The file cabinet and computer desk came yesterday. I spent most the evening setting up the hanging folders and labeling. It’s great no longer having all those piles of paper on the floor! Didn’t get to the desk yet though.

I finished reading nihilistic_kid’s book Move Under Ground a few days ago and, as promised, I’ve written a review. It will be included in the August issue of The Dream People but I’m also going to post it here:

Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas
Have you ever thought to yourself, “In a cosmic battle for the future of the world who would win; Jack Kerouac or Chthulu?” OK, you’re right, it never even occurred to me either before I heard about Move Under Ground. Which is why it’s just about the most preposterously cool premise I’ve heard for a book in a long time. So of course I had to read it.

Move Under Ground has more going for it than just a good gimmick. Mamatas smoothly overlays the dark, secretive world of H.P. Lovecraft’s with the hallucinatory stream-of-conscious commentary of Kerouac at his best to produce one hell of a road trip. The Chthulu world seen through a wasted beat’s eyes allows for lavishly horrifying visions. With William Burroughs as Kerouac’s sidekick on the ride there are darkly hilarious moments as well.

What really makes this book a treasure is the prose. Move Under Ground is a mine of electric phrases and neon imagery bursting from blackness. But don’t try to read this book in the midst of distractions. It requires concentration and imagination to picture everything Mamatas describes.