JP Schiller: Lit of Horror, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

  Trail of Lightning (5 Points) What incredible work! The writing, setting, world-building, and characters are all deeply intriguing and I caught myself chasing the story once I had read the first page. I'll try to collect the thoughts a little more throughout, but I'd love to start with the world.  As I've said before, I've always loved the concept of what the world could be after society-shattering events and this book creates a very compelling idea that the majority dies out, and a once minority carries on. I found it very realistic as well that while this book focuses on Native American culture and enhanced spiritual powers that come from the end of the world, it still maintains much of what people are familiar with in terms of where they live and how they operate on a structural level. The language and culture are neatly interwoven into the background of a world that survived massive flooding, and then reintroduced powers and abilities for those who have originated...

  Zone One by Colson Whitehead   (5 Points) I know it's really hard for people to consider extremely grim and grotesque futures like zombies and even plagues, (which really hits too close to home these days) but I also think they bring up the fascinating scenario of pushing humanity to its breaking point. I personally adore the concept of the apocalypse not for the suffering or for the trauma, but the exercise of worst-case scenarios and how our society would cope. I'd never want the world to experience such tragedy, but I believe the disassembly of the modern world is a great exercise for writers to figure out how to put it back together again. I think Whitehead does a really graphic and human reinterpretation of how individuals fall apart and have to continue one without trying to make it feel like a Hollywood film with heroics and saving the world. Our main character, dubbed Mark Spitz for reasons later discovered in the novel, very well knows the world is fucked, and has a...