Every year, I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, and sometimes in more specific challenges, in addition to my personal reading goals. Last year was the first time I wrote up a recap of how well I met my goals. The end of 2016 was a triumphant time for me: it was the first time I had met my Goodreads Reading Challenge since starting college. This year, I got a little too ambitious and fell somewhat short of my goal. But overall, I would still count 2017 as a success.
Month: December 2017
Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins
If you discovered a door to another world, would you go through it? What if it gave you the opportunity to change who you are, to escape the pressures of who you’re expected to be? Twelve-year-old twins Jack and Jill face these questions in Seanan McGuire’s Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This book, which came out back in June, is the second book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. (You can read my review of the first book here.) Rather than being a sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, however, Down Among the Sticks and Bones is more of a prequel that can also be read entirely as a stand-alone. Ostensibly a fantasy story about discovering a dark world full of monsters, the book is really a deep dive into questions of identity and family relationships. Continue reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins
Ink Stains, Vol. 6–A Dark Literary Journal
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure to meet N. Apythia Morges, the head of Dark Alley Press. Among other publishing projects, N. Apythia edits a recurring series of dark literary anthologies called Ink Stains. Released quarterly, each volume includes a collection of unconventional short stories in a variety of genres from black comedy to paranormal fantasy and dark literary fiction. I just picked up the most recent volume, which came out back in October, and found it to be an interesting exploration of short form gothic fiction. Continue reading Ink Stains, Vol. 6–A Dark Literary Journal
A Gift Guide for the Goth in Your Life
The holidays are coming up, and it’s time to start thinking about what gifts to get for your friends and family. I’m guessing that most of my readers have at least one person in their circle who might be described as a goth. If you don’t share their dark and spooky proclivities, it can be hard to know what to get for your black-clad friend. Of course, each goth is an individual and I can’t claim to speak for the whole subculture. But I’ve put together a list of a few things that are fairly universally appreciated among the morbidly-inclined. Continue reading A Gift Guide for the Goth in Your Life