Inferno

Do you think I'd give up? 
That this might've shook the love from me 
Or that I was on the brink 
How could you think, darlin', I'd scare so easily?

Now that it's done 
There's not one thing that I would change 
My life was a storm since I was born 
How could I fear any hurricane?

If someone asked me at the end

I'd tell them, "Put me back in it" 
Darlin’', I would do it again
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin', I'd go through it again

I would still be surprised I could find you 
Darlin', in any life 
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin', I would do it again

For all that was said 
Of where we'd end up at the end of it 
When the heart would cease, ours never knew peace 
What good would it be on the far side of things?

It was too soon 
When that part of you was ripped away 
A grip taking hold like a cancer that grows 
Each piece of your body that it takes

Though I know my heart would break

I'd tell them, "Put me back in it" 
Darlin’, I would do it again
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin’, I'd go through it again

I would still be surprised I could find you 
Darlin', in any life 
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin’, I would do it again

I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I

—Hozier, “Francesca”, Unreal Unearth

I have several anthologies Sean Thompson's shorter work appears in, though what really prompted me to seek out a longer work by him was hearing about 'Hate From the Sky' on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast, which I still have yet to read. The concept intrigued me enough that I wanted to dip into something longer of his. Especially as while I generally find Bizarro overall a bit hit or miss (more often miss than hit), in particular bizarro themed collections, I had enjoyed his shorter form work in more 'weird' and straightforward horror collections.return'D3mon' is interesting, in that it stylistically reads almost like two different books. The first half reads like a more traditional horror novel, with same sorts of suspense, tension building, and shocks one might expect in that genre, albeit through the lens of technology being the delivery method for the supernatural/demonic/occult horror. It takes place over the course of approximately 10 months, and the storytelling (from some highly unreliable narrators) involves us hearing about or seeing made blog/vlog entries, but not presented as documents. It begins to evolve into an almost-zombie/almost-satanic cult story, and by the second half really starts to go off the rails (not in a bad way) into the bizarro realm. I noticed some other reviews stating that the story started off 'slow' but eventually took off, and I think this stylistic/genre shift is what they're referring too, though I'd argue that first part is not slow, but rather the natural tension building that long form work requires to be more than a string of vaguely connected scenes.returnI'm interested to see if in further longer form works this obvious tension between two styles will be synthesized into something more cohesive and unique, with a less distinguishable switch between the two. I think that's the sort of thing that's going to be required for bizarro to reach wider audiences and gain recognition in more 'respectable' literary (even horror) circles, rather than just leaning into absurdity and shock value. I can easily see authors like Sean Thompson and J.R. Hammentaschen (for different reasons entirely) spearheading this kind of shift while retaining some of the fun and outlandish elements of bizarro.

Part of me is still struggling with it, but I can grasp the magnitude of it still. I just wish I was up on my Italian history with all the name-dropping in this poem. But I give it the rating primarily because of the translation. Robert Pinsky did a fantastic job. I remember I bought this book specifically because on the left side of the spread, the original italian text was there, and on the right, it was put into english. I wanted to learn italian at the time, and this was a possible tool.

Now I'd had to read some of this poem before, but the translation didn't feel nearly as accessible. This one's great, and if you want to tackle The Inferno, then this is the version I'd recommend. It's also got tons of endnotes so as to clarify some of the references and names in the telling.

If you've never cracked open a book or tried to understand western literature, then I wouldn't bother reading it--seriously, so much name-and-event dropping that it's crazy. And if you've read the Aeneid, you'll have a leg-up because of the references to Vergil (who is Dante's guide through hell).