Well, October went by in the blink of an eye, didn’t it? There were certainly times when it felt like it was taking an eternity (like the week and a half that went by recently when one of the residents at a group home in my department went missing), and it consequently had more stresses than an October usually holds, but really I’m finding it hard to believe it is November 1st. Not the least of which because it won’t be that many weeks until we will be pulling out the Christmas decorations.

Oh for the ability to slow this time down and savor it.

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VIII had nearly 200 participants this year and we read and reviewed nearly 500 books, short stories and films/tv shows. I’m sure there were many more things read and viewed that were not reviewed.

Whether you partook of little or much during R.I.P. VIII I certainly hope you had a good time. Follow the jump below for the rest of my wrap-up and a place for you to post a link to your wrap-up post if you did one, and stick around after the Mr. Linky for exciting news about The Science Fiction Experience 2014.

Continue reading Farewell to thee, R.I.P. VIII →

(Images by Artists Jennifer Gordan and Roman Sirotin, used with permission.)

“Does something amuse you?’ asked Uncle Montague.
‘I was merely reminding myself, Uncle, that I am getting too old to be so easily frightened by stories.’
‘Really?’ said Uncle Montague with a worrying degree of doubt in his voice. ‘You think there is an age at which you might become immune to fear?”
― Chris Priestley, Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror

Stories can make us look back over our shoulders and question every creak and groan on a dark, quiet night. Stories can cause our hearts to race with ever-increasing tension as we forgo sleep to rush towards a surprising conclusion. Stories can make us suspicious of every character as we challenge the protagonist to be the first to solve the crime. Stories can make us sleep with the lights on, make us pull the covers just a little bit tighter, and can make every shadow seem more menacing than they ever have before.

Be they our favorite cozy mysteries, exciting police procedurals, classic tales about things that go bump in the night or contemporary terrors that chill us to the bone, there is something delicious about the ability of the printed word to give us a fright. At no time of the year is this more of a delight than when Summer heat turns to Autumn chill as the days become ever darker.

Eight years ago I became aware of reading challenges and wanted to start one of my own, hoping to find others who shared my Autumnal predilection for the works of Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and other authors contemporary and classic who captured the spirit of gothic literature. All these years later we are still going strong, welcoming September with a time of coming together to share our favorite mysteries, detective stories, horror stories, dark fantasies, and everything in between.

I welcome you to join us.

September 1st is right around the corner. It is time to begin.

Continue reading R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril, VIII →

Earlier this year I was asked to participate in a series of guest posts hosted by the wonderful Tanya over at Girl XOXO. Her blog is book and food centric, two of my favorite things, and is well worth subscribing to. The topic was Summer Reading and my contribution was based on my three picks for Summer Reading from the genre of Science Fiction.

I would love it if you would take the time to visit and share your comments over there not only on my picks but what your three top summer reads are, Science Fiction or otherwise.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And be sure to head over to SF Signal at noon to check out my review of the original fiction in the latest issue of Clarkesworld.

I don’t often review magazines, but the newest issue of Locus Magazine was too good to pass up, especially read on the heels of listening to Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe in Episode 148 of the Coode Street podcast in which they cover some of the same material with more detail. I highly recommend picking up a copy and giving a listen to the podcast, the link to which can be found here.

The July issue of Locus features really nice remembrances of recently deceased authors Jack Vance and Iain M. Banks. Neil Gaiman is featured in an interview entitled Magic of Fiction. In the interview he discusses some of the autobiographical influences that made their way into his newest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The article does contain a slight spoiler for an event that happens early in the novel. It won’t in any way ruin the novel, but I am personally glad that I had already read it before reading this interview. It is worth reading and left me excited about other Gaiman-related works that have come out recently or are slated to come out this year.

Author/editor Maria Dahvana Headley is interviewed at the end of the magazine. Her short story “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream” was nominated for the 2012 Nebula Award. She, along with Neil Gaiman, have an anthology of monster stories out called Unnatural Creatures.
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At noon today be sure to check out my review of the July issue of Lightspeed magazine on SF Signal. All featured short stories are now up on their site, so if any of the stories I review sound interesting you can check them out right away. In addition to the stories there is a longer interview with Wool author Hugh Howey that is worth checking out.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.