October Indie Newsletter š
The BGR's 411 on the indie literary arts...for the month of October
Happy Spooktober My Ghouls and ghoulettes. š»
Coming up on my 1-year anniversary of marriage and let me tell you; though I love and prefer to be married, this had to be, hands down, the scariest and spookiest year of my life.
Weāve added some pumpkins to our home decor, and weāre on our way to Killers of the Flower Moon, a movieāby the wayāwhich is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by David Grann. Update: It is fantastic. (and my husband slept through it) Now hereās a few more great movies Iāve seen that are based on books that I never (and probably will never) read:
The exception on my list is Bram Stokerās Dracula, which I read, and I actually liked the 1992 movie starring Winona Ryder. Though I think itās a worthwhile read, I thinkālike a lot of classic literatureāitās overhyped; itās about 500 pages of build-up for an ending that happens quite suddenlyāwithin the last few pages. But thatās Stokerās style (the build-up), and I actually prefer the short story āDraculaās Guestā.
Coraline isāalong with The Witches (with Anjelica Houston)āone of my favorite movies. I kept hearing about the creepiness of the book (even more so than the movie) so I tried it (after watching the movie), but I just couldnāt get into it. Let the Right One In was a very pleasant surprise, and initially the adolescent vampire novel of the same name by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. I actually didnāt know that any of these movies started as books of the same name, and that Stephen King wrote The Running Man under the pseudonym Richard Bachman!
speaking of Stephen Kingāand weāve just got to; Iāve seen quite a few movies based on his books and short stories (Children of the Corn),1 and Iāve enjoyed them all but have only read 4 of his books: Insomnia, Duma Key, Salemās Lot, and Four Past Midnight, a collection of novellas including a very horror-ful one about a sodomizing ālibrary policemanā. P.S. Secret Window starring Johnny Depp was pretty good and based off the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden in Four Past Midnight.
Currently indie reading
Whatās interesting is that I came across Deep Cuts while coming across Deep Cuts (Mayhem, Menace, & Misery), a collection of 19 short horror stories. Iād never heard of either, but now Iām reading the former instead of the latter and itās actually pretty good.
REVIEWS -
The Wishing Pool by Tananarive Due and I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp by Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col and Josh Adams.
Iām not a fan of making race and āracismā a literary genre (of fiction), or some weird element of horror (though it works in Victor LaValleās The Ballad of Black Tom), so it was difficult at times to get through Dueās Wishing Pool; although I still recommend it because Dueās writing talent is exceptional and the stories pretty good. (Iāve been a fan since (and recommend) The Living Blood and The Good Houseāparticularly this Halloween season.) I especially enjoyed āThe Wishing Poolā and āHaint in the Windowā. I give The Wishing Pool and Other Stories 3 1/2 bubblegums.
Iāll skip rating I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp: itās hard to rate someoneās personal experience especially when itās just a documentation (of trials and tribulations suffered). What it documents is purported abuses of the (Muslim) Uyghur people at the hands of Chinese authorities.
Iāve heralded these titles in some shape, form or fashion before, but Iāll highlightāwith the above imagesāsome noteworthy ones to read this Halloween season:
Red Company, Andy Monk
Family Solstice, Kate Maruyama
The Body of Martin Aguilera, Percival Everett
āWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?ā Joyce Carol Oates
The Street, Ann Petry
The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
Nightjar, Paul Jameson
The Bully, K.J. Kwon
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson *also check out the short story āThe Lotteryā by Shirley Jackson
The Giver, Lois Lowry
Sing Your Sadness Deep, Laura Mauro
Eyes in the Walls, David V. Stewart
Rosemaryās Baby, Ira Levin
A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
Helpmeet, Naben Ruthnum
Grind Your Bones to Dust, Nicholas Day
* Note - When I read Grind Your Bones to Dustāwhich is excellent by the wayāit was an eBook out of Excession Press. Now, itās offered only as a paperback out of Rooster Republic Press. Not only is the latter a cool site, but itās also a cool site of authors, designers and publishers of horror fiction that offer some really cool book covers for sale. I wanted to highlight that here because I donāt see many sites selling pre-made book covers that are truly this quality. So, take a look, read a book and Happy October and Halloween!
P.S. I read the Seven Coins Drowning series by Christopher Laine a couple years back, and while perusing his website, I discovered that he had a partner who makes some really cool art (marionettes and dolls). Check her out! (I love Etsy by the way)
Pet Sematary, Misery, It, Dolores Claiborne, The Shining (the movie, I think, is overrated)