Book Review: More Bloody Horowitz/Scared to Death by Anthony Horowitz

Oh, Horowitz we meet again...Yeah, we're gonna need to have a talk.

Stories of ultimate revenge, from freshly sold human meat and uncontrollable robots, to life-sucking MP3 players and reality TV where death is the penalty – all told with dark humour and gruesome relish, and made even more fiendish by retro illustrations, chilling facts and a puckish message from the author. This is Anthony Horowitz at his most wicked.

Scared to Death: Ten Sinister Stories by the Master of the Macabre

This chilling collection of ten nightmarish and fiendishly funny short stories is a perfect read for fearless children. From a train journey straight to hell, out of control robots with a murderous streak and even a television show where death is the penalty – these terrifying tales display the dazzling wit and wicked humour of master storyteller Anthony Horowitz, and are guaranteed to make your blood curdle and your spine tingle.

If you've been following my reviews for a while, you know that I'm a big of Horror and read Horrorwitz first horror stories when I teenager. I have since re-read and reviewed those stories. I thought they held up, so I brought this book from a library sale a while ago but ended up reading the ebook from the library because of Lockdown. I had been looking at the graphic novels and saw an adaption of the Hitckhiker, a story in Horowitz Horror collection. It was fine, I think it works better as a story but not worth a writing a full review but it left me curious if they had Horowitz other works. I saw these two story collections, More Bloody Horror and Scared to Death. Thinking they were completely different works, I check both them out.

These are the same books, but with changes to update them. Technically, Scared to Death ends up with less content, which is probably for the best. The first story and Intermission is left out. Probably should have left the terrible poem in as the whole intermission in the re-released. 'Scared to Death' does have its one unique story.

This has the layout out of a newspaper article, which I'm sure is very charming in a physical book but a pain in the butt for me reading it digitally from pdf. Each story has an illustration before it and sometimes a minor one after. The illustrations are well done, if not sometimes spoilerly for what ends up happening to the characters.

I wrote reviews for each story as I went so half of the review was written before I knew that Scared to Death was a re-released with some of the problematic things changed.

The Man Who Killed Darren Shan: I'm sure Horowitz got permission to plot the murder of real children's writer Darren Shan. Though, imagine if he didn't and the first you hear of it is during book festival season. How awkward.  This book was about a failed horror writer deciding that the similarity between his and Shan work being too much for coincidence. 3/5 stars for taking out the competition.

Bet Your Life: So this a game show with an obvious twist, the story takes place on the finale eve which has five finalists so it's perfectly pre-dates Drag Race, including the transphobia (okay, I thought it was four when I made this joke, but it's only a matter of time with Ru). All the finalists are men, because of course, but one of the contestants is a Trans man who they call a 'woman' and use she/her pronouns for him. The exact quote describing him is 'She gave away very little about herself - although, she had let me known if she won, she wanted to become a man.' I could let this go as it being dated, but this book is also sold as comedy apparently. Also know that a Trans woman has won Big Brother, a show referenced in the opening so definitely leaves me on the alert. And I was right because we get a bit of ableist common to reality shows "Clive in his wheelchair, hoping to claw something back in a life that had been wrecked by a car accident". I guess this could count as commentary.

A prefer named is given as Melvyn, so that's what I'll use. He is referred to as 'pitless' and is made out to be the villain in this, like he's a terrible person for competition against a 16-year-old, but not that feeling towards anyone else involved.

Why would the prime minister be the final question giver? How well does pig feel compared to humans? What does this Latin quote mean? How many people am I directly responsible for killing?
Horowitz is a TV writer and there was a very negative feeling towards reality TV at the time. This does and says nothing. It somehow manages to be Cliché almost immediately. The most noticeable is the transphobia for no reason.

Replacing the transphobia is a knowledging you did something wrong but its not enough to take it out. If they had just changed the character to being an openly trans man using the correct name and pronouns, who wants the money for top surgery. That's commentary. I mean the way the character is written is terrible so you would have to actually completely re-write or make another character trans for it to be forgivable. They are no quick fix for transphobia. What I've read of Horowitz work, his books have never been diverse. He rarely writes outside his middle-class white man bubble, so perhaps its best he didn't attempt it. Realistically I'm not sure what the fix is. Maybe this story should have also been taken out of the re-release.
0/5 stars for Transphobia.

You Have Arrived: Steal a car and so it goes badly obviously. This story's illustration tells you the twist before you've read it. It's whatever.  2.5/5 stars for Dionaea Muscipula.

The Cobra: Kid is a brat in a foreign country. Gets his comeuppance. 2.5 for Anti-venom.

Robo-Nanny: Robots kidding on to be 'Mexican to get a job at McDonalds'. The twist at the end ruined it. Why would that be horrorfic for kids? 2/5 stars for Spare Parts.

Transmission: Not really, just excuse for poems.

Bad Dream: A poem about the mud coming for revenge for the father's sins. 2/5 stars.

'Why Horror has No Place in Children's Place by Wendy Grooling'- If we taking notes, besides mothers, the only femme characters have been a Trans man being misgendered, killer robot, and now this fake writer hating on horror. Here's a quote about J.K. Rowling 'It's all too often forgot that she has single-handly taught an entire generation the value of reading,' This is meant to be a joke (I think), but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the Koolaid that Just Kidding is drinking now.
Also Alice in Wonderland has horror elements, which I mean the baby that gets turned into a pig and probably eaten. Maybe that add realism as the people who write long essay about hating on a thing, never know what they talking about.

Oh, no Horowitz you really got me. The 16-year-old who would read and review this book 10 years after publication who gonna point out the transphobia and the lack of girls. Don't worry, I rate you somehow more dated than the 90s Point Horror I also read for kicks. Don't worry, you're a better adult writer than Stine but children? IDK, I haven't played enough attention to which ones weren't ghostwritten. Also definitely not the week for J.K. Rowling to be getting any praise.

Also this references the Hitchkiter whose graphic novel adaption I recently read. The adaption was fine. This is my favourite story because it's not newspaper formatted and meant I didn't have to backtrack while reading it.

There is a crossword, something as a Dyslexic I have always hated. The clues sure are something. Anyway, calls Black Panther terrorist group which is very 60s America. I mean I've not managed to find them a case of them being linked to a terrorist act. Did they go into a building armed? Sure, white people are allowed to that shit. It's fucking questionable to have in a kids book, without a conversation.

My Bloody French Exchange: This another obvious one. These stories are for kids, but definitely feel too young for the character age group. This is just a revamp of the Hitchkiter story so not for fans of the first book. 3/5 stars for the same twist and I'm gonna straight-up reference it.

SheBay: Finally the first girl protagonist, and she immediately human trafficked. Guess what it the same Twist as 'Harriet's Horrible Dream' and even references it. It's slightly different but worse.
1/5 stars because Human trafficking online is definitely real and horrifying.

Fuck, some terrible news. This is where I found out this was re-released as Scared to Death, which my library has as a decent ebook of and would have been a lot easy to read from than this nightmare one. I had already rechecked it out. The transpobia has been removed. The lone AFAB contest now wants to give all her money to donkeys. "She gave away very little about herself - although, she had let me known if she won, she would give all her money away to charity. She particularly wanted to help look after donkeys in Spain." Don't worry Clive is still there but it now references Love Island. Did I change copies when I discovered? No, because of transphobia.

Are you sitting Comfortably?: This told in first POV by our second girl main character, compared to most being in the third person. And I was right to because this book has some casual racism. "At first sight, I thought he might not be British. He was dark-skinned'.  He's still described as dark-skinned in Scared to Death, but his Britishness is not questioned. This probably one of the better stories, especially as it not just a re-harsh of one of his past works. It probably shares themes with Cottage one though. 3.4 stars for life insurance.

Plugged In: "Jeremy Browne is Gay" is graffitied on a bus shelter, this is changed to him being a weirdo in StD. I get the choice and it is probably best not to use the word gay unless you're going to have a conversation about homophobia. That being said what teenager liked Take That enough in 00s to keep up with their single release schedule. That was such a mum band then. They're replaced by Ed Sheeran in 2018. None of the other bands are updated, but a line about Solar-powered MP3 players not existing is taking out. Well, they still don't and probably never will because no one owns mp3s anymore. We all have phones. I guess maybe a few joggers might have them. I guess this was taken because solar power travel banks exist.
4/5 stars for Not Trusting Your Neighbours.

Power: This is a story written by someone who doesn't know a thing about the care system. You can give up a child at any time. They will try and convince you not to. You can put a child in care at any time. The main character ending up naked which is horrifying due to the likely damage to an uncovered body. I think it didn't need to be so obvious, he says "even his boxers". This is another spoiled kid meets a terrible fate. Mixed message with the last story. I guess the moral is be a hermit and never talk to anyone. 2/5 stars for extreme sports.

The J Train: This is the new story in Scared to Death, I suppose to replace Darren Shan Murder one. This book is also dated for its Time of 2018. It mentions 're-reading those Vampire books' and Stranger Things. Really shows that Horowitz does not keep up with the business he's in. Also Hamilton tickets, but who would guess where we ended up two years later. The mother sounds like a goth with killer nails. Two or three hours doing nails isn't really that long if you're doing designs. The most horrifying thing about this story is that Horowitz felt the need to point out that Donald Trump is president and they have a photo of him for some reason. Donald Trump was a Slumlord and New Yorker really don't like him. Why not just have vague a picture of the president. It was just a weird detail. This story is told in the third person and while having a teenager daughter, the main one it follows is the dad, so maybe an effect to balance the gender split but not really.

Seven Cuts: This is a note from the publisher, in this Horowitz is a murder who doesn't take notes. I just don't any of this meta stuff really works. 1/5 stars for not respecting women.

Overall, I gave this book 1/5 stars for Transphobic Donkeys. This is definitely weaker than Horowitz Horror books. There is a reason this was weeded from a library and I'm definitely glad it was when it does have such obvious problematic things in it.
There are no girls in this book. This is a problem with "Boy books" in general, boys are not exposed to girls they own age, just being people in fiction. Girls are so often forced to be the token, even in their own fiction. Basically, we have trick parents into buying their boys books with girl main characters. So that's just a general problem, and girls do like horror as well. His first collection felt more balanced. Maybe it's just because the girl main character stories were the better ones and more spread out instead of just being in the second half of the book.

This book does raise the question, do I have to go back and re-read Horrowitz Horror in the original form I read it to see if it been problematic all along. It has definitely put me off reading any more of Horowitz's work. I've not loved what I've read since that first collection, either been okay or this. They are so many other books in the world, so why waste my time with white man nonsense?

Crossed posted to Strangeness Books. I do post reviews earlier on Strangeness Books, basically, as soon as I finished them.

Read: 8/6/2020 to 11/6/2020
Reviewed: 8/6/2020 - 26/6/2020
Medium: PDF/Ebook
Published Date: September 1st 2010 (re-released October 4th 2018)
Publisher: Walker & Company (Walker Books)
Source: Library
CW: Casual Transphobia; Causal Ableism; fatphobic; Causal Racism; Causal Homophobia;

Book Review: Snow in Love by Melissa De La Cruz, Nic Stone, Aimme Friedman and Kasie West

Christmas isn't Christmas unless you get stuck in Snow.

What's better than one deliviously cozy, swoon-worthy Holiday Story?

Four of them, from some of today's bestselling authors.

So going on Goodreads I found out that half of this books was in another book, so they've replace two stories with more current authors and renamed it. The other book is from 2009 so it is probably out of print and knowing that worse stories were written in 2000s makes sense.

Snow and Mistletoe by Kasie West: A girl ends up stranded at Airport due to snow so gets in a car with a much of randoms of from her old high school to get home, where no ones knows she even in the country. Roadtrip. This was cute, talks about growth and ending possible careers for yourself. I get the feeling everything is meant to be fine at the end of this story, but I'm not sure it is. 4/5 stars for Wasted Italian.

Working in a Winter Wonderland by Aimee Friedman: A Jewish girl a job at Christmas to combat Boredom of while her friends are away celebrating Christmas and so that she can buy a dress for a party, to impress a boy. Hanukkah is briefly in this story but after night 2, it's a skip ahead. These are College age character which is fun. It's also another Christmas in New York story. This was a fun game of spot the love interest, because it literally could have been anyone till the last 10 percent in. I like it but it's on the Hallmark level of okay, it's Christmas/Chanukkah. 3/5 stars for Exlambet Costumes.

The Magi's Gift (A.K.A. The Christmas Choos) by Melissa de la Cruz: This was the worst story. I actually DNF it 20 pages in and I went back just to read it. 40 pages and tanks the rating of the book by whole Stars. I wanted to slap all the characters. All of them. I Know it's a retelling of classic story but this was the worst one I've came across of it. This story involves someone selling a family heirloom without consulting her family for her boyfriend. The only thing of her Grandma's they have. Right before she goes off to sell this dress that she has no idea the value of, it's revealed that she has a little sister. Basically, this dress is in no way shape hers to sell. This girl also has 45 dollars to spend on her boyfriend but that's not enough in 2006 to buy him a fake leather jacket. Actually, in 2006 she might have been able to buy a real leather jack for that price if went to right place. Go to the poor people's mall. Maybe she has less than ten dollar I could buy she couldn't find anything but $45 is enough for something. I haven't read the original but it doesn't work when the two people still can use the objects they are given and one of them definitely had money for a gift. This isn't a tale about it's the spirit of giving that matters, it's tale of if it ain't designer then it worth shit. The fact that this was originally named after designer shoes says everything about how materialistic it is. I think it was meant to be the opposite of that but fails majorly. Why go into stores you know can't afford? Why hang out with shitty rich people? 1/5 stars for Broken up by next Christmas.

Grounded by Nic Stone: Now time for the story that I brought this book for (it also was a group read for a readathon but wouldn't brought it didn't have a Queer story in it). This is about scavenger hunt/Hide and Seek in the Airport, while questioning your feeling towards the first girl who made feel that certain way. It made me feel like I have been stuck in Atlantic Airport, I haven't been there. The story also talks about how being a minority isn't solved by being rich, which dur is true. Privilege is stacked system, yes being rich is a privilege but doesn't change the colour of skin or cultural background. Rich, White, male and never touched a poor person is still the ideal we stuck with. Let's move away from how messed up Society is. A lot of it's text messages and my only criticism is that it could have been clear who Leigh was texting any given time. I could figure it from context, but maybe second of 'what?' sometimes. Also this has some Hanukkah/Jewish representation with Leigh having Jewish Grandma and being annoyed that she doesn't get to spend her Christmas break with her. This is a fun Christmas story, wraps up perfectly but this Christmas so that's what we want. 5/5 stars for Girl Love in Airport.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Snow in Airports. The avenge is 3.25/5 stars, without Magi one it would have been 4 and I probably would have gave it that with out the maths. Most of these are nice Christmas time stories which would perfect in your in the mood for some Christmas, even if it slight silly sometimes. Like I said that one story was only 40 pages so it's up to if 210 pages is worth the money. Maybe you're library will happen to have it, then of course it worth checking out. This was my first time reading any of these authors. Some of it will definitely the last, others I brought one of their books after reading their story. It was alright, anthology are always a risk.

Bonus this info for that other book.

Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott,  Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, Nina Malkin

Glittering white snowflakes. The handsome blond ski instructor. The sparkle on a cashmere skirt. Hot cocoa and kisses in front of a crackling fire.

I just wanted to show that you that awkward couple kissing. The girl is going for it but I don't think the guy knows what is happening.

Book Review: Under my Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Who doesn't love witches?

The tingle begins, the green fire rises inside her. She Smiles again, staring at the doorway, and waits...

Enjoy this inventive and quick-witted collection of witch stories by some of our most loved fantasy authors writing today. Young witches, old witches, kind witches, mean witches, witches' dogs, witches' curses. They are all here, in their diversity and richness, lurking amongst the pages of this treasury, just waiting to be set free to allow their magic to fill your imagination.

What's in it: Spider Silk, Eye of Newt, Black Moss, Snake Venom 

A short stories about witches, what could go wrong?

Intro by Jonathan Strahan: Strahan quoted from Wikipedia and does it wrong, as the internet changes you have to have the date. He also refers to Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty as being a witch when she a fairy. They might be few version where she a witch, but in the Disney version she an Evil Fairy. These are basic facts.

Stray Magic by Diana Peterfreund: A special dog appears at the pound. Interesting concept. Almost feels like the start of a novel. 4/5 stars for cheesy names.

Payment Due by Frances Hardinge: This one was interesting too. A teen girl gets revenge on a bailiff. 3/5 stars for Body Swaps.

A Handful of Ashes by Garth Nix: This features a Oxford like witch and wizard university so it has colleges within it. Snobish and evil bullies so fun. Well, thought out world, my brief research it doesn't appear to be an extension of another word. 4/5 stars for Radish Girls.

Little Gods by Holly Black: A baby Wiccan goes to her first covens gathering and big ceremony. Religion and wanting magic. This is was okay, kinda bland next to the previous ones. 3/5 stars for alcohol offerings.

Barrio Girls by Charles de Lint: Barrio girls are obsessed with Twilight/Vampire Diary clone and they come across a Vampire Witch. I liked the writing style of this book and the idea. 4/5 stars for Moonstream Merch.

Felidis by Tanith Lee: A guy wandering about in the woods, ends up lying and living with cat lady. This was old fashion thing, the idea was alright. Kinda sad.  3/5 stars for velvet skin.

Witch Work by Neil Gaiman: This is a poem. A poem about a witch by the sea. It's fine, not got many opinions about poems. 3/5 stars for silk cords.

The Education of a Witch by Ellen Klages: Once again Maleficent is called a witch when she not. She a fairy, mistress of all evil. Also I just don't think its that weird for a kid to like Maleficent. The fairies are the only actual characters in that film. This story has chapters in it and then nothing happens. There's all this build up for nothing. A five year is negated by her parents so she only starts to do bad things by the end 1/5 stars for bad puppets.

The Threefold World by Ellen Kushner: Elias Lönnrot is a real Finnish Historican figure and a witch according to this story. Okay... 3/5 stars for unwanted wares.

The Witch in the Wood by Delia Sherman: This writer is married to the writer before her story, which is kinda cute that they next to each other. So actual story is a girl coming across a deer and falling in love with said deer. The writing style worked for this type of story. 4/5 stars for Bad Deals.

Which Witch by Patricia A McKillip: This involves a musical band of witches with two violin players and murders of Crows. Something random happens. Better short film than short story. 3/5 stars for crow feathers.

 The Carved Forest by Tim Pratt: A fourteen year old girl decides to run away the day before Thanksgiving, so her brother follows her to the local witch house. 3/5 stars for Rootless Trees.

Burning Castles by M Rickert: This is the question of magic, unlike most of the other stories. The style was okay. 3/5 stars for tree earrings.

The Stone Witch by Isobelle Carmody: You're on Air plane and then you're on a quest for an egg. Also addressing making life discussion without realising. 4/5 stars for Hipster Demons.

Andersen's Witch by Jane Yolen: This is about Hans Christian Andersen, who made a deal with an Ice Maiden for three wishes. Karen Marie is referred as both his step and half-sister, and is obviously a sex worker in this story. Brief search says there no evidence of this, nor is it necessary. Yolen also equals marriage as love and that children love Hans Christian Andersen. Not really, they love Disney. Andersen's just seems a bit of dick going off his work. Disney too like that narrative considering in the Little Mermaid Cartoon series, he meets Ariel (pre-legs) and then writes a story in which she has her tongue cut out and has no soul, then dies. This story becomes more problematic with the bio-note that says the Yolen is refer to as the American Hans Christian Andersen so the ending is quite vain. Odd anyway. Basically, the Ice Queen definitely wins now. 1/5 stars for Gentlemen Callers or Stock Legs.
 
B is for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher: This is part of the The Dresden Files series, you don't need to know the series, it works without that knowledge. Though, I did watch the TV series, didn't recognize from that though. He's a wizard who also a PI. 4/5 stars for Ice Buckets.

Great-Grandmother in the Cellar by Peter S Beagle: Women either have bad taste in men or are weird not witches demon things. Those parts of the story ain't great. Kinda interesting otherwise. He wrote the Last Unicorn, book and film. HM... 3/5 stars for Witch Boys.
 
Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow by Margo Lanagan: A grandmother goes to bless their grand daughter. 4/5 stars for walnut-shell ships.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for leaking cauldrons. These were mostly good, some were not about witches or magic users so disappointing. If you like witches, it worth checking out.

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.

Book Review: The Travelling Bag: And Other Ghostly Stories by Susan Hill

Yeah, I don't know why I keep reading Susan Hill either.


From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the eerie perfection of 1950s suburbia, the everyday is invaded by the evil otherworldly in this unforgettable collection of new ghost stories from the author of The Woman in Black. 

In the title story, on a murky evening in a warmly lit club off St James, a bishop listens closely as a paranormal detective recounts his most memorable case, one whose horrifying denouement took place in that very building. 

In 'The Front Room', a devoutly Christian mother tries to protect her children from the evil influence of their grandmother, both when she is alive and when she is dead. 

A lonely boy finds a friend in 'Boy Number 21', but years later he is forced to question the nature of that friendship, and to ask whether ghosts can perish in fires.


So I have a hate-hate relationships with Hill, I find her horror to be boring and pretentious, with a lack of sympathic characters. I have reviewed two of her works (read 4 I think): The Small Hand and The Woman in Black. This book contains four short stories, which feel like Hill's abandoned works. Some of them don't feel like they have proper endings. Unlike my usual way of reviewing short stories, I'm reviewing them indivdiually from memory instead of writing mini-reviews as I read them.

The Travelling Bag: So this is the Victorianish set and we learn the story of someone getting revenge and then random fear of moths for no reason. This has a weird Narrative device as someone telling their fellow club memember the worst, spookest case they ever worked. How he knows the information he does is never explained and doesn't feel like him actually tellling the story. This feels like a series idea and I thought all the stories were going to be told as if they were cases this guy had, had, but no it was just one off. It adds nothing, but set up for disappointment. If we had just been the actual story instead of the weird narrative deice, I would have enjoyed it better. 2/5 stars for sweeping bodies.

Boy Number 21: This is the worst story. So very little happens in it and I was expecting something big with the set up. The big problem is a bigging up to nothing. Not a field trip and a possible psychotic break. 1/5 stars for squished Sandwiches.

Alice Baker:  This is probably the best. It doesn't have a weird narrator and has a concise ending that makes sense. It also from a female character's POV and it wasn't Hill's typical, terrible ghost motivation. This one takes place in an old office building where a new staff member cause a stink. I Not sure why it's was the one left out of the burb. 4/5 stars for Office Politics.

The Front Room: It's Hill's favourite thing. A spiteful person for the sake of being spiteful. Then she a spiteful ghost. A family does a nice thing by taking in an old lady, the father's step-mother. Most of it is set up and then dur-dur-DUR. 1/5 stars for only a shower.

Overall, I give this book 1/5 stars for mediocre nonsense. This book is just bad. There's one story that's worth a read but the others' are Hill's typical mess of work, except some of these feel like Hill just gave up and declare them short stories instead.

Book Review: Thriteen Chairs by Dave Shelton

You shouldn't go into abandoned buildings...by yourself.

 In an abandoned house, the ghosts gather. They argue, they laugh, and they tell their stories. Some tell their own stories, some tell stories they have heard elsewhere. Some of them are true, some are not. But each tale draws you closer.

One by one, the storytellers depart, until suddenly it's just you and the narrator, alone in the dark...

Usually I read and rated short stories as I read them, but as this is all by one writer I didn't. Instead I'm going back and rated them. This book also has the benefit of illustrations at the start of each story which I will share my favourite of.

Let Me Sleep: This is the standard past deeds coming back to haunt you, typical beware of actions. Probably is a weak start. 3/5 stars for bling.

The Wrong Side of the Road: The standard past deeds coming back to haunt you. Okay, this makes me think of The Midnight's society's first episode, but only because Taxi. Woods. Spoilers. Don't drink drive kids. 2/5 stars for smashed glass.

Oswald: Cats are evil. Oswald is an evil cat, a cat eviler than usual. Basically, torments his owner. Going with the motif of these being stories told, this is the first one that really feels like character telling the story. It works okay. 3/5 stars for ticker bell.

The Red Tree: This is an old grim fairy tale thing going on, matching the character telling the story. It's a good imitation and creepy idea. 3/5 stars for fool's gold.

Tick Tick Tick: This is another mash up. There's this clock tower, the character goes there, you can probably guess what happens. Though, apparently left the other characters 'shaken' besides Jack, when its a pretty dull, obvious ending that makes me want to go read Poe. 2/5 stars for cloak, cloak, cloak.

Beneath the Surface: A boy loses his parents and brother in a boating accident and is haunted by water. I had forgot this story and had to look it up which is one of the reason, why I won't be reviewing short story collections this way again. 3/5 stars for Death Puddles.

Razor: A journalist hears a ghost story about a murder house at a pub and goes for it. 4/5 stars for tidying spirits.

The Girl in The Red Coat: A revenge story, sort of. 4/5 stars for Eyes.

The Patchwork Sailor: A revenge story where Daddy finally comes home. 3/5 stars for odd handed.

Unputdownable: My favourite story in this book. Someone moves into a Writer's Cottage and then must write and write. 5/5 stars for fill-out notebooks. 

Snowstorms: This is set in the North Pole or somewhere really snowing.  The snow messes with you. 4/5 stars for snow globe.

Among the Dead: This is the life story of the leader of this ghost telling affair and what this thing is about. These last two stories connect the narrative

device with the stories. 4/5 stars for coffins.

The House Where the Ghosts Meet: Jack tells us what lead him to the house and just what the deal is. 3/5 stars for bike safety.

Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for ghost meetings. I think it pretty good for Juvenile Horror, people on Goodreads are really harsh towards this book and I don't understand why. The choice of story placement could have been better, especially as the start stories are very similarly theme wise.  It does contain some standard horror stories but it does them well. They're not scary, but I find it odd that adults are rating Juvenile Horror for its fear level. I found this Teen/YA section of the library, I probably place in the kids' section going off the other Juvenile Horrors.

Book Review: I'll Be Home for Christmas by Various

My recent interaction with the Homeless was two of men swearing people out. Ar...Scotland.

The UK’s top Young Adult authors join together in this collection of new stories and poems on the theme of home.

Contributors include: Tom Becker, Holly Bourne, Sita Brahmachari, Kevin Brooks, Melvin Burgess, Katy Cannon , Cat Clarke, Juno Dawson, Julie Mayhew, Non Pratt, Marcus Sedgwick, Lisa Williamson and Benjamin Zephaniah.

£1 from the sale of every book will be donated to Crisis, the national homelessness charity. To find out more about Crisis, see www.crisis.org.uk

Before reading this book I was concerned that this would be an anthology where the stories didn't match at all with each other. Christmas,  Home and Homeless are the themes I'm guessing the writer were given. This book does contains some writers I really like, one I studied in school and one I have yet to find anything likable about. I wasn't going to request this book, until I realise Cat Clarke was in it and I must read everything she ever published.

Home and Away by Benjamin Zephaniah: This a poem and despite being taught several times how to citizens and write poems I don't feel confident on the matter,  but I still have a  jotter full of Face's quote. It's about how you could become homeless.

Ghosts of Christmas Past by Non Pratt: There are no actual ghosts and this is just a standard contemporary Sam is dealing with now living with his Nan and being awkward with girls. 4/5 stars for Tree Cravings.

If Only in my Dreams by Marcus Sedgwick: returning to the tradition of horror at Christmas and Space. Bit of a cliché plot. Also Also the British don't care about American poems about Christmas. It's written well as always by Sedgwick. 4/5 stars for darkness dreams.

Family You Choose by Cat Clarke: Queer fun. With a character that doesn't speak.  Very nice. Unusual Christmas dinner. Hinting at bigger life. Birthday blues. 5/5 stars for silent cake.

 The Associates by Kevin Brooks: The day in the life of two Homeless men who mainly hassle people. I don't know if I'm missing the point or if Brooks is missing the mark in trying to humanise homelessness. I think this story needs to be fleshed out a bit more, especially as for a day in life, big gaps are hinting at being missing.  Also have no clue by what is meant by the title. 3/5 stars for cliché needles.

The Afterschool Club by Holly Bourne: Rich Boy, Poor Girl, spending time together to avoid going home and do their homework together. I liked the characters in this one and the writing, as well the hinting at the deep issues at play as well as the ones on the surface. 4/5 stars for Coat swapping.

Homo for Christmas by Juno Dawson: The lesson in this story is to use private mode. We also have another uni age character dealing with their sexuality similar to Cat Clarke's story. These two fit together at least, but these one did feel a little more mature than the ones before it.  5/5 stars for Skinful.

Amir and George by Sita Brahmachari: This story deals with the series and current topic of refugee. Its also write in the style of someone whose not good at English (as though it was foreign language to them) which was interesting stab at realism. 5/5 stars for found lemons.

The Letter by Tracy Darnton: Darnton won a contest to be included in this book.
This doesn’t feel like a short story and more like the start up of a novel as the eventful stuff has either happened or about to happen.There's interesting story there, but this glimpse into Amber's life is a small catalyst that hints at several possibility. Though, I can tell from this that Darnton is a skilled writer. 4/5 stars for Bowling shoes.

Claws by Tom Becker: Everything I have ever read before by Becker has been insultingly terrible, at least this was just insulting, but I feel like that Becker liked the title of Claws and was gonna force that to make sense. It was alright, its the "someone does something stupid" version of horror therefore you don't care about the main character which is unsuccessfully. 2/5 stars for fishhooks ribbons. 
 
Christmas, Take Two by Katy Cannon: Heather is being forced to spend Christmas with her Father's new shorty and her monstrous children. Its mostly be grateful and its Christmas so be happy that no one takes you into account when making important decisions, learned all from a romantic encounter. 3/5 stars for forced stockings.
 
When Daddy Comes Home by Melvin Burgess: Nothing says Christmas like a dystopia of Politic Corruption. Interesting in that it comes in the form of a monologue. 4/5 stars for Christmas Tricks.

The Bluebird by Julie Mayhew: A modern fairy tale told in the form of a fairy tale, but modern setting. I enjoy writing confusing sentences. Parents holding their kids captive and a romance that might be a lot more alarming than its meant to be. 3/5 stars for burning chips.
 
Routes and Wings by Lisa Williamson: I really liked this one and does a good job of humanizing Homelessness. 5/5 stars for Bus Fare.

Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for multiple themes. Okay, I get why this book was done and that it for a good cause, but in terms of a coherent anthology most of the stories don't go together. Some of them fit and there could all be sketched to have a theme of home, or at least have the setting of Christmas. I'm probably just way over thinking of this, especially as I'm someone who reads all these genres about the same (except Poetry) within YA. I would recommend this if you're a general YA lover. 

I got this book off Netgalley for review and it is published by Stripes Publishing.

Book Review: My True Love Gave to Me. Edited by Stephanie Perkins

I hate Romance, but love short stories.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays.

This is an anthology of romance stories. I'm not big on the romance, but I like short stories. Most of the stories didn't fall in the tropes area, so this book certainly doesn't fall in the annoying area of YA Romances. There are illustrations at the start of each story that I liked and I also the font used in the corner is pretty looking. 

Midnight by Rainbow Rowell: This story tells the tale of several New Year almost Midnight; hence the title. This is a friend romance. It was nice I like the flash back to the couple's meeting and the grimace of their relationship every New Year after that till the start of the story. 4/5 stars for Chex Mix.

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link: This a magic story which raises questions and gives you no answers. This is instant love where the couple only say a few sentences to each other and then it's risk your life time. I liked their interactions, I just do not get the bit where the romance came in. There's more going on with the other love interest. It took me half way through the story to pin-point what time period we were in, so therefore timeless? Well, as long Skype and Tonys are a thing. I give this tale 3/5 stars for pine needles. I would have liked it better if the ending went a darker turn. 

Angels In The Snow by Matt de la Peña: Snowed in and staving at Christmas. This book features such fun as grief and college. Its told from a boy's point of view, which chaptery bits. I liked the style,  Takes place during the immediate days to Christmas and Christmas Day. 4/5 stars for muffins.

Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han: This was an interesting idea, though basically the film Santa Claus if you developed the idea and killed off Mrs Claus and the street hoodlum. Also add elves from the Lord of the Rings, because they be hot.  Okay, they really only share the concept of Santa adopting a kid and living at the North Pole with them. This was more the issue of growing up at the North Pole the only one of breed e.g. not an elf or Santa (I hate when people say magical beings ain't human when that's so not how genetics work. It's as dumb as racism because races ain't really a thing in biology, but one is obviously a more serious issue than the other). The ending was a little underwhelming, there was more there and this is one of the shorter stories (14 pages). 2/5 stars for Tall Elves.

It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins: A girl hears a voice in a parking lot then follows that voice to forest of Christmas tree. This story does not involve magic, despite me clearly giving a misleading description. This was favourite story so far. It was sweet and very real. The characters have witty banter with each other. 5/5 stars for Scattered boxes.

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan: Levithan can always be grantee to bring the gay. I mean heteronormative makes everything so boring and this is the only one of these stories that isn't. A boy is convinced to pretended to be Santa for his boyfriend's 6 year old sister who flirts with teenagers for attention...why the word flirt? Charm has least disturbing connotations when referring to a child. 4/5 stars for disarranged stockings.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black: This was really a romance story, but I don't care. It has a nice friendships and magic. I also enjoyed the fake break-up. 3/5 for mysterious liquids.

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman: WHY IS MICK JAGER CONSIDER SEXY? He wasn't that hot when he was young. This story takes place on the last night of Hanukkah, which by pure coincidence is when I read this story (though just as we were only 2 hours in and it was more the night of the 13th). I think this story also takes place on Christmas Eve (24th), due to clues in the book and that was when Hanukkah was last year. This is a story about two outsiders at university bonding over Ned Flanders. I like how the girl was swept up with all her mistakes. 4/5 stars for Glass candles.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire: Male protagonist blows up pigeons and burns down part of a church. Depressing issues that just overshadow by a romance I don't care about. Actually, just straight up depressing, with a sappy ending.  2/5 stars for prostitute angels.

Welcome To Christmas, CA by Kiersten White: This a sweet story about food and what is a home. It also feels like a balanced story. The main character, Maria has issues outside the romance that are dealt with, instead of just being characterisation. Also this story also involves non-romantic love which is surprisingly not explored enough.  5/5 stars for lawn chairs.
 
Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter: That was basically terrible and highly farfetch. The more interesting story is the girl who goes to New York. I want to know what the hell happen in Iceland. There's potential, but most of the story is wanting to know why Linda is hiding. The rest is just corny mush. 1/5 for corruption. 

The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor: This is slightly different but also not at all. Its the only fantasy story in book, but fits fine in my opinion with the other magical story that are in here. The main character Neve is a terrible situation and magic comes to the rescue or something like that. 4/5 stars dead flowers.

Overall, I give this book four out of five stars for . I enjoyed the majority of these stories, there's only one or two that really let the book down. A lot these stories have weird underling issues that just didn't fit in with the stories they were telling. There's some decentish diversity (as in more than one of the main characters are clearly a minority in America). Even as someone who not all about the romances in books, the characters are complex in their brief glances. Would definitely recommend for this seasonal.

I got this book for review off NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books. I also own it and used having to do a review on it to trick me into reading it now, instead of the Summer of 2017.

Book Review: Twisted Dark: Volume 1 by Neil Gibson

It's not very twisted or dark.

Twisted Dark is a series of interconnected psychological thrillers, perfect for fans of twist endings and comics that reveal more on the second reading. Each story stands alone, but the more you read, the more connections you see between the characters. There are over 100 characters that appear more than once and one of the joys of reading is when you spot a reference that you know others will have missed. A rotating team of talented artists draw the stories, with each style offering something new.

This is graphic novel with a short story motive and usually with short stories I would comment on each story but with this I don't have much to say and think it would all mostly borderline on spoilers.

This is meant to be full of twists or whatever, but it was mostly predictable, especially since you were expecting them. I don't know if a book of twists really works as a concept because you know that all of them are going to have one. Also some of the so called twist were just lame. Very few were actually good and satisfying.

The writing was okay but nothing enchanting and I had to push myself to finish it. It was just boring afterward.

The art is and good quality but I got kind of sick of it even with the artist changing. The concentrate black was a bit much after a while. Also one of the stories (e.g.Cocaína) was confusing as the the main character looked the same as another character.

Overall, I gave this two out of five stars for finding someone to blame. This didn't do a good job of holding my attention and I don't see myself reading any of the other volumes. I like dark, twisted things and I didn't like this so I'm not sure who will like it. Though, I feel I should note that I read this from a digital review copy and it was hellish loading it on my computer to read it so that might have effected my enjoyment of it.

I got this for review off NetGalley and from TPub.