Book Review: Unnatural Creatures, stories chosen by Neil Gaiman

Such cute monster on the this cover.
 

THE SUNBIRD

THE MANTICORE

THE WEREWOLF

THE GRIFFIN

Welcome to a menagerie unlike any other, where stories let AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL and occasionally TERRIFYING creatures roam free in your mind.

This is Neil Gaiman's selection of his favourite stories featuring beasts from myth, fable and imagination. Creatures extraordinary, exotic, extinct, living, dead and undead prowl the pages of this book.

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL IF YOU INSIST ON OPENING IT. 

This is quite a long anthology, but it also contains a few re-publish stories but it writers that audiences are unlikely to be familiar with due to a lot of them being dead or just real old. The illustrations that each story has are pretty good and the formating works well.

Intro by Neil Gaiman, 5/5 stars for being a introduction.

1.
by Gahan Wilson: This was a fun creepy idea, where a stain antagonizes rich people. There's more to the story but I'm not explaining it (well). The way its incorporated into the actual text is cool. 4/5 Stars for poor butlers.


2.The Cartographer Wasps and The Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu: This one was weird, but also great. It's like a politician fable with insects . 4/5 stars for short lives of Bees.

3.The Griffin and The Minor Canon by Frank R.Stockton: This is a story says to be a bad person. Unless people treat you terrible. This writer is dead and this story must have appeared somewhere.   4/5 stars for Tiny Griffins.

4.Ozioma The Wicked by Nnedi Okorafor: A young Nigerian girl can speak to snakes and her community hate her for it until she usefully. 4/5 stars for Brest like waves.

5. Sunbird by Neil Gaiman: This reminds me of that the ep of Angel with the werewolf. It doesn't have a werewolf in it. A society of trying rare foods go after the last thing they haven't tried. 4/5 stars for two feathers.

6. The Sage of Theare by Diana Wynne Jones: This is another story by a dead writer and has character that appears in other works. The creature is an water dragon or something. Is a god a creature? This is a saga of short story, it was good. 4/5 stars for steaming gods.

7. Gabriel - Ernest by Saki: I think this is a story I've read before, but I thought the ending was different. Maybe Mandela effect or I've combined in my head with something else. If anyone wants to tell me what "He had suffered bittern in his study" means, feel free. This is a werewolf story which would have been a spoiler is wasn't so obvious what it was to a modern reader. 4/5 stars for missing sheep.

8. The Cockatoucan by E. Nesbit:I own a collection of Nesbit's stories, mainly because I liked her name and it has a skull on the cover. This is basically Alice in Underland nonsense. Basically, random magic and skinny people are bitter. 4/5 stars for missed omnibuses.

9. Moveable Beast by Maria Dahvana Headley: I liked this story. Set in somewhere in America I guess, called Bastardville so fun. The "villain" is immediately unlikable. Because if someone asked for you to smile (and they're not taking a picture) they're a dick. Also Scottish connection which is fun and fitting. 4/5 stars for Ice Cream insults.

10.The Flight of The Horse by Larry Niven: This involves time travelling to find a horse with a twist so fun. Also another dead writer. 3/5 stars for made gems.

11.Prismatica by Samuel R. Delaney: This your usual quest story, with trickster and princesses. It was long enough to have chapters. There's also a unicorn and a thing in a box. 3/5 stars for my nearest and dearest friends.

12.The Manticore, The Mermaid, and Me by Megan Kurashige: This one is weird. We're back to stories that were written for this book, which two stories ago but feels long. This plays with known hoaxes or are they hoaxes. I would have liked better description of the creatures. The idea was cool. 4/5 stars for museum pass.

13.The Compleat Werewolf by Anthony Boucher: This is 80 pages long and some what mature. It was clearly written for an adult audience, not that really matters since this is YA aimed anthology. It just weird having a protagonist that is a hairy German Professor, obsessing over an ex-student. The earliest publication date I can find for this is1969, though I wonder if it was earlier than (that cause it was 1942). 4/5 stars for Communist Allegory.

14.The Smile on the Face by Nalo Hopkinson: This involves trees and negative body image. I wasn't aware of the myth this was based on, which is cool. 4/5 stars for cherry pits. (TW: Sexual Assault).

15.Or All the Seas with Oysters by Avram Davidson: Beware of bicycles. This was a cool idea from 1958. 4/5 stars for pins.

16.Come Lady Death by Peter S. Beagle: The Last Unicorn writer brings us a story about death, so fun. Also a party. I like the idea, but it's can 4/5 stars for bad wine.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for monster encounters. I like the diversity with the writers and the creatures they bring with them. Out of the 16 story, only 2 were unique to this collection, but it does show a big variety for authors to discover that older and were my first time reading them most of them so I get the effect to show older work to a younger generation. It was a pretty cool collection, with solid stories. I would recommend if like monsters and short stories or if you want to discover some new, old writers to check out.

Short Story: Into Darkness

Here's another repost. This is probably the earliest piece of writing that I still have. I wrote it when I was 14. Oh my god, that was almost eight years ago. I haven't change anything as there should be evidence of what my writing skill was back then and it probably the thing that's been edited the most times as this was part of my Stand Grade English Portfolio. I like to think I would have gotten a 1 if I had sat credit.

This was based off an old English Stand Grade writing exam prompt, you where meant to write a story with the title "Into Darkness" and/or based on a picture of a stone bridge. I did both. The sad thing is I'm petty sure the best thing I ever wrote was in my actual exam. Well, I really like my ending sentence so much I memories it and still have it: The living statue left the darkness and entered the panic of light.

It was based off a picture of a Gargoyle and its about a guy blowing up a bridge or a building I forget. It's odd as that something I so don't normally write like ever. So back to the story I can actually share with you as the SQA has brunt that story. I give my 14 years old self idea of horror and best piece of writing (if you had asked her what it was anyway).

Into Darkness

Lisa stood, on a bridge, in the flog, waiting for her best friend, Sandy. She was meant to meet her at 8 and it was now 20 past, but she wasn't worried. Sandy was always late.

She was more worried about herself. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn't help it. She had always been scared of the bridge, especially after she had seen a little boy fall off it. He had been all right, but she had nightmares for weeks after wards and she still had nightmares of the bridge sometimes.

The bridge was made of old grey stone; it had been built in the 16th century. It was surrounded by a forest; the trees were big and old. It would be easy to get lost in them. This made the bridge the prefect location for ghost stories. Whether it was ghost or serial killer, the bridge part alone would guarantee that you would be spooked by the end.

There had always been stories of the bridge being haunted… or something. Whilst it was being built, three of the builders went mysteriously missing and were never seen again. For years after wards people kept disappearing, they were all heading in the direction of the bridge the last time they were seen. Of course there was no proof of people disappearing and even if there was, there would be no way to say for certain that it was because of the bridge. People still go missing, but people go missing everyday. It meant nothing. It was just a normal bridge; well that’s what Lisa was trying to tell herself.

Lisa couldn't help but look over at the dark water below. It had been raining all week, so the river ran faster and deeper than usual. The water was almost hypnotizing. She wasn't afraid of water, not even the water under the bridge; she had played in the river under it when she was younger. It was the bridge that scared her.

It was getting late and she didn't want to be there when it got dark. Sandy had probably forgotten that she was meant to meet her. It would be best just to go and find her. However, just before she was about to leave, Sandy came running up to her.

“I'm sorry, I'm late”, Sandy panted. “I fell asleep.”

“That’s okay, I was just going to go and find you.”

Lisa turned back to the water and peaked over the edge of the bridge. Suddenly, she saw a pair of red eyes staring back at her. She shut her eyes, and shook her head. When she looked back there was nothing there.

“Hum, let’s go,” Lisa muttered

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Lisa lied. ‘It’s just really cold’

“I know something’s wrong,” Sandy said as she put her hand on Lisa’s shoulder.

Lisa hesitated; there would be no way that Sandy would believe her. She didn’t even believe it her self.

“I thought I saw something.”

Sandy looked over the edge; she saw nothing.

“There’s nothing there,” Sandy said as she turned around.

“Of course there isn't, just my mind playing ticks on me,” Lisa said not sounding as if she meant it. “Let’s just go.”

She started to walk away. Sandy looked again. It was just the same, nothing was there. Sandy knew that Lisa was afraid of the bridge after all the stories she heard and everything that she had seen.
Her imagination had probably just gone wild. Being alone, all by her self at the bridge and it was twilight. It was when the darkness begins to sneak in, where the shadows get darker and there’s no where to run. Sandy admitted that she would have probably start seeing thing too.
Sandy notices how far away Lisa was already

“Wait for me, Lis.”

“Fine, but hurry...up,” Lisa had turned around to find that Sandy was gone. “Sandy where are you?” There was no answer. Lisa walked over to where Sandy had been. She looked around for her, but she couldn't see Sandy. She looked over the edge; there was nothing there. She turned around and went to look at the other side, but she didn't make it.

The last thing Lisa ever saw was those red eyes and then darkness.

***

 Funfact: A substitute teacher scanned read this and thought one of the characters had jumped off the bridge, which would have been so fucking random. (I'm always PG).

In reflection that ending is a bit rushed.

Book Review: The Dark Flight Down by Marcus Sedgwick

 I haven't this disappointment in a name since finding out what the J stood for in Homer J. Simpson.

In the morning you should think
You might not last unto the night
In the evening you should think
You might not last unto the morn

Boy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic, and deadly chases, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick’s palace. Boy is transported to a world of splendor, and wealth beyond his wildest imagining. But beneath its golden veneer, this world is full of madness and cruelty, closely guarded secrets, and terrifying revelations.

 So this is the sequel to The Book of Dead Days which was a book I really liked. I didn't like this one as much as I found the characters continued to be weak and I didn't enjoy the plot as much this time. 

The plot this times involves Boy trying to escape repeatedly from people and we get answers to the questions from the last book. However, they were kinda underwhelming. Finding out who the serial killer made me go what, more than it made sense. It became clear early on what the solution would end up being as well.

I gave this book four out of five stars for winding stairs. I can't remember why though, which proves that you shouldn't wait months before writing a review. While I liked this book, it is sort of bland in my memory. I'm glad I read it to have finished the series but it definitely not as good as the first.

Monster Uni. (that reminds me...)

Hello negated readers (if you were more vocal you might not be so negated), you might have notice post appearing/ed randomly. Is there a reason? Sort of. Is it a good one? Not really, but I honestly though it was Friday till I checked two weekdaily online comics and realise that they both hadn't uploaded. I lost a day, not sure where, if found please return to me. I think it was Thursday, not sure, but I have no memories of Thursday, or maybe I have memory of Friday.

So I saw Monster Univeristy today, it really puts you in the mood for starting uni and getting kicked out before the end of the year. What a shame I'm not starting Uni this year. Oh, well there always next year.
Seriously, though August has gotten a bit away from me and I need to start applying to UCAS and decided what courses I'm applying to. English, but tempted by film things such as script writing. I'll keep you sort of posted.

So back to film. Has anyone else noticed that Pixar have released two sequals that go with the current age of the group of the kids who first saw them. I mean Toy Story 3 was about leaving childhood and change with Andy going off to college (Though, I really don't understand why he had to clear out his room, is he now banned from the house all together now or something?). And now we have Monster Univeristy which is set in a Univeristy, amazingly. I mean I know people my actually age tend to be in their third or seconded year of Uni but still.

Have Pixar just decided to go with it. Should I expect a Toy Story 4 when I'm in my 30s about Andy's kids' toys or Monster Nursing Home when I'm 80. God, those would be terrible movies if they made them.

Monster Univesty was alright. It was watchable, like I'm not dying to see again but it not the worst pixar sequel I ever seen (that honour goes to Cars 2).

So I got thinking about some of the terrible Sequels that Disney have produce saddly in my life span. Not saying all Disney sequels are bad, but for God Sake there is a sequel to FUCKING BAMI. Just honesty, don't know why anyone would think that it would be a good idea to make sequels to classic Disney films. It like Disney built my childhood to then go on to destroy it, sequel by sequel. They've gotten slightly better, but there was a time where I wouldn't have been susprized if they made a sequel to the Swode and the Stone, I mean no one likes that movie but they just might have tried it. Here a list of Sequels that they had no right to attempt but did: Peter Pan (those Fucking terrible TinkerBell movies which in she can talk and voiced by Barbie, she completely out character, Tinkerbell is meant to be hot tempted and vain (also should have been dead by Peter Pan 2)), Junge Book, Clinderella (there's two by the way), Bami (just why?) and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of (thankfully). There are few sequels that are terrible but can be justified by the fact that it was the same people who made the Original that made them but they were still petty terrible, such as the Fox and the Hound 2.

To be honest they is some sequels I liked, such as the Beauty and the Beast ones. However, those films where made within a decade of the original film (I first watched them as a kid). I also liked the TV series such as Hercules,  Aladdin, and Little Mermaid. I even like the 101 Dalmatians one, but that was more a spin off the original film with four of the puppies being the stars.

If day comes that there ever a proper Snow White film(I think there was some terrible Disney Princess thing but we're just ignore that now or better yet Forever), just remember that Walt Disney did not think that was a good idea. The same man who annoyed the hell out of 101 Dalmatians' writer for a sequel to the original book she intentionally wrote a bad one so he would leave her alone. Which probably is a better (never read either books) sequel that most of the Disney film ones. I would just like Forever After to actually mean something again.

Whilst we talking about damaged childhood, I finished watching all 99 episodes of The Animaniacs as today, now I only need to watch the watch the movie for this return to my childhood to be complete. Though, if Warner Bros. would actually release The Animaniacs dvds over here (also finish Batman: The Animated series). I would be a happy girl and they would have my money. Till then I'm a Pirate (wrong yes, but its the only way I could re-watch them as they not on TV in the UK nor can I buy them dvd forms). I remember parts of it, not all. Maybe I'll finish re-visiting Batman: the Animated series. Probably catch up on my negated books. See ya next week (I promise).