Daniel Stalter's Blog, page 17
December 30, 2019
FAVORITE BOOKS & COMICS 2019
I’ve been doing these lists every year since 2012 over on my old tumblr. It’s a new blog on a new website, but rules have stayed the same. These are my favorite books and comics that I read this year, not necessarily books that were released this year. Ongoing series that were mentioned on previous lists (and continue to kick ass) are noted at the bottom.
10. Monster
by Christopher Pike.
I’m as surprised as anyone that this book ended up on my year-end favorites list, but this one was a...
December 29, 2019
FAVORITE ALBUMS 2019
The first time I did one of these lists was in 2009. I’ve still got them over on my old tumblr. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to port them over to this blog in 2020. I also said that last year, so we’ll see. As with every year, this is a list of my favorite albums discovered over the course of 2019. I realized while putting this list together that I need to find some new ways of discovering the kind of music I like. I’m open to suggestions; particularly of the hard rock/metal and folk/Americana...
December 9, 2019
PIANO LESSONS CAN BE MURDER
This one was really uneven. The scenes with the ghost and the piano playing itself were genuinely creepy. The first two thirds of the book told a subtle, atmospheric horror story. Then in the last thirty pages, the book skyrocketed into WTF territory. I was reminded of Monster Blood, which had a similar problem of combining two ideas that didn’t really fit. Both books also have villains that defy all kinds of logic. The ending...
December 2, 2019
MONSTER
Monsterby Christopher Pike Spoiler-Free Review
This book was seriously fucked up in the best way possible. Monster wasted no time getting started and maintained a breakneck speed the entire story. I was initially curious about reading it with the present day context of gun violence in mind, but that didn’t pan out beyond the first chapter. I liked the journey of Angela’s character from beginning to end, and I appreciated Pike’s unflinching approach to raising the stakes throughout. The...
November 18, 2019
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR…
Spoiler-Free Review
This book was a bit of a mess. It’s a premise that’s been done before, and unfortunately this was not a unique take. I really wanted to like the protagonist, Samatha Byrd. She was awkward, clumsy, and a favorite target of Judith, the resident Middle School mean girl. She was easy to sympathize with to a point; but she ultimately learned nothing throughout the course of the book. Sympathy gets tedious when there’s no growth. It also d...
November 10, 2019
NEW YORK COMIC CON 2019
October 3-6, 2018
Jacob K. Javits Center
New York, NY.
I didn’t end up getting a table this year. They cut the number of Small Press table, I didn’t have any new releases to bring, and even if I secured a spot it would have been tough for me to front the money. Because I made this decision late in the game, I didn’t apply for a pro pass and only ended up with passes for Thursday and Sunday. Two days was still more than enough time for me to walk the floor, see s...
October 28, 2019
THE HAUNTED MASK
Goosebumps #11:
The Haunted Mask
Spoiler-Free Review
I think The Haunted Mask deserves its reputation as one of the best remembered books in the series, unlike a certain living dummy that shall not be named. It was a character driven plot driven by the internal conflict of who Carly Beth was and who she wanted to be. I felt that Carly Beth was a true Millennial, she spent her entire $30 life savings on...
rel="noopener">TheOctober 22, 2019
CHEERLEADERS: THE THIRD EVIL
Spoiler-Free Review
The final installment of the Cheerleaders trilogy brought some new elements, but fell flat in other areas. The shift in perspective was a welcome one, and it helped The Third Evil distinguish itself from the rest. Although I saw the twist coming, I still liked it. The visions Corky keeps having of Bobbi were a nice creepy touch. The Evil is still really bad at planning. You would think that an ancient evil spiri...
October 15, 2019
CHEERLEADERS: THE SECOND EVIL
Spoiler-Free Review
The Second Evil picks up a few months after The First Evil, with the Cheerleaders being divided on whether or not the evil spirit is still with them. With two of the biggest characters from the first book now dead, Corky, Kimmy, and Debra are left to pick up the pieces. There’s one pretty gruesome death scene, and we got some history on the infamous Fear family, but overall The Second Evil was a lot more of the same. The Ev...
October 8, 2019
CHEERLEADERS: THE FIRST EVIL
Spoiler-Free Review
This was the first of the Fear Street trilogies, and is one of the most iconic of the entire series. There was as much petty high school drama as there was murder, which is the best thing about Fear Street if we’re being honest. Also cheerleading is a really weird sport when you stop to think about it. The bus crash in the Fear Street cemetery gave the book a nice creepy start. There were some pretty good scares as Bobbi’s l...
