R.I.P. VIII at long last, and plenty of scary books to come

                                                           

RIP is finally here!  Even though I am late with my post, don't fear, Gentle Readers.  I have already been busy and read a book for this challenge on Sunday, the first day the challenge began!

    As always, I thank Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting this challenge.  This is one of my two most favourite challenges, the other one being Once Upon a Time in the spring, which he also hosts.  Fantasy and horror, my two favourite genres along with mystery.

Above are the books I am considering reading.  I hope to read many of them in the pile, just to get more read from my shelves (and because I do really want to read each and every one of them).  Missing from the pile are the new Stephen King Dr Sleep, because it's not out yet, Drood by Dan Simmons because I'm afraid if I put it on the list I won't read it (and I've owned it for 5 years now), and the new Stuart McBride mystery Birthdays for the Dead, which I forgot about until after I took the photo.

The list is:
Hell House - Richard Matheson ***just read on Sunday, will review next post. Mini first impression:  Really enjoyed it. Could not read alone at night. Too scary for that!
I Remember You - Yrsa Sigurdardottir - not one of her Thora Gudmunsdottir mystery series.  This is a stand-alone ghost story. It looks very creepy, and she is good with eerie atmosphere. I am curious how good a ghost story this will be.   I bought it last week  along with
Children of the Night - Dan Simmons, which I suddenly discovered I had NOT read, and it features vampires, and I love Dan Simmons (despite not having read Drood yet, which is more because the copy I have is hardcover and is so darn big I can't carry it anywhere.  I almost bought the paperback just so I can read it this time around.  The Terror by him is one of my all-time favourite horror novels, (linked to my review in 2008) and I just discovered that this fall is a bonanza time for me because there is a new book coming out by Dan Simmons also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This would be Book 3 of the Books I Really Want This Fall:
                                                        
                         The Abominable.  While it features snow and ice, this time it's climbing mountains, not lost in the Arctic.  It's out Oct 23, so I might be able to talk myself into getting it before RIP is over.  As this is just before my two boys' birthdays, it's sometimes difficult to buy something for me in the midst of their special days.  Christmas, then.  For sure!!!
     Anyway, back to Children of the Night: vampires.  Romania after it opened in the 1990s - remember the stories of the abandoned children in all those orphanages? Dreadful times in history, and I didn't realize this novel is based in that time.  A baby in an orphanage is dying, and responds to a blood transfusion.......
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield:  because my friend Pat over at Here, There and Everywhere Blog LOVES this book.  Now there's another book by the same author out, Bellman and Black, and I should read the one I do own, first.  I can't link to the review Pat has of The Thirteenth Tale, though it does crop up often in her posts (she loves it that much).
Dead Scared - S.J. Bolton.  This is the second book in the Lacey Flint series.  In the first book, Now You See Me, reviewed here, Lacey has to deal with a serial killer who is playing on Jack the Ripper story.  In Dead Scared, she goes to Cambridge University to catch someone who is drugging people, who then commit suicide.  *shiver*
Talking to the Dead - Harry Bingham - I've seen this reviewed over at Crime Fiction Lover,  and somewhere else that I can no longer remember.  DC Fiona Griffiths is recovering from a breakdown, and may or may not pick up things that no one else can.....
Every Dead Thing - John Connolly - first in the Charlie Parker series.  I managed in July to get past the horrific scene of his dead wife and child.  Now, to start again and this time try to get through this lovely mystery with a very evil killer (which gives me chills).
Angel Cafe - Jill Morrow - a psychic, fortune telling, a spirit guide who isn't nice.....
I am Legend - Richard Matheson - I enjoyed the first movie based on this book, the Charlton Heston  movie Omega Ma. Then the Will Smith version came out, and it was even better.  It's time I went to the original source and read the book.  I still get the heebie-jeebies at the idea of being all alone in the city, and then something moves.
Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch.  2nd in the Peter Grant 'he can see dead people' mystery series.  What's not to love in this series?  Serious magic, a wizard for a chief detective, and Peter himself, an novice in the field of seeing the dead, and kind to boot.  Set in London, a bonus.
Deadline - Mira Grant.  2nd in the Georgia and Shawn Mason  zombie series.  I read the first one, Feed, and really enjoyed it.  It took me this long to recover from the ending of the first book enough that I now have to know what happens next.
The Shining - Stephen King - so I am refreshed and ready for Doctor Sleep.  The Shining is one of my ultimate horror books.  I'm so anxious for Doctor Sleep.  I'm a little afraid it won't be as good as The Shining, but I have high hopes.
The Summoning - Bentley Little.  Anyone who wins Horror Novel of the year is a good horror writer,so I am curious to try him.  This looks interesting, a series of unexplained events in a small Arizona town...
The Small Hand - Susan Hill.  A ghost story by the author of The Woman in Black!  I don't need to say anymore, do I?  Except that I loved The Woman in Black, so I'm hoping to get some eerie chills again.
The Greatcoat - Helen Dunmore.  Another ghost story, a rave review by Eva over at A Striped Armchair, and Bride of the Book God, and I had to get this.
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness.  It sounds terrifying, a little boy whose mother is dying of cancer, and he has to fight another kind of monster all on his own.  Also heartbreaking.  I'm almost scared to read this, since I am sure I will cry while reading this.
Red Bones - Ann Cleeves - 3rd in the Shetland Island series featuring Jimmy Perez.  I really liked the first two books in this series.  There is something island-like and claustrophobic that is appealing (the solitude, nature, the sea) and not so appealing (everyone knows you, hard to be a recluse or hide away without being some kind of outcast), and downright nasty murders.  I was thrilled to see Book 5 has just come out, so it's no longer the Shetland Quartet.
The Last Policeman - Ben Winters. Thea James from The Book Smugglers posted a lovely review at Kirkus last month, and pushed this book up onto this pile for me.  An end of the world mystery novel.  What would you do if the world was coming to an end?  Would you stay in your job?  Would it matter if crimes were solved?  That's the theme of this book, with the policeman, Detective Hank Palace, staying in his job because for him, it does matter.  That feeling of icy dread in your stomach?  That's the end of the world coming.....definitely a book for RIP VIII.
                                               

 So this means I am going for Peril the First, which is   : Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux…or anyone in between.
                                                                                 
I am also going for Peril the Screen.  Definitely!  Legend of Hell House, which I have already seen, and now that I've finally read the novel, want to re-watch.  Possibly The Haunting of Hill House, and The Shining (to go along with reading the novel). Finish Ripper Street.  A whole bunch of possibilities.....
                                                             
and I am, as ever, going for Peril The Short Story.  I think I might make a post up of some of the collections I have, just so you can ooh and awe over how many collections there are (and I don't have them all! definitely not) and pique your interest.  There are so many good horror collections, anthologies, short stories, to choose from.

Happy scary reading, everyone!

The book I am most waiting for this fall is......

   I am so excited.  I am starting to count down the days!  Needless to say, I'm getting this in hardcover the day it comes out.  What's that, you say?  Susan, you don't like hard covers, you can't carry them?  That's true.  But this book I plan on staying in and reading all that weekend.  I'm not going anywhere, dear readers.  The book I am talking about is, of course:
                             

The new horror book from Stephen King.  Doctor Sleep carries on the story of Danny Torrance from The Shining.  The Shining is one of my all-time favourite novels, and is due for a reread, which is so handy considering the sequel is just about to come out!.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading slump or no (see my  post  from yesterday), at least I'll have The Shining and Doctor Sleep read in September.  The hard part is waiting for RIP to officially start, so I can count it as one of my RIP books.  And Doctor Sleep.  I can hardly wait!!!!!  What happened when Danny grew up???????????

To get you (and me) into the mood for RIP, here is a link to an Entertainment Weekly interview with Stephen King from last winter, about how he came to write Doctor Sleep.

One month from tomorrow, my Gentle Readers! Doctor Sleep is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting ready for RIP (thanks to Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings)

          So there I was, enjoying the sunshine, that it is still summer, and I went to Carl's page and saw this post by him, and read the stunner of a story he links us to, Mrs Henderson's Cemetery Dance by Carrie Cuinn.   It has a delightful humorous touch, a gothic feel, a melancholic dead skeleton story, for lack of a better description.  Not ghosts.  Skeletons. It is very good.  And it put me right into the frame of mind for Carl's upcoming Readers Imbibing Peril VIII challenge coming up in the fall.

So, even though I have a shelf already full of books ready for RIP, and it's still sunny and very warm outside, I ended up going to one of my favourite sites for finding what's new and good in the world of horror and science fiction and fantasy:  Locus Magazine, online.  Carl, by the way, also has a post up about Locusmag, because he has the July edition featuring NEIL GAIMAN on the cover, and darn it, I let my subscription lapse in April. Boo me!  I have just resubscribed, and am hoping I'm in time for the July edition.  Anyway, it looks a really good interview by Neil in it, so if you're a Neil Gaiman fan, go and take a look.

In the meantime, when I wandered to Locus Magazine to see what was happening, I discovered that they have a listing of all the current nominees and winners of the various awards given out for science fiction, fantasy, and horror, the world over.  This is an excellent way to find out what's good in any of these areas of literature.

I have promptly added (and drooled over) the following books I didn't know existed:

All nominated under 2013 British Fantasy Award Nominees,  Anthologies:
- Magic, An Anthology of the Esoteric and the Arcane, ed Jonathan Oliver.
- The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women, ed Marie O'Regan
- Terror Tales of the Cotswalds - ed Alison Littlewood

Nominated for Best Horror (the August Deleth Award), under the same British Fantasy Awards:
-  The Kind Folk -Ramsey Campbell
- The Last Days - Adam Nevill
  Neither of which I knew was out, and I will be seeking at the library.

Here is the entire list of 2013 British Award nominees.  I am happy to see Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan nominated, as is Railsea by China Mieville.  I am delighted to see Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce, nominated in both categories, as I have it on my pile to read asap.....

The  2012 Bram Stoker Awards were also announced in New Orleans in June, winning list is here.  There are some very good books on this list too.  Caitlin Kiernan (Drowning Girl, which I have to read), Maggie Stiefvater, Bentley Little (I just found one of his books to try), and The Diviners by Libba Bray, which I am so hoping to read for RIP!!  when a list includes these names, there are going to be some really good horror/dark fantasy/ghost stories to read somewhere on it.  Even more awesome, a list of poetry books!!!  And when Joyce Carol Oates wins in a tie for best collection, well, there is something for everyone for RIP.

Have fun planning!  Enjoy the summer daylight while it lasts, and soon autumn will be here, with cooling days and darker nights....., and thank Carl for this, today!

RIP VI - Horror, ghosts, spookiness, my favourite time of year

It's here!  It's here, it's here, it's here!  RIP VI, the annual horror/ghost story/suspense reading challenge hosted by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings.  I am, you can tell, so very excited.  Not only that, but it's the angel from 'Blink', only one of my favourite Dr Who episodes, EVER!!!!  *happy sigh from Ottawa*

I do have to apologize, I meant to do at least two posts while waiting for RIP to start, but life got in the way.  It's been one of those years, I think, where I am barely hanging on.  I think about posting quite often!  I've started many in my head, on my way home from work.  Posts on books I've read, books I should have reviewed but didn't get around to, books I got out from the library, super reads.......one day they will get done. Right now, I'm reading, my way of keeping sane in a year that making me look at who I really am, and where I want to go from here. 

Before I post my list for RIP, I have to add this very short funny story:  I went to Montreal last weekend, a quick family get-away.  Because of my knee, which is still not healed all the way, I can only do short trips right now.  So off we went on the train for a weekend holiday.  Around the corner from our hotel, was a Chapters.  Convenient, you say? Yes.  Planned?  No, I did not know until after we booked it! At this Chapters, I discovered the Ellen Datlow ghost story anthology I have been looking for for almost a year: The Dark.

  A sign?  Yes, I think so.  I snatched it up and held it close to my chest.  It was the only book I bought last weekend, a rare event in my book-buying life.  So I am treating myself to a RIP book-buying binge quick trip at some of my favourite Ottawas bookstores this Friday.  A girl needs some good ghost stories/mysteries to cheer her up, right?

I have picked more mysteries this year, partly because they are all sitting on my shelves, partly because one of my reading goals is to get to 50 mysteries read this year. 

SUSAN'S RIP VI LIST  ***partial only, despite the long list
The World of Charles Addams - collection of Charles Addams illustrations
macabre drawings, creator of the Addams family, black humour that is witty
Kraken - China Mieville - Giant squid!  Just on that alone, I had to read this book. 
The Dark: New Ghost Stories - Ellen Datlow - see prev post.
Blackwater - Kerstin Ekman - a Scandinavian mystery that I keep hearing about, dark and terrifying, that took me several years to find.  I found it during my first visit to Book Bazaar, a second-hand bookstore here in Ottawa, last week. 
Birdman - Mo Hayder - another mystery I have been almost too scared to read.  Grisly is one word I keep coming across.  I will try it, anyway, though graphic descriptions are not what I find scary (and tend to bother me since I am a visual person).  The series is supposed to be very good.
Grendel - John Gardner - I've wanted to read this for a very long time.  From the point of view of the monster in Beowulf. 
The Surgeon - Tess Gerritsen - another creepy mystery thriller.  The first in the Rizzoli and Isles series.
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley  - so many of you bloggers have enjoyed this one!  Specifically Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made of.  The House With the Clock in Its Walls - John Bellair - I read Face in the Frost last year, and really enjoyed it.  This book is for children, and looks deliciously spooky.      
Chill of Fear - Kay Hooper - Just sitting on my shelf.  Spooky Crimes unit special, FBI plus heroine with psi powers. 
A Fine and Private Place - Peter S. Beagle - I have never read this classic ghost story by him. 
Tricks - Ed McBain - I know, this has been on my list for several years.  Now is the time! Set during Hallowe'en, it's perfect for RIP.....
Winter House - Carol O'Connell - a Mallory mystery, this one is called a family gothic.
Mallory is one of the most fascinating main characters in modern fiction.  I can hardly wait to read this one.  I'm two behind in the series, so this will start to catch me up.
Dark Harvest - Norman Partridge - Can't resist a book with a pumpkin on the cover!  Plus, Chris again recommended this one. 
The Keeper - Sarah Langan - her debut horror novel, by all accounts very scary.  The titular figure is also named Susan, so how could I resist?
A Dark Matter - Peter Straub - a horror story par excellence, about a ritual gone badly wrong many years ago and the hero's quest to find out what happened that night.
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters - a classic ghost story, one I've been meaning to read, and I think it's time has come.  I'm the last person in the world to NOT have read this yet.
Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - he discovers he can talk to ghosts, and he is on the police force.  Recommended by Bride of the Book God. (Yes, the book has a different title over here than in England).
Manitou Blood - Graham Masterton - I wrote in my last post that I didn't know he had a vampire novel out.  I read his The Manitou years ago, and it was so frightening.  It was about the aboriginal spirits called Manitous, and if you can find it, it's worth it.  I'm hoping Manitou Blood will be as frightening.
this one a paranormal mystery complete with an 'entity' who means no good for our heroine.
Angel Cafe - Jill Morrow - another book lurking on my shelves,
Falling Angel - William Hjortsberg - a mystery that features voodoo, black magic, and murder.  Highly recommended when it first came out in 1979. About time I read it, right?
Every Dead Thing - John Connolly.  The first book in his Charlie Parker series, he sees ghosts.  Supposed to be gory too, certainly the description of the first bodies was. I tried to read it a few years ago, and stopped after a few pages.  I'm hoping this time it will go better, as the series does look really interesting.  Intense and terrifying is what I've heard about this book.  Have you read it?
Poltergeist - Kat Richardson - 2nd book in the Harper Blaine, PI, paranormal mysteries. She can see ghosts and spirits and the undead, all that hover between this world and the next.  I enjoyed the first one, Greywalker, very much. 

Have you read any of these?  What are you looking forward to reading this year?
I am going to be doing RIP the first, of course.  I'm also going to do RIP Screen, since I love ghost  and horror movies.  I am not sure yet what I will be watching for this challenge. 

Musings on horror books

So, this year, for the first time in a few years, I have been reading horror fairly consistently.    I say to myself  - RIP challenge - and then start reading the book. 

Currently on the pile to be read I have:
Manitou Blood by Graham Masterton (his version of vampires, I haven't seen this before.  The Manitou by him was one of the scariest books I read, a few years ago)
The Best Horror of the Year Vol 1 - ed Ellen Datlow (it comes highly recommended, replaces the horror part of Year's Best Horror and Fantasy collection she did with Terri Windling. I just bought it this week, and not sure I can wait for RIP!)
Swan Song - Robert McCammon (reread from 20 years ago) - very excited to reread this again.
Darkness - Two Decades of Modern Horror - ed Ellen Datlow - another collection, this time of her collection of the best horror short stories published between 1984 and 2005
Under the Dome - Stephen King - Uncle Steve! horror!  big book to get lost in!
Drood - Dan Simmons - Dickens, madness, and terror. Yum.
A Dark Matter - Peter Straub - a magic ritual goes wrong, and twenty years later someone tries to find out what really happened.  Another yum.
Hell House - Richard Matheson - I've seen the movie several times (The Legend of Hell House) but never read the book. I decided it was time to right this wrong.  I know it will scare me, as the movie scares me (most delightfully and shiveringly).  How long until RIP starts???

Out of the library I currently have:
Haunted - James Herbert - a reread, it turns out, but again it's been at least 15 years since I read it
The Ghost Writer - John Harwood (based on Daphne's review a few years ago)

I have read this year:
The Unseen - Alexandra Sokoloff (review here)

The Red Tree - Caitlin R Kiernan - This is a chilling haunted house read.  Actually, haunted tree by a house book.  Young woman escapes unhappy romance to hide out in house in the woods.....a house with a terrible history of people disappearing in and around it.  This book features a scary relationship with a roommate and downward spiralling of insanity.  Very scary in places.  Highly recommended.

Handling the Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist - one of my favourite books this year so far.  A book about zombies, but also about the loved ones who try to cope.  What would you do if suddenly the dead started to come to life?  What if your loved dead ones were stirring?  This book is about three recently come back to life people, and the repercussions on their families.  It's also about Stockholm, and society, and how they cope with the dead and newly returned.  It's also about what makes a person a person, that mysterious living part of us that goes when we die.  The worst things about zombies is that they are shells because this mysterious part is not brought back (in any zombie fiction.)  But could you resist seeing your loved one, one more time?  Just to touch them?  Hope that spark is there?

Apartment 16 - Adam Neville - I just finished reading this last week.  What a fun horror novel, and so very frightening.  A lot of horror fiction relies on the unstability of the narrator.  It's as if horror can't come into our sphere until we give it an opening, usually because of madness in some form.  I disagree with this.  I don't think instability is a precursor to good horror fiction.  I think there is horror all around us, and in our natures, and the trick is to make it believable without relying on madness.  That said, in Apartment 16, madness is at the center of the horror.  An artist long ago created obsessively pictures of the vortex, the swirling darkness that we go to when we die (that he believes anyway).  It's a disturbing vortex, filled with the true faces of people, all hideously deformed and distorted - their vices and desires, their lack of spiritual light, becomes their consignment to this swirling hell.  What he eventually creates though, is an entrance for that hell, in his apartment - Apt 16.  Apryl, the niece of an aunt who turns out to have a connection to the artist, inherits her aunt's apartment in the same building where the artist lived.  The book is about how she learns about the artist, and her aunt, and how the power of evil, and that morbid fascination does have its own strength.  This was a horrifying picture of madness, gripping, and sad in some ways.  Mostly, a book to read with the lights on and someone around to remind you things are normal where you are......I will not forget how mirrors are used in this book, for a long time, either.

The Passage - Justin Cronin (review here)

Button, Button - Richard Matheson (short story collection) - The title is from the first story in this short story collection.  It was made into a movie recently called The Button.  I didn't see the movie.  I did enjoy the short story very much - it is perfect, the story of what happens when a stranger calls and offers money in exchange for a life. Would you push the button?  Eerie.  Most of the stories are not quite as frightening as this one, which calls up the dark side of human nature, but the collection is enjoyable and nerve-tingling in places.


Horror books I would like to get for RIP:
Koko - Peter Straub
Feed - Mira Grant
The Dark - ed Ellen Datlow
Haunted Legends - ed Ellen Datlow
The Thirteen - Susie Moloney ***Canadian author, wrote The Dwelling a few years ago, a disturbing and very good haunted house book that has scenes that still bother me today.  The Thirteen just got published and I'm on the library waiting list, so I might see this next year.....

I'm not sure what has me reading horror this year, though I am enjoying it very much.  Apartment 16 is really terrifyng.  The Unseen is one of the best haunted house books I've read in a long time.  Handling the Undead took the zombie story and turned it upside down.  It is haunting and beautiful and exactly what examining horror should be, from all sides - the victims and the zombies, who are also accursed.  The Passage is excellent.

I have a few other books ready also for RIP, but I want to save them for a surprise so when I go to do my post in the next few weeks, I will have something to add to the list!

Are you busy getting ready for RIP?  What are you thinking of reading?  Are there any horror or ghost story books you really recommend for this challenge?  Let me know.  As you can see, I'm always looking for new and good horror to read. 

As we head into fall soon - and already our leaves are starting to change colour here, which is very early for us - I'm thinking about ghost stories and horror, and what I really enjoy about them.  Why do I read them?  Why do you, dear Reader?  Do you like being thrilled?  Scared, safely in the comfort of your home?  Do you like that eerie frisson of chill running over your skin when you read a particularly scary line or scene?  I know that I am always on the lookout for this.  It's delightful and shivery at the same time.  There is nothing like a good chill. 

I also find that horror tales are cautionary.  They remind me of what not to do.  Don't go into the unknown house alone.  If lights keep flickering on and off and you get chills and the sense you are not alone, you're not!  Horror also tells me what to do/not to do when I find myself in a scary situation.  The edge that horror has though, is that often it's from deep within our subconscious, so we can't control these deeper urges, or we are overtaken by events that we are powerless to do anything but try to survive.  The best horror shows us a way out, reminding us that there is a price to pay for going to the edge of the dark, where terror and truth lie.  It's also exciting, and a safe way to confront our darkest fears. 

Sunday Salon - Stephen King is back!!!

Sometimes, very occasionally, a book is worth the buzz around it. Even more rarer, a book is better than the reviews. I am so thrilled to say that Duma Key deserves more rave reviews than it got. It's a return to vintage Stephen King, MINUS the extra gore-fest that he admitted in his first writing nonfiction look at horror book, Danse Macabre, that he would do if he got stuck when writing. He would go for the gross-out rather than holding back. In Duma Key, he has learned how to hold back, and for the first time since The Shining, I found myself scared, and hearing noises in the dark that weren't really there, and scared of my open windows at the back balcony - I had to close them both in order to get rid of the feeling someone was there, looking in, so I could finish the book. That's how effectively creepy Duma Key is. And I am so delighted to be able to say it. Uncle Stevie is back.

Duma Key is about a wealthy construction owner who survives a terrible accident at one of his worksites, and what happens to him afterward. A lot of people aren't aware that when there is a head injury, sometimes the personality changes, and anger and other emotions are much more uncontrollable for the victim. King writes about this in his character, and it is one of the strengths of this novel that the anger doesn't take over; this is not a novel about rage, it's a novel about finding strength to recover no matter the odds. And Edgar Freemantle loses a lot in this story, but he doesn't lose his sense of humour, and Stephen King the author doesn't lose the plot.

So now you are asking me, "So Susan, what about the horror? Is there any good horror in this story?" Oh my, yes, there is. To aid in his recovery, Edgar's doctor recommends a change of scenery, and Edgar goes, as many people do, to someplace warm: Florida. Except he's not in the centre of Florida with all the snowbirds (as we call our Canadians who head down south for the winter, and there are a lot of us, thus the term!), he's down on the edge of Florida in the Gulf, on a tiny island which is called a key. And this is not a good island to live on. It is owned by one family, the Eastbournes, that Edgar finds during the novel have a tragic history. But he only discovers this slowly, because Edgar discoveres that he can draw, and not only can he draw, he is almost possessed to do so.

This part of the book where Edgar lets the paintings come through him, the focus and the opening of himself to it, feels so authentic - this is what an artist does, this is what any creative person does, this is how Stephen himself recovered from his terrible car accident when he was hit by the truck driven by a man who had bent over to dig some food - a steak I believe -for his dog. The truck smashed into Stephen, as we all know, and he almost died. Some of that recovery process is used to excellent service in Duma Key. One of the best things is that Edgar doesn't question opening himself to his art; he does not know what he is painting or why, the pictures just come to him, so he paints them. When he discovers that the figure he is painting is someone he loves, both he and us the reader share in that awful moment of clarity that something dreadful might happen, might be happening, and can it be stopped?

There are genuinely terrifying moments in this book, of which one scene has direct links to a scene in The Shining, but I don't want to say any more. I do know that if I was alone in a house and woke up to find footprints that aren't mine leading to my bedroom door, I would be out of that house so fast there would be a puff of air behind me. Edgar doesn't leave, but I never felt the same about the Big Pink, as he calls the house he stays in, again. I felt dread throughout the rest of the novel that he was staying there still. It was like the horror was drawing nearer to him, only he couldn't quite grasp it, but we the reader can.

At the end of the book, when he could have so easily gone for the gross-out, King doesn't. And so I can genuinely say the ending is as effective as any he's done. This book is almost as good as The Shining. It has the same slow build of wrongness, the same slow build that terror is coming but we (and the characters) don't know where from, and of good people caught in a spiral that they can't get away from. When the evil is revealed, it's not a cop-out as say some of Stephen's middle books have had; the characters here have a choice of action, have a choice to fix it, and they try. They are heroes. This is like The Stand mixed with The Shining. Without the grand scale of The Stand, and without the absolute terror of Danny alone with his gift in that terrible hotel. For me, The Shining is one of the scariest novels of all time. Duma Key is not as scary as that, but it comes a very good second in Stephen King's books for me. It does not have as many scary moments as The Shining, but it shares some of the same themes: isolation, a gift one can't control, an old evil that needs to be contained, and good friends that help the hero. One of the main differences is that this is an adult novel, with the characters of varying ages, with adult themes of love, and loss, and death. Like Bag of Bones (the last Stephen King novel I read), the characters are thoughtful, and look backwards and forwards to try to explain what happens, but they do not have all the answers.

I like this restrained ghost-story telling. And don't get me wrong; there is plenty of death, and gruesomeness in Duma Key, but it fits into the story. And the ending is good, very satisfying. Indeed, when I closed the book late last night, I wanted more of Edgar Freemantle. I wanted to know what his life was like, the adventures he had, what he thought about things. I genuinely like him. And that is some achievement in any book, never mind a horror book.

This is a good horror novel, and one I can happily recommend as a scary read. 4.5 /5, because I would have liked more spookiness...

This is my first book read for Carl's RIP IV. I hope the others are as good. I'm just sad it took me a year after buying Duma Key to read it!

Today's Bluenose Excerpt:
"A dwelling known as Shelburne House was erected at the time of the Loyalists but it was torn down many years ago. The sound of the front door opening and of an officer's sword clanking as he ascended the stairs was heard at times, but only by certain people.
"One time a lady who had never been in the town before was a supper guest at Shelburne House and, during the evening, she heard this same mysterious interruption. When her husband called for her later she asked if the house was supposed to be haunted. He asked her whatever made her think such a thing? 'What did you hear?' he said.
" ' I heard the front door open and it was followed by the clank of a sword on the stairway, ' she said.
" ' I can't say you imagined it,' her husband said, 'for it's been heard before.' Nobody knows the reason for it, or whether this was a restless ghost or a scene re-enacted from the past. "

And as a treat, since I have missed a few days posting, here is another ghost story:

When Annapolis Royal was taken over by the English in 1710 a number of the people who came also brought slaves with them. Some of their descendants are there to this day....I visited one of the older women one day with the following result.
"When I was first married I lived in a house on the left hand side of the Granville road above the railway tracks. One day I was in my kitchen when I looked up and saw a man standing in the doorway with a chain around one leg and a dog sniffing at his heels, and I could hear the sound of the dog sniffing. That seemed so strange to me. I wasn't frightened, but I must have moved because suddenly they disappeared and I have never seen them since. He must have been trying to lift the wooden latch to come in. I didn't like to say anything about it to anybody until one day the rector's wife came to call. I thought she would laugh at me but I wanted to tell her and I did. But she didn't laugh. She knew the history of the houses in Annapolis and she said that years ago that house had belonged to a general and that he was known to have had a slave who was chained by the leg."

Tainted Blood - Arnaldur Indridason

Tainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason is the first book in the Icelandic mystery series featuring Detective Erlendur. I first encountered Erlendur when I read Silence of the Grave last year. It's the second book in the series, but all I could find at the time. I can't say enough good about this series, since I have been hooked since Silence of the Grave. I am so pleased that Tainted Blood is as good.


The book starts off quietly, with the discovery of a body in a basement apartment. After that, the mystery slowly builds as Erlendur and his team try to discover why the old man was killed. Erlendur is fascinating. He is an older detective, with a failed marriage behind him and lost touch with his children when they were little. One child has gotten in touch with him when the book opens. She is almost a failure, exactly like he is, personally, and like him, is very intelligent. It's not that Erlendur is a social outcast, far from it. He is part of the new breed of detectives in current mysteries, where their desire to solve a mystery takes them to places that precludes being able to sustain deep relationships. It's like looking into the human heart affects people, as it surely must: " You think it won't affect you. You reckon you're strong enough to withstand that sort of thing. You think you can put on armour against it over the years and can watch all the filth from a distance as if it's none of your business, and try to keep your senses. But there isn't any distance. And there's no armour. No-one's strong enough. The repulsion haunts you like an evil spirit that burrows into your mind and doesn't leave you in peace until you believe that the filth is life itself because you've forgotten how ordinary people live. This case is like that. Like an evil spirit that's been unleashed to run riot in your mind and ends up leaving you crippled."
This is the longest speech in the book by Erlundur. When I read it, it got me thinking about how mysteries and detectives have changed from the beginning of the twentieth century to recent times. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett had heroes who were single, who commented on life because they were outside of it. They could go where no one else who was 'ordinary' could go. Investigating mysteries - crime - assaults on people - meant that you couldn't engage in ordinary life after. For a very long time this continued through detective series and mysteries, although there were exceptions - Tommy and Tuppence Beresford from Agatha Christie, Nick and Nora Charles by the same Dashiell Hammett - which were foils to the theory, but because they were a team, the sense of loneliness was not part of their story as it is when the detective is single.

I admire both kinds of detective series - Tommy and Tuppence are part of two of my favourite Agatha Chirtie novels, N or M, and By the Pricking of my Thumbs, but I have a particular preference for the plumbing of the human heart, for the sense of righting a wrong that restores some sense of justice in the world. The single detective in particular stands for morality, and Erlendur is Iceland's contribution to this form of detective story. Even though he has a failed marriage, he does get along with his team - although when we finally meet his boss, it is hilarious how he undercuts him, so Erlendur is no pushover or hierarchical, by-the-books detective either. There is a great deal of intuition, that essential key to great detective work. There is also what I think is part of the Iceland character, the inheritance from the old Icelandic sagas, the idea of fate and gloom. How could a people live in darkness, and snow, for much of the year, and not be somewhat morose and gloomy? I like Erlendur. He is quiet, forceful, persistent, and human. I enjoy how he solves mysteries, with doggedness, and the desire to discover why. There are no car chase scenes, no mobsters, no city in peril here. Just a quiet mystery involving a man who turns out to be much worse, a monster, and the crime committed years ago still ripples through lives in the current day, as crimes do. These are contemplative books on human life, not shying away from the twists in human nature, and I am becoming a very big fan of this series. I have gone out and bought the next two (after Silence of the Grave) that have been translated, to read in the new year as my challenges end.

This is also part of my Orbis Terrarum challenge, so I've now read 5 books in this challenge.

You might think this is not a big change from reading horror, but for me it is. I was thinking over this week why it was, and the conclusion I've come to is that horror often is unresolved, whereas in most mystery books, there is a resolution, a restoring of justice, peace, the balance.

Next up: back to RIP3, and The House of Dr Dee by Peter Ackroyd.

Lonely Werewolf Girl

Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar is a fabulous novel. A story about Kalix MacRinnaich, youngest daughter of the ruling Werewolf Family of Scotland, who is the lonely Werewolf Girl of the title. I was lucky enough to pick this up on a day home sick - Monday - and I spent all day reading it. I can't say enough good things about this book, because it has everything. Teenage angst, dysfunctional family, werewolves, fairies, elemental spirits, clan gatherings, friendship, love, betrayal, and fashion. Yes, fashion. This is the funniest novel I have read in a long time, and I mean I laughed out loud many times during this novel. It also has some very heart-breaking moments, because we are dealing with teens, to whom every disaster is the last one that can be survived, and hearts get broken so easily. I cried when Kalix was about to die. Funny thing that. She might be a werewolf, but she is also a human girl when she's human, and her loneliness after running away from her family is so real and so poignant that I cried. It's a feeling every young adult has as they set out from home - or, if not all people, then certainly those that escape from unhappy homes, as I did. I understood Kalix, even as I got mad at her for resisting any help, and yet her family is so dysfunctional that eventually her behaviour makes sense. And how she makes friends is part of the pure magic and delight of this novel. I loved it. It is one of the best reads I've had this year.

And yes, the fashion was an intrinsic part of the story, and very funny: "But really, who can blame the Duchess? One cannot be answering requests to deal out blazing destruction when one's frocks are the subject of public ridicule."
or this from the Queen of the Fire Elements: "Do you mind if I remain when Dominil comes to visit? I am curious about this white-haired wolf before whom all tremble."
Thrix looked at Malveria.
"Just how bored are you these days?"
"Very bored," admitted Malveria. "Sometimes I regret that I so completely vanquished my enemies."
or this description of cricket: "Daniel tried to explain the rules of -" Malveria paused. "What is the human game that requires white clothes and a great deal of time?"
"Cricket?"
"That is it. Cricket. Apparently the rules of this game are most puzzling and complex. Daniel tried to explain these rules to Vex. As a consequence of this I understand she almost lost consciousness, and had to be helped to a chair, in a very poor state of mind."

This is my favourite two lines from the book: "It was good to have a cheerful werewolf in the house. Much better than a suicidally depressed werewolf."

I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 14 who can read and enjoys a fun, gripping, slightly scary - because werewolves are frightening creatures, and there is plenty of death and bloodshed in this book - hilarious, well-written novel. It is brilliant.

I have had to take a tiny break from reading horror after this book. 8 straight books of horror for RIP3!! Because I finished Everything's Eventual by Stephen King, which I am going to review tomorrow because one story scared me so much that this book deserves its own post also. I am reading Tainted Blood by Arnuldur Indridason, the first book in his Iceland mystery series. Yes, a mystery, not much of a change from horror! but not horror, so I can get a break from the adrenaline horror gives.

I am so glad I read Lonely Werewolf Girl, and I suspect this will become a yearly or biannual read for me. This is one of my top 10 reads for the year.

At last, some book reviews - RIP3 catch-up

Last night, I was all primed to watch two sets of debates - here in Canada it's also our Federal election time, and all five party leaders were having a debate, at the same time - yes, the very same hour!- that the VP debates were happening in the US. So there I was, channel selector in hand.....and I fell asleep. I woke up when it was all over! So I can't give an opinion on either set of debates last night! And I was so looking forward to hearing Sarah Palin for myself, and to hearing our own leaders (hopefully) discuss issues and not resort to name calling as the last few debates have been. All this, to explain that I haven't been able to get on as often as I would like because I keep falling asleep shortly after the kids are in bed! So, here are the round-up of book-reviews from RIP 3, which I've read 6 in total so far, and with one exception, have thoroughly enjoyed them all so far. And yes, before you ask - I do intend to keep reading from my horror list right through to Hallowe'en night! Of course, you all keep adding books I wish I could find up here - Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made Of
especially: Cherie Priest, The Bat-Poet, and oh no! Today he just reviewed The Graveyard Book here
and it's an amazing review and I still haven't made it to a bookstore yet to get it!!! I've put them all on my immediate to buy list if I ever make it to the bookstore!

Anyway, here are the books I've read and not reviewed yet for the RIP 3 Challenge:


The Night Country, by Stewart O'Nan. I finished this last night. It is one that left me almost in tears, it is so full of melancholy. It's the story of the anniversary a year later of a car crash that kills three of the 5 riders, and gives the perspective from one of the parents of Kyle, one of the 2 survivors, from Tim, the other survivor, from Brooks, the policeman who found them, and the ghosts of the three themselves, one of whom is telling the story. Because it is a year later, the messiness, the terrible grief and anger is felt mostly in the ramifications of that night a year ago, in how life is now, in the book. The sadness is there, but it doesn't overwhelm the story, nor does the grief, or anger, or guilt. It's a beautiful story of life after, and yet, it is also a horror story. Because that night isn't over. Something happened that night, and for everyone who was there, they can't escape it. Not until the ending of this book, are things put right.
Because it deals with grief and loss, it's not a light read. It is intensely moving in places, and I couldn't put it down as I realized there was a terrible secret about the crash. I had to know what it was.
I can promise that you will never look at ghosts or the idea of haunting in quite the same way again. There is no gore here, no truly scary eerie skin-crawling horror. This is a quiet novel about ghosts, and tragedy, and really, it becomes a novel of lost chances and regret. It is bittersweet and melancholic, perfect for autumn and the rainy mists and leaves swirling down. Fittingly, the accident occurs on Hallowe'en night, and the novel occurs over the 24 hour period to the time of the crash a year later. I highly recommend it.


In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead - James Lee Burke. This is one of the early Dave Robicheaux mysteries, set in Louisiana, in the bayous in Jefferson Parish, and other names familiar to us from the recent hurricanes that have battered that part of the US. Indeed, during this book there are two tropical storms that hit the area! None of course, in the book, do much damage besides flooding. (This is because Tin-Roof Blow-down, the latest book by Burke in this series, is about Katrina and events that happen during the hurricane. I've already been told I'm getting it for Christmas, my mother says it's very very good). In this book, Hollywood has started filming a Civil War movie, and an old boyhood acquaintance of Dave's comes to town, rolling the money out for the movie - Baby Feet Julie the Bone, a mobster; a serial killer is stalking young prostitutes and brutally killing them, and the star of the movie is an alcoholic who sees spirits, and the spirits start talking to Dave. What Dave learns, and how he sovles the case - and gets rid of Julie in the process, makes for at-the-edge of my seat reading. I had to keep telling myself to breathe! Because at the edge of everything Dave Robicheaux does, is his past in the Vietnam War, and the resulting nightmares and alcoholism he has struggled to overcome.
I have always considered these books among the best mysteries written because the crime isn't glossed over, and the politics are dirty. Dirty, and mean, the way we all know now politics are after the past twenty years, both down in the US and up here in Canada. I like the writing, it's honest: "I don't like to bust drunk drivers, I don't like to listen to their explanations, watch their pitiful attempts to affect sobriety, or see the sheen of fear break out in their eyes when they realize they're headed for the drunk tank with little to look forward to in the morning except the appearance of their names in the newspaper. Or maybe in truth I just don't like to see myself when I look into their faces."
One of the things I like best about this series is that Dave is happily married to Boots, and they have adopted Alafair. Batiste helps him out in the bait shop (they run a small fishing boat for hire business on the side). Dave has roots in this community, he is grounded in his family, and this helps keep the terrible acts from taking over the book.
And, Dave has ethics, and these always get him trouble, and since I have trouble keeping myself from speaking out, he is someone I can easily relate too.
There are ghosts in this book, and they play a role in confronting the evil in Dave's parish, as well as resolving a crime from long ago that he witnessed, as well as helping Dave to come to terms a bit more with himself and his past. A very well done mystery. I very much enjoyed reading it.

Wolf Moon by Charles de Lint. This is sadly, the only book I have not enjoyed so far. It was published in 1988, and reads like it was an early effort at horror. His characters are good, as usual, but somewhat cliche, and the dialogue is the weak and very cliche. It's a fascinating idea - a musician who can call forth the true shapes of things, and is hunting werewolves, which the main character, Kern, is. This book is set in medieval country, as was many of Charles' early efforts like Riddle of the Wren, which also has some of the same flaws - but is better told, which is why people know it and not Wolf Moon! The musician is a harpist, and one dimensional. We aren't even told why he hunts werewolves! Sorry, I know I'm giving a bit of the plot away, but I really wanted to like this book because I could see the idea he was working on, but it isn't a natural fit. The fantasy elements are great, and work, and the horror becomes cliche, down to the musician bespelling them all against Kern for being a werewolf. Granted, one character, Fion, is able to break it, but I really wanted a character to surprise me, and in the end nothing did. I wish I could recommend it, so to those who want to read a book early in a successful writer's career - and a book that isn't very good (to cheer you up! keep writing!), here's one to try! Otherwise, this can be, sadly, missed.

And, finally, last, but it's one of my favourites (by now you should know I leave the icing for last on the cake, all the best things I leave for the end, I want the bad news first so I can have the good news last!!! - I'm that kind of person!) so far, a really decent horror story, Alexandra Sokoloff's The Harrowing.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a first novel, and nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. It didn't win, and I haven't read the winner of that year yet to know if it should have, but definitely The Harrowing deserved to be nominated. It is scary! It's got a ghost haunting a college dormitory, past suspicious deaths, an ouija board, and creepiness and unsettling descriptions of being alone in the dormitory over Thanksgiving holidays: 'And Robin hadn't really imagined how different it would feel - that there was a life force in the presence of others that pervaded the building. Even when she was in her own room, consciously unaware, her subconscious must have registered all the others.
Now the Hall was as empty and dead as a shell.'
The descriptions are a little heavy-handed in obvious symbolism - the outside of the hall Robin compares to the delirious imaginings of Hawthorne and Poe, the grave, emptiness, darkness, are mentioned often in the first few pages. Bear with this - it gets better, especially as the other characters meet in the dormitory living room one night over the holidays and the story really gets going. It is a quick read, by that I mean it is a fast-paced horror novel, with characters that could have been cliched but turn out not to be. In fact, this book is like that - it could have been a walking cliche, but everything turns out much darker, deeper, and well-thought out.

I read the book in a night. There was no way I could go to sleep with the horror lurking in that building, with the characters facing the unknowable - will they survive? they are young adults and so not always bright in their choices, but they are faced with an ancient evil that does lift this book from the ordinary "teens make bad choices and pay the price' bad ghost story novel. This is a good story. I dare you to read it and not get scared at some point! At the least, not get creeped out at the idea of staying in a dormitory alone. I sure couldn't. My imagination is barely contained at the best of times! I really like how the characters have layers, and aren't one dimensional, and I really like how the plot is resolved. This is a really satisfying ghost story with some really thrilling, scary moments. (*Note: sorry for all the reallys. I was writing this with pizza waiting on the counter....and the kids were needing attention....)

This is a great close-to-Hallowe'en scary ghost story read, well-deserving of its nomination, and I think deserves to be more widely read. I like the quote that Robin hears on the last Friday before Thanksgiving begins: "But while Freud contended that the forces that drive us come from within us, our own unconscious, his disciple and colleague Jung believed there was a universal unconscious around us, populated by ancient forces that exist apart from us, yet interact with and act upon us." He paused, looked around at the class.
"So who is right? Do our demons come from without, or within us?"

And that is how I look at horror - it is an archetype. We all know horror, we have all encountered it in some form in our lives, so how do we deal with it? Horror novels give us some options and show conclusions. How can we deal with horror? And how can we hold ourselves together when we do encounter it? I look at horror novels as signposts along the way - either pointing for a way through the trees safely, or showing bad decisions leading to traps, cliffs, and paths that end that end in graveyards.

I am so enjoying this challenge. I know I keep saying this, and I really am!

Other links to books:
The Night Country: 3M (An Adventure in Reading)

random thoughts on a Tuesday night in August

Well, I am happy again. I just took the Fantasy Writer's Exam - found here
- thanks to Bride of the Book God, whose blog had the link - and, aside from one question, I was able to truthfully to answer no to every question. Hurray! This means I am not writing a millionth retread of Tolkien. And the question I answered yes to - #4 for those who are curious/interested - I have to amend in my head because my plot is different, and my main character doesn't defeat the bad guy on her own! So, if you are a fantasy writer, it's a good quiz to take to make sure you aren't falling into fantasy pitfalls.

4 weeks until Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is on sale!!! May we have the same release date here in Canada, oh please, book gods....

And, with Carl's RIP 3 challenge about to begin, is anyone else wondering if we should try to view a horror movie as well? Closer to Hallowe'en, of course, but I can't help thinking that it would add a little extra spooky thrill to the experience....maybe if people are interested, we could pick a night in October and watch a scary movie of our choosing, and then post about it afterward? Let me know, maybe we can make it a mini-challenge to go along with Carl's. As a side note, is there a horror movie that you find terrifying to watch? Mine are A Nightmare on Elm Street and Sixth Sense, and The Haunting (the Claire Bloom version from the 60's). As much as I am fascinated by ghosts and esp and psychic ability, these three deal with trying to discern what is real and what is not, that other people can't see (though in The Haunting Theo does experience the events), and that to me is the ultimate scary place to be - defining our own sanity in the face of the irrational which does exist. Sorry, I think I'm scaring myself writing about these movies, which are among my favourite horror movies! But I didnt' realize until now that they even had a link, and now that I think about it, many of my favourite horror novels also deal with the same idea; the Shining comes to mind, little Danny and his terrifyng gift of seeing what others can't, all by himself in that hotel. I wonder now why this theme is so fascinating for me, since I've never thought of myself as particularly psychic (and I sometimes miss the obvious!). Something about this subject draws my attention, that's for certain. Is there a particular horror theme, then, that you come back to again and again, in books or movies or both?