Update: Halloween Book Bingo
I took part in a pretty awesome book bingo during September and October, and while not every book I read fit the board, with some creativity I knocked out every square.
Read by Candlelight or flashlight: Insatiable / Meg Cabot
Phone is close enough, right? Also eff this book.
Magical Realism: Summerlong / Peter S. Beagle
Beautifully written, but didn't sweep me along like most of his fiction does.
Witches: Witches Abroad / Terry Pratchett
Pratchett had a gift for turning his anger into hilarious satire.
Genre: Horror: The Atrocity Archive / Charles Stross
Been a while since I've read this, and the earlier books definitely hold a higher level of horror than the more recent ones, even if they're not necessarily traditional horror reads. Probably for me the most horrific of the series is The Apocalypse Codex. I'll be getting to the rest of the series over the next few months in a re-read.
Black Cat: Gone with the Witch / Annette Blair
Marshmallowy and utterly predictable romance, with a stunning array of ridiculous and creative sexual metaphors.
Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun!: Women Destroy Science Fiction / Lightspeed Magazine
Truly excellent collection of stories, and it fits both diverse authors and spooky. N.K. Jemisin's story in particular hits some particular notes of body horror in my mind. Not every story was a win for me, but fantastic work overall.
Ghost Stories and Haunted Houses: The Crow: Volume One: Pain & Fear / James O'Barr
I re-read this series probably close to once a year. In its own way it's beautiful. Also a potential fill for Dark & stormy night.
Young Adult Horror: City of Bones / Cassandra Clare
This book is Young Adult and reading it was a horrifying experience. I understand Cassie is actually a really sweet woman. But dear lord, this book. It's like "you know what isn't angsty enough? Twilight! Also, a single love triangle isn't enough. Let's add another handful and some possible incest in to boot!" If people object to this choice I'm reading probably two actually YA Horror novels in a week or two.
Scary Women (Authors): The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire / Molly Harper
You know what's scary about this book? Gigi getting "nice guy'ed." It's fucked up and way too relate-able (even if it's an extreme situation). Her vampire family is rather over the top protective of her... but then they're all nearly indestructible immortals and she's an attractive snack working in a vampire office building. So there's that. Significant time gap between this and the previous book in the series (and even more since this and the book before where we actually meet Gigi), and references events in a short story that I've never read.
Read with (BookLikes) Friends: The Yellow Wallpaper / Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Short story, glad I finally read it, glad I shared the read. In a few thousand words we have everything you ever need to know to understand gaslighting and the feminine mystique.
Grave or Graveyard: The Crow: Volume Three: Death / James O'Barr
Volume Three we see Eric in the graveyard, finally going to join Shelley in death.
Genre: Mystery: Shadowed Souls / Jim Butcher & Kerrie L. Hughes (eds)
Short story collection, by and large Urban Fantasy short mystery stories. Overall quite excellent.
Free Space: The Gunslinger / Stephen King
I'm not really sure what all the excitement is about this series, but I'll see if it gets better as it goes on. I am however excited about the TV show, everything I've seen related to that looks awesome.
Gothic: The Crow: Volume Two: Irony & Despair / James O'Barr
Ok, I DID have this as my Free Space, because the crow/raven. But from what little I understand of Gothic as a genre, The Crow should fit.
Creepy Crawlies: Call of C'thulhu Keeper's Guide, 7e / Chaosium Games
So happy to finally have this in hand, I've been running A Time to Harvest as part of Chaosium's organized play program for a few months with just the quick-start rules. High quality and production value, gorgeous art and layout, very good clarity in conveying rules and good support for flexibility in rules to Keeper taste.
"Fall" into a good book: A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) / Seanan McGuire
I could not resist the pun of slotting this book here. I'm happy to finally be getting to this series (I've read the first and most recent books), and I can't deny the amount I've been pulling on McGuire's work as inspiration in the various LARP projects I'm involved in. Great read, starting #3 soon.
Locked Room Mystery: Anna Dressed in Blood / Kendare Blake
I figure a story revolving around a ghost bound within a house fulfills 'locked room.' Not bad, but it reminded me of if Jace from City of Bones was narrating a story.
It was a dark and stormy night: An Artificial Night / Seanan McGuire
As usual, I'm a huge fan of Seanan McGuire, but this one really hit me in the feels.
Set in New England: Find Me / Laura van den Berg
Or at least partly in Cambridge, partially in various other locations too.
Full Moon: The Brotherhood of the Wheel / R.S. Belcher
"Full Moon" for the cover art, but there's really no concern with the actual phase of the moon in the story. Dark fantasy that might slip into horror, a whole lot of world building delivered in a tight package, and heavy action. I definitely dug the road aspect, and the cadence sucked me in right off the bat. The combat is a bit unrealistic at points, but there's also a supernatural element for quite a bit of it. This would make for a fantastic action film, and it's wrapped up in a way that leaves room for a sequel.
Vampires vs. Werewolves: Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires / Molly Harper
Has werewolves and vampires, but they affectionately snark each other rather than than have some sort of long standing feud.
Supernatural: A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses / Molly Harper
Not Harper's best, but snarky, cute fun.
Classic horror: Interview with the Vampire / Anne Rice
A book worth looking at in context of when it came out. I personally find the heavy use of sensual and even erotically charged language for a book where there is explicitly no sex going on a bit odd. It definitely however remains true to historical use of vampires to wrap erotica as horror. The downside of the eroticism is you get some... easily distorted scenes, such as Louie talking about his 'passion' for Claudia as a young human girl. I need to rewatch the movie, it's been a good 15+ years, but I feel like the movie was by and large well cast and executed as an interpretation of this story.
Pumpkin: The Single Undead Mom's Club / Molly Harper
A big school pumpkin/Halloween festival is a large part of the story, so I shuffled this one in. Probably my favorite of the non-Nice Girl Halfmoon Hollow books.
Set on Halloween:
The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine / Kate Angell, Jennifer Dawson, Sharla Lovelace
Sweet and enjoyable contemporary romance. Three authors writing stories that revolve around a single location. Originally for "Pumpkin" but shuffled to fit a different book in later.
Read by Candlelight or flashlight: Insatiable / Meg Cabot
Phone is close enough, right? Also eff this book.
Magical Realism: Summerlong / Peter S. Beagle
Beautifully written, but didn't sweep me along like most of his fiction does.
Witches: Witches Abroad / Terry Pratchett
Pratchett had a gift for turning his anger into hilarious satire.
Genre: Horror: The Atrocity Archive / Charles Stross
Been a while since I've read this, and the earlier books definitely hold a higher level of horror than the more recent ones, even if they're not necessarily traditional horror reads. Probably for me the most horrific of the series is The Apocalypse Codex. I'll be getting to the rest of the series over the next few months in a re-read.
Black Cat: Gone with the Witch / Annette Blair
Marshmallowy and utterly predictable romance, with a stunning array of ridiculous and creative sexual metaphors.
Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun!: Women Destroy Science Fiction / Lightspeed Magazine
Truly excellent collection of stories, and it fits both diverse authors and spooky. N.K. Jemisin's story in particular hits some particular notes of body horror in my mind. Not every story was a win for me, but fantastic work overall.
Ghost Stories and Haunted Houses: The Crow: Volume One: Pain & Fear / James O'Barr
I re-read this series probably close to once a year. In its own way it's beautiful. Also a potential fill for Dark & stormy night.
Young Adult Horror: City of Bones / Cassandra Clare
This book is Young Adult and reading it was a horrifying experience. I understand Cassie is actually a really sweet woman. But dear lord, this book. It's like "you know what isn't angsty enough? Twilight! Also, a single love triangle isn't enough. Let's add another handful and some possible incest in to boot!" If people object to this choice I'm reading probably two actually YA Horror novels in a week or two.
Scary Women (Authors): The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire / Molly Harper
You know what's scary about this book? Gigi getting "nice guy'ed." It's fucked up and way too relate-able (even if it's an extreme situation). Her vampire family is rather over the top protective of her... but then they're all nearly indestructible immortals and she's an attractive snack working in a vampire office building. So there's that. Significant time gap between this and the previous book in the series (and even more since this and the book before where we actually meet Gigi), and references events in a short story that I've never read.
Read with (BookLikes) Friends: The Yellow Wallpaper / Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Short story, glad I finally read it, glad I shared the read. In a few thousand words we have everything you ever need to know to understand gaslighting and the feminine mystique.
Grave or Graveyard: The Crow: Volume Three: Death / James O'Barr
Volume Three we see Eric in the graveyard, finally going to join Shelley in death.
Genre: Mystery: Shadowed Souls / Jim Butcher & Kerrie L. Hughes (eds)
Short story collection, by and large Urban Fantasy short mystery stories. Overall quite excellent.
Free Space: The Gunslinger / Stephen King
I'm not really sure what all the excitement is about this series, but I'll see if it gets better as it goes on. I am however excited about the TV show, everything I've seen related to that looks awesome.
Gothic: The Crow: Volume Two: Irony & Despair / James O'Barr
Ok, I DID have this as my Free Space, because the crow/raven. But from what little I understand of Gothic as a genre, The Crow should fit.
Creepy Crawlies: Call of C'thulhu Keeper's Guide, 7e / Chaosium Games
So happy to finally have this in hand, I've been running A Time to Harvest as part of Chaosium's organized play program for a few months with just the quick-start rules. High quality and production value, gorgeous art and layout, very good clarity in conveying rules and good support for flexibility in rules to Keeper taste.
"Fall" into a good book: A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) / Seanan McGuire
I could not resist the pun of slotting this book here. I'm happy to finally be getting to this series (I've read the first and most recent books), and I can't deny the amount I've been pulling on McGuire's work as inspiration in the various LARP projects I'm involved in. Great read, starting #3 soon.
Locked Room Mystery: Anna Dressed in Blood / Kendare Blake
I figure a story revolving around a ghost bound within a house fulfills 'locked room.' Not bad, but it reminded me of if Jace from City of Bones was narrating a story.
It was a dark and stormy night: An Artificial Night / Seanan McGuire
As usual, I'm a huge fan of Seanan McGuire, but this one really hit me in the feels.
Set in New England: Find Me / Laura van den Berg
Or at least partly in Cambridge, partially in various other locations too.
Full Moon: The Brotherhood of the Wheel / R.S. Belcher
"Full Moon" for the cover art, but there's really no concern with the actual phase of the moon in the story. Dark fantasy that might slip into horror, a whole lot of world building delivered in a tight package, and heavy action. I definitely dug the road aspect, and the cadence sucked me in right off the bat. The combat is a bit unrealistic at points, but there's also a supernatural element for quite a bit of it. This would make for a fantastic action film, and it's wrapped up in a way that leaves room for a sequel.
Vampires vs. Werewolves: Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires / Molly Harper
Has werewolves and vampires, but they affectionately snark each other rather than than have some sort of long standing feud.
Supernatural: A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses / Molly Harper
Not Harper's best, but snarky, cute fun.
Classic horror: Interview with the Vampire / Anne Rice
A book worth looking at in context of when it came out. I personally find the heavy use of sensual and even erotically charged language for a book where there is explicitly no sex going on a bit odd. It definitely however remains true to historical use of vampires to wrap erotica as horror. The downside of the eroticism is you get some... easily distorted scenes, such as Louie talking about his 'passion' for Claudia as a young human girl. I need to rewatch the movie, it's been a good 15+ years, but I feel like the movie was by and large well cast and executed as an interpretation of this story.
Pumpkin: The Single Undead Mom's Club / Molly Harper
A big school pumpkin/Halloween festival is a large part of the story, so I shuffled this one in. Probably my favorite of the non-Nice Girl Halfmoon Hollow books.
Set on Halloween:
The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine / Kate Angell, Jennifer Dawson, Sharla Lovelace
Sweet and enjoyable contemporary romance. Three authors writing stories that revolve around a single location. Originally for "Pumpkin" but shuffled to fit a different book in later.
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