{"id":137513106,"date":"2023-10-06T12:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137513106"},"modified":"2023-10-06T12:31:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:31:02","slug":"friday-links-dont-go-into-those-woods-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137513106","title":{"rendered":"Friday Links: Don't Go Into Those Woods Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

“‘Why did you introduce yourself as a werewolf if that’s not what you identify as?’…’The simple fact is that the werewolf is more easily identifiable, iconic.” – Indra Das, ‘The Devourers’<\/h2>

But first, your weekly <\/em>Vine. Thursday was Chapter 25: \u201cA Covenant So That They May Dwell Securely In The Wilderness And Sleep In The Woods.\u201d<\/a> Today is Chapter 26: \u201cHymn of Healing and Regeneration.\u201d We had an extra episode of The Vine Radio Hour on the Lazy & Entitled Podcast<\/a> this week, for \u201cOutbreak Part Two\u201d and \u201cOutbreak Part Three,\u201d here\u2019s this week\u2019s regular episode, for chapters 23-26<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>

You never need an excuse to read horror. Ghost stories do not lose their salience simply because leaves are on trees. Yet life is full of wonders, so we have holidays to remind us of rad stuff we might otherwise forget about. All month long, we\u2019re reading horror novels, baby!<\/p>

What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p>

We have two books concerned with scary animals this week. One, you already know if you read last week\u2019s column<\/a>. Two, a writer I\u2019ve read recently<\/a>, another effort that is shaping up nicely. Let\u2019s not drag this out too much longer\u2014I\u2019m talking, of course, about The Devourers <\/em>by Indra Das and The Only Good Indians<\/em> by Stephen Graham Jones. <\/p>

\"books:<\/figure>

The Devourers<\/strong><\/em> by Indra Das:<\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>first and foremost, what I suspected last week is true<\/a>: The Devourers <\/em>is one of the most gorgeous books ever written. Luscious <\/em>is the word I used, overflowing<\/em> with sensory detail, and hell\u2019s bells, I did not know the half of it. Page after page, I was in awe of what I was reading. <\/em>This book is proof that \u201cplot\u201d and \u201cgood writing\u201d are not mutually exclusive. These characters venture into the delta and forests of the Sundarbans, have \u201csecond self\u201d fights, there\u2019s blood and literal entrails being scooped off the ground and back into one\u2019s belly, and yet the prose is still florid<\/em>, like master stylist-level. There\u2019s no gore for the sake of gore, it\u2019s just that sensory information is all the way at 11. Indra might be the best writer at describing touch I\u2019ve ever read? The language kept infiltrating my brain, too. I caught myself thinking of caravanserais while walking the outdoor steps of my building\u2019s mini-courtyard, or referring to my bundle of canvas grocery bags as \u201cfardels.\u201d<\/p>

This is not simply a collection of pretty words put in an order that makes me visualize werewolf attacks, though. No, the beauty extends to the symbolic level. \u201cWerewolf\u201d is a bit of a misnomer for the creatures here. Certainly appropriate for the indeterminately Scandinavian Fenrir or the unpronounceably French G\u00e9vaudan. Not werewolves but shapeshifters, able to transform their second (changed) and first (human-passing) selves. \u201cDevourers\u201d is a term not just for the physical consumption of their victims, but also the fact that a werewolf\u2019s victim\u2019s life and stories are now contain within the werewolf. This leads to all kinds of metaphors for transness, too\u2014more than one character either changes the gender of their first self or, in their second self, displays both male and female genitals. The queerness of this narrative is interwoven completely with the monster narrative, but it does not point to queerness as something monstrous or honestly even all that out of the ordinary. We\u2019re maybe used to supernatural creatures transcending mortal constraints\u2014here I go talking about Anne Rice vampires again\u2014but Das\u2019s characters transcend gender, transcend homo\/heterosexuality, transcend simplistic werewolfism. The way the journey is presented, you almost feel like you could, too. <\/p>

The Only Good Indians <\/strong><\/em>by Stephen Graham Jones: <\/strong>I\u2019m only about 50 pages into this one, but I had a schedule for spooky season, damnit, and I\u2019m gonna keep up with it (plus Noir-vember is coming). So here\u2019s what I\u2019ll say: a lot of the blurbs compare this book to Stephen King, and sure enough, the first few chapters are all about connecting four friends with a shared history. I\u2019m a sucker for this stuff. A dude, there is something<\/em> going on with the elk. <\/p>

LINKS!<\/strong><\/p>

But first, some music. Did you know Speakerboxxx\/The Love Below<\/em> recently turned 20? I bought that CD at Hasting\u2019s in Murfreesboro, TN, and it was like a year before I heard the unedited \u201cSpread\u201d and learned I had accidentally purchased the edited CD. Anyway, here\u2019s \u201cLove Hater,\u201d my favorite track off that album. <\/p>

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