Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

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I think I’ve found my favourite genre! It only took me 37 years (as of today)! Dark Tales is a collection of dark short stories by Shirley Jackson. They range from biting yet realistic dissections of suburban life to classic ghost stories and fever-dream-like tales with loose endings frayed as cut ribbons. My favourite stories were ‘Paranoia’, in which an ordinary businessman is hunted through the big city by mysterious figures, and ‘What a Thought’, in which a housewife experiences life- ending changing urges after […]

Soft red petals using white sharp teeth

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab

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V.E. Schwab is one of those authors whose books are always intriguing but sometimes I don’t quite get that emotional connection from them and feel slightly at a distance. This novel was one of the ones where I think I was more intellectually engaged than emotionally, especially in the later half. I’m sure I read the summary/synopsis when I ordered the book but all I really remembered/knew by the time I started this one was sapphic and vampires. The novel alternates view points and time […]

Letter Slot by Owen King

Letter Slot by Owen King

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Not a bad short story, but one that I have read before in different ways. Stephen King has done a ton of short stories about being careful what you wish for, so this felt very King-like. Of course it makes sense when you know who Owen King is (Stephen King’s son). I think that King could have changed it up a bit by showing a different/darker ending. I thought that is where he was headed, but instead we get something different. I don’t know, it […]

Night and Day in Misery by Catriona Ward

Night and Day in Misery by Catriona Ward

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Trigger warning: Physical abuse is described, but not in detail. Suicide A really good friend of mine that primarily reads horror said that this book really is a great take on grief based horror fiction and I agree. Catriona Ward has explored this in some of her other works, but this one was well done. I think that it just flowed perfectly. You have the sadness for the main character, Stella, but at times man, I was mad. As things started to slot into place […]

The Blanks by Grady Hendrix

The Blanks by Grady Hendrix

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Well dang. That is how you do it. I maybe forgive Grady Hendrix for that puppet book. Okay, I don’t. I just remembered enough in my brain to still be mad about that whole thing. Anyway, “The Blanks” is horror that is just pitch perfect. Does everything get explained? Nope. But it’s a wild and horrifying ride to the end. Maybe because we know what is next for this family, and it’s nothing good. “The Blanks” follows Rachel and her family (one boy, one girl) […]

The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones

The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones

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Honestly, “The Indigo Room” I swear reminds me a bit of some stories I read in a book when I was a kid. This will drive me up the wall later. But in essence, this short story deals with [redacted] and the horror it can bring. That worked for me somewhat, but the story just dragged weirdly in places and I thought that SGJ could have went a bit further with that ending. It made me think of the short story written by Ted Chiang […]



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