Goodbye 2017! It’s almost time to close the place out! For my last column of the year, I decided to share some of the books on my To Be Read pile (which is really an entire bookshelf). I’ve fallen out of the habit of reading for pleasure in the last several years, so one of my goals for 2018 is to read more. Here are a few of the things I want to enjoy next year.
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
The premise:
This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted — and still wants — to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.
My thoughts: I am ashamed to say that I’ve never actually read any Octavia Butler, so I’ve decided to rectify that. The premise of this book sounded really interesting, so this is going to be my jumping off point.
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
The premise:
When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country’s most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won’t be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek.
My thoughts: I love me a good horror story and this one features a haunted house and horror writers staying *in* said haunted house! This seems like a no-brainer. I’m really looking forward to reading this one.
Meddling Kids: A Novel by Edgar Cantero
The premise:
SUMMER 1977. The Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in Oregon’s Zoinx River Valley) solved their final mystery and unmasked the elusive Sleepy Lake monster — another low-life fortune hunter trying to get his dirty hands on the legendary riches hidden in Deboën Mansion. And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids.
1990. The former detectives have grown up and apart, each haunted by disturbing memories of their final night in the old haunted house. There are too many strange, half-remembered encounters and events that cannot be dismissed or explained away by a guy in a mask. And Andy, the once intrepid tomboy now wanted in two states, is tired of running from her demons. She needs answers. To find them she will need Kerri, the one-time kid genius and budding biologist, now drinking her ghosts away in New York with Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the club. They will also have to get Nate, the horror nerd currently residing in an asylum in Arkham, Massachusetts. Luckily Nate has not lost contact with Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star who was once their team leader . . . which is remarkable, considering Peter has been dead for years.
The time has come to get the team back together, face their fears, and find out what actually happened all those years ago at Sleepy Lake. It’s their only chance to end the nightmares and, perhaps, save the world.
My thoughts: This one has somewhat mixed reviews, but I’m really amused by the concept of what seems like Scooby-Doo fan fic. To be fair, most of the people who seem to give it bad reviews is because of the Scooby-Doo angle. Perhaps they were upset at someone using the memory of their beloved show. Or maybe they wanted something more like the show. Who knows? Mystery/suspense is one of my other favorite genres to read, as well, so the horror and supernatural elements teamed with the suspense with the added spice of campy Saturday morning cartoon elements? Yeah, I’m all over this.
The Bone Mother by David Demchuk
The premise:
Three neighboring villages on the Ukrainian/Romanian border are the final refuge for the last of the mythical creatures of Eastern Europe. Now, on the eve of the war that may eradicate their kind — and with the ruthless Night Police descending upon their sanctuary — they tell their stories and confront their destinies.
Eerie and unsettling like the best fairy tales, these incisor-sharp portraits of ghosts, witches, sirens, and seers — and the mortals who live at their side and in their thrall — will chill your marrow and tear at your heart.
My thoughts: I love folklore, in general, and have a special place in my heart for Eastern European folklore, which I think stems from my very early research into vampire mythos when I was a teenager. I may or may not have done more than one school paper on Vlad Tepes. All the research pulled me into reading a lot about the folklore in that region of the world. So when this book came across my screen, I was definitely drawn in.
A Host of Furious Fancies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
The premise:
Beyond World’s End: Sieur Eric Banyon, Knight and Bard to the court of the Queen of Elfhame Misthold, moves back to the Big Apple to take care of unfinished business. Mostly, he just wants to settle down to a normal life.
However, he quickly discovers his Manhattan apartment has unique features, including a living gargoyle named Greystone and four Guardians who have sworn to protect New York from evil. And soon Eric discovers that unscrupulous researchers have created a drug that unlocks magical powers in humans — a drug that is 100 percent fatal over time. And now something evil from Underhill has other plans and seeks to use the temporary human powers to dominate World Above.
Spirits White as Lightning: Eric Banyon has more to worry about than passing his courses at Julliard. The evil elf lord Aerune, whose love was killed by mortal men, is determined to destroy the human race. Eric’s only hope of stopping Aerune is to trap him inside a magical maze, from which there is no escaping. Stopping Aerune once before was difficult. This time, the quest seems nothing less than impossible.
My thoughts: I actually got this book from Mercedes Lackey at Dragon Con a couple years ago, but I still haven’t had a chance to sit down for a read. I love that this is two books in one, and I’m interested to see if the collaboration creates a shift in the style Mercedes usually writes with. I know she’s collaborated with other writers, including her husband, but I don’t think I’ve read any of those. So I’m looking forward to seeing how the collaboration works.
Bonus from the Re-Read file!
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
The premise:
Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches — a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women….
Moving in time from today’s New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale that challenges everything we believe in.
My thoughts: This is probably my favorite Anne Rice book, ever. When I first read it, it became a book I read every year, because I found it so rich and spellbinding (if you’ll pardon the pun). I fell out of that habit quite a long time ago, so this year I’m going to revisit this book. It’s been about a decade since I’ve read it, so I imagine it will be like an almost forgotten memory coming back to me. I’m really excited about this read!