What to Read? … What to Read?

Thank you Amazon for the picture

“Only one thing is missing. The book comes to a neat conclusion, with all matters settled and all the characters safe. But you and I both know the story didn’t end. That it may never end.”

I went on a mystery, not any old mystery but an interactive mystery called Dracula’s Heir written by Sam Stall.

In 1897, Archibald Constable & Company published Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the most famous horror novel of all time. For reasons still widely debated by critics, the first chapter of Dracula was cut just weeks before publication. Here, it becomes the central clue in a spine-tingling interactive mystery.

Dracula’s Heir begins ten years after the horrific events described in the original novel. Jonathan and Mina Harker are happily married and enjoying life in Bixby, England. Meanwhile, their friend Dr. John Seward is tracking a string of crimes that seems eerily familiar: A 14-year-old girl sleepwalks out of her parents’ house and disappears into the night. Two “accident victims” are found drained of their blood, yet there is no crime-scene evidence to explain what happened.

As with The Crimes of Dr. Watson, Dracula’s Heir features an original novella plus several removable clues, including a private journal, a death certificate, a newspaper, and more. Once you’ve solved the mystery, you can open the final signature (sealed at the printer) to test your sleuthing skills.

All in all, this was a thrilling read for me, and it is reminiscent of Gothic mysteries in the style and manner in which it is written and presented. For all you mystery buffs this is one that you will want to try. I had a great time trying to figure out who did it. I know how good of a sleuth I am, so how good of a sleuth are you? There is only one way to find out. Get your copy and start sniffing out the truth.

Happy Reading

Sarah

Thank you Amazon for the picture

Looking for something new to read? Feel like getting a little spooked? Do you believe in ghosts or spirits? Try reading Ghost Radio written by Leopoldo Gout.

Ghost Radio is a terrifying novel about a ghost-story call-in radio show that inadvertently opens a doorway into the paranormal, giving voice to the dead and instigating an epic battle for the souls of the living
From the cramped bowels of a dimly lit radio station, Ghost Radio is beamed onto the airwaves. More than a call-in show to tell scary stories about vampires and poltergeists, Ghost Radio is a sanctuary for those sleepless denizens of the night, lost halfway between this world and the next.

Joaquin, the hip, melancholy host, sits deep in a fog of cigarette smoke, fielding calls from believers and detractors alike. He is joined in the booth by his darkly beautiful girlfriend, Alondra, and his engineer, Watts. Soon what began as an underground cult sensation is primed to break out to mainstream audiences. When a huge radio conglomerate offers to syndicate the show and Ghost Radio becomes a national hit with an expanding legion of hardcore fans, neither Joaquin, Alondra, nor Watts is remotely prepared for what is about to happen.

Though a charismatic host, Joaquin remains a skeptic even as he begins to notice a curious and troubling phenomenon—he feels himself drawn further and further into the terrifying stories he solicits on the radio. Slowly he loses control over his reality and finds himself unable to distinguish between the real world and the world populated by the nightmares on Ghost Radio. He is forced to confront his past and his own mortality in order to save that which is most precious to him and repair the crumbling wall between the living and the dead.

Gout has been compared to King (not bad for his first novel) is he just as good? I personally think he is better than King. Now before you decide to string me up by my ears and not let me down again hear me out. Even though I am not a big fan of horror, I do on occasion like to be spooked. I like my horror not to be predictable or formulated as King’s books are. Gout brings an interesting idea, with characters you come to care about and a plot that will keep you riveted to the pages of his latest book. Now while I go find a nightlight you go buy or borrow this book. Then tell me what you think.

Thank you Amazon for the picture

Can you believe we are into October already? I can’t wait for Halloween and what a better way to start off this spooky month then with a little bit of horror. Why not try Poe’s Children: The New Horror: An Anthology written by Peter Straub.

 Horror writing is usually associated with formulaic gore, but New Wave horror writers have more in common with the wildly inventive, evocative spookiness of Edgar Allan Poe than with the sometimes-predictable hallmarks of their peers. Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe’s Children now brings the best of the genre’s stories to a wider audience. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poe’s Children is Peter Straub’s tribute to the imaginative power of storytelling. Each previously published story has been selected by Straub to represent what he thinks is the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades.

Selections range from the early Stephen King psychological thriller “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet,” in which an editor confronts an author’s belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to “The Man on the Ceiling,” Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem’s award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon’s “The Bees”; Peter Straub’s “Little Red’s Tango,” the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hand’s visionary and shocking “Cleopatra Brimstone”; Thomas Ligotti’s brilliant, mind-stretching “Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story”; and “Body,” Brian Evenson’s disturbing twist on correctional facilities.

Now I’m not a fan of horror usually, I find that it is too formulated, but give me writers like Poe, Hitchcock and I am in heaven. This is a wonderful collection of short stories that bring back the ideas of what horror is supposed to be like. Down with formulas; all read new wave horror! Go grab a blanket, maybe a flashlight; lock your doors and windows and let your imagination soar.

Happy Reading

Sarah