On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City, which will be posted every Wednesday. It allows us to share the books we haven't bought yet but are waiting to be bought and devoured. If you are anything like me then your wishlist is getting longer by the day! If you would like to take part and have your own 'On My Wishlist' post then you can find more info here.

I only have one book for this week but I just can't wait to get it especially that I don't have to wait all that long for it.

A Dark Matter by Peter Straub.

Some of you may know this author from collaboration with Stephen King. Mr. Straub and Mr. King wrote The Talisman and its sequel Black House. At least that's how I first got a taste of Straub's writing. However, I didn't get to really appreciate his skills until I read a couple of books he wrote on his own. I am now happy to see that Mr. Straub is giving us another mix of horror & thriller. Below are the details.

A Dark Matter will be released on February 9, 2010.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. In this tour de force from bestseller Straub (In the Night Room), four high school friends in 1966 Madison, Wis.—Hootie Bly, Dilly Olson, Jason Boatman, and Lee Truax—fall under the spell of charismatic wandering guru Spencer Mallon. During an occult ceremony in which Mallon attempts to break through to a higher reality, something goes horribly awry leaving one participant dead. Decades later, Lee's writer husband interviews the quartet to find out what happened. In Roshomon-like fashion, each relates a slightly different account of the trauma they experienced. Straub masterfully shows how the disappointments, downturns, and failed promise of the four friends' lives may have stemmed from this youthful experience, and suggests, by extension, that the malignant evil they helped unleash into the world has tainted all hope ever since. Brilliant in its orchestration and provocative in its speculations, this novel ranks as one of the finest tales of modern horror.

And here's some praise from other, well-known writers:

“Peter Straub's new novel is a terrifying story of innocents-high school students in the turbulent sixties-who stumble into horrors far beyond their understanding. A Dark Matter is populated with vivid, sympathetic characters, and driven by terrors both human and supernatural. It’s the kind of book that’s impossible to put down once it has been picked up. It kept me reading far into the night. Straub builds otherworldly terror without ever losing touch with his attractive cast of youngsters, who age beautifully. Put this one high on your list.”

-Stephen King


"Part Rashomon, part The Turn of the Screw. Peter Straub may well be the most important voice in suspense fiction today."

-- Lincoln Child



"American master Peter Straub takes the sweep of our freaky history over the past forty years, subjects it to all the elegant gifts of madness and arts of haunting of which he is the wicked king, and finds himself in possession of a masterpiece."

-- Michael Chabon, author of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Manhood for Amateurs


“I’ve been reading Peter Straub since I was a teenager, and his work is hardwired into my brain. A Dark Matter contains echoes of all that has been great about Straub’s previous work and builds upon it. This Rashomon-like tale is as spooky and frightening as anything he has written, but it’s also an intense and moving celebration of love. Out of the darkness comes, ultimately, a surprising and haunting sense of joy.”

-Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply


"Increasingly, Peter Straub brilliantly defies and blurs literary genres. A DARK MATTER is a page-turning thriller of every sort: psychological, sociological, epistemological. Plus, it's really scary."

--Lorrie Moore, author of A Gate At the Stairs


Also, I wanted to show you this awesome trailer from Unbridled Books for Spring/Summer upcoming titles. I wasn't especially waiting to get any of the books from this publisher, but I think that they did a great job with the trailer and that alone may make me go to the store and get soem of the books. Enjoy!

UBB Seasonal Starter Pack: Spring 2010 from Unbridled Books on Vimeo.