Short Stories I Read In December

It’s the twenty-ninth of January. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in December.

Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge by Eugenia Triantafyllou [Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Four)

Before 2023 was over, I tried to play catchup by finally reading one of the short stories released in the final stretch of the year. It was Eugenia Triantafyllou’s short story for Uncanny Magazine, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge. I adored this story. With a local superstition about the creepy underpass—nicknamed “the tunnel”—of a disused bridge and deals with the devil that have unintended consequences, this story takes being very careful with what you wish for very-VERY literally. With a narrator, Olga, whose choice is, you know, kind of understandable, given the context within the story she was navigating through (i.e. death of a close and younger family member). Being in her headspace was kind of wild. As her wish seemingly comes true (or does it), it reveals a part of the "trick" as more and more of her slips away. She assumed so much about how her situation should play out, and that combined with everything else ensured there was plenty of nail-biting tension to go around. I was on the edge of my seat all the way to the end. The story had this overwhelming, foreboding atmosphere, because with the kind of deal Olga participated in, you just know the consequences aren’t going to be good. But I still didn’t anticipate that twist in the end. Looking back, though, all the clues were right there. This story was a dose of the supernatural combined with a family whose grief allowed the devil in. All-in-all, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge was fantastic.

From around the web…

• Dog is in the Details [Sarah Pinsker; Apex Magazine; November 16, 2023]
• Wilson’s Iliad and Le Guin’s Battle Between Good and Evil, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sword [Kristen Patterson; Tor.com; December 4, 2023]
• Book Review: The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw [Aigner Loren Wilson; Lightspeed Mangazine; December 2023, Issue 163]

Music Monday (270): Tinashe, Yemi Alade, Tierra Whack

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I've really been enjoying Tinashe's latest album, BB/ANG3L. One of my favorites from it is Uh Huh.

Adri: My pick for today is Shower Song by Tierra Whack. I find the music video a little nostalgic.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Amazing Grace by Yemi Alade. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (244) & Book Beginnings: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE **Note: Freda @ Freda's Voice is taking a break from The Friday 56; Anne @Head is Full of Books is hosting for now.**

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Beginning: "Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she'd been told that she would kill her true love."

56: "The voices in Whelk's head were a roar, but for once, his own thoughts had drowned them out."

Comments: Back in December, I reread Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys. It was about a full decade since I first read it, and I enjoyed the story much more this time around than the last. What are you reading this week?

On Rereading The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

 

There are so many new releases and backlist titles I want to get to in a given year, I rarely have the time to reread books as much as I would like to. But, in December, I took the time to revisit Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys.

I first read The Raven Boys in September of 2013. So it’s been just over a full decade since I first picked up this book, at the time of writing this in December of 2023. So fast forward to November 2023, I’m going through some of the older titles on my bookshelves, and I decide to spontaneously reread the first four pages—the prologue—of The Raven Boys. And I was, to say the least, very intrigued.

Granted, it’s been a very long time and, while I remembered some details of the plot, my recall of the majority the story was…vague. Back then, I liked The Raven Boys, but it wasn’t a favorite novel of mine. But I was also a very different reader then than I am now. I was less into folklore and mythology; I was still discovering what my reading tastes actually were; and my reading habits depended, in large part, on my mood. Most of those things aren’t applicable now, and I’ve gotten very good at being able to tell which books I’ll like—give or take a few instances when I happen to be wrong.

“It was freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrived.” Pg.1

The Raven Boys is a book about hunts—for Glendower, for the ley lines—and the people who search for them, explore them, or simply seek to experience or just to glimpse something…otherworldly. For Blue Sargent, she’s tired of being the sensible one, and wants a glimpse of what her family of psychics see—and is also involved due to rebellious decisions. For Ronan, Adam, and Noah, they’ve joined Gansey’s quest to find Glendower—and they form most of the friend group, and are often referred to as the titular Raven Boys.

Knowing (vaguely) what happens didn’t change how much I enjoyed my reread of The Raven Boys. I took my time with it, just appreciating the details. There is a lot of context and clues to keep track of, some of which I know is laying the groundwork for the sequels (the implications were literally everywhere!). I know I must have overlooked some of it before, or it was simply that I didn’t have as much appreciation for what the story was doing—because it has a lot to say.

The Welsh Mythology is one of the key factors of interest for me. Stories that are deeply entrenched in mythology and folklore are some of my favorites. A more recent book that I read that has a similar vibe was Kate Pearsall’s Bittersweet in the Hollow.

This isn’t the kind of story that has hard—almost scientific—rules for its magic. It had a soft, almost murky quality to it, making it feel natural to the nature of the story’s setting of Henrietta, Virginia. Some things just were or were wrapped with layers of mystique.

But The Raven Boys is also about its characters and their nuances. The cast is colorful, troubled, obsessive, and eccentric. Large personalities that, at times, clash, but the friendships were complex as well as enjoyable to read about, as the story explored their corners.

The ending is…a cliffhanger.

As far as I remember, I never continued with this series, but I plan to finish The Raven Cycle this year. That should be easy, since I now have copies of The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue, and The Raven King.

About the book...

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Music Monday (269): Fall Out Boy, Tamia

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My pick this week is So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy. It's the titular track from their album, and it's also one of my top-favorite songs by the band.

Andrea: Hi all! I hope everyone is having a great New Year. This week I'm listening to So Into You by Tamia. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Title: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Series: Emily Wilde #2
Author: Heather Fawcett
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Historical Fiction; Romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Del Rey; January 16, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.  

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby. Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger. And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans. But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

**This is a sequel, so there are mild spoilers for the first book from here on out. You have been warned.**

If there was one book I was looking forward to in January of 2024, it was going to be Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands. This is Heather Fawcett’s follow-up to the Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Suffice it to say, I was more than ready to be back with the smart, adventurous, but awkward—and as the book synopsis describes her, “curmudgeonly”—Emily Wilde.

This book had the same style as the first one, in that it’s essentially Emily telling the story to the reader via her journal.

In Map of the Otherlands, Emily, Wendell, Shadow, and two new characters, set off into the Austrian Alps. It’s partly to continue research for her next project, the titular Map of the Otherlands, as well as the potential of finding a door into Wendell’s realm. There was also the necessity to get out of Cambridge for a while.

The set up for this adventure happens relatively early in the story. The threat to Wendell’s life—and the collateral damage that comes from a sudden attack fueled by magic—ensured Map of the Otherlands, from that point, had VERY high stakes for the remainder of the story. It also had a good balance between Emily’s penchants for putting her desire for discovers first with the danger posed by the very subjects of her studies. There was action, and also an element of whimsy. The fairy realms—the doors and the places that share borders—were bizarre in an ethereal, if not surreal, manner.

I loved the setting from the first book, but I also liked this one as well. It too shared a relatively remote locale, being in the mountains, and it was described as very quaint and picturesque with a lot of open land. The terrain once again posed its own issues, and the local customs had certain requirements and dictated the time of day they could be out and about. It’s one of the things I appreciate about this book: the attention to detail.

This series has such a lively cast. A few faces from the previous book were present here as well, but I also liked getting to know the new characters as well, particularly one who she could verbally spar with. Wendell is in a tough spot in this one, but he still manages to come off as witty, sometimes a little arrogant, but also very caring for the people he holds in regard. 

Fawcett’s use of folklore, particularly with a focus on fairies as a subject of intense study, remains one of my favorite versions of a fey-themed novel. Emily’s approach is very analytical, but she’s self-aware. And it’s always fun to see her in her element but, with the addition of new characters to this expedition, she also had new relationships to navigate. It wasn’t her strong suit, to say the least. But there was development on the platonic as well as romantic fronts.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is a fantastic sequel. If you’ve read the first book then I highly recommend this one too.

About the author....

Heather Fawcett is the Sunday Times and internationally bestselling Canadian author of books for adults, kids, and teens, including Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Even the Darkest Stars, Ember and the Ice Dragons, The Grace of Wild Things, and more. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and somehow all include dragons in one form or another. She has a Master’s degree in English Literature and a Bachelor’s in Archaeology. She lives on Vancouver Island.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Del Rey) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

I'm Back + Most Anticipated Releases of 2024

It’s been a minute, but I’m returning from my annual break from the blog. Once again, Happy New Year!

So, what have I been up to?

I always tell myself I’m going to read a lot more during my breaks than I ever do, but during the holidays, I inevitably end up preoccupied by other things. Whether that’s with a TV series, movies, some form of arts and crafts, or video games. This time, I got into making miniatures. They were supposed to be for small unfinished snow globes, but I got overly ambitious and overestimated what I could do with the size constraints. I had maybe too much fun with that, since the project is ongoing and has followed me right into the New Year.

As for video games, I’m working my way through the last dungeon in Fae Farm as well as the remainder of its central story. This is a game I’ve really taken my time with, and I don’t have any plans to change the pace with how I engage with it. I’m also still playing Tears of the Kingdom. There’s just so much to explore, but I’m genuinely enjoying it.

So, what are my 2024 blog goals?

I don’t have any other goals this year, except to finish a couple of book series (especially the two that I already have the books for).

What upcoming books am I looking forward to?

I always try to keep my anticipated books list kind of short, because I know I’ll come across plenty of novels as the year progresses. What I am looking forward to is: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden, The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by Kate Pearsall, and Holly Horror: The Longest Night by Michelle Jabes Corpora.

What upcoming albums am I anticipating?

Like books, I know I’ll come across my albums later in the year. For now my list includes: Lana by SZA (sometime in 2024; deluxe version of SZA's 2022 album, SOS) Savior by Green Day (January 19), Girl with No Face by Allie X (February 23), Funk Generation by Anitta (Unscheduled), Into the Unknown by Nero (Unscheduled), and ORQUIDEAS by Kali Uchis (Already released; January 12, 2024).

What upcoming video games am I looking forward to?

Last, and certainly not least, I want to go over the video games coming out in 2024 that I’m most excited for. I primarily play on my Nintendo Switch Lite, so the games I’m going to mention consists of releases that will be available on that console.

Luigi’s Mansion HD (Luigi’s 2: This Dark Moon Nintendo Switch Port) is at the top of my list for 2024 video game releases. Even though I always wanted to play the original, I never did. So I’m very excited that it’s coming to the Switch. Another one is Princess Peach: Showtime! How many years has it been since Peach had her own game? And from the look of the trailer, it seems like it’s going to be an exciting game. As for indies, the two I’m watching for potential Switch releases is Moonlights Peaks, a vampire life-sim, and Camper Van: Make It Home, a decorating game.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to the year ahead. Happy reading!

Music Monday (268): Tinashe

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Why hello, its been a while. First thing's first, Happy New Year! With that out of the way, I'm officially back from my break (more on that later/on a different upcoming blog post). While I was gone, I got back into Tinashe's music. She had a new album out in September of 2023, which sent me down a rabbit hole of gathering all my favorite songs of hers for my playlist. One of them is Spacetime. I love the general vibe of this song.

What are you listening to this week?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's officially 2024. And, while we're not back to blogging just yet, we're getting some post prepared for later this month. Until then, happy reading!