This is only a Fear Street book by the very thinnest of margins–three of the main characters are from Shadyside and one lives on Fear Street. Mentioning it briefly is as close as the entire story gets to the titular street. Since RL Stine also published Point Thrillers and other books, I’m not sure why this was a Fear Street book. Since all the Fear Street books before this one were published in 1989 and 1990, maybe it was a deadline thing. In any case, […]
Wonder What the Adults Would Care About
There’s no killer to introduce us to this story, but we do get to learn about how much Emily hates her hair. And pretty much everything else about herself. She’s especially wound up at the moment because her new stepfather is bringing home her stepbrother and sister, who are going to be living with them. Emily’s older sister Nancy is keeping her own room to herself, their new step brother Rich is getting put into a closet, and Emily is going to share her room […]
It’s All So Familiar
Eight books in and the plots are already being recycled. 44 more books to go. Yay for me. The similarities between The New Girl and Halloween Party are greater than having a male POV character. Lisa even makes an appearance. I’m pretty sure she should have graduated by now, but she’s also still dating Cory, so I don’t know what to do with her. There’s no use trying to keep a timeline going. There’s no introductory narration from a murderer, but there is a new […]
Ghost Stories on a Tatami Mat
Target: Miyabe Miyuki’s Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo. Translated by Daniel Huddleston Profile: Horror, Ghost Stories Japanese horror ranges pretty heavily from mild ghost stories to some incredibly creepy and dehumanizing body horror. Apparitions fortunately falls into the former citatory, chronicling a series of stories that walk a fine line between scary and sentimental. These tales capitalize on the cornerstone of Japanese spirituality: that every object and creature is imbued with a sprit. At their core, these stories are more cautionary tales, advising the listener to act with honor […]
Remembering what had been forgotten…
The summer before 7th grade I read ‘salems Lot. I have always been a strong reader and this wasn’t my first adult book. However this was the first book that absolutely terrified me. I clearly remember sitting in our screened in sun porch, sweltering in the hot July Indiana summer, and shivering as all manner of hell tore the sleepy town of Jurasalem’s Lot to pieces. From that point I was a horror hound and hooked for life. Like all long time Constant Readers I […]
This review has been approved for distribution as conducive to the cause of Light -The Night Watch
Target: Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch. Translated by Andrew Bromfield Profile: Urban Fantasy, Suspense, Horror, The Watches Pentalogy (Read in stereotypical movie preview voiceover) In a world where epic battles between good and evil are a dime a dozen on the Teen Fantasy shelves, one Russian author struggles to bring a sense of subtly and realism to stories about vampires, werewolves and wizards. (End voiceover) And that’s to his credit. Lukyanenko’s vision of a supernatural world where nothing is as it seems sounds trite on paper, but […]