VOID DREAMS is out!

Actually, it's been out since last week, but I've been busy with real life - trying to finish a story and prep for a biiiiig trip to Japan, and I kinda forgot to post anything on the blog about. But it's out! Hurrah! Lola and Tristesse are back for their sixth adventure! Hurrah!

Lola and Tristesse are back where they belong … but they didn’t come alone.

Something is haunting the streets and dreams of Fort Rosser, and when Lola’s clients start dying, she’s forced to accept that Gehenna hasn’t let her go yet.

Now Lola and her friends are in a race against time to stop a monster that can only grow more powerful. Cut off from the immense magic of the patrons, Lola needs to get creative to deal with this threat. But everyone has their limits. If Lola goes too far, can Tristesse bring her home?

You can buy VOID DREAMS now at Evernight, Amazon US, Amazon UK, and wherever else you buy your ebooks.

The next Blood Canticles book, which will hopefully be out in 2020, will be the last one. This series has come a long way since BLOOD WITCH, and I've loved every step of the journey, but it's time to give Lola and Tristesse a happy ending, and for me to move onto other shiny new projects. So grab VOID DREAMS and start speculating on what happens next...

Retro Reading - Freeze Tag

All the neighbourhood kids hate Lannie. But she has a gift that makes her dangerous and powerful - she can freeze people with a mere touch of her hand. So when she extracts a promise from a young and frightened West, he knows everyone he loves is at risk unless he agrees. As the kids grow up, they forget how dangerous Lannie really is...Until she comes to collect.

Freeze Tag is one of the Point Horror books I remember most vividly. I read a fair few Caroline B Cooneys, and I love her dreamy, almost surreal style, and I think this is the book where that style is at its most elegant and memorable. It helps that the storyline is compelling too. We all knew a Lannie, I think. That weird kid that nobody really wants to be friends with, but everyone kind of feels guilty about ignoring, because clearly her home life is shit.

And her home life is shit. Throughout the book, over and over, we are told that nobody loves Lannie. Nobody ever has. Her parents don't want her. The neighbourhood kids are flat out scared of her. She has nobody to hug her, play with her, include her, or care for her. But on the flip side, she can literally freeze people with a touch, and has definitely murdered at least two people and one dog this way. So is Lannie unloveable because she's a monster, or is she a monster because she's unloveable?

It's a question the heroine of Freeze Tag, Meghan, battles to answer. Meghan's boyfriend, West, is the object of Lannie's sociopathic affections, and she blackmails him into dating her by threatening Meghan, and West's younger siblings. Meghan is the antithesis of Lannie. She's loved by her parents, has a handsome, considerate boyfriend, close friends, and is doing well in life. As she struggles to win West back from Lannie, she grows to understand how much she's taken all that for granted, and her hatred for Lannie is tempered by empathy for her. It's a pretty nuanced portrayal, and makes Meghan a wonderful heroine. As Lannie sinks her claws into West and casts her shadow over Meghan's happy life, Meghan fights to stay compassionate and kind, to find a solution where nobody gets hurt.

Between Meghan's warmth and Lannie's coldness, we have West. He starts out doing his best to protect Meghan and his siblings by giving into Lannie. But as the book progresses, we see Lannie's icy cruelness rub off on him. Is he still acting, or is Lannie changing him for real? Does evil spread, and can someone be pulled back from the edge? By the end of the book, West is not the same thoughtful, generous person he was at the start, and his dispassionate cruelty seems to be infecting his younger brother and sister too as they fight to get rid of Lannie.

Ultimately, this story isn't about defeating Lannie. It's about Meghan deciding what kind of person she wants to be. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing," as they say. Meghan has a choice - she can passively allow her boyfriend to "end" Lannie. She doesn't have to be involved - she just has to do nothing. Or she can save Lannie, even though Lannie would never save her. What's the right call?

If I have one frustration with this book, it's that we never learn if Meghan makes the right choice. We see her act, but we don't get a resolution. At the end of the book, Meghan has decided that she can't be passive, she can't be hateful, and she can't let West's own growing malice infect her. But is her compassion and bravery going to change Lannie? We don't know. I don't have a problem with ambiguous endings under the right circumstances, but the facts remain that Lannie has killed and blackmailed her way through life. Will one kind act change that?

We don't know, and I guess maybe that isn't the point, because this isn't Lannie's story and her redemption isn't the point. The point is that Meghan rises above the hatred and poison of the people around her, that she fights to be a good person and succeeds. That's pretty cool.*

*Puns always intended.

The Hook on the Hand

So one of the things I didn't get around to mentioning in my The Cemetery post is the use of the urban legend commonly known as The Hook. It comes up twice - once when Rick is telling ghost stories at the Halloween party* and again when Dorian is killed by the Ripper. Just before his death, Cyndi finds a hook attached to Dorian's car:

If you're not familiar with the story, The Hook dates back to roughly the 1950s, and like most urban legends, serves as a morality tale for hormonal teens, much the same way fairy tales like Red Riding Hood warned young women against predatory men of court back in the day. The quick and dirty version of the story is thus:

A young couple are parked up down some lovers' lane. The radio plays while they make out. A breaking news story announces that a serial killer has escaped from a local mental institution and can be identified by the hook on his hand. The couple decide to leave, with various spins on the end of the story following. Either they get home to find a bloody hook dangling from the car door, or for some reason the man has to leave the car, and the woman later finds him dead. Some variations see her hearing strange thumping on the roof of the car, only to discover said serial killer up there with her boyfriend's severed head. One version sees her finding the boyfriend hung from a tree over the car, his nails scraping the roof as his body swings back and forth.

However the story ends, the message is clear: keep it in your pants, kids!

Now, clearly this is a warning against loose morals and sexual experimentation, and we could even link to back to the real-life Phantom Killer case of 1946, but I'm not here to talk about horny teens and the fates they richly deserve. I'm here to ask questions. Two questions, specifically.

First - why is the killer an escaped mental patient?

And second - why the blazing hell would someone who'd been instutionalised be allowed to keep a hook on their hand?

I mean, look, I know mental health care in 1950s America wasn't the best, but we were seeing a move towards more community-based care and less underfunded, understaffed, brutally poorly-run institutions. In any case, I have to assume that even the worst asylum going wouldn't let someone with a hook for a hand just keep that hook. Especially if that patient was also a serial killer and also certifiable insane as the story implies. That's just...really bad practice, you guys.**

Also, for the record, I think a hook is probably a really inefficient way to serial-kill people.

But let's circle back to question one. Why does the story conflate mental illness with murder? Why is a mental patient automatically dangerous, or a killer?

I noted with Help Wanted and The Mummy that there is a tendency in Point Horror books to make the villains "crazy." I guess it's an easy literary shortcut - they're doing bad things because they're mentally ill! Case closed. And of course nowadays you don't have to wait long to hear "was he mentally ill?" whenever a lone white male goes on a mass shooting spree. This clearly completely ignores the fact that many of us with mental health problems never bloody kill anyone***.

We can blame it on the era. Like I say, mental health care in the 1950s was undergoing a change, but the change in treatment options wasn't necessarily followed by a change in understanding. The stigma surrounding mental health continues to this day, and the understanding of conditions evolves slowly, with social understanding tending to lag behind medical understanding, because let's face it - "sociopath" is just such a cool term to throw around.****

You would think, for a 1950s warning against whipping your dick out in public places, you wouldn't need the added "scare" of the killer being a crazy guy. We can talk about the abnormal psychology that might lead someone to become a serial killer, for sure, but there are always exceptions to the generally accepted "signs." I'm not here to say serial killers are not mentally ill, though. I'm here to say mentally ill people are not destined to become serial killers, and that the conflation of "mentally ill" with "dangerous" is itself a damaging stereotype. And it's so prevalent in the news, in literature, and even in old spoopy urban legends, that it feels worth reiterating as often as possible. Psychotic is not psychopathic. Depressed is not dangerous. Hooks are not good murder weapons.

*Even though this is categorically not a ghost story, Rick, you moron. I'm glad someone knocked you out.

**And don't tell me he could have got the hook after escaping. Where's an escaped asylum inmate going to find a hook? Like, how much effort is that kind of person going to put into find a hook they can attached to their wrist and use to kill people? There are easier ways to kill people, that's all I'm saying. 

***Even if Karen is super annoying.

****That was sarcasm, by the way.

Retro Reading - Help Wanted

If you asked me to name my major literary influences, off the top of my head I'd say Tamora Pierce and HP Lovecraft. With some more thought I'd talk about CS Lewis, Laurell K Hamilton, MR James, and Patricia Leitch. I would almost certainly have never mentioned Richie Tankersley Cusick.

Yes, it's more Point Horror! After enjoying the nostalgic kick of The Silent Scream last week, I decided to indulge my inner teen a bit more with Help Wanted. This is another of my favourites, and I always remembered it fondly when I thought back, but it wasn't until I re-read it yesterday that I realised Cusick may be the greatest literary influence I never knew I had.

To briefly recap the plot, Robin Bailey is a smart and conscientious student looking to make some fast cash for a Thanksgiving vacation with her friends. She answers a "help wanted" ad and finds herself cataloging books in a creepy old house for a creepy rich family with plenty of creepy secrets. Shenanigans ensue! I am simplifying it somewhat, of course. There are moments of genuine unease and disquiet throughout Help Wanted (like how did I not realise the school janitor was an actual sexual predator the first time round???). There are also some unintentionally uneasy moments, like sort-of love interest Parker Swanson casually dismissing his step-sister's suicidal tendencies as like "eh, she's weird, whatever."

But it holds up for me. I adored Robin as a teenager and I adore her more as an adult. I mean:

She's clever and caring. She defends her best friend, Faye, against boys who label her as "that airhead." She looks after Parker's step-sister, Claudia when everyone else dismisses her and slags her off. She works hard and is unassuming and earnest and I want to be friends with Robin, basically.

Another thing I always liked about this book was the romance - or lack of it. It's too easy to cram a pointless love angle into any book, and I do remember Point Horrors being replete with awkwardly timed teenaged fumbles. Like, look, you're running from a madman/vampire/crazy roommate. You have no time for flirting! Help Wanted skips this. Parker and another guy, Walt, are both obviously interested in Robin, but she has no time for their shit. The book ends with both guys gentlemanly escorting Robin home from a traumatic night of nearly being murdered, and lightly teasing each other about being competition for her, but Robin just sort of rolls her eyes and ignores them. I have to admit, I always kind of assumed that she ended up dating both and they formed a happy open relationship, as this seemed the most logical conclusion to me. On re-reading, I agree with my younger self.

So what are the things that made me realise how much Cusick influenced me? The setting - there's a gothic vibe to this story, with mediums, ghosts, and huge spooky houses playing central roles. If you've read any of my work from UNDERTOW to NIGHT AND CHAOS or my Brides of Darkness books, you'll know I dig that classic gothic vibe. Small towns with dark secrets, the undead, creepy locations, yes. Give me that. I doubt that all came from Cusick, but re-reading Help Wanted made me realise she definitely contributed. There's also the element of doubt in here - is it really something supernatural or is there a rational (but horrible) explanation. That appears in PHANTOM FEARS, for a quick example.

This is also the first book I remember reading where mental illness was a plot point, and an important one at that. I think I'd probably always gravitate towards characters who suffer or have suffered mental illness, because I have myself and it fascinates me, but Help Wanted was probably the earliest book I read where it was addressed and discussed openly. Does it handle it well? No. Claudia's paranoia and suicidal tendencies are dismissed as attention-seeking at best, and (spoiler!) she turns out to be the villain, so there's that nasty undercurrent of "crazy people are bad!" in there. Even so, it was...illuminating for me, a depressed and anxious teen, to read about a paranoid and anxious character in any context.

Thinking about Help Wanted lead me onto another Cusick book, Teacher's Pet. I haven't re-read this one yet, but it's another story that features a dark and gothic-esque plot with the whole "creepy setting, dark family secrets, mental illness" thing going on. If I remember correctly, I was outraged by the ending, in which the character I fell in love with turned out to be the villain (and mentally ill. I really need to write something about the presentation of mentally ill characters in Point Horror books, I guess). And the character I thought was a milquetoast wet blanket got the girl, even though he was considerably less attractive and interesting. Bah.

From Teacher's Pet, I think I drew a love of unconventional characters and love stories, in a strange way. I like darker, prickly heroines and romances. Is that all down to Cusick? Probably not, but throughout Help Wanted, I kept thinking "I love that trope! I write that trope!" and it was pretty cool to think about how I've used those tropes in my own work.

Next on the retro reading list? Probably Caroline B Cooney's Freeze Tag. We shall see!

Five Creature Feature Spectacularama Fiction Fests To Blow Your Minds!

No hyperbole.

If there's one thing I love, it's giant mythical/prehistoric sea beasts. If there's a second thing I love, it's books about giant mythical/prehistoric sea beasts fighting each other, or eating people, or both. That's it. That's all I love. As such, I take my reading of such trashy B-Movie type books very seriously. And today I'm bringing you my top five, carefully considered and thoroughly vetted for complete giant sea monster goodness. Enjoy!

5. Mega

This one just about sneaks onto the list. Despite that proud, ferocious megalodon on the cover, there's not as much giant shark-action as I'd like. But the over-the-top, bombastic action-action makes it compulsively readable. It's the first in a series, and while I haven't read the rest yet, book two promises cloned megalodons on a drug-fuelled rampage, and quite frankly that's all I need to know about it.












4. Escape from Dinosauria

Okay, okay, this one is a cheat, because there are no aquatic reptiles/giant sharks/sea monsters of any kind. BUT it does have a cage-fighter heroine who just wants a beer, goddammit, genetically mutated dinosaurs, a ninja, and a scene where the heroine taps out a genetically mutated raptor. So it makes the list because how the hell can you leave it off? Plus, there is a lot of dino-fighting, so it ticks the "giant things fighting other giant things" box. Honestly, this book is batshit from start to finish in the most delightful way. It may change your life.










3. Predator X

Predator X the creature is a type of pliosaurus, in case you wondered. Predator X the book is a gooey mash-up of sea monsters, ancient aliens, and creepy body horror and I love it! The titular Predator X isn't really the main star of the show, but he certainly looms large in the plot. This is a unique take on the creature feature book, and I really, really recommend CJ Waller's other works as well.












2. Hotel Megalodon

It was a toss-up between this and Predator X for the penultimate book on the list. Hotel Megalodon wins out because I absolutely love the heroine, Coco, a capable marine biologist who is done with your shit. And there is so much megalodon action. The concept is ridiculously silly and works ridiculously well - world's first underwater hotel is attacked by giant shark, chaos ensues. It's crazy and fun, and you should read it. Do it for Coco.












1. Meg

It was never going to be anything else. This was my first ever giant shark book, and in the same way that Jaws was probably life-changing for a lot of people, Meg was life changing for me. How can you not love a book that opens from the POV of a t-rex about to be eaten by a megalodon? Make no mistake, this is not a literary masterpiece, and the sequels are arguably even less so. But they're just so utterly in love with themselves, you can't not enjoy them. And there is so much megalodon action omfg. AND there's going to be a movie next year with Jason Statham omfg. I can't cope. Looking at the character names on IMDB, it does look like they're taking some liberties with the story, but as long as there's a giant fucking shark in there, who cares? Not I! The only part of the book I demand they leave intact is the end, where Jonas pilots a submersible inside the shark and then cuts his way out again.





Honorable mention must go to Meg: Hell's Aquarium, which features two megalodons named after the Olsen twins and a shit-ton more prehistoric sea beasts big enough to eat a megalodon which is pretty damn big you guys.

I checked.

Your Adventure Ends Here

I'm not quite sure where I picked up my first Fighting Fantasy book. Possibly my older brother had some. My school library definitely had some, but I think I found those once I was already fully hooked. Second-hand bookshops around Cambridge often had them too, but again, I hunted those down after becoming addicted. Either way, all I know is that some time in my early teens, I discovered Fighting Fantasy game books and my life was changed forever.

At the time I was pretty much exclusively reading all the high fantasy I could get my hands on, so the idea of a book full of fantasy elements (dungeons! Warlocks! Dragons!) wherein I could be the star was just a magical thing. I didn't know anything about role playing and I definitely didn't bother with the whole "roll the dice and track your stats" elements of the books, but I played wholeheartedly nonetheless. I fought ice witches and warlocks on Firetop Mountain. I battled the armies of the undead. I explored the island of the lizard king. I died many times.

Many, many times. But always I found victory eventually. Whether it was by having the right magical dagger or knowing the answer to the gryphon's riddle, whether it was facing down giant scorpions or Satanic priests, I always triumphed in the end.

Well, almost always. One book defeated me. I played it solo, I played it with a friend, I played it as a teen and in my twenties, I went through two copies, and I still never conquered...

The Creature of Havoc.

This book is hard, you guys. You play said creature, working to find out why you became a creature and avenge yourself, or transform yourself back maybe. I don't remember. Maybe both. I don't know because I never fucking completed it because it's super fucking hard and I died all the fucking time. I died in a furnace. I died of poison. I died of being cut open by a witch. I ate my best friend and then wandered back into the furnace and died again. I died everywhere, in every way possible, and no matter how often I replayed and (yes) cheated, I never beat the book.

I feel like this is something I should be over at age 33, but I'm not. I hadn't thought about this book in years until Amazon recommended me a Fighting Fantasy adult colouring book (which I am absolutely buying, thanks Amazon), and then all the old bitterness and trauma came flooding back. And it turns out second-hand copies of Creature of Havoc are really cheap, so I determined to conquer the unconquerable.

After all, it's been a good eight or so years since my last attempt. I've grown as a person. I've played DnD. I'm no longer liable to throw the book across the room in a screaming fit if I get stuck in the furnace again. I can do this. I owe it to myself, and my beloved adventuring companion, Skelly* to do this.

I will do this. I will defeat the Creature of Havoc.

Or...not, because I will be the creature. Anyway. It's definitely going to happen this time. I've got a good feeling about it.

*I didn't kill Skelly. She's not the best friend referred to above. She's fine, okay? She's fine.