Title: Grindstone Author: Stephen Graham Jones In: The Monstrous (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Horror Dates read: 11th May 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Tachyon Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: They were popping off the surface of the rock in…in regular patterns.
He’s a predator, who has finally met his comeuppance. But, will the ending really be what we expect?
This was a seriously creepy story. I always love stories which feature the point of view of the villain. But, normally there is kind of a moment of understanding. If not total acceptance of the character, then at least, an understanding what drives the person who commits a crime. This didn’t have that. The villain / narrator was just horrible and creepy and really, really not okay.
The image of the slugs falling from the body of the lead character is a really great piece of imagery that I can’t quite keep out of my head. It is disturbing, kind of sick and seriously graphic. In the best of ways. It was kind of sick, disturbing, and twisted. But a perfect fit for this collection and short story.
I love the darkness and twistiness of this story. It was a great, fun read and one that I keep thinking about. It’s not the sort of story I’m going to read again and again and again. But definitely one that was seriously enjoyable.
Title: The Light That Passes Through You Author: Conrad Williams In: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Fantasy Dates read: 8th May 2020 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: EOS Year: 1998 5th sentence, 74th page: We tooled up and down the main drag, trying on sunglasses and hats.
It’s not always wise to visit the past. Especially when she comes with strings attached.
I think that everyone has that person in their past that somehow haunts them. Whether it is the what if person, the one you let get away, or just generally someone that you reminisce about the good times, even though they ended. I am also a strong believer in the idea that once that person has left your left, it’s probably for a good reason and you really don’t need to revisit that relationship. This story just drove home that belief for me.
From the very beginning, Louise had this incredibly intense and haunting quality to her. She was waif like at the beginning, and then, as her inner “light” returns, she becomes a haunting figure of a completely different quality. Although there was definitely a supernatural feel to the story, it was that haunting of the past that really stuck with me. That sense that you can never return and should never try to kept on jumping at me from the pages…
Although I wasn’t completely enthralled at the time, the more that I think about this short story, the more I appreciate it. There is lust and a sense of sexuality to the story that is so very subverted. It kind of lingers long after you turn the final page. One that I’m still experiencing as I write this review.
Title: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Author: Hallie Rubenhold Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Feminism, History, Non-fiction, True crime Dates read: 23rd April – 8th May 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Non-fictional text, Novel Publisher: Black Swan Year: 2020 5th sentence, 74th page: On 16 April she was dispatched like a human parcel to Renfrew Road Workhouse.
Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhamption, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed in ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers.
What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888.
Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become more famous than any of these women.
IN THIS DEVASTATING NARRATIVE OF FIVE LIVES, HISTORIAN HALLIE RUBENHOLD FINALLY GIVES THESE WOMEN BACK THEIR STORIES.
This is a seriously intense, wonderful, powerful, amazing book. Like. Wow. I’ve recently become a little intrigued by Jack the Ripper, but, as with many others, I hadn’t really given huge amounts of thought to the women that he actually killed. Which I now feel kind of ashamed of. Because Rubenhold reminds us that these five women were, you know, people too. And should be remembered as such. Not for the way the died. Not for the way the media portrayed them. But for individuals in and of themselves. Women who loved, lost and experienced life. Women with families, husbands, children…
I tend not to read crime books before bed. It leads to some seriously whacked out and trippy dreams. Starting this, I figured that it would be okay to read before bedtime. After all, it’s about the women, not the murders. For starters, the introduction talks about Jack the Ripper a little more than I had wanted. And the last point made is that he didn’t kill prostitutes, he killed women while they were asleep. By themselves. I was a woman. By myself. About to go to sleep. Not exactly conducive to a restful nights’ sleep that.
Normally I like to pick up biographies because they’re not only informative, but they’re also incredibly easy to put down. That’s not the case with this novel. The first few chapters didn’t quite hook me, and I was completely able to put down the book whenever I needed to be productive. However, once I passed that point… I just couldn’t stop thinking about these five women. I couldn’t stop wondering about their lives, their loved ones. What they thought and experienced in their mysterious last moments… I just couldn’t stop thinking about it all!!! Which I think was the whole point of it… but still, not exactly my normal response for a biography…
I am still in awe of what I’ve read. I actually finished this book twenty-four hours before sitting down to write this review. And it took me so long to do so simply because there is an intense feeling that you get once you turn that final page. This intense feeling of not only wonder and amazement at what you just read, but also, for me at least, a sense of guilt. I’m fascinated by murders, but I have rarely seriously considered the Ripper women as individuals and women. Which is something I will endeavour to do more so of in the future. When I started this book, I couldn’t even remember the names of The Five. But now, I don’t think I’ll ever forget them…
23 spellbinding tales of sorcery, wizardry and witchcraft.
From Gandalf to Harry Potter, sorcerers and wizards have always enthralled us. It is their power, above all, that we covet – the ultimate wish fulfilment of being able to do whatever we want – to fly, or make ourselves invisible, or to conjure something from nothing.
Here, from some of the most outstanding writers of fantasy, is a wonderfully varied collection of stories which explores the tensions and dilemmas in dealing with magic, from a child’s first struggle to control magical powers to epic clashes between the forces of good and evil.
It took me a little while to seriously get into this collection. But, once I did… I was completely hooked. I quite obviously love fantasy from the books that fill my shelves. But, as I’ve gotten older, I have found that I am drawn again and again to fantasy of a darker bent. Although not all of these short stories suited that desire, they just weren’t that dark… this collection was still seriously brilliant.
The stories in this collection just completely run the gamut. There are some serious, dark and twisted stories. Some that are fun and light. And a few that make you question the state of the world as we know it. All the stories were enjoyable in one way or another, although maybe not as memorable as some of the other short stories that I’ve read.
This is a great little collection. One that is interesting and fun. There was a lot surrounding ideas of chaos throughout, which makes it one of those collections that I’ll probably want to read again. There always seems to be this sense of confusion and intricacy about chaos stories that just makes me want to read them again and again.
There’s always two sides to a story… including the one about the Goose Girl.
The Goose Girl is one of those fairy tales where I really, really loved the original story. The idea of the villain in the story pronouncing her own death… well, of course it intrigued me immediately. What I didn’t expect was that I would love a story in which the villain really wasn’t the villain… it was all just an accident of fate and an intriguing story. One that had a seriously tragic ending… but was still very, very good.
This was a very dark villain version of a classic fairy tale. Sometimes these retellings from the villains’ point of view make you feel sympathy… instead, this short story just made me feel uncomfortable and unsettled with all of the characters in the original. There was almost no sympathy for anyone. It was just a tale of tragedy after tragedy. One that never had a happy ending or a happily ever after. Which is somehow a lot more like real life…
Only in writing this review have I realised a few more things about this short story that really hadn’t jumped out at me before. But to write them in my review would be giving something away… so you’ll just have to read it and then see if you are quicker than me in realising what the extra layer of secrets are!!!
Title: Bitter Draught Author: Michael Earp In: Kindred (Michael Earp) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Fantasy, LGBTQI Dates read: 7th May 2020 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Walker Books Year: 2019 5th sentence, 74th page: The stories say that shopkeepers and traders will hear a knock on their door close to midnight.
Simeon has always been content in his little world with his parents, his sister and Wyatt. But a horrible illness and a journey to find the village witch rip his world apart.
Starting this story, I was really intrigued to find out where the “bitter draught” was going to come from. I was honestly expecting something that dealt with prejudice or the difficulties in realising that you are LGBTQI+. But, it wasn’t that at all. Like the first few short stories in this collection, the fact that Simeon was gay wasn’t even dealt with in any way expect to say that he had a significant other who was also male. I love this acceptance and simplicity in the writing. What I wasn’t sure on though was what the “bitter draught” would then end up being…
Simeon’s desire to help his sister, even if it means following a floating pebble and finding a witch that he’s kind of scared of was a nice little journey. It didn’t have that horrifying intensity of some of the similar stories that I’ve read. But it still lent a sense of urgency to Simeon’s journey. The fact that cracks in his relationship with Wyatt begin to appear just helps lend this sense of surrealness and intensity to their adventure. Even if it is technically all about saving Simeon’s sister…
The reveal of the “bitter draught” at the end of this story is bittersweet. It’s not as tragic as I was expecting, but it is also quite sad. Mostly, this story serves as a reminder that sometimes the most painful thing in the world is just the truth. And that can be quite a bitter pill to swallow…
He’s gone and got himself married. But now he has to return home to a questionable welcome…
Still not all that into Westerns, but I really didn’t mind this short story. Maybe the genre is growing on me. Maybe it was just a good story, I don’t know what it was… but I quite liked it.
Not knowing much about westerns, I can’t be certain, but I got the feeling that somehow getting married was the end of a cowboys “fun” days. The days in which he could be battled and relied upon by his mates. I may be wrong, but that was the overwhelming feeling that I got from this short story. It wasn’t necessarily the message that I wanted to receive, but it was definitely an interesting one. And one that I will now look for amongst other western stories.
Although I’m still not completely sold on Westerns, I did enjoy this short story. I do have another Stephen Crane book sitting on my shelves somewhere. So I’m intrigued to see if it is the writer or just my getting used to the genre that really sold this for me…
Title: The Eternal Altercation Author: Peter Crowther In: The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic (Mike Ashley) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Magic Dates read: 7th May 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2004 5th sentence, 74th page: And now, here he was, gas can in hand, standing on the town’s edge, looking along its wind-blown Main Street at a clumsy array of buildings that owed more allegiance to an old back-and-white Randolph Scott western than to anything even vaguely reminiscent of the Brave New World promised by the turn of the millennium.
There is a never ending battle taking place right beneath our very eyes. One that involves trains.
This was a seriously tripped out little short story. It was one that I felt like I couldn’t quite focus on. Not because I wasn’t completely absorbed whilst reading it, but because there was this really unfocused and slightly insane feeling to the story. One that I really enjoyed but makes it quite difficult to write a review.
This story’s sense of chaos was a fantastic ending to a collection which was all about dark magic. One that often employed chaos – after all, that seems to be the root of everything dark in many of these stories. I loved that you ended on this hectic, intense and somewhat confusing short story that seriously made you sit back and think after you turned that final page. It was a great way to end.
This is one of those short stories that no matter how many times I read it, I will probably experience something new. A new epiphany, a new understanding or a new feeling… whatever it is, it will be different each time. And although I don’t want all of my shelves filled with such stories… it is nice to know that I have some that will continue to shock me and pull me in.
Here’s the spelling challenge to go along with Suzanne’s challenge on US states named after European Kings and Queens. Choose one (or more) of the following words to spell out using the first letter of the book’s title (disregard A, An and The) or the author’s first or last initial (middle names cannot be used). Don’t forget to choose your word/s when you sign up for the challenge! See the challenge rules below regarding book titles in languages other than English.
Charles Elizabeth England Europe
France George Georgia Henrietta
Kings Louis Louisiana Maria Maryland
North Carolina Queen South Carolina Virginia West Virginia
CHALLENGE RULES : See this thread for more detailed rules for all CCC challenges.
♦ If you want to participate in this challenge, please sign up by posting the word/s you intend to spell. This gives us a post to link you to, which you can use to update your books as the challenge progresses. No link will be created for you until you post your choice/s.
♦ Unless otherwise noted, books must be at least 150 pages long. (See the link above for rules regarding graphic novels.) Books may only be used for one task in this challenge, but cross-challenge posting is encouraged 🙂 Re-reads are allowed, as long as you read the entire book. You must read at least half of the book AFTER the challenge begins in order to count it for this challenge.
♦ You may use the first letter of the first word in the book’s title (disregard A, An and The) or the author’s first or last initial (middle names or initials can NOT be used.). * In the case of a hyphenated first or last name (i.e. Sarah-Kate Lynch, Kate E. Dyer-Seeley, the first letter of the hyphenated name may be used (not the second initial directly following the hyphen). * If an author uses what appears to be two last names (usually a female author using her maiden name and then her married last name; i.e. Kathy Hogan Trocheck), the last initial of the two names counts since the maiden name is now serving in the place of a middle name.
♦ If you use books that are in a language other than English, please translate those titles into English (even if there is no English title here on GR) for the purposes of our challenges, unless you plan to use that language for the entire challenge. If you do use another language for the whole challenge, please remember that the translations of exempt words/phrases — for example, A, An and The — would be exempt as well.
♦ For each book you read, please post a link to the title, and indicate the author and the date you finished reading it. If you’re using the author’s name to fill a spot, remember to include a link to the author’s name as well. * If you don’t know how to post a link to the book title or author, see the instructions here: Add a link to the book title and/or author
♦ When you complete the challenge, please copy and paste your entire list as a new message at the end of the challenge thread. If you do this while you still have the Edit window open, it will copy all of your links and formatting. If you don’t repost your list, with appropriate links, your name will not be added to the list of those who have completed the challenge. Please do NOT simply post a link back to your original post.
Earth and Skye 