Recent Updates and Currently Reading | April 29

Finally some beautiful weather! One of the reasons I've been complaining about the weather so much is I've been having to haul my vegetable plants upstairs and out in the garage and back out in the sun waiting to plant them. I finally got most of them planted yesterday, and I found these turtle eggs out in the garden (ironically underneath my son's plastic turtle).

It looks like some of the eggs have already hatched so I'm on turtle watch! We don't have a pond in our yard so I'm trying not to worry about these little guys making it where they need to go.

Posted Last Week

Last week I posted my review of Catherynne M. Valente's Space Opera.

I also posted the books that made it onto my wishlist last week.

Read Last Week

I had to DNF The Nightmare Room @ 46% because there were too many layers of child horror for me, but it was a great haunted house story with a lot of imaginative scenes. I would still recommend it to folks who don't purposely avoid child related horrors. There's going to be a sequel, and I'm hoping there's a chance I can jump back in on that one.

I was planning to read 1984 this year as part of my 2018 TBR jar, but Lilyn at SciFi and Scary suggested I read Fahrenheit 451 instead. I wound up reading it as a buddy read with Lilyn. I loved it. I'm planning to fall down a giant Ray Bradbury hole.

Recent Acquisitions

I got to meet Joe Lansdale last weekend at the Boomtown Film Festival. I say that casually, but it was a huge highlight for me! He signed a limited edition of The Magic Wagon for me.

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay - Many, many thanks to William Morrow for the review copy of The Cabin at the End of the World. I could not be more excited to read this one!

Entropy in Bloom by Jeremy Robert Johnson - I grabbed this short story collection on the cheap from Amazon. I've heard amazing things about these stories so I'm looking forward to spending some time with them.

The October Country by Ray Bradbury - I checked out a couple of Ray Bradbury's collections from the library including The October Country.

So what about you? Let me know what you're reading this week or leave me some links!

---

This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist {14}

On My Wishlist is where I share books that have recently made it on to my radar. These are the books I added to my wishlist in the past week:

The Siren and The Specter by Jonathan Janz

When David Caine, a celebrated skeptic of the supernatural, is invited by an old friend to spend a month in “the most haunted house in Virginia,” he believes the case will be like any other. But the Alexander House is different. Built by a 1700s land baron to contain the madness and depravity of his eldest son, the house is plagued by shadows of the past and the lingering taint of bloodshed. David is haunted, as well. For twenty-two years ago, he turned away the woman he loved, and she took her life in sorrow. And David suspects she’s followed him to the Alexander House.

I've read a few of Jonathan Janz's books (Children of the Dark, Wolf Land, and Witching Hour Theatre), and I enjoyed them all. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books including this new release set for September.

---

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

This book would not have caught my eye if it hadn't been for great reviews like the one Tammy posted over at Books, Bones, and Buffy.

---

Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Book Review | Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Space Opera is a science fiction novel by Catherynne M. Valente.

IN SPACE EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU SING

A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented-something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.

Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix - part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Instead of competing in orbital combat, the powerful species that survived face off in a competition of song, dance, or whatever can be physically performed in an intergalactic talent show. The stakes are high for this new game, and everyone is forced to compete.

This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny - they must sing.

A one-hit-wonder band of human musicians, dancers and roadies from London - Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes - have been chosen to represent Earth on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of their species lies in their ability to rock.

The only Valente books I had read prior to reading Space Opera were the Fairyland books, but Space Opera was every bit as imaginative as her Fairyland series. I'm anxious to hunt down a lot more of Valente's adult novels.

Despite being a huge fan of Valente's writing, I would have loved more variety in her writing style throughout Space Opera. It was easy for me to put it down at times.

Overall, though, Space Opera was a really fun read. I loved the story, and I enjoyed the cast of characters. As wacky (and awesome) as the book blurbed sounded, Valente was able to pull it off.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by publisher

On My Wishlist {13}

On My Wishlist is where I share books that have recently made it on to my radar. Some recommendations and reviews made me wishing for the following books this past week:

Fen: Stories by Daisy Johnson

Daisy Johnson’s Fen, set in the fenlands of England, transmutes the flat, uncanny landscape into a rich, brooding atmosphere. From that territory grow stories that blend folklore and restless invention to turn out something entirely new. Amid the marshy paths of the fens, a teenager might starve herself into the shape of an eel. A house might fall in love with a girl and grow jealous of her friend. A boy might return from the dead in the guise of a fox. Out beyond the confines of realism, the familiar instincts of sex and hunger blend with the shifting, unpredictable wild as the line between human and animal is effaced by myth and metamorphosis. With a fresh and utterly contemporary voice, Johnson lays bare these stories of women testing the limits of their power to create a startling work of fiction.

Fen made it on to my wishlist thanks to a tweet by Andy Davidson.

I can’t put this down. I finish one and have to start the next. FEN by @djdaisyjohnson is right up there with GET IN TROUBLE by @haszombiesinit. Find this book, folks. pic.twitter.com/UWQyglKWpo

— Andy Davidson (@theandydavidson) April 13, 2018

---

Dread Nation (Dread Nation #1) by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

I've been hearing great things about Dread Nation, but Mogsy's review sealed the deal for me.

---

Have you read or are you planning to read any of these? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Top Ten April 2018 New Horror Book Releases

I've been struggling to come up with a solution to keep my horror spotlight posts going this year. This week's Top Ten Tuesday freebie may have given me the answer I needed. Going forward, I plan to replace a TTT topic each month with my top ten nine new horror book releases for that month. I hope narrowing down my horror spotlight to nine books doesn't disappoint anyone. It's fantastic that the horror genre is rapidly growing, but it has made it harder and harder to publish a thorough post of new releases!

These are my top nine new horror book release picks for April:

The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp
Figures Unseen: Selected Stories by Steve Rasnic Tem
They Feed by Jason Parent



Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman
The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three by Seabury Quinn
Clickers Forever: A Tribute to J. F. Gonzalez edited by Brian Keene



Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist
The End by M. Rose Flores