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!

RIP VII - the scary fun begins!!

   Oh, it's my favourite time of the year!  Autumn, glorious leaves and colours, the tinge of sadness and decay in the air as the growing year ends, the smell of wood fires, the last of the fall flowers......Thanksgiving Turkey and pumpkin pie.....and the best of all, Hallowe'en. I can't think of a better way to slip into autumn and the ending of the year than by participating in Carl's RIP 7 challenge.  Readers Imbibing Peril. As Carl explains it on his site (go here to sign up):

The purpose of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII is to enjoy books and movies/television that could be classified (by you) as:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.
Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

There are two simple goals for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII

1. Have fun reading.
2. Share that fun with others.

  R.I.P. VII officially runs from September 1st through October 31st. But lets go ahead and break the rules. Lets start today!!!

I'm glad he wrote the above, because I did!  I have already read two short stories and two books for this challenge!

Before anyone says how, I confess I am still on my holidays  - which end today, with Labour Day Monday.  Tomorrow I am back at work.  Summer is over, and although the calendar year says there are still two weeks left before the equinox and the seasonal change, I know in my heart that autumn is here.  So I celebrated by reading as soon as Carl put his post up, Wildwood Road by Christopher Golden, Find Me by Carol O'Connell, and two short stories from The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories.            
                                          
I am doing Peril the First, which is reading 4 books in any of the categories above.  I will also be participating in Peril the Short Story, and Peril the Screen. 

So, for the first time ever, I'm starting with two book reviews: 
                                               
 Wildwood Road - Christopher Golden
   - a ghost story.  It has some very creepy moments, some chills, and is very sad, too.  Here is the Amazon book description:
 Michael and Jillian Dansky seemed to have it all–a happy marriage, two successful careers, a bright future. But late one October evening, all that changed. Driving home from a Halloween masquerade, Michael momentarily nods off behind the wheel–and wakes to find nothing is the same.

Standing by his car is the little girl he came within a breath of running down. She leads Michael to her “home,” an empty house haunted by whispers, and sends him away with a haunting whisper of her own: “come find me.” But in the weeks to follow, it’s clear that someone–or some thing–doesn’t want Michael to find her: ominous figures in grey coats with misshapen faces are following him everywhere. And then Jillian wakes one morning replaced by a cold, cruel, vindictive woman Michael hardly recognizes as his wife. Michael must now search not only for the lost girl, but for a way to find the Jillian he's always loved, and to do so he must return to where the nightmare began. Down an isolated lane where he’ll find them, or die trying.

It was very well written, and contains an idea about ghosts and essences that I found intriguing.  A very good ghost story. 4/5

Find Me - Carol O'Connell.  A Kathy Mallory mystery, and one of the best.  At it's heart, a serial killer has been working old Route 66, killing children and burying their bodies over a large span of time, along the roadside.  Due to the nature of city and state police forces, no one is alerted for many years that these cases are related.  Not until Mallory starts to ride down the old route 66 because she has discovered that her father drove this very route when he was young.  He was before now almost a mystery to her, and when she obtains a series of letters that he wrote, she decides to follow his route to try to learn more about him.  As she starts out, a grisly discovery is made: a body of a man is discovered at the start of route 66 in Chicago, only he has one hand chopped off, and the bones of a small child's hand point up the road, the same route Mallory is taking.  The killer wants his victims found, so that he will be known for how many he killed.  Along the way, there is a caravan of parents who are being guided by a online psychiatrist, all of whom are parents of missing or dead children.  And the killer starts to pick off parents, one by one.....
                                                
This was a fabulous, gritty mystery, filled with police force/state/FBI politics, Kathy discovering more about her father, and Riker and Charles Butler, her partner and her friend respectively, chasing her as they think she is falling apart.  How the New York police intervene and figure what is going on is nothing short of brilliant.  How Kathy discovers that all is not lost for her, is a grand moment in this series, for up until now, she has been alone except for her foster parents, who gave her a home, loyalty and love when she needed it most as a child.  This is one of my favourite mystery series, not the least of which no one is perfect - all the characters are slowly being changed by their proximity to Mallory, who is brilliant if amoral as a detective.  The hardest part is the number of children who have been killed, and how the killer finds them, and the way the FBI have treated the parents in this novel - or rather, one officer in particular.   A gripping mystery, one of the best. 5/5

I will review the short stories another time, this post is long already!

 Now to the best part:
my pool of books (and this is by no means final, if I find something  catching my eye):

Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel (currently reading)
Underground - Kat Richardson (book 3 in the series)
Deadline - Mira Grant  (book 2 in the trilogy)
The Silent Land - Graham Joyce
Raising Stony Mayhall - Daryl Gregory
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
Hell Train - Christopher Fowler
Wolf - Gillian Cross
Graveminder - Melissa Marr
The Vampire Tapestry - Suzy Mckee Charnas
Alice Hearts Welsh Zombies - Victoria Dunn (local Ottawa author)
The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler
Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - Alan Garner *thanks to Geranium Cat over at Geranium Cat's Musings for putting this on her list!
The Moon of Gomrath - Alan Garner **and the final sequel Boneland if it comes out here
Stephen King: either The Shining, or 11//22/63
The Hallowe'en Tree - Ray Bradbury

and assorted short stories in various collections:
Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories  - ed Michael Cox and R.A Gilbert
Hallowe'en  - ed Paula Guran
The Best Horror of the Year, Vol 1 - ed Ellen Datlow
The Dark - ed Ellen Datlow
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2010 - ed Paula Guran
Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead - ed Stephen Jones
Ghosts by Gaslight - ed Jack Dann and Nick Gevers

 Yaaaay!  I love this challenge reading experience.  I wonder if I can fit some poetry in there too?

Now to come see your lists and see what you are reading, my dear blogging friends.