Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 9

The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore

Owning a bookshop is GREAT for reading extremely new books.

Title notwithstanding, nothing supernatural happens in this novel. A much more appropriate, though less cool, title would be Self-Reliance, which is both the name of the summer camp where much of the book takes place and a quality frequently evoked by the characters in varying contexts.

God of the Woods is partly a mystery and partly a family saga about a wealthy family who has two children disappear, a son aged eight in 1961 and a daughter aged thirteen in 1975 at a summer camp they founded. It's also the story of a second-generation Polish immigrant who's the only female investigator on the police force, the lesbian camp leader whose family is intricately tied to that of the vanished girl's, the other girls and their counselors at the camp, the many people who become collateral damage of the investigations, and, almost incidentally, a serial killer who - coincidentally? - is on the loose during both disappearances.

This is a kind of book which I often enjoy but have not read many of recently, an immersive historical with a large cast, lots of details of place and culture, and many characters all trying to forge their place in the world under difficult circumstances. In this case, it's all wrapped around a central mystery or possibly a pair of them - one of the big questions is whether the two disappearances are connected. The mysteries are nicely constructed and do get satisfying solutions, though ones which probably put the book more in the "literary fiction" shelf rather than "mystery." They do have clues and are at least partially solvable in advance, but the nature of what happened feels more "fiction" than "mystery."

I was most captivated by the story of Barbara, the punk vanished girl, whose parents neglect her when they're not trying to force her into a mold she doesn't fit; her painfully shy bunkmate Tracey, who has her own problems at home; their counselor Louise, who makes a number of extremely bad decisions because she's so desperate to escape poverty; and Judyta, the second-generation Polish-American investigator who has to manage hostile co-workers and supervisors, parents who think they know best, and her own insecurities and inexperience.

Alice, Barbara's mother, is not a particularly nice person but when we see what she went through in the fifties, which is basically every bad thing that could happen to rich white women in the fifties, it's deeply tragic. Judyta's hopes for the future, in 1975 when it looks like things are really breaking open for women, come across as a lot more sad now than I think the author intended.

In particular, [big spoiler] (  Read more...  )

Recommended if you like this sort of thing. It feels to me like it's in the same genre as The Secret History, though it has a completely different tone.

Content notes: domestic violence, emotional abuse, period-typical homophobia and misogyny, child death, addiction, hunting for food, extremely heartbreaking depiction of mother-child separation and socially enforced bad parenting. There's zero details on the serial killings; the killer is plot-relevant but that's it.

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No Apparent Danger: Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado Del Ruiz, by Victoria Bruce

A really interesting, gripping nonfiction book about two deadly volcanic eruptions in Columbia, how many of the same people were involved with both, and how what happened with the first one influenced social reactions to the second. Unexpectedly, there is also volcanologist drama.

Bruce begins with an account of Columbia's depressing colonial history, which was very intertwined with its geology - in addition to being tectonically active, it has lots of gold and gemstones, or at least it did when the Spanish invaded. Then she proceeds to the story of a young geology student, Marta Calvache, who briefly studied volcanoes in New Zealand before returning to Columbia. In 1985 the volcano Nevado del Ruiz began showing signs of unusual activity. This is when Calvache discovered that she was literally Columbia's leading volcano expert by default.

She and other Columbian geologists tried to get help from actual volcanologists internationally, but due to political violence in Columbia and mass incompetence/uselessness of various countries' governments, this was inadequate. Nevertheless, they did manage to get some experts in who warned them that Nevado del Ruiz was liable to erupt soon, and that this could cause massive mudslides in nearby towns. Unfortunately, government uselessness/corruption struck again, not helped by international experts contradicting themselves in public, and the towns in danger were basically jerked around and given conflicting information, while Marta and other geologists desperately tried to gather information and warn people.

The volcano erupted in November, causing a massive mudslide which killed 23,000 people. This was followed by a completely botched relief effort. You may have heard of it because of Omayra Sanchez, a 13-year-old girl who was trapped in a pool of water for days and could not be rescued, despite many people trying, as they didn't have the necessary equipment; she was the subject of a haunting photograph. Bruce doesn't even mention her, but instead recounts the story of two young geology students who were the sole survivors of their class, and got to see the lack of useful help firsthand.

Marta Calvache, horrified, threw herself into the study of volcanoes and ended up in charge of a research station by Galeras, another active volcano. She corresponded with international volcanologists, one of whom discovered that a particular signal seemed to correspond with an imminent eruption. So the science was progressing. But "imminent" can mean anything from "in five minutes" to "in five years." Because of this, a village was evacuated, then stayed evacuated for ages, causing major economic damage from a volcano that never did erupt - because the scientist who said it would had not actually looked at any data. Unsurprisingly, this caused a lot of public bitterness.

In 1993, a number of volcanologists, geologists, chemists, etc held a volcano conference at the Galeras research station. Despite indications that Galeras might erupt very soon, a number of them decided to tour the crater to do various scientific tasks.

In a phenomenon which has also been a factor in a number of fatal aviation accidents, the people who giving the warnings were lower-ranking and less respected than the people who wanted to go ahead, and so were ignored or brushed aside. Calvache's warnings were disregarded by the more famous American chemist Stanley Williams, who wanted to lead a crater trip. She did at least manage to limit the number of people going to the crater, and told them to get in and out as fast as possible. They did not do this. Also, despite repeated warnings, the government had refused to close the volcano to tourists, and so a local man and two teenagers took advantage of the handy ropes left by the scientists and followed them into the crater.

KA-BOOM!

Six scientists and the three tourists were killed, including Calvache's friend and co-worker who had worked on Nevado del Ruiz with her, and six scientists were seriously injured. Calvache and another woman scientist climbed into the crater despite not knowing if it would erupt again, and carried out the leader of the crater expedition, Stanley Williams - a task which took two hours due to the extreme difficulty of the terrain.

By this point a lot of Columbians were so furious with the government and volcanologists that the general reaction to this was basically "Fuck around, find out."

And now we get into the absolutely bizarre surprise twist! Stanley Williams gave a number of interviews where he claimed to be the sole survivor of the eruption. People who knew him first thought he was mistaken, then worried that he had brain damage from his head injury. As time went by and he continued to make that claim, they largely decided he was just an asshole.

Victoria Bruce, the author of this book who at that time didn't know about this controversy, heard that Williams was looking for a ghostwriter. Excited at the idea of working with him, she met with him to suggest herself, but he already had someone. A volcanologist heard of this meeting and contacted her to basically say, "Everyone hates this guy, he's at least partly responsible for multiple people getting killed, and he keeps spouting blatant lies about the incident. And also, he's a research thief! He stole the research of the guy who actually did predict the Galeras eruption! Lemme introduce you to literally everyone else involved."

Bruce then talked to several other people, got interested in working with them, and based on this book seems to have gotten interviews with nearly everyone involved except Stanley Williams. Their books came out at the same time and they both got sent on tour, presumably not to the same places at the same time or I assume there would be an afterword about a book tour brawl. I'm now curious to read Williams' book and get his side of the story.

Content notes: Some pretty gruesome descriptions of death by volcano.

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Fantasticland, by Mike Bockoven. Audiobook by Angela Dawe & Luke Daniels

When 300 employees of a giant amusement park are trapped there for over a month due to a hurricane, they form tribes and slaughter each other. So basically, Lord of the Flies at Disneyland, in the form of an oral history. I do not generally like Lord of the Flies stories, but I LOVE fake oral histories. Also, many people said the audiobook was outstanding.

The audiobook is indeed outstanding. I thought it had a cast of like 30 very talented actors, and was astonished to discover it was only two. It was extremely compelling, entertaining listening, and I sincerely recommend it on that basis if you like horror/thrillers/oral history, are okay with graphic violence, and need something really engaging to listen to for a couple hours.

The book itself... well...

This is the basic story, told by multiple characters involved from the owner of the park to visitors who were evacuated to disaster relief workers to the people involved:

A giant hurricane hits Florida and other areas, causing so much damage that many areas are not reached by rescue workers for a month or more. Fantasticland, the amusement park, is a low priority because the park management had a disaster plan, which was to stock up the park with food, water, etc, and get 300 park employees to volunteer to stay to maintain the park and prevent looting. As the 300 employees actually did have several months' worth of supplies for all of them, they were a low priority. Honestly, all this seems totally plausible.

Spoilers for how everything goes down. (  Read more...  )

So, the book has some pretty big issues, but it's also got some significant good points.

Pro:

As material for audio storytelling, it's terrific.

Bockoven put some actual thought into some aspects of what might really cause this situation to happen, and some of it is pretty plausible. (Some. Not all. But some.) The part I thought was really plausible was that if you trap a bunch of people in an area with no outside authority, and one of them is a charismatic sociopath, then he absolutely could quickly form a rape-and-murder cult with a number of the young men. It's obviously quite easy for a male leader to attract a subset of men and egg them on to rape women, and fairly easy to get a subset of men to commit horrifically violent acts, murder included. We see this happen in RL all the time. This part? TOTALLY believable.

I also liked that he did not do the usual thing of "when there's scarcity, people become vicious." There is no actual scarcity of food and water, and everyone knows that. People could share if they wanted to, and no one would go without. But some people prefer to sit on top of a giant pile of everything, and leave others with nothing.

One of the chapters, involving the only character who's smart enough to go to a hotel on the grounds and hole up there, is an outstanding work of creeping horror. It functions as a short story, but gets a lot of extra impact from being completely different from any other chapter in the book, so where it goes is much more unexpected than it otherwise would be.

It is WAY better with having female characters who do things than its closest comparison, World War Z.

Bockoven does a good job of portraying how different characters and different tribes react differently and come up with different strategies: the maintenance staff hides out in the maintenance tunnels for almost the entire duration and is mostly fine, the special effects artists scare off everyone else with special effects and are mostly fine, etc.

Con:

Very anti-climactic climax. The National Guard shows up and arrests everyone, and no one fights back.

Some of the book is SPECTACULARLY stupid.

Multiple characters say there was no sex AT ALL, just a little light kissing and making out, because there were no condoms (none of the mostly 18-24-year-old employees carried any?) and everyone was worried about pregnancy and STDs. Uh, WHAT? Everyone is merrily slaughtering each other, but they have WAY more sexual self-control than the average non-slaughtery American? If they're lying, why would they confess to murder but insist that they definitely didn't have sex? Meanwhile, the pirates were dragging off women constantly, so... there was tons of rape but no consensual sex? Makes no sense.

(Several reviewers thought Bockoven was trying to say there was no rape, but this doesn't make sense because it was specifically women who the pirates kidnapped. Also, multiple characters are worried about rape, and the only person who specifically denies rape is a pirate who is clearly downplaying everything. What were the pirates doing with the kidnapped women if they weren't raping them? A little light forced kissing and making out?)

In terms of actual events, everyone in the book agrees that, with a few specific exceptions, the pirates were consistently the aggressors and everyone else was mostly just defending themselves. But when they talk about it in the abstract, everyone talks like it was a total free-for-all where everyone just murdered everyone at random. And again, this is everyone in the whole book. Literally no one takes the position that what basically happened was that a bunch of people got trapped with a murder cult and ended up essentially in a war with them, which again based on the actual events, is 90% of what was going on. This is America! People believe that it's legally and morally okay to kill in self-defense! They might feel guilty about it, but at least some people should make the point that it is not illegal/morally wrong/abnormal to defend yourself from someone who's trying to kill you.

If Bockoven wanted to write about a free-for-all murder chaos zone, he should have portrayed a free-for-all murder chaos zone, not a situation where there was basically a war going on between one aggressor tribe and multiple defender tribes.

And then there's the "but the real enemy was the social media we posted on along the way." Something like half of the total characters say that a major or the main cause of what happened was that kids nowadays are internet addicts, and without their phones they became dissociated and savage. At the very end of the book, the guy who is putting together the oral history concludes that insofar as we can understand a basically senseless occurrence, internet addiction was the main culprit.

Apart from that this is stupid on the face of it, the hurricane affected a big chunk of America. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people were without power or internet for months, and no one else went feral like this. If all kids are so addicted to social media that they lose their minds when the internet is cut off, then why didn't they lose their minds in any of the MANY other places where the internet was cut off? If losing internet access makes young people go feral, there should have been rape-and-murder cults everywhere, not just Fantasticland.

Content notes: extremely graphic, visceral violence.

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Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

At a very special coffee shop in Japan, you can time-travel into the past, as long as you sit in a particular chair and don't move from it, and only for as long as it takes for your coffee to go cold. You can't change the past, you can only travel within the cafe (so anyone you want to visit in the past must have also visited the cafe), and a ghost is already in that chair so you have to wait till she gets up to go to the bathroom.

This book sounded very charming, but I got off on a bad foot with it because it took FOREVER to explain the rules before anyone traveled. When I learned that it originated as a stage play, that made more sense - the back-and-forth about the rules was probably very funny with good actors. In book form, it was interminable.

The vignettes are touching, but in a manufactured tearjerking way, like the woman who will die if she gets pregnant so of course she decides to keep her pregnancy so her baby will have a chance at life or the woman whose sister storms out angrily after a fight and immediately gets killed in a car crash. I was expecting Banana Yoshimoto and I got Jodi Picoult.

Maybe later books in the series are better, or at least don't spend so long explaining the rules.

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Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle

Rose is a young autistic woman living with her parents in a small town largely inhabited by members of a giant church that combines elements of Prosperity Gospel with your basic right-wing evangelicalism. It's best-known for Camp Damascus, the world's only gay conversion camp with a 100% success rate.

Rose is a true believer. Until weird things start happening around her. Then to her. And she starts to investigate Camp Damascus...

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because it has some nice surprises. In general, the plot was very nicely constructed and well-structured, with a lot of things that initially seemed like writing errors (like how Rose is 20 but everything would make more sense if she was 18) turn out to have reasons.

The main things that are notable about the book are Rose, who I loved more than possibly any other fictional character I met this year, the complex and thoughtful exploration of homophobia, community, religion, and love, and how much emotion the book evokes. In particular, I liked the depiction of what people actually get out of religion - not just beliefs but a community - and that people who abandon the religion they were raised in may swing around to atheism, or may join a different religion, or may create spiritual beliefs from scratch, and there's no judgment on any of that.

I was raised in a cult, and though mine was completely different, the cult dynamics are dead-on. Rose's journey to find her true self and figure out what she believes and who she loves are dead-on for the person she is, and while it goes to some dark places, it also has so much warmth and humor and joy. It's got enormous heart, and it's one of the most uplifting books I read all year.

(  Read more...  )

As for the buckaroo himself, all I can say is that I once wrote an enormous amount of bizarre porn to make money, but I'm capable of writing in a more literary manner too. There are some odd quirks to the book that did make me think, "Yep, this is indeed Chuck Tingle," such as habitually referring to anything anyone drinks as a "beverage." There's other overused phrases, largely due to his refusal to use the words "said" or "asked," plus some awkward transitions. But overall, this is a really accomplished book, and one that I've been pressing on people at the bookshop. It has a clear message but it's not simplistic, the horror elements are solid but it's also often quite funny, and it's just deeply enjoyable to read.

This is an adult novel but it's completely suitable for teenagers, and would make an excellent gift for teenagers in your life who would appreciate it.

Content notes: mild horror scariness, bug-related grossouts, depictions of homophobia and religious control.

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My Year in Reading: 2024

This was a great year for reading. I read so many good books, and got so much happiness from reading and writing about and talking about them. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, so apologies to the excellent books that I accidentally left off this list. I've ranked them according to how much pure enjoyment and happiness I got out of reading them, not objective merit.

My Personal Favorites

All That's Left in the World, by Erik J. Brown. Two teenage boys, one gay, one questioning, after a covid-informed pandemic apocalypse. I adored this and insta-bought the sequel, which I haven't read yet. Full review to come.

LA Son, by Roy Choi. Is this the best-written chef's memoir I ever read? No. Does it totally leave out the work he's most famous for? Yes. Was the audiobook of him reading it a wonderful experience? Oh hell yes.

The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins. Very weird, very dark, very polarizing dark fantasy; every content warning ever; I loved it.

Dr. C. Lillefisk's Sirenology: A Guide to Mermaids and Other Under-the-Sea Phenomenon, by Jana Heidersorf. Absolutely gorgeous art book/guide to mermaids. Fantastic art and really interesting and original worldbuilding. Full review to come.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson. Incredibly fun, incredibly twisty mystery where it all, for once, actually made complete sense by the end.

You Like it Darker, by Stephen King. The anthology as a whole was mixed, but it's here on the basis that my favorite stories brought me so much joy.

Moon of the Turning Leaves, by Waubgeshig Rice. Sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow. Immersive, compelling, creates a whole world and community that I wanted to live in forever.

A Succession of Bad Days & Safely You Deliver, by Graydon Saunders. Complex, difficult, weird, attention-demanding, deeply enjoyable, and often oddly cozy fantasy with some of the most interesting worldbuilding I've ever encountered. I shall re-read these then proceed to the next books when I have a stretch of time that will allow me to really sink in.

House of Hollow, by Krystal Sutherland. Dark, lush fantasy reminiscent of The Belles and Tanith Lee.

Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle. Light horror/dark fantasy about fundamentalism and homophobia; also one of the most joyous and uplifting books I read all year. Review to come.


Excellent and Enjoyable Books That Didn't Quite Hit My Arbitrary Top Ten List

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, by Alison Arngrim.

People of the Sky, by Clare Bell. Batshit 80s SF is the best.

A Scent of New-Mown Hay & For Fear of Little Men, by John Blackburn. Pandemics! Spies! Weird science! Hypnotism! Nazis! The kitchen sink!

Light a Single Candle, by Beverly Butler.

A Heart that Works, by Rob Delaney.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett. Utterly charming.

Into the Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant. MURDER MERMAIDS.

Briardark & Waywarden, by S. A. Hadrian.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, by Nathan Hale. The WWI one (review to come) was my favorite but I've enjoyed them all.

Cold Moon Over Babylon, by Michael McDowell. Apparently the only book of his I read in 2024? I must remedy that in 2025.

The September House, by Carissa Orlando.

Rite of Passage, by Alexei Panshin.

The I Survived series, by Lauren Tarshis.

Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle. Really fun, inventive dark fantasy that wasn't quite as good as Camp Damascus. Review to come.

Wilding, by Isabella Tree. Probably the single most influential and important-to-me book I read all year, just not in my top eight most enjoyable reading experiences.

Looking Glass Sound, by Catriona Ward. One of the most technically accomplished books I've ever read. Enormous fun to read but not as emotionally involving as her others. Review to come, hopefully.

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Book Review Poll

Contrary to what everyone says, owning a bookshop is actually great for getting more reading done because your customers REALLY want your personal opinion. Plus, if there's downtime, there's all those books!

View Poll: #32473

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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Yuletide Reveal

I wrote three stories this Yuletide!

Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey

Fireblossom

Phèdre has an unusual, botanical assignation with Melisande Shahrizai.

I never tire of writing sexy stories for this fandom or those two. The prompt was great and I took enormous pleasure in filling it. Tagged for chemical play, Flowers, Language of Flowers, BDSM, Botany, Heavy BDSM, Whipping, Recreational Drug Use, kinks we don't even have names for, Worldbuilding, Clothing Porn, Boot Worship, Sensation Play, thorn play if that's a thing, Dildos.


Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

The Crystal Cave

James Ritter returns to the House.

I had requested a different minor character for Yuletide this year (Sylvia D'Agostino) so it was fun to match on a request for James Ritter. His time in the House went very badly for him and yet he clearly loves and misses it.


"Sandkings" - George R. R. Martin

WO. AND. SHADE. IMPORTERS. ARTIFACTS. ART. LIFEFORMS. AND. MISC.

Wo and Shade launch their shop.

I've been wanting to fill this prompt for a while, to focus on a pair of intriguing secondary characters in Martin's SF horror classic "Sandkings." Wo and Shade are the proprietors of the shop which sells the main character a set of interesting new pets. I also love them and was delighted to get a chance to fill in a bit of their backstory.

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Yuletide Recs

Normally I like to make Yuletide recs throughout the week. This year I woke up on Christmas/Hanukkah to a black screen on my phone, which of course I couldn't get fixed for a while as it was Christmas Day and nothing was open. And then my bookshop opened the next day, and it's open Thursday - Sunday, so I was busy when I wasn't frantically driving around trying to get my phone fixed. But I did encounter many excellent stories despite the unusually limited time I had to read, let alone rec. I hope you enjoy them too.


Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle

known now in part, to be known in full

Meg realized that the woman seemed very familiar. She had glasses and shorter hair, but otherwise looked very much like Meg herself; indeed, almost identical.

After Polly's adventure back in time where she's almost human sacrificed, Meg meets her double from an alternate timeline. A lovely and thoughtful exploration of the choices Meg made and the choices she didn't (or did, in wnother world).


"Barrett's Privateers" - Stan Rogers

"God Damned Them All"? Documenting the Loss of the Privateer Antelope

A grim narrative of fraud, deception, false advertising, murders, robberies, puttings in fear and operating without a Board of Trade Certificate.

Hilarious, plus rather impressive pastiche.


Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

through fog in grey horizons

There's a special magic in bodies of water, and it always seems to make its presence felt when Jane Drew is around.

Utterly gorgeous story of Jane's lingering connection to water and magic, with an absolutely perfect ending. Also a possible nod to Seaward.


The Fall of the House of Usher - TV

Raven Wings as Dark as Below

If souls existed you'd sell them with your first choice. With the blood of those you kill.

But the second choice, when you decide to make a Deal, that is when your fate is sealed.

A strange, fascinating, beautifully written take on what it is to be Verna.



"FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense" - Luke Burns

Honestly all of these are hilarious so I'll just link you to them all.

Snakes on the Yuletide Main Collection

And one from Madness


Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey

floating upon dark waters - Phèdre nó Delaunay/Melisande Shahrizai, Phèdre nó Delaunay/Original Male Character

Some New Pleasures Prove - Phèdre nó Delaunay/Joscelin Verreuil

Both those stories are very in-character and hot as fuck.


Southern Reach - Jeff Vandermeer/Annihilation (Movie)

Explosions Inside of My Head

Experiments sending rabbits into the Shimmer. Haunting, beautiful, horrific.


The Stand - Stephen King

She Knows That It Kills Me. My gift!

Frannie Goldsmith gets a chance to face down Randall Flagg. Extremely satisfying eucatastrophe.


Watership Down - Richard Adams

A Chief Rabbit. My gift!

A Hyzenthlay story from her days within Efrafa.

A very sweet story in which Hyzenthlay gets some well-earned peace and recognition.

Silverweed's Lament. My gift!

A gorgeous, chilling poem.

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Rolling in the Deep & Into the Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant (Seanan Maguire)

These are companion works about DEEP SEA MURDER MERMAIDS. Scientifically justified and science fictionally depicted DEEP SEA MURDER MERMAIDS. I am there for that, and for once this is a Seanan Maguire/Mira Grant book where I not only liked the premise, but liked what she did with it. By far my favorite of anything I've ever read by her.

"Rolling in the Deep" is a novella set several years before Into the Drowning Deep, concerning an expedition to the Mariana Trench to make a fake documentary "proving" the existence of mermaids, a la the garbage fake docs on the History Channel. They hire some human mermaid performers for the purpose. The novella starts out by informing us that the ship was found later with no one onboard and weird footage that looks like it was attacked by mermaids, which is largely assumed to be fake. But no one on board was ever found.

It's a fun horror novella with a killer premise - and it really is about the premise. I enjoyed it a lot.

Into the Drowning Deep is a novel about an actual scientific expedition to the Mariana Trench to try to figure out what happened to the ship and if mermaids could possibly be real. The characters are just plausible and likable enough to make us care what happens to them, but really it's all about horrifying deep sea creatures, which is what the murder mermaids are. It's a lot of fun, especially if you're freaked out by deep sea creatures, which I totally am. The mermaid descriptions are very fun in terms of how they work out a plausible way for mermaids to be deep sea horrors. I would absolutely love horrifying mermaid art, and may request this for the next fic/art exchange I do.

Though I was mostly in it for the mermaids, I also appreciated the look at human mermaid culture in the novella, and the number of disabled characters in both. Like in real life, some people have disabilities which are relevant to their lives, but aren't all they are.

My biggest quibble with both books is that they both have a big twist, which ends the novella and is heavily involved in the climax of the novel. But it's the same twist, so if you read them both, you will spend one of them waiting for the characters to figure out the thing you already know. Which can be fun, but they're both written like the readers should also be shocked. In both cases this supposedly shocking and horrifying moment is just stated rather than described, so by the time you get to it for the second time, it falls doubly flat. I'm really baffled by this choice.

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That aside, I did enjoy both books quite a bit. This is very light horror - it's creepy and people die and there's violence, but it's juuust to the horror side of science fiction action - Aliens rather than Alien. I suggest reading the novel first (the opposite of what I did) if DEEP SEA MURDER MERMAIDS piques your interest.

Content notes: Mermaids kill people.

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