Nosferatu is 100 Years Old This Year! Some movies never die. Some counts never die.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/movies/nosferatu-100-robert-eggers-remake.html?smid=url-share

Hungry, hungry vampire. A Review of Woman, Eating

 

                                   Nice arteries you have there.

William Faulkner, who knew something about writing, said that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself. Lyd, in Woman Eating, has a big conflict in her heart since she is half human and half demon. Do you ever feel like you're not one of the crowd? Lyd always feels that way and it's worse when the crowds' arteries are pumping all around her, she's starving, and she's refraining from eating humans. It's a coming of age story...with teeth. The book's subtitle declares itself '" a literary vampire novel." That's a clue that it's not all blood, guts, and action. In fact, there's very little action that goes on outside her mind. Yes, there's a lot of thinking and that's okay. There's plenty of room for books where the protagonist has to figure out, all by herself, what she wants out of life. Thinking is a form of action, too. Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Woman, Eating.

If You Drank This Much, You'd See Demons, Too. Review of Suburban Hell.

 First, the good news. The action and horror really ramp up as the reader gets closer to the end. As they say, the end of the book sells the next book and Suburban Hell is set up to have a sequel.

The book is kind of funny, but not Ha! Ha! funny. More like ironic funny. For instance, does the fact that the four main characters who think they're not average suburban moms still dress like all the other suburban moms make for irony? What do I make of Amy wearing a red, white, and blue tank top to an exorcism? Is she appealing to the demon's patriotism or was it the only clean thing she had? The color of every tank top is described. Is this because it's necessary to know or is this a comment on how blah suburbia is when there is no demon around to shake things up?

Actually, I like the characters because when push came to shove, they shove back. They consume so much alcohol that I don't know how they stood up much less fought back, but maybe liquid courage helps when fighting a thing that crawled out of hell. I'm needing a drink just thinking about it.

There was enough smirking and eyeball rolling to scare any demons off. If the characters just came after the spirit while smirking and rolling their eyeballs, it would have scared it off and saved a lot of pain and scar tissue, not to mention the price of a book on exorcisms. My smirk-o-meter and eyeball-roll-o-meters were shaking so hard I thought they were possessed. I hope Amy, and Jess, and Liz, and Melissa and the other characters get the smirking and eye rolling out of their systems before the sequel.  

It's a fun and breezy book about evil stuff creeping out of the ground. It's time to move to an apartment building, maybe The Bramford.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Suburban Hell.

You won't believe the things they eat in this book. A review of Dead Leprechauns and Devil Cats by Grady Hendrix

 There is an old story that a reporter asked Mrs. Lincoln if her husband had any hobbies. She replied, "Cats." I thought that meant he had cats for pets, not that he ate them. According to Grady Hendrix's twisted alternative history, I discovered I was wrong. Not only did Honest Abe eat cats, he was chained up after biting a baby.

Mr. Hendrix manages to insult almost everyone, from orphans to the Irish, to Lincoln, so make sure to read his introduction that explains racism and sexism in the Victorian era. He's not condoning it, he's condemning it.

This is a fun moldy oldie from my stacks of mildewing to-be-read. My kindle is not, in fact, moldy but I thought that sounded good when pulling up a horror from 2012. My god, is 2012 really ten years ago?

I've kissed him and kissed him and kissed him...

                                    But still no prince. 

Lots and lots and lots and lots of Asian Ghost Stories. A review of Asian Ghost Short Stories.

 Well, I finally finished reading Asian Ghost Short Stories. I don't mean that in a bad way. This is a big book with a lot of stories, mostly very short at 3 or 4 pages, but also some that are longer. Most of the stories are more like anecdotes, more like a little tale you might mention to your co-workers--if you happen to talk to your co-workers about ghosts. Not exactly the three-act-structure. I'm guessing this is due to being ancient and from various parts of Asia, though I'm no expert. There are some more modern stories that are closer to what current readers are used to. Though there is nothing wrong with the very short ghostly anecdotes. I learned a lot about past societies in Japan, China, and India.

The main problem with so having so many stories is that a few of them seemed quite a bit alike Beautiful teenage girl is a ghost or a demon or a fox. Not foxy like Jimi Hendrix' Foxy Lady but a literal fox. There are a bunch of stories where lovely teenage girls are either dead, demonized, or a fluffy little canine. Most of the girls are marriage material which gives it an ick factor, but these are old stories set in old times. Many are written by Western writers or translated by Western writers although there are Asian authors.

A shout out to my favorite, The Silence of Farewells by Yelin Wang. I also really enjoyed Ghost Fire by Emily Teng. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Flame Tree for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Asian Ghost Short Stories.

All They Want to Do is Write Books and Spend Some Time With Their Brides, but They're Hunting Undead Again. A Review of Land of the Dead.

 Bad guys are reanimating corpses and bringing back people who shouldn't have gone around once in life, much less twice. Yet, here they are building an army of strong but not-too-bright bodies and it's up to intrepid vampire hunters, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde (and company) to visit the dead lands and stop this vile plan.

Very few vampires this time, but having a myriad of talents, the authors go on the hunt in the land most of us will never come back from. Back on regular Earth, a host of historic figures help them on their venture. Plus, Stoker and Wilde's wives are good paranormal busters themselves so if you like strong women characters, there's several in these pages.

I've enjoyed all three of the Stoker's Wilde books and this one is set up where it looks like sequels are coming. I missed that they didn't get the words "Stoker's Wilde" in the title like they had in the last two books. I suggest they summon the spirit of a writer of vampire books in the 20th Century and call it, "Stoker's Wilde Rice."

Thanks to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Land of the Dead.