Hello!
I was looking through my icons for something appropriate for this post and then saw that great shot of Bruce and just... THE NOSE, PEOPLE. *fans self*
Aaaaaanyway. My August got off to a less than smashing start. First, I had severe.. let's call it "gastrointestinal distress" to be polite.. that lasted on and off (mostly on) for close to two weeks. So of course this left me totally drained (literally) and I haven't done a lick of writing. ALSO my work is getting a brand new software system and have decided that they want an August 21st start date despite the fact that literally *everything* has to be inputted into the new system and what's the goldanged rush. I've been doing a lot of data entry on my shifts and training for everyone starts next week.
And then. My coworker dropped her bottle of water on my desk, which hit my glass of Pepsi, which spilled everywhere including on my phone and kindle. The phone only got spattered but the kindle was DRENCHED. I've taken it apart, dried it out, and it kinda-sorta works... only two of the four page-turner-buttons work and it seems to only hold a charge for about 8 hours. So yeah, a new kindle is in my future.
I am hopeful that August got all the crappy stuff out of the way and now I can finally get my month started. *crosses fingers*
Also. I have read books.
47. In The Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill
Two siblings on a road trip detour into the overgrown grass at the side of the road when they hear a young boy crying for help.
I went into this novella by King and his son with high hopes. I adore the novel that King wrote with his other son, Owen King, and it certainly seems that working with his boys brings out the best in all of them. At only 62 pages, though, it would have to hit the ground running.
And I felt it faltered. The relationship between the siblings and their parents reaction to it seemed clichéd and a little creepy (in a borderline-incestous way, not in a there may be a monster in the closet way.) The reason for the road trip was dated - maybe something that happened when King was young, but something I find a hard time imagining happening now. The siblings struggles in the grass felt repetitive.
AND THEN. Something happens. Something that I will not tell you. Something that is more implied than really seen, but it is so viscerally horrifying that it hung around in my brain for days and days.
So I mean. Do I recommend this to horror fans? Yes… and also NO. lol
4/5 stars
Meets the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge 24 - takes place in a single day
Does not meet the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge
62 pages
48. Fall of Night by Jonathan Maberry
This sequel to Dead of Night takes up immediately where the previous novel ended, with our heroes trapped in a school surrounded by the undead.
Zombies surround the middle school that's been designated the safe zone during times of emergency, and the government has promised reporter Billy Trout and cop Dez Fox that they'll keep up a perimeter and airdrop them food until the crisis has been resolved. But this IS the government we're talking about, and if anyone knows how to fuck things up beyond repair it's the bureaucracy - and the politicians who are thinking more about next year's reelection and how to spin the story to the masses. So of course things go south. Luckily there is one person in the White House who is thinking clearly, and he sends in an elite team to breach the school - and to get the files Billy is holding about the construction of the disease that started the whole thing. Meanwhile, 'patient zero' Homer Gibbon has taken Billy's co-worker Goat hostage and has his own agenda.
The writing is fast-paced, the situations realistic for this type of novel and Maberry does a great job of keeping all the many moving pieces clear to the reader. I'm not usually a big fan of knowing the reason behind the virus, but in this case I found it fascinating following the spread of the pathegon first throughout the country and then the world. There's also at least two "YES!" fist-pump moments, a few cheesy interludes, a couple over-the-top Dez breakdowns, and overall a feeling of satisfaction at novel's end.
4/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge
Meets the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge 28 - related to something cold
416 pages
49. Dark of Night by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin
Third book in the series about a zombie apocalypse that begins in rural Stebbins County, PA.
Things have gone from bad to worse in the months after the escape from Stebbins. The US government dropped nuclear bombs on its own soil, which only killed some survivors, created radiated zombies, and resulted in EMPs. Dez and her bus of school kids have been separated from the others, and are trapped on the side of the road. This novel brings in Joe Ledger (and his freakin' awesome dog, Baskerville) - a character from another of Maberry's novel series - who teams up with Dez and another new character, a cosplayer named Rachael Elle.
Generally speaking, the novel bounces along nicely as the trio do their best to defeat zombies and the Nu Klux Klan, who are exactly as loathsome as the name suggests. According to the notes in the book, Lavin was a participant in a student writing program hosted by Maberry. Her lack of experience shows, as her sections of the book are quite simplistic both in writing style and in plotting. The constant play-by-play descriptions of the fights and Rachael's annoying habit of calling the zombies 'orcs' and the over-the-top earnestness of the character - ugh to all of it. Joe and Dez's sections help to make up for it, but there are also a lot of grammatical and typographical errors that really stood out. Not sure how they made it to print.
3/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar/Goodreads Reading Challenges
422 pages
50. Still of Night by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin
Final book in the zombies series that started with Dead of Night.
A series of three short stories and a novella that attempt to tie together various characters in Maberry's novels. The main problem here is that some of the things mentioned contradict what has happened in previous novels - as well as what has happened a few dozen pages back in the current story. Ledger is still awesome, but Lavin continues to overwrite her fight scenes. There are the same typographical and grammatical errors as the previous book in the series. And it is clear when reading one of the novellas - "Fat Girl with a Knife" - that the author has never been a. fat or b. female.
Sorry, this one is a let-down.
2.5/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge
Meets the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge 26 - something blue (cover)
339 pages
51. Rage Against The Night by various authors, edited by Shane J. Cummings
An anthology of short stories with the theme of "triumph, sacrifice and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil."
I picked this up because a. it was free with my kindle unlimited membership and b. who doesn't love a bunch of horror stories? Like most anthologies it had a mix of good and bad. The most interesting thing I found was how many of the stories really didn't mesh with that overriding theme of 'good triumphing over evil'. (Not that good had to win straight out, but in some of these stories good didn't even win a battle never mind a war.) Also interesting to me was discovering just how much more I enjoyed the evil-wins stories over the good-guy-triumphs ones.
My favourites:
The View From The Top by Bev Vincent is about a teenage boy who regrets not asking his crush to the fair. He wins a telescope and rides to the top of the ferris wheel to see if he can spy into the house of the girl, only to discover that the telescope shows him all kinds of nasty things going on in the homes of his town. It's never clear whether these evils are truly happening or if the telescope is just plain evil, but you can better the teenage boy is going to do something about what he sees regardless.
Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway by Gary A. Braunbeck was my favourite in the good-triumphs category. It's about a man whose job is to collect the last belongings of the dead whose ghosts are waiting to make a choice on what item they will take with them to the afterlife. He's struggling with loss and depression until one ghost makes a difference.
Dat Tay Vao by F. Paul Wilson is a gleeful little story about a greedy GI who wants to exploit the healing powers of an elderly Vietnamese man by bringing him to the United States. Things don't work out exactly as he planned.
And lastly, Dead Air by Gary Kemble is just old fashioned fun with some zombies on a plane!
Books Read: 51/80
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 39/52
Popsugar Reading Challenge: 29/40
Total Pages Read: 18,314
Hope everyone is well!
.
Aaaaaanyway. My August got off to a less than smashing start. First, I had severe.. let's call it "gastrointestinal distress" to be polite.. that lasted on and off (mostly on) for close to two weeks. So of course this left me totally drained (literally) and I haven't done a lick of writing. ALSO my work is getting a brand new software system and have decided that they want an August 21st start date despite the fact that literally *everything* has to be inputted into the new system and what's the goldanged rush. I've been doing a lot of data entry on my shifts and training for everyone starts next week.
And then. My coworker dropped her bottle of water on my desk, which hit my glass of Pepsi, which spilled everywhere including on my phone and kindle. The phone only got spattered but the kindle was DRENCHED. I've taken it apart, dried it out, and it kinda-sorta works... only two of the four page-turner-buttons work and it seems to only hold a charge for about 8 hours. So yeah, a new kindle is in my future.
I am hopeful that August got all the crappy stuff out of the way and now I can finally get my month started. *crosses fingers*
Also. I have read books.
47. In The Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill
Two siblings on a road trip detour into the overgrown grass at the side of the road when they hear a young boy crying for help.
I went into this novella by King and his son with high hopes. I adore the novel that King wrote with his other son, Owen King, and it certainly seems that working with his boys brings out the best in all of them. At only 62 pages, though, it would have to hit the ground running.
And I felt it faltered. The relationship between the siblings and their parents reaction to it seemed clichéd and a little creepy (in a borderline-incestous way, not in a there may be a monster in the closet way.) The reason for the road trip was dated - maybe something that happened when King was young, but something I find a hard time imagining happening now. The siblings struggles in the grass felt repetitive.
AND THEN. Something happens. Something that I will not tell you. Something that is more implied than really seen, but it is so viscerally horrifying that it hung around in my brain for days and days.
So I mean. Do I recommend this to horror fans? Yes… and also NO. lol
4/5 stars
Meets the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge 24 - takes place in a single day
Does not meet the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge
62 pages
48. Fall of Night by Jonathan Maberry
This sequel to Dead of Night takes up immediately where the previous novel ended, with our heroes trapped in a school surrounded by the undead.
Zombies surround the middle school that's been designated the safe zone during times of emergency, and the government has promised reporter Billy Trout and cop Dez Fox that they'll keep up a perimeter and airdrop them food until the crisis has been resolved. But this IS the government we're talking about, and if anyone knows how to fuck things up beyond repair it's the bureaucracy - and the politicians who are thinking more about next year's reelection and how to spin the story to the masses. So of course things go south. Luckily there is one person in the White House who is thinking clearly, and he sends in an elite team to breach the school - and to get the files Billy is holding about the construction of the disease that started the whole thing. Meanwhile, 'patient zero' Homer Gibbon has taken Billy's co-worker Goat hostage and has his own agenda.
The writing is fast-paced, the situations realistic for this type of novel and Maberry does a great job of keeping all the many moving pieces clear to the reader. I'm not usually a big fan of knowing the reason behind the virus, but in this case I found it fascinating following the spread of the pathegon first throughout the country and then the world. There's also at least two "YES!" fist-pump moments, a few cheesy interludes, a couple over-the-top Dez breakdowns, and overall a feeling of satisfaction at novel's end.
4/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge
Meets the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge 28 - related to something cold
416 pages
49. Dark of Night by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin
Third book in the series about a zombie apocalypse that begins in rural Stebbins County, PA.
Things have gone from bad to worse in the months after the escape from Stebbins. The US government dropped nuclear bombs on its own soil, which only killed some survivors, created radiated zombies, and resulted in EMPs. Dez and her bus of school kids have been separated from the others, and are trapped on the side of the road. This novel brings in Joe Ledger (and his freakin' awesome dog, Baskerville) - a character from another of Maberry's novel series - who teams up with Dez and another new character, a cosplayer named Rachael Elle.
Generally speaking, the novel bounces along nicely as the trio do their best to defeat zombies and the Nu Klux Klan, who are exactly as loathsome as the name suggests. According to the notes in the book, Lavin was a participant in a student writing program hosted by Maberry. Her lack of experience shows, as her sections of the book are quite simplistic both in writing style and in plotting. The constant play-by-play descriptions of the fights and Rachael's annoying habit of calling the zombies 'orcs' and the over-the-top earnestness of the character - ugh to all of it. Joe and Dez's sections help to make up for it, but there are also a lot of grammatical and typographical errors that really stood out. Not sure how they made it to print.
3/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar/Goodreads Reading Challenges
422 pages
50. Still of Night by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin
Final book in the zombies series that started with Dead of Night.
A series of three short stories and a novella that attempt to tie together various characters in Maberry's novels. The main problem here is that some of the things mentioned contradict what has happened in previous novels - as well as what has happened a few dozen pages back in the current story. Ledger is still awesome, but Lavin continues to overwrite her fight scenes. There are the same typographical and grammatical errors as the previous book in the series. And it is clear when reading one of the novellas - "Fat Girl with a Knife" - that the author has never been a. fat or b. female.
Sorry, this one is a let-down.
2.5/5 stars
Does not meet the criteria for Popsugar Reading Challenge
Meets the criteria for Goodreads Reading Challenge 26 - something blue (cover)
339 pages
51. Rage Against The Night by various authors, edited by Shane J. Cummings
An anthology of short stories with the theme of "triumph, sacrifice and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil."
I picked this up because a. it was free with my kindle unlimited membership and b. who doesn't love a bunch of horror stories? Like most anthologies it had a mix of good and bad. The most interesting thing I found was how many of the stories really didn't mesh with that overriding theme of 'good triumphing over evil'. (Not that good had to win straight out, but in some of these stories good didn't even win a battle never mind a war.) Also interesting to me was discovering just how much more I enjoyed the evil-wins stories over the good-guy-triumphs ones.
My favourites:
The View From The Top by Bev Vincent is about a teenage boy who regrets not asking his crush to the fair. He wins a telescope and rides to the top of the ferris wheel to see if he can spy into the house of the girl, only to discover that the telescope shows him all kinds of nasty things going on in the homes of his town. It's never clear whether these evils are truly happening or if the telescope is just plain evil, but you can better the teenage boy is going to do something about what he sees regardless.
Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway by Gary A. Braunbeck was my favourite in the good-triumphs category. It's about a man whose job is to collect the last belongings of the dead whose ghosts are waiting to make a choice on what item they will take with them to the afterlife. He's struggling with loss and depression until one ghost makes a difference.
Dat Tay Vao by F. Paul Wilson is a gleeful little story about a greedy GI who wants to exploit the healing powers of an elderly Vietnamese man by bringing him to the United States. Things don't work out exactly as he planned.
And lastly, Dead Air by Gary Kemble is just old fashioned fun with some zombies on a plane!
Books Read: 51/80
Goodreads Reading Challenge: 39/52
Popsugar Reading Challenge: 29/40
Total Pages Read: 18,314
Hope everyone is well!
.