en-US Mon, 14 Apr 2025 17:04:34 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 24770
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever....]]> 425 Scott Westerfeld 0689865384 Mel 0 currently-reading 3.85 2005
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: Mel
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 207611566 There’s power in a book��

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master�� (NPR).]]> 482 Grady Hendrix 0593548981 Mel 5 3.99 2025
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Mel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
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]]> 199798522 Lamesa, Texas, July 1989

It’s the summer before senior year for best friends Tolly Driver and Amber Dennison. They’re not in the marching band, they’re not in the FFA �� they don’t really count. Amber’s the only Native student in town, and Tolly’s only on the radar due to his father’s recent death.

This is all about to change.

Bodies are going to be dropping fast in this small West Texas town. For a few unbearably hot days that will resonate through the decades and even get made into a TV movie, Tolly and Amber will be famous. Notorious even. Finally, everyone will know their names.

This is Stephen Graham Jones x-raying the slasher genre, interrogating its motivations over the shoulder and in the voice of the killer itself �� from a town he did some growing up in, in a year he was also seventeen.

The kills will be poignant, the jokes will hurt, and the violence will be endearing. Everything’s turned around for Tolly, for Amber �� for all of Lamesa, Texas.

Be happy you weren’t there.

Be happy you’re only reading about it.]]> 373 Stephen Graham Jones 1668022249 Mel 5 3.53 2024
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Mel
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
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]]> 211139515 A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now ��’m stuck in his body.

Out in the middle of nowhere, I’ve managed to escape a life of cultivation and politics. Until now, that is. I guess it was inevitable they caught up with me eventually. I haven’t exactly been subtle. You know, what with the talking animals performing heroics all over the Azure Hills and Xiulan constantly calling me a Hidden Master.

A part of me wants to run away again. The memory of my death still haunts my dreams. But this is my home now. And I’ll be damned if I give it up without a fight.

I mean, all I have to do is learn how to navigate xianxia politics and train for battle while simultaneously running my farm and uncovering an ancient cataclysm that apparently destroyed the Azure Hills back in the day.

Meanwhile, ��’m about to be a father . . . Man, ��’m kinda screwed, aren’t I? At least I can call in the cavalry—ahem, poultry—to help.

The fourth volume of the blockbuster progression-fantasy series—with more than 20 million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!]]> 724 CasualFarmer 1039438636 Mel 5 4.52 2024
author: CasualFarmer
name: Mel
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> 19077899 Lovecraft Middle School is great creepy fun!��
–Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
��
Strange things are happening at Lovecraft Middle School. Rats are leaping from lockers. Students are disappearing.�� The school library is a labyrinth of secret corridors. And the science teacher is acting very peculiar �� in fact, he just might be a monster-in-disguise.�� Twelve-year-old Robert Arthur knew that seventh grade was going to be weird, but this is ridiculous!
��
Professor Gargoyle (Volume I in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series) is full of bizarre beasts, strange mysteries, and nonstop adventure.�� It's perfect for readers ages 10 and up. Best of all, the cover features a state-of-the-art “morphing�� photo portrait �� so you can personally witness the professor transforming into a monster.�� You won't believe your eyes!
��
“Gilman's debut and series kick-off is great fun for fans of light horror. The changing image on the cover will snag interest, and the spookily realistic black-and-white illustrations throughout complete this slick, scary, funny package. [There are] delectable hints of age-appropriate, Lovecraftian Otherness...with none of the purple prose.�� –Kirkus Reviews


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 160 Charles Gilman 1594745927 Mel 0 to-read 3.84 2012
author: Charles Gilman
name: Mel
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 61606724 Winding seamlessly between the psychological and the mythological, the spellbinding story of a young woman's dangerous passion as it plays out over the course of an eerie summer

In their remote Viking settlement, Folkvi and her brother, Aslakr, have always been close--unnaturally close. They've grown more intimate still as Folkvi learns her shaman mother's craft, as men regard her with newly devouring eyes. Then illness carries off their parents, and the nest of home is shattered. Áslakr sets off on his first expedition, abandoning Folkvi to the dark of an endless winter. When he returns, he's done the unthinkable: He's found someone else to love.

Sick with grief, Folkvi rages to the gods where they sit at the foot of an ancient tree, contemplating the twisted passions of humans that play out in the face of an ever-approaching end of days. Will none of them save her now? Very well, Folkvi will save herself. The wedding date is set. But first comes a fateful summer. . .

Deeply unsettling and brilliantly imagined, First Comes Summer captures the terror of losing the world you've always known--and the uncanny extremes to which you might go to hold on to it.]]> 224 Maria Hesselager 0593542606 Mel 0 currently-reading 3.09 2021
author: Maria Hesselager
name: Mel
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 44144471 ��’m the last Full-blood Witch.
��’m the last Savill Royal.
��’m the heir to a throne four King’s rule the world from.
I told my secret twice now, to you and my best friend Astra.
Now it is time to keep that secret again.
Because if they knew I was still alive, it would mean losing my freedom.
Maybe even my life.
Only for me to end up in the wrong place.
Their place.

Protector is the first of a series, it is a reverse harem, this will mean there will be M/M scenes and long and steamy sex scenes. Reading it at your own risk!]]> 336 Serena Nova Mel 0 currently-reading 4.02 2019
author: Serena Nova
name: Mel
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 36505403 An Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song.

It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson. He’s certain he’s sensed spirits whispering in the churchyard. He’s heard of the weird bootleggers who lurk in the dark outside of town. He’s seen a flood leave Main Street crawling with snakes. Cory thrills to all of it as only a young boy can.
��
Then one morning, while accompanying his father on his milk route, he sees a car careen off the road and slowly sink into fathomless Saxon’s Lake. His father dives into the icy water to rescue the driver, and finds a beaten corpse, naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel—a copper wire tightened around the stranger’s neck. In time, the townsfolk seem to forget all about the unsolved murder. But Cory and his father can’t.
��
Their search for the truth is a journey into a world where innocence and evil collide. What lies before them is the stuff of fear and awe, magic and madness, fantasy and reality. As Cory wades into the deep end of Zephyr and all its mysteries, he’ll discover that while the pleasures of childish things fade away, growing up can be a strange and beautiful ride.
��
“Strongly echoing the childhood-elegies of King and Bradbury, and every bit their equal,�� Boy’s Life, a winner of both the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards, represents a brilliant blend of mystery and rich atmosphere, the finest work of one of today’s most accomplished writers (Kirkus Reviews).]]> 625 Robert McCammon Mel 4 4.47 1991
author: Robert McCammon
name: Mel
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
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]]> 10619
Rosie Daniels leaves her husband, Norman, after fourteen years in an abusive marriage. She is determined to lose herself in a place where he won’t find her. She’ll worry about all the rest later.

Alone in a strange city, she begins to make a new life, and good things finally start to happen. Meeting Bill is one; and getting an apartment is another. Still, it’s hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder, and with good reason. Norman is a cop, with the instincts of a predator. He’s very good at finding people, even if he is losing his mind.

Fixed on revenge, Norman Daniels becomes a force of relentless terror and savageness, a man almost mythic in his monstrosity. For Rosie to survive, she must enter her own myth and become a woman she never knew she could be: Rose Madder.

“Riveting, engrossing...packed with suspense�� (People), Stephen King infuses this novel with an edge-of-your-seat, chilling atmosphere. Rose Madder is “an eerie, remarkably mature and moving novel�� (The Washington Post).]]> 595 Stephen King Mel 5 3.75 1995
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/30
date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> 38355410
Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That's why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition he's losing weight without getting thinner, and the scales register the same whether he is in his clothes or out of them, no matter how heavy they are.

Scott also has new neighbors who have opened a "fine dining experience" in town, although it's an experience being shunned by the locals: Deirdre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson don't exactly conform to a lifestyle the community approves of. And now Scott seems trapped in a feud with the couple over their dogs dropping their business on his lawn. Missy may be warm and friendly, but Deirdre is as cold as ice.

As the town prepares for its annual Thanksgiving 12K run, Scott begins to understand the prejudices the women face, and tries to help. Unlikely alliances form, and the mystery of Scott's affliction brings out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

From the master storyteller Stephen King comes this compelling tale about finding common ground despite differences, a magical story with deep resonance for our time.]]> 146 Stephen King 1982102314 Mel 0 currently-reading 3.59 2018
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/25
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 15753740
Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future]]> 461 Jodi Picoult 1439102767 Mel 5 4.28 2013
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Mel
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> 7278752 388 Stephen King 1101138173 Mel 5 4.10 1992
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/19
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]]> 550844
Now scenes of unbelieving horror come each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure.

When the moon grows fat, a paralyzing fear sweeps through Tarker Mills. For snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind. And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated... Cycle of the Werewolf.]]> 128 Stephen King 0451822196 Mel 5 3.69 1983
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
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]]> 58077 293 Charlaine Harris 0425212890 Mel 0 3.87 2005
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Mel
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/16
date added: 2024/08/16
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]]> 59582255 Disturbing. Original. Terrifying. The 'master of horror' is back with the chilling tale of what lurks in the walls of an abandoned hospital. The perfect Halloween read.

In this abandoned hospital, pain lives on... and it wants revenge.

St Philomena's military hospital has been abandoned for over three years. Now Lilian Chesterfield, who works for one of the most successful building companies in England, is in charge of developing it into a luxury housing complex.

But as soon as she and her colleagues start work in the Jacobean-style mansion, their dream turns into a nightmare. They hear screaming from wards full of empty beds. They hear doors slamming and find cutlery scattered over the kitchen floor. Then they see faces peering at them from the mullioned windows.

Lilian is pragmatic �� she doesn't believe in the supernatural. But just when she's put her mind at rest by scouring the mansion from top to bottom and finding nothing, a former patient of St Philomena's arrives with a warning. The hospital is haunted. And it is haunted by something a thousand times more terrifying than ghosts...

Perfect to read at Halloween and for fans of The Haunting of Hill House, The Shining and The Woman in Black.]]> 326 Graham Masterton 1801104018 Mel 0 3.39 2022
author: Graham Masterton
name: Mel
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/13
date added: 2024/08/13
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]]> 36124936
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.]]> 561 Stephen King 1501180983 Mel 0 3.98 2018
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/13
date added: 2024/08/13
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]]> 38359036 ��ä�ٴǷɾ������� (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.]]> 272 Heather Morris 006287067X Mel 5 4.32 2018
author: Heather Morris
name: Mel
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
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]]> 117710 A pair of fierce but beautiful eyes look out from the undergrowth of conifers. She is an intelligent killer...

So begins one of the most extraordinary novels you will ever read. The time is 120 million years ago, the place is the plains of prehistoric Utah, and the eyes belong to an unforgettable heroine. Her name is Raptor Red, and she is a female raptor dinosaur.

Painting a rich and colorful picture of a lush prehistoric world, leading paleontologist Robert T. Bakker tells his story from within Raptor Red's extraordinary mind, dramatizing his revolutionary theories in this exciting tale. From a tragic loss to the fierce struggle for survival to a daring migration to the Pacific Ocean to escape a deadly new predator, Raptor Red combines fact and fiction to capture for the first time the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of the most magnificent, enigmatic creatures ever to walk the face of the earth.]]> 256 Robert T. Bakker 0553575619 Mel 0 3.96 1995
author: Robert T. Bakker
name: Mel
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
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]]> 3188964 The Doors of Perception is a philosophical essay, released as a book, by Aldous Huxley. First published in 1954, it details his experiences when taking mescaline.

The book takes the form of Huxley's recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon in May 1953. The book takes its title from a phrase in William Blake's 1793 poem 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'.

Huxley recalls the insights he experienced, which range from the "purely aesthetic" to "sacramental vision". He also incorporates later reflections on the experience and its meaning for art and religion.]]> 208 Aldous Huxley Mel 0 to-read 3.91 1956
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Mel
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 17383994
Divergent One choice can transform you. Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling debut is a gripping dystopian tale of electrifying choices, powerful consequences, unexpected romance, and a deeply flawed "perfect society."

Insurgent One choice can destroy you. Veronica Roth's second #1 New York Times bestseller continues the dystopian thrill ride. As war surges in the factions all around her, Tris attempts to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Divergent #3: The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.]]> 1556 Veronica Roth 0062278789 Mel 5 4.35
author: Veronica Roth
name: Mel
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2014/04/12
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> 57645345
Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will.]]> 357 Charlie Donlea 1496727169 Mel 0 4.06 2021
author: Charlie Donlea
name: Mel
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/06
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]]> 23019294
To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface--and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.]]> 287 Paul Tremblay 0062363239 Mel 0 3.78 2015
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Mel
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
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]]> 123063 Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory—our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion.]]> 296 Michel Faber 1841954802 Mel 0 3.76 2000
author: Michel Faber
name: Mel
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
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]]> 60097427 Kate Winkler Dawson tells the story of Edward Rulloff--a serial murderer who was called "too intelligent to be killed"--and the array of 19th century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind.

Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer--some have called him a "Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter"--whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity. From his humble beginnings in upstate New York to the dazzling salons and social life he established in New York City, at every turn Rulloff used his intelligence and regal bearing to evade detection and avoid punishment. He could talk his way out of any crime...until one day, Rulloff's luck ran out.

By 1871 Rulloff sat chained in his cell--a psychopath holding court while curious 19th-century mind hunters tried to understand what made him tick. From alienists (early psychiatrists who tried to analyze the source of his madness) to neurologists (who wanted to dissect his brain) to phrenologists (who analyzed the bumps on his head to determine his character), each one thought he held the key to understanding the essential question: is evil born or made? Eventually, Rulloff's brain would be placed in a jar at Cornell University as the prize specimen of their anatomy collection...where it still sits today, slowly moldering in a dusty jar. But his story--and its implications for the emerging field of criminal psychology--were just beginning.

Expanded from season one of her podcast on the Exactly Right network, in All That Is Wicked Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials and never-before-shared historical documents to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer--a century before the term was coined--through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come.]]> 320 Kate Winkler Dawson 0593420063 Mel 0 currently-reading 3.58 2022
author: Kate Winkler Dawson
name: Mel
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 39315599 At the end of the world, who do you save?

With their numbers diminishing and the alien armies growing stronger, Sophie's biosphere decides to join forces with the team from NTC's submarine.

Using data from a surviving satellite, they discover strange, alien poles at each of the world's seven highest summits: alien technology that the survivors believe may hold the key to shutting down the alien ships once and for all.

That's not all. The satellite also discovers an encrypted set of coordinates that reveal SOS messages from US Military bases around the world, all activated on invasion day, except for one: Offutt Air Force Base.

But before they can launch an offensive, the biosphere team must deal with sabotage from within and a strange nanotechnology that has infected several of the survivors. As tensions rise, Sophie and team must decide whether a new discovery at Offutt is worth abandoning the biosphere. The more the team learns, the more they realize the planet may be beyond saving and that salvation may require leaving the planet forever.]]> 318 Nicholas Sansbury Smith Mel 0 4.10 2015
author: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
name: Mel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/25
date added: 2024/07/25
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]]> 22613150 Orbs II: Stranded.

The Organics continue to drain the oceans, raising temperatures worldwide, and the few remaining humans have been herded into farms, where the water in their bodies is harvested to support the growing alien army. Humanity’s last chance lies with the biospheres that the mysterious New Tech Corporation has planted across the globe. With resources dwindling, and a new, more terrifying alien form hunting them down, not all the biospheres will make it.

But there is still hope. In Sophie’s biosphere, her team has managed to create a magnetic weapon that just might give the human resistance a fighting chance—if they can live long enough to use it.]]> 269 Nicholas Sansbury Smith Mel 0 3.94 2014
author: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
name: Mel
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
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]]> 18588743
The year is 2061, and the planet is dying. Cataclysmic solar storms have forced leaders from around the world to finally put aside their differences and agree on one thing—to jump ship. The human race is headed to Mars.

Dr. Sophie Winston is hired by New Tech Corporation to test a biosphere deep within the heart of Cheyenne Mountain; a mission she believes will help prepare NTC for the three-year flight to the red planet. But, just days into the assignment, things start to go wrong. When the blast doors hiss open, Winton's team finds a changed world outside. Humans are gone, vanished without a trace, and they aren't the only thing missing. The planet's water is gone, too.

As the team explores their surroundings, they find thousands of luminous blue orbs lining the streets. It isn't until they uncover what's inside that they realize the nightmare that lies ahead.]]> 328 Nicholas Sansbury Smith 098924475X Mel 0 3.52 2013
author: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
name: Mel
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
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]]> 11797285 389 Bentley Little 0451236378 Mel 0 3.51 2012
author: Bentley Little
name: Mel
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
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]]> 19564387 192 Michaelbrent Collings 1456599895 Mel 4 3.36 2010
author: Michaelbrent Collings
name: Mel
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/17
date added: 2024/07/17
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]]> 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Mel 5 4.17 2019
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/17
date added: 2024/07/17
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]]> 51579220
Listen.

Just once. That’s it.

As soon as you hear it, it has you. And once it has you, it’s over. You may think you’re in control. You’re not. You want one more listen. You want to look at that strange spot in the sky. The one that’s been slowly growing. The one that didn’t make sense�� until you listened. You want to listen again, and you will do whatever it takes to make everyone else listen. By any means necessary. Even if it kills you.

Just one more listen. One more.

Listen.]]> 843 Robert Brockway Mel 0 4.05 2015
author: Robert Brockway
name: Mel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
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]]> 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane �� and insanely possible �� mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 Mel 5 4.33 2011
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/06
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]]> 36388243 If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . .

Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?

Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .

Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?

Wonder no longer. Catherine Steadman's enthralling voice shines throughout this spellbinding debut novel. With piercing insight and fascinating twists, Something in the Water challenges the reader to confront the hopes we desperately cling to, the ideals we're tempted to abandon, and the perfect lies we tell ourselves.]]> 342 Catherine Steadman 1524797189 Mel 0 3.54 2018
author: Catherine Steadman
name: Mel
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
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]]> 23492589 Wake up, genius.

The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.

Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.

Not since Misery has King played with the notion of a reader whose obsession with a writer gets dangerous. Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also King writing about how literature shapes a life—for good, for bad, forever.]]> 434 Stephen King 1501100076 Mel 0 4.07 2015
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 Mel 0 3.85 1959
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Mel
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/30
date added: 2024/06/30
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]]> 4982 224 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Mel 0 4.16 1959
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/30
date added: 2024/06/30
shelves:
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]]> 21557191
On the last night of summer, a child's game has turned grim. Aiden has fallen and woken up to a terrible truth: he is dead.

Yet Death is Just the First Step

Fleeing through a tunnel between worlds, Aiden discovers others, those who have found sanctuary in a place beyond existence.

--Life is Cruel, Death is No Different--

Welcome to Eternal Autumn, a land of whispering mystery between existence and nothingness. Here, among the frozen colors of Autumn, is a world home to the dead...
and the demons that hunt them. A city of collective memories and agless children; dark swamps and darker magic; and an ancient ritual that just might bring Aiden what all dead truly want...

... a Second Life

At the crossroads of Dante's Inferno and Lord of the Flies lies A Hollow Dream - Eternal Autumn, the Second Chapter in a Harrowing Series, where Fantasy meets Horror at Childhood's End.

108,000 words // 426 pages // Fantasy - Horror]]> 426 Andrew Van Wey 0984015736 Mel 0 to-read 3.88 2014
author: Andrew Van Wey
name: Mel
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10603
Uno de los grandes clásicos de Stephen King, el gran maestro actual de la literatura de terror.]]> 432 Stephen King 0307348245 Mel 4 3.79 1981
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
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]]> 39315598
Operation Redemption, the final desperate mission in taking back the planet from the Organics has failed. Captain Rick Noble and his soldiers have been captured and imprisoned on an alien ship. But not all is lost. Their sacrifice allowed Doctor Sophie Winston, Doctor Emanuel Rodriguez, and their small team to escape in the NTC Sunspot--their destination, Mars. The perilous journey to find a lost human colony may offer Sophie and the rest of humanity a chance at life.

Those left on Earth are caught in a life and death struggle. Corporal Athena Rollins of the NTC Ghosts of Atlantis submarine still believes they can beat the aliens with the help of AI Alexia, but time is running out. The oceans are draining, the temperatures are rising, and the other pockets of survivors are perishing every day.

Trapped on the Organic ship, Captain Rick Noble is desperate to escape and save his crew back on Earth. As he waits for his opportunity he finds an ally in the most unlikely of places.

The fight for Earth may be lost, but the fight for Mars and the future of the human race may have just begun...]]> 411 Nicholas Sansbury Smith Mel 0 currently-reading 4.22 2018
author: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
name: Mel
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 28464896
When one of the remaining airships is damaged in an electrical storm, a Hell Diver team is deployed to a hostile zone called Hades. But there’s something down there far worse than the mutated creatures discovered on dives in the past—something that threatens the fragile future of humanity.]]> Nicholas Sansbury Smith 1504713958 Mel 0 currently-reading 3.83 2016
author: Nicholas Sansbury Smith
name: Mel
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 58506039 A positively rebellious take on a traditionally negative philosophy offers an antidote for our anxious times.

Career success, a beautiful life, a beautiful Instagram account—what's the point? In a world where meaning has become twisted into a form of currency that everyone is very keen to cash in on, journalist Wendy Syfret invites you to change the way you think about the way you think.

In her seminal work, The Sunny Nihilist, Syfret presents the optimism in Nihilism, encouraging us to dismantle our self-care and self-centered way of living and accept a life more or less ordinary. Syfret re-examines the meaning of worth, value, time, happiness, success, and connection, and guides us towards the alternative path of pointless pleasure.

When you let go of the idea that everything must have purpose, you will find relief from stress, exhaustion, and anxiety. Most importantly, you can embrace the opportunity to enjoy the moment, the present, the chaos and luck of being alive at all. The Sunny Nihilist is an inspiring call to action and survival adaptation for modern life.]]> 208 Wendy Syfret 1797215809 Mel 4 3.66
author: Wendy Syfret
name: Mel
average rating: 3.66
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
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]]> 201242757 From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best EVER.

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,�� writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,�� and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids�� explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,�� a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,�� a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,�� a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man�� asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.]]> 502 Stephen King 1668037718 Mel 5 4.16 2024
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
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]]> 44327636 Given a chance at immortality, can Wu Ying grasp the fleeting opportunity?

Long Wu Ying never expected to join a Sect or become a real cultivator. His days were spent studying, planting rice on the family farm and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for Wu Ying and when the army arrives at his village, he and many other members of the village are conscripted. Given the opportunity to join the Verdant Green Waters Sect, Wu Ying must decide between his pedestrian, common life and the exciting, blood soaked life of a cultivator.

Join Wu Ying as he takes his first step on his Thousand Li journey to become an immortal cultivator.

The First Step is the first novel in A Thousand Li series, a book on cultivation, immortals, wondrous martial art styles and spirit beasts and will be loved by wuxia and xianxia fans. The First Step is written by Tao Wong, the bestselling scifi and fantasy LitRPG author of the System Apocalypse, Adventures on Brad and the Hidden Wishes.]]> 367 Tao Wong 1989458009 Mel 0 4.11 2019
author: Tao Wong
name: Mel
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
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]]> 16234584 Heart of Darkness—complete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiers—this "powerful and beautifully clear" (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure and a haunting examination of the effects of environmental collapse on the human mind.]]> 198 J.G. Ballard 0871403625 Mel 5 3.50 1962
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Mel
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
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]]> 56769575
For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die?]]> 320 Mary Roach 0393881725 Mel 5 4.12 2003
author: Mary Roach
name: Mel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
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]]> 52672113 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers the most intriguing questions she’s ever received about what happens to our bodies when we die. In a brisk, informative, and morbidly funny style, Doughty explores everything from ancient Egyptian death rituals and the science of skeletons to flesh-eating insects and the proper depth at which to bury your pet if you want Fluffy to become a mummy. Now featuring an interview with a clinical expert on discussing these issues with young people—the source of some of our most revealing questions about death��Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? confronts our common fear of dying with candid, honest, and hilarious facts about what awaits the body we leave behind.]]> 232 Caitlin Doughty 0393358496 Mel 5 4.15 2019
author: Caitlin Doughty
name: Mel
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/06/01
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]]> 34068481 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with “dignity.��

Fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for their dead. In rural Indonesia, she observes a man clean and dress his grandfather’s mummified body. Grandpa’s mummy has lived in the family home for two years, where the family has maintained a warm and respectful relationship. She meets Bolivian natitas (cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls), and introduces us to a Japanese kotsuage, in which relatives use chopsticks to pluck their loved-ones�� bones from cremation ashes.

With curiosity and morbid humor, Doughty encounters vividly decomposed bodies and participates in compelling, powerful death practices almost entirely unknown in America. Featuring Gorey-esque illustrations by artist Landis Blair, From Here to Eternity introduces death-care innovators researching green burial and body composting, explores new spaces for mourning—including a glowing-Buddha columbarium in Japan and America’s only open-air pyre—and reveals unexpected new possibilities for our own death rituals.]]> 248 Caitlin Doughty 0393249891 Mel 5 4.28 2017
author: Caitlin Doughty
name: Mel
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/06/01
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]]> 25189315
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Caitlin soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures.

Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like?

Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Caitlin's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead).]]> 254 Caitlin Doughty 0393351904 Mel 5 4.24 2014
author: Caitlin Doughty
name: Mel
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/30
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]]> 25458371
It was impossible to truly know the place. It changed with each influx and retreat, and the neap tides would reveal the skeletons of those who thought they could escape its insidious currents. No one ever went near the water. No one apart from us, that is.

I suppose I always knew that what happened there wouldn't stay hidden for ever, no matter how much I wanted it to. No matter how hard I tried to forget...."]]> 368 Andrew Michael Hurley 1473619823 Mel 4 3.24 2014
author: Andrew Michael Hurley
name: Mel
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
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]]> 51261258 “I have no desire whatever to reform myself. My only desire is to reform people who try to reform me. And I believe that the only way to reform people is to kill 'em. My motto is, Rob em all, Rape em all and Kill em all.�� - Carl Panzram

In 1902, at the age of 11, Carl Panzram broke into a neighbour’s home and stole some apples, a pie, and a revolver. As a frequent troublemaker, the court decided to make an example of him and placed him into the care of the Minnesota State Reform School. During his two-year detention, Carl was repeatedly beaten, tortured, humiliated and raped by the school staff.

At 15-years old, Carl enlisted in the army by lying about his age but his career was short-lived. He was dishonourably discharged for stealing army supplies and was sent to military prison. The brutal prison system sculpted Carl into the man that he would remain for the rest of his life. He hated the whole of mankind and wanted revenge.

When Carl left prison in 1910, he set out to rob, burn, rape and kill as many people as he could, for as long as he could. His campaign of terror could finally begin and nothing could stand in his way.

Kill 'Em All is a chilling and gripping account of one of the most brutal and gruesome true crime stories in American history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.

CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further ]]> 164 Ryan Green Mel 5 4.03 2019
author: Ryan Green
name: Mel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
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]]> 33670466
Demonic possession! Haunted condominiums! Murderous babies! Man-eating moths! No plot was too ludicrous, no cover art too appalling, no evil too despicable for the Paperbacks From Hell.

Where did they come from? Where did they go? Horror author Grady Hendrix risks his soul and sanity (not to mention yours) to relate the true, untold story of the Paperbacks From Hell.

Shocking story summaries! Incredible cover art! And true tales of writers, artists, and publishers who violated every literary law but one: never be boring. All this awaits, if you dare experience the Paperbacks From Hell.]]> 254 Grady Hendrix 1594749817 Mel 5 4.28 2017
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Mel
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
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]]> 58743673
A beautiful house, a loving wife. Two kids, a dog, and a tenure track professorship teaching art at the local university. Your name is Daniel Rineheart. You’ve got it all.

...BUT ALL DREAMS MUST END.

For this autumn heralds the arrival of a mysterious painting. No name. No date. No signature or frame. A disturbing work of grotesque perfection: two children with cruel eyes, a window onto an endless field, and a dying tree on top of a hill.

A work of art... that changes with each viewing.

SO BEGINS THE NIGHTMARE...

...Where wretched children crawl from a canvas prison to stalk the quiet halls of this happy home.

...Where painted clocks tick-tock away in the dark hours before dawn, and a missing dog whimpers from between the walls.

...Where all answers lead to a dark artist and an impossible creation, a cursed canvas with a twisted past...

...AND A HORROR THAT WILL DEVOUR ALL.

Curl up, if you dare, with a dark novel readers are calling: “Beautifully written�� �� “A Must Read!�� �� “Stunning�� �� “The Scariest book EVER!��

FORSKEN is an intelligent blend of ghost story, suburban supernatural thriller, haunted house, and mystery. Perfectly written for fans of early Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Peter Straub, it’s a terrifying tale of secrets and lies, of nightmares made flesh; where the scariest stories are the ones that coldly whisper into your ear until madness and death are a welcome rest.

Lock your door.��
Turn on the lights.��
Do NOT read FORSAKEN late at night.]]> Andrew Van Wey Mel 5 4.06 2011
author: Andrew Van Wey
name: Mel
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/05/24
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]]> 18140842 She thought it was the end of the world... But it was only the beginning of the end.

It's been three months since Amy escaped New Hope. Since she's seen Baby, or Kay, or Rice. And she's been surviving on her own, like she did before she was "rescued" and taken to what she thought was a safe haven. Then, in the midst of foraging for supplies, her former fellow Guardian's voice rings out in her earpiece. And in a desperate tone, Kay utters the four words Any had hoped she would never hear:

Dr. Reynolds has Baby.

Now it's a race against time, for Baby is in imminent danger, her life threatened by the malevolent doctor who had helped start the end of the world. In order to save Baby, Amy will have to make her way to Fort Black, a former prison-turned-survivor colony. There she will need to find Ken—Kay's brother—for he holds the key to Baby's survival.

But before she can do any of this, she'll have to endure the darkest places—and people—of the prison. And one small slip-up could not only cost Baby and Amy their lives, but threaten the survival of he people in the After.

Demitria Lunetta has created an utterly compelling conclusion to the story she set forth in In the After.]]> 432 Demitria Lunetta 0062105485 Mel 0 3.91 2014
author: Demitria Lunetta
name: Mel
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
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]]> 35396201 But when Nick wakes up, he soon realizes that death isn't the gentle darkness he expected. Panicked and horrified, he struggles to understand the twisted abominations and hellish world he's now trapped in.
Driven by desperation and a sudden will to survive, he sets out to find Jess and is unable to cope with the thought of her having to suffer through the terrors this new reality holds.
But nothing could prepare him for the nightmares he found... nothing could prepare him for The Black Farm.]]> 325 Elias Witherow Mel 0 3.93 2017
author: Elias Witherow
name: Mel
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/24
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
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]]> 56674 The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.

Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. To survive, he must find a deep strength greater than all the events that surround him.

Shanghai, 1941 �� a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war...and the dawn of a blighted world.

Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint.]]> 351 J.G. Ballard 0743265238 Mel 5 3.98 1984
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Mel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
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]]> 60712149
That’s what investigator Michaels is learning as he uncovers a series of brutal murders committed by what the media is calling the God’s Breath Killer—a mysterious entity that leaves no clues, no logical explanation�� and no witnesses.

Until a young woman crosses paths with this killer.

Meet Caitlyn Grey: twenty-six, agoraphobic, and blind. She travels the world without leaving home. Caitlyn can blink—sending her mind across earth. It’s a skill she’s kept hidden, one she shares with this killer.

To the police, it’s the impossible: How could a blind woman see a crime that didn’t leave prints? But to Michaels it’s just the break his investigation needs. He’s uncovered a pattern among the dead doctors, scientists, and professors—a connection to a Cold War experiment that weaponized the mind.

Now, Caitlyn and Michaels must team up to track down an evil formed by cruel science—an adversary that can bend perception itself. Both an unrelenting thriller and a tale of sci-fi-horror, Blind Site is a novel of identity and vengeance, a twisted hunt into fractured consciousness itself.]]> Andrew Van Wey Mel 4 4.18
author: Andrew Van Wey
name: Mel
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/11
date added: 2024/05/15
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]]> 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]> 352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 Mel 4 3.87 2023
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Mel
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
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]]> 17605232
Pain, horror, fear- These are the things that bestselling novelist Lance Metzger's life have been comprised of. His childhood remains a riddled wasteland of abuse by a sadistic father and the abandonment of an apathetic mother. In turn, his only refuge became his writing.

A SANCTUARY, BROKEN

When Lance loses his ability to write and becomes haunted by a nightmare that he'd thought was buried, he is drawn inexplicably to a house on the shores of Lake Superior where he finds his muse once again, but something is waiting for him when he arrives.

AN EVIL WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

Now he must unlock the devastating secrets that the house holds and uncover the mystery of his own broken past before he loses his sanity, and perhaps his soul.]]> 370 Joe Hart Mel 4 4.02 2012
author: Joe Hart
name: Mel
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
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]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Mel 4 3.86 2019
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Mel
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 24611819
Wilf Netherton lives in London, seventy-some years later, on the far side of decades of slow-motion apocalypse. Things are pretty good now, for the haves, and there aren’t many have-nots left. Wilf, a high-powered publicist and celebrity-minder, fancies himself a romantic misfit, in a society where reaching into the past is just another hobby.��

Burton’s been moonlighting online, secretly working security in some game prototype, a virtual world that looks vaguely like London, but a lot weirder. He’s got Flynne taking over shifts, promised her the game’s not a shooter. Still, the crime she witnesses there is plenty bad.

Flynne and Wilf are about to meet one another. Her world will be altered utterly, irrevocably, and Wilf’s, for all its decadence and power, will learn that some of these third-world types from the past can be badass.]]> 485 William Gibson 0425276236 Mel 5 3.77 2014
author: William Gibson
name: Mel
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 54985741 An investigator must solve a brutal murder on a claustrophobic space station in this tense science fiction thriller from the author of Salvation Day.

Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She's surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life—and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history and the tragedy that neither of them can leave behind.

Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, both about her friend's death and the information he believed he had uncovered. But catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester's worries, and she soon realizes that everything she learns about her friend, his fellow miners, and the outpost they call home brings her closer to revealing secrets that very powerful and very dangerous people would rather keep hidden in the depths of space.]]> 322 Kali Wallace 1984803727 Mel 0 3.63 2021
author: Kali Wallace
name: Mel
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/26
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 56197501 From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity.

Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect.

Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island—and their own past—or they risk losing not only their future, but their life.]]> 352 Alyssa Cole 006311495X Mel 0 to-read 3.09 2024
author: Alyssa Cole
name: Mel
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 203085891 In the wake of the solar eclipse, a portal between our world and a paranormal realm opens—and a scientist’s life will never be the same, in this thrilling serialized adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hollows.

Dr. Renee Caisson knows there are worse things than an attractive man in uniform drafting her into a secret government project—especially when Major Jackson makes it clear that he isn’t bothered by her questionable past. But when her labs come back with decidedly odd results, the Major is forced to come clean over who the government is actually studying. Renee is shocked to learn her subjects are demonic-looking beings who call themselves “Neighbors”—refugees from a dying world, who arrived during the nation-wide solar eclipse.

The Neighbors�� technology is unlike anything Renee’s ever encountered. At first, she dismisses an injury that inexplicably heals as “just one of those things��. And surely August, the most gregarious Neighbor, begins to speak English overnight because of the team linguist’s skills?

Not until August begins evolving in real time to withstand Earth’s brighter, dryer atmosphere does she admit that the Neighbors�� “tech�� feels less like science and more like magic—the same magic that brought them here in the first place, and the same they’re trying to rekindle with a mysterious labyrinth in order to return home and save their world.

At least, that’s what August claims they came for…]]> 168 Kim Harrison 0593816234 Mel 0 4.17 2024
author: Kim Harrison
name: Mel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
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]]> 195945925 Bird Box. The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

Josh Malerman’s 'It Waits in the Woods' is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.]]> 52 Josh Malerman 1662518315 Mel 0 3.69 2023
author: Josh Malerman
name: Mel
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
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]]> 51589846
Still, clowns have to eat. And since these clowns don't eat children, to make ends meet they're eventually forced to take a job in a popular haunted attraction, the Mountain of Terror. Instead of charming entertainers, they're now scary clowns. A zombie clown. A demon clown. A creepy doll clown.

But the town is about to discover something more frightening than clowns. Because on opening night, millions of oversized spiders emerge from a cave and begin their deadly invasion...

From Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Jeff Strand comes an insane mix of shameless silliness and grisly creepy-crawly horror. Clowns vs Spiders—who will win?]]> 242 Jeff Strand Mel 0 3.91
author: Jeff Strand
name: Mel
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/24
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]]> 601238 Alternate Cover Editions can be found here, and here

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE on the planet...]]> 287 Terry Pratchett 0552124753 Mel 0 3.79 1983
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Mel
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
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]]> 201048401 Ordinary, unexceptional, directionless Karl, is one of the few who made it through the first night. In the company of two orphans, he flees south. But only into horrifying revelations and greater peril, where a transformed world and expanding race of ravening creatures await. Driven to the end of the country and himself, he must overcome alien and human malevolence and act in ways that were unthinkable mere days before.All The Fiends of Hell is a novel of alien horror from the four times winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.]]> 393 Adam L.G. Nevill 1739378423 Mel 0 3.92 2024
author: Adam L.G. Nevill
name: Mel
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 198973148
Will this be the end of mankind?

This is the end of the world - one day at a time.]]> Nick Clausen Mel 4 4.39
author: Nick Clausen
name: Mel
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/11
date added: 2024/04/11
shelves:
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]]> 62049269
It’s 1986. Two strangers, hundreds of miles apart, grapple with disturbing incidents in a one-of-a-kind quaking aspen forest.

Knox is a new Forest Service ranger assigned to a vast, remote territory in Utah.

Sandy is a producer fighting for her place in a tough TV newsroom.

Both have heard about the shadowy figure believed to menace visitors to the forest. When a man disappears and reports of the Root Witch begin coming in, Knox and Sandy are plunged into a living nightmare.

Their lives converge on Halloween. Sandy sends a news crew to investigate the sightings. But when the team goes missing, and a shocking video surfaces revealing the ghastly truth, Knox and Sandy face the biggest decision of their lives.

This novel is based on a short story, "The Root Witch: An Urban Legend Caught on Tape."

Content warning: Animal death; anxiety; profanity]]> 260 Debra Castaneda Mel 0 3.79 2022
author: Debra Castaneda
name: Mel
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/07
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves:
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]]> 30689356 The Purge film franchise, comes the provocative and terrifying last stand of a lone outpost of women in the wake of a deadly pandemic.
Allie Hilts was still in high school when a fire at a top-secret research facility released an air-borne pathogen that quickly spread to every male on the planet, killing most. Allie witnessed every man she ever knew be consumed by fearsome symptoms: scorching fevers and internal bleeding, madness and uncontrollable violence. The world crumbled around her. No man was spared, and the few survivors were irrevocably changed. They became disturbingly strong, aggressive, and ferocious. Feral.
Three years later, Allie has joined a group of hardened survivors in an isolated, walled-in encampment. Outside the guarded walls the ferals roam free, and hunt. Allie has been noticing troubling patterns in the ferals' movements, and a disturbing number of new faces in the wild. Something catastrophic is brewing on the horizon, and time is running out. The ferals are coming, and there is no stopping them.
With Feral, writer/director James DeMonaco and acclaimed novelist Brian Evenson have created a challenging and entertaining novel of timely horror and exhilarating suspense."]]> 309 James Demonaco 110197270X Mel 0 3.37 2017
author: James Demonaco
name: Mel
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 1744846
A classic of contemporary horror whose many admirers have included Stephen King and Peter Straub, Thomas Tessier's novel The Nightwalker (1979) has been recognized as one of the finest werewolf stories ever written. This edition includes an afterword by the author.]]> 183 Thomas Tessier 0451097203 Mel 1 SPOILERS
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I didn't like that he turned a teenage runaway into a sex slave and then brutally murdered her and her friend and then other people who have reviewed this book talk about the great sex scenes. You bunch of perverted pedophiles. He referred to her as a young girl over and over and said she was 15 and he was 27. ]]> 3.45 1979
author: Thomas Tessier
name: Mel
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1979
rating: 1
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves:
review:
This book was so disappointing. There just aren't enough good werewolf stories out there so I was stoked when I heard about it. I thought it was vague and fragmented and hard to follow.
SPOILERS
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I didn't like that he turned a teenage runaway into a sex slave and then brutally murdered her and her friend and then other people who have reviewed this book talk about the great sex scenes. You bunch of perverted pedophiles. He referred to her as a young girl over and over and said she was 15 and he was 27.
]]> 10607
Is Ty destined to become the fourth victim of the Fisherman, the serial killer who's stalking this sleepy town? If so, only ex-detective Jack Sawyer may be able to save him. Jack left his old life behind precisely to avoid such madness, but lately he's been visited by strange nightmares and visions. Could the doomed past he thought he'd escaped forever be reaching out for him... from the Black House?]]> 659 Stephen King 034547063X Mel 0 4.03 2001
author: Stephen King
name: Mel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 179527909
When tragedy shatters thirteen-year-old Zelda Ruiz’s adolescence, she retreats with her uncle Mark to the bucolic town of Greywood Bay. It’s a chance to heal, a chance to build a new life together.

But nothing can prepare them for the malignant terror long coveting these lands.
It looms over redwood groves and lurks among the foundations of homes. It festers in the dark hearts of the wounded. And now, this cosmic horror has found a new weapon: a means to worm its way into our world.

To save their community—and each other—Zelda and Mark will need to confront their darkest demons, both inside and out. For what stalks Greywood Bay hungers for suffering above all else.

And soon, it will feast�� By the Light of Dead Stars.]]> 394 Andrew Van Wey Mel 5 4.10
author: Andrew Van Wey
name: Mel
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves:
review:
I love this author's writing style. He set the stage in modern day America and threw in a lot of historical events like 9/11 and Covid. That makes for a more realistic story and I always appreciate that. Loved the characters! This is my second book by this author. Probably going to read whatever else he writes. LOL
]]> 22163
The canopy voyagers are young–just college students when they start their quest–and they share a passion for these trees, persevering in spite of sometimes crushing personal obstacles and failings. They take big risks, they ignore common wisdom (such as the notion that there’s nothing left to discover in North America), and they even make love in hammocks stretched between branches three hundred feet in the air.

The deep redwood canopy is a vertical Eden filled with mosses, lichens, spotted salamanders, hanging gardens of ferns, and thickets of huckleberry bushes, all growing out of massive trunk systems that have fused and formed flying buttresses, sometimes carved into blackened chambers, hollowed out by fire, called “fire caves.�� Thick layers of soil sitting on limbs harbor animal and plant life that is unknown to science. Humans move through the deep canopy suspended on ropes, far out of sight of the ground, knowing that the price of a small mistake can be a plunge to one’s death.

Preston’s account of this amazing world, by turns terrifying, moving, and fascinating, is an adventure story told in novelistic detail by a master of nonfiction narrative. The author shares his protagonists�� passion for tall trees, and he mastered the techniques of tall-tree climbing to tell the story in The Wild Trees –the story of the fate of the world’s most splendid forests and of the imperiled biosphere itself.]]> 294 Richard Preston 1400064899 Mel 0 currently-reading 4.10 2007
author: Richard Preston
name: Mel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 205993287
Nacho had zero intentions to make friends. He certainly had no plans to be put in the unenviable position of being the leader of a guild. But if there’s one thing that he excels at, it certainly isn’t cooking. No, he’s far better at rolling with the punches, and making sure the people around him survive. When literal monsters are everywhere, that’s the kind of person you want in charge.

But this world isn’t what he’s been expecting. Things are different. He is different. By succeeding so much, so fast, Humanity has unlocked the next stage of the Juxtaposition, years before they’re ready for it. A Legendary weapon is up for grabs, and the first guild to grab it will solidify their stranglehold of Kansas City. All Nacho needs to do is find a path to something he’s never heard of before, look for something that shouldn’t exist, and keep his people alive.

Time to hold on tight, and chase that dragon.]]> 392 Dakota Krout 1637662491 Mel 0 4.09 2024
author: Dakota Krout
name: Mel
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/22
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 62610141
Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, suspected that protecting the paranormal citizens of Cincinnati as the demon subrosa would be trouble. But it’s rapidly becoming way more trouble than even she could have imagined.

While Rachel and her friends may have vanquished the trickster demon Hodin, his mysterious associate known only as “The Mage�� is eager to finish what Hodin started, beginning with taking down Rachel’s power structure piece by piece.

When he frames Rachel for the death of a powerful coven member and the vampire leaders in DC threaten to send a new master vampire to take the city in hand, Rachel’s friends Ivy and Pike are forced into hiding, and even her lover, Trent, finds himself under fire. With her world falling apart, Rachel desperately needs help. But with all of her supporters under attack, her only hope is to make a deal with the unlikeliest of allies...]]> 438 Kim Harrison 0593437543 Mel 0 4.29 2023
author: Kim Harrison
name: Mel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/22
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 61800582
It’s the mid-nineties. Grunge and flannel are fading as the Spice Girls and Hot Topic conquer the malls. Cherry gloss glistens on the lips of the youth. Modems hiss as America comes online.

And in a fog-drenched cove at the edge of New England, something terrible awakens when a fisherman reels in a gruesome catch: the remains of a young woman. Remains still pulsing with furious life.

For Megan Monroe and her friends, this is how their nightmare begins: a wet whisper over their shoulder; a dark hand reaching out from the edge of their sight; and a name clawing at the back of their minds.

A young woman scratched from their memory.

To stop this devouring terror, Megan will need to mend broken friendships and reassemble her fractured past. For what stalks them hungers to remake itself in their image�� piece by bloody piece.

Dig into the haunted past with Head Like a Hole, a novel of malignant secrets, shattered friendships, and twisted bodily horror.]]> 382 Andrew Van Wey Mel 5 3.86 2022
author: Andrew Van Wey
name: Mel
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/29
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 35128447 SEARCHING FOR A NEW HOME...

The Galahad, a faster-than-light spacecraft, carries fifty scientists and engineers on a mission to prepare Kepler 452b, Earth's nearest habitable neighbor at 1400 light years away. With Earth no longer habitable and the Mars colony slowly failing, they are humanity's best hope.

After ten years in a failed cryogenic bed--body asleep, mind awake--William Chanokh's torture comes to an end as the fog clears, the hatch opens, and his friend and fellow hacker, Tom, greets him...by stabbing a screwdriver into his heart. This is the first time William dies.

It is not the last.

When he wakes from death, William discovers that all but one crew member--Capria Dixon--is either dead at Tom's hands, or escaped to the surface of Kepler 452b. This dire situation is made worse when Tom attacks again--and is killed. Driven mad by a rare reaction to extended cryo-sleep, Tom hacked the Galahad's navigation system and locked the ship on a faster-than-light journey through the universe, destination: nowhere. Ever.

Mysteriously immortal, William is taken on a journey with no end, where he encounters solitary desperation, strange and violent lifeforms, a forbidden love, and the nature of reality itself.

...HE DISCOVERS THE INFINITE.

Jeremy Robinson, the master of fast-paced and highly original stories seamlessly blending elements of horror, science fiction, and thrillers, tackles his most ambitious subject matter to date: reality itself. An amalgam of the works of J.J. Abrams and Ridley Scott, Infinite is a bold science fiction novel exploring the vastness of space and a man's desire to exist, find love, and alter the course of his life.]]> 400 Jeremy Robinson Mel 0 3.98 2017
author: Jeremy Robinson
name: Mel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/03
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 54309584
The Milesian Accords had provisions for a new challenge, though, and the Exiled Gods have sent their minions back to our world to seek out a champion to fight for them and a druid able to wield the magic needed to fulfill the challenge.

A descendant of the druid who participated in the original challenge, Liam Knox doesn’t know anything about the Accords or his ancestors, but those seeking to maintain the status quo are hunting him, and the beings of myth are doing their best to convince him to help the Exiled Gods return to the world of man, bringing magic back with them.

Liam is faced with a choice he doesn’t want, and if he chooses wrong, he risks more than his own life—he could end the world as we know it. And he’s running out of time to decide.]]> 416 Jon R. Osborne 1942936869 Mel 1 3.90 2017
author: Jon R. Osborne
name: Mel
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves:
review:
This storyline had a lot of potential. I wish this book had come with a warning that it is intended for boob loving dude bros though because you hear a lot about cleavage and wet t shirts and legs and asses. Pixel is described as a sexy 16 year old which is all kinds of wrong. Mr. Osborne, you are gross. Do better.
]]> 205087854
Eli ‘Nacho�� Naches is a fearsome assassin who has lost everything in a post-apocalyptic world full of monstrous creatures. He knows where he fits in this horror-show, and he’s only been hanging around to see what’s going to be thrown at him next. When he’s finally put in chains and sent to the chopping block, he goes readily�� only to be unexpectedly sent back in time to his younger body with his memories intact, and the chance to make a difference.

But Nacho isn’t interested in saving the world. He just needs to save the people that matter to him, and give them a chance to survive in a world where everything but the air itself is poison. Knowing that all their lives are on the line, Nacho the battle-scarred killer needs to get his college-age friends to listen to him, plan their builds, and secure a safe location to bunker down. Obviously, each of those goals is an Epic quest all on its own.

Welcome to the Juxtaposition. May Your Future Be Delicious.]]> 460 Dakota Krout 163766222X Mel 0 3.99 2024
author: Dakota Krout
name: Mel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 60521937
This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. . .

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.

Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.]]> 292 S.T. Gibson 0316501077 Mel 0 3.91 2021
author: S.T. Gibson
name: Mel
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 51352632 A Paranormal Women's Fiction with a bit of class, and a lot of sass, for anyone who feels like age is just a number! Whoever said life begins at forty must have been heavily medicated, drunk, or delusional.�� �� Thirty-nine was a fantastic year. I was married to the man I loved. I had a body that worked without creaking. My grandma, who raised me, was still healthy, and life was pretty damned good.�� �� But as��they��say, all good things come to an end. I’d honestly love to know who ’they’��are and rip them a new one. �� One year later, ��’m a widow. My joints are starting to ache. Gram is in the nursing home, and dead people think my home is some kind of supernatural bed and breakfast. Gluing body parts onto semi-transparent people has become a side job—deceased people ��’m not even sure are actually there. I think they need my help, but since I don’t speak��dead, we’re having a few issues.�� �� To add to the heap of trouble, there’s a new dangerously smokin�� hot lawyer at the firm who won't stop giving me the eye. My BFF is thrilled with her new frozen face, thanks to her plastic surgeon, her alimony check, and the miracle of Botox. And then there’s the little conundrum that ��’m becoming way too attached to my ghostly squatters�� Like Cher, I'd like to turn back time. Now. �� No can do. �� �� Whatever. I have wine, good friends, and an industrial sized box of superglue. What could possibly go wrong? �� Everything, apparently. �� All in all, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful midlife crisis…]]> 394 Robyn Peterman 1941377394 Mel 0 4.19 2020
author: Robyn Peterman
name: Mel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 59910674 The highly anticipated debut novel from Norman Reedus, acclaimed star of The Walking Dead.

"This country wasn't built on good--only fought for with good intentions."

Jack's dying mother told him, "Run and never look back." He spent his life amassing wealth, but after losing his family, he has no one to share it with. Alone with his demons and a backpack, he heads to South America, where people with nothing teach him what matters.

After thrashing his dog-abusing boss, Hunter learns of his father's death in a mysterious fire. Biker buddies Nugget and Itch ride with him from North Carolina to California. Stories from his father's life help ease the struggles of small-town Americans. Hunter discovers a secret past.

Seventeen-year-old Anne flees Tennessee after her older brother attacks her. She whacks him with a skillet and hops a freight to Alabama with her best friend. Living hand to mouth, they build friendships, uncovering something they never had: family.

The Ravaged is a fast-paced, up-in-your-face novel of gritty realism, exploring three different personal quests with eerily parallel outcomes.]]> 292 Norman Reedus 1094166804 Mel 0 3.22 2022
author: Norman Reedus
name: Mel
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/08
date added: 2024/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 180315826
The Change affects small, fast breeding mammals first. They multiply with the same aggressive speed as the ExoGen plants, but a new, insatiable hunger drives them to violence. War between species breaks out. When RC-714 reaches humanity, along with every other large creature on the planet, civilization implodes. Every living thing that consumed the ExoGen crops begins to adapt to a world full of predators, accessing genes dating back to the beginning of life itself.

Peter Crane and his son Jakob survive the Change, living in their family farmhouse and eating non-ExoGen food from a biodome, one of many provided by Ella Masse, who discovered the ramifications of her breakthrough too late. The pair ekes out a living in a world full of monsters, surviving until Ella shows up on their doorstep with her daughter, pursued by desperate predators and men alike.

As the farmhouse falls under attack, Crane learns that the end of humanity, of life on Earth, can still be if Ella Masse and her daughter survive, and if they make it to the other side of the country without being captured…or consumed.

Jeremy Robinson merges the science of Michael Crichton with the horror of Stephen King in this fresh take on the post-apocalypse, creating a true worst-case scenario for GMO crops that will have people reading labels before eating their next pepper, tomato, or kernel of corn.

*HUNGER (book 1) and FEAST (book 2) were previously released under the pen name, Jeremiah Knight. FAMINE (book 3) has not been previously published in any format.]]> 931 Jeremy Robinson Mel 0 4.20
author: Jeremy Robinson
name: Mel
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2598240 A powerful story of a Vietnam veteran torn between his war experience and his Native American community.

Raised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decision to hunt a whale, both a symbol of spirituality and rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to see tragedy befall the son he left behind.

Linda Hogan, called our most provocative Native American writer, with "her unparalleled gifts for truth and magic" (Barbara Kingsolver), has written a compassionate novel about the beauty of the natural world and the painful moral choices humans make in it. With a keen sense of the environment, spirituality, and the trauma of war, People of the Whale is a powerful novel for our times.]]> 304 Linda Hogan 0393064573 Mel 0 3.96 2008
author: Linda Hogan
name: Mel
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
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]]> 34339545
Howl with a werewolf! Gaze into the glowing eyes of a giant spider! Look right through a spooky ghost! See horrific monsters you couldn't even imagine, only inches away from you! Things with fangs, things with claws, things with dripping red jaws -- you'll see them all!

Not thrilling enough? Well, it's Halloween, and so we're offering a very special tour through the Haunted Forest. The new route goes deeper into the woods than any civilians have ventured before, and you're guaranteed to get a good scare! Rest assured that every possible security precaution has been taken. The Haunted Forest Tour has a 100% safety record, and technical difficulties are unheard of. You will be in no danger whatsoever.

We promise.

Bram Stoker Award-nominated authors James A. Moore and Jeff Strand have teamed up to take you on an action-packed, monster-laden adventure that will make you laugh, scream, and think twice before going near ghastly oversized beasts that want to devour you.

"[An] absolute gem of a read...What comes next is over two hundred pages of non stop, in your face, gore drenched action...You will be exhausted by the time you reach the satisfying last page...Think Jurassic Park with bloodthirsty demons on an adrenaline rush and you have The Haunted Forest Tour." - GoreZone magazine

"James A. Moore and Jeff Strand are a literary dream team. Devout readers of the genre are in for a real treat as these two horror heavyweights combine forces and battle their characters to the bloody death...Remember how it felt to inventory and consume your candy on Halloween night? That's the atmosphere in the forest. You feel like a glutton, like you couldn't possibly stomach one more gooey demise, but you turn the page and unwrap another nightmare anyway." - Horror-Web

"Moore and Strand heap scares upon plot twists in one of the freshest and most entertaining novels in recent years. The authors offer a frightening and high-octane tale, presented as an apocalyptic disaster movie." - Horror World]]> 375 James A. Moore Mel 0 3.66 2007
author: James A. Moore
name: Mel
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/05
shelves:
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]]> 179735 370 Jack Ketchum 0843955430 Mel 4 3.90 1989
author: Jack Ketchum
name: Mel
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves:
review:
This book was written in 1989 but takes place in the 50s which made it ageless. Jack Ketchum understands demented people, cruelty, and trauma. This book is beautifully written in its realism. I do not recommend it if you have experienced sexual assault.
]]> 57147004
The Studies the CDC Refuses to Do
��
This book is based on over one hundred studies in the peer-reviewed literature that consider vaccinated versus unvaccinated populations. Each study is analyzed, and health differences among infants, children, and adults who have been vaccinated and those who have not are presented and put in context. Readers will find information
�� ��
Given the massive push to vaccinate the entire global population, this book is timely and necessary for individuals to make informed choices for themselves and their families.

��]]> 304 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 1510766960 Mel 0 4.23
author: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
name: Mel
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/02/01
shelves:
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]]> 220772
The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?]]> 194 Sara Gran 0425210316 Mel 0 3.63 2003
author: Sara Gran
name: Mel
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/01/29
shelves:
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]]> 45861633 216 Aidy Award Mel 0 3.69
author: Aidy Award
name: Mel
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves:
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]]> 30359048
Racing against this impending outcome, Peter Crane and his family attempt to reach a laboratory in Boston, where a slim hope of saving the human race from extinction exists. But before heading northeast, they must visit the swamps of South Carolina’s Hellhole Bay to find a scientist who can help undo the damage done by ExoGen, the corporation that created and unleashed RC-714. Upon reaching Hellhole, the family is captured by a man named Mason, who not only survived the Change, but managed to keep a small community alive as well—a community that is subject to his every carnal desire and whim.

Trapped in the clutches of a man whose heart is as twisted as the monsters that roam the Earth, Peter, Ella, Jakob, Anne and Alia, must fight for their freedom from a literal hellhole. Danger lurks behind every door, stalks beneath the swampy waters and descends from the sky. As enemies—both human and ExoGenetic—close in, surviving will be harder than ever, and for some, impossible.

In 2015, Jeremy Robinson (writing as Jeremiah Knight) introduced another knockout novel into the horror/sci-fi scene with his Top 100 bestselling Hunger. Combining the speculative science of Crichton with the twisted scares of King, Feast continues the story that made Hunger the #1 post-apocalyptic novel.]]> 256 Jeremiah Knight Mel 0 4.24
author: Jeremiah Knight
name: Mel
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves:
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]]> 25612397
The Change affects small, fast breeding mammals first. They multiply with the same aggressive speed as the ExoGen plants, but a new, insatiable hunger drives them to violence. War between species breaks out. And then RC-714 reaches humanity, along with every other large creature on the planet. Civilization implodes, as every living thing that consumed the ExoGen crops begins to adapt to a world full of predators, accessing genes dating back to the beginning of life itself.

Peter Crane and his son Jakob survive the Change, living in their family farmhouse and eating non-ExoGen food from a biodome, one of many provided by Ella Masse, who discovered the ramifications of her breakthrough too late. The pair ekes out a living in a world full of monsters, surviving until Ella shows up on their doorstep with her daughter, pursued by desperate predators and men alike.

As the farmhouse falls under attack, Crane learns that the end of humanity, of life on Earth, can still be averted: if Ella Masse and her daughter survive, and if they make it to the other side of the country without being captured...or consumed.

Jeremy Robinson merges the science of Michael Crichton with the horror of Stephen King in this fresh take on the post-apocalypse, creating a true worst-case scenario for GMO crops that will have people reading labels before eating their next pepper, tomato or kernel of corn.]]> 290 Jeremiah Knight 1311403434 Mel 0 3.97 2015
author: Jeremiah Knight
name: Mel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves:
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]]> 53959705
That’s why I need a husband. ANY husband.

Unfortunately, all the men I approach keep running off. So I hire a bounty hunter to kidnap me someone capable and strong, someone who will scare off the creeps that are trying to move in on my territory.

It’ll be a marriage of convenience only.

I should have been a little more specific about who I wanted, though…because the intimidating and fierce praxiian male that the bounty hunter brings to me? The one with feline features, big arms and an even bigger…uh, farm?

He’s the problem I was hoping a new husband would scare off. What am I supposed to do now?

(Don’t ask him, because all of his suggestions are completely and utterly filthy and have nothing to do with a marriage of convenience.)]]> 389 Ruby Dixon Mel 0 4.08 2020
author: Ruby Dixon
name: Mel
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/17
date added: 2024/01/17
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]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Mel 0 4.16 2015
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Mel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/17
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves:
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]]> 142392376 Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.]]> 387 Jordan Peele 059324379X Mel 5 3.77 2023
author: Jordan Peele
name: Mel
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves:
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]]> 56471636 Madhuri Shakur Mel 4 4.18
author: Madhuri Shakur
name: Mel
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves:
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]]> 61046990 A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now ��’m stuck in his body.

As Jin, ��’m a man of the earth. A wielder of shovels and lord of rice and wheat. And sure, I also had to die and get pulled into another universe to end up here. But guess what? ��’m starting to think it was worth it.

I’ve somehow managed to get away from it all. Finally free of the bloodshed of cultivator fights, I figure I’ll live in the slow lane from here on out, my only real concern the rain—or lack thereof.

Unfortunately, I’ve suddenly got a shady organization looking for me, my cat has gone off to fight in a martial arts tournament, and my chicken has uncovered an ancient crystal containing portents of doom. You know, the usual stuff.

��’m not worried though. Sometimes trouble finds you. And while I may not be a master cultivator . . . trouble should know better than to mess with a farmer.

The third volume of the blockbuster progression-fantasy series—with more than 20 million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible! ]]> 785 CasualFarmer Mel 5 4.49 2023
author: CasualFarmer
name: Mel
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/02
date added: 2023/12/02
shelves:
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]]> 24830 The Illustrated Man has remained in print since being published in 1951 is fair testimony to the universal appeal of Ray Bradbury's work. Only his second collection (the first was Dark Carnival, later reworked into The October Country), it is a marvelous, if mostly dark, quilt of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. In an ingenious framework to open and close the book, Bradbury presents himself as a nameless narrator who meets the Illustrated Man--a wanderer whose entire body is a living canvas of exotic tattoos. What's even more remarkable, and increasingly disturbing, is that the illustrations are themselves magically alive, and each proceeds to unfold its own story, such as "The Veldt," wherein rowdy children take a game of virtual reality way over the edge. Or "Kaleidoscope," a heartbreaking portrait of stranded astronauts about to reenter our atmosphere--without the benefit of a spaceship. Or "Zero Hour," in which invading aliens have discovered a most logical ally--our own children. Even though most were written in the 1940s and 1950s, these 18 classic stories will be just as chillingly effective 50 years from now. --Stanley Wiater

Contents:

· Prologue: The Illustrated Man · ss *
· The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · ss The Saturday Evening Post Sep 23 ��50
· Kaleidoscope · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ��49
· The Other Foot · ss New Story Magazine Mar ��51
· The Highway [as by Leonard Spalding] · ss Copy Spr ��50
· The Man · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ��49
· The Long Rain [“Death-by-Rain”] · ss Planet Stories Sum ��50
· The Rocket Man · ss Maclean’s Mar 1 ��51
· The Fire Balloons [“‘In This Sign...’”] · ss Imagination Apr ��51
· The Last Night of the World · ss Esquire Feb ��51
· The Exiles [“The Mad Wizards of Mars”] · ss Maclean’s Sep 15 ��49; F&SF Win ��50
· No Particular Night or Morning · ss *
· The Fox and the Forest [“To the Future”] · ss Colliers May 13 ��50
· The Visitor · ss Startling Stories Nov ��48
· The Concrete Mixer · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ��49
· Marionettes, Inc. [Marionettes, Inc.] · ss Startling Stories Mar ��49
· The City [“Purpose”] · ss Startling Stories Jul ��50
· Zero Hour · ss Planet Stories Fll ��47
· The Rocket [“Outcast of the Stars”] · ss Super Science Stories Mar ��50
· Epilogue · aw *]]> 186 Ray Bradbury 000712774X Mel 4 4.14 1951
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Mel
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/27
date added: 2023/11/27
shelves:
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]]> 43610618 Who Goes There?, about a team of scientists in Antarctica who discover and are terrorized by a monstrous, shape-shifting alien entity. The story would later be adapted into John Carpenter's iconic movie The Thing (following an earlier film adaptation in 1951). The published novella was actually an abridged version of Campbell's original story, called Frozen Hell, which had to be shortened for publication.

The Frozen Hell manuscript remained unknown and unpublished for decades, and it was only recently rediscovered. Frozen Hell expands the Thing story dramatically, giving vital backstory and context to an already incredible tale. We are pleased and honored to offer Frozen Hell to you now, as Campbell intended it. You will be among the first people to ever read this completed version of the story.]]> 149 John W. Campbell Jr. Mel 0 3.75 2019
author: John W. Campbell Jr.
name: Mel
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/22
date added: 2023/11/22
shelves:
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]]> 200356486 190 Robert J. Sawyer 1989398995 Mel 0 3.58 2024
author: Robert J. Sawyer
name: Mel
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/09
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves:
review:

]]>