08/31/2020
Gay photographer Ronan Szepessy, the flawed, refreshingly frank narrator of much of this gripping mashup of psychological suspense and horror from SF author Miller (Blackfish City ), left Hudson, N.Y., long ago for Manhattan. When he finally returns to visit his ailing father, he discovers that his once sleepy hometown is now thriving and that prosperity threatens to force out many of its longtime residents. Ronan reconnects with two old friends, his first love, Dom, a police detective, and Dom’s wife, Attalah, and soon Ronan and Attalah join forces to expose the corporate interests backing the gentrification. What starts as harmless pranks on their part wakes the spirits of the town and forces Ronan to come to terms with his love for a place he thought he’d left behind. Ronan’s relationship with the couple at the center of the story—Dom, with whom he’s sleeping, and Attalah, with whom he’s conniving—provides murky, uncomfortable tension. The author takes his time in introducing the supernatural, but once he does, the novel lifts off toward an exciting conclusion. Insightful social commentary is a bonus. Thriller fans will welcome Miller as a fresh new voice. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company. (Dec.)
"The Blade Between is more than a dystopian sci-fi thriller with a dash of poetry; it's an explosive narrative about a small town caught between the decaying ghosts of the past, the shattered dreams and mediocre lives of its residents, and the monster of gentrification that threatens to erase it all under shiny new buildings and fancy coffee shops. That Miller manages to discuss all three while also exploring the interstitial spaces between homosexuality, technology, and class privilege and resentment is a testament to his storytelling skills, and a powerful reason to read this haunting tale." — NPR.org
“A successful 'influencer' photographer returns to the gentrifying hometown that nearly broke him, and all hell breaks loose. The Blade Between is as addictive and brutal as it is smart and challenging. Miller unflinchingly confronts the sins of our past and present. The horrors here are rooted in there being no easy answers despite our individual and collective souls being ultimately at stake. Plus whales!” — Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Survivor Song
"Like Clive Barker, Miller has a great talent for creating interesting characters and building up quiet dread.... Timely and interesting." — San Francisco Chronicle
“One of the best books I’ve read in 2020. Miller’s prose is phenomenal…. Miller has crafted a mature, thoughtful, and challenging novel that tackles the problem of being ethical in the world…. While The Blade Between is full of hurt people who are struggling, it’s far from grim. The observational clarity Miller brings to the page is unflinching but, somehow, kind. He gives all these characters grace without erasing their flaws….. A discomfiting but vital story that throbs off of the page.” — Tor.com
"The book is full of moments of slowly rising dread that end in shocking revelations, all of them building to a nightmarish town festival where the growing horror finally reveals its true face and intent." — Nightmare Magazine
“[In] The Blade Between , the whole town of Hudson becomes a central character…. [A] sharp-edged novel… Stunning.” — Locus
“The best horror is always timely…. Enter Sam J. Miller’s THE BLADE BETWEEN, a supernatural thriller that hinges on an eviction crisis. Miller’s novel, which also touches on homophobia, income inequality, and America’s refusal to come to terms with its history, feels like the most 2020 novel imaginable.” — The Big Thrill
"Miller expertly addresses the dark sides of gentrification.... All the characters in The Blade Between are three-dimensional (even the 'villain')." — Alma
"Sam J. Miller’s The Blade Between stands out for its heroes’ plan to raise sinister supernatural forces in defense of their city." — CrimeReads
“Miller's sprawling novel encapsulates the complex web of feelings brought on by witnessing the destruction of a town that made adolescence hell for a gay or trans teen…. Raw and volatile…. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a queer-themed, sea salt–laced dark fantasy.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Supernatural and uncomfortably human forces threaten to rip a failing town apart…. An unsettling and visceral journey: powerful, twisted, and grim but ultimately uplifting.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] gripping mashup of psychological suspense and horror….The novel lifts off toward an exciting conclusion. Insightful social commentary is a bonus. Thriller fans will welcome Miller as a fresh new voice.” — Publishers Weekly
“Miller (Destroy All Monsters ) takes on cosmic horror with chillingly realistic results…. Filled with intense dread and unease…. This is a great example of how a century-old subgenre can still speak directly to today’s readers.” — Library Journal
A successful 'influencer' photographer returns to the gentrifying hometown that nearly broke him, and all hell breaks loose. The Blade Between is as addictive and brutal as it is smart and challenging. Miller unflinchingly confronts the sins of our past and present. The horrors here are rooted in there being no easy answers despite our individual and collective souls being ultimately at stake. Plus whales!
"Sam J. Miller’s The Blade Between stands out for its heroes’ plan to raise sinister supernatural forces in defense of their city."
"Miller expertly addresses the dark sides of gentrification.... All the characters in The Blade Between are three-dimensional (even the 'villain')."
One of the best books I’ve read in 2020. Miller’s prose is phenomenal…. Miller has crafted a mature, thoughtful, and challenging novel that tackles the problem of being ethical in the world…. While The Blade Between is full of hurt people who are struggling, it’s far from grim. The observational clarity Miller brings to the page is unflinching but, somehow, kind. He gives all these characters grace without erasing their flaws….. A discomfiting but vital story that throbs off of the page.
The best horror is always timely…. Enter Sam J. Miller’s THE BLADE BETWEEN, a supernatural thriller that hinges on an eviction crisis. Miller’s novel, which also touches on homophobia, income inequality, and America’s refusal to come to terms with its history, feels like the most 2020 novel imaginable.
"The Blade Between is more than a dystopian sci-fi thriller with a dash of poetry; it's an explosive narrative about a small town caught between the decaying ghosts of the past, the shattered dreams and mediocre lives of its residents, and the monster of gentrification that threatens to erase it all under shiny new buildings and fancy coffee shops. That Miller manages to discuss all three while also exploring the interstitial spaces between homosexuality, technology, and class privilege and resentment is a testament to his storytelling skills, and a powerful reason to read this haunting tale."
[In] The Blade Between , the whole town of Hudson becomes a central character…. [A] sharp-edged novel… Stunning.
10/01/2020
Miller (Destroy All Monsters ) takes on cosmic horror with chillingly realistic results. Ronan, a famous New York City photographer, comes home to the upstate New York town of Hudson to care for his dying father. Returning to the site of his childhood trauma, a place where being openly gay was dangerous, Ronan reconnects with his first crush, Dom, now a police officer, and hiswife Attalah, a community organizer, to help them save the town from gentrification. But Hudson is more than just a typical down-on-its-luck small town. Its rich history has a power that goes deep into the soil and transcends time and space, one that does not see humans as an obstacle but will protect itself at all costs. VERDICT Filled with intense dread and unease; well-drawn if flawed characters; social commentary; and a satisfying resolution, this is a great example of how a century-old subgenre can still speak directly to today's readers. Direct those who want more to John Langan's The Fisherman , Caitlín R. Kiernan's Agents of Dreamland , or T. Kingfisher's The Twisted Ones .
★ 2020-11-18 Supernatural and uncomfortably human forces threaten to rip a failing town apart.
In the 19th century, Hudson, New York, was a bustling port and whaling town. The blood of the slaughtered whales soaked into the earth, and their powerful spiritual presence permeated the area. Twenty-first century Hudson is poised between decay and a gentrified rebirth thanks to newly arrived billionaire Jark Trowse and a coterie of investors turning local mom-and-pop shops and familiar but dingy diners into upscale antique stores and boutique eateries. The town is divided between those who welcome the new people and their money and those who are losing everything they love to the invasion. As Jark embarks on what will likely be a victorious mayoral campaign, whale and human ghosts lure Ronan Szepessy, a successful New York City photographer and recovering drug addict, back to the hometown that brutally rejected him for being gay and showed little sympathy when his mother committed suicide. Ronan is disgusted by the changes he sees in Hudson and despairs at the state of his father, a butcher whose shop failed and who is now declining into dementia. He embarks on a volatile plan with Attalah, a high school friend, to confound the gentrifiers even while he carries on a secret affair with her husband, Dom, a cop who is never quite accepted by the rest of the force because he’s Black. The town ghosts have granted Ronan powers that lend his efforts a supernatural heft, but Ronan’s complex feelings about his past and the people of Hudson also rouse darker forces that tip the town toward violence and chaos. It’s amazing how several of the same motifs that appeared in Miller’s cli-fi novel Blackfish City (2018)—whales, the abyss between the rich and poor, the struggle for housing, and a mysterious broadcast which brings hope—appear in this novel but in entirely fresh and equally effective shapes. The story is also strongly informed by Miller’s own history as a gay man brought up in Hudson, the son of a butcher who lost his shop to a big-box store.
An unsettling and visceral journey: powerful, twisted, and grim but ultimately uplifting.
[In] The Blade Between , the whole town of Hudson becomes a central character…. [A] sharp-edged novel… Stunning.
"The book is full of moments of slowly rising dread that end in shocking revelations, all of them building to a nightmarish town festival where the growing horror finally reveals its true face and intent."
Miller's sprawling novel encapsulates the complex web of feelings brought on by witnessing the destruction of a town that made adolescence hell for a gay or trans teen…. Raw and volatile…. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a queer-themed, sea salt–laced dark fantasy.
Booklist (starred review)
"Like Clive Barker, Miller has a great talent for creating interesting characters and building up quiet dread.... Timely and interesting."
"Like Clive Barker, Miller has a great talent for creating interesting characters and building up quiet dread.... Timely and interesting."
Graham Halstead and David Sadzin share narrating duties in this ghost story set in Hudson, New York—a town that is fighting against gentrification. Each narrator does such distinctive work that the unorthodox storytelling style is especially effective in the audio format. Halstead narrates in the first person as Ronan, wayward son of Hudson who is returning home to visit his father, who is ill. Halstead changes his tone and cadence as Ronan gains confidence. Sadzin, who narrates the part of the story told in the third person, even delivers some voices from beyond the grave. He excels at keeping the characters’ voices straight, which, in turn, keeps one listening long into the night. A.R.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
DECEMBER 2020 - AudioFile
Graham Halstead and David Sadzin share narrating duties in this ghost story set in Hudson, New York—a town that is fighting against gentrification. Each narrator does such distinctive work that the unorthodox storytelling style is especially effective in the audio format. Halstead narrates in the first person as Ronan, wayward son of Hudson who is returning home to visit his father, who is ill. Halstead changes his tone and cadence as Ronan gains confidence. Sadzin, who narrates the part of the story told in the third person, even delivers some voices from beyond the grave. He excels at keeping the characters’ voices straight, which, in turn, keeps one listening long into the night. A.R.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
DECEMBER 2020 - AudioFile