Maplecroft (Borden Dispatches #1) + Chapelwood (#2)[October 1, 2024]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Maplecroft and Chapelwood by Cherie Priest starting on October 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Thanks, Yanique... a bit warier of this re-read... I only rated Maplecroft 3 stars... I want to read Chapelwood, tho, and it'll be a first time read... and they're freebies on Audible Plus, so not costing me anything but a few hours of my time...

[RachelG.]

I plan to listen to Maplecroft today. I am currently finished with the first two chapters and I wish I had a bit more background. It must be coming but it kind of made me wonder if I missed something at the beginning. I didn't realize it was 2 narrators and I kind of like that aspect so far.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I dunno how much it expects you to know about Lizzie Borden and Cthulhu mythos before starting... I read this before about a decade ago...

[RachelG.]

I was expecting a traditional story format and am really enjoying how it's told from different points of view with epistolary entries (letters/journals). I think it brings a lot to the story and now I am glad I have the audio.

I don't think I have actually read any Lovecraft stories and perhaps it is time I do. I have a basic understanding of Cthulhu.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Well... actual Lovecraft is traditional horror from the turn of the century 1900s... and Lovecraft himself is a well-documented racist... and stories back then from men seem to lack good female characterization...

With that in mind, seeing where it all began might be interesting...

For the most part, tho, I enjoy exploring stories inspired by the Cthulhu mythos, more than going back and reading it directly...

[RachelG.]

Hmm, maybe I will stick to looking up Lovecraft monsters rather than reading.

I read a good review on The Gothic Library which said that the location is what really ties Lizzie Borden and Lovecraft together for this series. I guess I didn't realize where the Borden home is located in relation to water. It never even dawned on me.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Massachusetts... Northeast US is rife with spooky... back to the Salem Witch trials, which I've seen referenced as partial inspiration for Lovecraft setting...

[RachelG.]

I am just starting Chapelwood and it sure starts out with a great vivid image in the narrative by Leonard Kincaid. I can just picture the setting he is describing.

[Felina]

I’m starting this one now.

I’ve read the Cthulhu short story and that’s it by Lovecraft. I don’t get too bugged about authors being assholes especially if it was standard for their era but, quite frankly, he wasn’t a great writer generally. I think the writers who have taken from him have improved him greatly. He is the father of cosmic horror but his children have all outshined him IMO.

[Felina]

I’m about halfway and I’m not loving it. It’s pretty slow. I like the concept…sort of, but it’s taking a long ass time to get going. I think I did this book a disservice by reading it after Lovecraft & Carter which is its superior in every conceivable way.

[RachelG.]

I am still working on Chapelwood and it does feel like a much slower pace. I'm not sure that I enjoy the religious aspect in this story as much as the first and I don't think I would continue the series if more came out.

Has anyone read Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter? I happened upon the title looking at a book list and of course thought of our current series.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The name reminds me of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter & Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

[RachelG.]

I am at 80% in Chapelwood and now enjoying the story enough to see where it goes. I plan to finish tomorrow.

[Felina]

I’m dropping out on Maplecroft about half way. I am so behind on so many BR, doesn’t seem right to trudge on when I’m not enjoying it. It’s not bad, just the timing is bad. I may revisit it in the future though.

[RachelG.]

No problem Felina. There are so many other books I never feel bad when I decide to drop one or am not in the mood.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Jonathan Howard & Carter/Lovecraft + Johannes Cabal was the right choice :D

I started my re-read of Maplecroft this morning at work, and am honestly almost immediately turned off by the narrator choice for Lizzie... this is 1800s Massachusetts, not Louisiana... a quick google search at work showed I'd heard this narrator before doing Shelly Laurenston books, but I was 100% sure she'd also done Sookie Stackhouse, and confirmed it when I got home... this is definitely the right choice of narrator for THAT series, with the Bon Temps and Merlots and all that jazz...

I mostly wanted to re-read this and read Chapelwood out of morbid curiosity and because they were Audible Plus freebies... I'm sticking with it... not too far behind, if I binge multiple books on my days off like usual (Tuesday/Wednesday)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

When did I become the naive one?... I missed the memo that Lizzie & the other girl aren't sisters, they're "sisters"... (view spoiler)[unless there really is incest going on here and I just missed THAT memo instead... (hide spoiler)]

[RachelG.]

I thought that Emma was Lizzie's sister by birth and Nance was Lizzie's girlfriend when I was reading. Perhaps I missed something?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm clearly not paying close enough attention to Lizzie chapters... I'm paying much better attention to the doctor and correspondence chapters...

[Tonari no Emily]

Read Maplecroft the other day. I had ups and downs of enjoyment, the ideas were intriguing, I'm a sucker for (view spoiler)[ some kind of microbe infesting humans and becoming part of a "we" so I was really interested in the Doctor's chapters, but I feel like that plotline kind of fell flat. There was also threat of a leviathan in the ocean that never really appeared which was disappointing.
I did like how it was written via journal entries and correspondence though (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

RachelG. wrote: "I thought that Emma was Lizzie's sister by birth and Nance was Lizzie's girlfriend when I was reading. Perhaps I missed something?"

Yeah that's correct. No incest between Emma and Lizzie going on lol

[Felina]

The fact that this narrator did the Sookie books is probably a huge reason why I’m not liking this. I did get through most of the Sookie books mainly because I loved True Blood but my deep hatred for first person narratives where the narrator is female, is very apparent in this book even though it’s epistolary. I did much prefer the doctors voice until I gave up on the series altogether.

I’m actually shocked that my dislike for first person female narratives is so defined that it bothers me upon adjacency. I guess I need to really start paying attention to it. 🤔

[Felina]

Also, no shade, having lesbians in this time period is disjointed. I have zero issue with lesbians, but as this is a period piece, it just makes everything less believable. The thing with Lovecraftian horror that makes it so pungent is the horror within the ordinary.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

From what I understand, LGBT was a thing , but mostly hidden in theatre groups and burlesque

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Carnivals… lifelong live-in “friends”, etc… discrete…

[Tonari no Emily]

Yeah queer people definitely existed.. And I don't think Lizzie and Nance were in society about it, so we only know because of a first person POV.. Like the sister knew obviously, but Nance's visit was probably perceived as a friend visiting a friend.
There are also quite a few examples of queer people living together as "companions" in that time period too.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Exactly... if it just suddenly became a thing in the past decades/century, it would give more credence to the idea that it's not real or "curable"... when in general, it's more that it was more ostracizing and risky to admit to, so much more discrete...

[Felina]

I’m not saying they didn’t exist, it just felt more like people behaving as they do now in a time period where it would have played out much differently. It didn’t fit for me, that’s all. It felt shoe horned.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I honestly have no idea... Johanna Parker's narration is basically going in one ear and out the other...

My struggles left me deciding to read something easier at work today, since I knew I'd be pausing alot, and jumped over to InCryptid instead... finish Maplecroft later today or tomorrow...

[Tonari no Emily]

Was also not a fan of Johanna Parker's narration.

[Ann-Marie]

This was one I started and put aside last week, I I listened to the first few chapters and was like I have no clue what is happening. I ended up restarting when I picked it back up and I ended up enjoying it well enough. (view spoiler)[I thought it was an interesting take on the Lizzie Borden tale. I thought she was completely bad ass with that axe! I was disappointed the sisters became estranged but I agree that the whole Nance thing went on for too long, face reality that she is not only not savable but a threat to the safety of all, they lucked out that she retained enough of her humanity to leave before infecting/killing them all! (hide spoiler)]

As far as being LGBT in this time, there were absolutely queer people. The sisters were essentially societal outcasts and nothing was flaunted, Nance was a "friend" to the sisters staying with them and the author kept it very tame. If you want a taste of some same sex sexy times during this time period check out K.J. Charles <3

[Ann-Marie]

I was downloading the book I plan to start tomorrow on my old phone and Chapelwood is only available on Audible+ until 10/28 so get to reading it if you were planning on doing so!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "I was downloading the book I plan to start tomorrow on my old phone and Chapelwood is only available on Audible+ until 10/28 so get to reading it if you were planning on doing so!"

Thanks... I hate how little Audible highlights that stuff, generally... I used to be able to see when Audible Plus content would expire from my mobile device well in advance...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "This was one I started and put aside last week, I I listened to the first few chapters and was like I have no clue what is happening. I ended up restarting when I picked it back up and I ended up e..."

I took a leaf from your book, and restarted as well, despite reading half already... in a better place to pay attention today, after leaving it paused at 50% for a few days and reading other books at work instead...

Back to around 75%, and have a much better grasp on the story, this time around...

Looks like the gist is: (view spoiler)[

1) Lizzie Borden killed her parents, after they fell under the thrall of Cthulhu, or whatever eldritch entity is in the nearby ocean luring people...

2) The doctor covered for her... and is now seeing similar symptoms in a nearby boy...

3) Lizzie sent a sample of Cthulhu's crabby / octopoid minions to a professor, in a jar, under her E.A. James pseudonym... and the professor fell under thrall and went on a murder spree in the past year...

4) Events are all coming together now, with the doctor revealing Lizzie's pseudonym to a cop, and the professor seeking out Lizzie to kill/convert...

5) Lizzie's lesbian lover came to visit, and is falling under thrall, as well...

(hide spoiler)]

See?... much clearer, this time around... I think I covered everything of note, in a general sense...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "This was one I started and put aside last week, I I listened to the first few chapters and was like I have no clue what is happening. I ended up restarting when I picked it back u..."

One correction: (view spoiler)[Emma has the doctor alias not Lizzie but otherwise spot on :) (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Oh yea... I did note that... while listening... but not when typing, since I wanted to attribute everything to Lizzie as the notable historical character...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Overall it was alright, as I remembered/rated the first time around... not amazing, but not bad...

One of the Audible reviews calls Johanna's narration throbbing...

[Ann-Marie]

I agree, it was okay and that is fine, not everything is going to be awesome.

[Nirkatze]

Starting today! So, this is what I know about Lizzie Borden... The children's skip rope rhyme... morbid, as all are.
https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=...

[Nirkatze]

Read both Maplecroft and Chapelwood. They were interesting but not engaging. I wasn't bored, but neither was I overly concerned when I zoned out for a while... I think I would classify my interest as scientific, almost, in retrospect. Studying how the historical fiction and Lovecraftian elements interwove in epistolary format. Like Emily, I enjoyed the format--I thought it worked pretty well for the subject material, which isn't always the case. Like... it almost felt like reading original sources in history.

I'm lucky that I don't have the knee-jerk reaction to the narrator y'all seem to. (view spoiler)[LGBT in the time period also didn't bother me--maybe partially because of the diary format: letters and diaries were the place folks could be open about such things in those days, right? Oppressed in public, let it out in private...

I think I enjoyed the second book more than the first--though I also think I enjoyed the start more than the finish in each... the part of the book that was closer to the old newspaper events. I was pretty incensed at the young girl's plight through the trial--but afterwards I wasn't as interested. (hide spoiler)]

[RachelG.]

For some reason I am on my second mystery this week which talks about Lizzie Borden and they are totally unrelated. It's like once a well known name comes up you start seeing references everywhere! It's crazy and totally unexpected.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

RachelG. wrote: "For some reason I am on my second mystery this week which talks about Lizzie Borden and they are totally unrelated. It's like once a well known name comes up you start seeing references everywhere!..."

If you had a nickel ;)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm planning to get to this this week... I kind of have to, with the deadline, but it's also on my shortlist of things to start in the coming days as I finish previous books I start...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Time to read Chapelwood before it’s too late… starting now-ish…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Liking Chapelwood so far... altho Lizzie feels like more of a side character here... so far...

Interesting that they scrapped the narrators from book 1, and got different ones... wonder if this is an indie author thing, timing thing, or Cherie Priest agreed the narration of book 1 wasn't quite right...

I definitely like Lizzie's voice more here in #2, altho I thought at first that maybe the same narrator just had a very different old lady voice...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I also got a popup on Audibl 5-6hrs ago, saying the book would be leaving Audible Plus in 44-45hrs... not sure why that time specifically, but that means 38-39hrs remain...

[Nirkatze]

I got the sense that the series was more "choose a real historical murder trial (where the accused was judged not-guilty) and add weird cthulu culty stuff to it" rather than specifically Lizzie Borden...

[RachelG.]

There was something about Chapelwood that I didn't care for as much. Also, I noticed that the chapter order for the audio and book weren't the same which made it hard to do a combo so I ended up just doing the eye version.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

From the first 25% or so of Chapelwood I read so far, if this series has an MC, it's that cop that showed up and helped the Bordens at the end of Maplecroft, and sent a friend to Chapelwood...

Random Cop Guy and Friends Dispatches, is much less catchy tho :D