top of page

WHAT EDDIE READ (JANUARY 2025)

For anybody curious, here is what I—Eddie Generous, editor & et cetera of Unnerving—read this month (January 2025), should anyone be curious.

 

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

This opens on a country within a country, the interesting, tightly-knit, occasionally wacky world on the Spokane Reservation. The people are poor and wholly relatable, fully rounded where necessary and quirky everywhere else. This book is pure fun. There’s zero chance I won’t read this man’s entire catalog (well, zero chance if I live long enough with my faculties intact).

 

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

I read the first book years ago, so the amount of bringing up to speed done in this one bothered me none, though I did notice it throughout. That said, Lisbeth goes from exceptional to comic booky in this one; accepting that while no adult has ever had photographic memory (look it up; any book where any adult character has it should be seen as fantasy) and that even the most well-timed and well-targeted strikes from an 80-pound woman wouldn’t do the damage of Lisbeth’s strikes is the only way to make this work. The writing is somewhat dense, but doesn’t much feel that way as the eyes breeze over brand names and program types that help set the date (something I prefer to attempts at timelessness). It’s exciting. Engaging. Not at all surprised this series did so well in so many different languages. It’s us against them, and the hero of the commoners is Lady Mighty Mouse.

 

Fresh Girls and Other Stories by Evelyn Lau

I’d guess this book hit every note it aimed for. The subject matter and the characters themselves rarely receive a fair lens, so an authentic, empathetic view of sex workers and their work was wholly welcome. The stories are quick, accessible, clunky with bare voice. An interesting book. I’ll likely check out the author’s other offerings.

 

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

This one was a bit muddy for me, opening with fifty pages of meeting characters and not a lot else going on. By and by the magic filtered into the real world of Kitimat, a place I lived for two years…which might’ve made the magic harder to swallow. The author really captured the flavor of the town, however. Transient workers and their self-medication methods, that roughness was a great background character that added an edge to the kid’s existence as he navigates his life. Think I’ll check out Monkey Beach rather than continuing with the series.

 

What’s My Cat Thinking by Dr. Jo Lewis

My wife’s father bought this coffee table book/textbook for my wife, popping it in a box like a stocking stuffer with a bunch of other unnecessary items. I’d cracked this open, wondering how dumb it would be (I’m a fucking cat whisperer, so, expectations). To my surprise, it wasn’t dumb, not even all that redundant. I learned at least a dozen factoids I’d never have known (most skittish cats inherit that from their father’s genes, apparently). Cool book. Worth a read if happens to appear on a coffee table near you.

 

The Transgressors by Jim Thompson

I ration Jim Thompson books (only like ten left unread); he’s simply the best crime writer I’ve ever read. So, no pressure, Jim (I know he’s dead). This one opens with a reluctant sheriff of an oil boomtown and his not-serious, ex-prostitute girlfriend. No surprises there! This one’s fast, funny, and surprising. There’s a little violence, a little romance, and, in one scene, wonderfully horrific gore (for a crime novel from 1961). Dude is so, so relatable, the hard luck tones, the logic when stuck between those rocks and hard places, dude was the best kind of menace.

 

Short Cuts: Selected Stories by Raymond Carver

I’ve tackled a ton of Carver’s prose catalog, so this collection was like revisiting old friends (aside from the final two stories, which were new to me). Mostly, before bed, in a pot fog, I lay my cloudy head upon a pillow and my back to a yoga mat, listening to a story or two, mind and body utterly relaxed by Norman Dietz’ voice and Carver’s singular view and voice. Carver was amazing. People who disagree are simply wrong and probably strangle puppies when nobody is looking.


Bio: In 1984, Eddie Generous was born into a family born to shit the bed. He has a print-journalism diploma from a community college, which is important if he ever accepts a job offer to rewrite articles vomited out by AI technology. He was the first of his household to go to college—and first offspring of his ilk to avoid institutionalization, thus far.

Currently, Eddie lives on the west coast of Canada with his wife and their three cats. He is the author of close to 40 standalone books, has edited six anthologies, and has put together 19 issues of Unnerving Magazine. More than 100 of his short stories have seen print in anthologies or magazines. He created and operates Unnerving Books, a small press responsible for publishing close to original 100 titles. He enjoys getting stoned and dancing around his living room.

For more about Eddie Generous, visit jiffypopandhorror.com


OUT NOW! From Dark Ink in eBook, paperback, and audiobook:


After the sudden death of their parents, the Gerber siblings take over the family farm, quickly learning that fending for themselves is much harder than they'd assumed. This hardship leaves them open to letting a strange man they'd rescued from winter's clutches stay on for room and board, oblivious to the ferocious evil he's carrying as well as ravenous beasts it will draw to their home.

Following a string of grisly chaos across the country, a private detective finds herself directly on the heels of a pack of spree killers she'd been paid to locate. But things aren't as they seem; she never anticipated that she'd come face-to-face with a bloodthirsty pack of werewolves.

Copyright 2024
Unnerving 
Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
bottom of page