My blog baby is now two weeks old and is starting to make its way into the world. A huge thank you to my new subscribers for giving a brand new blog a chance. I hope you’re well and safe, and finding books that provide you much needed comfort and escape from the harsh realities we’re all facing right now.
Books have been even more of an escape for me than they usually are but I have had some days since the world changed where the words simply swim on the page. I’m trying to give myself a break if I’m not as productive as I want to be, although I do find this difficult. Having said that, this has been a really fun bookish week for me.
I reviewed the second book in the Max Crack series, Crack Up. I also enjoyed some weird fiction, with my first two Undertow Publications reads – Thin Places and Armageddon House.
It’s looking like next week’s book haul is going to be huge!
Today I discovered a Joe Hill comic book bundle at Humble Bundle. Locke & Key has been on my radar for ages and this collection has all six Volumes, along with other goodies. There are currently 20 days left for you to get this bundle for yourself if you’re interested.
I also stumbled upon a CoNZealand Twitter post that promises even more books! It turns out that people who are eligible to vote for this year’s Hugo Awards are also eligible to vote in New Zealand’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards. I hadn’t heard of SJV before but it looks fantastic! The list of the finalists and the link that provides instructions for the Voter Packet can be found here.
Bookish Highlight of the Week: John Marrs, one of my favourite authors, read my review of What Lies Between Us and tweeted about it! There may have been some jumping up and down taking place in my home soon thereafter.
Until next time, happy reading!
Book Mail
Since the release of her first, career-defining solo album Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos has been one of the music industry’s most enduring and ingenious artists. From her unnerving depiction of sexual assault in “Me and a Gun” to her post-9/11 album Scarlet’s Walk to her latest album Native Invader, her work has never shied away from intermingling the personal with the political.
Amos began playing piano as a teenager for the politically powerful at hotel bars in Washington, D.C., during the formative years of the post-Goldwater and then Koch-led Libertarian and Reaganite movements. The story continues to her time as a hungry artist in L.A. to the subsequent three decades of her formidable music career. Amos explains how she managed to create meaningful, politically resonant work against patriarchal power structures – and how her proud declarations of feminism and her fight for the marginalised always proved to be her guiding light. She teaches readers to engage with intention in this tumultuous global climate and speaks directly to supporters of #MeToo and #TimesUp, as well as young people fighting for their rights and visibility in the world.
Filled with compassionate guidance and actionable advice, and using some of the most powerful, political songs in Amos’ canon, this book is for readers determined to steer the world back in the right direction.
Kindle Black Hole of Good Intentions
Max Crack and his best friend Frankie are back with even more quest-ordinary adventures!
Armed with a shiny new quest list, they are on a mission to find a meteorite, make a movie, solve a sisterly feud, eat truckloads of chocolate, set a World Record …
Read all about it!
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From the author of the Hollower Trilogy and Thrall comes a terrifying new novel of madness and horror …
The Bridgewood Estates apartments are clean, modern and new – the perfect place for Myrinda and her boyfriend Derek to start a new life together. But the apartments have an extra feature not advertised – they’re built on a gateway to another world, an abyss of chaos from which horrific monsters known as the chaotic ones have come to spread their insanity sickness. As the tenants of Bridgewood descend into lunacy, unthinkable acts and violent deaths accumulate around Myrinda and Derek. They’ll have to fight Myrinda’s own growing madness or succumb to the whims of the chaotic ones.
The last thing Jesse Coaglan ever wanted to do was return to his hometown of Thrall, New Jersey. Tucked away in the wilds of the northwestern corner of the state, Thrall has always been a very strange place to live. The town was a poison that affected people’s minds, their souls, their bodies, and their perspectives. So Jesse abandoned his friends and the one woman he loved, and left everything behind.
Seven years later, Jesse has found a reason to return – a reason that, in spite of his best attempts otherwise, he can’t ignore. His old love, Mia Dalianis, has left him a voicemail message begging him to come back, if not for her, then for the daughter Jesse never knew he had. Jesse needs to go back. He’s been running for a long time – from relationships, friendships, everything he is afraid of and feels guilty over. He realises that the nightmares will never stop until he goes to Thrall. With help from Nadia Richards and some old surviving friends from Thrall, Jesse intends to find his daughter or die trying. He goes looking for redemption, but what he discovers about his old hometown may destroy him and everyone he’s ever cared about.
NetGalley
Marigold Heavenly Nostrils is one magical unicorn – and she knows it! But sometimes it’s harder for humans like Phoebe to understand that they can be magical, too.
In the latest Phoebe and Her Unicorn adventure, the pair visits the science museum, tests out an extra-special virtual unicorn reality, and performs in the school talent show. With the help of her best friend and an emergency sparkle transfusion, Phoebe learns about confidence, empathy, and resilience – and even how to live without her cellphone. It’s all part of the very real excitement of Virtual Unicorn Experience.
Review Copy
Kay Chronister’s remarkable debut collection of modern horror tales, Thin Places, echoes with the ghosts of Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, while forging its own unique gothic sensibility. Here there be monsters! And witches! These are tales of monstrous mothers and dark desires. Love, grief, death; and the exquisite pain and joy of life.
With transcendent prose, Chronister chronicles the lives of powerful women and children; wicked witches and demons. These are the traumatic ghosts we all carry, and Chronister knows what it means to be human and humane. Powerful and hypnotic, these are tales you won’t forget, from a vibrant new voice.
Schizanthus Nerd 