Review: Andrew J. Stone | All Hail the House Gods

All Hail the House Gods by Andrew J. Stone drops the reader into a dystopian future where even the illusion of autonomy and choice has been eradicated. Kurt, our protagonist, and his wife, Katie live in a city run by the Coupling Caucus, whose mission is to organize society in such a way that will produce daily sacrifices to the hungry House Gods. They are born to mate, and they mate to sacrifice.

Families are non-existent in AHTHG’s reality. Children are taken from their parents and raised at the Offspring Oasis, where they are either culled for the House Gods or paired off based on puberty and virility. They are taught to “pug” at a young age to increase their chances of being coupled before they are chosen for sacrifice to the House Gods.

After one of their own is chosen and fed to the House Gods, Katie decides she must start a collective to resist the Coupling Caucus and wage war on the houses, and Kurt is taken along for the ride. It’s not long before Kurt overhears a theory that goes against all the collective believes in. Are some House Gods good? Is it possible to overthrow the current system without violence?

To know anything about Andrew J. Stone is to know that he holds deeply leftist political views, and it’s clear that those views informed this novella. There’s a metaphorical war going on in its pages between centrist, “Let’s-all-get-along” liberals and leftists, and the fight between the two sides was illuminated well by Stone.

The prose in All Hail the House Gods is easily digestible, well-written, and effective. Written from Kurt’s perspective, the story propels itself nicely, making it a quick and exciting read. Kurt is a perfectly likable protagonist you want to root for. Will he find a peaceful solution to end the loss of life to the House Gods?

January 6th, 2021 was a dark day for those of us in the U.S. Rioters protesting the presidential election of Joe Biden stormed D.C. and breached the capitol building. Since then, we’ve seen Republicans and Democrats alike call for “healing” and a “reconciliation between the sides.” If I can, let me relate this to the theme of the book: there are some who believe that there are good people on both sides and that it’s worth reaching across the aisle and working within the confines of the system in place. Kurt, as a character, falls firmly within this group, while Katie and her comrades know that doing so is useless.

Will it be worth it for Kurt, in the end, to put his trust in the belief that some House Gods are good? Pick up a copy of All Hail the House Gods to find out.

Check out Andrew on Twitter @Andrewosaurus96 and me @EvanStJones.

Review: Joe Koch | The Wingspan of Severed Hands

Shock and awe. Beautiful and grotesque. These are just a few of the words I could use to describe Joe Koch’s The Wingspan of Severed Hands.

The story takes the insidious concept of the yellow sign from Robert W. Chamber’s mythos he created for his short story collection The King in Yellow. The author uses such vivid imagery and lyrical prose to describe the most depraved and macabre scenes. I’m really into Koch’s writing style, and I learned several beautiful new words (fascia, instar, puerile) to add to my vocabulary.

It seems almost unnecessary to summarize the plot here, as the synopsis from the back of the book does that fine justice. What cannot be synopsized is the feeling and atmosphere created by the wordcraft employed here. There’s really not enough I can say about the fucking poetry in Wingspan. Please do yourself a goddamn favor and pick up this book. If you’re a fan of Robert W. Chambers, cosmic horror, body horror not unlike what you might find in the Saw franchise (but even saying that feels like a real disservice to the author—their prose is so much more amazing than any of the writing in any of those movies, but I couldn’t think of anything better to describe some of the more visceral scenes in the book, and goddamn it’s good), and just quality weird fiction, readdddd it. Now. It’s unlike anything else you’ll ever read. Also look at that cover art!