August 2016 ~ Bee's Knees Reviews

About the author: L. Andrew Cooper scribbles horror: novels Burning the Middle Ground and Descending Lines as well as anthologies of experimental shorts Leaping at Thorns (2014 /2016) and Peritoneum (2016). He also co-edited the anthology Imagination Reimagined (2014). His book Dario Argento (2012) examines the maestro’s movies from the 70s to the present. Cooper’s other works on horror include his non-fiction study Gothic Realities (2010), a co-edited textbook, Monsters (2012), and recent essays that discuss 2012’s Cabin in the Woods (2014) and 2010’s A Serbian Film (2015). His B.A. is from Harvard, Ph.D. from Princeton. Louisville locals might recognize him from his year-long stint as WDRB-TV’s “movie guy.” Find him at amazon.com/author/landrewcooper, facebook.com/landrewcooper, and landrewcooper.com.

Author Links:

Website: landrewcooper.com.

Twitter: @Landrew42

Facebook: facebook.com/landrewcooper

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/landrewcooper

Book Synopsis for Leaping at Thorns: Leaping at Thorns arranges eighteen of L. Andrew Cooper’s experimental short horror stories into a triptych of themes–complicity, entrapment, and conspiracy–elements that run throughout the collection. The stories span from the emotionally-centered to the unthinkably horrific; from psychosexual grossness to absurd violence; from dark extremes to brain-and-tongue twister. These standalone stories add important details to the fictional world and grand scheme of Dr. Allen Fincher, who also lurks in the background of Cooper’s novels Burning the Middle Ground and Descending Lines.

Book Synopsis for Peritoneum: Snaking through history–from the early-1900s cannibal axe-murderer of “Blood and Feathers,” to the monster hunting on the 1943 Pacific front in “Year of the Wolf,” through the files of J. Edgar Hoover for an “Interview with ‘Oscar,'” and into “The Broom Closet Where Everything Dies” for a finale in the year 2050–Peritoneum winds up your guts to assault your brain. Hallucinatory experiences redefine nightmare in “Patrick’s Luck” and “The Eternal Recurrence of Suburban Abortion.” Strange visions of colors and insects spill through the basements of hospitals and houses, especially the basement that provides the title for “TR4B,” which causes visitors to suffer from “Door Poison.” Settings, characters, and details recur not only in these tales but throughout Peritoneum, connecting all its stories in oblique but organic ways. Freud, borrowing from Virgil, promised to unlock dreams not by bending higher powers but by moving infernal regions. Welcome to a vivisection. Come dream with the insides.

My Thoughts: I read and will be reviewing Peritoneum. I want to say that I love horror but to be honest good terrifying horror can sometimes be hard to find. But in my opinion if you want good, no dare I saw great, horror, check out Cooper. He truly delivers. He writes the shocking, mind blowing chilling horror that I love and is what I look for in a horror writer/story. Cooper's approach to writing will leave you thinking, asking questions and wanting more. My mind was reeling at just how believable his stories were. I didn't have to sleep with the lights on but boy did I have crazy dreams. And there were some stories I had to take a break after and go watch a Disney movie. HAHA. All in all Cooper is a gem of the horror genre and I will be reading all that I can find by him.

Fave Stories: "Year of the Wolf", "Lizard Chrome", "Jar of Evil", "The Broom Closet Where Everything Dies", “The Long Flight of Charlotte Radcliffe”, “The Road Thief”.

My Rating: 4.8 out of 5, .2 deduction for my sleepless nights. LOL

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Amazon Links for Peritoneum

Print Version

https://www.amazon.com/Peritoneum-L-Andrew-Cooper/dp/1941706746

Kindle Version

https://www.amazon.com/Peritoneum-L-Andrew-Cooper-ebook/dp/B01FKW6AJC

Barnes and Noble Link for Peritoneum

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/peritoneum-l-andrew-cooper/1123778083?ean=9781941706749

Amazon Links for Leaping at Thorns

Print Version

https://www.amazon.com/Leaping-at-Thorns-Andrew-Cooper/dp/1941706738

Kindle Version

https://www.amazon.com/Leaping-at-Thorns-Andrew-Cooper-ebook/dp/B01FL1EQXE