Ryun Patterson of the Bookgasm site/blog (slogan: “reading material to get excited about”) has reviewed ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas as you’ve never seen it reviewed before. Excerpt:
Descriptions of human sacrifice and the power of blood magic are commonplace throughout history, but one — Clement Clarke Moore’s ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS — takes place on the eve of a holiday that most consider a time of joy, happiness and generosity. This makes a poem that would be unsettling in any circumstances an intense, dark and enduring tale of supernatural horror.
Set on the eve of the eponymous Christian feast day, the book begins innocently enough, with a desperately poor family bedding down for the night in their rodent-infested hovel…
…Despite its age, ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is a sure favorite for fans of supernatural horror, but because of its intensity and subject matter, it’s a work best read safely away from the Yuletide season — it can inspire dreams that are far more unsettling than sugar plums.
Read it all here.
Well, that oughta be interesting. :)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, JES. :)
Hmmm….I just might have to go and read that. You know I love my reviews…and funky ones, at that.
Happy holidays to you!
BWAHAHAHA!!!
I’m not sure the fact that I’m laughing is a good thing…
Thanks for the mention! If you like it, you should also check out my earlier review of “Goodnight Moon”:
http://www.bookgasm.com/horror/goodnight-moon/
Darc: I had a feeling this post’s title might snag your attention. :)
You have a wonderful Christmas/New Year too, my friend!
Jules: I know you take 7-Imp very seriously, and rightly so. But it might be fun to try your hand at a bogus review sometime. I’m still laughing to myself at this “talk show” at The Onion‘s site to which you pointed 7-Imp readers the other day:
Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children’s Picture Book Series
Miriam: Correct: in this case, laughter definitely says something which the laugher probably wishes it didn’t. :)
RCP: The Good Night, Moon review is, if anything, even more incisive in its pulling-apart of childish “fantasy” to reveal the bleeding organs within. Well done!
Thanks! My wife and I had a baby 9 weeks ago, and my mind sort of filled in all the narrative gaps to Goodnight Moon on its own (that probably says something about how my mind works). I normally write science fiction reviews for the site, but that review was so popular, I did one more in that vein.
RCP: It may say even more about the frame of mind a new parent’s in after a few weeks of sleeplessness. Heh.
Not saying you need another writing challenge, but I wonder if anyone’s ever done an anthology of books reviewed from bizarre points of view? Kids’ books from a horror POV, as you’ve already done, but also (say) something by Raymond Chandler reviewed as if by a romance writer, etc.?
hahahaha. That was so much fun–I linked to the Christmas horror on facebook. No telling what my in-laws will think. And maybe I’ll be unfriended by someone else!
Merry Christmas!
recaptcha: icans censures
They sure do.