Horns by Joe Hill
On a chilly summer morning, one year after the brutal murder of his girlfriend Merrin, Ig Parrish wakes up to find that two small horns have sprouted from his head. He is puzzled as to why they are there, but when he goes to ask people what to do about them they suddenly tell him their deepest, darkest desires. A doctor confesses he’d like to grind up some oxy and snort it. A cop tells him he‘d like to shoot him in the face because […]
Arthur and the Golden Rope: Brownstone's Mythical Collection by Joe Todd-Stanton
Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx: Brownstone's Mythical Collection by Joe Todd-Stanton
Kai and the Monkey King: Brownstone's Mythical Collection by Joe Todd-Stanton
Leo and the Gorgon's Curse: Brownstone's Mythical Collection by Joe Todd-Stanton
Joe Todd-Stanton has a four (so far) book series about the Brownstone family. They are adventurous children who have amazing times being heroes. The narrator is Professor Brownstone, a Brownstone descendent, and his vaults of books and artifacts. Well they don’t tell the story, but they help us find the stories, as each piece is linked to one of his ancestors and each has its own wonderful, far-out story to tell. The first in the series is Arthur and the Golden Rope: Brownstone’s Mythical Collection. Arthur […]
Escape From Yokai Land by Charles Stross
I’ve had Charles Stross’ Laundry Files series in my TBR for a while; got the first one on Kindle sale a while back; it was pretty good. Grabbed 3 more from the library, although not quite in sequence. It turns out that you can read this series out of order and it will still mostly make sense. There may be references to someone dies or got married or is in another job or a certain probably evil who knows what is back, but how that […]
The Flower of the Witch by Enrico Orlandi
Do you want a good story about “becoming a man” but one that might be bit more modern than you are used to? In which “becoming a man” might not mean what we think at first? Then you should try The Flower of the Witch by Enrico Orlandi (and translated by Jamie Richards). And while I try not to start on a less-than-positive note, I will say the language was a little stiff at first. But soon your reading ear should fall into the pattern […]
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Alright, so Iron Widow was not my jam (to my disappointment). I was really hoping that the next of my library audiobook holds would turn things around, and Axie Oh’s The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea came to me next. And oh, this one is my jam. Or at any rate, it hits a lot of sweet spots for me and I enjoyed it tremendously. (Not burying the lede this time, either, obviously.) The novel is not exactly a retelling of the Korean folktale “Shim Cheong” (apparently […]
Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter by Atelier Sento
Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter is odd. I did not know what to expect, but I think it was more along the lines of something funny and cute. Even thought it is about ghosts. And oh, yes. I would have liked to have seen some actual ghosts. The two main characters of the story are in France when they receive an email from a friend in Japan. Due to a (possible) mix up (or the friend is just bossy, which he and his […]
