Books for the TBR Pile... 'Oh, the horror...' Edition

 Hi all, how's it going? Slightly misleading film blurb to one side, see my thoughts on 'VFW', I'm having a pretty good one as it happens. Next week feels pretty ominous (mid-year review, at work, for one thing...) but right now, it's Sunday and all of that stuff can wait for a bit. I've got the kids today and my eldest wants to me to play 'Miitopia' on her DS; I'll give it a shot but I think she's going to be really disappointed... I'm more of a 'Mario Kart' guy myself... Whatever happens, it will be a good one :o)

It won't leave me with a lot of time for reading or blogging though, hence the 'books' post at a silly time of the night. Not many books this week (I'm trying to be a little cleverer about my money, payday is a long way off...) but the quality should more than make up for the lack of quantity ;o) Over the last couple of weeks, I've come to realise that I've been focusing on older horror books at the expense of what is new right now. Then, I came to realise that I had no idea what was new in horror right now (outside of any new Brian Keene works and anything that Brian Keene recommends on Twitter). I had to do something about that so one tweeted question later, I had more recommendations than I knew what to do with. Thanks everyone, by the way :o) I couldn't buy all of the recommendations (I will get round to them, might take me a bit of time though...) so here are the ones that arrived at mine, over the last few days...

Because honestly, what better way to check out new horror (and broaden my horizons) than to get a copy of the latest horror anthology from Ellen Datlow? Nope, I can't think of a better way either. You've already seen my review of Stephen Graham Jones' 'This was always going to happen' (if you haven't, that's what the link is for); I'm hoping to review the rest of the book in its entirety but lets see how work treats me over the next couple of weeks and if I get a chance to really settle down and read this one. I'll get back to you ;o)

'The Only Good Indians' was the recommendation that came up the most (or felt like it did, either way...) so I pretty much had to get it. 'Book Twitter' knows what it's talking about so I had to really. I made a start on it yesterday morning and it is very easy to get into and just keep reading. Nothing else is really grabbing me at the moment so don't be surprised to see 'The Only Good Indians' reviewed soon.

Having been out of the loop for a long time, I'd never heard of T. Kingfisher (who is actually Hugo Award winning Ursula Vernon, thanks Google) so thought I'd follow that recommendation, ending in a choice between 'The Twisted Ones' and 'Hollow Places'. 'Hollow Places' won because I'm a sucker for intriguing cover art and the blurb... Check out the blurb,

Recently divorced and staring down the barrel of moving back in with her parents, Carrot really needs a break. And a place to live. So when her Uncle Earl, owner of the eclectic Wonder Museum, asks her to stay with him in exchange for cataloguing the exhibits, of course she says yes.

The Wonder Museum is packed with taxidermy, shrunken heads, and an assortment of Mystery Junk. For Carrot, it s not creepy at all: she grew up with it. What s creepy is the hole that s been knocked in one of the museum walls, and the corridor behind it. There s just no space for a corridor in the museum s thin walls or the concrete bunker at the end of it, or the strange islands beyond the bunker s doors, or the whispering, unseen things lurking in the willow trees.

Carrot has stumbled into a strange and horrifying world, and They are watching her. Strewn among the islands are the remains of Their meals and Their experiments. And even if she manages to make it back home again, she can t stop calling Them after her.


Looks good, doesn't it? Once I've read 'The Only Good Indians', 'The Twisted Ones' will be next.


So, that's the books for this week, we'll see what the next week brings... How about you? What have you bought to make Lockdown a little more bearable? I'm talking books, of course, but if you've bought anything else that's cool, feel free to tell me here... ;o)

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