Scan barcode
hakimbriki's review against another edition
4.0
Brian Allen Carr came highly recommended to me from several authors and friends whose literary judgments I trust. They were right on the money!
Vampire Conditions is a very powerful short story collection. The author sets the tone with "The Paint From Her Hands", in which he depicts the state of mind of a man who suffers the loss of his baby. The strange, almost dream-like narrative was so mesmerizing, I never wanted it to end.
"The First Henley" and "Everything Will Fall its Way" are, in my opinion, the other stand-out pieces of the collection. The former is about the life of a popular gunslinger who lives through a terrible ordeal. The latter is, simply put, one of the most poignant pieces of fiction I have ever read.
Brian Allen Carr does a great job of portraying rural life and its sinister nature. He succeeds in making (most) his characters alive and likeable, genuine and undisguised.
Vampire Conditions is a very powerful short story collection. The author sets the tone with "The Paint From Her Hands", in which he depicts the state of mind of a man who suffers the loss of his baby. The strange, almost dream-like narrative was so mesmerizing, I never wanted it to end.
"The First Henley" and "Everything Will Fall its Way" are, in my opinion, the other stand-out pieces of the collection. The former is about the life of a popular gunslinger who lives through a terrible ordeal. The latter is, simply put, one of the most poignant pieces of fiction I have ever read.
Brian Allen Carr does a great job of portraying rural life and its sinister nature. He succeeds in making (most) his characters alive and likeable, genuine and undisguised.
briandice's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this collection of stories in mostly a single sitting is the best worst plan. Akin to meeting the author in a border town bar, accepting his proffered tankard-sized tequila shots and then cajoled into a knife fight with Pancho Villa. Things are going to be very fucking far from OK. And that's OK.
Don't be fooled by the Freytag's Pyramid Carr sports as his author profile photo - he uses that triangle as a sharp instrument to pierce the construct of short fiction and then create something vile and beautiful from those shards. He can write something that will make you laugh out loud, but by the time the noise leaves your throat it might be a sob:
I didn't get mad at my mom when she told me I was adopted on my twelfth birthday. Mainly because she had already told me on my eleventh birthday. And on my tenth birthday. And on my ninth. On my eighth birthday, though, that time was different. That time I cried and cried.
And a warning: this collection comes with a money magnet. Buy it, read it, and it will force you to purchase everything else Brian Allen Carr has written. And that's OK.
amaryllys's review against another edition
2.0
Wild released in Saint-Petersburg.
Find out more at http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/12613072
Find out more at http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/12613072
daneekasghost's review
4.0
Grimy. Before I read ”Everything Will Fall Its Way” this collection didn't stand out, except for the idea of vampire conditions being a place that you never want to see exposed to light.
That story was very good.
That story was very good.
More...