March is another month I largely took off because of Futurescapes and traveling to a work convention. In that time, I played a ton of Elden Ring and mostly did a hard reset of my brain. My writing brain has somewhat defrosted and after setting some boundaries on the work I’ll be doing moving forward, I’m hoping my reading brain will defrost a bit as well.

No author interviews this month but there will be plenty in the next few months.

ARCs

• And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin (adult, horror)
  • About a contagion that may be turning people into violent beings but it might also be entirely in the narrator’s head
  • One of the saddest horror novellas I have ever read
• The Fervor by Alma Katsu (adult, horror)
  • Historical horror taking place during Japanese internment
  • A critique and condemnation of racism and xenophobia while also featuring demons from Japanese folklore, a mysterious illness, and government conspiracy
• Gallant by V.E. Schwab (YA, dark fantasy)
  • A tale of two houses as Olivia receives a mysterious letter to return home
  • Gorgeous prose and spooktacular illustrations
• I Am the Ghost In Your House by Mar Romasco-Moore (YA, horror)
  • A story about an invisible teen girl trying to be more like a normal teen girl
  • Huge focus on friendship, accountability, and forgiveness
  • Forthcoming author interview on 4/19/2022

Audiobooks

• Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (2021, adult, horror, translated)
  • An investigation into a string of murders happening during gay night life in the 80’s and 90’s
  • Sections of this are infuriating but not surprising
  • Deeply empathetic focus on the victims and not the murderer

Physical Copies

• Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg (2018, adult, horror)
  • A cast of characters are on an overnight cruise between Norway and Sweden when vampires attack
  • One of the fastest 500+ page reads I have ever had the joy of reading
  • Bloody and fun

Manga

• The Kingdoms of Ruin Vol. 3 & 4 by yoruhashi (2022, dark fantasy seinen)
  • Continues to be nostalgically hyperviolent as the war between witches, humans, and Adonis rages
  • There’s a bit of a breather as we watch Adonis and Doroka interact with non-hostile humans, but I’m excited and stressed for whatever is going on in the capital
• Noah of the Blood Sea Vol. 1 – 5 by Yu Satomi (2019-2021, horror seinen)
  • A cast of characters are on a boat tour around Japan that’s actually a human farm for vampires
  • Gory with great art and my favorite trope of a main character becoming the monster to fight the monsters