Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Sunday, October 5, 2014 - , , , , , , No comments

IT'S OCTOBER!!!!

Hello everyone :)!

I know it's been a while.. I apologize, but school has been a priority and it will continue to be until around May of 2015. ANYWAYS, as the title of this post says.. IT'S OCTOBER, which is exciting for me for so many reasons! For starters, I love halloween, I love how the weather transitions from summer to fall, I love how the leaves change color, and yeah.. this time of year is amazing.



SOO, to try and get back into reading, I'm going to make a list of some of the books I plan to finish this month. Now of course since it's October, these books are going to be primarily magically themed. Let's begin:



1. The Book of Life - Deborah Harkness 
I read the first two books of the All Souls trilogy last year and I've been wanting to get my hands on the third  for a while. However, I have this thing about not reading books that are over hyped. Now don't get me wrong, Deborah Harkness's books are pretty awesome, but I wanted to wait until all the hype faded away.. maybe I'm weird, but yeah. Anyways, with Halloween approaching, I think it's time I finally time I see how this trilogy ends. I'm super excited :D


2. Girl on a Wire - Gwenda Bond
As far as I know this book doesn't contain magic, per se, but the cover was too appealing for me to not pick this book up. Plus, I think Girl on a Wire reminds me of The Night Circus, which is one of my most FAVORITE books ever, so reading this was a must. So far, I've really enjoyed what I've read and look forward to seeing how it ends :). 



3. Family Magic - Patti Larsen 
Not sure if I will be able to make it this far down the list, but if I do, well then this is the book I will be reading. I know nothing about this book besides what the summary gives me. However, I'm a little scared of books that sound cliche, but since the GoodReads rating isn't too bad, I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it goes. 


Recommendations for Others:
Now maybe you've already finished some of the books above, or perhaps you have no interest in reading them whatsoever. If that's the case, well here's what I recommend you read if you haven't already:

 1. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness 
2. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern 
3. The Graveyard Book  - Neil Gaiman 

   



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - , , No comments

Halloween Guest Post: Jack Croxall

Hello everyone! I'm happy to bring you a guest post from author Jack Croxall, where he describes both his love for Halloween and the inspiration behind his new book entitled "X". For your reading pleasure, Mr. Croxall has graciously provided an excerpt. Be sure to check out his new book on Amazon and feel free to ask any questions you may have below. 


Guest Post: Jack Croxall:
I love Halloween. Not just because of the fancy dress and mischievous hijinks, but because of all the spooky stories that rear their creepy heads to give us goose bumps, shudders and, most importantly, that little something extra to think about. A gory supernatural horror is all well and good, but I find a spooky tale is all the more unsettling if it is driven by something real; by a theme or character we can relate to, or even by a situation we recognise from real life.

Throughout the beginning of this year, I’d been mulling a horror story over in my mind constantly. I had a character, a claustrophobic setting and an unforgiving menace, but no actual theme – no real point to the story. Luckily though, I got one idea and just ran with it. That true-to-life idea turned out to be the very thing that gave the story meaning, and turned it into a tale worth telling. 



Title: X
Author: Jack Croxall

Summary:
Fifteen-year-old X thinks she is going to die. Shacked up in the cellar of an old farmhouse, she starts a journal to document her last few days. Much less than a few days if the things outside manage to get in.

 Excerpt: 
I spend all of my daylight hours in this musty old cellar now. It’s woeful, and I bet it smelled this bad even before everything turned to crap. Great. My second sentence and I’ve already resorted to swear words. When I decided I’d start this diary (five minutes ago) I thought it would be my poetic and deeply-moving goodbye to the world. Maybe I’d write about love and loss, or maybe even the splendour of nature. Then, if anyone ever found it, at least I’d have left something to be remembered by. As well as my corpse, of course.

This was a bad idea.

OK I’m an idiot. There’s nothing else I can do down here; I’ve rooted through every cardboard box a hundred times, organised and reorganised my supplies until I can recite the labels on the cans by heart, and even built a fort. So, I’m back. Hello. Again.

God this diary is going badly.

But there’s just enough light coming in through the boards I nailed over the cellar’s tiny window to write by. So I may as well. Stops me constantly staring up at the window waiting for a shadow to pass by.

Where to start? Well, my name is – actually, I think I’m going to refer to myself as X. That sounds mysterious. If you’re reading this and want to know my real name, I still carry my purse. Stupid I know. But my railcard is in there and, if you really want to know who I am, go find me and fish it out. I won’t bite.



A best-selling short story, X is available through Amazon UK and Amazon US now.
 Much more info at www.jackcroxall.co.uk







Friday, September 27, 2013

Friday, September 27, 2013 - , , 1 comment

Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre


Rating: 4 Stars
Version: eBook
Compiled by: Paula Guran (authors listed below)

 I received this publication from NetGalley with the condition of an honest review. So here it is:

GoodReads:
The farther we've gotten from the magic and mystery of the past, the more we've come to love Halloween - the one time each year when the mundane is overturned in favor of the bizarre, the "other side" is closest, and everyone can become anyone (or anything) they wish... and sometimes what they don't. Introducing nineteen original stories from mistresses and masters of the dark celebrate the most fantastic, enchanting, spooky, and supernatural of holidays.

Review:
“Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre” was a delight to read! The stories are all very creative, and when combined, capture the spirit of Halloween perfectly – pun intended. This is something I would definitely recommend to those who love Halloween (such as myself), enjoy spooky short stories, or are in need of a Halloween pick-me-up.

One thing I really liked was the opening introduction, because it helped lay the framework for which the stories are founded upon. The introduction includes, but is not limited to, a brief history of Halloween and a brief summary of the stories contained within. For those who have not yet read Paula Guran’s earlier compilation entitled “Halloween”, you are in luck. This story is a stand-alone compilation and needs nothing other than a love of Halloween to enjoy it.  Of course, a love of Halloween is not necessary, but it sure helps!

Here is a list of titles contained within this compilation. Bare in mind, these won’t really do you much good, but they will give you a hint about the subject matter.

1.      “Black Dog” by Laird Barron
2.     “From Dust” by Laura Bickle
3.     “Angelic” by Jay Caselberg
4.     “Pumpkin Head Escapes” by Lawrence Connolly
5.     “All Hallows in the High Hills” by Brenda Cooper
6.     “We, the Fortunate Bereaved” by Brian Hodge
7.     “Thirteen” by Stephen Graham Jones
8.     “Whilst the Night Rejoices Profound and Still” by Caitlín R. Kiernan
9.     “Trick or Treat” by Nancy Kilpatrick
10.   “Long Way Home: A Pine Deep Story” by Jonathan Maberry
11.   “The Mummy’s Kiss” by Norman Partridge
12.  “All Souls Day” by Barbara Roden
13.   “And When You Called Us We Came To You” by John Shirley
14.  “The Halloween Men” by Maria V. Snyder
15.   “Lesser Fires” by Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem
16.  “Unternehmen Werwolf” by Carrie Vaughn
17.   “For the Removal of Unwanted Guests” by A.C. Wise
18.   “Quadruple Whammy” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro


“May the Magic of Halloween always be a part of your lives.”
-Paula Guran



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