Cate Gardner's Blog, page 7

Read 2020 - 15 - Down Among The Dead Men

No.

Never believe an obese person who tells you they are big-boned: inside Mr P was a small man trying not to suffocate.

Fuck you.

...regular table by the window so we could watch the sights walking by... Madd and I were smartly dressed in work clothes so we felt entitled to criticize.

And fuck you some more.

The above are only a couple of instances of crap in this book, which, not surprisingly, I did not finish. I pass my books on to either my husband, a friend or the charity shop, this one I headed outside to put in the wheelie bin.

Go look up Caitlin Doughty (Ask a Mortician) on You Tube instead. I have two of Caitlin's books on my to-read-shelf.

Read 2020 - 14 - Interzone #276

Another issue of Interzone - at this rate I'll be done with my back supply in no time. Although, I will have to insist that Dom picks a back issue of Black Static soon. As this issue dates from July 2018, it's obvious how long it has sat collecting dust. In fact, there was enough to create a dust bunny (no photos as it ran away with dust carrot).

This issue starts with an excellent editorial from Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, who also has a story in the magazine. My favourites this issue were:

Superbright by Ryan Row
...the pale desert of her chest dotted with moles like negative stars.
There are so many quotable lines in this story of superheroes, villains and a mother and son relationship. Excellent, inventive and a little bit beautiful.

PQ by James Warner
This intriguing story of an ant collective (colony) could easily sit in the pages of Black Static. A researcher discovers a new species of ant who make art from certain found items.

So Easy by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
I counted the constellations of misshapen black moles across his body.
I appear to be drawn to the darker stories in this issue. This is an apocalyptic coming-of-age story.

Eyes by Paul Crenshaw
A beautiful story about seeing the world through other people's eyes.

I read this issue while decorating our bedroom. It proved good, relaxing company - well, maybe not so relaxed with the ants or the apocalypse, little things like that.

Read 2020 - 13 - A Miscellany of Death & Folly

My story The Bone-Cage Blues is the opening tale in this anthology, A Miscellany of Death & Folly, edited by Mark Beech and published by Egaeus Press. I was ecstatic when Dom (my number generator) picked this book to read. It's a beautiful looking book, and as only 300 copies were printed it is a must for collectors. Inside there are stories, essays, poetry and artwork.

Glorious, glorious, glorious.

My favourite of all the tales was Kaaron Warren's Anodyne Solutions, an extraordinary tale about death omens and the girl who must neutralise them. So beautifully written. If she were a crueller woman she'd take them apple blossom, and yew, and mother-die, and parsley; all the plants that might bring them death, just to see their faces.

Other favourites include:

Angela Slatter's The Promise of Saints, featuring a bejewelled ancient saint and a bride with an ending to reveal all. The Hallowed Girl, it's said, was once a bride herself.

A sad wee tale Darkness by Ismael Espinosa set in the Paris catacombs.

The Greatest Folly by Leena Likitalo. Death learns about dying and grief courtesy of his not-so-pale horse. It follows the four horsemen/women over millennia.

I am so proud to be a part of this book - and I don't care if it's a deadly sin.

Read 2020 - 12 - Still Bleeding

The title of this book, Still Bleeding by Steve Mosby, could also refer to my current peri-menopausal state - and there goes my readership - wait, am I assuming I have one? This is another book that made it's way to my to-read-pile courtesy of The Bestwick (he's a big Steve Mosby fan). I'd tried to read Still Bleeding once before, but the opening subject matter about a wife feeling worthless and then committing suicide, felt a little too raw for me. Although, not suicidal, I was not in a good place mentally.

Eventually, on this second instance having made it past that first part, I enjoyed the book. A crime thriller with some twisty turns and plenty of thorns. Here are some of Steve's words from that first part:

I was oblivious to the fact the world had quietly shattered without my noticing.

side note: I noticed when my world shattered
another lighter-hearted note: reading about maggots when eating a tuna sandwich, or any sort of sandwich, does not aid digestion.

Read 2020 - 11 - Interzone #279

It seems that Dom, my number generator, is keen on my reading TTA titles. This is the second Interzone he's chosen this year (along with a Crimewave).

Favourite stories in this issue were: The Backstitched Heart of Katharine Wright by Alison Wilgus, a time-twisty tale of family love, sacrifice, the Wright brothers and their sister. The Buddhafield is not your Buddafield by William Squirrell, another tale of sacrifice, this time set in the farthest reaches of space. Terminalia by Sean McMullen has a nod to the Wright brothers in this story that offers shades of next-generation Flatliners.

*
Not eating Quavers (see previous post) (actually don't bother).

Read 2020 - 10 - Harlan Coben and Words

Feels like I'm flying-along with my reading this year. Then 10th book/magazine/read removed from my shelf is Harlan Coben's Seconds Away. Harlan Coben is one of my favourite authors - in fact, I believe I say so on my bio page. Despite that, I haven't read one of his books in about four or five years.

I don't know what happened either.

Seconds Away sat on my shelf for about five years and survived one house move. It's a Micky Bolitar mystery, which means its YA. Although it's the second in the series, you don't need to have read the first to catch up with events. It's a little-bit of a lighter read than the Myron Bolitar books - which I love, love, love - but definitely worth a read.

*On the writing front, I've been a little lost. I've had one rejection for a story that was sent to a different magazine than the one the editor rejected it for - sigh! I started one novel (that I've been making notes for since November), then decided I hated it* (I can be very melodramatic), declared I've been fooling myself for forever (seriously, melodramatic), then started something else. Apparently, I never learn.  *I will go back to it Currently eating Quavers.

Read 2020 - 9 - Crimewave

I bought CRIMEWAVE 12: HURTS from Roy Gray (at the TTA Press table) at a convention - I think it was Edge Lit, year unknown. It's definitely lingered on the to-read-shelf for a handful of years. Crimewave is a sister publication to Black Static and Interzone, but published infrequently.

Favourite stories this issue were Melanie Tem's Singularity, a gentle tale of vicious things. Joel Lane's excellent By Night He Could Not See, a story about the past coming back to haunt. The unnerving Unfinished Business by Christopher Priest,where a naked man watches and a debt is to be paid. For me, the best of this issue was Anthony Mann's The Simpson Frames a humorous tale and a quirky, disturbing character that I would love to read more about.

Somewhere in the dark depths of the Bestwick's study lurks Crimewave 13.

Read 2020 - 8 - The Matrix by Jonathan Aycliffe

Back in the 1990s (last century - mega old), I loved Jonathan Aycliffe's fiction. Mum loved his stories too. I think I read this book back then, but my mind is a sieve and things are always getting lost.

I don't normally re-read books (at least not in adulthood), but this was signed to me by the man himself.  One of the highlights of the World Fantasy Convention 2013, in Brighton, was getting to meet Jonathan Aycliffe, a lovely man who almost seemed to have stepped from another world. WFC wasn't my favourite con - too big and I felt lost half the time - but I'm glad I went, if only to meet Mr Aycliffe. It's shameful to say this book has been on my to-read-shelf since then, and underwent two house moves.

This one won't be going to the charity shop.

A side note: In 1998 one of my short stories appeared alongside a Jonathan Aycliffe story in the anthology Oktobyr '98 edited by my now-husband.

Read 2020 - 7 - We All Hear Stories in the Dark #25

Onto my seventh read of 2020.

In April, PS Publishing will be publishing Rob Shearman's 101 stories book We All Hear Stories in the Dark. For last year's Fantasycon, PS produced mini-chapbooks for five of the stories - beautiful wee editions, which I thought I'd missed out on. I wasn't at Fantasycon - woe is my tale. However, PS had some left over (how is this even possible?) and so I was lucky enough to pick up a set just after the convention. When random number generator (going to have to give him a name)... When Dom picked one of the chapbooks as my next read, I was delighted.

Delighted.

And it was delightful.

#25 - Petty Vengeance

Beautifully illustrated, this tale of a writing teacher and a critic, of revenge, grew gradually more and more disturbing, as is often the way with Rob's fiction. Highly recommended.

A delightful five stars.

*
You may note that number six is missing. Can't she count? I hear you declare. Well, not always, but in this instance it's because I only read half of the book. I suspect there will be several unfinished books this year - there often are.

Read 2002 - 5 - Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries

I bought Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries by Stephen Klimczuk and Gerald Warner, after reading a review in an old issue of Fortean Times last October. Another one that didn't linger on the to-read-shelf for too long. It's almost as if the number generator is as determined as I seem to have been to keep certain books on my shelf forever.

This non-fiction book is very good. but it didn't always work for me. The early chapters are full of mentions of Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', so much so that I was beginning to think the authors were only mentioning places that appeared in the novel. Thankfully, about half-way through the book we got a reprieve.

Places that stood out (for me) were Wewelsburg Castle, which was a Nazi base during WWII and became known as one of the most evil places on earth, thanks to Himmler and SS activities there during the war. Chapter 6, which covered grottos and grotesques was interesting, and I enjoyed reading about Nicholas Owen, a Jesuit carpenter, who built many ingenious priest holes during the period pre the gunpowder plot. Mount Weather in Virginia is an interesting underground facility with a proxy US government. Svalbad, which is Norway's Arctic Eden, and something which would be of interest to the Morbid Mortician (who's books the number generator will hopefully pick soon) Oliver Cromwell's Head. Cromwell's Head.

If you have an interest in the Knight's Templars and the Masons, then the early chapters may be of more interest to you.