Killer mermaids. That’s all you really need to know. If you didn’t think mermaids could be scary, Mira Grant is here to prove you wrong with Into the Drowning Deep. A few months ago, I’d shared with you all a whole list of Tales of Monstrous Mermaids. This week I want to take the plunge and explore the scariest of those books in depth. Seanan McGuire (who uses the pseudonym Mira Grant for some of her novels) has been one of my favorite authors since I read her spectacular Wayward Children fantasy series and came across a few of her short stories in Ellen Datlow’s horror anthologies. But Into the Drowning Deep was the first time I read one of her full-length works or horror, and nothing could have prepared me. Continue reading Review of Into the Drowning Deep–Mermaid Horror
Month: September 2018
Dead Girls Don’t Love Review
There’s nothing I love more than a haunting little horror anthology—especially when it introduces me to an author with whom I was previously unfamiliar! Dead Girls Don’t Love by Sarah Hans surprised and delighted me from the first story onward. The collection brings together a dozen different tales that show an impressive range of style, genre, and source material. If you’re already looking for some reading material to get you into the Halloween spirit, Dead Girls Don’t Love would be a great place to start! Continue reading Dead Girls Don’t Love Review
Review of The Merry Spinster: Sinister and Surreal Fairy Tales
Sometimes the oldest and most familiar tales just need a new twist. Daniel Mallory Ortberg does that to the extreme, turning the familiar quite strange in The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror. In this collection of creepy short fiction, each story is based on a classic fairy tale, sometimes blended together with other fairy tales, pieces of Biblical text, or other familiar literary sources. But don’t get too comfortable. These aren’t your average fairy tale retellings. Continue reading Review of The Merry Spinster: Sinister and Surreal Fairy Tales
The Golem and the Jinni Review: An Unusual Pairing
I love stories of unexpected friendships, and what could be more unexpected than a golem and a jinni? These two mythological creatures come from different traditions, different regions, and altogether different worlds. Yet in Helene Wecker’s debut historical fantasy novel, they meet by chance on the streets of New York City. My whole family has been reading this book, and I’m so glad I finally hopped on that bandwagon!
The Golem and the Jinni begins in Poland at the turn of the 20th century, when a disgraced rabbi makes a woman out of clay—a golem—to serve as his client’s perfect and obedient wife. But after an unexpected turn of events, the golem arrives at Ellis Island alone and masterless. She is taken in by a kindly rabbi who names her Chava and introduces her to the local Jewish community. Meanwhile, a tinsmith in Little Syria sets to work on an old copper flask when suddenly out of it comes a jinni who has been trapped for a thousand years. Adopting the name Ahmad, the jinni reluctantly takes on the role of tinsmith’s apprentice while trying to figure out how to break the bonds that keep in stuck in human form. When Chava and Ahmad meet, they feel a kinship—both are outsiders trying to fit into, yet not truly part of, the human world. Yet their natures are so different, this altruistic being of earth and flighty being of fire, that their friendship brings as much conflict as comfort. All fights are forgotten, however, when they realize that someone who poses a danger to them both has found his way to New York City. Continue reading The Golem and the Jinni Review: An Unusual Pairing