Lovecraft- Unnamable

I had just read a few Edgar Allen Poe stories before reading Lovecraft, the writing style is very similar so the transition was very easy for me. In fact, what I loved about Lovecraft was how much better I could understand the writing. Which shows a modernization in writing techniques and language, Poe had me regularly googling words I simply couldn’t understand. Reading Kwaidan also prepared me for the atmospheric nature of The Unnamable, so that I could better imagine the setting and also appreciate the speculative journey I was going on as more details were being given to me. That build up led to a great description of a creature that really caught me off guard, I have never read Lovecraft before and since this was written in the 20s I had no idea something like this would be written back then. I’m not sure if this was meant to scare the reader, but maybe back then it did, I got the idea it was trying to scare me with the way it was first about these 2 guys sitting on a tomb, trying to convince each other of their differing beliefs, and out of no where this terrible creature ambushes them. The very fact it was set in a graveyard set up that horror vibe too, and the way Joel kept giving into his fear of the unknown leading him to crack at the end gave me that same feeling as well.

Thessaly

I chose this because I enjoyed Bill Willingham’s work on Fables and thought this would be a fun read. I really enjoyed it, though I saw some familiar patterns in the writing that kind of took me out of the story and made me think, “Oh, he’s doin it again.” The story itself is fine, I got a sort of, “too self aware”/adult version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, what didn’t thrill me was how I kept comparing this with Fables, Thessaly’s world could fit right into their universe and all it would take is a maybe a couple of pages to do that. I definitely had Snow White and Bigby Wolf on my mind whenever I was reading dialogue between Thessaly and Fetch, dynamics and relationships are different surely, but the way Thessaly was turning down Fetch’s advances reminded me of Snow and Bigby before they eventually got together. Willingham’s use of tropes like the reluctant hero and the organization pulling the strings in the background seemed fresh thanks to the strength of his character writing, as well as how he is able to integrate fantasy into the mundane world seamlessly is really effective as well. The build up and resolution to the final conflict was clever as well, the story never felt like it should have this epic battle, it was about the small detail in her quest to find a way to defeat the Tharmic Null, and I was trying to figure it out before it was actually defeated Fetch, who became “Nothing and no one” to save Thessaly. Although I am a bit sad that it seems like she kind of dismissed Fetch’s sacrifice for her, it is very fitting considering her personality.