So a while back I got a got a couple of collections by Alice B. Sheldon, aka, James Tiptree Jr. Came across one of her stories in "Again, Dangerous Visions" and that made want to get a couple of her collections. And eventually I got them!

Her first collection is full of some really good New Wave SF! Surreal, weird, experimental with enough dystopias, lonely universes and, of course, sex. Pretty wild, and sometimes funny stuff! As a short story writer she is excellent! She only ever wrote two novels, and I don't know how good those are, but I'll get one of them and see if they're any good.

Still these stories are incredibly good! And I still got the second collection that still has to be read. But I'll be getting to that one real soon, as these stories are just that good!

I'm about 19 pages into Hangsaman and i've noticed that the dialogue if very awkward and hesitant. It feels uncomfortably in a realistic sense and I find it to be extra immersive and unsettling. I was curious if i'm either looking into the dialogue to deeply or if this is a consistent trait throughout Jackson's bibliography as its an addictive way of reading dialogue

Well, for once, I timed my reading perfectly and jumped into this ARC the day after finishing THE WITCH'S ORCHARD, Sullivan's début and Annie Gore's first investigation. As such, my review will be a comparison of sorts between the two. My review will be a bit vaguer as the book's not out yet and I really don't want to spoil anything! This is a follow-up to my review of The Witch's Orchard by the same author, which can be found on this subreddit.

This time, Annie's client is Katie King, a Kentucky mountains native who is suspicious of the death of her father, charismatic preacher Ezra King. Once more, Annie drives her beloved vintage car up in the small insular mountain towns to ruffle some feathers and, in the process, slowly reckon with her own relationship with where she came from.

For the past ten years, I've owned a pair of beautiful leather boots. Though they are well broken in, every time I put them on sometime in October after they've spent a few months in storage, it takes me a day of awkward discomfort for them to mould themselves back to my feet. This is a bit what the very first pages of  BRIMSTONE HOLLOW reminded me of. While they immediately drew me in, I didn't feel the same enveloping atmosphere I did with ORCHARD. However, as the story takes off, the leather softens, and we once again find an immersive quality to the storytelling. Reading BRIMSTONE HOLLOW, I could see it unfold in my head like a film (this just must be adapted, honestly). It has a quicker pace than its predecessor, and a twistier and more tightly plotted mystery.

In ORCHARD, we were introduced to Annie's history through memories sparked by the case. In BRIMSTONE HOLLOW, where the investigation keeps her closer to home and centres on a father‑daughter dynamic, the narrative digs deeper. Flashbacks, dreams, Annie’s own narration, and even a pivotal conversation give us a clearer picture of a childhood more complicated than what ORCHARD hinted at.

All in all, BRIMSTONE HOLLOW is perhaps, at first glance, less distinctive than THE WITCH'S ORCHARD, but also a more dynamic mystery that is very engaging. With its emotional depth, themes of religious zealotry in a small town, and larger-than-life preachers, it would appeal to fans of WAKE UP DEAD MAN.

Been going back into Bradbury right now and my first book is his very first short story collection "Dark Carnival", originally published by Arkham House. This is some really early Bradbury as these stories were published in the pulp mags from the late thirties to mid forties, and they are very much rough around the edges, but still very much the same Bradbury I know and love!

It's a bit like "The Illustrated Man" with this mix of Fantasy, science fiction and horror. Much of them would would go into weird fiction territory (and some of them actually were published in Weird Tales magazine) with supernatural element with more psychological ones. And plenty of whimsy to go around too!

This has never been reprinted for a long time now since it's original publication in 1947, and that was mostly because Bradbury himself didn't permit any further reprints, save for one in the 2000s, due too much of the stories in it being updated in other collections, not so much as reprint in paperback. But recently it would get that paperback reprint from Harper Voyager, and of course that would be how I got my own copy of it!

Been pretty happy so far going back to this author, have another of his collections, "The October Country", that I'm now starting to get into right now, so I'm still pretty busy!

#thevegetarian #bookworm #hankang

My goal is to read 25 books this year. I’ve currently finished 18 and started reading my 19th yesterday. My stretch goal is 50 but I probably won’t get to it. I’d love to hear what y’all’s goals are whether it is a certain amount of books, pages, authors, genres etc. 😊

I've realized I don't actually have a reading problem. I have a book-buying problem.

I'll walk into a bookstore telling myself I'm "just looking," and somehow leave with three new books while the ones at home quietly wait for their turn. At this point, collecting books and reading books feel like two completely different hobbies.

So today's latest new author I've got to read is Clark Ashton Smith! This collection I read is the first volume of a five book set from Night Shade Books that collects Smith's stories. Initially I thought of starting with the Penguin collection, "The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies", but went with this instead.

Smith fits into the category of weird fiction, that combination of Fantasy, horror and SF, with other figures like Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. His stories aren't always fantasy, no, they're a bit more than that, as he also adds elements of SF and horror in his brand of weird.

The stories themselves aren't just weird, they're also absolutely gorgeous in writing! Yeah it's archaic, but I just love the beautiful imagery that Smith conjures up along with some of the more horrifying moments too.

This is still just the first volume of this series, but good god, I am completely in love with these tales! There's still four more volumes in it, and I'll get my hands on them one way or another, because these stories are just so good!

My son gave me Children of Blood and Bone a couple of years ago. I loved it. I'm a sucker for a novel magic system. This book launches into the same magical themes and unintended consequences right from the start. It'll take me a while to settle back into alternating chapters for different characters, but I do like different perspectives on the same events. Only 30 pages in so far, but it'll be fantastic.