Blogtober Day 3: Favorite Autumn Films

Unsurprisingly, reading is not the only hobby I have. It's one of my favorites, but I also enjoy a good movie every now and then. Someday, I'm going to write an in-depth post about my thoughts on good vs. bad adaptations of novels into films.

Today however, I've decided to talk about some films I watch every fall, or almost every fall. Most of these are Halloween movies, but others put me in a generic fall mood. They aren't explicitly related to Halloween, but watching them puts me in a "must be autumn, let's go watch the leaves change" state of mind.



Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I could put the entire film series on this list, but of all eight movies, it's the first one that gives me that fall feeling the most. I don't really know why, but Sorcerer's Stone always strikes me as the most Halloween-y. This is probably because the first film, like the first novel, focuses more on the world itself than the overarching story about Harry defeating Voldemort. We get to see fall at Hogwarts and Halloween and other aspects that got overlooked or brushed over in later films.



The Nightmare Before Christmas

I feel like this one, and the next one, aren't much of a shock. This movie is weird and wonderful and I love it. Halloween isn't Halloween if I haven't watched it.



Hocus Pocus

Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory. I've loved this movie ever since I was a kid and I watch it every year.

      

The Addams Family and Addams Family Values

I just love both of these films so much. The kookiness of the Addamses always makes me laugh and I love the dynamic between all of the family members. And yes, I am totally going to see the new film when it comes out.



Fantastic Mr. Fox

While the story itself isn't explicitly about fall or Halloween, the color palette used is heavy on oranges and yellows, giving it a fall feel. It's a film with a very charming and endearing story. It might look like a strange choice at first, but I'd recommend it to everyone.



Practical Magic

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as sister witches living in a small, close-minded town and dealing with a curse that prevents them from ever finding love? That's enough to get me on board. I love this movie so much.

Those are some of my favorite fall movies to watch, what are yours?

Blogtober Day 2: October Releases

Like any month, October has a lot of new books coming out. I've decided to share three that I'm very excited about. I know three books isn't a lot, but I tend to hear about books through word-of-mouth after their release, so I'm a little surprised I know of any books that are awaiting release. There's also the fact that so many books come out each month that there's no way I could keep up with them all. Still, I found a list of books coming out in October, and to avoid having a list that's too long, I selected the three that intrigue me the most and I'm going to try and get my hands on.




Rebel by Marie Lu. Genre: YA Sci-Fi. Release Date: October 1st

Eden Wing has been living in his brother’s shadow for years. Even though he’s a top student at his academy in Ross City, Antarctica, and a brilliant inventor, most people know him only as Daniel Wing’s little brother.

A decade ago, Daniel was known as Day, the boy from the streets who led a revolution that saved the Republic of America. But Day is no longer the same young man who was once a national hero. These days he’d rather hide out from the world and leave his past behind. All that matters to him now is keeping Eden safe—even if that also means giving up June, the great love of Daniel’s life.

As the two brothers struggle to accept who they’ve each become since their time in the Republic, a new danger creeps into the distance that’s grown between them. Eden soon finds himself drawn so far into Ross City’s dark side, even his legendary brother can’t save him. At least not on his own

Salvaged by Madeline Roux. Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller. Release Date: October 15th

Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, the bioengineering job she's come to hate, and her messed-up life. She's run all the way to outer space, where she's taken a position as a "space janitor," cleaning up ill-fated research expeditions. But no matter how far she goes, Rosalyn can't escape herself. After too many mistakes on the job, she's given one last chance: take care of salvaging the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark, with all crew aboard thought dead.

But the Brigantine's crew are very much alive--if not entirely human. Now Rosalyn is trapped on board, alone with a crew infected by a mysterious parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems to still maintain some control over himself and the crew, but he won't be able to keep fighting much longer. Rosalyn and Edison must find a way to stop the parasite's onslaught...or it may take over the entire human race.



A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig. Genre: YA Fantasy. Release date: October 8th

Jetta is a wanted criminal. The army wants her for treason against the crown, for the sabotage of Hell’s Court temple, and for the murder of General Legarde. They also want her for the power in her blood—the magic that captures wandering spirits to give life to puppets, to rocks, to paper . . . to weapons. They’re willing to trade the elixir that treats Jetta’s madness for the use of her blood. The rebels want her, too, to help them reclaim their country. Jetta may be the one who can tip the scales in this war.

But Jetta fears using her power will make her too much like Le Trepas, the terrifying and tyrannical necromancer who once held all Chakrana under his thumb—and who is Jetta’s biological father. She’s already raised her brother from the dead, after all. And scared off Leo, the only person who saw her as she truly is. With Le Trepas at large and a clash between the army and the rebels becoming inevitable, Jetta will have to decide if saving her country is worth sacrificing her soul.



Those are my top 3 October book releases, what are yours?

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Blogtober Day 1: Spooky TBR

Happy Blogtober Everyone!

October is (unsurprisingly) when I read the most scary stories. Even in years when I choose not to read horror novels specifically, it's still the month when I read more stories about ghosts and witches and goblins. It's unsurprising, then, that my TBR for this month consists mostly of horror stories and other Halloween-y type books. I also tend to read a lot more anthologies in October for some reason, so there are a few books on this list that are collections of short stories.



A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan. The description on Amazon is as follows:

"Brittany, 1821. After Grand-mère Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her.

Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practicing half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew.

The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden.

But when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever - not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history."

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2018 Edition edited by Paula Guran

This is an anthology of, as the name says, dark fantasy and horror. The 2019 edition won't be released until November, so I've been saving the 2018 one for this year. I like short scary stories, partly because of my love for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from when I was a kid and partly because I sometimes find fully length horror novels a little boring.

Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology by Waylon Piercy

At some point, everyone fears the dark, and the things that lurk within it! 
In these eight stories, people are forced to confront their personal horrors, and no one emerges unscathed. 
The little boy who is convinced that something sinister stalks him...
The weary soldier who runs afoul of a terrifying stranger...
The man whose vacation is disturbed in a most unwelcome fashion.... 
The former cop who finds himself caught up in the search for a missing child...
The young woman who finds herself trapped in a dark cellar following a tornado...
These people, and others, each embark on their own dark journeys within these pages. Join them, won't you? 



The Scarred God by Neil Beynon

Anya longs to follow in the fabled footsteps of her warrior grandmother. But when the forces of the corrupt Scarred God raid her village, she fears she doesn’t have the stomach to wield the cold steel. Captured, her only path of escape is to commit an unthinkable act of bloodshed…

Guilt-ridden over her first kill, Anya vows to rescue those still held for sacrificial slaughter. But before she can set the captives free, she must survive a bewitched forest by tying her fate to its shadowy guardian. To defeat the Scarred God, the unlikely pair seek a rival deity whose twisted motives could lead to the realm’s liberation… or its doom.

Can Anya unleash her inner hero before the vengeful gods destroy the world she loves?


I'm not sure if the last one really fits with the theme of the others, but the premise does intrigue me and I'm hoping to read it sometime this month.

Those are my TBRs for October. What are yours?

The Mechanoid Cries Within

The Mechanoid Cries Within is a 2019 science fiction novelette by Brock T.I. Penner. The cover art was done by Pete Linforth. It was independently published by the author on September 4, 2019. The Mechanoid Cries Within is available for free by signing up for the author’s newsletter. The plot synopsis is as follows:

"RJ-A4A, a sentient and once free mechanoid finds himself kidnapped and sold into slavery to a wrathful owner, Davis. Surrounded by a wasteland of razorsand and rednecks who would torture him with glad, he spends his days toiling on Davis’s farm. RJ develops a bond with Davis’s lonely son, Lucien and his human-appearing mechanoid caretaker, AN. Out of desperation, he concocts a plan to escape the farm, the planet and slavery itself. All it would take is to manipulate AN and the boy into doing what he wants."

I found the premise of the story very interesting when it was first brought to my attention. Robots, androids and cyborgs in science fiction are nothing new, but very rarely do we see sci-fi stories being told from the robot’s perspective. Usually, the perspective comes from either humans, or an alien race substituting for humans, and robots are either side characters, happy to serve humanity, or villains trying to end humanity. Very few stories show the robot’s perspective or depict a nuanced view of humanity from said robot. RJ doesn’t hate humanity, he doesn’t want to wipe humanity out or enslave them, he just wants to be free. He wants his freedom and for his intelligence to be acknowledged as more than just lines of computer code.

The Mechanoid Cries Within is a story with a lot of potential. The premise is interesting, the three core characters, RJ, AN and Lucien, are compelling. I also enjoyed the smaller-scale story being told. The setting is contained solely to Davis’s farm, the stakes are, by all accounts, very low but the conflict makes it feel bigger. While there’s a lot of potential, the execution is fairly average. I found it difficult to follow in some places, needing to go back and reread to understand what was going on. I think this issue comes from there not being a clear separation between past and present. The story is mostly framed as RJ being forced to retell the story of something that happened, which makes the transition back and forth a little jarring. I feel like there are elements that would work better if the story was a little bit longer and more fleshed out. The word count is roughly 9,500 words, which is a very low word count for a completed story.

The Mechanoid Cries Within is a story I’d recommend it to a science fiction fan, looking for something quick to read.

Rating: 3.4 stars

The Woman In Cabin 10

Source: Amazon

The Woman In Cabin 10 is a 2016 thriller written by Ruth Ware. It was published by Scout Press, a division Simon & Schuster. The novel was a New York Times Bestseller and was named one of the best mystery books of 2016 by The Washington Post.

The premise of the novel is as follows. Lo Blacklock, a journalist for a travel magazine, is given a long-awaited, potentially life-changing assignment. A week on a small luxury cruise vessel through Norway. At first, the trip seems like a dream come true, but as the week continues, Lo witnesses something terrifying: a woman being thrown overboard. The only problem is that all the passengers remain accounted for, and the ship continues on its journey as if nothing happened. Lo then tries desperately to convince someone, anyone, that something is amiss.

The story starts off slow at first. The book opens with Lo being the victim of a burglary, and around thirty pages are dedicated to her having that experience, getting her locks changed, replacing a few of the stolen items and feeling traumatized about a man breaking into her house. Since the robbery winds up being significant later, I understand having that be the opening of the story. However, I personally felt like the sections about her buying a new phone and getting her locks fixed weren’t needed. Those details had no real significance to the plot and felt like unneeded filler.

Eventually, though, Lo goes off on her cruise where the main plot begins. A successful businessman married to a wealthy philanthropist has decided to start his own, exclusive luxury cruiseline to see the Northern Lights. She, along with other journalists and a few investors, are invited on the maiden voyage in a bid to earn good publicity and raise interest in the experience. She has a brief, random encounter with the woman in the cabin next to hers, number 10. She doesn’t see the woman at dinner later, and when she hears a body being thrown overboard, assumes the worst. Soon after, she’s informed that the cabin next to her was empty and no one, guest or staff, is unaccounted for. The bulk of the novel consists of Lo trying to figure out what happened and prove that the cabin was occupied and the woman did go missing to anyone who’d listen.

The mystery did intrigue me at the beginning. Was the woman a stowaway? Did Lo see what she thought she saw? Was this part of some conspiracy? How could a body have been thrown overboard and no one be missing? Those questions all occurred to me as I read. I became even more curious as, bit by bit, all the evidence she has either goes missing or is destroyed. It begins to look like this whole thing is a big cover-up.

My curiosity was diminished once lo really starts investigating. Her “investigation” consists of talking to the staff, asking them the same basic questions and receiving the same answers. For some reason, she doesn’t think to talk to more than one or two other guests, and when she does talk to them, she tries to be sneaky about it and ends up not asking anything relevant or likely to get results. The whole investigation part is pretty boring and repetitive. I still wanted to know what happened, but the story dragged on during this part.

All of my suspense went away once she finds herself captive and at the mercy of someone responsible for the mystery. I stopped being anxious, and started getting confused. There was a death, but it wasn’t who she thought. There isn’t one person acting alone on the ship. The death being covered up really doesn’t need to be. The “bad guy’s” plan doesn’t really make sense once its all explained. Once she works out what happened, the rest of the novel consists of Lo trying to figure out a way to get away from her captor and somehow reveal what really happened. Of course, those attempts are somewhat thwarted by finding herself in an unfamiliar place and not knowing who can and can’t be trusted.

I can’t really go any further in this review without discussing Lo herself. Lo, or Laura, isn’t a likeable character. Even before she stumbles upon this mystery, she’s rude to people she’s never met before, even ruder to her own boyfriend and a little conceited. On top of that, she’s somewhat of an unreliable narrator. She suffers from anxiety, due to the burglary, and takes medication for another condition, Unfortunately, her mental state makes her unreliable, and its even remarked on in the story that her medication, combined with alcohol, could have side-effects, leading a character to dismiss her. Her behavior is wildly erratic as well, since she goes from being livid at her ex-boyfriend, who’s on the trip because the story needed more drama I guess, to apologizing to him for reacting sensibly to something he does to her.

To be honest, I found this book to be fairly average. It has exciting moments, interspersed with stretches where it drags on. As stated earlier, I found the emphasis on the burglary to be a bit excessive and unneeded. It also irked me that the argument made, by a crew member, that everything was fine and Lo hadn’t seen a murder, was that she was projecting about the burglary. Later, he brought up that she was on medication and she maybe saw or heard something that wasn’t there as a result of that. The trope of “Character has mental illness, is therefore crazy and not to be believed by other characters” is insulting and I hate having to read it.

Overall, it’s an okay book. The mystery had potential for an interesting reveal or twist, but instead it followed the same plot as other stories with a few details changed. I wanted to like it, but there were too many moments when I got annoyed at the story itself, rolled my eyes and pushed through to finish the book. There was a lot of potential here, and Ware has been clearly inspired by Agatha Christie’s novels, but the potential hasn’t been realized. It’s a good book if you need something to read on a flight or a train.

Rating: 2.3 stars