strange and random happenstance

Ever since The White Queen took the world by storm in 2013 Starz has made a bit of a name for itself with rather bawdy historical dramas. One could almost call them historical fantasies, given their laxity with regard to historical accuracy, but I think complaining about historical dramas is one of the reasons we like to watch them so much. To be drawn into a love story or political machinations while totally trashing a farthingale or a stomacher, now that's the stuff. Though a should say Bridgerton deserves it's own circle of hell for what it does to Regency fashion. Seeing as Starz has run through a fair portion of Philippa Gregory's back catalog, they've turned to other sources over the years, most notably Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander empire with the odd historical text thrown in. And each and every one of these shows I've devoured, even if sometimes Starz has let their audiences down by cancelling remarkable shows even after they've "renewed" them. I will forever lament Becoming Elizabeth and Dangerous Liaisons. Though I will say I don't know how Becoming Elizabeth could have continued after the death of Thomas Seymour, whereas my brother wanted it to last just long enough to watch Edward VI die. But seriously, both could have had Outlander level fanbases given the chance. Well, maybe that's stretching it, but I would have always tuned in. I first heard about Mary and George when Julianne Moore was on an episode of The Graham Norton Show. I don't remember what she was promoting, but she was talking about filming in England and my ears perked up. I was intrigued and when after a little research I saw Tony Curran was in the show I was going to watch it no matter what. It's Tony "I was Vincent van Gogh on Doctor Who" Curran for crying out loud! And yes, I apologize, I was totally ignorant as to who Nicholas Galitzine is, I now know better. This show is an odd one. It leans into the queerness and the lascivity of the English Court during the reign of James I which makes it more historically accurate and sets it apart from the crowd. The problem is you don't like a single character. You pity Tony Curran as James I, but Mary and George Villiers are nasty pieces of work. It's not just that Mary wants to protect her family, she's greedy for status and will get it however she can, even if that's pimping out her son to the king. Everyone is just lewd and unlikable, but I think that was entirely the point. You aren't supposed to like the monarchy, you're supposed to be shocked that people this fucked up are in control. And for that added dash of meta humor Nicola Walker as Elizabeth Hatton is sheer brilliance. She's there being snarky and calling everyone out. She is a gem in a pile of feces. But in the end the takeaway I was left with was this show perfectly melded the high art and the low. The bodily functions of copulation with cinematography that mimicked Rembrandt's greatest works. It might have been lewd, but oh how beautiful it was.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Doctor Who, Elizabeth Hatton, George Villiers, James I, Julianne Moore, Mary and George, Mary Villiers, Nicholas Galitzine, Nicola Walker, Rembrandt, Starz, The White Queen, Tony Curran

The British do love their holiday ghost stories, so it only makes sense that they took that tradition to the television. Starting in 1971 they started adapting ghost stories written by M.R. James for the holiday season starring acting luminaries such as Robert Hardy, Clive Swift, Peter Vaughan, Barbara Ewing, Lalla Ward, Denholm Elliott, and Peter Bowles. They even adapted a Charles Dickens tale before foolheartedly deciding to create their own original content. Two abysmal stories, "Stigma" and "The Ice House," seemed to put the nail in the coffin of this series. But it was so beloved, with fans clamoring for remastered releases and Blu-ray sets, that that wasn't the end. The show returned in 2005 going back to it's origins by adapting an M.R. James story, "A View from a Hill." Once again they brought in the top names in acting, starting with Pip Torrens, Greg Wise, John Hurt, and many others. After his adaptation of 'The Tractate Middoth" in 2013 Mark Gatiss took over the show delivering it once again on a yearly schedule starting with an original episode in 2018. Thankfully Simon Callow was able to make "The Dead Room" work whereas Peter Bowles had let "Stigma" flounder. But I think that wasn't just down to acting, I really do think it was the material. And Mark Gatiss, bless his heart, just somehow is able to embody a bygone era whereas the writers in the seventies had other ideas. Bad ideas. Incestous flora ideas. And seriously, what was with the blood just oozing out of that poor lady's pores? Aside from that one original episode all the episodes in what we shall call the revival for lack of a better word have been adapted from the work of M.R. James. Except for this past year's. This past year's was adapted from "Lot No. 249" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This episode has it all, Kit Harington being a stuffy and incredulous nonbeliever of the supernatural, Freddie Fox being a fey and dangerous man who with longer hair unnervingly looks like his sister, and a man who may or may not be Sherlock Holmes played by John Heffernan, a man who should have definitely said no to that horrid Dracula adaptation by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, and in the coup de grace, a mummy who will deliver your coup de grace. This episode might just be my favorite among the revival episodes. Well, I do love a good haunting by mummy, and Conan Doyle, like the episode adapted from Dickens, seems to work a little better than the stories by M.R. James. I'm not saying there aren't genius episodes adapted from his work, they're just a little more nebulous, a little more open ended. Sometimes, even when dealing with the supernatural, you want a definitive ending, but if you're M.R. James how about some creepy kids wandering off eerily playing the hurdy-gurdy? You think I jest? Just watch "Lost Hearts" and I'll be over here laughing while you're unable to sleep. Sadly it looks like this tradition might be coming to an end due to budgetary concerns. While I only caught the revival episodes the last two years and was finally able to see the original run this year I think this fate is a shame. It's a tradition that survived whatever "The Ice House" was and I want it to continue for many many years to come. It's not like we're going to run out of material now is it? There's always a ghost story to tell for Christmas.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Ghost Story for Christmas, And the Emmy Goes To, Charles Dickens, Denholm Elliott, Freddie Fox, Kit Harington, Lot No. 249, M.R. James, Mark Gatiss, Mummy, Peter Bowles, Robert Hardy, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney
Published by: Alcove Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A warm, spellbinding tale about a witch and the secrets her coven has been keeping from her, with echoes of the classic Hades and Persephone story, in the tradition of Practical Magic and Witch of Wild Things.

Hecate Goodwin, Kate to her friends, has curated the perfect life as a hedge witch, living in a secluded cottage with only a black cat for company. She spends her days foraging herbs from the Ipswich forest, gardening, and creating tinctures to sell at the apothecary she owns. Most evenings pass without her speaking to another human being, an arrangement she quite prefers.

Kate's solitude is thrown into disarray when her older sister, Miranda, reaches out and asks her to host their coven's annual Halloween gathering. The day marks the beginning of the new year for witches and is also Kate's birthday. The pressure from her coven to make the evening memorable mounts as the event draws near. To complicate things further, a handsome man from Kate's past turns up at her cottage, asking for sanctuary. It is Kate's duty as a hedge witch to honor this request, much to her dismay. Matthew Cypher is no ordinary lost soul - he's a practitioner of forbidden magic who's tricked Kate once before, and her guard is up.

As she juggles Matthew's arrival and the preparations for Halloween, Kate comes across an old tome shrouded in dark magic. She is horrified when she realizes the blood-red inscription is written in familiar handwriting: her recently deceased mother's. Afraid to even touch the dark magic her mother secretly studied, Kate can turn only to Matthew for help. Her idealized memory of her mother begins to distort, and as she and Matthew grow closer, Kate has to reevaluate whom she can really trust.

A Dark and Secret Magic is a celebration of the Halloween season and a love letter to anyone who drinks pumpkin spice in August and carries the spirit of a witch inside their heart all year long."

The book that has all the seasonal vibes you are looking for.

The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo
Published by: Atria/Primero Sueno Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.

If you call to the witches, they will come.

1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters, while longing for a life of freedom and adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she'll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.

In the present day, Nena's grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta's own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed."

THE book I've been hearing everyone talk about this fall. I know you want into that bookish conversation... 

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling
Published by: Avon Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 288Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Hex and The Kiss Curse brightens up the Winter Solstice with another delightfully spooky novel following Bowen Penhallow and the girl he feels strangely drawn to - especially when she becomes his only hope of salvation after a strong spell sends them to a Yuletide celebration...more than 50 years in the past.

Bowen Penhallow has always been a loner, studying dark and ancient magic on a mountaintop in Wales. He prefers it that way. But when his friend Colin - who happens to be a ghost - asks him to attend a Yuletide wedding at a grand estate deep in the Welsh countryside, Bowen reluctantly agrees.

Tamsyn Bligh is not a witch, but she makes her living off of them. As a procurer and seller of magical items, Tamsyn's business is not always above board, but she's been trying to fix that (mostly.) Bowen is an occasional customer - as well as the star of several of Tamsyn's dirtiest dreams - but she's been around enough witches to know that, as a human, getting involved with one is not the smartest idea. She's finagled an invite to the Witchy Wedding of the Century in the hopes of finally making a score big enough to retire. Just one priceless magical artifact from Tywyll House would set her up for life.

But Tamsyn isn't the only one sneaking about in Tywyll House, and the mix of a very strong spell combined with a wedding mishap transports Bowen and Tamsyn into Tywyll House's past, to the Yuletide Celebration of 1958. As Bowen and Tamsyn work together to get back to the present, they must also face off with the origins of Tywyll House's haunting, the suspicions of their fellow witches...oh, and the fact that somewhere between the mistletoe and the bonfire, they might be falling in love."

If you can't decide between your fall reading and your winter reading, consider this lovely compromise.

Odd Spirits by S.T. Gibson
Published by: Angry Robot
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 200 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Learn more about the characters from The Sunday Times bestselling author S.T. Gibson's Evocation in this gorgeously illustrated prequel novella to The Summoner's Circle series.

It takes a lot of commitment to make a marriage between a modern ceremonial magician and a tarot witch work, but when a malevolent entity takes up residence in Rhys and Moira's home, their love will be pushed to the limits. Brewing up a solution is easier said than done when your magical styles are polar opposites; throw a psychic ex and a secret society in the mix, and things are bound to get messy."

Don't worry if you haven't been drawn into S.T. Gibson's world yet... This is a PREQUEL afterall. 

The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mother must fight for her daughter's life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.

Clem gets a call that is every mother's worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn't recognize her mother. And she doesn't answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

Clem travels the site of her daughter's accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin's strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?"

It's so a curse right? Please say curse!

Red in Tooth and Claw by Lish McBride
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dark young adult Western fantasy about a teen in a remote settlement full of monsters and secrets.

Faolan Kelly's grandfather is dead. She's alone in the world and suddenly homeless, all because the local powers that be don't think a young man of sixteen is mature enough to take over his grandfather's homestead...and that's with them thinking Faolan is a young man. If she revealed that her grandfather had been disguising her for years, they would marry her off at the first opportunity.

The mayor finds a solution that serves everyone but Faolan: He hires a gunslinger to ship her off to the Settlement, a remote fort where social outcasts live under the leadership of His Benevolence Gideon Dillard. It's a place rife with mystery, kept afloat by suspicious wealth. Dillard's absolute command over his staff just doesn't seem right. And neither do the strange noises that keep Faolan up at night.

When Faolan finds the body of a Settlement boarder, mangled by something that can't possibly be human, it's clear something vicious is stalking the palisades. And as Settlement boarders continue to drop like flies, Faolan knows she must escape to evade the creature's wrath."

Such a fan of Lish McBride!

This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this Southern Gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They're under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago - and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn't what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she's run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails."

The real question is, why did Jemma think there'd be less spirits in New Orleans?

The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
Published by: Redhook
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A spine-tingling, queer Gothic horror debut where two men are drawn into an otherworldly spiral, and a journey that will only end when they reach the darkest part of the human soul.

John Sackville will soon be dead. Shadows writhe in the corners of his cell as he mourns the death of his secret lover and as the gnawing hunger inside him grows impossible to ignore.

He must write his last testament before it is too late.

The story he tells will take us to the darkest part of the human soul. It is a tale of otherworldly creatures, ancient cults, and a terrifying journey from the stone circles of Scotland to the icy peaks of Tibet.

It is a tale that will take us to the end of the world."

I love books that are basically deathbed confessions of monsters people have unwittingly become.

Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber
Published by: Coffee House Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 296 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of Reinhardt's Garden and Saint Sebastian's Abyss comes a breathless new novel of delirious obsession.

Bereft after the death of his ailing wife, a retired professor has resumed his life's work - a book that will stand as a towering cathedral to Michel de Montaigne, reframing the inventor of the essay for the modern age. The challenge is the litany of intrusions that bar his way - from memories of his past to the nattering of smartphones to his son's relentless desire to make an electronic dance album.

As he sifts through the contents of his desk, his thoughts pulsing and receding in a haze of caffeine, ghosts and grievances spill out across the page. From the community college where he toiled in vain to an artists' colony in the Berkshires, from the endless pleasures of coffee to the finer points of Holocaust art, the professor's memories churn with sculptors, poets, painters, and inventors, all obsessed with escaping both mediocrity and themselves.

Laced with humor as acrid as it is absurd, Lesser Ruins is a spiraling meditation on ambition, grief, and humanity's ecstatic, agonizing search for meaning through art."

I'm here for all of this, but mainly the professor struggling with his son's ambitions with EDM!

Cross Bones by Tracy Whitwell
Published by: Pan
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"There's a queue at her door, and not all of them are living...

When Tanz, the accidental medium, is asked to help in the search for a missing woman, she finds herself at the Cross Bones Graveyard in London's Southwark. From the outset it's obvious there is unrest among the spirits who call this place their home, and now Tanz is right in the middle of it. What's more, she now finds her 'so-called gift' is even stronger than it was and the dead really want to talk! Couple this with performing a play that could wreck her acting career for good, and a growing attraction to a police officer who happens to be a lot younger than her, and life is very complicated. But when the dead become restless Tanz can't ignore them, and a mystery needs solving. So is she strong enough to come out the other side?

Cross Bones is the third book in a hilarious series featuring Tanz, the accidental medium who, with the help of the dead, has become an unwilling crime-solver."

I mean, if you haven't come across this series yet, now's the perfect time to give it a go!

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the acclaimed author of Anno Dracula, the perfect gift for those who love the dark fantastic imaginations of Neil Gaiman and T. Kingfisher, this is a nightmarish tale of a haunted Christmas set deep in the British countryside not too long ago. Cosy traditions are made twisted and terrifying as a mother and son grapple with their painful past.

December 1st. Angie and her teenage son Rust prepare for Christmas, stringing fairy lights around their isolated home on the Somerset levels and decorating a tree with traditional ornaments. The first door of the advent calendar is opened, but the chocolate inside tastes off. Rust receives his first Christmas card; it's unsigned, and the message is 'pinch, punch... first of the month'. The robin chirruping on a bough in a snowy woodland picture looks like a nasty piece of work.

The cards keep coming, one each day and each more sinister than the last, and a frightened Angie recalls 'The Cards' - a seasonal TV show from her childhood that featured similar happenings, and while she remembers it vividly, there is no evidence that it was ever broadcast...

Christmas cheer is gradually poisoned, with cruels instead of carols, the turkey rotting in the fridge, unwelcome visits from the Merciless Gentlemen and the Jingle Basterds, and Rust becoming increasingly unwell. Angie begins to wonder if her childhood Christmases were in fact as joy filled as she remembers...

A frightening tale of seasonal dread from the acclaimed author of Anno Dracula. Cosy traditions are made twisted and terrifying as a mother and son grapple with their painful past."

THIS! This right here is my ideal Christmas reading. And yes, it's the top of my "to be read" pile for this holiday season.

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A puzzling new Christmas mystery from USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Benedict!

Rest. In. Pieces.

On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner, and Christmas curmudgeon Edie O'Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene - blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: 'Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.' It's signed, Rest In Pieces.

Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer's murderous puzzle.

Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer - and finally lay her past to rest."

Reading Alexandra Benedict's newest book is a tradition for me, so I've got this one all queued up in the pile.

Killing Time by M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Beloved New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin - the star of her own hit T.V. series - is back on the case again.

Agatha Raisin's private detective agency has their work cut out for them when a series of shop burglaries disturbs their quiet Cotswolds village. When the break-ins take a violent turn and a murder occurs, it's all hands on deck to find the killer. As if that weren't keeping Agatha busy enough, Sir Charles Fraith has called on her to help stage a glamorous promotional extravaganza on the grounds of his ancestral home, Barfield House.

When Agatha begins to receive death threats and narrowly avoids being kidnapped, she takes advantage of a previously arranged trip to Mallorca with her recent paramour, former police officer John Glass, to lie low for a while.

Can Agatha track down whoever it is that wants her dead, nail the murderer, and keep her romance alive too? It's a race against the clock as the Cotswolds' favorite PI rushes to put the pieces together before the seconds run out."

I like to think that while M.C. Beaton's death didn't affect new books coming out every year that perhaps my mom's death didn't stop her from reading the latest Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth.

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He's even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate - very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she's marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it's difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn't seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master."

Dammit, I so want to read this. Come on Flatiron Books, approve me on NetGalley!

My Darlings by Marie Still
Published by: Rising Action
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"ABC's Desperate Housewives meets HBO's Dexter, My Darlings, a chilling suburban noir set in the deceptively serene Washington D.C. suburbs, where a respected philanthropist and PTO president's secret life as a serial killer enthralls readers seeking a deep, psychological thrill.

No one was supposed to know. I've always been so careful. My Darlings, how did we get here?

Evil lurks behind the perfectly manicured lawns, ornate iron gates, and long winding driveways of affluent D.C. - but not for long.

Stay-at-home mom Eloise Williams is PTO president and a respected local philanthropist who sits on the boards of many distinguished charities. In addition to being a doting wife and mother, she is also a serial killer.

But Eloise isn't the only lady in society playing a part. As the hidden lives of Eloise's inner circle are exposed, the body count rises. When stalkers becomes prey, Eloise desperately clings to control.

Money and power can only buy influence and safety for so long. Eventually, the curtains lift, exposing the chilling reality hiding in plain sight."

I mean, it totally makes sense that a housewife would go all killer.

The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Two sisters. A lost imperial treasure. The world's greatest puzzle master has twenty-four hours to solve the most dangerous mystery of his life...or die trying, in the new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Puzzle Master, hailed as "thrilling" by David Baldacci.

It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the ingenious Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the legendary Dragon Box.

The box was constructed during one of Japan's most tumultuous periods, when the samurai class was disbanded and the shogun lost power. In this moment of crisis, Emperor Meiji locked a priceless Imperial secret in the Dragon Box. Only two people knew how to open the box - Meiji and the box's sadistic constructor - and both died without telling a soul what was inside or how to open it.

Every twelve years since then, in the Year of the Dragon, the Imperial family holds a clandestine contest to open the box. It is devilishly difficult, filled with tricks, booby traps, poisons, and mind-bending twists. Every puzzle master who has attempted to open it has died in the process.

But Brink is not just any puzzle master. He may be the only person alive who can crack it. His determination is matched only by that of two sisters, descendants of an illustrious samurai clan, who will stop at nothing to claim the treasure.

Brink's quest launches him on a breakneck adventure across Japan, from the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to the pristine forests of Hakone to an ancient cave in Kyushu. In the process, he discovers the power of Meiji's hidden treasure, and - more crucially - the true nature of his extraordinary talent."

Oh, is he a descendent of the box's constructor? The sadist!

The Bloodstained Doll by John Everson
Published by: Flame Tree Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The latest homage to the Italian Giallo film genre by award winning John Everson, with nods to the sensational movies of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Luciano Ercoli, Mario Bava and more.

When Allyson's mom dies unexpectedly, she thinks her world has hit rock bottom. But that's before she goes to live with her estranged Uncle Otto in Germany. When a child's empty casket is unearthed in the backyard during a violent storm, suddenly people close to her uncle start turning up dead. Is there a connection? As the noose tightens and murders draw closer to Berger Mansion, Allyson and her new boyfriend Andrew discover a dark truth hidden in the attic. Soon their lives are at stake if they don't discover why each broken body is decorated with a Bloodstained Doll.

A modern Giallo, building on Everson's previous homage to the stylish Italian mystery thrillers, Five Deaths for Seven Songbirds."

I adore the Kill Bill vibes of the cover.

The Murderess by Laurie Notaro
Published by: Little a
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 380 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurie Notaro comes a haunting true-crime novel about Winnie Ruth Judd, one of the twentieth century's most notorious and enigmatic killers.

It's October 1931. When Winnie Ruth Judd arrives at the Los Angeles train station from Phoenix, her shipping trunks catch the attention of a suspicious porter. By the time they're pried open, revealing the dismembered bodies of two women inside, Ruth has disappeared into the crowd.

The search for, and eventual apprehension of, the Trunk Murderess quickly becomes a headline-making sensation. Even the Phoenix murder house is a sideshow attraction. The one question on everyone's lips: How could a twenty-six-year-old reverend's daughter and doctor's wife - petite, pretty, well educated, and poised - commit such a heinous act on two people she'd called "my dearest friends in the world"? Everyone has their theories and judgments, but no one knows the whole truth.

What unfolds in this gripping work of true-crime fiction is a collision of jealousy, drug addiction, insanity, rage, and inescapable choices. At its heart, a condemned and tragic mystery woman whose trial - and its shocking twists - will make history."

I don't know why this crime strikes a chord in me, I've heard about it somewhere. Which means I need to read this book to find out why...

Divine Mortals by Amanda M. Helander
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mona can name anyone's soulmate - but she'll do anything to avoid being matched with her own. Especially when she learns he's the king.

Blessed by the gods, Mona Arnett has the unique ability to divine soulmates, but she refuses to seek out her own - until she learns the king is dying without an heir, threatening the royal line and the world's access to magic. Tasked with naming his future queen, Mona discovers the king's soulmate is...her.

A royal match is the last thing Mona wants - especially when she starts falling for the king's closest advisor - so she lies, cheats, and contends with scheming gods to hide the truth. But when this high-stakes game of thrones leads to murder, survival and the fate of the kingdom will depend on her finding the courage to face her destiny.

Delightful wit, spellbinding prose, and a flawed, funny protagonist you'll love from page one make this debut fantasy a must-read."

I mean, I totally get not wanting anything to do with royalty. It's just too precarious.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"We all hold lost recipes in our hearts. A very special restaurant in Kyoto helps find them...

Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner, run by Chef Nagare and his daughter, Koishi. The father-daughter duo have reinvented themselves as "food detectives," offering a service that goes beyond cooking mouth-watering meals. Through their culinary sleuthing, they revive lost recipes and rekindle forgotten memories.

From the Olympic swimmer who misses his estranged father's bento lunchbox to the one-hit-wonder pop star who remembers the tempura she ate to celebrate her only successful record, each customer leaves the diner forever changed - though not always in the ways they expect...

The Kamogawa Diner doesn't just serve meals - it's a door to the past through the miracle of delicious food. A beloved bestseller in Japan, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a tender and healing novel for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold."

Can I go there? I really mean it. I seriously need to go there. Especially if that adorable cat is present.

The Spamalot Diaries by Eric Idle
Published by: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From comedy legend Eric Idle, the fascinating inside story of bringing Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Broadway as the unlikely theatrical hit Spamalot.

On March 17, 2005, Spamalot debuted on Broadway to rapturous reviews for its star-studded creative team, including creators Eric Idle and John du Prez, director Mike Nichols, and stars Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Sara Ramirez, Tim Curry, and more. But long before the show was the toast of Broadway and the winner of three Tony Awards, it was an idea threatening to fizzle out before it could find its way into existence.

Now, in The Spamalot Diaries, Eric Idle shares original journal entries and raw email exchanges - all featuring his whip-smart wit - that reveal the sometimes bumpy, always entertaining path to the show's unforgettable run. In the months leading up to that opening night, financial anxieties were high with a low-ceiling budget and expectations that it would take two years to break even. Collaborative disputes put decades-long friendships to the test. And the endless process of rewriting was a task as passionate as it was painstaking. Still, there's nothing Idle would change about that year. Except for the broken ankle. He could do without the broken ankle.

Chronicling every minor mishap and triumph along the way, as well as the creative tension that drove the show to new heights, The Spamalot Diaries is an unforgettable look behind the curtain of a beloved musical and inside the wickedly entertaining mind of one of our most treasured comic performers."

I am happy to say that I was there in March 2005, trying to help this show on it's two year journey to breaking even.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexandra Benedict, C.J. Cooke, Del Sandeen, Eric Idle, Erin Sterling, Jason Rekulak, Kim Newman, Lish McBride, Luis Jaramillo, M.C. Beaton, Mark Haber, Nicholas Pullen, S.T. Gibson, Tracy Whitwell, Wallis Kinney

Back in the nineties everyone was obsessed with the new adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with moist Colin Firth. I wasn't an exception to this rule, I was fully committed, six tape VHS boxset and all watched over and over again. But there were two other period pieces I gravitated towards more often, mainly because you could always stumble across one or the other in the middle of the night on upper cable channels. I'm talking about Louisa May Alcott's The Inheritance and Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. For years I didn't know what either was called, in my mind it was TV movie with mom from Family Ties with Greg from Dharma and Greg and the miniseries with girl from Son in Law. And yes, that's the Pauly Shore movie. I don't think it was until the advent of Netflix that I was finally able to watch all of The Buccaneers in order, but I loved watching it knowing so much of the cast from other shows I loved. I recently had time to rewatch it and the ending left me cold. The women were pushed aside for the men to take center stage which narratively made absolutely no sense at all. Which made me super excited when I heard that Apple was going to be making a new adaptation of the Wharton book. And not to put to fine a point on it, but she never finished the book so there's a lot of liberties you can take, which Apple of course was quick to capitalize on, hello Lesbians! But I was also worried, would they go all Gossip Girl with this? Or, horror of horrors, Bridgerton? And while yes, you could see they were veering toward the wisteria laden land of the Bridgertons, thankfully without trying to pass off modern music as "art," there was actually a more Clueless vibe. I had hope. At least in the beginning. I was baffled by them starting the show quite far into the story and making Saratoga Springs out to be like it's in the sticks, when it wasn't, it was about new money versus old money, and then there was the swapping of character traits and backstories in an attempt to make it fresh. OK, I can kind of see where you're going, but the main problem was they created this to be a series so while the adaptation in the nineties covered ground fairly quickly here, once the girls get to England, the story stagnates. Nothing happens. They brood over their lives and then get together and scream. A lot. There's a lot of childish hen night behavior used to pad the episodes. And Nan's courtship would never drap on this long. The episode though that broke me was the Christmas episode. Nan's love interest looks like he's wearing Colin Firth's sweater from Bridget Jones's Diary. In the library there's a globe with Alaska on it. And then to add insult to injury, they take the loving governess Miss Testvalley and turn her into Mary Kay Letourneau. It's not spelled out, but given how her three charges turned out, I think she sexually abused them all, preying on them from the shadows. It's just so fucking creepy. There could have been depth here but there's no depth at all, it's all lets run around and giggle without evolving. And as for the "ending!?!" Nan gives everything up for her evil sister? Nope. No way. That's it for me. The least I expected was a reveal that Miss Testvalley was Nan's mother, instead Miss Testvalley is a pedophile and they decided to do a Dynasty and hold the reveal of Nan's mother until next season to see if they can get a big name star. My advice to anyone offered this role? Run, don't walk. You do not want to be involved in this trainwreck.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Bridgerton, Bridget Jones's Diary, Clueless, Colin Firth, Dynasty, Edith Wharton, Gossip Girl, Jane Austen, Lesbians, Mary Kay Letourneau, Pedophile, Pride and Prejudice, The Buccaneers

The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine started in summer 1992. Seeing as I viewed myself as a sophisticated adult because I was just about to start high school I wasn't the target demographic. That would have been my brother who is four years younger than me. He loved authors like John Bellairs, so of course this fell into his wheelhouse. He wasn't a fanatic because his main loves were video games and WWF and WCW wrestling, but I remember him having a few books on his shelves, particularly Night of the Living Dummy. One thing R.L. Stine gets is what Rod Serling did before him, and that's that dummies are terrifying. Which is lucky, because this season is all about Stine's evil dummy. For the most part. It's about how the dummy has influenced, one might even say destroyed, two generations in Port Lawrence, Washington. The problem is it's hard to categorize this show, there's a nostalgia element but there's a lot of cheese too. You have horrific moments and then you have Justin Long doing some of the most insane physical humor you will ever see as the dummy possesses him. There's no inbetween. And the show isn't able to find a common ground. It doesn't know what it wants to be and I think this is because it's made by Disney. It wants to reach the widest audience possible so it hedges its bets. When it could go dark it goes funny, when it could go terrifying it goes gross. In that regard it does kind of want to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even with an alum of that show, the late and unlamented Forrest. But here's the thing, even Buffy wasn't able to find the sweet spot in telling a story about an evil dummy. The season one episode "The Puppet Show" is one of those ones if I was a person who skipped episodes when rewatching favorite shows I just might skip. It's a shame Sid had to show up in the second Buffy video game, because he's a horrible fighter, but it is what it is. What I'm trying to say is that it's like a once in a lifetime situation to get this balance right and in the end Goosebumps failed. I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, because there are solid episodes here, but the finale left me cold. Instead of bringing our Port Lawrence Scooby Gang together to vanquish the big bad instead we get a rambling episode about the origins of the dummy. We're in Egypt and traveling circuses, we're far away from our core cast. The town then gets possessed by the dummy and everyone has makeup like the henchmen from the Buffy musical as my brother pointed out. And I guess they win, it's very convoluted and Justin Long appears to still be possessed at the end and that's where we're left. Because while the show was renewed it was renewed as an anthology. So guess what? Next season we'll get new stories and characters that they might just as well leave on another cliffhanger. I mean, really!?! I invested my time in this uneven show and I'm not going to get closure!?! Not to mention that I feel like I need therapy because I realized I'm now the age of the parents of the teens on the show. At least the flashbacks to their high school years had the requisite amount of flannel. The flannel is all I have to comfort me now.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Anthology, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cliffhanger, Disney, Dummy, Forrest, Goosebumps, Justin Long, Night of the Living Dummy, Nineties, R.L. Stine, Rod Serling, Scooby Gang, The Puppet Show

The Bloody Ruin Asylum and Taproom by Seana Kelly
Published by: NYLA
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Kindle, 285 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"I'm Sam, the werewolf book nerd owner of The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar. My husband, Master vampire Clive, has been asked to go to Budapest to interview for a position in the Guild, a council of thirteen vampires who advise the world's Masters. The competition for the recently vacated spot is fierce. I worry about Clive, as it quickly becomes apparent that the last person to hold the position didn't leave voluntarily.

Ever the supportive wife, I’m tagging along. I researched Budapest and had a long itinerary of things to do. That is, I did. When we arrive, we find out that the Guild headquarters is in the ruins of an abandoned insane asylum. Awesome. If there's one thing I love, it's being hounded by mentally unstable Hungarian ghosts.

Let's just say this isn't the romantic getaway I'd been hoping for. With Clive in top secret meetings and a bunch of creepy Renfields skulking around corners, nowhere is safe. I want to help Clive because I know he really wants the job, but the other Guild members are ancient and scary powerful. Between you and me, I thought Vlad would be taller."

Who's had this book preordered since April? That would be me.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"What We Do in the Shadows with the small town feels of Gilmore Girls in this swoon-worthy romance that will leave readers delightfully cozy and hungry for more.

When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clear out her late grandmother's ramshackle old house, the last thing she expects is Seth Brubaker on her doorstep. Her former best friend was responsible for the worst moment of her high school life, and she can't imagine he wants to do anything but torment her all over again.

Until she unearths the real reason this annoyingly gorgeous beast of a man keeps hanging around: he's an actual werewolf, who's certain she's the witch that will ease his suffering. But Cassie just isn't sure if she can trust him again. So Seth offers a pact: he'll teach her all about her undiscovered magic, and she will brew the potions he needs. No feelings, no funny business, just a witch and a werewolf striking a deal.

Totally doable. Until they get hit with a do-or-die mating bond. And now the heat is rising, in between fights with formers bullies and encounters with talking raccoons. They just have to not give in. Unless giving in just might be the very thing they never knew they always wanted."

I was sold when I found out this is basically Gilmore Girls with werewolves.

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An "impossibly endearing" (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) debut novel about three clairvoyant sisters who face an unexpected twist of Fate at the bottom of their own delicate porcelain cups.

Ever since the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that rest in the swirls of ginger, cloves, and cardamon that lie at the bottom of their customers' cups. Their days at the teashop are filled with talk of butterflies and good fortune intertwined with the sound of cinnamon shortbread being snapped by laced fingers.

That is, until the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her powers, and the sisters suddenly find themselves being pulled in different directions. As Anne's magic begins to develop beyond that of her sisters', Beatrix's writing attracts the attention of a publisher, and Violet is enchanted by the song of the circus - and perhaps a mischievous trapeze artist threatening to sweep her off her feet - it seems a family curse that threatens to separate the sisters is taking effect.

With dwindling time to rewrite their future and help three other witches challenge their own destinies, the Quigleys set out to bargain with Fate. But in focusing so closely on saving each other, will they lose sight of themselves?"

Can I just go live in this world?

Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi
Published by: Dell
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A kitchen witch with a penchant for baking and a (literally) cursed love life meets someone who's worth breaking a hex for in this enchanting romance debut written with a heap of spice and an equal measure of heart.

As a skilled kitchen witch, Dina Whitlock knows her way around a pastry recipe. In fact, she runs her very own London café, serving magic-infused treats to her loyal customers. She is not as much of an expert on romance, thanks to the hex hanging over her head. It's hard to fall in love when your partner is cursed with a string of bad luck. But who needs love when your best friend is getting married, right?

Scott Mason has returned from global travels thrilled to embark on his new role as a curator at the British Museum. Having left London two years ago to recover from a devastating breakup, Scott has missed out on a lot. With his best friend's wedding approaching, and Scott as best man, this is his chance to make up for lost time. Little does he expect to be enchanted by the magical maid of honor.

During a romantic weekend filled with a peculiar hedge maze, palm readings by candlelight, and a midnight Halloween ritual, there's no denying the chemistry between them. But the hex still holds, and Dina knows that Scott is in danger of more than just bad luck - because she's falling, hard. Will Dina be able to undo the hex before it's too late?"

I mean, who hasn't imagined falling for a member of the wedding party? This just has an extra dose of magic.

The Undead Complex by Courtney Smyth
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A witty, witchy fantasy murder mystery packed with ancient magic and fiendish puzzles. Mallory, Diana, Cornelia and Theodore are hired to solve a murder on a TV shoot by the victim herself. Perfect for fans of supernatural mysteries and cosy crime by authors such as Ben Aaronovitch, Josiah Bancroft and Tammie Painter.

Five months after they stopped The Whistler, business is booming for the Undetectables. Just not work that requires magical forensic investigators. So when Diana's ex asks them to solve a murder - her own - Diana, Mallory and Cornelia can't say no.

Going undercover to investigate the set of the TV show, Undead Complex, Diana returns to her life as a propmaker. But even the appearance of a genuine-article Francine Leon dollhouse leaves her feeling pulled down a path of crime-solving she doesn't want to walk forever.

Meanwhile, Theodore's coming apart at the seams - literally - and Mallory is running out of ways to help him. Especially as he seems to be keeping secrets from her.

As the clues - and the bodies - keep piling up, each one making less and less sense, the Undetectables find themselves in a race against time to find out what, exactly, the killer is up to - before the final cut."

I mean... I don't think I'd call Ben Aaronovitch cosy... And this reminds me more of Lockwood and Co....

Candle and Crow by Kevin Hearne
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles comes the final book in the "action-packed, enchantingly fun" (Booklist) Ink and Sigil series, as an ink-slinging wizard pursues the answer to a very personal mystery: Who cast a pair of curses on his head?

Al MacBharrais has a most unusual job: He's a practitioner of ink-and-sigil magic, tasked with keeping order among the gods and monsters that dwell hidden in the human world. But there's one supernatural mystery he's never been able to solve: Years ago, someone cast twin curses on him that killed off his apprentices and drove away loved ones who heard him speak, leaving him bereft and isolated.

But he's not quite alone: As Al works to solve this mystery, his friends draw him into their own eccentric dramas. Buck Foi the hobgoblin has been pondering his own legacy - and has a plan for a daring shenanigan that will make him the most celebrated hobgoblin of all. Nadia, goth queen and battle seer, is creating her own cult around a god who loves whisky and cheese.

And the Morrigan, a former Irish death goddess, has decided she wants not only to live as an ordinary woman but also to face the most perilous challenge of the mortal world: online dating.

Meanwhile, Al crosses paths with old friends and new - including some beloved Druids and their very good dogs - in his globe-trotting quest to solve the mystery of his curses. But he's pulled in so many different directions by his colleagues, a suspicious detective, and the whims of destructive gods that Al begins to wonder: Will he ever find time to write his own happy ending?"

Dammit, I wish this was coming out in the before times because Kevin Hearne's book tour looks amazing. Seriously, I'd totally go if it wasn't for Covid.

Casters and Crowns by Elizabeth Lowham
Published by: Shadow Mountain
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Cursed by magic, bound by mistakes, Princess Aria finds her destiny hinges on the mysterious Baron Reeves. Will love be enough to break the curse, or will war bring her kingdom to ruin? A new romantasy by Elizabeth Lowham.

When Crown Princess Aria sees her kingdom on the brink of war with the magic-wielding Casters, she takes it upon herself to speak with Widow Morton, the most dangerous Caster in the realm. If successful, Aria will not only ensure peace but also prove to her father that she is a worthy heir. But when her negotiations fail, Aria is dealt a terrible curse: Over the course of one hundred days, she will be unable to sleep, her body and mind doomed to waste away. And then the curse will pass to her sister, until every member of the king's line is dead.

Aria's best hope for breaking her curse is to seek help from another Caster - the handsome and charming Baron Reeves. He may be entitled to a place at the court, but as a magic user, can he truly be trusted? She vows to not be fooled by his dimpled smiles or his devotion to his brothers, but as she spends more time with him, she discovers that her heart has other ideas.

Baron has no desire to see the princess suffer - especially since she might be the key to changing the king's opinion on Casters - but he has secrets to protect and ghosts of his own. The last person he tried to save using his magic died, and he's not willing to risk harming someone he loves again.

As the curse continues its deadly countdown, both Aria and Baron must risk their lives and their hearts to save each other and unite a kingdom."

Damn. That is a damn wicked curse.

The Fate of Magic by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The breathtaking sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Night of the Witch culminates with a sweeping romance and an epic battle to determine the fate of magic...and the world.

Fritzi is a champion. After escaping the clutches of Dieter Kirch, the sadistic leader of the witch hunters, Fritzi and Otto have taken refuge among the witches of the Black Forest. Fritzi is finally ready to assume her place on the council as the coven's goddess-chosen champion. Plagued by distrust and self-doubt, Fritzi throws herself into her duty to serve the goddesses...until she uncovers a powerful secret that could mean the very undoing of magic itself.

Otto is a warrior. He swears himself to Fritzi as her bonded protector, certain the peaceful unity of a witch and hunter will heal the wounds he helped make. But as the horrifying plot that threatens the Black Forest's magic comes to light, Otto will have to face both his past and what it means to bind himself to a magic he does not fully understand.

Shadows loom. Truths are revealed. And as dangers new and old arise, Fritzi and Otto must stand together against everything that threatens magic - even if the biggest threat might be the very bond they share."

Germanic witches for the win.

Now Comes the Mist by Julie C. Dao
Published by: Podium Publishing
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dracula's Lucy Westenra like you've never seen her before: In this retelling from critically acclaimed author Julie C. Dao, the perfect woman bites back.

Lucy Westenra is beautiful, rich, loved by three men - every inch a lady. But beneath this sparkling, flirtatious facade, she is fascinated by death, which has stalked her throughout her short life. For her, the dead do not slip away easily, as they do for her best friend, Mina; they linger.

When Lucy departs for Whitby, her nightly sleepwalks introduce her to the mysterious Vlad, who seems to see parts of her she has never let show before. Vlad makes her an offer: Every century, he seeks out the "perfect woman of the age," who embodies all the values of her society, to live with him in immortality - and Lucy could very well be this woman. For the first time, she feels herself able to share her darker side with someone. Thinking herself dreaming, she agrees to cheat death with him.

When Vlad finally appears in the light, it is aboard a ship covered in corpses. He toys with Lucy and mocks her in Mina's presence. And one night, he drains a corpse dry right before her eyes. He is a vampire, a monster ready to take her. He expects a good Victorian lady, appalled by his darkness, a victim. But Lucy is only enraptured. When Vlad reacts with violence, Lucy has no choice but to fight for her agency, even if it means giving up her humanity. And her tormentor will soon find she is no easy opponent...

The first book of a duology that retells Dracula from the point of view of Lucy Westenra, this Gothic romance is perfect for fans of Penny Dreadful and Danielle L. Jensen."

This Halloween season, more Lucy Westenra then you ever thought you needed! And yes, you did need it.

Northern Nights edited by Michael Kelly
Published by: Undertow Publications
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 298 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Something stirs in the boundless dark of the Canadian north. Listen. Can you hear it?

Northern Nights is an anthology of strange stories, featuring the dark dreams and feverish imaginations of Canada's finest speculative authors. Steel yourself for a journey through these northern nights.

Featuring all new original stories from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Camilla Grudova, Premee Mohamed, David Demchuk, Senaa Ahmad, A.C. Wise, Naben Ruthnum, Simon Strantzas, Richard Gavin, Rich Larson, Hiron Ennes, Siobhan Carroll, Lynn Hutchinson Lee, Rory Say, David Nickle, Marc A. Godin, EC Dorgan, K.L. Schroeder, Nayani Jensen, and David Neil Lee."

Here for Hiron Ennes and Silvia Moreno-Garcia! And to discovering everyone else.

Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mindbending and visceral experimental horror about a young man trapped in an infinite Montreal subway station, perfect for readers of Mark Z. Danielewski and Susanna Clarke.

Vicken has a plan: throw himself into the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal and end it all for good, believing it to be the only way out for him after a lifetime of depression and pain. But, stepping off the subway, he finds himself in an endless, looping station.

Determined to find a way out again, he starts to explore the rooms and corridors ahead of him. But no matter how many claustrophobic hallways or vast cathedral-esque rooms he passes through, the exit is nowhere in sight.

The more he explores his strange new prison, the more he becomes convinced that he hasn't been trapped there accidentally, and amongst the shadows and concrete, he comes to realise that he almost certainly is not alone. A terrifying psychological nightmare from a powerful new voice in horror."

I mean, I can see the Mark Z. Danielewski connection with House of Leaves, but Susanna Clarke?

I'll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood...

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future...together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car crash, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, "I'll be waiting for you."

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press - the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn't Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium - a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton's family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter...in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she's haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn't her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn't her real name.

That's when she finds the first body....

In this atmospheric, thrilling new ghost story, Kelley Armstrong's full talents are on display to thrill, chill and leave the reader guessing how Nicola escapes with her life - if she can."

This is just a book I'm dying to read, I'm dying for the cover to be art on my wall.

The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets...

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill - but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd...

What Zo doesn't yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn't quite comprehend - or risk being consumed by them."

The real mystery though it a Scottish groundskeeper in Louisiana?

Secret Dead Men by Duane Swierczynski
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A smart-talking supernatural noir, full of twists and turns, delivered at a whipalong pace about a dead investigative-journalist-turned-soul-collector on the trail of his nemesis - nd murderer. Perfect for fans of Ben Aaranovitch and Richard Kadrey.

Del Farmer isn't your ordinary hardboiled private eye. Instead of collecting fingerprints or clues, he collects souls of the recently dead. His latest dead guy, Brad Larsen, might just be the key to destroying Farmer's long-time nemesis, The Association.

Of course, Farmer is sadly mistaken. An FBI agent unstuck in time is toying with him. A mysterious couple keeps trying to kill him. Another job - a mundane babysitting gig that pays the bills - is threatening to steer him way off course into a violent hell of sexual deceit, fractured identities, and cheap apartment toilets.

With only a head packed full of nagging ghosts, Farmer realises this case might just drive him out of his mind, literally."

A violent hell of sexual deceit? Isn't that the definition of Noir?

Model Home by Rivers Solomon
Published by: MCD
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to Rivers Solomon's dark and wondrous Model Home, a new kind of haunted-house novel.

The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors acted nice enough, but right away bad things, scary things - the strange and the unexplainable - began to happen in their house. Maybe it was some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-middle class. Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned.

As adults, the siblings could finally get away from the horrors of home, leaving their parents all alone in the house. But when news of their parents' death arrives, Ezri is forced to return to Texas with their sisters, Eve and Emanuelle, to reckon with their family's past and present, and to find out what happened while they were away. It was not a "natural" death for their parents...but was it supernatural?

Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life."

Definitely a different kind of haunted house. I'm in.

Killer House Party by Lily Anderson
Published by: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Printz Honor winning author Lily Anderson comes a young adult horror that follows Arden and her friends as their graduation party at an abandoned mansion turns into a bloody fight for survival.

Red Solo cups? Check. Snacks? Check. Abandoned mansion full of countless horrors that won't let you leave? Check.

The Deinhart Manor has been a looming shadow over town for as long as anyone can remember, and it's been abandoned for even longer. When the final Deinhart descendent passes, the huge Gothic manor is up for sale for the first time ever. Which means Arden can steal the keys from her mom's real estate office...It's time for a graduation party that no one will ever forget.

Arden and her friends each have different reasons for wanting to throw the party to end all parties. But when the manor doors bar everyone inside and the walls begin to bleed, all anyone wants to do is make it out alive."

I love that the house SO doesn't want to have a party thrown in it.

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"How far would you go to belong?

Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion - it's been a decade since she graduated, and she is looking forward to seeing old faces and reminiscing about her time there. This visit is special because Maya will also be attending the graduation of her little sister, Naomi.

But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya's worst nightmare when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The police are calling it an accident, but Maya suspects that there is more to the story than they are letting on.

As Maya pieces together what happened in the months leading up to her sister's death, she begins to realize how much Naomi hid from her. Despite Maya's warnings, Naomi had joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus - the same one Maya belonged to. And if she had to guess, Naomi was likely tapped for the secret society within it.

The more Maya uncovers, the more terrified she becomes that Naomi's decision to follow in her footsteps might have been what got her killed. Because Maya's time at Princeton wasn't as wonderful as she'd always made it seem - after all, her sister wasn't the first young woman to turn up dead. Now every clue is leading Maya back to the past...and to the secret she's kept all these years."

Oh, I need to know the secret that's MORE secret than the secret society!

Suggested in the Stars by Yoko Tawada
Published by: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's hard to believe there could be a more enjoyable novel than Scattered All Over the Earth - Yoko Tawada's rollicking, touching, cheerfully dystopian novel about friendship and climate change - but surprising her readers is what Tawada does best: its sequel, Suggested in the Stars, delivers exploits even more poignant and shambolic.

As Hiruko - whose Land of Sushi has vanished into the sea and who is still searching for someone who speaks her mother tongue - and her new friends travel onward, they begin opening up to one another in new and extraordinary ways. They try to help their friend Susanoo regain his voice, both for his own good and so he can speak with Hiruko - and amid many often hilarious misunderstandings (some linguistic in nature) - they empower each other against despair. Coping with carbon footprint worries but looping singly and in pairs, they hitchhike, take late-night motorcycle rides, and hop on the train (learning about railway strikes but also packed-train-yoga) to convene in Copenhagen. There they find Susanoo in a strange hospital working with a scary speech-loss doctor. In the half-basement of this weird medical center (with strong echoes of Lars von Trier's 1990s TV series The Kingdom), they also find two special kids washing dishes. They discover magic radios, personality swaps, ship tickets delivered by a robot, and other gifts. But friendship - loaning one another the nerve and heart to keep going - sets them all (and the reader) to dreaming of something more...Suggested in the Stars delivers new delights, and Yoko Tawada's famed new trilogy will conclude in 2025 with Archipelago of the Sun, even if nobody will ever want this "strange, exquisite" (The New Yorker) trip to end."

Yeah, it is heard to believe someone found the first book enjoyable because it was literally one of the worst books I've ever read brimming with racism and trans hate.

Elevator in Sài Gòn by Thuân
Published by: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young Vietnamese woman living in Paris travels back to Saigon for her estranged mother's funeral. Her brother had recently built a new house in Saigon, and staged a grotesquely lavish ceremony for their mother to inaugurate what was rumored to be the first elevator in a private home in the country. But shortly after the ceremony, in the middle of the night, their mother mysteriously fell down the elevator shaft, dying in an instant.

After the funeral, the daughter becomes increasingly fascinated with her family's history, and begins to investigate and track an enigmatic figure, Paul Polotsky, who emerges from her mother's notebook. Like an amateur sleuth, she trails Polotsky through the streets of Paris, sneaking behind him as he goes about his usual routines; meanwhile, she researches her mother's past - zigzagging across France and Asia - trying to find clues to the spiraling, deepening questions her mother left behind unanswered - and perhaps unanswerable.

Still banned in Vietnam, Elevator in Sài Gòn is a thrilling novel combining elements of the detective thriller, historical romance, postcolonial ghost story, and a biting satire of life in a communist state."

Yes, just so much yes.

The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Molly the Maid has a whole new mystery to solve in this heartwarming novella from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.

Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly's mofinst joyful yet.

But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential - and personal - mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?

A heartwarming, magical story about the true spirit of the season, The Mistletoe Mystery reminds us that love is the greatest mystery of all."

Can we make it mandatory that series we love have to have Christmas novellas? Because that would really make my holiday season.

Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen
Published by: Forge
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in atmospheric 1950s San Francisco, Rough Pages asks who is allowed to tell their own stories, and how far would you go to seek out the truth.

Private Detective Evander "Andy" Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers. With bookseller Howard Salzberger gone suspiciously missing along with his address book, everyone on that list, including some of Andy's closest friends, is now in danger.

A search of Howard's bookstore reveals that someone wanted to stop him and his co-owner, Dorothea Lamb, from sending out their next book. The evidence points not just to the Feds, but to the Mafia, who would be happy to use the subscriber list for blackmail.

Andy has to maneuver through both the government and the criminal world, all while dealing with a nosy reporter who remembers him from his days as a police detective and wants to know why he's no longer a cop. With his own secrets closing in on him, can Andy find the list before all the lives on it are at risk?"

A wonderful mystery that is sadly still very timely.

Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl by Fiona Britton
Published by: Allen and Unwin
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 296 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An arch, out-of-the-box debut historical crime caper for fans of Phryne Fisher.

A centuries-old curse, a house of secrets and a young woman determined to find out the truth.

Sydney, 1930: In a well-heeled corner of Paddington, just a short distance from the razor gangs of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross, sits La Maison des Fleurs, an upscale brothel run by the indomitable Madame. The star of La Maison is Violet Kelly - beautiful, clever and determined to make something of herself in a world that has already taken so much.

When a former associate of Madame's emerges to claim a long-owed favor involving a kidnapped girl and an ancient curse, Violet is drawn into a risky game of cat and mouse that takes her from dangerous underworld dealings to raucous parties to untold stories about her own past, and, eventually, right into the heart of La Maison des Fleurs. But how much is she willing to risk to save her friends, her home and the life she's come to love? And will it be enough?

Violet Kelly is Agatha Christie with a Beretta tucked into her French lingerie."

A hooker with a good right hook?

Murder Among the Pyramids by Sara Rosett
Published by: McGuffin Ink
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 318 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Escape on an Egyptian Excursion to the Land of the Pyramids!

Tour highlights include: Hieroglyphics and high tea in the desert, followed by murder after sunset...

It's 1924 and Blix Windway has made a career out of her wanderlust, giving lectures to ladies' groups about everything from the flora of the American desert to the beauty of the Swiss Alps, but she needs new material for her talks.

She strikes what seems to be an ideal agreement with an eccentric older lady. Blix will be her travel companion during a journey to Egypt, helping to smooth the way through customs and coordinate sightseeing tours. The arrangement will provide Blix with the perfect opportunity to photograph the pyramids and gather material for her next lecture series. But they've barely left England before the trouble begins-rough seas and an attempted robbery. Then a murder occurs during a tour of the pyramids.

Despite the attempts of the British officials to sweep the death under the rug, Blix becomes increasingly convinced that one of their tour party is a murderer. Blix's search for the truth takes her from the posh sporting clubs and lavish gardens of Cairo to the narrow, twisting lanes of the city's centuries-old bazaar and the vast desert around the Giza Plateau. Can Blix unearth the truth before the killer makes this journey her last?

Join Blix on this classic murder mystery from Sara Rosett, author of the beloved High Society Lady Detective series."

I already have my signed copy preordered! I so can't wait to meet Blix!

Tomb of the Sun King by Jacquelyn Benson
Published by: Vaughan Woods Publishing
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Respectable lady scholars shouldn't be dodging evildoers, escaping lost tombs, and chasing down magical artifacts.

Archivist and suffragette Ellie Mallory always dreamed of putting her scholarly skills to work in the ancient sands of Egypt. She never imagined she would be doing so in order to save an object of legendary power from a batch of ruthless villains.

Racing baddies to an arcanum of Biblical proportions is only one of Ellie's problems. Her hopelessly academic and perpetually mortified step-brother, Dr. Neil Fairfax, is about to learn that she's been gallivanting around the globe with his danger-magnet best friend, Adam Bates - the roguish surveyor for whom Ellie harbors increasingly complicated feelings. Add the petite and terrifyingly fearless Constance Tyrrell to the mix, and Ellie either has a crack team of artifact-saving experts on hand...or a recipe for disaster.

Together, they'll need to follow a trail of three-thousand-year-old clues from the necropolis of Saqqara to the temples of Luxor - and beyond, where the ruined capital of a heretic pharaoh hides a secret with the potential to upend history.

To keep an earth-shattering magic from falling into the wrong hands, Ellie will need to pull out all the stops, even if that means resorting to fisticuffs, ignoring proper archaeological processes...and solving one of Egypt's greatest mysteries.

Dive into Tomb of the Sun King now to experience the next action-packed historical fantasy adventure in the Raiders of the Arcana series!"

I'm just saying, a crack team can also be a recipe for disaster, it's not an either or situation. 

Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright
Published by: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron's empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family's Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian's sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer's ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.

In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer's quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold's mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian's great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation?

Renowned as a "trailblazer extraordinaire" (Booklist) of inspirational dual-time suspense, award-winning author Jaime Jo Wright weaves a haunting tale of mystery, legacy, and the relentless pursuit of truth across two distinct eras."

I mean, Wisconsin and serial killers do go together...

Love and the Downfall of Society by Melinda Copp
Published by: Tiny Piano Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 280 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After turning society upside down with her debut story, provincial Charlotte Deveraux arrives in Paris poised for literary stardom. She's not sure where her next rent payment will come from, but she's determined to make a name for herself as a respected writer in the cultural capital of the world.

Antoine de Larminet is the last surviving son of an aristocratic family. In line to inherit a title, he has promised his parents that he'll marry a peer and carry on the centuries-old tradition. He was raised in an antiquated world where love was often found outside of arranged society marriages. Even as the French aristocracy is losing relevance to modernity, Antoine never questioned this commitment to this family legacy - until his chance meeting with clever and beautiful Charlotte.

Their attraction is immediate, and the more they bump into each other at the clubs and salons of Paris, the stronger their attachment grows. But Antoine can't marry Charlotte because she's as proletarian as they come. And Charlotte will lose all credibility as a writer and social critic if she becomes the mistress of an aristocrat.

The world around them is changing, but if love is to win, one of them will have to give up everything they stand for."

I have a feeling that love can find a compromise...

Frostfire by Elly MacKay
Published by: Tundra Books (NY)
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 44 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Follow dragon-expert Miriam and curious Celeste on a magical winter's day walk through their garden, where a snow dragon just might be hiding! Elly MacKay's luminous artwork and sweet sibling story will cast a spell over readers of all ages in this playfully imaginative picture book that's perfect for fans of Frozen.

On a walk through a snow-covered garden, big sister Miriam claims to hear the sound of a snow dragon. Little sister Celeste has lots of questions: snow dragons are real? Where do they hide? What do they eat? And is that frost on the greenhouse windows or is it...frostfire?

Miriam seems to have an answer for everything about snow dragons. But when Celeste wanders off, she has a magical encounter that changes everything she thought she knew.

Told through gently playful dialogue and brought to life with spectacular works of paper diorama art, Elly Mackay's newest picture book is an enchanting wintertime adventure destined to become a classic seasonal fairy tale that readers will enjoy for years to come."

Oh my, so much to love here, foxes and dragons on a winters day!

Bowie by Martin Popoff
Published by: Motorbooks International
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This value-priced reissue of Bowie at 75 (2022) celebrates the beloved rock star with expert commentary, hundreds of images, and an illustrated gatefold timeline.

Hendrix, Joplin, Mercury...few rock artists garner as much adulation after passing as they did in life. In David Bowie, veteran rock journalist Martin Popoff examines the rocker's extraordinary life through the lens of 75 significant career achievements and life events, guiding you through all 27 studio albums, as well as a curated selection of earworm singles. But Popoff delves deeper to reveal the events that helped chart the course of Bowie's career:
-Guest appearances with artists like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Tina Turner, and Queen
-Key performances such as Live Aid
-Collaborations with an incredible roster of guitarists that included Mick Ronson, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nile Rodgers, and Earl Slick
-Film and television roles
-Romance...and more.

From his eponymous 1967 debut LP and ending with Blackstar, released just two days before his death, Bowie is regarded as one of the most influential musicians and performers of the previous five decades, during which he constantly redefined himself. In examining 75 touchstones, Popoff gives you a unique view of Bowie's career arc from folkie to the breakthrough single "Space Oddity" to his flamboyant glam rock alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, and beyond.

Illustrated with live concert and candid offstage photography as well as memorabilia including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, and more, this incredible package also includes a gatefold timeline, making for a stunning tribute to one of the most influential and admired stars in rock history."

Dammit. I miss David Bowie so much.

Crave by Maria Llovet
Published by: Image Comics
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Black Mirror meets Eyes Wide Shut in this dark and sexy erotic thriller.

Crave, a mysterious app that promises to make your desires come true, spreads among the students of an elite university who use it as a hookup app. David, a top student, engages in a game of seduction with the unattainable Alexandra. But as requests to the app escalate and wreak havoc on campus, David and his friends' only chance to stop this spiral is to find out what really lies behind Crave.

In this dark, sexy mystery, writer/artist Maria Llovet (Luna, Faithless, Sandman Universe Thessaly) explores how we connect to the world and to others in the dawn of AI.

Collects Crave #1-#6"

I don't like AI at all, but I love stories about how AI can go evil.

The Lonesome Hunters Library Edition by Tyler Crook
Published by: Dark Horse Books
Publication Date: October 1st, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Russ Manning award-winning and Eisner-nominated Harrow County co-creator Tyler Crook comes this supernatural fantasy about loss, power, and destiny.

An old and out-of-practice monster hunter in hiding crosses paths with a young girl that forces him to confront these chaotic creatures. As the beasts invade their tenement, they set off on a supernatural road trip to stop these ancient evils in a story that explores the ways that youth informs adulthood and how early traumas can haunt us in old age.

Collects Lonesome Hunters series I and II together for the first time in a deluxe, library edition hardcover book with a dustjacket and a new cover."

The BEST part of the release is that it says "Volume One" which means at some point we're getting another arc in this wonderfully strange world that Tyler Crook has created.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beth Revis, David Bowie, Elly MacKay, Jacquelyn Benson, Jaime Jo Wright, Kelley Armstrong, Kevin Hearne, Lev A.C. Rosen, Melinda Copp, Nita Prose, Sara Raasch, Sara Rosett, Seana Kelly, Tyler Crook, Yoko Tawada