Sunday musings

I have come across two challenges today, that are mini-challenges specifically for March:


March Mystery Madness, hosted by Christina at  Reading Thru the Night, is about reading mysteries and posting a link to her blog.  That's all.  I neglected my mystery reading badly in February and have a huge pile to get to.  I like the idea of March Mystery Madness, too!  I'm mad for mysteries.....

The other challenge is for next week: The Irish Short Story Week Year Two, and is for the one week:  Mel at The Reading Life is hosting this one. It is on from March 12-22.  I can read a short story or three!  I mean, ghost stories from Sheridan LeFanu count, as well as convincing myself I can read Ulysses by reading one of James Joyce's short stories, counts. As I am part Irish, we always celebrate St Patrick's Day in my house, so this fits right in with the Irish Stew and the cabbage and the tea we have :-)  plus the wearing of the green.  You only have to read one story for the week, though Mel has drawn up a list of reading he wants to do every day.  Anyone in the mood for some Oscar Wilde?  Anne Enright? I wish poetry counted too - I will read some Yeats anyway, just because he is Irish, and in general to celebrate Irishness next week. Maybe I can find a short mystery story by an Irish writer and do both challenges at once!

Currently reading

I am currently reading Fables: Witches, and loving it.  I think it might be the darkness - I mean, they box up Death in the beginning, and he reminds me of the creepy Gentlemen from the Buffy episode I watched a few months ago (season 4). The nightmare creatures were captured, but there was an unbinding spell performed (in the book before, I believe, since Witches is dealing with the aftereffects) and now all the nightmares are released again - due to Death, of course.

 Baba Yaga is in the section I am reading now, and she has horrible spiders around her, as well as her chicken legs house.....I love this series.  Fairy tales twisted.  I know I should wait for Once Upon a Time in a few weeks, but I have these out from the library (I have Rose Red out also), and I don't know if I can renew them (since they are so wildly popular), so I'm reading them while I have them.  I think I might break down and by this one, it's so good.  I'll review more when I finish it.  ***It turns out I never reviewed Hush, as it was at the time that my husband and I were separating.  I did watch "Hush", and it is still as terrifying as ever.  The whole episode is magical and frightening.  Losing your voice, everyone losing their voices, and those gentlemen moving soundlessly, floating just above the ground. 

I've also begun the short stories of Connie Willis, in The Winds of Marble Arch.  I read the titular story last night. It almost made me cry at the ending. It's the story of a married couple who return to England for a visit, and of how the main character experiences a cold wind that smells of death, while in the London Underground.  He spends the next few days exploring where he feels them (even as they are awful and hair-raising, he wants to know more), and in the end, it becomes a musing on the arch we all go through.  It ends unexpectedly beautifully, and that's what made me want to cry.  I find this often in Willis's short stories, that what the story is about ends up - even if it's science fiction based - to do with emotions, and being a person.  Subterranean Press insists they put out a trade softcover version, though if they did they sold out so quickly that I never saw it.  This book is now on my most-wanted list.

So what are you reading on this Sunday in early March?  Do you have any plans for this month?  And yes, I've noticed none of these are mysteries!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - RIP VI

Lately I have been having a little Buffy nostalgia.  "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was one of my favourite tv shows in the 1990's.  My eldest son grew up watching it with me.  Every week we would wait for our next episode of what danger Buffy and the Scooby gang could get into, fighting vampires, demons, monsters, and the dangers of growing up in Sunnydale California.  I loved the mix of humour, teen angst, horror, scariness, and fabulous monsters week in and week out.  I enjoyed so much watching the characters grow and evolve, all the while facing dangers and temptation and learning about what they could do.  Buffy is one of the few tv characters I have dreamed about.  This is an awesome tv show, that even when I rewatch it, has aged  well - it's timeless, magical, scary fun.  With a group of friends who share the scariest moments in life:  Willow and  Xander, and Giles, Buffy's Watcher, and Angel, the vampire who is Buffy's love of her life.  Plus the adorable bad vampire frenemy Spike, who is so bad that he's good.  Yes, there were cheesy moments and so-so storylines, but on the whole the writing and dialogue were superb.  The acting was good, and sometimes the show could be dark and terrifying and haunting and beautiful. 

Imagine my surprise when I learned that there were graphic novels out now, with the approval and some assistance of the chief creator and writer himself, Joss Whedon. In 2009 I read vol 2 No Future for You, and vol 3 Wolves at the Gate.  In 2010 I read vol 4 Time of Your Life. I wondered, each time, would it be as good as the tv show?  Would the characters be true to themselves?  What were they doing,  after the 8th and final series ended on tv?

I have no fears now.  The graphic novels pick up from where the tv show ended.  All the characters are there, Willow, Xander, Faith, Giles, and Buffy herself.  At first it was odd seeing them on the page, after spending 8 years watching them on tv.  Then, magic happened.  I heard the snarkiness in Xander's voice, the softness of Willow as she screws up and saves Buffy in the nick of time, and most of all: Buffy.  Buffy, a little more grown-up, a little world-weary, and never ever giving up.  She's still feisty and running around saving everyone, still irrepressible and beautiful.

Peril the First
So for this year's RIP VI challenge I borrowed  another book in the series, Predators and Prey, from the library recently.   I read it this past  weekend, enjoying it immensely.  The art and the storytelling are prime Buffy writing, and the imaginative use of toy kitties is fun. They never will be quite the same for me, either.      Plus it has a monster that if ever brought to the screen I would have to run screaming from the room.  And it still manages to have tender moments, friendship, and humour. Amazing.  I think I might end up buying this series.
Verdict: I highly recommend this graphic novel series for anyone who is missing Buffy, or needing some fun and slightly creepy vampire novels to read. .

Perils of the Screen
That's not all - reading Predators and Prey vol 5 (which indeed features a scary monster that is nightmare -inducing) made me want to see some Buffy again. I happen to own the first four seasons, so I watched "Fear Itself", episode 4 of Season 4:  the Hallowe'en episode about trick or treating at a frat party.  Only it's not just a frat party, a monster has been summoned and the frat house turns into a house of fear for whoever enters.  Each of the Scooby gang have to face their own personal fear, before they face the monster at the heart of it all.  Very well done, and exactly right for RIP. It's a perfect mix of humour - Anya the demon dressed in a bunny costume is hilarious!  Oz as God!  - and the scenes in the house are delightfully shivery.  Next up:  "Hush", from this same season 4, which won Buffy the Vampire Slayer an Emmy award.  This episode is very frightening and magical and even funny at moments.  It is truly terrifying in the best way that fairy tales can be, very dark, very scary, and fabulous.  The episode says: " They are creatures from a fairy tale, first they steal your voice, then they start stealing hearts."  It's also perfect for RIP, and I'll write about it when I see it, hopefully by this weekend. 

apologies (blogger is being bad!)
I do apologize, Blogger is not allowing me to add any photos tonight, of Buffy or the Peril of the Screen photo.  I am sad, I love this photo and was looking forward to using it!  Next time then.....