Greg Kerestan > Recent Status Updates

This is a dense, fascinating "found footage" book, and I'm enjoying it a lot (both as connected to "Twin Peaks" and as its own thing). But time to take a break for my weekly Shakespeare!

Some great stories so far, though Ramsey Campbell's "Peep" is slightly derivative of his earlier works.

The dark secret of Harvest Home is slowly but surely being revealed. I'm greatly enjoying this book- imagine J. K. Rowling writing a Stephen King novel set in backwater New England.

I'm greatly enjoying this so far, but it's mid-week and I need to catch up on my Shakespeare!

A fun, slightly mindless read, combining Greek mythological epics with a character clearly inspired by Michael Moorcock's Elric.

With Sinatra's 1960s renaissance in full swing, characters are appearing and disappearing from his life with shocking rapidity- whether longtime associates like Hank Sanicola, or tragic losses like the mercurial Marilyn Monroe.

As Frank reaches his peak as a recording artist, he's getting more experimental in his techniques- string quartets, jazz vibraphone collaborations. But his personal life and famed ego are starting to fall apart again.

The inner chronology of the Elric saga is weird and twisty, perhaps by design. This collection's short stories, novellas and multiverse versions of Elric and his struggles have taken past the midway point to truly come together, but with most Moorcock it's best to come along for the ride and ask questions later.

Headlining at the Sands, recording with a string quartet, not kidnapping Marilyn Monroe- could 1957 have been a record year for Frank's stability? It certainly seems so.

Moorcock has spent most of this volume on world-building and establishing the greater canon of the Elric multiverse; it's taken us 2/3 of the way to get a proper Elric story. Luckily, the other characters and settings are just as interesting and philosophically, psychedelically dense as Melnibone is.

Moorcock's second volume of the Elric Saga focuses on world-building and roster expansion, and the opening novel, "The Eternal Champion," introduced Erekose, sword-and-sorcery barbarian with a displaced 20th century mind.

Finally, something not unlike plot is happening!

Sinatra, that chronically inscrutable people-pleaser, has just run off to Australia to tour, and laid the groundwork for his first genuine masterpiece: "In the Wee, Small Hours."

I'm trying. I really am. I know it's a good book, masterfully written, a beloved classic, but... I just don't care that much. Maybe it's because Mr. Darcy reminds me a little too much of a certain friend of mine to be seen as an entirely sympathetic character now...

I picked up this collection on my vacation and read rapidly through the first half of it. What a fantastic collection of literary horror!

Sinatra has truly begun his swingin' career now, with his Capitol albums... but his life is a mess and his slide into decadence and lawlessness has just escalated with an attempted raid/assault on the apartment of Marilyn Monroe.

This is it- the final work by Poe to complete my examination of his complete works!

Ah, finally! I continue my marathon of the complete Shakespeare with my favorite of his comedies (and a musical I have always wanted to write).

Sinatra is finally done with Columbia, and with volatile second wife Ava Gardner. Time for him to get over his suicide attempts and record his first truly great album, "Songs for Young Lovers."

Frank's career is in a downward spiral- no good material, separated from his wife, and in a self-destructive relationship with Ava Gardner. If you think Sinatra never recorded a bad song, look up "Dum Dot" or "Mama Will Bark."

The tales and poems are done (a mixed bag over all- the highs are so high, and the lows so low), leaving only Poe's novel, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," left to explore.

The strike is over and Sinatra has returned to the recording studio triumphant, as his Columbia era begins.

World War 2 is in full swing, and Sinatra is dodging allegations of draft-dodging and mafia involvement in his career. Due to a recording strike, he is reduced to only recording material for the troops (the Columbia V-Discs) or with an a cappella group instead of a band. Now I must pause and listen to the Columbia V-Discs...

The novel has reached its halfway point, and it's amazing how much of a difference being a genuine novel written together, as opposed to a series of pulp short stories and novellas, has made for the quality and uniqueness of the material.