Home for the Weekend

Another week passed in Victoria and we're back home for this weekend. Two weeks left with Easter in the middle. The drive home was good, Jo was feeling the best she'd felt in a few days and we were so glad to be in familiar surroundings.

And baseball has started again and the Blue Jays have made their first two games more interesting than I wanted, but they are still 2-0. Both starting pitchers were excellent.

So, it's Saturday night and Jo has dropped off. Before I head up to bed, I thought I'd provide a quick update... hope it's quick anyway. I did drop into 3 book stores in Victoria so did buy a few books and there were some more waiting for me when I got home. I'll try to whip through this update as briefly as possible. I hope there are some books that pique your interest.

Just Completed

Since my update last weekend, I've completed 4 books.

1. Gideon Falls, The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire (#1 / 2018). A new graphic novel series.

"One of my Goodreads' friends, knowing how much I enjoy graphic novels, especially of late, thought I might like to try a new series. So I got the first volume, Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn by Canadian author, Jeff Lemire. And darn her socks! I liked it... As she said in her review, if I remember correctly, she has no idea what's going on yet, but she's along for the ride. That's how I feel too.

The initial chapters of Volume 1 focus mainly on a washed up priest, Wilfred, who is sent to take over a parish in Gideon Falls after the other priest, Father Tom, has died. He doesn't want to go but is pressured by the bishop anyway. From phone calls between the two during this volume, it seems as though the bishop knows something strange is happening in Gideon Falls.. I presume this will either be confirmed or not in future issues. 

The other person is Norton, a young man, who grew up homeless as a child, spent much time in an asylum and is being treated now on an out patient basis by female psychiatrist, Dr. Xu. She is worried about Norton's obsessions and is considering placing him back in the institute. Norton is searching through garbage and finding old nails, pieces of wood, etc. to prove his obsession.

Both men have seen visions of a Black Barn, Norton since childhood and Wilfred since moving to Gideon Falls. Wilfred sees Father Tom, who leads him to the body of a woman and disappears. At the same time, that's where Wilfred sees the barn... which doesn't really exist... apparently.

The story flashed between the two men and the people they come into contact with. Dr. Xu begins to see the barn as well. A local doctor, who Wilfred meets, is a member of a group, called the Ploughmen who are trying to protect Gideon Falls from whatever 'evil' the Black Barn represents...

It's a complex, fascinating story (darn!) and the artwork is excellent, muted colours, interesting panels, that turn upside down, sideways (reminds me somewhat of the various pages in House of Leaves). I enjoyed this introduction very much and now have to continue. Volume 2, Original Sins has been ordered. (3.5 stars)"

2. Lore Olympus, Volume 7 by Rachel Smythe (2024). It's been awhile since I read Volume 6. It was good to get back to this graphic novel.

"Lore Olympus: Volume Seven is of course, the seventh volume of the stories of the romance between Persephone and Hades, a modern Webtoon update by Rachel  Smythe. It's a fascinating series, at times confusing but always well drawn and interesting.

It's confusing because the stories have a tendency to jump around and the various gods appearance changes as their mood or story line changes. Be that as it may, it's always fun to work through each volume. The Volume includes episodes 153 - 179 of the series.

As always, there are various stories but the main one is the continuing growth of the relationship between Persephone and Hades. They have secrets that are coming out, especially about Hades' past relationships and how he became the Prince of Hades. Persephone still can't tell Hades about her rape by Apollo (there is a warning at the beginning of the Volume (in fact all of the volumes) 'Lore Olympus regularly deals with themes of physical and mental abuse, sexual trauma and toxic relationships'. I have to say that I think these topics are dealt with quite gently (maybe not the correct word)..

The story builds until there is ultimately a court case against Persephone and Demeter. Persephone is accused of the murder of many humans and Demeter of hiding Persephone away to avoid punishment. The case builds with witnesses like Hermes, Thanatos and others testifying. Of course, I'll have to wait until the next volume (at least) to see the result.

As well, Persephone finally goes to get mental counselling for her ordeal and reactions to it. Apollo wants Persephone as his wife and colludes to try and make it happen. Artemis wants to know what happened between Apollo and Persephone and tries to get Eros to tell her. As I said, many things going and the stories are told so well. 

It's been a fascinating, excellent collection so far and I have Vol 8 on my book shelf! (4.0 stars)"

3. Love and Rockets, New Stories #3 by Los Hermanos Hernandez (2010). I've become sort of addicted to this graphic novel series since I discovered it.

"The Love and Rockets graphic novel series by Los Hermanos Hernandez has been a breath of fresh air in my exploration of graphic novels. This isn't meant to denigrate the other graphic novels I've been reading and enjoying but this series has really grabbed me. They're about life, they are about people. Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 by Jaime Hernandez & Gilbert Hernandez is the 3rd collection I've enjoyed.

It features 5 stories; Scarlet by Starlight by Gilbert; The Love Bunglers, Part One by Jaime; Killer Sad Girl Star by Gilbert; Browntown by Jaime and The Love Bunglers, Part Two by Jaime. The two sets of stories by each brother are each quite different.

Gilbert's follow Scarlet and her attempts to get into acting, alien movies, failed television shows and also just living her life with mom and dad. Jaime's stories delve into the past life of Margaret (Perla) as a young girl and moving with her mother and the rest of the kids to Browntown to be closer to her father... who is a cheat, unfortunately. Each set of stories has their own sexual element with Jaime's particularly powerful, dealing with sexual assault... (I guess I should give a warning to anyone who is interested in the work but has issues or experiences with this)

The stories are beautifully drawn, peopled with fascinating characters. They deal with life, not always the good side of it, but covering issues of family break-up, growing up, dealing with life. I don't know how better to say it, but suffice it to say, these graphic novels, the Love and Rockets books are just excellent. (4.5 stars)"

4. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1 / 2020). I bowed to pressure and tried this book... sigh.. now I've got #2 on my shelf.

"I finally see what the fuss is all about with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl fantasy series by Matt Dinniman. It's an entertaining, escapist, well written adventure fantasy / Sci Fi novel. 

It starts off with a bang, or more accurately a collapse, and the story takes off from there. Carl is cat-sitting his 'girl friend's' cat Princess Donut, one cold winter night and discovering that his girl friend, Bea, is probably dumping him and also Donut. Donut decides to jump out the window onto an adjoining tree branch and then refuses to come back inside. Carl, wearing just a leather jacket and boxers, runs outside to get Princess Donut, when calamity happens. Every building collapses into itself, killing everybody still inside. To be clear, this is worldwide. Everybody still alive is warned they have a certain amount of time to get underground if they want to survive.

It seems that an alien syndicate has chosen Earth for its next 'games'. The surviving humans and critters will be taking part in games (read Dungeons and Dragons, sort of) and must move from level to level lower into this huge alien constructed Dungeon, if they want to survive. As they kill creatures in the dungeons and even each other, they gain points and prizes that will help them at each level. Across the whole Earth, there seem to be about 5,000,000 that have survived initially. Each level has different creatures at all levels of destructive power and the more you kill, the stronger you get.

So that's the gist. Carl and Princess Donut are a team for now and have an adviser, Mortdecai, a Crawler who survived from another world. Donut will be able to speak as she gains power and the communication between her and Carl are always interesting and fun. Oh, they also discover that there are Trillions of people across the universes watching the games and that they need to get more Likes and followers to improve their odds of surviving. Something that Princess Donut craves and Carl hates. The two also have a manager, Zev, a water creature who arranges interviews for them.

So it's a fast paced, action filled story. You have to bear with periods where Carl and Donut go through all of the items and powers they win every time they have a battler, but it becomes easy to gloss over those portions and they don't really take away from the story.

It's interesting watching Carl and Donut's friendship develop and who their characters grow as the story progresses. Their contact with other humans have mixed results... And who is Agatha, the elderly woman who wanders in and out of their lives. Carl and Donut don't know.. yet? And there are creatures who are saved by Carl and Donut. Will they show up again? At the end of this portion, there is a teaser about two goblins who were spared by the two. What role will they play in the follow-on books? And we see others from a distance, battling the creatures successfully. How will they show up in future books??

The more I got into the story, the more I got involved in the characters, their lives, their growth and I look forward to exploring the series more. I don't know if I'll be as quick as some getting through the books, but I will continue definitely. Oh... did Carl's ex, Bea die in the collapse? Questions, questions.. (4.0 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. All the Tea in China by Kyril Bonfiglioli (1978).

"Kyril Bonfiglioli, the groundbreaking satirist whose writing The New Yorker described as “an unholy collaboration between P. G. Wodehouse and Ian Fleming,” was truly a writer ahead of his time. In this hilarious novel, Bonfiglioli takes us back in time to an ironical maritime romp—Master and Commander by way of Monty Python.

Inspired by a shotgun blast in the seat of his breeches, young Karli Van Cleef quits his native Holland to seek his fortune. He arrives in early Victorian London and soon he is turning a pretty profit. But Karli sees that true opportunity flowers in India’s fields of opium poppies and the treaty ports of the China coast. So he takes a berth in an opium clipper hell-bent for the Indies.

It is a journey beset with perils. Karli is confronted by the mountainous seas, high-piled plates of curry, and the ferocious penalties of the Articles of War. He survives the malice of the Boers, the hospitality of anthropophagi, and the horrors of Lancashire cooking. En route he acquires some interesting diseases, dangerous friends and enemies, a fortune, and a wife almost as good as new."

2. Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger #4 / 2012). Great series.

"When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran,the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood.

Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview.

They say the truth will set you free…
Not this time.

The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze."

3. East of West; There is No Us by Jonathan Hickman (#3 / 2014).

"It's the third volume of the Eisner-nominated East Of West. There Is No Us sees the breaking apart of the future-scape of America as the world races forward towards the apocalypse.

Collecting: East Of West 11-15"

4. Report from Planet Midnight by Nalo Hopkinson (2012).

"Infused with feminist, Afro-Caribbean views of the science fiction and fantasy genres, this collection of offbeat and highly original works takes aim at race and racism in literature. In “Report from Planet Midnight,” at the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts, an alien addresses the crowd, evaluating Earth's "strange" customs, including the marginalization of works by nonwhite and female writers. “Message in a Bottle” shows Greg, an American Indian artist, befriending a strange four-year-old who seems wise beyond her years. While preparing an exhibition, he discovers that the young girl is a traveler from the future sent to recover art from the distant past—which apparently includes his own work. Concluding the book with series editor Terry Bisson’s Outspoken Interview, Nalo Hopkinson shares laughs, loves, and top-secret Caribbean spells."

Newest Purchases

Bear with me here...

1. The Blanket of the Dark by John Buchan (1931). I'm enjoying exploring Buchan's stories.

"Buchan skillfully weaves the story of young clerk Peter Pentecost, who has a claim to the throne, and a tale of intrigue against King Henry VIII, where 'under the blanket of the dark all men are alike and all are nameless'. Buchan's description of the ruthless king is compelling. His knowledge of the time of Henry's reign and his love of the Oxfordshire countryside are apparent."

2. The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1913). I've enjoyed so many of Burroughs' adventures and fantasies. This is one of his standalones.

"Waldo Smith-Jones shipwrecked from Boston, desperately tries to survive on a lost island of primitive men and beasts. Given the name of Thandar, he strives for the hand of Princess Nadara amid misunderstandings. If a rescue ship arrives, what will they do?"

3. The Possessors by John Christopher (1964). I keep finding more books by Christopher. Great horror and Sci Fi.

"It all started when a group of British vacationers was cut off by an avalanche. The skiing chalet up in the mountains seemed a good place to hold out for a while, but then the little boy mysteriously died...or appeared to. And in the impenetrable Swiss Alps something alien stirred..."

4. Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion (1970).

"A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil - literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul - it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose."

5. The Bone Mother by David Demchuk (2017). I enjoyed Red X by Demchuk last year.

"For two hundred years, the Grazyn porcelain factory built its reputation on its magnificent thimbles. It is said that even the Czarina Anastasia Romanova had received one in her trousseau. The workers come from the three neighboring villages on the border of Romania and Ukraine. Nourished, dressed and educated, they are the envy of all at a time when a famine programmed by Stalin sweeps the countryside and cannibalism rages from city to town to farm. But what is the secret of this factory and why does the Grazyn family protect its employees so scrupulously?

The Bone Mother revives the great figures of Slavic mythology on the eve of the Second World War, from rusalka and Baba Yaga--The Bone Mother herself--to the golem. The existence of mortals is intimately linked to that of witches and vampires, in a universe where strigois rub shoulders with mermaids, ghosts and seers...and all are in peril from the Nichni Politsiyi, the Night Police, which wish to eradicate them."

6. When Secrets Die by Lynn Hamilton (Lena Padget #3 / 2005). Always enjoy her mystery / thrillers.

"They have kept the heart of her child... They have accused her of murder... Angels of mercy...or the devil in disguise? Who owns your body, anyway?

Lynn Hightower's novels have tackled such diverse subjects as female serial killers and lethal debt collectors. Now, in her most explosive and controversial thriller to date, she exposes the hidden secrets of hospital pathology labs, the darkest mysteries of motherhood, and the most unthinkable crime of all.

Private investigator Lena Padgett has been approached by a single mother with a stunning tale to tell. Emma Marsden, still grieving over the death of her infant son from an inexplicable illness, has been dealt another devastating blow. Her pediatrician, Theodore Tundridge, has accused Emma of poisoning her son in a psychotic bid for attention. Emma wants to counter his charges by accusing Tundridge of keeping a shocking chamber of horrors in his pathology lab -- all the more frightening because it is entirely legal. Lena agrees to take on Emma's case and uncovers other suspicious deaths under the doctor's care. But when a secretly taped video incriminates Emma in the most intimate of ways -- and Emma's teenage daughter disappears -- even Lena isn't prepared for where the truth will take her."

7. The Seafarers by Nevil Shute (2002). Shute is one of the many authors on my bucket list... whose books I want to read completely.

"The story of a dashing British naval Lieutenant and a Wren who meet right at the end of the Second World War. Their romance is blighted by differences in social background and economic constraints; in unhappiness each turns to odd jobs in boating circles."

8. Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998). I'm currently reading another collection of Hopkinson's work and essays.

"The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways – farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother.

She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends."

and finally....

9. Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2 / 2021).

""The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin."

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but a game."

Enjoy the rest of March and maybe you'll see some April reading ideas here. Good night and happy dreams.

October Update

 

Firstly, I'm not going to comment on yesterday's Blue Jays game... *Sigh*

Secondly, this will be quick. Jo is having a round of chemo so I'm back here, waiting for some laundry to dry so she'll have fresh sheets when she gets home. In the meantime, a quick reading update.

Recently Completed

1. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (2025 / Non Fiction).

"I've had American War and What Strange Paradise by :Omar El Akkad on my book shelves for a few years now but when I bought his latest, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This|, I felt I should read it first. Now, having just completed it, I have a feeling that anything I say about it might just sound a bit trite. But I'll give it a go.

One Day is a non-fiction novel of despair, great despair, with a kernel of hope thrown in. The focus in on the ongoing destruction of Gaza by Israeli troops parsed with el Akkad's thoughts and feelings about it, about life, about democracy and liberalism and his ongoing despair. Each chapter starts with the devastation in Gaza. For example, Chapter One - Departure, starts

"An eighteen-month-old with a bullet wound to the forehead. Maybe the sniper was aiming elsewhere. Maybe there's some explanation. Maybe it was necessary." It's powerful and disturbing, but it needs to be said.

The chapters proceed, dealing with his life, his growing up, moving from country to country with his family and thoughts about that time and the present situation. Who is to blame, who isn't? The right wing who make pretty clear their stance on the 'war', the others.. or the Liberals, who use platitudes... 'It could be worse...'

The story moves throughout El Akkad's life to help clarify his thoughts, incidents that affected him, grew his ideas. But the crux is the despair he feels at what is happening, with the seeming acquiescence of the Western World. He mentions the revoking of funding to the World Relief Fund by Western countries, including my own Canada, due to the Aid organization employing some Hamas supporters; a small percentage in the whole organization, increasing the hunger and suffering in Gaza. 

But he does see some hope. Students risking degrees, potential jobs by protesting the events in Gaza, with sit-ins on campus. Boycotts of companies providing supplies to the Israeli war machine. Award programs risking funding of their activities by supporting Palestine, etc. 

As I say, I'm not doing this justice. Let me leave with this one quote that particularly struck me..

"But the notion that individuals who walk away [from the status quo] might find common cause, might use that cause to build something that, if not entirely separate from the system, is at least not completely aligned with it, reads to the system - to any system or empire - as fantasy. For someone fortunate enough to be born wearing the boot, the capacity for mercy may well extend only to how hard one chooses to step on the neck. That anyone should take the shoe off entirely, walk from the site of the trampling, is unthinkable. 

Or maybe it's not. Maybe the centers of power have always been cognizant of a very limited ability to punish or control those who refuse to participate. Negative resistance becomes, then, the only thing that truly terrifies an ordering of endless appetite......."

This book is beautifully written and if it at least makes you think, it's worth reading. (5.0 stars)"

2. The War of the Worlds, a Graphic Novel by Chris Mould (2024).

"Chris Mould's War of the Worlds: A Graphic Novel is the re-imagining of the classic Sci-Fi novel by HG Wells, putting it into a graphic novel format by Chris Mould. The book is one of my favourite Sci-Fi novels and just a great story. I've read 3 or 4 times over the course of my life. I was very interested in seeing how this version matched up.

For a graphic novel, it was excellent. It respected the original story with just minor changes and the art work was super, colored clearly and drawn beautifully. Some minor changes with the main character being an artist who is tasked to keep a written record of everything he sees. The story was basically the same, with Martian tripods invading England and the rest of the world in the late 1800's. The story focuses on the English countryside and how it is terrorized by the Tripods.

The story is much quicker but it still packs an impact and the main facts are still covered. I enjoyed reading it very much and it brought back fond memories of the original story. (3.5 stars)"

3. Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature edited by Becky Siegel Spratford (2025)

"I'm not actually sure where I heard about Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature by Becky Siegel Spratford. It's possible that I just saw it in one of my local book stores and decided to give it a try. Having said that there is no store identifier on it, so who knows... With that bit of rambling out of the way, it seemed an appropriate book to read since Hallowe'en month is just about upon us... Mwuuhaa! (That was my fear inducing chortle for you)

Why I Love Horror was edited by Becky Spratford, the Librarian & a professional book recommender in the field of Reader's Advisory, especially in the horror genre. She decided to approach a variety of horror writers and asked them if they would each write an essay on why they love and write horror. She ended up with a number of essays and chose 18. Of that list I'd specifically heard of or read about 5. Now having read this excellent book, I've been ordering a few more to try, including [book:101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered|61963198] by the lady who wrote the introduction, Sadie Hartmann, aka Mother Horror. I've also ordered books by Hailey Piper, Rachel Harrison, Tannarive Due and Brian Keene.

So about the book. Each chapter / essay is introduced by Becky Spratford, telling us about the particular author, a bit about their writing and what they will particularly talk about. She also recommends a book of that author to start with and also recommends another author who might be similar to the particular one. it's a nice intro to each author and their essay.

The essays do run the gamut but Becky does try to organize them in certain themes; childhood love of horror, life traumas and just thoughtful ideas about what horror encapsulates. The middle portion of the book, those three authors, Grady Hendrix, Cynthia Pelayo & Clay McLeod Chapman talk about their childhood's, their abuse, traumas and how horror helped them cope with this trauma. These 3 in particular are quite harrowing essays and should be read carefully..... 

But the whole book is engrossing. It was interesting to be introduced to such an accomplished group of authors and to once again pique my interest in the genre. All speak wonderfully and draw you in to their ideas. They each have a unique voice, unique writing styles (Paul Tremblay includes wonderful drawings by his daughter. I've been more interested in the genre of late and look forward to exploring it some more... Look out October!!! I'm about to start Red X by David Demchuk, coincidently one of the authors who provided an essay. I've had the book for about 4 years and it's time to check it out! (4.0 stars)"

4. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953).

"I have to say that for the first half of this book, Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953) that I wasn't really sure where it was going. I used to read Alternative History quite a bit a few years back, especially Harry Turtledove's, but I kind of lost interest in them.... so many shiny new genres and authors. 

Bring the Jubilee was very well written. I actually even liked the font and paper texture of the SF Masterworks edition that I was reading. It seemed to suit the mood and feel of the time period and story. But the story itself... well... Hodge Backmaker, the main character, was just drifting along in this alternate universe. He was from a small town in New York State. It was a decrepit life as all had changed when the Southron states won the war of Southron Independence. (the Civil War). The Union States were broke, under the thumb of the Confederate States. 

Backmaker moves to New York City where, after being mugged and robbed, he gets a 'job' with a book store owner, Tyss, who is a member of the Grand Army, an outlawed organization. Hodge works in the store, runs errands and just floats along. They argue philosophy.. According to Tyss, there is no free will, life is pre-ordained. He says that Hodge is fated to be a watcher of events, not a participant... Hodge also makes the acquaintance of the Haitian ambassador, Enfadin, and they become good friends. he offers a counterpoint to Tyss. Hodge loses a 'girlfriend' because of this friendship, Enfadin being a black man.

Eventually, Hodge makes his way to a community of intellectuals, because of an encounter with another woman, Barbara Haggerswell. Hodge had applied at a number of universities and Barbara had heard of them and came to see if he was interested in joining them. Basically, Hodge wants to study history, especially the history of the War of Southron Independence. (Ok,  I digress here. It's 1940ish. I should have mentioned that eh? I think I've been wandering around a bit with this review)

Hodge finds what he wants at Haggershaven, the community is run by Barbara's father. On his way there, he assists a young Spanish girl, Catty. She had been in a wagon that was attacked and robbed by highwaymen (yup, wandering again). Suffice it to say that both Catty and Hodge now live at Haggershaven. Hodge begins to write his history and Volume 1 is accepted. 

All this time, I'm wondering where the story is going.. I kind of like it, but it's not really grabbing me... Well! In the last 40 to 50 pages, the story moves from alternate history to time travel... And it begins an inexorable march to a fantastic ending... but I don't want to ruin that for you. It had one of those, 'oh yeah.... wonderful... ' endings... a realization of what was going to happen and just making you wonder and think about it... a lot.

The story was beautifully written. You can feel yourself traveling with Hodge. You can see what he sees. It made me remember how much I enjoyed Harry Turtledove, reminded me of The Man in the High Castle, makes me want to get onto the next books in the Jodi Taylor and the Connie Willis time travel series. The question to be answered.. in my mind... Was Hodge a piece of wood floating along the river with other pieces of wood or was he a butterfly.... 😎😁👍 (5 stars)

5. Watership Down, The Graphic Novel by James Sturm (2023). I've a few more of these reimaginings of classic novels still to read. I'm looking forward to them.

"50+ years ago I read the original Watership Down by Richard Adams and loved it so much I followed up with his Plague Dogs and Shardik. So when I saw  Watership Down: The Graphic Novel, an adaptation by James Sturm, I thought it might be nice to refresh my memory about the book. This adaptation is excellent, beautifully drawn and colored and respects the original novel so very much.

The story is about a group of rabbits who leave their warren and try to find a new home in which to live. They leave because Fiver, a fey rabbit who sees the future, persuades his brother Hazel that disaster is about to strike the warren at Sandleford. Many of the rabbits that live there don't believe them but a large group head away. On the way they are joined by a few other rabbits from Sandleford, including Bigwig, one of the chief rabbits guards. We find out from them what happened to Sandleford. (I won't ruin it by telling)

The group are firstly welcomed to another warren of very big rabbits, Cowsill's warren. There is something suspicious about these rabbits, kind of fat and not adventurous... (once again, I won't tell their secret.. 😎😉) but Fiver and Hazel persuade the group to move on... and a few of Cowsill's group also accompany them.

There are many adventures on the way but they do eventually arrive at Watership Down, where they build a new warren. The only problem is that they don't have any does. If they don't get some, they will basically die off within a couple of years. They discover another overcrowded warren, Efrafa, led by General Woundwort, who rules like a dictator.

Hazel's group try negotiations but eventually have to come up with a plan to help some of Woundwort's rabbits escape and join them. This action will result in the climactic ending to the story.

It was so wonderful to rekindle my memories about this fantastic story. The characters are wonderful. Hazel and Fiver and Bigwig and their whole group just draw you in. The friends they make along the way, especially Kehaar, the tern they save, are also wonderful and so helpful to the group. It's a great story, suitable for children and adults, adventuresome, touching, frightening heart-breaking and just a great read. Read both the book and this wonderful adaptation. (4.5 stars)"

6. Star Shapes by Ivy Grimes (2024).

"Star Shapes is a novella by American author Ivy Grimes. Katherine, a young HR worker, is kidnapped from outside of her apartment by 2 masked men, thrown into the trunk of their car and driven out to a cabin in the country. There she will be watched by a strange family; husband, Otto, wife Sandra and their two sons. Why? You ask? You'll have to find out for yourself.

The story deals with reincarnation and astrology / astronomy. The family thinks Katherine is someone important, someone who will help them deal with a person who affected their lives. The Star Shapes are not your normal astronomical ones, but those created by Otto's mother many years ago and they are introduced to Katherine as a kind of test.

It's a quick story, not one that grabbed me all that much but I didn't feel like putting it down, rather I did want to see how everything would tie together. It was ok.... 2.0 stars"

7. Joanna Russ; Novels and Stories by Joanna Russ. This collection of the stories of Joanna Russ has been a bit of a long haul but she is different and unique.

"I started this book back in April of 2025, so basically six months ago. I was trying to think where I first heard of the author, Joanna Russ and I believe it was when I was exploring the Library of America book listings. I had recently purchased their Poems from the Women's Movement and had also ordered some collections of Ursula LeGuin's books. The Joanna Russ collection, Joanna Russ: Novels & Stories (LOA #373): The Female Man / We Who Are About To . . . / On Strike Against God / The Complete Alyx Stories / Other Stories sounded interesting so I also ordered it.

This was my first experience of Russ's writing and I did have difficulty grasping her stories. Not her fault. She is a unique author. The collection if interesting and what I particularly enjoyed was the Chronology of Russ's life at the back of the book. It gave me a perspective of her life and let me get to know her a bit better.

It's difficult to describe where the stories fit in. There is a feminist element in all of them, especially The Female Man, We Who Are About To (a discovery of one's lesbianism), The Complete Alyx stories. There is a speculative fiction aspect to most of them, from The Female Man's concept of the disappearance of all men from the one world and the woman visits the 'dimension' where men still reside. We go on a strange space voyage in On Strike Against God. 

The Alyx stories are difficult to categorize. There is a kind of female Conan in some of the tales, a trip across an alien landscape with a group of odd people, etc. (Maybe they remind me a bit of George Wolfe... having said that I haven't read much by him) 

When It Changed harks back to The Female Man, just a short vignette and Souls is a historical 'fantasy' about an Abbess trying to save her English village from shiploads of invading Vikings... maybe my favorite story.

I had trouble getting into some of the stories, more so some than others, but there was a quality that kept me going, wanting to read more of her writing. Russ has a way with words, creates interesting characters and unique settings. Is she for everyone? That's not for me to decide. The Library of American thought enough of her work to create this collection. I'm glad that I made the effort to read all of the stories. I'd suggest checking out Joanna Russ. A difficult collection to rate as some were preferred, but I'll provide this rating. (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

(Just books started in October. You'll notice that they all have a similar theme.)

1. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971)

"For over twenty years, Belasco House has stood empty. Its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of almost unimaginable horror and depravity. Two previous expeditions to investigate its secrets met with disaster, the participants destroyed by murder, suicide or insanity.

Now a new investigation brings four strangers to the forbidding mansion who are determined to probe Belasco House for the ultimate secrets of life and death. Each has his or her own reason for daring the unknown torments and temptations of the mansion, but can any soul survive what lurks within the most haunted house on Earth?"

2. Our Love Will Devour Us by R.L. Meza (2023).

"A remote cabin in A snowy forest could be the perfect place for Claire and Emma to work on their marriage and bond with their two children, if only it didn’t come with so many memories of Claire’s inhumane treatment at the hands of her abusive mother, and if only the strange abandoned schoolhouse nearby didn’t have a dark history of its own. When their children go missing in a snowstorm, the two mothers must put their personal troubles aside and rely on one another to get them back, but nothing has prepared them to face the ever-growing horror that steps lightly in the storm.

Soon the two mothers are forced to ask themselves, how far would you go to save the ones you love?"

3. The Girls in the Cabin by Caleb Stephens (2023).

"A dad will do anything to keep his daughters safe. But the phone lines are down. The roads are blocked. And the woman in the cabin is hiding a terrible secret . . .

This camping trip is Chris’s last chance to repair his relationship with his daughters, Kayla and Emma. Nothing’s been the same since they lost their mom. But things go wrong as soon as they get to the mountains.

When they make camp, nine-year-old Emma runs off into the woods. By the time they find her, there’s a snowstorm rolling in. And Emma’s leg is badly broken. They need to find shelter, fast.

They think they’re safe when they come across an old farmstead. The woman inside welcomes them in from the howling blizzard and straps up Emma’s leg.

They settle down for the night, but when Chris wakes at dawn and looks over . . . Emma is gone.

And this family’s nightmare is only just beginning."

(Did you see a theme there? Still a few more to go in October, I believe)

(Ed Note. Just returned from picking up Jo at the hospital. She's feeling pretty good. Will finish this and get supper on.. Left over mashed potatoes and chicken)

New Books

(Some of my October purchases)

1. Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper (2025).

"13 coming-of-rage stories the way only Bram Stoker Award-winning author Hailey Piper can tell them—wildly inventive, brilliantly imaginative, and completely and utterly enthralling.

A vicious group of college upperclassmen prey on the freshman girls in "Why We Keep Exploding;" an impossible world of sinister desire opens beneath a family basement in "A Living Piece of Time;" a girl on a night out realizes a bizarre cop is hunting her in "The Long Flesh of the Law;" and in the acclaimed novella "Benny Rose, the Cannibal King," a Halloween prank goes horribly wrong when a murderous ghost steps out of an urban legend and into the real world.

These stories take our most difficult years of transformation and twist them into new and terrifying shapes, where the monsters are real and you'll do whatever it takes to get away, or get even."

2. System Collapse by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #7 / 2023).

"Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast."

3. Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2021).

"I am going to make a momentous decision. Most likely it is a bad decision. Certainly it may be the last major decision I ever make.

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).

But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon. . . ."

4. Coup de Grace by Sofia Afram (2024).

"A mind-bending and visceral experimental horror about a young man trapped in an infinite Montreal subway station, perfect for listeners of Mark Z. Danielewski and Susanna Clarke.

Vicken has a throw himself into the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal and end it all for good, believing it to be the only way out for him after a lifetime of depression and pain. But, stepping off the subway, he finds himself in an endless, looping station.

Determined to find a way out again, he starts to explore the rooms and corridors ahead of him. But no matter how many claustrophobic hallways or vast cathedral-esque rooms he passes through, the exit is nowhere in sight.

The more he explores his strange new prison, the more he becomes convinced that he hasn't been trapped there accidentally, and amongst the shadows and concrete, he comes to realize that he almost certainly is not alone.

A terrifying psychological nightmare from a powerful new voice in horror."

5. Alchemised by SenLin Yu (2025).

"In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her son and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost."

So there you go. Some new reading ideas for you, mayhaps? Take care and stay safe.