Dead Water by C.A. Fletcher

 While I'm not necessarily looking to make a habit of reading way more horror, I will say the genre is beginning to grow on me. This one hit all the marks, with the main characters including queer and disabled people, who are usually some of the first to go in horror movies. This author has clearly decided it doesn't have to be that way.

The setting is extremely modern, by which I mean the Covid 19 pandemic is heavily referenced and contributes to the environment. This is a horror story that very much feeds on modern fears of contagion, albeit in ways that go beyond the scope of reality. The setting of a small island grants both a realistic plot device of isolation, and a unique and area-specific history that both contribute heavily to the story. 

It's not a zombie story, not precisely, but it's something that manages to be even creepier. I highly recommend this book, whether you're a fan of slow build horror and the creeps, or even if you're not but are willing to give it a try for the sake of a satisfying tale that bucks some tropes.

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

 

This is one of those books I borrowed from work, but I am seriously considering buying myself a copy to keep on the shelf at home.

Are ghosts real? Who cares, that's not what this book is about! This book never fully takes a stance on whether or not ghosts are real, because that isn't the point.

This is a delightfully unbiased look at what ghost stories say about our history, and about us today. It presents a number of ghost stories across America, dividing out chapters by location, then analyzes the historical basis (or lack thereof) for the story. The primary focus is an exploration of why we hold onto and circulate the ghost stories that we do and what it might mean about us and what we value.

It also sometimes inquires why there is a lack of stories in places where there probably should be. As somebody who lives in Richmond VA, I appreciated that there was an entire chapter devoted to this city, which is full of both history and ghost stories that don't always accurately reflect that history. Sure, we have our share of civil war stories and ghosts, but the ghost stories of our particular area are overwhelmingly and noticeably white. Historically there is so much black bloodshed in this place, yet where are the stories of black ghosts?

Our household haunting, Yorick

The idea that our ghost stories speak far more about the living people who share them is one that deserves to be explored, and in fact I'd argue the worst aspect of this book is that it isn't one of a series. I would gladly read more of this.

Wingbearer by Marjorie Liu & Teny Issakhanian

 

This one really knocked it out of the park, for me. It's considered a Juvenile graphic novel but I'd say it's at least tween to teen for the intended audience. But I'm in my 40s and I enjoyed it thoroughly! All graphic novels should be a solid collaboration between artist and writer, and Teny Issakhanian does a lot of amazing work here. As a former story artist for Disney, Dreamworks, and the Jim Henson company her talent really shines. I have rarely read a comic where the emotions and intentions of the characters were so clearly carried in their expressions and body language on the page. The style of the characters also reminds me some of the old Gargoyles series, which is a huge old favorite of mine.

Our main character Zuli lives in a tree that houses the souls of all the birds, at least from the time of their deaths until they're ready to be reborn to fly in the living world again. Zuli herself lacks wings, but is accustomed to clambering Tarzan-like around the massive tree that is the only home she's ever known. Her only link to her unremembered parents is an armband, and her only friends are bird spirits who have lingered on, uninterested in being reborn.

Then something bad seems to be happening to the bird souls, and she ventures out into the world of the living to find out why their souls seem to be withering on the tree without being reborn as birds again.

The world into which she emerges is full of ruins, immediately dangerous, and literally every living creature in it has wings (unless they've been removed by injury). It's not the first time Zuli has been the only creature around without wings, but it is the first time everyone around her has seen that as strange.

This graphic novel is the first in a series, and it looks like the next one is promised to come out next year. Zuli's adventures are worth following, at any age!

And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness & Rovina Cai

 

I have to admit it's the cover of this one that caught my eye. It's almost a picture book, but it's definitely not aimed at little kids. If I had run into this when I was a tween in my brief fascinated-with-whales phase this one would have hit hard. The illustrations absolutely deserve some credit here, for helping to carry the sheer impact of the story.

There is a certain amount of simplicity to the plot idea at work here, it's a retelling of Moby Dick from the perspective of the whales, which is to say the whales hunt humans in return. With harpoons strapped to their bodies, pods of sperm whales form hunting parties with a clear hierarchy and a goal of fighting back against the mythical 'Toby Wick' who terrorizes the seas.

The story is told from the perspective of one of the hunter whales, Bathsheba, and when she encounters a real live human and he is not the monster she expected, she has to confront the long held ideas of her people.

Maybe not a super complicated idea, but powerfully and poetically written and beautifully illustrated.

The message is meaningful, the text is lovely and the illustrations are magnificent. It's not an especially long read, but it is definitely worth your time.

The Explorer's Guild by Jon Baird, Kevin Costner, & Rick Ross

 Yes, that Kevin Costner.

I still can't actually decide if I liked this book.

So first off, the good stuff: The format is hard to pin down, almost 50/50 written text and comic book style panels. Like some panels inserted here and there like spot illustrations, then sometimes pages and pages or even most of a chapter in comic book format. Then chapters of almost entirely text. It seems to switch back and forth however the authors felt would best convey the section at hand with no other pattern to it, and honestly I really liked that format of storytelling. The media serves the story, and some stuff really does work better visually where other parts are better told in text. The fluid switching back and forth did take a little bit of getting used to but I liked it so much that if I were ever to write something like a novel I can easily see using this method myself.

The whole thing very well captures the feel of the 1920s/30s pulp adventures, an era I'm pretty fond of. It's set around World War I, a very Indiana Jones-esque escapade that ranges across multiple countries where it's not always quite clear who are the good guys and who might be villains in disguise. Unfortunately it also carries the offhanded hints of racism one expects from pulps of the era. As somebody who reads older works, I'm willing to allow it in those books even in reprintings. As a newer book, there is ample opportunity to handle racism differently, to either include it as a sign of the times while also making clear that it is objectively bad, or just not include it all. There are plenty of modern approaches that could happen to acknowledge casual slurs while they may be period-appropriate are also not condoned by the modern authors. I did not see any signs of that approach. They're just... there.

The plot itself is wild and complicated and I'm not sure I can go into much detail here without giving things away, but suffice it to say this group is looking for the fabled land of Shambhala but the passageway to get there is not at all what you would expect.

A significant feature of the plot is something I would consider body horror. It actually bothered me, quite a lot. That is probably the nail in the coffin for me, on this particular book. I did read it all the way through to the end, but I would not read any further installments in the series, if there were any. That in itself is probably worth noting, because the book is title as #1 in a series, but there is no #2. The series never got any further than this singly, admittedly very thick book. Maybe there just isn't much of a modern audience for thick pulp novels, or maybe this whole story is just too complicated and weird for the average reader. I'm not saying you shouldn't read it, I'm just saying that it will only interest a certain set of readers. I'm not sorry I read it, and I truly did like certain aspects of this book, but I am unlikely to ever read it again.

It was weird.

In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle

 Like any fantasy-driven 80's kid, I grew up with the movie The Last Unicorn, and then because I am a lover of books I also own and have read the book a few times (there are quite a few meaningful details left out of the movie). All of that said, I didn't know quite what to expect from this one. 

The setting is modern-day, for an undefined value of. An old man living alone on his isolated farm (which is in Calabria, Italy) finds a unicorn- which turns out to be pregnant, on his property. He understands the need to keep it a secret, because the media would go crazy if they found a real live unicorn. 

Which they eventually do.

Honestly I don't feel like that's giving too much away because that's what happens, but that's not really what this book is about.

What the story is about is people, and relationships, and second chances. The unicorn is in some ways merely the catalyst that sets off a chain reaction of change for a man long set in his ways. It's an interesting contrast to the Last Unicorn, with the story almost entirely taking place on a secluded countryside farm, while the journey is very much one of the self. 

In some ways it's a quiet story, introspective, and told mostly through the eyes of a man used to days of silence and solitude. His life is reflected in the feel of the narrative. 

If you're looking for a story with magical realms and talking animals, you're going to be disappointed, but if you want a sweet story about self discovery, this is a beautiful book.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

 So it's no secret that T. Kingfisher is actually the adult pen name for Ursula Vernon, and I have been following her work for pretty much my entire adult life. Way back in the days before the Biting Pear of Salamanca went viral, Ursula Vernon was primarily an artist who wrote absolutely fascinating little blurbs and sometimes whole chunks of story to go along with her digital paintings. I was always hooked by the glimpses inside the brain of another artist, and the worlds she could evoke in just a paragraph or two.

In the past decades she's achieved success in publishing both kid's books and brilliantly funny reimagining's of fairytales with deeply relatable heroines. I own a number of her books, and intend to collect more of them as I can.

This is the first horror book of hers I've ever heard of.

I'm not a big fan of horror, overall, but on the other hand there is not a single thing she's ever written that I didn't like, so of course when I saw it on the shelf at work I grabbed it. I don't know what I expected, but this book, this story, is like nothing else I have ever encountered in my life. 

When I hear people say a horror book gave them nightmares, I don't imagine this is what they're talking about, but it absolutely did. In fact the book itself feels like a nightmare- which is to say this is not a slasher, not a violent, Hollywood-worthy gorefest or a thriller. This is like those dreams you have where you're not even quite sure if it's a nightmare or not. You can't work out what this place is you're in, because it is vague and unsettling and fills you with a sense of dread but- there's no actual danger that you can see. There's no monsters in sight. There is, in fact, nothing terrible happening to you at all and yet, 

and yet-

you just know that moment when you absolutely do not DARE turn around. And maybe as long as you can't see it, you're safe. 

Or maybe not.

What I'm saying is this book absolutely creeped me out, and also I am not sorry to have read it at all. It was brilliant, and terrifying, and scary on a level that requires true writing skill to achieve. Yeah, I realize that doesn't tell you much at all about the plot but honestly I sort of feel like even trying to describe that would undermine the experience. Of course, as with all her works the heroine is a believably real character with all the messy thoughts and sarcasm and humanity that comes with that. 

If you want to be creeped out, this is an excellent read.

Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell

 

Now I am the first to admit that not everything I read is for everyone. Among my many interests are not only medieval history, but also medical stuff and death. A little weird? Yes, absolutely. Among the things that I have done since starting this blog so long ago for the 365 project, and before coming to work at the library, I spent close to a decade as veterinary assistant at a small animal practice. The level of hands on experience I got with surgery, dentistry, euthanasia, and so many gross medical things has left a lasting impression. It was a job that suited me, for a very long time. Just to add to the conversation that goes down in this household, my wife is a medical coder, and therefore also well versed in the field. When I was at last leaving veterinary practice, jobs I seriously considered were working in a mortuary/funeral home and being a medical scribe (I was actually offered a job as the latter, but the pay was terrible, after acing their short training program).

In short (too late) if you are not a fan of medical details, this book is probably not for you. If, on the other hand, like myself and my wife you are a fan of the Sawbones Podcast and or the Order of the Good Death and/or the videos or books of Caitlin Doughty, you might want to check this one out!

The sections are organized by body part, arranged literally from head to feet, but what each chapter contains from there is diverse and hugely exhaustive; Not just the ailments and medieval remedies thereof, but also all kinds of information on religious and societal attitudes and myths about parts of the body. The tone is delightfully friendly but informative, and there was so much in here that was new and educational even for a person who already had interests along these lines. 

Anyone perusing my reading lists in general will quickly see a trend, that my reading tends heavily towards fantasy/sci-fi and novels. For a nonfiction book to really catch and hold my interest, it has to be something special, but this book absolutely fit the bill. And yes, there are illustrations. 

So I don't recommend this book for everyone, but I know there are absolutely some other freaks out there like me who will love it!

The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest

 

This one was actually donated to the library, for a small section where we sell used books on the cheap to help fund programs. I was helping to sort the donated books and was immediately intrigued, and my money can go to help fund programming as well as anybody else's. 

This is not a novel, but a collection of short stories, edited by Fantasy greats Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, with illustrations by Charles Vess. All three of these names tend to promise good stuff, so I was duly excited. 

It would be hard for me to pick a favorite, here. The stories range from modern-day magic, where faery rubs elbows with our busy cities, to ancient mythology. Possibly the one that rang closest for me, though, was 'Somewhere in My Mind There is a Painting Box' by Charles de Lint. It's about a painter who found faery, in the pursuit of Art, and it rings of Appalachia. Everything about this one just struck true and right in my mind, like all the best stories do.

If you can get your hands on this one, I highly recommend it. The list of author's reads like a who's who of well known talented Fantasy legends, and none of the stories in it were anything I remember seeing anywhere else. A perfect read for a green summer day.

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont

 I came across this one in the stacks and was immediately fascinated. As a longtime fan of The Shadow pulps, I'm familiar with the original author Walter Gibson, and also Lester Dent whose primary work was Doc Savage, but who also lent his pen to bring The Shadow to life. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a rollercoaster of weird loosely plausible scifi and pulpy action, but it doesn't feature The Shadow or Doc Savage. Instead the main players are the author's themselves, getting tangled up in the kind of mystery and mayhem they can use to fuel their work, with one Ron Hubbard also along for the ride. 

It starts with the death of H.P. Lovecraft, whom our pulp authors loosely know mainly through his letters, since he's not as successful commercially as they are. Walter Gibson goes to attend his funeral, and it turns out there's some weird mystery surrounding what may have been a murder rather than a death from stomach cancer, and our authors just can't leave that kind of mystery alone because a good story needs unraveling. There's a lot of politics behind it all, with the advance of Chiang Kai-Shek and the Japanese forces invading China, and the more personal private battle between Walter Gibson and Lester Dent over a real Shadow story that was eventually published as a collaboration. 

This story is too pulpy and sci-fi to be just historical fiction, but also too accurate historically to be dismissed as a pure flight of fancy. As Walter Gibson would say, 'you tell me where real ends and the pulp begins.'

Mermay

 

Been busy doing stuff for the market, where we've been selling art and plush dolls again since last fall. We're trying to do monthly themed stuff and last month was the bunny blitz because of Easter, and then this month is MerMay. Bridgie started the mermaid drawings and then I felt like I should keep up, so now we've put together a coloring book that's half her art and half mine. Apparently my mermaids lean towards the less human and more weird.

Lionfish

I'm not about to post them all here, but I did do a couple that were more human, but I did sort of make a list of weirder fish because how could I not? 

Blobfish 

Bridgie made some mermaid dolls too, and I helped stitch them together so she could do the faces and hair, so I guess all the stuff for this month is kind of a joint production.

Mola Mola

Coelacanth with australopithecus upper half

Ye Rykrol

 

Medieval animal knights

 

Still on a Medieval kick, and just wanted to share some recent sketches that were mostly done at work. Should probably add color to these eventually.

Did you know there were 150 knights of the Round Table when it was full?

 

So this one took me a while, but I worked my way through Le Morte D'Arthur in Middle English, and as if to emphasize that I am now surrounded by nerds, one of my coworkers mentioned that he had also read through this version. Middle English is not unfathomable to the Modern English speaker, but it hails from an era where spelling was optional and the sentence structure was somewhat different. One thing I noticed was that some of the grammar and sentence structure felt more like French or Spanish than Modern English today. There are also plenty of archaic words that sent me to the glossary or the internet. One thing I will say for this particular translation, it has lots of annotations but they are not good annotations, and looking at reviews online I saw that sentiment shared. There were frequent footnotes where 'of' meant 'off' or 'the' was missing in the sentence, simple details that could be easily gleaned from context, but then where some utterly archaic word was presented there would be no footnote at all and at times the term would even be omitted from the glossary in the back.

That said, it was still rewarding to read the original, complete with Thomas Malory's plea at the end of each section for people to pray for him in prison, from where he wrote the whole thing. 

I've been on a medieval kick since before Christmas, and as a result decided it was time to make myself a roughly accurate knight costume, so that's been a long-term project for several months. I cheated on the pants because the ones from my pirate costume look accurate enough once they're mostly covered by all the other parts of the costume. King Arthur himself, inasmuch as he was ever possibly based on a real person, would have lived somewhere in the 5th/6th century A.D. in an era when plate mail was not yet a thing.

There would have still been a heavy Anglo-Saxon influence to the clothing of the time, even though the saxons were the very group he would have fought against. Cotton was not yet used much at all, and the favored cloth would be linen and wool. Unfortunately I was frustrated in my attempts to buy linen locally, as the selection was limited to white or off white, so I bought two yards of a goldenrod color and three yards of a beautiful deep green from an Etsy seller. This amount of fabric left me with very narrow margins for error, but the patterns of the middle ages were designed for just that, as they had to design them to use every bit of material they could get. The early medieval tunic is simple and geometric, with very wide shoulders and a flare with side slits at the bottom. The surcoate was a similar design, just longer and without sleeves, and usually additional slits in front and back to allow for more easily mounting/dismounting from a horse. Sadly, I do not have a horse to pose with in costume, although I'd happily jump at the chance. Well not literally. I'd use the stirrup to mount up appropriately. I do know how to ride a horse.

Over the lower half of the legs a commonly worn piece of clothing were wininga or leg wraps, and this is an article that definitely hails from the saxons and vikings. Usually made of wool, this can be as simple as just a long strip like a wide ribbon, anchored in place by being tucked into itself or with a little bit of cord wrapped overtop for extra security, or can get as fancy as having little metal hook closures for just below the knee. Either way they are wrapped starting with a loop around the arch of the foot, then he ankle, and then wrapped up the leg in a spiral from there. I have leather shoes as a work in progress, using a pattern based from those found at various dig sites such as Sutton Hoo, but in the photos I just used my slippers which honestly don't look too far different from that much older design. 

Overtop the tunic but under the surcoat is where the primary piece of armor of the era would go, and before the advent of plate mail a knight would be lucky to have a full chain mail shirt, or hauberk. Some may have only had leather or padded cloth, and scale mail shorts were also used during this time period. Chain mail was the most expensive option due to the sheer amount of labor involved in producing it, and not all chain mail shirts had full sleeves this long. While I have worn a full chain mail short before (I had some weird friends in High School), and it is possible to find modern reproductions online, I decided they were cost-prohibitive. What I am wearing here is actually knitted from a heavy grade yarn, by a seller on Etsy who goes by CenturiesChest. It was still not cheap, nor should it be, because there's still a fair amount of labor involved, but it is lighter and cheaper than something made of wire/metal.

The ring belt was also purchased from Medieval LeatherShop on Etsy, but costume geek that I am, the rest is stuff I already had around, including my choice of sword. Most of my swords are of later designs, so the best fit was this viking-style sword with the shorter crossguard. It has a full leather scabbard, but the methods of hanging a sword from the belt at this time were very simplified, and at times the scabbard itself was simply hung directly from the belt itself with a small hook near the top to keep it from slipping through. Sword hangers later on became more complicated with extra straps and buckles, but this was a time before buckles and the hanger used here is simply two loops of leather stitched together, one around the scabbard and the other around the belt. 

I have plans to add a coat of arms to the surcoate, an applique of a white stag. The coat of arms was a large part of the purpose of this garment, as it identified the knight even at a distance on the battlefield/in a tournament. I may go back and buy a knit chain mail hood and make a period-accurate style helmet from EVA foam, but lacking these I feel like my current hair looks good in context. I haven't had a haircut since the pandemic started, so this is what two years of no haircuts looks like. The trickiest part of this whole outfit thus far was the collar of the tunic. I kept trying to add the green trim in one piece, and ultimately just had to do one long strip around it and fiddle with the bit where it dips down in a notch in the front. We'll see how sewing the leather shoes goes, yet, but it's not bad for a work in progress.

Update on the new job

 I've been adjusting to the new job at the library- the start was something of disaster, since my official start date was supposed to be January third, when heavy snows shut down the city and all the government offices, so I actually had my orientation and first day a little later than planned. Working at the library is amazing, though! It is full of geeks and nerds, so I'm right at home. There isn't a single coworker I don't like, and the work environment is so much healthier than what I'm used to that I'm actually still adjusting to that. I get sick days which I am supposed to take without guilt, because we're not understaffed, and I am accruing vacation time. I am still very grateful to the vet job, and I left on good terms. My boss did what she could for us, and worked just as hard or harder than anybody else, but it is simply the nature of a small privately owned business with a narrow profit margin, vs a government job. 

Also, I am around books all day. Not every day, because this job is actually part time, but I've already taken to snapping photos of covers while I'm out in the stacks so I something to refer back to when I'm looking for what to read next. I'm working in circulation, which means we're the people who keep the books moving around, getting where they need to be. Every hour we switch tasks, and because our location is kind of rural and quiet, some of those tasks have more downtime than others. Drive through, for instance (pictured here. Also, holy crap there's a drive through pickup window for books you put on hold) means sitting at the window and possibly only having a couple patrons come through in that time. What do you do while you're hanging out there? Well different people have different hobbies, but mostly I read. I've already started flying through books at an alarming rate. It reminds me a little of High School, where I hit a point when I mostly read through my classes.

Somehow I still pulled a B average, but I don't know whether that speaks to my ability to do homework fast and listen while also reading, or if it's just that there was such a bare minimum expected of us as students. Anyways...

Art and book posts coming, because I've been working on a fairly substantial project, but in the meantime I just want to say how amazing it is here. It's a beautiful building, set into a hillside so that it's one story in the front but two stories in the back, with huge windows overlooking a nature trail alongside woods and a stream. It's pretty enough in winter, I can't wait to see how it looks once spring fully sets in. 

 Been on a medieval kick lately, and reading my way through Le Morte D'Arthur in Middle English which is both a little bit of a slog and a delight. I'm learning a lot about how our language has evolved and while it can be slow going in sections, I feel like it's absolutely worth it to read Thomas Mallory's version. He was, of course, drawing on several other older sources, many of them French (as it seyeth in the Frensshe book). If you start digging for the origins of the myths of King Arthur, you quickly find there's nowhere to stop, the hole just keeps getting deeper. 

Anyways, I am a very silly person so this has inspired me to draw the Muppets as the cast from Monty Python's Holy Grail movie. I spent way too long peering at screencaps for costume details, because that's the kind of person I am.

Books Read 2021

 It's been a rollercoaster. We lost my mother-in-law, although we must have done something right because she never once caught Covid, but she was on her third round with lung cancer and the emphysema was progressive. After almost nine years as a veterinary assistant, I found my way out. The level of burnout I was experiencing is only truly hitting home now that I'm away from the job.

And the most magnificent of year end gifts, I have a new job beginning in 2022, and I can't think of a better place to post about this: I will now be working for the local County Public Library! The Librarian's Child is now himself a librarian.

For the first time, my reading list required me to also use the back of the page in the little notebook where I record this. With all the shiny books that will be staring at me from the shelves this year, I cannot imagine how big this list may grow.

The Classic Illustrated Sherlock Holmes - Sir A.C.Doyle

Dodger - T. Pratchett

Study in Scarlet - Sir A.C.Doyle (yeah this wasn't in the other collection)

Mind Fields - J. Yerka & H. Ellison

The Seventh Bride - T. Kingfisher

The Wee Free Men - T. Pratchett

Hat Full of Sky - T. Pratchett

Wintersmith - T. Pratchett

Stardust - Neil Gaiman

I Shall Wear Midnight - T. Pratchett

The Shepherd's Crown - T. Pratchett

Only You Can Save Mankind - T. Pratchett

A Princess of Mars - Edgar R. Burroughs

The Radium Girls - Kate Moore

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

TAZ: The Crystal Kingdom (comic) - McElroys

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers

Waking up Screaming - H.P.Lovecraft

Unnatural Creatures - Various/Editor Neil Gaiman

The Black Hand - Will Thomas

Barnum! in Secret Service to the U.S.A. (comic) - Howard Chaykin

The Rise & Fall of the Gallivanters - M.J. Beaufrand (found at Dollar Store and worth so much more than a dollar!)

Record of a Spaceborn Few - Becky Chambers

Slewfoot - Brom

Everybody has a Podcast (except you) - McElroys

The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro

The Storyteller: Ghosts (comic) - Various

The Storyteller: Sirens (comic) - Various