Short Stories I Read In September

It’s October twenty-ninth. So it’s time to write about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in September.

The 6% Squeeze by Eddie Robson (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Sixty)

The 6% Squeeze by Eddie Robson was an uncanny and engrossing short story (no pun intended) with hints of absurd and horror, about a man—Miles—and the design of a product package, for a brand referred to as “Mr Zeb.” Seems pretty mundane right? Well, the story quickly took a turn, and the instructions for how to design the packaging read like a manual for a cult, as Miles discovers just who he’s doing freelance for. I liked this story. It had a great, eerie atmosphere, and the build-up toward the reveal and the end was tense.

The Music Must Always Play by Marissa Lingen (Clarkesworld Magazine; Issue 216 September 2024)

The next short story I checked out was Marissa Lingen’s The Music Must Always Play. This is the second story I've read from this author this year (the other one was And the Dreams That You Dare to Dream). This one was a first contact story set in Mankato, Minnesota, after an alien ship crash landed. The aliens were significant but also a small part of the story. They weren’t the focus, rather it was the aftermath of the crash, and a linguists, Maryam Mohamed’s, attempts to understand the clues they left behind. There was nothing dramatic, in terms of twists, due to how the emotional arc in this character sturdy was the point. I liked what Lingen did with Maryam. She was a complicated character, who was caught between her dedication to linguistics and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study an alien language and her desire to be closer to her family during her father’s illness. All-in-all, The Music Must Always Play was a good one. 

From around the web…

• The Moonlight Market by Joanne Harris is Full of Charm [Liz Bourke; Reactor Magazine; September 30 2024]

Music Monday Halloween Edition (2024)

 

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 

October 31st is right around the corner, so welcome to our annual Halloween Edition of Music Monday, where we're going to share more of the music we've been listening to this season!

Breana: Since this is the Halloween Edition, I have three songs. The first one is RIP by Qveen Herby. I couldn't end the month without mentioning this one, because it embodies the season.

My second pick is Vampire in the Corner by Magdalena Bay. It's from their latest album, Imaginal Disk.

And my third pick is another song from Qveen Herby. This one is called Frankenstein and it features Tech N9ne.

Andrea: This week I'm listening to Addams Groove by MC Hammer. Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Adri: This week my pick is a song I've been listening to for most of the year, but wanted to save for this edition specifically. And that song is Are You Afraid of the Dark by Scary Black. 

So that's it for our annual Halloween Edition. What are you listening to?

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Title: Sabriel
Series: The Old Kingdom #1
Author: Garth Nix
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Collins; January 1, 1995

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Enter the Old Kingdom, a world of dark secrets and dangerous magic.

As a child, Sabriel was sent across the Wall to Ancelstierre to safety. Now eighteen years old, she receives a cryptic and desperate message from her father, the Abhorsen—the magical protector whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those who won’t stay Dead. Fiercely determined to help her father, who is perilously trapped in Death, and save him from the sinister Free Magic entity that has somehow ensnared him, Sabriel must prepare to enter Death herself—and find her destiny. To preserve life, the Abhorsen must enter death.

I haven’t picked up a Garth Nix book in many-many years—the last ones I read were The Keys to the Kingdom with Mister Monday and the following novels. However, one series that has persisted on my TBR list (for just as long) has been Nix’s The Old Kingdom. So in the interest of slimming down that TBR by another book, I picked up Sabriel, the first of that series.

Sabriel was a phenomenal novel, and had almost everything I love about fantasy. There was a good deal of traveling the main character, Sabriel, undertook during her adventure. However, each step of the way presented its own pitfalls, ensuring the story kept a sense of urgency. It was part cat-and-mouse game, part fetch quest, and there was no happy ending guaranteed in a story that dealt with so much death.

The magic had a cool system, essentially necromancy, which required literally stepping into death as well as a set of very particular bells. I loved this aspect of the story and the details that went into developing it. After all, each bell was imbued with a different power—and had varied consequences for ringing them—which only added another layer of detail to a magic system that was already working within a clear set of relatively unique rules.

There were two primary places where the story took place. There’s Ancelstierre, where Sabriel attended Wyverly College, which—although a fantasy country—could have been reality, albeit a historical time period. There were cars, electricity, and even weapons. The Old Kingdom, by contrast, was pure fantasy and entirely bleak; a place that was clearly on the losing side of a conflict. And it was into the horror left behind and the grueling battle against “those who won’t stay dead,” that Sabriel enters as a begrudging player, in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t want the job, more than that, however, she wanted to find her father, the Abhorsen. And her anxiety is part of what propels the story, at least early on, before she gained allies and came to understand the greater danger posed to everything and everyone. As a result, the story had intensity to it, and I enjoyed every second of it.

All in all, I adored this novel, and I’m looking forward to eventually continuing with this series.

 

I Listened to Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii

Doechii is one of my favorite rappers recently, alongside the likes of Megan Thee Stallion. 2024 has been a busy year, with numerous releases including standalone singles like Alter Ego featuring JT and Pacer, and a series called Swamp Sessions—which proceeded the release of this mixtape. Titled Alligator Bites Never Heal, Doechii’s latest was released on August twenty-third. And with that, welcome back to the music minded corner of Our Thoughts Precisely!

Doechii is a great rapper, as proven by her earlier work, and that trend continued with this mixtape. This is some of her best work and, honestly, it didn’t even feel like a mixtape while I was listening to it. If someone told me this was an album, I’d buy it—I had a similar opinion about FKA Twigs mixtape, Caprisongs.

Alligator Bites Never Heal is grungy, reflective, open, and defined by some incredible flows and production that tended to get creative (for example Boiled Peanuts, GTFO, and Skipp). It felt, at times, like hip-hop and rap from the early 2000s and 90s with a classic/timeless vibe. There was everything from the bite-size Swamp Sessions songs on the album (Bullfrog, Catfish, Nissan Altima, and Boom Bap), to the reflective intro Stankapoo, and the almost pop adjacent Beverly Hills where Doechii shows off her singing chops. There are plenty of other great songs on this one too like Fireflies, HUH, and Wait, just to name a few.

So, Alligator Bites Never Heal was a great collection of music from Doechii.     

Music Monday (303): Cherish, Twenty One Pilots, Tetrarch

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 finally listened to Twenty One Pilots's latest album, Clancy, and one of my favorite songs is Backslide.

Adri: One of my favorite bands has finally released another song and I've been listening to it a lot. So, my pick this week is Live Not Fantasize by Tetrarch.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Unappreciated by Cherish. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (249) & Book Beginnings: Sabriel by Garth Nix

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. **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...

Enter the Old Kingdom, a world of dark secrets and dangerous magic.

As a child, Sabriel was sent across the Wall to Ancelstierre to safety. Now eighteen years old, she receives a cryptic and desperate message from her father, the Abhorsen—the magical protector whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those who won’t stay Dead. Fiercely determined to help her father, who is perilously trapped in Death, and save him from the sinister Free Magic entity that has somehow ensnared him, Sabriel must prepare to enter Death herself—and find her destiny. To preserve life, the Abhorsen must enter death.

Beginning: "It was little more than three miles from the Wall into the Old Kingdom, but that was enough."

56: "It had been human once, or human-like at least, in the years it had lived under the sun."

Comments: Its been a minute since I last participated in the Friday weekly memes. However, I really wanted to mention one of my more recent reads: Sabriel. I'm very late to the series, but I enjoyed it. What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (302): Qveen Herby, MC Lyte, Mary Mary, Muni Long, ALT BLK ERA

 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: Qveen Herby is one of my go-to artists, when it comes to Halloween adjacent music. My pick today is My SZN from Herby's latest EP, The Alchemist, which was released June of this year.

Adri: My pick for this week is Come On Outside by ALT BLK ERA. I've been listening to them for a while, so I'm really excited for their upcoming debut album, Rave Immortal.

Andrea: Hi all! Thus week I'm listening to Thank You by MC Lyte featuring Mary Mary and Muni Long. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

Title: The Maid and the Crocodile 

Series: Raybearer
Author: Jordan Ifueko
Source/Format: Publisher; Paperback ARC
More Details: Fantasy; Young Adult; Romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Harry N. Abrams; August 13, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution.

In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, country bumpkin Small Sade needs a job—preferably as a maid, with employers who don’t mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be hired, she accidentally binds herself to a powerful god known only as the Crocodile, who is rumored to devour pretty girls. Small Sade entrances the Crocodile with her secret: she is a Curse Eater, gifted with the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses. The handsome god warns that their fates are bound, but Small Sade evades him, launching herself into a new career as the Curse Eater of a swanky inn. She is determined to impress the wealthy inhabitants and earn her place in Oluwan City . . . assuming her secret-filled past—and the revolutionary ambitions of the Crocodile God—don’t catch up with her. But maybe there is more to Small Sade. And maybe everyone in Oluwan City deserves more, too, from the maids all the way to the Anointed Ones.

I rarely pick up young adult romances these days, except for on rare occasions like this, when a synopsis is enough to garner my attention. The Maid and the Crocodile is Jordan Ifueko’s standalone romance set in the same world as the Raybearer series, and while I still want to check out those books eventually, that didn’t curb my enthusiasm for this story.

Small Sade was a very personable character. Life hadn’t been kind to her and, now that she aged out of the orphanage, she needed a job more than ever, and her ability as a Curse-Eater might just be the thing to do it. Enter a plucky, lovable gecko and the Crocodile, a supposed god with a questionable reputation. When Small Sade and the Crocodile’s paths cross, they end up with an unexpected bond, and embark on a journey of self-discovery in a story set to challenge everything they thought true about themselves.

The Maid and the Crocodile is a slow burn romance through and through. The story spent a good chunk of its page space developing the characters, and bringing them to a place of equal footing. The relationship wasn’t without its troubles and was even tumultuous at certain points. However, that being said, I liked that Ifueko gave the relationship enough time to breathe and develop into something not only believable but also heartwarming and something to really root for.

The relationship wasn’t the only point of the book, though. There was the storyline set at the Balogun Inn. I also enjoyed this look into the Raybearer world, and it is something to keep in mind when approaching The Maid and the Crocodile. If you’re like me and don’t mind spoilers for the other books, then it won’t be an issue. But, as this takes place after Raybearer and Redemptor, there were passages related to events that took place in those books.

That aside, with a cast full of colorful and endearing characters, cute and romantic moments, and even aspects of a race against time, The Maid and the Crocodile was a delightful, heartfelt story. And I can’t recommend it enough.

About the author....

Jordan Ifueko is the NYT Bestselling Author of the RAYBEARER series & the Disney-Marvel comics MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR. She’s a Nebula Award, Ignyte Award, Audie Award, and Hugo Lodestar finalist, and she's been featured in People Magazine, NPR Best Books, NPR Pop Culture Hour, & ALA Top Ten. She writes about magic Black girls who aren’t magic all the time, because honestly, they deserve a vacation.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Harry N. Abrams) in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Spooky Books to Read This October (2024)

I don’t often do a recommendation list for books but, each year, if there’s a month I’ll put one together, it’ll be for October. So, welcome! Here’s a short list of spooky books.

Middle Grade & Young Adult

It Came From the Trees by Ally Russell is one of my favorite middle grade horror novels to-date. It has plenty to offer: outdoorsy main character, an eerie atmosphere, and a creative (and terrifying) twist on Bigfoot.

Give Me Something Good to Eat by D.W. Gillespie is aptly compared to Hocus Pocus and Stranger Things. The MC, Mason Miller, is in a race against time to save his sister from the macabre tradition hosted by a witch each Halloween.

The last middle grade novel on this list is Amalie Howard’s Bumps in the Night. Darika Lovelace confronts family secrets and ends up on a supernatural adventure through a dangerous, otherworldly maze.

Up next is Holly Horror: The Longest Night by Michelle Jabès Corpora. One of my most anticipated sequels of 2024 and an atmospheric ghost story that finally answers the big mystery of the series, which began in Holly Horror.

General Fiction

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, the fifth novella in The Singing Hills Cycle. Cleric Chih is accompanying a bride, and the story that unfolds is a haunting, gothic mystery set in a crumbling, isolated estate.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is set during the “Great War,” and follows a combat nurse who’s looking for her brother, who may (against all odds) be still alive, despite being presumed dead. It’s a bittersweet yet hopeful story as well as one full of ghosts and the visceral horrors of war.

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker is a slightly lighter story than The Warm Hands of Ghosts. But it was, at its core, still a ghost story, which took place on the sets of a niche TV show—a cross between ghost hunting and home renovation.

Classic

Sabriel is Garth Nix’s 1995 fantasy novel, the first of The Old Kingdom series: Necromancy, a crumbling kingdom succumbing to the dead, and a heroine reluctant to pick up the mantle of Abhorsen. There is a sense of dread that permeates across the entire story.

So, that’s every spooky book I’m recommending this October. Happy reading!

Music Monday (301): Angie Stone, Over The Garden Wall

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: Over The Garden Wall is one of my all-time favorite cartoons. The animation is wonderful, the story is A+, and it's vibe and atmosphere is perfect for October/Fall. It's definitely time for a rewatch! Anyway, my pick this week is the soundtrack from Over The Garden Wall.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to No More Rain (In This Cloud) by Angie Stone. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Quarterly Recap: July-September

It’s October, one of my favorite months of the year. The weather is finally cooling down on my end, which is something I always look forward to. But, I digress. October also means that it’s time to take a look back at the past three months and, as always, I’m starting with reviews.

July, August, and September Reviews...

• Clock Striker Volume 2: The Sharing Society by Issaka Galadima and Frederick L. Jones
• Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
• Devil Is Fine John Vercher
• Give Me Something Good To Eat by D.W. Gillespie
• Holly Horror: The Longest Night by Michelle Jabès Corpora
• It Came From The Trees by Ally Russell
• In The Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran
• Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

Other July, August, and September Blog Posts....

• What I've Been Listening To (September)
• I Listened to Paradise State of Mind by Foster the People
• I Listened to Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay
• I Listened to What Happened to the Heart? by Aurora 
• I Listened to Megan by megan Thee Stallion 
• Short Stories I Read In June
• Quarterly Recap April-June
• I Listened to Born in the Wild by Tems
• Short Stories I Read in August
• I Listened to Brat by Charli XCX
• I Watched The Invitation (2022)
• I Listened to Dopamine by Normani

Looking forward, the holiday season is here, so I have nothing specific for this portion of the post.