My local independent bookstore runs a summer reading challenge. Each staff member has their own selections, and I’m a fan of Tim’s picks. He reads lots of fantasy and sci-fi, so I joined his branch of the challenge this year. One of his picks in the “Released in 2024” category was Ghost Station by S.A.…
My local bookshop requires a dedicated trip and a drive on the congested freeway that has been under construction since now until forever. Needless to say, it had been a while since I visited the shop, but my efforts proved to be fruitful because I picked up a little-known story by Park Seolyeon called A…
Continue reading ➞ A Magical Girl Retires – Celebrate Your Spark
Bulgarian folklore, murder mysteries, the great hunt, and more suffuse this new debut titled Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova. Today’s story follows a powerful witch named Kosara in the walled city of Chernograd. Chernograd is a cage of nightmares that exists to trap all sorts of evil and mischievous spirits on the far side of…
To understand my feelings about Stephen King’s Night Shift, you must first understand how Stephen King gets his ideas. Thankfully, YouTuber Man Carrying Thing has us covered. Consider this required viewing before I move on to the rest of this review. https://youtu.be/TL77o1EWW8U?si=pt-CllcKTGxRB1Pl Reading Night Shift reminded me of this video. I often nodded and…
Continue reading ➞ Night Shift – What If Short Stories Were Scary?
My tastes have always been a little off kilter within science fiction, and lately they’ve become even weirder. The use of spirituality and religion to inform science fiction in non-Christian cultures has opened a need for me to dive into Christian themes as well. I’ve already stated my love for Lina Rather’s novellas involving space…
Continue reading ➞ Our Lady of the Artilects – Bless This Undoubtable Mess
I may be a little out of season with my recent haunted reads, but I know there are spooky people just like me pushing a creepy agenda year-round. This time, I picked up Linghun by Ai Jiang, a deeply upsetting story about death and grief. For me, this story evolved beyond an entertaining horror story…
This next book I requested an ARC of way back in fall of 2023 and I just sort of lost track of it. Hush Harbor, by Anise Vance, is a unflinching look at a revolutionary project surrounded on all sides, with an uncertain future both internal and external. A black teenager is murdered by the…
Peter S. Beagle of The Last Unicorn fame recently released I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons. Anything with winged, fire-breathing reptilians is a must-read for me, so here we are! The book follows three main characters. Robert (his real name is Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax, but he’d really prefer Robert, thank you very much) inherits…
Continue reading ➞ I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons – Fear Not!
My one experience with Rivers Solomon’s growing library of work has been with The Deep. An ambitious little novella that transcended the future and envisioned a world that has grown out of communal suffering. I decided to pick up their debut, An Unkindness of Ghosts because it took place on a generation ship - much…
Continue reading ➞ An Unkindness of Ghosts – An Inspiring Haunt
I stumbled upon a short, haunted treasure of a story called Slade House by David Mitchell of Cloud Atlas fame. It’s a spooky mystery unfolding in an overlooked alley with consequences that ripple through time. A misunderstood teenager, an overconfident police officer, and a self-conscious college student find themselves at the doorstep of Slade House…
