Cate Gardner's Blog, page 6

Read 2020 - 22 - Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

I saw it become like a tiger's face, stripes and fur and sharp teeth.
Who Fears Death is a wonderful dystopian tale of the desert, of sorcerers, of a race under threat. It is as horrific as it is fantastical, and I totally lost myself in its world.

This is the second novel I've read by Nnedi Okorafor, the first being Lagoon. My husband bought this for me at Christmas 2019 as he knew I enjoyed Nnedi's short fiction. Highly recommend this book.

My collection These Foolish & Harmful Delights is now...

My collection These Foolish & Harmful Delights is now out in paperback - I am jump out a box of cereal excited. If they built them big enough, or if I was a hamster, I would do just that and post the video to You Tube.

You'll can buy it from Amazon in the UK, United States, Canada, Germany and all other countries were Amazon has planted its gigantic foot.

Read 2020 - 21 - The House Without Windows by Barbara Newhall Follett

How stunning is this cover?

This is a beautifully illustrated hardback. An absolute gem of a book. Despite almost a century between them, this is a collaboration between it's 12-year-old author (I know!) and the artist, Jackie Morris. The House Without Windows is the story of Eepersip, a child who runs away from home to enjoy nature, travelling from field to sea to mountain.

I picked the book up at an independent book store in Llangollen at the start of a week-long Welsh holiday without knowing the full story of the author. My Bestwick knew, because my Bestwick knows everything. Seriously, I declare a national holiday if I know something he doesn't.

If you want to read more about Barbara Newhall Follet, you can check her information out at Wikipedia.  

Side note: the book cover co-ordinated with the cushions at our overnight stay at the old workhouse in Bala. I'm sure you care deeply about that.

Read 2020 - 20 - Bewere the Night (and childhood seaside memories)

I picked up Bewere the Night, an anthology edited by Ekaterina Sedia, at a charity shop in West Kirby last year. The Bestwick and I always trawl the charity shops when we go there. West Kirby is a seaside resort on The Wirral, that I've been visiting forever. I have so many happy childhood memories of there, of Wade Whimsies, of sand in my shoes, of walking to the island that isn't Hilbre (still haven't done that), of making sand castles that were partly made of oil. Yes, I did enjoy it. I swear. I'm now making new memories there with my Bestwick.

But oh, I do miss my days there with my mum and my little brother. Sigh! In the famously hot summer of 1976 we spent almost every day at West Kirby and at New Brighton (where I now live - sort of - it's close).

The first story The Thief of Precious Things by AC Wise was my favourite. Their shadows are crows. Beautifully written , it a story of fox-girls, crow-lords and a devastated human race. This is a broken world.

I think I was a little bit broken too. Apparently, it's possible to read too-many short stories in a row, so I struggled to finish the anthology. I am certain it is 100% my fault. I decided that if Dom chose another story anthology/collection, I would skip it this one time and read something longer instead.

It's Alive - THESE FOOLISH & HARMFUL DELIGHTS

It's alive.

Oh, I have waited so long for this beauty and now, today, it feels like no time at all. I am so lucky that Adele Wearing at Fox Spirit Books decided to take a chance on my little collection, and am thankful to all the Fox Spirit team. Oh, it feels like I'm accepting an Oscar. Also, a zillion thanks to Daniele Serra for the awesome cover.

My little book is published. It has three previously published novellas, one previously published short story and four new short stories. I hope you'll take a chance on it.

It's currently available as ebook at Fox Spirit and Amazon, and I'll update when the paperback is available.

Read 2020 - 19 - Dead Funny Encore

I purchased Dead Funny Encore (along with the original volume, which I read a couple of years ago) at an Edge Lit or Sledge Lit in Derby when Johnny Mains was a guest. My brain and my Google-fu is struggling with the year. Edited by Robin Ince and Johnny Mains it contains horror stories written by well-known comedians.

The anthology opens with Date Night by Rufus Hound. The timeline confused/lost me several times, leading me to think I didn't quite understand the story. Starring role goes to a little broken chair. Actually, I'm mentioning the story because of the chair.

Carnival by Alice Lowe (who I think is an utter genius* - watch Sightseers and Prevenge) was by far my favourite story. The fat purple-haired shopkeeper was reading Bella really slowly and clutching a Lucozade, unmoving. Like a melting Madame Tussaud's. A gripping and rich story about a small-town girl who wants to be nothing more than the Carnival Queen in Squalid-town.

Other stories I enjoyed included, the disturbing Under my Skin by Isy Suttie, a story of domestic violence. The haunting A Ghost Story by Josie Long, in which your ghost is brought back by your music being played. I'd hate to be Frank Sinatra in this scenario. The dark and twisted Harry by John Robertson, my 2nd favourite story in the anthology. A son is born, only he many not be altogether human. Twisted, funny and very wrong. Finally I really enjoyed The Basement Conversion by Natalie Haynes, a tale of a love-less marriage and of revenge.

This anthology is well worth your time.

*Despite loving Alice Lowe's stuff, I didn't read the final story in the anthology, also by her, called Paedo. I just couldn't take myself there. My bad.

Ghosts

Happy to announce that my short story Ghosts of Cathedral Towers has been accepted by Graeme Hurry at KZine for a future issue - at this moment we are looking at January 2021.

First acceptance of the year.

Read 2020 - 18 - From Hell to Eternity by Thana Niveau

We edged closer brandishing our candy canes like crucifixes before a vampire.

Oh, what a find.

I stole this book from the Bestwick's study to add to my to-read-pile. I found it while trying to hunt for Octoberland, another of Thana's collections. It's signed to my Bestwick, and, I suspect, he picked it up at Fantasycon 2012 in Brighton. That was my first convention, and also our first together as a couple.

Anyway, onto this marvellous book, which was published by the now defunct Gray Friar Press.

The opening story, The Curtain, is an excellent and terrifying tale about a dive, corpses, and of fish with an ulterior motive. (note: I would have chanced the wine). The second story in the collection is The Coal-Man, a story of childhood trauma, illness and guilt. There is no escaping the darkness in this compelling and heart-wrenching story.

Antlers and The Cutting Room Floor went to very dark and very disturbing places. The ending to Antlers is brilliant, but horrific. Very horrific. Ultrasound Shadow features a nightmarish pregnancy, while The Death of Dreams is almost a companion piece to Ultrasound Shadow. The Death of Dreams is a cautionary tale about the vile British tabloids.

The Scouring is a devastating story about a young boy's fascination with the Uffington White Horse, while also dealing with the weight of grief.

As someone so easily put off food (honest)perhaps I shouldn't have read Bruised Fruit. I may never eat again. (n.b. I already have). Elena's food is contaminated and worms are living inside her. Fabulous story but definitely icky. In Stolen Time a model can't remember the previous days shoot, and so on and so on. Finally in the title story, From Hell to Eternity, we have a modern day Jack the Ripper offering a deliciously gruesome end to the story.

Normally I'll pick one or two favourites from a collection or anthology, but there were just so many excellent stories here. If you can find a copy second hand or if it's reprinted, then definitely pick up a copy.

Read 2020 - 17 - Interzone #274

Another weekend and another Interzone. Dom is obsessed with this magazine. I'm beginning to despair that he'll ever pick a Black Static for me to read. I read issue 274 curled up in my chair by the window and accompanied by several stole cans of Pepsi Max (they're the Bestwick's). I love a lazy Sunday. I should have been hanging pictures in our newly-decorated bedroom and attaching the new headboard, but they'll wait for a not-so-lazy weekend.

My favourite story this issue was Michael Reid's Never the Twain. A beautiful sad, sad story about living two lives, and about dying in one of them. My glasses got a little bit misty. I lie there, listening to the sobbing, feeling like a monster because I can't stop dying.

Read 2020 - 16 - The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

I'd heard Paul Tremblay was good.

I'd heard Paul Tremblay was very good.

Those people did not lie. The Cabin at the End of the World is gripping and heart-wrenching, real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Maybe under different circumstances the four strangers might've sounded like a strong breeze rustling through the forest.

Little Wen lives with her adopted parents, Eric and Andrew. They are holidaying in a lonely, but beautiful place. A perfect, loving family. Wen is playing in the field outside the cabin when four strangers appear. They're carrying home-made weapons, long and lethal (and in my head rusty). As this is an apocalyptic tale, I thought perhaps they were the four horsemen/women of the apocalypse, and maybe they are, then again, maybe they're not.

This is a tale of sacrifice, whether chosen or not.

* This book hadn't lingered on the to-read-shelf for too long. The Bestwick picked them up just after Edge-Lit in 2018 (I know that sounds a long time ago), where Paul Tremblay was a guest of honour. It only hit my shelf though at the end of 2019. That's my excuse. Is that an excuse?  I'm so far behind the times, I still wear flares.