Title: The Sun Also Shines on the Wicked Author: Kevin Nunn In: Evolve (Nancy Kilpatrick) Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this) My Bookshelves:Vampires Dates read: 1st April 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Edge Year: 2010 5th sentence, 74th page: Perhaps he was drawn towards the gate with a thrill, excited by what lay ahead.
Is the draw of sunlight worth the risk of death? Someone thinks so… and he’s about to risk it all just to get a little more tanned…
This was a cute, easy little read. Two vampires catching up,
remembering the sunlight. One has found a way to enjoy it… but it’s an
experiment, one that he needs help with.
Alright, so there isn’t a happy ending for the first vampire
(that would open WAY too many stories to the idea of vampires who could handle
a little sunlight). But it did remind me of issues of addiction, highlighted how
the loss of something such as sunlight is kind of horrific, and no matter what
you claim, it is difficult to fully let go of its power in your life.
Really, this story reminded me of just how much I love
sunlight. And I sit here writing this review, with the morning sun streaming
through my window and freshening up my house and my soul.
Title: Deliver Us From Evil Author: Dina James In: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 (Trisha Telep) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Vampires Dates read: 1st April 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2009 5th sentence, 74th page: How had he found her, and how had he gotten in here?
He lost his soul generations ago, but a chance encounter with a symbol in a psychics shop could turn everything around for him. Help him find his way back home to his family.
This play on a soulless vampire was quite good. Normally
when stories focus on the lack of soul in a vampire, it is either to excuse his
evil, or to set him on a journey to find that which he has lost. And isn’t it
funny that it normally features a male in these stories…? This tale took a
slightly different take on the idea. The vampire was still soulless and searching
for something that he couldn’t remember searching for. But, when he found it,
it wasn’t his soul, it was a whole other mythos which helped him find his peace
and salvation. And more, importantly, to find his way back to his family.
I like Mary in this story (she goes by a few different
variations of the name throughout, but I like the name Mary the most). She is forced
into situations that she doesn’t really like. And there is a level of complex vulnerability
to her. Yet, she still manages to show her back bone throughout the tale. Every
time she is backed into a corner and feels so obviously uncomfortable, she digs
deep, sticks her feet in and pushes right back. Something that I admire more
than a woman who can actually fight her way out of every situation in some
circumstances… after all, it’s a little bit more relatable and tough to be fierce
when you can’t actually defend yourself.
Title: The Game of Magical Death Author: Doug Hornig In: The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic (Mike Ashley) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Technology Dates read: 27th March 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 1987 5th sentence, 74th page: That was one thing his parents were good about.
A gamer is sent a brand new game – the Game of Magical Death, but does he really know what he’s in for? This short story lets gaming, computers and dark magic to collide in ways that you just won’t anticipate.
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with technology. I
think it’s amazing, fantastic and great, but it also worries me more than a
little. So it was kind of fun to read a short story that used this fear and
ideas to create a more contemporary tale of dark fantasy and dark magic.
From the beginning of this tale, it is obvious that the
computer game is more than expected. And you can kind of guess how some of it
will go. But it isn’t until you get almost all of the way through this story
that the twists and turns start to take hold. And then they kind of terrify
you. After all, once he figures out just what
is happening when he plays the game – he continues to do so. Which is so weird.
And so many levels of just not okay…
Meljean Brook launches a bold new steampunk series with BB Here There Be Monsters BB, as a desperate woman strikes a provocative – and terrifying – bargain to gain overseas passage.
I can’t stop thinking about this novella! It combines
steampunk, pirates and romance. There is so much passion, humour and grit to
the tale. Not only is it impossible to put down, it is also impossible to
forget. I might have ordered most of the books in the series when I was only
halfway through, but I still have to wait for the dang things…
I have a slight fascination with pirates, have since I was a
kid – it always seemed so free. But, as I grew up, I realised that they weren’t
that romantic, and women had pretty much no rights. So I kind of love the fact
that I get to read a series about pirates that is based in a steampunk world. A
world where women have their own places and the ability to work. It’s not to
say that there isn’t a fight to gain respect, but at least there’s more of a
chance to be something beyond a mistress in the steampunk world.
Ivy and Mad Machen are a fun mix. But, what I love the most
about this storyline is that Ivy is able to grow. She starts off timid and unsure,
unable to truly understand her worth and value. It isn’t until the end that she
is fully grown into herself, but this all happens around Machen. Alright, a
little bit because of him, but mostly Ivy’s growth is Ivy’s journey, he just
gets to go along for the ride…
Title: The Secret of Flight Author: A.C. Wise In: Black Feathers (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Contemporary, Horror Dates read: 29th March 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Pegasus Books Ltd. Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: POLICEMAN startles and falls back.
The secrets held in a play and its play house continue to haunt the director fifty years after the lead actress disappears. As the letters and the play unfold, so do the secrets that have been kept hidden over the years.
There are some short stories that tell a tale, start at the
beginning and end at the end. Then there are short stories like this one. They
are so open ended you’re not sure if you’ve missed something. So different and
convoluted that no matter how many times I read it, I won’t feel like I have accessed
all of the information.
There is something about plays and theatres that inspire a
level of horror that you don’t find in many other settings. I’m not entirely
sure why, maybe it is the juxtaposition between the light and gaudy front and
the dark and twisty back. The level of secrecy that is inspired by having a
backstage in which an actors’ transformation can occur. Whatever it is, it manages
to situate feelings and tales of horror beautifully. And helps to twist this
horror into one of tragedy and loss.
The secrets of the actors’ change echo the secrets of her
life. The ways in which the starlings haunt the directors every moment make
things vaguer and vaguer, more and more intense.
While the search for a killer puts Constable Newberry’s life in danger, he faces a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?
This is a fun little short story, and it provides a great background into the idea of bounders in the realm of The Iron Seas. Constable Newberry seems to be kind of a bastard at the beginning. One that tricked a woman into marrying him for the worst possible reasons. And one that you kind of want his come-uppance to happen to.
But then you start to get glimpses of the man (all told from
the point of view of his wife, Temperance). And you start to realise that he’s
actually not the douche you thought he was. Rather, he’s kind of a giant,
loveable red head with the tendency to blush whenever he’s uncomfortable.
I love that in the beginning I viewed Constable Newberry as a villain, but by the end of the story, he was an incredibly sweet man and one that I can’t wait to know more about. Which is perfect, because he features in The Iron Duke alongside Mina, the female lead.
Title: The Little Dog Ohori Author: Anatoly Belilovsky In: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (Sean Wallace) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Dieselpunk, Easy reading, Family Dates read: 29th March 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: The woman’s hand tightens, just enough to see the tiny twitch.
She’s losing her life’s blood on the plains of war. But, the baying of the Little Dog Ohori might just take her back to the ones she loves and a happily ever after after all.
It took me a little while to grasp the concept of what was
going on in this short story. The storyline jumped around a little and it was
kind of hard to realise which time frame you were in from the outset… but, once
I got my head around that little aspect, I fell in love with this story. It
still had the war aspect of Dieselpunk filling its pages, but it mostly had
this sweet idea of family and kinship.
The mix of folklore, contemporary and fateful story lines
throughout this short tale intertwine and weave amongst themselves in an
incredibly artful manner. The mix of the different stories throughout may have
been confusing at the beginning, but they quickly become intriguing and impossible
to look away from. Meaning that at the end of all of this you are completely
hooked and in love with not only Ohori, but the soldiers who populate the tale.
Title: Circe Author: Madeline Miller Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Family, Greek mythology, Strong women, Villains Dates read: 26th March – 3rd April 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Bloomsbury Year: 2018 5th sentence, 74th page: I tried to mimic the sounds I had heard Aeetes make when he had healed my face.
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe has neither the look nor the voice of divinity, and is scorned and rejected by her kin. Her isolation leads her to discover a power forbidden to the gods: witchcraft.
When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, vengeful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia, where she learns to harness her occult craft. But there is danger for a solitary woman in this world, and Circe’s independence draws the wrath of men and gods alike. To protect what she holds dear, Circe must decide whether she belongs with the deities she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.
Breathing life into the ancient world, Madeline Miller weaves an intoxicating tale of gods and heroes, magic and monsters, survival and transformation.
I can’t believe it took me THIS LONG to pull this book off my shelf and read it. It was just amazing!! And rave worthy. And completely, completely world-shatteringly good. The only reason that I didn’t read it in one sitting is because I got about 60 pages in and stopped. I had work that I had to do, and I knew if I didn’t stop then, I never would. Five days later I blocked aside almost a whole day so that I could forget about the world and just enjoy the amazing journey that Miller was able to take me on.
From the very first chapter, I had a box of tissues next to
me while I was reading this. Something about the way the storyline was
unfolding made me think that this would be a Greek tragedy. No one would have
their happily ever after, and, since I was holed up in my house to read this, I
could let the resulting flood of tears wash over me. Luckily for my sanity, and
happiness, it wasn’t a tragedy at all! Don’t get me wrong, there were heart
rending moments, but everything actually worked out all right. And I turned
that final page with a great big, happy smile on my face.
Greek mythology seems to be a pretty recurrent mythos which
authors like to use in retellings. And why not? It has sex, mayhem and pettiness
all wrapped up in one neat little bow. But, most of the retellings that I’ve
had the pleasure of reading thus far are quite PG in their set up. They gloss
over all of the rape and horrible things that the gods and their followers do.
They don’t focus on the fact that women, even in the pantheon often had little
to no rights. (Just think of Hera and Zeus… as an adult I actually feel for
Hera more than anything). So it was really nice to read a retelling in which these
aspects really weren’t glossed over. The impotence and inability of women to be
given their own autonomy is the driving factor for many of Circe’s decisions. And
it is a way to completely retell a story in which the traditional woman is
repainted as one who was just able to stand on her own two feet… which of
course, just didn’t go over very well.
Duration: 1st May – 31st May 2019 Number of books: 3 Hosted by:Bookworm Bitches
There are 3 tasks, you only need to read three books to finish this challenge. Or pick one task and read 3 books for that one task. Thank you Lori for help with the ideas!
May
1. Read a book featuring a caregiver of some sort (doctor, nurse, therapist, family member caring for another, etc.) – The Radium Girls by Kate Moore 2. Read a book that involves a character with an illness (mental or physical). – I Am Heathcliff curated by Kate Mosse (just Heathcliff and Heathcliff-type characters in general. They’re all fucked.) 3. Read a book while pampering yourself (take a bath, while eating a favorite snack, anything that makes you feel extra special) – Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz
I vaguely remember visiting The Kennedy Space Center in 1970, although I wasn’t nearly as excited about it as my older brother was. KSC has expanded quite a bit since then, becoming a popular tourist attraction. After doing a little research for this challenge, I decided I’d love to visit again soon!
1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Launch Operation Center in Florida was just one of the ten NASA field centers. The center was christened The John F. Kennedy Space Center a week after the President’s assassination. In December 1968, the location became the primary launch site for human spaceflight. 🚀 Read a book that is the first in a series with at least 9 subsequent books written to date OR read a book whose title begins with a letter in NASA LOC (ignore a, an, the). – Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz
2. The US Military had been using nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for missile launch operations since 1949. Outgrowing the space, and with the beginning of the space program, the government bought an adjacent 131 square miles on Merritt Island, off the eastern coast of Florida. Today CCAFSC and The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) work closely together, sharing some buildings and personnel. 🚀 Read a book that takes place in Florida OR read a book in which two groups (professional or non) work well together. – Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
3. Only nine percent of Merritt Island has been developed, although much of the area is highly restricted. Some of the undeveloped land serves as an important wildlife sanctuary; Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore are other features of the area. Center workers can encounter bald eagles, American alligators, wild boars, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, the endangered Florida panther and Florida manatees. 🚀 Read a book originally published in a year containing a “9” OR read a book in which any of the wildlife listed above is mentioned; please copy the sentence and indicate its location in your book. – Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelynn Drake (2009)
4. Launch Complex 39 was originally built for the Saturn V and went on to host Apollo, Space Shuttle, and Skylab missions. LC 39 remains the primary launch site for several programs, including the world launch site for the International Space Station (ISS). 🚀 Read a book whose page count contains an intact “39” (i.e. 439, 396) OR read a book that is considered an author’s “primary” (aka best known) work. – Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
5. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is a popular tourist attraction featuring exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tours of the spaceport. The KSC grew from its humble beginnings in a trailer to a museum voted the eighth best in the US. Close to 2 million people visit annually. 🚀 Read a book in which a significant portion takes place in or around a popular tourist attraction; tell us where (must be specific – “a beach” wouldn’t count but “Whitehead Beach” would) OR read a book that is eighth in a series (or an author’s 8th published book; if using this option, make sure to provide an author link). – Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy (The Strip, Las Vegas)
6. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation runs two facilities within the Visitor Complex. The most visible of these is the Space Mirror Memorial, also known as the Astronaut Memorial, a huge black granite mirror through-engraved with the names of all astronauts who died in the line of duty. 🚀 Read a book with a primarily black cover OR read a book in which someone is killed accidentally (i.e. in the line of duty, in a car crash). – The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
7. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, KSC has introduced an exhibition titled “Heroes and Legends,” which encompasses the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. A host of other exhibitions allow the visitor to experience a simulated space launch and go through astronaut training. 🚀 Read a book originally published in 1969 OR read a book that takes place in outer space.
Earth and Skye 