What I Read in September

 And just like that summer is over. Pumpkin spice season is upon us and I'm not totally mad about that (just the pumpkin spice part, I mean). 

I'm still not yet back to my normal reading pace, having absorbed 7 books into my personality this past month, because what are we if not a reflection of the stories we've read?!?

In case you were curious, here's a peek at what I read and reviewed last month!

Mother Walked Into the Lake by Alana Capria

I bought this book last year when Kernpunkt Press was having a sale. I'd heard the author read from it and knew it was something I wanted to read.

It's uniquely written and narrated - the characters are only known as Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother. The protagonist, the eldest sister, explains that Mother walked into the lake and disappeared. After searching high and low for her, she suddenly reappears but is not who she was. Mother has changed... is changing... and the children are both frightened and enthralled. Mother hides and chases, she smiles and sneers, she's watchful and wary.

I wrongly assumed it would be a quick one-sitting read since it clocks in at just under 100 pages. Instead, I digested it over the course of four days. The prose is lush and quite literarlly breathtaking, requiring frequent breaks to allow its words to wash over you. It's psychological, trauma-ridden, body horrific fiction that's haunted but also haunting.

Dead Water by CA Fletcher

Oooh yeeeaaaah. A chunky slow burn of a watery horror-adjacent novel that's best dived into blind. Don't read the reviews before you read the book. Trust me.

I won't give anything away here so if you end up reading it, you gotta come back and tell me what you thought.

It's atmospheric and unhurried. The short chapters help you glide through the book pretty quickly despite it being so page-heavy. It's set on a pretty isolated island, so as the good stuff gets going it starts to feel a little claustrophobic. And it's very character heavy but that's not a bad thing in this case.

In tone and pacing, it reminded me a bit of The Town That Forgot To Breathe and The Shipbuilder of Bellfairie.

Go on. Get it. I think you'll really like it.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Had the opportunity to download this on audio as a review copy, though I was hesitant because it was blowing up on the socials and typically when a big five book is praised by the masses, it usually means it's not for me.

True to my hunch, it was a good car-ride companion but probably not something I would have enjoyed curling up with to read. The narration was well done, but the storyline was a bit long for me... I'm not a fan of books that span long relationships. And this one had a lot of break-up-get-back-together moments. Because of that, there's this weird built-in redundancy that's slightly nails-on-a-chalkboardish, a repetitiveness to some of the situations that really frustrated me - oh no, they are misinterupting each other's intentions again; oh gosh, why don't they just say it, why are they holding it in again, haven't they learned their lesson?; why do they remain friends if they so obviously can't get along?

I did enjoy the retro throwback feel of the book. Setting it in the 90's, just as gaming and computers were really blowing up, brought back a rush of nostalgia for me. As a non-gamer, I appreciated how the book didn't hyperfocus on the details of designing or playing, even though video games are basically what stitches the whole thing together.

Saturnalia by Stephanie Feldman

This one took me by surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting it to go where it went and ended up reeeeaaally enjoying it!

Set in an alternate version of Philadelphia, where climate change has ravaged the world, we meet Nina, who's barely keeping her head above water, when she receives a call from an old friend with a request that she can't turn down. He needs her to sneak into the Saturn Club - a super elite social club she broke away from three years earlier - and retrieve something for him. The timing is perfect, the city is celebrating Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival that has become a trendy 'mardi gras' like block party, and it will provide her the perfect cover.

At first it's all carnival masks and flashbacks to when she was part of the upper echelon and discovering the reason she turned her back on it all... but once she learns exactly what she it is she has stolen, all the wheels fall off the bus and we find ourselves on one roller coaster of a ride. Out of nowhere, we're suddenly thrust into a strange underworld of mayhem and magic and alchemy and secrets darker than anything Nina could have ever imagined.

And it's just.... so.... good! If this wasn't on your radar, it is now, and now you've got no excuse!

Assemblage by Abigail Stewart

I am a fan of Abigail's. Her writing is ridiculously bingeable. Go ahead, crack open one of her books and tell me you didn't accidentally read it cover to cover in a matter of hours without even noticing the time passing.

In this collection, Abigail infuses each of her stories with just the right amount of magical realism. They lean slightly left of center when you least expect it and continued to surprise me at every twist and turn.

The Light Never to Be Snuffed by Josh Dale

Mother fucking ants, you guys!

The Light to Never Be Snuffed is a surreal peek into a young boy's damaged view of the world and the increasingly strange ways in which he copes with escalating domestic unrest.

Jack was homeschooled and is preparing to enter the third grade. His dad drinks, his mom wears bruises like jewlery, he's sick of the ants that seem to have run of the household, and he's probably got a concussion from the hit he took to the head when helping his dad in the garage.

He typically hides in his room and plays his gameboy, knowing enough to stay out of the way when his parents start to get into it. But he's concerned, he knows something's not right, and he creates an imaginary friend to keep his head occupied as things become increasingly more difficult for him.

It's a weird little novella that is easily read in one sitting but fair warning, it's not going to be for everyone.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Listened to this one on my way to and from work and I'm glad I did because I'm not sure this was the kind of book I would have enjoyed sitting down with. It was a little too cutesy for me but worked really well on audio.

Elderly Tova Sullivan has experienced a lot of loss in her life. Her son disappeared when he was eighteen and her husband passed away after a long suffering illness. She's working overnights as a cleaner at the aquarium and quickly develops a meaningful friendshipwith their giant Pacific Octopus named Marcellus (who happens to be the book's narrator). Marcellus was a rescue from the Puget Sound, the very ocean her son is believed to have committed suicide in.

In a separate storyline, we meet Cameron, who just turned 30 and has traveled to Sowell Bay in search of the man he hopes is his father. After spending every cent he owned to get there, Cameron is in need of a job to pay back his aunt's loan and ends up taking over Tova's position while she's home recovering from a bad fall.

As the two storylines merge, astute readers will quickly read the writing on the wall and well, who cares. It doesn't ruin the experience because, as I mentioned, it's kind of a cutesy read (or "corny"... as I saw another review refer to it) so we're rooting for the happy ending we know everyone will be getting.

Have you read or listened to any of these? 

An Interview with Steve Adams

 

We're excited to welcome Steve Adams to the blog. His debut novel Remember This releases October 11th with University of Wisconsin Press. The book follows John Martin, a talented graphic designer employed as a word processor for a prestigious New York investment bank, as he enters into an affair with his married boss and is suddenly forced to confront his serial history of relationships with otherwise attached, emotionally complex women, and his damaged past concerning his family and three older sisters. 

Though Remember This is your debut novel, forthcoming this October, you have had stories and essays published in many venues over the years. When were you first bitten by the writing bug? 

 

It’s a much longer story, but I was twenty-five, in Austin and pretty lost, studying acting, jazz guitar, generally flailing about, just trying to find a place to put this “stuff” that was inside me and to get my feet under me. Strangely I’d never been exposed to modern poetry, and in a dance/movement class in the theater program our teacher had us spout modern poetry while leaping about (like fools, I’m sure). But the words struck me. I couldn’t believe I’d not been exposed to this amazing art form. So when they kicked me out of the acting program for stinking as an actor, I stumbled away and on a whim took a poetry class where I had the immense fortune of landing in an undergrad poetry class taught by the amazing, and still working, Albert Goldbarth. It was one of the best breaks of my life, and he even gave me a blurb for my novel. My life entirely changed direction at that point.

 

Can you share with us the experience of having been published for the very first time? 

 

It was pretty intense. After years of writing poetry, and then one-act plays, and moving to New York to see my one-acts produced, I took off to LA with dreams of cracking the big time as a screenwriter. It was a total washout and I soon decided it was time to give up writing and finally live a sensible life. No luck there! I didn’t last three months before I was so emotionally uncomfortable from not writing that I started writing prose for the first time just to blow off steam. I was thirty-eight then and realized immediately that after all this time I’d finally found my form. I wrote a half dozen short stories, one after another, and the first one to land won Glimmer Train’s New Writer’s Award, and—I promise I’m not making this up—I was staying at the motel across from Graceland in Memphis when I found out I’d won. I’m not making this up either—in NYC my last play to be produced there before I left for LA was a one-act called “Velvet Elvis.” Elvis has been my patron saint ever since. 

 

You write both fiction and non-fiction. Which comes more naturally? Why do you think that is? 

 

This is a tough question for me to answer, only because I don’t have a clear response. But the way my process works is my stories generally find me. Which doesn’t mean I don’t go out looking for ideas. But when one hits me, the fiction ones and the nonfiction ones just feel different. For one thing, my nonfiction, except for my writing process essays, is almost exclusively narrative driven, and so for me that means memoir. Of course you can always turn a true experience into fiction, but for me the true experiences always want to be written as memoir, because there’s the “truth” of the true story I want to uncover and get at.

 

When writing fiction, what comes first for you, the story or the characters? 

 

Honestly, I’m always looking for both, and with my stories that work it feels like they somehow happen at the same time. If a true character appears, that character will have a drive or a need or a want that’s unfulfilled, and that creates the trajectory of the story they’re going to follow. I think that’s why it feels they happen almost simultaneously. Though I’m not going to lie—I keep my eyes open for a purely brilliant narrative all the time. I’d kill for a premise as clear and solid as The Hunger Games.

 

How did the idea and storyline begin for Remember This? 

 

New York City is a very important place for me, and I probably feel like I belong there more than any other place, even during hard times. I lived there for sixteen years broken up into three forays over three decades, and in 2008 the economic collapse wiped out my job. As there was no work to be found in the city, I had to leave. I had several months of unemployment until my lease was out, so I spent those months wandering my beloved city, revisiting every place of importance to me. And, as I always do, I wrote. I started to write about what I was experiencing, that clock ticking on my life there. But I knew that alone wouldn’t sustain a full novel, so the idea came to me of a young man involved in an affair with a woman who is likely the love of his life, a married woman with a child, who is also his supervisor in the office where they work. They have two months together while her husband is out of the country. When John’s not with her he wanders the city much as I did, obsessively, taking it all in. And those two loves of his—the city and the woman—reflect each other, as the days wind down.

 

What was the most challenging part of the writing process for you? 

 

I am a writing coach and writing is a way of life for me, and also I know a lot of tricks to keep going. But if we’re talking about this novel, it was probably figuring out the structure. This was also one of the most exciting parts of writing the book, because I have two storylines: one current (the two-month affair in 1988 NYC), and one past (my protagonist’s childhood in Texas). The chapters are relatively short, and I grouped them together in sets of two and three, however it felt right organically. And I spent a good amount of time working with arranging these time periods so they’d click together, and build, and echo, and create emotional resonance. Once I realized I had—and I hope this doesn’t sound obnoxious, but—a beautiful, meaningful structure, I mean, man, that was a good day. There are so many elements that go into a successful novel, but it’s hard to think of anything more important than structure.

 

In what ways did the book change from first draft to the final manuscript? 

 

As I’ve said, the book has two storylines, the main one in 1988 AIDS-haunted NYC where my protagonist, John Martin, is an adult, and the second one nested inside, tracking John’s childhood with his three older sisters in Texas and how that led him to become who he is at this point, a man with a specific wound he’s unaware of. Anyway, my original draft just covered the main story—John wandering the city, in love with this woman and this city he is going to lose. After I finished and a few people read it, I realized this one storyline was not enough to sustain it, and I got this vision of him as a child in a very particular family in Texas with very particular issues. And so I wrote that storyline and inserted it, having the book toggle between the two stories. It made all the difference, giving a why to go with the what of John.

 

Which character, if any, do you most relate to? 

 

It would be John. We’re different, of course, and don’t have the same problems, but like him I moved to New York City and came into myself there. I would be there now if I could afford it. He and I share some history too, particularly hanging around the dynamic music scene in Austin in the early 80s. It was fun to pull some of those details into this book in its Austin section.

 

Which character was the most difficult to write?

 

This may sound obnoxious (again), but I didn’t find any of the characters hard to write. I didn’t struggle with them. In fact, it felt like they were teaching me about who they were. The hardest part of writing this novel was getting the structure right, making those two storylines line up. I had to make multiple runs at that, but once I had it, it clicked into place. I’m as proud of the structure of this book as anything else I’ve done.

 

What’s the most valuable advice someone has given you about writing?  

 

Writing is the best teacher of writing. So just write. Show up regularly, and produce pages, good and bad, it doesn’t matter. They will lead you somewhere, while at the same time teaching you more about how to write. As you know I’m a writing coach and I give variations of this advice to my clients all the time.

 

What’s a book you’ve read that you wish you had written? 

 

Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping. I’ve only read it once, but the whole experience of it was magical and overwhelming. I have no idea how she pulled that off.

 

1.     What are you reading right now?

      In trying to take some weight off my reading load during this intense publicity process, I’ve turned back to my first love, poetry. Right now I’m rereading one of my favorites, William Stafford, and his collection, The Way It Is. At the same time I’m reading a book from my beloved mentor, Albert Goldbarth. Just reading a poem or two every morning and not having to carry a full-length narrative in my mind at the moment has been supporting me.

 

Steve Adams’s creative nonfiction has won a Pushcart Prize, been listed as “Notable” in Best American Essays, and has been published in The Pinch, The Millions, and elsewhere. In fiction, he’s won Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers, and his stories have been anthologized and published in Glimmer Train, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. He’s been a guest artist at UT, a resident artist at Jentel, a scholar at the Norman Mailer Writers’ Colony, and his plays have been produced in NYC. He’s a writing coach and editor, and his website is  steveadamswriting.com. Remember This, his debut novel, will be featured at The Southern Festival of Books in Nashville the weekend of Oct. 14.

Richard Fulco's Would You Rather

Bored with the same old fashioned author interviews you see all around the blogosphere? Well, this series is a fun, new, literary spin on the ole Would You Rather game. Get to know the authors we love to read in ways no other interviewer has. I've asked them to pick sides against the same 20ish odd bookish scenarios...

Would You Rather

Richard Fulco

Would you rather write an entire book with your feet or with your tongue?

Tongue. I hate the sight of my feet. Writing with my tongue would be more tactile. Tongue.

 

Would you rather have one giant bestseller or a long string of moderate sellers?

ONE GIANT BLOCKBUSTER. I have interviewed several songwriters who have had one blockbuster song: Steve Forbert and Freedy Johnston (to name a couple). They told me that their hit song afforded them a career. Sure, they have to play “Romeo’s Tune” and “Bad Reputation” at every show, but the success of their one hit song has opened several doors. 

 

Would you rather be a well known author now or be considered a literary genius after you’re dead?

I’d like to experience success as a living writer. I’m no genius, just somebody who can write, has something to say and hopefully others will relate to my stories.

 

Would you rather write a book without using conjunctions or have every sentence of your book begin with one?

“Conjunction junction, what’s your function?”

 

Would you rather have every word of your favorite novel tattooed on your skin or always playing as an audio in the background for the rest of your life? 

I don’t do tattoos, so I guess it would be the latter.

 

Would you rather write a book you truly believe in and have no one read it or write a crappy book that comprises everything you believe in and have it become an overnight success?

What’s the point of writing if you don’t remain true to yourself?

 

Would you rather write a plot twist you hated or write a character you hated?

Character. I’m all about characters. Good. Bad. Ugly. Flawed. Disgraceful. Undignified.

 

Would you rather use your skin as paper or your blood as ink?

I don’t do tattoos, so bloody red ink. I guess. Weird question.

 

Would you rather become a character in your novel or have your characters escape the page and reenact the novel in real life?

As a playwright, I’d love to meet my characters for a beer.

 

Would you rather write without using punctuation and capitalization or without using words that contained the letter E?

I think I’d prefer no punctuation or capitalization kind of a stream of consciousness where words blend with thoughts and dialogue and the narrative just keeps moving forward challenging the reader to remain aboard the moving train and not leap off while the words kind of wash over them

 

Would you rather have schools teach your book or ban your book?

Teach your children well. Teach my books.

 

Would you rather be forced to listen to Ayn Rand bloviate for an hour or be hit on by an angry Dylan Thomas?

I admire some of Dylan Thomas’ poetry. I cannot fathom being in the same room as Ayn Rand, but I can see myself sitting at the bar in the White Horse Tavern.

 

Would you rather be reduced to speaking only in haiku or be capable of only writing in haiku?

I would not mind speak-

ing only in haiku. I

dig the five seven five.

 

Would you rather be stuck on an island with only the 50 Shades Series or a series in a language you couldn’t read?

Definitely the latter.

 

Would you rather critics rip your book apart publicly or never talk about it at all?

If my books aren’t adored, then I want them to be hated, banned and burned.

 

Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

Tweet. Tweet. Tweet.

 

Would you rather give up your computer or pens and paper?

Computer. No brainer.

 

Would you rather write an entire novel standing on your tippy-toes or laying down flat on your back? 

I don’t think I could stand on my tippy-toes for more than a minute, but I know that I can lie flat on my back for several hours at a time.

 

Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

In my baby suit. 

 

Would you rather read a book that is written poorly but has an excellent story, or read one with weak content but is written well? 

I’m drawn to the craft of good writing. Give me good writing any day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard Fulco received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play Swedish Fish was published by Heuer Publishing and his stories, poetry, interviews, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Failbetter, Across the Margin, Fiction Writers Review, Gargoyle, The Daily Vault, and American Songwriter (among others). For six years, Richard wrote about music on his blog, Riffraf. He teaches creative writing and English at an independent high school in New Jersey and interviews writers for his “5 Questions” series at www.richardfulco.com. Richard’s debut novel, There Is No End to This Slope was published by Wampus Multimedia in 2014. We Are All Together (Wampus Multimedia) is his second novel.

So Close Yet So Far: John F Duffy

I've always been curious to know who authors get star struck over, and whether they've brushed shoulders with the people they most admire. So...we're starting a cool new author series in which they get to share their sixe degrees of separation or close calls with celebrities/authors/musicians.... 

Our debut post comes from John F Duffy: 

So Close Yet So Far

 

I have actually met a lot of celebrities, oddly enough. Most of these interactions occurred at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX where I was a waiter for almost four years. I worked at the primary location on South Lamar where the company hosted multiple film festivals every year, so in that time I saw or met a good number of famous people. Elijah Wood was also friends with one of the head managers of the company, so he was around all the time. 

 

The celebrities that stand out the most in my mind are Cate Blanchett, who came one random night to watch a film with her mother. Both of them were just striking. I mean, Cate is just gorgeous, and she was very polite. Sam Rockwell was watching a movie with his friends one afternoon, and afterwards I was cleaning up after them, just clearing dishes and such, and he struck up a conversation with me, basically asking how my day was going. He seemed like a very nice man. I waited on Winona Ryder during a film premiere, and she is TINY. But she was also very kind and polite. I could go on at length about these brief run-ins, and honestly have forgotten most of them. Also, back then, Austin drew in a lot of Hollywood types who were looking to hang out in a place that wasn't L.A. One night at a bar, Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, and Jemaine Clement were all hanging out. My wife took a picture with Jemaine, because she and I had gone as The Flight of the Conchords for Halloween, and she had dressed up as him. I think he is the only person we ever bothered for a photo. 

 

The people I have been the most excited to meet have always been from my niche interests though. I've met indie rock musicians and professional skateboarders whose names most people wouldn't recognize but who definitely had me more jazzed up than say, Danny DeVito or Rosario Dawson or Robert Rodriguez, who also came through the Alamo. I have a friend from Jiu Jitsu who is a total genius, and he spent a year at the Santa Fe Institute where he had the good fortune of being in close proximity with Cormac McCarthy. As a writer, that to me would be way cooler than meeting movie actors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally from Chicago, John F Duffy is a writer who currently lives just outside of Bloomington, Indiana. His short fiction has appeared in Fly Over Country Lit, The Jupiter Review, Terror House Magazine, and Cutleaf Literary. In 2022, his podcast series, "After the Uprising" was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Duffy's debut novel, "A Ballroom for Ghost Dancing," is available now, wherever books are sold.

Top Five: Fiction Novels to Inspire Wanderlust

 

Top Five Fiction Novels to Inspire Wanderlust

I travel like crazy, not only within my country (India) but also any chance I get to go abroad. However, unlike most others, who carry guidebooks or scour the internet to study a country, I prefer to read mystery fiction or suspense fiction set in the country. Better if it’s a translated work of fiction, because such a book helps to understand the country better, to understand its genesis, its people, its cultural nuances. Travel themed fiction keeps me interested and gives me a unique perspective from a local author’s point of view.

I’ve found a few gems through the years. I list below my favourite countries and the treasured fiction novels I took there. Maybe the list will motivate you to visit, too.

I hope you enjoy my list of top five fiction books to carry while traveling to these countries.

Italy: The Neapolitan Novels 

Italy is worth every bit of the travel hype. I’ve traveled to all corners of Italy and Naples and the Amalfi Coast remain my favorite regions. In summer, the sight of Sorrento lemons, the sparkling beaches, the quaint colourful homes, and the feel of gelato on my tongue are experiences I cherish and fondly remember.

Elena Ferrante's four-book Neapolitan series, originally published in Italian, and translated into many languages, brings Italy, and especially Naples, alive for the reader. The book is a portrait of the coming of age of two girls and a meditation on friendship itself. The first book of the series, My Brilliant Friend, is now also an HBO series.

Turkey: Birds without Wings

Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. I picked this book up with no real expectations before my trip to Turkey, and it turned out to be a fascinating read. The story is essentially about the Greek-Turkish exodus (1964-65) and the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the ‘Father of the Turkish Nation’ to build modern Turkey. I’d never heard of the book before, but I now count it amongst my top travel themed fiction. 

Japan: Out

Out, penned by the talented and underrated author Natuso Kirono, is a mystery suspense masterpiece set in a staid Tokyo suburb. It tells the tale of what happens after a young mother who works a night shift making boxed lunches brutally strangles her deadbeat husband and then seeks the help of her co-workers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. Phew! What a premise, isn't it? I found the book and all its characters fascinating. My heart was in my mouth the entire time I read it, burning the midnight oil, wondering each second if now the women were going to be outed. A gory page turner if ever there was one.

Iceland: Jar City

I list Iceland among the top countries I’ve visited. I was lucky to go in the summer. And, let me tell you, you’ll be hard pressed to see landscapes that gorgeous. There was a jaw-hanging change in scenery every few minutes. Jar City, featuring the enigmatic Inspector Erlendur, is a typical Nordic noir murder mystery set in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík. It has everything that makes Nordic noir novels great: atmosphere building, great pacing, a detective you can root for, and a unique mystery in the biting cold.

India: Kiss of Salt

Kiss of Salt introduces Darya Nandkarni, an amateur and accidental detective, in the beachside state of Goa, India. Darya is clever, spirited, resourceful, yet troubled and vulnerable. Her adventures will make you laugh, cry, gape, and marvel, and you won’t be able to put down the book until you’ve solved the mystery along with her on the beautiful side-streets of Goa. I’d written this book during one of my many holidays in the gorgeous Indian beach state of Goa (where I now live half the year). Pick up the series if you want a taste of a spunky heroine in exotic locations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SMITA BHATTACHARYA writes atmospheric cosy and psychological mystery fiction. She is also a management consultant, coffee lover, and gipsy-in-her-head. She lives in Mumbai but has solo travelled to 42 countries and thus, her stories are heavily inspired by her travels and by those she meets. Smita has six published books and counting. Her latest, Shut the Lights, released in August. She has worked in a vineyard, in a newsroom, in a school, in a library, in a bank, in an audit firm. She has too many stories to tell and not enough time. You can read her colourful travel and life stories at www.smitabhattacharya.com.

What I Read in August

 So the summer is quickly coming to an end and many of the people I follow on social are in complete and total FALL mode. I'm not sure how time just keeps flying by me like this... and I'm not quite ready to accept that cooler weather is moving in...

New month, new bookish recap. 

How many books did you read in August? Was it a good reading month for you? I ended up testing positive with Covid during the month. While I felt like dog doo, it was the best thing that happened to my TBR in a long time. I read SO MANY books! 9 books in one month has to be some kind of record for me!!

In case you were curious, here's a peek at what I read and reviewed last month!

Garden of Earthly Bodies by Sally Oliver

I think my expectations were too high going into this one. The title and cover immediately drew me in, and it sounded like just my kind of weird. Only... it didn't live up to the anticipated strangeness as much as I had hoped.

The book focuses on Marianne, a woman who is deeply grieving the loss of her sister, and who has noticed an odd growth of thick black hairs down her spine. Her doctor informs her that bodies do bizarre things when under a great deal of stress and recommends that she consider signing up to spend a month at an isolated retreat called Nede. Marianne, in an effort to escape her depression and lackluster relationship with her boyfriend, decides to take the plunge. A month of being pampered and engaging in stress-reducing activies is too hard to pass up. But once inside the grounds, Marianne realizes she might have made a grave (snicker snicker) mistake.

Ok, so the weird hairs appear right at the beginning of the book and but almost immediately take a backseat for a while as Oliver spends an exorbiant amount of time building Marianne's backstory with both her sister and her fiance. About midway through we finally get to Nede, the getaway-slash-research facility, but try not to get too excited because we spend more time in Marianne's backstory again than we do in her present situation. And then BOOM, we find ourselves rushing headlong into the end of the book, where the really weird shit finally hits but we're unprepared and not entirely sure what is happening or why... and then it's over. Done. No more pages. And we're left slightly unsatisfied.

Regardless of my issues with the pacing and holes in the plot, Garden of Earthly Bodies is quite a powerful exploration of grief and trauma and how it wears down the body, not just mentally but physically. If you prefer books that focus on the internal instead of external, this might be just the thing for you.

Newborn by Agustin Maes (Whiskey Tit Books)

Why are more of you not reading this book?!?!?!?! I am going to be doing publicity for this one in October, so I haven't formally reviewed it, but omg it's so dark and sad and also soooo friggen well written. You're going to want to get this one on your radar.  White Horse by Erika T Wurth This book has it all. Dark Native American lore. A family heirloom with unique powers. And a metalhead, shot-slinging, aint-taking-no-shit-from-no-man badass leading lady who finds herself suddenly haunted by horrible nightmares and a ghost who's got a story it needs to tell. Like most people, Kari's got some emotional scars that just refuse to heal. Her mom ran off and left her when she was two years old. Her dad had a bad car accident shortly after that left him brain damaged. And her BFF died of an overdose when they were in their teens. In an effort to dull the pain and repress the memories, Kari keeps her mind busy with alcohol and smokes, and hanging with her cousin Debby at the White Horse, a bar she intents to purchase from its aging owner Nick. That is, until Debby gifts her a bracelet that used to belong to her mother. When Kari touches it, she experiences powerful and horrific visions, and begins to interact with the ghost of her mother, who may not just be missing. Drenched in heavy metal music, Stephen King novels, and Indigenous mysticism, White Horse is a horror adjacent murder mystery that will keep you turning the pages...  Desert Creatures by Kay Chonister I requested a review copy of this one after seeing the glowing things Michael Kelly had to say about it (for those of you who don't know, Michael drinks the best beers, reads the best books, and publishes some of the most amazing small press literature out there!) This book was a brain bomb of post apocalyptic dystopian western religious fanaticism (yes, I'm aware that's a mouthful). It takes place out in the middle of the desert. The world has been ravaged. Those who are still clinging to life do so against all odds, surviving in a brutal landscape, fighting off horrific "stuffed men" who have been infected by the desert, and avoiding other survivors who most certainly mean you more harm than good. Many are making their way to the city of Las Vegas, where religious relics for various saints are housed, in the hopes of being healed of their many afflictions, while others are deemed heretics and appear to be "saint touched", demonstrating an ability to do strange and miraclous things. Told in three parts, we follow a young girl named Magdala over the span of many years, beginning when she first convinces her father to allow her to make the pilgramage to the holy city in an attempt to cure her clubfoot, through all of her trials and tribulations, to all the weird and wonderous people and places she encounters. It's deliciously dark and bleak and eerie and was just what the doctor ordered! We Spread by Iain Reid Recieved the e-arc today and devoured the book in a matter of hours on my couch during this lovely workbreak Covid has given me. While not as a mind bending as Reid's first novel, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, it still messes with the mind quite nicely, and leaves us asking ourselves what in the fuck did we just read?!? Turning his attention to the elderly, he pokes a finger at some of our biggest fears - what happens when we start to outlive our loved ones? Who can we trust to look after us, care for us, do right by us? And what happens when we can no longer trust our own memories? Apparently, Penny's longtime partner set her up for this exact situation, preparing a home for her at Six Cedars - a very small, very isolated retirement community that she doesn't recall discussing with him - in the event that he dies, which he has, and she's no longer able to care for herself on her own, which her landlord Mike believes after she takes a spill off a chair and gives him a scare. Though Penny is moved into Six Cedars against her will, she quickly acclimates to the kindness of others, until things start seeming just a little bit... off. The owner Shelley and the sole staff member Jack talk to her as though she's been there a while, reminding her of things she's told them that she has no memory of sharing but she swears she's only been there days. Mornings and evenings seem to pass interchangably, the other residents are starting to act strange... and Penny is determined to figure out what the heck is happening to them. This book reminded me so much of a movie I watched not too long ago with my husband, called The Manor, where an elderly woman is sent to a rehabilitation center and quickly determines some evil activies are taking place... only here, in We Spread, we don't really get the answers Penny is seeking. And I think we're kind of ok with it? The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie I went into this one expecting a bit more from it than it meant to deliver, I guess. I had really high hopes because I was so taken with his novel Suffer the Children. I mean hell, I read that book back in 2014 and I STILL catch myself thinking about it... Plus, cults! religious nuts! and mysterious disappearances! How could I not love it? It was definitely a slow burn, and I can totally see the comparisions to Stephen King's IT - the book follows four cult survivors as they reconnect around the 15 year anniversary of the Family of the Living Spirit masscare. Emily, the fifth survivor, just committed suicide, and the four who remain decide it's time to head back to Red Peak to uncover the mystery surrounding the Family's brutal murder-slash-suicide. The story bounces back and forth in time between present time and the past, slowly showing the reader just how F'd up the cult became, and exposing the trauma, guilt, and confusion each one has been carrying around with them all these years. While there's no giant alien spider creature hiding out at the summit of Red Peak, there is certainly something terrifying and strange calling to them, and they plan to go and meet it head on regardless of what it wants. There were a few times I considered chucking it, just due to the pace and the fear that it was all leading to a very disappointing end. And while I'm glad I kept reading, I wasn't disappointing in assuming it was going to be a disappointing end. If that makes sense. LOL. Beach Bodies by Nick Kolakowski (Final Round Press) Day four of my Covid binge reading quarantine found me cracking open this bad boy on my kindle app. Nick emailed me out of the blue yesterday with a review request and after checking out the book I knew I was going to end up pulling it to the top of the review pile. A billionaire's doomsday bunker on a beach? Three distressed strangers arrive out of nowhere, with one of them bleeding badly, demanding that the caretaker let them in? And that cover? Have you seen it? Yup. Count me in. It's a helluva quick read, easily digested in a matter of hours, in one sitting really, because right from the get-go you're dying to know what the heck is going on. From page one, we're dropped straight into the bunker, with its current caretaker Julia and her kinda-sorta-boyfriend Alec as they're alerted to the fact that the the bunker's alarm slash camera system slash drone is trying to deploy when it detects something approaching outside. And from there, the weirdness begins. Little pig, little pig, let us in... Like Julia, we're standing there questioning everything that's happening, uncertain of what's going on, what's about to happen, and we're kept cleverly in the dark the entire time until that fucking ending. Oh wow that ending. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw One of the joys of being home sick with Covid is the ability to say fuck it to everything and just lounge on the couch and read. Which makes it super easy to inhale a 350 page book in one day if you feel like it, and you guys, this book is best read in one sitting! Let me just tell you! The writing is just so lush and engaging I was pulled in from page one. It's incredibly atmospheric - mysterious but not a mystery, cultish but not cultfic, psychological but not overly mental. The book begins with a female writer by the name of Maggie St James' disappearance once the case goes cold and her parents have hired on Travis, who has a knack for finding the missing through visions he recieves when touching objects they've owned. He manages to track her to a extremely isolated compound called Pastoral, allegedly founded in the 1970's and thought to be a place of legend, and promptly goes missing himself. Fast forward a few years later, and we meet Theo, Calla, and Calla's blind sister Bee, who are life long residents of Pastoral, a tight knit and completely self sustaining community of people who believe they are protected against the "rot" and evil of the outside world so long as they remain within the clearly marked boundaries of their home. Strangers are not welcome for fear of bringing disease and illness. Which causes some surprise for our trio when they begin to uncover some secrets that seem to point towards Travis and Maggie's existence there. I've read some reviews where people claim the "twist" was really predictable but honestly, I was too engulfed in the story and allowing it to just unfold in front of me that I didn't even have TIME to try to piece together what was happening and I think that's the best way to do it. Let the story take you there... because once you get there, it lifts the entire thing up to a whole new level of what the fuckery! I've had this book on my TBR for such a long time, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up! It's definitely making the list of my all time favorite reads this year! Toad by Katherine Dunn Even though I am out of my covid quarantine, I still feeling fuzzy headed and funky, and while I am no longer reading and reviewing from the confines of my living room couch, I still consider this covd read #6. Lol. Damn the 'Rona! I've had Geek Love on my TBR for a while now and the only reason I left it there unread in favor of this one was because I requested the arc, and felt compelled to get to it before it released. Though now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have because... oh gosh, don't hate me... I was really unimpressed with Toad. I've been there/done that with the whole sad girl genre and when written well, can totally get into it. But this one seemed to infect me with a strange malaise. It actually, literaly impacted my mood. It was just soooo blaaaah. I mean, ok, look, as I get older, I become more and more comfortable with the fact that I'm an introverted extrovert. I can do the socializing with people thing like the rest of you do,but then I need time to just back away and chill and reset. I get that about myself. And I thing most people, if they are honest with themselves, also like a break from other people from time to time but holy crap does this book work the one end of that spectrum to DEATH. Our protag is basically living a hermetic life now after surviving a pretty bad mental breakdown, tucked away in her tiny home with a jug of fish on her counter and a vocal old toad in her garden, and staying as far from other people as possible. The entire book is basically her dishing us up a plate of some really funky memories. And I can't tell if she's contentedly reliving these in her mind, or if she's just that haunted by them. Mainly, they are of a few friends she used to hang with that were a little odd and offbeat and whom she didn't even really seem to LIKE to hang with, by the way. Every so often there'd be a horror story with a boyfriend or co-worker for funsies. But ultimately, we float in and out of these moments with her and god she was such a bitch to everyone and everyone seemed to treat her like shit or put up with her simply because she was there and there so many times I thought I should probably just put this down and walk away because, while I wasn't hating it, I also wasn't getting into it, and I just kept disliking her more, the more I read. And it felt a little toxic. But here we are, less than two days and more than 350 pages later... Soooo... do tell! What did you read last month? Have you read any of these?

Dianne C. Braley's Would You Rather

Bored with the same old fashioned author interviews you see all around the blogosphere? Well, this series is a fun, new, literary spin on the ole Would You Rather game. Get to know the authors we love to read in ways no other interviewer has. I've asked them to pick sides against the same 20ish odd bookish scenarios....

WOULD YOU RATHER

Dianne C. Braley

Would you rather write an entire book with your feet or with your tongue?

Oh my, I’m going with feet.

  

Would you rather have one giant bestseller or a long string of moderate sellers?

This is so hard! I think the giant bestseller. I want a motion picture deal, lol.

 

Would you rather be a well-known author now or be considered a literary genius after you’re dead?

Now! Who cares when you’re dead?

 

 Would you rather write a book without using conjunctions or have every sentence of your book begin with one?

Every sentence begin with one. I don’t think it would be a good book, but I don’t know what I’d do without them.

 

Would you rather have every word of your favorite novel tattooed on your skin or always playing as an audio in the background for the rest of your life?

I would love background music for my life and feel like I should have that anyway.

 

Would you rather write a book you truly believe in and have no one read it or write a crappy book that comprises everything you believe in and have it become an overnight success?

This is tricky. I could set the bar low if I wanted, and am willing to up to a point! Ha! But if it went against my core values and beliefs, I couldn’t do it.

 

 Would you rather write a plot twist you hated or write a character you hated?

I think writing hateful characters is fun and helps a writer learn more about themselves. I’ve already done this, and shockingly the character I began to hate was inspired by a younger version of me. It might be time to call my therapist again.

  

Would you rather use your skin as paper or your blood as ink?

I’ll try some weird blood as ink writing—sure.

 

Would you rather become a character in your novel or have your characters escape the page and reenact the novel in real life?

Become a character. I like introspection and writing about myself. I’m sort of self-involved.

 

Would you rather write without using punctuation and capitalization or without using words that contained the letter E?

I think we as writers don’t give readers enough credit. Books nowadays don’t use quotations often in dialogue, and I don’t find it difficult to read at all. I’m going without using punctuation or caps.

 

Would you rather have schools teach your book or ban your book?

Ban!

 

Would you rather be forced to listen to Ayn Rand bloviate for an hour or be hit on by an angry Dylan Thomas?

I like being yelled at for motivation I wanted to join the military when I was young for that reason, so Dylan Thomas it is.

   

Would you rather be reduced to speaking only in haiku or be capable of only writing in haiku?

Ugh. Neither, but I’ll go with speaking. People wouldn’t want to talk to me, and I could write in peace.

  

Would you rather be stuck on an island with only the 50 Shades series or a series in a language you couldn’t read?

This is tough!!! I guess I’ll have to go with the 50 shades only because I’d be lonely, and I could try to rework the writing and some scenes in my head.

   

Would you rather critics rip your book apart publicly or never talk about it at all?

These are so hard! Rip it apart. That way, people might be intrigued enough to buy it.

 

Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

Voices in my head narrate my every move anyway, so that’s easy. It’s my voice, but it’s relentless.

 

 Would you rather give up your computer or pens and paper?

Pens & paper. I pretty much already have forcefully, but now I’m used to it.

 

 Would you rather write an entire novel standing on your tippy-toes or laying down flat on your back?

Laying down. Being supine is a rarity in my life, so I wouldn’t mind.

 

Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

Naked. I don’t care anymore. At a certain point, it is what it is. It might interest people enough to buy more books.

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A raw, gritty New Englander, Dianne C. Braley found love for the written word early on, reading and creating stories while trying to escape hers, growing up in the turbulent world of alcoholism. After putting her pencil down for a time, she became a registered nurse finding strength and calm in caring for those who couldn't care for themselves. While living in Martha’s Vineyard years ago, Braley cared for ailing Pulitzer prize-winning novelist of Sophie's Choice, William Styron. He and his books helped her realize she missed crafting stories, and she had some of her own to tell. The Silence in the Sound, Dianne's debut novel, just released on August 23rd 2022.