““Sex lessons,” she repeated. “That’s very librarian like of you.”
“No, no, as a librarian, I just Google things. This was more like consulting a librarian.”” -Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman, p. 94
Interested in a spoiler free summary? Check out my Annotation of this book.
Review
Author: Isaac Fellman
Title: Dead Collections
Category/Type: Adult Fiction
Genre: Romance
Subgenre: LGBTQIAP+
Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Number of Pages: 245 pages of story text; 1 page of acknowledgements
Series (if applicable): This book is not a part of a series
Summary: Discover the strange world of archives and love in Isaac Fellman's Dead Collections.
Sol Katz is an archivist at the California Historical Society and he wasn't expecting love at first sight when he agreed to accept the papers from Elsie deceased wife who was a sci-fi TV writer. It'd be great to go out with Elsie but there are some obstacles in the way. For instance, Sol has vampirism, a condition that requires regular blood transfusions and means he can't go out in the sunlight. And to avoid the sunlight, Sol might be living in his basement office. Also, Elsie may bringing packing a few complications of her own. Then there's that weird issue with accelerated deterioration in the archives, does Sol's vampirism have anything to do with it, or is it ghosts? Together Sol and Elsie must navigate a complicated new love, their old lives in Internet fandom, and rescue archives in danger. Can they do it or will all of life's trials be too much to handle?
Told from the first-person perspective of Sol Katz and alternating between prose, catalog records, texts, and a musical interlude, this unique read breaks the boundaries of Romance fiction. Inside readers will delve into the passions that drive us, gender and sexuality, and all the awkward yet tender moments of a new love. And don't forget about that the secret vampire archivist underground. If you're looking for an excellent and unusual read, this is one for you.
Personal Thoughts
WARNING: May contain spoilers
I really enjoyed Dead Collections. It was unlike anything I had read before, especially in the Romance genre. While there’s an overall melancholy tone, Sol’s wit and sarcasm mean that things never really get too dark. The author’s experiences means that the steamy scenes and characters’ navigation in the world feels like an accurate portrayal of queer life, despite the paranormal elements woven into the story.
I felt like this was as much a love story between Sol and his love of his career as an archivist as it was a love story between Sol and Elsie. I appreciated this as someone that is passionate about their own career path. Also, as someone studying library science, and living in the San Francisco Bay Area, there was a lot of me to identify with which may have contributed to my enjoyment of the book.
Book Design: OK, you’re not going anywhere without listening to me discuss this book design. Gasp!
Not only is the cover art fantastic but the theme of deteriorating archives is visually integrated into the text. There’s been a move in Romance covers lately to be more graphically illustrated and this cover takes the illustration and limited color palette to a new level. It could almost be its own graphic novel.
Inside the book, a distressed typeface is used for chapter titles and the start of new sections. While the story text is comprised of more traditional serifed letters, their tapering mimics the distressed font giving the feeling that maybe this book, too, is undoing itself prematurely. It was a wonderful and unexpected way to connect all the pieces of the book.
Final resting place: This is on my personal library shelves between The Book of Lost Things and Alice Isn’t Dead.
