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Farewell to thee, R.I.P. VIII

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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.

I didn’t get as much read or viewed as I would have hoped this year, but that did not mean I didn’t enjoy savoring the autumn mood over September and October.

I read three novels:

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason
The Killing Floor by Lee Child

All were great reads.

I got about a third of the way through The Historian and am really enjoying it but have not been able to stay committed solely to reading it due in part to my short story reviewing commitments. I thank Andi and Heather so very much for hosting the group read and when I am finish with it I’ll enjoy reading everyone’s comments and adding my own.

I was able to attend a R.I.P.ly appropriate play, Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker, which was amazing.

I played a wonderful game with its own eerie, creepy elements, Puppeteer.

I partook of many short stories, mostly science fiction and fantasy stories with a scary edge.

And I did some perilous viewing as well:

Gravity
The Thin Man
After the Thin Man
Another Thin Man
Stir of Echoes
The Illusionist
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
The latest episodes of Foyle’s War
One of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, Blink

and we celebrated Halloween by watching a perennial favorite, Arsenic and Old Lace.

In the midst of all that my wife and I married off our daughter and helped her move out. I did a lot of work on the changing responsibilities at my employment (all very good and exciting, just hard work). And I spent some time meeting with the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live folks as Jeff Smith and I will be assisting in getting the word out this year (VERY excited about that).

In my busyness I have had much less presence online over the past two months and have not partaken near as much as I wanted in all the exciting reading and viewing that all of you have been doing. What I have seen has excited me though and I thank you all so very much for participating.

Thanks to Jennifer Gordon and Roman Sirotin for the use of their artwork (a feature on them is forthcoming).

And thanks to God for a lot of seasonally appropriate weather here and some of the most gorgeous fall colors that we’ve seen in years. It is a BEAUTIFUL experience to drive around Missouri right now.

If you have done or are doing any kind of wrap-up post (not required), please link to it below, and continue on after the links for November news.

railway-autumn22

Yes indeed, November is here, and with it thoughts of holidays and Hobbits and so much more.

I always enjoy seeing the posts coming across my email from my subscription to The One Ring dot net.  Especially their Today in Middle-earth posts.  Tolkien followed our calendar as far as dates in the Shire reckoning and it always puts me right back in Middle-earth whenever I see what events occurred on what date.

Why The Lord of the Rings talk?  Well, traditionally the Extended Editions of each film have come out the following November and this time is no exception.  The Extended Edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey comes out this Tuesday, November 5th.  I can’t wait.  I am more excited to see the hours upon hours of making-of extras as I am the additional thirty minutes of this wonderful film.  I’ve been slowly reading The Fellowship of the Ring aloud to my wife and it has been a treat to be in Tolkien’s world.

November holds one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving, and we are off to a perfect start to the celebration in that we are having a Prime Time (over 40’s) Thanksgiving feast tonight at church. Yum!  An early sample of Turkey Day treats is a most excellent way to begin the month.

And of course November 21st is a special day for me as I get another year older.  I’ll turn 45 on that day.  🙂  The tradition in our house is to put up the Christmas decorations on my birthday and though I think we might wait until Friday the 22nd, I am looking forward to that.

Then November will end and December will be upon us, and with that will be a change to my annual The Science Fiction Experience, or Sci-Fi Experience, whichever you prefer.

Every year as November/December rolls around and the days get colder and the nights get longer I am quite literally overcome with an insistent urge to read science fiction.  The result of which is that I often burn myself out on the genre mid-way through my two month reading Experience (generally held January and February).  So this year I am making a change and The Science Fiction Experience will run from December 1 through January 31st.  This will work out great as I can concentrate (if I so choose) on contemporary science fiction for the first month and revel in the classic during Andrea’s (Little Red Reviewer) Vintage Science Fiction Month.

More details are soon to follow.  As most of you know, this isn’t a challenge, it is an opportunity to either revel in a genre you love with other passionate sci-fi lovers or to experience (hence the name) a genre (in written or screen form) that you don’t normally partake of or may even believe you don’t like.

Finally, as a Thank You to all who have participated in this year’s R.I.P. VIII, I’d love to give you a gift.  That gift is a delightful little short story that will make you smile and maybe generate a little tear.  It is a sweet, slightly askew story about a little girl who wants a pony for her birthday but gets something unexpected instead.  It is the most recent feature on Tor.com:  “Brimstone and Marmalade” by Aaron Corwin.  It isn’t a long story but it is a good one.  I gave it a 5 out of 5 star review on my Short Fiction Friday post which will be up at SF Signal at noon today. Enjoy, and Happy November!

 

61 thoughts on “Farewell to thee, R.I.P. VIII”

  1. Woohoo! Very excited for The Science Fiction Experience. I’ve got a bunch of sci-fi in my TBR pile. 🙂

  2. It was fun as always! I’m actually thinking on doing the Spring one (I forgot the name, and I’m writing on my 5 minute break) next year, I have a pile of Fantasy waiting for that season!. Thanks for the gift!

    1. Once Upon a Time. Yes, please do, would be great to have you join us!

      And you are welcome, it is such a nice little story.

    1. You are welcome, and thank you again for your hosting. Sorry I was such a lame participant! 🙂

  4. As always, thanks for hosting! Sounds like you fit in a fair bit of RIP goodness. Arsenic and Old Lace is a long-time favorite of mine too! Really should rewatch soon–and the Hobbit too!

    And maybe it’s just my computer…but Mr. Linky appears to be AWOL…?

    1. No, not your computer. It was there this morning when I left but gone when I came back. May have been because, as things tend to do, it just so happens my subscription to Mr. Linky was ending in less than 8 hours. Fixed it now though.

      We try really hard to get Arsenic and Old Lace in every year. Mary and I never fail to laugh at all the same stuff we find funny every year. It is such a tight production and the casting was perfect. Cary Grant is at his very best.

      1. And we have linkage! Hooray!

        I think my favorite part of Arsenic and Old Lace is Cary Grant’s brilliant double-takes. But the whole thing is so very funny throughout…

        1. Exactly. He breaks the fourth wall several times to great effect. I’m a hopeless romantic too and I just love the moments where he is so obviously smitten with Priscilla Lane’s character.

  5. I can’t believe how fast October flew by. I squeezed in some Lovecraft, just in time for Halloween!

    Exciting news, that you’re getting so much more involved with Spectrum Fantasic Art Live! 😀

    1. Lovecraft was one of the things I hoped I would get to and just never did.

      Yes, very happy to be involved with SFAL. It is a small but dedicated group who pull this thing off and am happy to do what I can to help.

  7. Hey Carl
    Thanks so much for hosting this again – wow so many reviews! I tried to read as many as possible but there were such a lot that I confess I didn’t read them all – will still try and read some more though.
    I had a great time and can’t wait for the Sci fi to begin – will have to start getting sorted for that!
    Lynn 😀

    1. With almost 500 reviews it was impossible to keep up, but that is part of what makes it fun, knowing people are reading and watching that much and hopefully enjoying the majority of it.

  8. can’t believe November is already here! I’ve got to get off my butt and get started on making Christmas presents this year to supplement the few i’ve already purchased. Already warned my loved ones, i’m broke and they’re getting homemade! 😀

    i’ve also got a PILE of Sci-Fi books tucked away waiting for your Sci-Fi challenge so can’t say i’m not happy that you’re moving it up a little…

    I didn’t do a review, but for my spooky watching i’d recommend Fox’s new Sleepy Hollow! tho you need to come to it with a generous dose of openmindedness and disconnect from things like concrete reality! It’s fun! and has a cast with a serious case of sassyness!

    1. Crazy how the year is flying by. Homemade Christmas presents are great, except they end up being a real sacrifice of time and energy for the maker. 🙂

      I watched the first episode of Sleepy Hollow and thought it was fun but I don’t watch a lot of first run television so ended up not going back to it. They only show I’m sort of keeping up with is Marvel’s Agents of Shield.

  9. The RIP challenge was so much fun. By far the best challenge I have done as a blogger and can’t wait to participate again if you do it next year. Thank you so much for running this challenge and I am quickly working on my own wrap up post.

    Sounds like November will be a great month for you. Looking forward to the colder weather sticking around myself, and enjoying Thanksgiving.

    1. Thanks Chris, so great to have you and yes, I plan on being back for number nine next year, Lord willing.

      I’m hoping to spend much of November catching up on books I started this year and didn’t finish!

  10. Really great challenge! It was just what I needed to get myself to read creepy books at the right time of year. I’m looking forward to doing this again next year!

    1. Thank you, I’m glad it had its intended purpose and helped spark the desire to read the creepy stuff. I appreciate you taking part and welcome you back for next time.

    1. Thanks for coming along for the fun. I’m glad you enjoyed it enough to want to do it again. 🙂

  12. This year’s RIP was amazing! Thanks a lot for organizing it! I’ve already started to put aside books for Sci-Fi experience! 🙂

    1. Awesome! So glad you’re joining us for the science fiction reading too!

    1. You are welcome, Erin, thank you for taking part and having fun.

    1. You are welcome, Brian. I’m glad you had fun and appreciate your participation.

  15. Thanks for the R.I.P. event, Carl. We also watched Season 7 of Foyle’s War, and we are watching Arsenic and Old Lace tonight. And a lot of reading, including some genres I don’t usually read. I will be joining in on the Sci Fi Experience, of course, but may do most of my sci fi reading in January.

    1. Ah, enjoy Arsenic and Old Lace! All the classic movie watching we’ve done lately has me wanting to do many more during the month of November, so I went and grabbed all the old black and white films we have on DVD to look over for our November evening entertainment.

      No worries about only participating in January, it will be great to have you.

  17. Carl I slacked off on linking my reviews on the review blog but just wanted to say thank you for hosting the challenge again. It is so much fun and I read some great stuff! Finally read Dracula and I loved it!

    1. Huge smile!!!! So happy to hear that you loved Dracula!!! It is the one book I want most for people to give a shot as I think it is so amazing. Thanks for participating again, Iliana.

    1. You are welcome, it was fun despite my wish that I could have been more involved.

  19. Another successful RIP event comes to an end! Thank you for hosting. I definitely enjoyed myself and plan to keep visiting the review site as time allows. Happy November!

    1. Thanks, I hope to do the same. I love that those things stay up there as they make great places to find more books to add to the ever growing pile.

  20. Mixed month of October for my reading, and not as much read as I’d have liked. Here’s the list:

    The Ghost of the Hardy Boys – autobiography
    The Black Thumb Mystery – mystery
    Dinosaur Planet – science fiction
    Dinosaur Planet Survivors – science fiction
    The Zebra-Striped Hearse – mystery
    An Army at Dawn, The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Vol. 1 of the Liberation Trilogy – non-fiction (long at nearly 800 pages with small print and narrow margins)

    For the month the most peril was found in the Ross Macdonald novel, Zebra-Striped Hearse. Funny, I’m just now swinging back to mysteries when, like you, it seems winter is suited to SF reading.

    BTW I see Spectrum 20 will be out in another week or so.

    1. Fun list of books you chose and read! Thanks for taking part. You got a lot more read in your October than I did.

      Spectrum 20 is now out, I ordered mine from Amazon Monday and it arrives today!!!

  21. Thank you for hosting R.I.P. again, Carl. I didn’t participate much actively this year, although I did enjoy what I read. And now that you mention it, I watched the most recent series of Foyle’s War too. I never remember to include my TV/movie viewing during R.I.P.

    I’m looking forward to the the Hobbit extras, too! I’m actually planning to leave work a little early Tuesday just so I can swing by the store to pick the extended edition up. (Yay for flex time.)

    1. So love Foyle’s War!

      Did you crack into The Hobbit extras last night? We watched about an hour and a half of them. Awesome!!! They are every bit as lovingly made as the LOTR extras. So glad they chose to do these again.

      1. No, alas. By the time I got to the store they were sold out! I had to order it and won’t get the set until next week. I guess that will teach me a lesson about not pre-ordering. 🙁 Oh well, I’ve waited this long, I can wait a little longer.

  22. Did my wrap up..
    oh and I love The Illusionist!

    thanks again for another year of RIP! you certainly are the one I blame for opening up the types of books I read!

    1. I meant to read the short story that The Illusionist was based on for RIP this year but sadly it is one more thing I did not get to.

      And I happily take that blame! 🙂

  23. I did read the new Louise Penny, which upon reflection I like more and more, but that was way back in September, or was it even August? I know it was as soon as it came out. So my list was just October, not Sept-Oct. Oh well.

    1. I counted the Louise Penny even though I read it in August. I was in the RIP zone by that point.

      I think of the book every so often and it gives me a warm glow. Such a fantastic book. I look forward to seeing where she goes next with the characters.

  24. Oh Carl, I am excited, I’ve been looking at my pile of Sci fi and thinking it’s do for some reading soon. So very happy that the sci-fi challenge starts earlier! Dec 1 it is!

    I haven’t done my wrap-up of RIP 8, will be doing it shortly. I read 8 books, so not bad, not all I wanted to though, either. It sounds like this autumn has been a challenge for so many people in different ways, doesn’t it?

    1. I am too Susan. I’m having a hard time waiting to make the announcement for Dec. 1!

      Eight books is fantastic, well done! Yes, this year has had its challenges, that is for certain.

    1. You are welcome, Margaret, thanks for taking part. And congrats on the 6 books!

  26. Where did October go? In fact, where did 2013 go? I only read two books this time: The Woman in White and The Big Sleep. I really enjoyed both. I love that you watched some of The Thin Man movies. I love them! And now I need to prepare for the sci fi experience. I have some books by Wells I keep meaning to read–might be time. Hope all is well and I hope your resident is okay.

    1. Good reading choices there! I have no idea where the year has gone. I certainly don’t want these next two months to rush by like the rest of the year has. I want to savor November and December.

      Wells is a good choice!

  27. Belated thanks for hosting Carl. Great excuse to work through some of the stuff on the shelves. Carrion Comfort’s still there though. Maybe next year, always maybe next year…

    1. I give myself the ‘there’s always next year’ talk a lot, kamo. Thanks for taking part.

  29. Well, it took me a few extra days to catch up on my reviews, but I’ve finally finished my wrap-up post for this challenge! As always, it was fun to focus on gloomy autumnal reading during this season. I’m definitely interested in the Sci Fi Experience this winter…I haven’t read much in the genre, but I’m looking forward to exploring it a little bit more!

  30. What a busy couple of months you’ve had. BTW, I love that you included a game: I’ve got to keep that in mind for next year. I’ve not played console games for years (having succumbed to the temptation of MMORGs instead), but I could use this as an excuse to explore new platforms.

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