Short Stories – Page 31 – Cannonball Read 17

I keep saying I’m not a horror reader, and yet…

Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki! by Kanako Inuki

May 22, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I keep saying that I am not a horror reader. However, I am trying to go outside my comfort zone in reading, and that would include horror and manga. And guess what? Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki! is both. Not only are there several stories within this collection, Inuki (author and illustrator) has extras at the end talking about influences, an interview with them from several years ago, things that scare her, manga that they read and much more. There is also (at the […]

Hitchhiking ghosts and killer roads

Sparrow Hill Road (Ghost Roads, #1) by Seaman McGuire

May 16, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

When I started Sparrow Hill Road (Ghost Roads, #1) the text came off as nonfiction sounding. My thought was, “Oh great. This whack-a-doo so-called “expert” is going to tell me all about a ghost named Rose Marshall and how she is real (and how ghosts are real) and all about her hauntings, and how hauntings happen, and probably throw in a conspiracy theory or two.” Well, my apologizes, Seaman McGuire. You are not a whack-a-doo. But you are one messed up person! (And in a […]

End of Year School Project Round Up

The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

May 12, 2023 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

As an end of year project happening during AP exams week(s), I assigned my American lit students to do some groupwork on short stories of the 19th century. Part of the assignment was to link the stories to one of the dominant American themes we’ve been using this quarter. The themes are not meant to be exhaustive, don’t apply to every piece of American literature, and you can still read something that none of the themes easily applies to. We also used the themes are […]

Last Defender of Camelot – one of Zelazny’s best

Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny

May 4, 2023 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

After finishing a book I really hated, I needed to cleanse my palate, so to speak. The song Guinevere from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young came on and I realized it had been a while since I had re-read The Last Defender of Camelot. It does not disappoint. Is the style a bit dated? Sure. Are there some problematic passages in “Damnation Alley”? Without question, especially the Nazi ones and the handling of female characters in that story (one reason why this received 4 stars […]

How Can You Resist This Title?

The Dead Girls' Class Trip: Selected Stories by Anna Seghers

April 8, 2023 by elderberrywine 2 Comments

Jans i Seghers was a German/East German author, writing from 1925 to 1965. The stories in this collection are of two varieties – realistic and very somber, and magical realism or mythic tales. Some of the first sort weren’t bad, but I really enjoyed those of the second sort. The title story is one of the second type. The narrator is traveling through a German village when gradually she begins to remember a field trip her class took here, years ago, before the war. As […]

When the everyday is not so everyday

The Other Ones by Jamesie Fournier

April 5, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

CBR15Passport own I started Jamesie Fournier’s book, The Other Ones, a few times, and it finally stuck a few weeks ago. It took me that long to figure out what I wanted to say about it. I think that while this is a good book, it is not easy, and can be a bit slow at times. And the illustrations that Toma Feizo Gas created are nice, but they are not for everyone and can be a smidgen off putting if you are not in […]

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Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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