The fairy tale is such an underrated genre for adults. I think sometimes when we talk about fairy tales we forget just how twisted the genre was at the beginning, and that many of the original stories weren’t intended for children. This one isn’t quite so grotesque, and while there isn’t anything that would automatically rule it out as a book for children (sex, violence, the usual), it’s clear that Gaiman wrote this with an adult audience in mind. It all starts with Snow White, […]
I’m just going to leave these links right here…
I’ve been really anxious and sad when I think of all the great book series (Is there a plural of that? Serieses?) that I started and never completed, all the many stories that I hoped to pick up again and left off after a second, third, fourth book was published. The struggle is real. At the end of last year, I decided to complete one of them: Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. I previously read and enjoyed Cinder and Scarlet, then dropped the ball on Cress. […]
The Invisible Ireland
This book was suggested to me for my novel research, and I have to say, I found it incredibly helpful in understanding the late 19th Century/early 20th Century Irish mentality about Faerie culture. “Meeting the Other Crowd” is a collection of stories accumulated over several decades by folklorist, Eddie Lenihan. Most of the stories are only a few pages long, and range from little anecdotes about a neighbor who knew a guy over in Killkenny who told the story about what happened to his cousin, […]
The Story of the Reappearing Teenager
Of course, everything depends on who is telling the story. It always does. I have a story, and though there are considerable parts I’ve had to imagine, the way I saw it was as follows. Twenty years ago, Tara Martin disappeared. Her disappearance wrecked the lives of those she loved. Her parents totally shut down. Her boyfriend Richie- suspected of killing her-squandered his musical talents and crawled into a whiskey bottle. Her brother Peter believed the rumors about Richie and the former best friends stopped […]
My one and only video review as I play catch up before the year ends
This was my first, and last, attempt at a video review. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was going to do audio reviews, podcast style, and abandoned that idea, too. Sometimes I’m too ambitious for my own good. As it is, this video is more awkward than you’d expect from someone who is a performer for a living, so forgive me. I filmed this in January, so I remember nothing of how I felt about this book. My goodreads notes tell […]
Are you afraid of the dark (fairies)?
I picked up the latest YA release by Holly Black after realizing that this is same author who wrote “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown”, which I thought was a really fun twist on a traditional vampire story, thankfully having nothing to do with sparkling. This time, Black gives us a modern-day fairy tale, full of relatable teen characters mixed with beautiful, cruel fairies and other terrifying creatures. The story starts at a small town party, just your average group of teens drinking and dancing and […]