Mr. Southard has this novella dropping in mid-June, but I was lucky enough to score an ARC of it. By "lucky," I mean that I know Kyle Lybeck, who knows Wesley, who sent me the ARC. One of these days, I'll get ARC's just because I'm cool, but in the meantime...I have Kyle. In any case, thanks to both of you for this.
Ok, glad that's out of the way. Onward.
Without spoiling anything, I will tell you that Wesley's novella can be split into two parts: The heavy-metal-band-on-the-road drama part, and then the surrealistic/bizarro fiction part.
Part One: I'm a fan of these types of stories. According to Southard's Amazon bio, he is a graduate of The Atlanta Institute of Music, which explains his obvious knowledge of music and particularly heavy metal (which is also near and dear to my heart). Wesley adeptly plays on some heavy metal stereotypes, but in a knowing and loving way. This is the strength of the book: The interpersonal dynamics between band members and the increasingly strange problems that they face together.
Part Two: I can't explain it. You need to read it and see for yourself. As the weirdness mounts, it seems as though even Wesley may not be controlling it (which IS a pretty neat effect). As much as I do like bizarro, I'd say that the story loses just a bit of momentum here. Perhaps this is my fault though. The combination of my love for heavy metal dramas and the abrupt switch in tone away from that may have led to my bias. Furthermore, the protagonist isn't a 100% empathetic character; but I was ok with that ...It IS a heavy metal band after all.
This one was very hard to grade. I'm giving it a "B," but I will confess that I am not confident in this assessment. For me, it has attributes of both "A" and "C" reads, so I split the difference.
Grade: B
Review by Jason Cavallaro
jcavallaro42@gmail.com
Ok, glad that's out of the way. Onward.
Without spoiling anything, I will tell you that Wesley's novella can be split into two parts: The heavy-metal-band-on-the-road drama part, and then the surrealistic/bizarro fiction part.
Part One: I'm a fan of these types of stories. According to Southard's Amazon bio, he is a graduate of The Atlanta Institute of Music, which explains his obvious knowledge of music and particularly heavy metal (which is also near and dear to my heart). Wesley adeptly plays on some heavy metal stereotypes, but in a knowing and loving way. This is the strength of the book: The interpersonal dynamics between band members and the increasingly strange problems that they face together.
Part Two: I can't explain it. You need to read it and see for yourself. As the weirdness mounts, it seems as though even Wesley may not be controlling it (which IS a pretty neat effect). As much as I do like bizarro, I'd say that the story loses just a bit of momentum here. Perhaps this is my fault though. The combination of my love for heavy metal dramas and the abrupt switch in tone away from that may have led to my bias. Furthermore, the protagonist isn't a 100% empathetic character; but I was ok with that ...It IS a heavy metal band after all.
This one was very hard to grade. I'm giving it a "B," but I will confess that I am not confident in this assessment. For me, it has attributes of both "A" and "C" reads, so I split the difference.
Grade: B
Review by Jason Cavallaro
jcavallaro42@gmail.com
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