Sep 22 - Sep 25, 2011
Inside the Outside
Martin Lastrapes
Horror
Published July 9, 2011
292 pages
10/10
Somewhere outside Vegas, a happy little commune practices regular full-body shaving, the sharing of sex partners and child-rearing, and ritual sacrifice to provide for cannibalism. All this is overseen by their glorious virile leader, who is leading them to salvation. And possibly the human version of Mad Cow Disease. Seems like my kind of party.
Cara and I found this story in our inbox; the author wondered if we'd perhaps read and review it. Sure, I thought. As soon as I get an E-Reader. And wade through the other requests. And maybe check out some of my other books. I'd get to it. Eventually.
Then Cara mentioned the cannibals. And I got a kobo. And of course I had to learn how to load the thing, and Inside the Outside wound up being the first thing that came up when I turned on my kobo. And I did recall the cannibals, so even though I had reservations about reading something free (People don't give away awesome stuff! If it's free, there must be something wrong with it!) I gave it a go... and I'm so freakin' glad I did!
I picked this story up, and I literally could not put it down. I was reading it at work. I was reading it at a party last night. I fell asleep in bed with it in my hands at 2AM two nights in a row. I was totally hooked, and reading at every possible second. Honestly, I wish all my reading experiences were like this; I'd burn through WAY more books.
First off, the subject matter is right up my alley. Cannibal cults? Human sacrifice? Uninhibited sex? Prostitution and pornography?! Can I get a double helping splashed with gore gravy and incest sprinkles?! I can?! Because that's my favorite! This book literally included all the elements of the "gross" and "weird" and "inappropriate for a birthday party" books that I LOVE to read (occasionally out loud).
I found myself excited by all of the characters - the charismatic cult leader who loves to fuck, kill, and eat people; the sweet, gentle homosexual pornographer and his stripper-cum-internet-sensation companion; the crooked cop with an all-too-human secret; even the minor characters added interesting little detours. When an underage girl slits her own throat because her lover's been publicly decapitated, you know you've got an exciting story. And our female protagonist is one cool cat indeed. Timber was raised a corpse mutilating cannibal, and I love that she never really grows out of that. She doesn't generally feel shame or remorse for who she was, and who she has become. She simply is who she is. She eats people. Tough titties.
Maybe I like this, and Timber, so much because I find cannibalism and it's social taboos fascinating. I personally can see no issue with eating human flesh, since as a society, we eat animal flesh all the time, and humans are just another fleshy animal. And while I myself have no interest in sampling the delicacies of "long pig" ("I am a vegetarian you know..." she said, snobbishly) I certainly don't judge others who do. As long as it's consensual, obviously.
Inside the Outside
Martin Lastrapes
Horror
Published July 9, 2011
292 pages
10/10
Somewhere outside Vegas, a happy little commune practices regular full-body shaving, the sharing of sex partners and child-rearing, and ritual sacrifice to provide for cannibalism. All this is overseen by their glorious virile leader, who is leading them to salvation. And possibly the human version of Mad Cow Disease. Seems like my kind of party.
Cara and I found this story in our inbox; the author wondered if we'd perhaps read and review it. Sure, I thought. As soon as I get an E-Reader. And wade through the other requests. And maybe check out some of my other books. I'd get to it. Eventually.
Then Cara mentioned the cannibals. And I got a kobo. And of course I had to learn how to load the thing, and Inside the Outside wound up being the first thing that came up when I turned on my kobo. And I did recall the cannibals, so even though I had reservations about reading something free (People don't give away awesome stuff! If it's free, there must be something wrong with it!) I gave it a go... and I'm so freakin' glad I did!
I picked this story up, and I literally could not put it down. I was reading it at work. I was reading it at a party last night. I fell asleep in bed with it in my hands at 2AM two nights in a row. I was totally hooked, and reading at every possible second. Honestly, I wish all my reading experiences were like this; I'd burn through WAY more books.
First off, the subject matter is right up my alley. Cannibal cults? Human sacrifice? Uninhibited sex? Prostitution and pornography?! Can I get a double helping splashed with gore gravy and incest sprinkles?! I can?! Because that's my favorite! This book literally included all the elements of the "gross" and "weird" and "inappropriate for a birthday party" books that I LOVE to read (occasionally out loud).
I found myself excited by all of the characters - the charismatic cult leader who loves to fuck, kill, and eat people; the sweet, gentle homosexual pornographer and his stripper-cum-internet-sensation companion; the crooked cop with an all-too-human secret; even the minor characters added interesting little detours. When an underage girl slits her own throat because her lover's been publicly decapitated, you know you've got an exciting story. And our female protagonist is one cool cat indeed. Timber was raised a corpse mutilating cannibal, and I love that she never really grows out of that. She doesn't generally feel shame or remorse for who she was, and who she has become. She simply is who she is. She eats people. Tough titties.
Maybe I like this, and Timber, so much because I find cannibalism and it's social taboos fascinating. I personally can see no issue with eating human flesh, since as a society, we eat animal flesh all the time, and humans are just another fleshy animal. And while I myself have no interest in sampling the delicacies of "long pig" ("I am a vegetarian you know..." she said, snobbishly) I certainly don't judge others who do. As long as it's consensual, obviously.
As a side note, if, like myself, you have an interest in stuff like this, check out this sweet ass documentary I watched on Netflix- "Keep The River On Your Right" chronicles Tobias Schneebaum's trek through the wilds of Peru, where he engages in many grand adventures, including eating human flesh, participating in tribal attacks, and taking a life companion, who also happens to be another man. Schneebaum comes across as an incredibly sweet and intelligent man, who partook in some motherfucking AMAZING adventures, the likes of which we could only dream about. He ate human flesh, and he's cool (and hard) as fuck. Seriously. Watch this.
Plus, Woodhouse from Archer eats long pig, and he is also cool (and hard) as fuck. This whole review is almost a peer pressure ad for cannibalism. I wouldn't recommend it though: I'm pretty sure it's illegal in a lot of places.
My point is, Timber accepts herself for who she is, and our author is willing to let this book stand on its awesomeness, instead of trying to turn it into some namby-pamby "overcoming the horrible nature of her upbringing to discover the error of her ways, repent, and persevere to find the inner goodness that we all have inside of us" Oprah-esque bullshit. The story is good; it doesn't require that kind of schmaltz to make it digestible for the masses.
That doesn't mean that it's not an easy read, though. I flew through the damn thing. There was tons of action to keep me interested; enough contemplations and musings for me to get to know, and therefore care about the characters, but not so much that I got bored; and everyone just kind of dealt with their shit up front and moved on, like how normal human beings should.
As this book was set up in two parts, I worried that it would all go downhill once I finished the first part, which was so badass and all encompassing that it could have easily been a stand alone novella. Really, I didn't know how the author could live up to the standard I set for him. When I started Part Two, I thought, "Oh boy, here it comes, a bunch of real world assimilation bullshit and the inevitable change of heart and the real world mediocre dullness." Luckily, I was totally wrong, and my fears were completely unfounded, because there was still plenty of murder, sex (Even the gay kind! Excellent!) and corruption. What a relief!
If I had to express any complaint with this book whatsoever, I would have to say I'm not so shit hot for the cover. It made me think this was a sci-fi book, for whatever reason. I kind of thought it was a robot or something. Now that I've read the book, I totally get it. Except for why she's holding a feather duster. That I still don't get. But if that's the only fault I can find with a book, I'm counting myself fortunate.
I was sent this book, to review, for free, and it was FUCKING EXCELLENT. It gives me hope and encouragement that free stuff can be awesome, to try out those neat free downloads from unknowns that I keep coming across, and that maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually find a use for those painting I snagged off the curb two months ago.
My point is, Timber accepts herself for who she is, and our author is willing to let this book stand on its awesomeness, instead of trying to turn it into some namby-pamby "overcoming the horrible nature of her upbringing to discover the error of her ways, repent, and persevere to find the inner goodness that we all have inside of us" Oprah-esque bullshit. The story is good; it doesn't require that kind of schmaltz to make it digestible for the masses.
That doesn't mean that it's not an easy read, though. I flew through the damn thing. There was tons of action to keep me interested; enough contemplations and musings for me to get to know, and therefore care about the characters, but not so much that I got bored; and everyone just kind of dealt with their shit up front and moved on, like how normal human beings should.
As this book was set up in two parts, I worried that it would all go downhill once I finished the first part, which was so badass and all encompassing that it could have easily been a stand alone novella. Really, I didn't know how the author could live up to the standard I set for him. When I started Part Two, I thought, "Oh boy, here it comes, a bunch of real world assimilation bullshit and the inevitable change of heart and the real world mediocre dullness." Luckily, I was totally wrong, and my fears were completely unfounded, because there was still plenty of murder, sex (Even the gay kind! Excellent!) and corruption. What a relief!
If I had to express any complaint with this book whatsoever, I would have to say I'm not so shit hot for the cover. It made me think this was a sci-fi book, for whatever reason. I kind of thought it was a robot or something. Now that I've read the book, I totally get it. Except for why she's holding a feather duster. That I still don't get. But if that's the only fault I can find with a book, I'm counting myself fortunate.
I was sent this book, to review, for free, and it was FUCKING EXCELLENT. It gives me hope and encouragement that free stuff can be awesome, to try out those neat free downloads from unknowns that I keep coming across, and that maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually find a use for those painting I snagged off the curb two months ago.
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