November might have been the month that took me out. Though I did not do NaNoWriMo, I wrote a lot and, more importantly for a post coming later this week, I read a lot. So much. So many things. I also wound up watching a lot of Japanese horror films (classics like Ringu and Ju-On, so if you have recommendations, I’d love them).
November’s blog interviews were:
- R.B. Lemberg invited us back to their Birdverse with their latest collection, Geometries of Belonging: Poems and Stories from the Birdverse
- Rae Mariz spoke with me about her oceanic marvel, Weird Fishes, with Stelliform Press
ARCs
- Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister (adult, horror)
- In an alternate version of the southwestern U.S., a child searches for salvation in a land full of bandits and a sickness that turns people in awful effigies
- It is both a horror and a Western and balances both effectively
- Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk (adult, historical fantasy)
- An exorcist deals with malicious angels and devils in World’s Fair era Chicago
- Really rad world-building and established sapphic couple who get a happily ever after
- Geometries of Belonging by R.B. Lemberg (adult, fantasy)
- A rich world with intricate magic systems and its own politics
- My favorite pieces highlight the craftspeople within the world and their more pedestrian struggles
- Author interview went up on 11/21/2022
- House of Yesterday by Deeba Zargarpur (young adult, contemporary)
- About a 15-year-old whose family has a home flipping business and one of them is haunted by a ghost from her family’s past while her parents are on the verge of a divorce
- As heart-wrenching as it is spooky
- Three Kings by Freydís Moon (adult, romance)
- A selkie gets caught in the net of a fisherman and spends a few days in the home with a trans witch, fucky things ensue
- Cottagecore, hot, and tender
Audiobooks
- The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (adult, horror, 2021)
- A very unwell man takes care of a daughter and a cat, while another girl looks for her sister
- The reason this book does not work is a massive spoiler, but I encourage avoiding it if you care about mental health representation
Physical Copies
- Exodus 20:3 by Freydís Moon (adult, erotica, 2022)
- A trans man goes to work a renovation job with another man who is literally angelic
- Cozy in a way reminiscent of post-coitus
- Salvage (The Peridot Shift #2) by R.J. Theodore (adult, fantasy, 2022)
- The misadventures of a captain and her crew continue as aliens unleash tech which rips souls from bodies and none of the gods seem interested in fixing it
- An incredible blend of science fiction and fantasy
- The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (adult, fantasy, 2022 this edition)
- A reread of the Witcher novels, starting with the first collection of short stories that introduce us to Geralt and the Continent
- Interesting how themes echo between this work and Sapkowski’s 20+ years later, Hussite Trilogy
Kindle
- Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz (adult, fantasy, 2022)
- A work that marvels at the ocean’s magnificence as two of its inhabitants figure out why the time current has slowed
- Timely in its exploration of the effects of climate change
- Author interview posted on 12/1/2022
Light Novel
- Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi & Yoshitaka Amano (adult, science fiction fantasy horror Western, 2005)
- What genre is it? The answer is yes in the way it expertly melds so many aesthetics and themes together
- Love the tone, the characters, the world-building, a classic for a reason
Manga
- Mieruko-Chan Vol. 6 by Tomoki Izumi (slice-of-life horror, 2022)
- Miko teams up with the YouTube grifter Romm to quiet spirits for good
- The ghosts are the focus here with a plot-driven volume that left me feeling somewhat emo
- Tokyo Ghoul Vol. 8-14 by Sui Ishida (horror, seinen, 2016-2017)
- My favorite thing about this manga is not just the art and the violence, though those are exquisite, it’s the characterizations and the way Ishida makes points about the difference between niceness and being a good person
- As eager as I am to start Re:, my heart needs to recover a lot from this
Jo Writes Fantasy 