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“It was salutory to remember, I told myself, that writers and other creative artists do not relish other people’s ideas. They usually have more than enough of their own, and well-meant suggestions only add to the burden of their already over-stocked minds.” Miss Read, Farewell to Fairacre (1993)
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My last 5 posts
- #WitchWeek2020: The end is nigh! November 6, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 6: MEXICAN GOTHIC and the Classic Gothic Tale November 5, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 5: Gothic fantasy, with puppets November 4, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 4: M R James and the Gothic Tradition November 3, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 3: The Graveyard Book November 2, 2020
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Category Archives: Mystery
#WitchWeek2020 Day 5: Gothic fantasy, with puppets
Puppet shows! Fun times for all, right? Not in this chilling Newbery Honor book. In 2007, Laura Amy Schlitz had won the Newbery Award for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. This 2012 gothic fantasy by the … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical fiction, Mystery, Witch Week, YA Lit
Tagged Laura Amy Schlitz, M R James
8 Comments
#WitchWeek2020 Day 1: Gothick Dreams
Happy Halloween to all! My first guest blogger is my co-host, Chris, who blogs as Calmgrove on WordPress, where for eight years he’s been exploring the world of ideas through books by way of reviews and discussions. Today Chris has taken … Continue reading
Posted in Castles and towers, Gothic, Mystery, Witch Week
Tagged Alexandre Dumas, Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Charlotte Bronte, Diana Wynne Jones, Edgar Allan Poe, Evelyn Waugh, Hamlet, Horace Walpole, J K Rowling, Jane Austen, Ludwig II, Mervyn Peake, Philip K Dick, Sir Walter Scott, William Beckford
21 Comments
#WitchWeek2020: Master Post
Diana Wynne Jones’ Witch Week (1983) is a fantasy set between Halloween and November 5th — Bonfire Night — marking the day in 1604 when Guy Fawkes was caught preparing to blow up Parliament. Six years ago, Lory of Emerald City Book Review used this … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Mystery, Witch Week
Tagged Alessandro Manzoni, Diana Wynne Jones, Laura Amy Schlitz, M R James, Neil Gaiman, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
7 Comments
Flotsam and Jetsam
4 books reviewed here, and from them you’ll get a sense of my odd taste in reading these days. No particular reason for it — each one spurred by happenstance, satisfying a yen, or whatever. Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees (1926, … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Fantasy, Mystery, YA Lit
Tagged Elizabeth Alcevedo, Hope Mirrlees, Neil Gaiman, Rumer Goden
14 Comments
Ghoulish image
Because there can never be too much Poe available on this spooky day, here’s a little something I spotted at a recent art show (IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair) in NYC: “Edgar Allen Poe”, Horst Janssen (1929 – 1995), color etching, 1988 … Continue reading
Fortean doings
A bonus post for R.I.P. XIV (Readers Imbibing Peril) — what more could anyone ask of this week before Halloween? Today, a YA trilogy drawn from Edison’s and Tesla’s rivalry that raises important questions about morality, mixed in with some … Continue reading
Posted in Am reading, Historical fiction, Humorous, Macabre, Mystery, RIP, Science fiction
Tagged Eric Elfman, Neal Shusterman
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R.I.P. XIV, part 2
As promised, a second post for R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) XIV, a celebration of any genre that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Four books, 2 of which also fit into my celebration of Herman Melville’s 200th birthday … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Biography, Fantasy, Gothic, Mystery, RIP, Seafaring
Tagged Avi, Edgar Allan Poe, Marilynne Robinson, Mat Johnson, Peter Ackroyd
1 Comment
R.(eaders) I.(mbibing) P.(eril) XIV
Thanks to a new follower (that’s you, Juliana), I’ve discovered this perfect September-October reading project that makes a good run-up to WitchWeek2019: Readers Imbibing Peril XIV, aka RIP14, 2 months devoted to reading scary tales. Mystery, horror, dark fantasy, Gothic, … Continue reading
Posted in Am reading, Fantasy, Mystery, RIP, Witch Week
4 Comments
Brueghelian Obsession
The fourth and last in a series of novels involving the search for lost art. But a new slant here: this novel is for adults. Headlong, Michael Frayn (1999), Picador, 342 pp. Remember that Rod Serling story, where the Nazi … Continue reading
Posted in Art, History, Mystery
Tagged Michael Frayn, Pieter Breughel the Elder, W H Auden
2 Comments
The Borrowers Meet Don Marquis’ Archy
Third in a series reviewing novels about stolen paintings. Masterpiece (2008), Elise Broach (illus. Kelly Murphy), 288 pp. It’s a bit strange to read about “beetles” living under the sink of a NYC apartment, but I suspect Broach’s editors wouldn’t … Continue reading