elated to have disliked the protagonist. Ly is a nineteen-year-old reprobate whose world we are dropped into not long after a life-altering accident leaves him incapable of dancing (his passion and work). Event ...more
May 25, 2025 09:55PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Read and Then Burn This by Ryszard I. Merey. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Read and Then Burn This by Ryszard I. Merey <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
C.L. Methvin rated a book it was ok Hexis by Charlene Elsby (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
DNF about 36% through, page 50-ish. I read Psychros from Elsby and thoroughly enjoyed it, which is what motivated me to pick this book of hers up as well. Unfortunately, I just did not get into it as much as I had hoped. The nameless narrator recount ...more
Apr 21, 2025 02:44PM · like · see review

C.L. Methvin rated a book it was amazing

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Hard to overstate how delightful this book was.
Written in the form of multiple transcribed audio-recordings, The Employees recounts the events aboard an interstellar spaceship as the human and humanoid crewmembers begin to react differently to their Hard to overstate how delightful this book was.
Written in the form of multiple transcribed audio-recordings, The Employees recounts the events aboard an interstellar spaceship as the human and humanoid crewmembers begin to react differently to their goal, each other, and the mysterious "Objects" that have been retrieved from the planet they are orbiting. Said objects are never entirely defined, described more often as vague shapes or even sensations, or attributed names purely by the feelings they evoke. The collection of objects is a catalyst, but is less important than the events that unfold in response to their mere presence.

It was not a hard read: everything was relatively straightforward, even for being occasionally non-chronological, and it was not a challenge to piece the events together even among the logs that aimed to be intentionally vague or avoid incriminating themselves. Some logs are simple; others invite the question: "Is a human or humanoid recounting this transcription?"; which then invites even larger questions...how would that reframe your opinions of the account? Do the emotions, or actions, or reasons become more or less justified? There are more questions than this, but I fear expounding upon them more would ruin a reader's fun of stumbling upon such questions on their own.

My largest criticism would be there are occasional instances of flowery metaphors that just seem out of place; in a world as technical as the spaceship, addressing the events in the form of interviews (while the metaphors or anecdotes were pretty), the frequency with which they occurred felt less organic than other accounts.
Despite this: perhaps that was the goal, despite the coldness of space and the isolation of working those that are manufactured, does such craving or memory indicate a warmth or humanity? What's it mean when a non-human expresses the same?
These questions extend into larger dialogues about production, capitalism, and the shedding/ robbing of humanity for the sake (or under the guise) of progress.

(view spoiler)

Recommend. ...more

C.L. Methvin rated a book it was ok

Strange Houses
by Uketsu

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Fluctuating between a two and a three rating on this one.

It started out with promise, as the concept of the book intrigued me, and I was definitely engrossed by the way the mystery of the houses was presented. Unfortunately, in the final third of th ...more

C.L. Methvin and 1 other person liked Rachel's review of EUSECT:

"These stories are so good, horrifying, disturbing, and stressful to read. I did not exactly enjoy them but I was very much engaged while I read them. I would recommend this collection to anyone who likes horror."

C.L. Methvin rated a book liked it

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson

Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories
by Brian Evenson

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At the beginning of this book, I was ready to give it a five-star review. Evenson does a great job creating unsettling atmospheres, worlds where everything is ever-so-slightly off, and I think the first 70% of the collection is consistently enjoyable ...more

C.L. Methvin entered a giveaway

Arkhangelsk
by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel (Goodreads Author)

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C.L. Methvin rated a book really liked it

Amygdalatropolis
by B.R. Yeager (Goodreads Author)

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I was born into the early internet era and have a vague enough familiarity with online spaces such as 4chan and /b/ that Amygdalatropolis felt both quite sinister, and quite real. If the author told me conversations in this book were plucked straight I was born into the early internet era and have a vague enough familiarity with online spaces such as 4chan and /b/ that Amygdalatropolis felt both quite sinister, and quite real. If the author told me conversations in this book were plucked straight from those forums and dropped into the novel, I would not bat an eye.

Amygdalatropolis is less of a narrative and more of a window into random moments of a boy's life, in which the nameless, amalgamated/shared-name protagonist /1404er/ spends his days and nights scouring the darker corners of the internet for material to satisfy him. Such material includes CW: (view spoiler) and more. He struggles to find sexual gratification in any of this, and only when he (view spoiler) does he find any satisfaction.

Little happens in this book. The main character is there, he dabbles online, his parents die, he continues dabbling online. But underneath the shocking content and gross descriptions is a cautionary tale about negligence, abuse, loneliness, and the ease with which one can be assimilated into women-hating, incel circles—a father absent, a mother who tries to gentle parent enough that she and her son mutually ostracize each other, and the way he finds family in the deplorables of the internet who offer him a semblance of direction or sensation.

The introduction does a good job framing the novel as a philosophical, psychological exercise, which I think serves well, and without it I may have had different opinions of the thought processes we see /1404er/ undergo (though I do think the intro accomplished its goal about 60% through and got a bit excessive).

In any case, where Yeager especially succeeds is his versatility. From omniscient narrator, to bizarre dreamscapes, to sudden straightforward-though-varied message board posts, he navigates multiple different writing styles, topics, and even formats in an engaging way. For all its variety, the story felt quite cohesive, even when someone begins rambling about Ebola or discussing the validity of tarot in the middle of other, darker dialogues.

Amygdala = emotional processing center
Polis = city
—and so we get Amygdalatropolis, a digital landscape of emotion; emotions which /1404er/ wades through and often fails to experience. It's all nihilism, loneliness, and misanthropy guised as digital community. The real horror is less what happens in the pages, but how easy it would be to jump online at this very moment and find people having the exact same conversations. ...more

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His Black Tongue
by Mitchell Lüthi (Goodreads Author)

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Disclaimer: I listened to the His Black Tongue audiobook on Spotify, which only includes "His Black Tongue," "The Bone Fields," and "The Knights of the Non-Euclidean Table." This excludes "Necropolis," which appears on the table of contents in the pr Disclaimer: I listened to the His Black Tongue audiobook on Spotify, which only includes "His Black Tongue," "The Bone Fields," and "The Knights of the Non-Euclidean Table." This excludes "Necropolis," which appears on the table of contents in the print version.

I was looking forward to this book, as a plague-ravaged world, religious intrigue, and blasphemous mystery all sounds like it would mesh together well. And in the author's defense, it did for the first half of the eponymous story. You are introduced to an elderly priest and his young ward who are suspicious of the town and slowly uncover its horrors. For the first two-thirds of this story, I was invested: the world was gritty, the plague was gross, and the the suspicions were introduced well and created a sense of unease with every interaction.
Unfortunately, upon the reveal (which I won't spoil) the story completely changes tone and becomes much more action-focused, and doesn't seek to really indulge in any of the previous elements that made it so satisfying. It goes from medieval horror mystery to a good-vs-evil battle that was largely unsatisfying after being so invested in the narrative style of its early portions.

This leads to my criticisms of the second two stories: they do about the same thing. You get unique worlds, fun characters, and some gruesome exploration. Then they both also end in a battle sequence of sorts. "The Bone Fields," I think, was the best of the three as it was a Viking-inspired horror that introduces battle as a much more integral part of this culture's response, so the inevitable battle made a lot more sense and was more successful in its framework and buildup. I really wanted more of this one.

"The Knights of the Non-Euclidean Table" I don't have much of an opinion of, which isn't really a good reading. At this point in the collection, to see the formula used again was disappointing (for what was a cool idea). It was just hard to care about the characters, and harder to care about another climactic battle sequence.

His Black Tongue: 2.5/5
The Bone Fields: 4/5
The Knights of the Non-Euclidean Table: 2/5 ...more

C.L. Methvin rated a book it was amazing

Read and Then Burn This by Ryszard I. Merey

Read and Then Burn This (Seasons, book fall)
by Ryszard I. Merey (Goodreads Author)

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I did not like the protagonist, and I am elated to have disliked the protagonist.

Ly is a nineteen-year-old reprobate whose world we are dropped into not long after a life-altering accident leaves him incapable of dancing (his passion and work). Event ...more

C.L. Methvin rated a book it was ok

Hexis
by Charlene Elsby (Goodreads Author)

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DNF about 36% through, page 50-ish.

I read Psychros from Elsby and thoroughly enjoyed it, which is what motivated me to pick this book of hers up as well. Unfortunately, I just did not get into it as much as I had hoped. The nameless narrator recount ...more

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	Small World (The Kanti Cycle Book 2) by Gre7g Luterman (Goodreads Author), Rick Griffin (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator), C.L. Methvin (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.62 avg rating — 65 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	EUSECT 4.46 avg rating — 52 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reaper's Lottery (The Tori Mysteries Book 1) by Gre7g Luterman (Goodreads Author), H.Kyoht Luterman, C.L. Methvin (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.55 avg rating — 44 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biting Silence 4.36 avg rating — 11 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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