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The Woman Dies | Aoko Matsuda | Granta Magazine

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Anticipated 2019 SFF reads (Part 1)⠀ ⠀ 📗The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern⠀ 📘The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon⠀ 📕The City in the Middle of the Night - Charlie Jane Anders⠀ 📙Bloodwitch - Susan Dennard⠀ 📗Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson⠀ 📘Black Leopard Red Wolf - Marlon James⠀ ⠀ Not to mention, those without covers including: ⠀ 📚The Glass Hotel - Emily St John Mandel⠀ 📚Heartsong - TJ Klune ⠀ 📚The Unkindest Tide - Seanan McGuire ⠀ 📚Sapphire Flames - Ilona Andrews ⠀ 📚The Ippos King - Grace Draven⠀ ⠀ Are any of these on your list? What SFF reads are you looking forward to in 2019?

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The story of fourteen-year-old Nathaniel, and his older sister, Rachel. In 1945, just after World War II, they stay behind in London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and they grow both more convinced and less concerned as they come to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women joined by a shared history of unspecified service during the war, all of whom seem, in some way, determined now to protect, and educate (in rather unusual ways) Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? And what does it mean when the siblings' mother returns after months of silence without their father, explaining nothing, excusing nothing? A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all that he didn't know and understand in that time, and it is this journey—through facts, recollection, and imagination.

“But I loved the truth I learned from strangers.”⠀

Warlight starts out deceptively simply - a boy and his sister are left in the care of an eccentric family friend while his parents move to Singapore for the father’s work. But the setting is London post-WW2, and the air is thick with secrets.⠀

Surrounded by a wide circle of intriguing visitors who come and go, the book charts Nathaniel’s teenage years and young adulthood as he spends his formative years untangling the mystery of his mother’s antics during the war.

It’s an incredibly fascinating look at how the dirty deeds of war don’t cease with the official end of hostilities, and the incredible feats of individuals who returned to their ordinary lives with the public none the wiser. ⠀

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YOU WROTE THE RULES. READ THEM. 

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Describing women as a separate topic of study has its problems. Women are not a “special issue,” but form half of the population.

Charles Halton, Women’s Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia (via bookphile)

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Then I got my hands on Althea's book. And it was perfect. There are no lessons in it. There's just this harsh, horrible world touched with beautiful magic, where shitty things happen. And they don't happen for a reason, or in threes, or in a way that looks like justice. They're set in a place that has no rules and doesn't want any. The above quote, I think, does justice to the book as a whole. It was surprisingly sad in places, which I wasn't expecting. The Hazel Wood is one of those ~aesthetic~ novels, for want of a better word. It's a creepy and atmospheric take on the nature of fairy tales, harking back to their grim (Grimm? ha!) origins. The plot in brief: 17-year-old Alice has spent her life on the run with her mother, chased by a series of incidents attributed to sheer bad luck. Her grandmother is a reclusive and mysterious figure, famous for the publication of a book of strange and haunting fairy tales. One day, they receive news that her grandmother has died, and shortly after, Alice's mother goes missing - her last words a warning for Alice to stay away from her grandmother's hidden estate. So of course, our protagonist does exactly the opposite, armed with her (understandably) prickly personality and an ally from school. He is helpfully rich, which conveniently overcomes many of the obstacles one would have as a teenager-on-magical-quest. I found the book quite jarring and unsettling at times, but an intriguing read nonetheless. I think it's the kind of book you have to be in a particular mood for, however.

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Sarah Anderson's comics are a delight - extremely relatable, timely and humorous. Herding Cats, her third collection, deals with more serious issues such as climate change and the current political situation, but it also includes lighter-hearted moments like the struggles of the introvert, which I thoroughly identify with! ⠀ ⠀

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“Don’t worry. All is as it was meant to be. It was meant to be lonely, and terrifying, and unfair, and fleeting. Don’t worry.”

- Welcome to Night Vale episode 13.5 (Condos)

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i feel like i haven’t painted for a long time so i did some experimenting

the first two are repaints check it out ouo

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who was the first person to write “tongues battling for dominance” and have they issued a public apology yet

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It’s been a good 3 years since this episode aired, but from the very first time I heard it this has been one of my absolute favourite literary(?) quotes of all time and finally, after a couple years of procrastinating I finally finished illustrating it =u=

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A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case. "You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark." For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer."

This is probably the first true-crime novel I've ever read, reason being that I tend to dream about whatever I've been reading recently, and true-crime novels do not for a good sleep make. But "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" certainly made a splash in the bookosphere, a combination of the author's renown, her sudden passing, and the compelling subject matter - not to mention the fact that the suspect was apprehended soon after the book's release. (Coincidental, and not due to the book.) Although the book is immensely detailed and clearly meticulously researched, the information is spread out across the chapters, so that the reader isn't immediately overwhelmed. It's also a testament to the dedication of writers such as Michelle, the case officers, and internet crime-solvers alike. The author was sensitive and sparing with the physical details of the crimes. So many true crime books, films and podcasts can veer towards the voyeuristic, but I didn't get that sense here. If you commit a murder and then vanish, what you leave behind isn't just pain or absence, a supreme blankness that triumphs over everything else. The unidentified murderer is always twisting a doorknob behind a door that never opens. But his power evaporates the moment we know him.

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"With her words, something clicks - a sign of the greater hand. We've been led to this moment, pushed in the tiniest, most obscure ways." Perhaps one of the most hyped books of 2018, Children of Blood and Bone is worth the acclaim and praise. It's such a refreshing change of setting from the standard pseudo-medieval Western Europe which dominates the fantasy genre. From the deities and the magic system to the physical locations, the food, the language, character appearances and clothing - it was richly descriptive, immersive experience of an African (more specifically, Nigerian)-inspired fantasy. Yes, the author does use popular fantasy tropes, such as the "Chosen Ones" and hunt-for-the-magical-artefacts, but there is nothing inherently wrong with this. (I've seen reviews critiquing this, which is why I'm addressing it here.) These are just markers of the genre - it's what you do with them that counts. (Also, there is a problematic trend of allowing white writers a pass on this, but then as soon as POC writers do it, we claim it's overdone/this particular subgenre is over. A discussion for another time, and I am probably not the most qualified person to explain it, but again worth mentioning in regards to this particular book.) The short chapters made for quite a swift read, despite the length of the book. The high emotions of the characters reminds us of how young they are, facing political and magical obstacles; family and friend drama; potential matters of the heart and their own growing powers/involvement. There were also unexpected moments of levity and humour - this particular exchange had me chuckling out loud: "I guess the other night was my first time spending the night with a boy." Tzain snorts. "Was it everything you ever dreamed?"⠀ "I don't know..." I press my finger to my lips. "I always imagined less bondage." (Above context - they were captured and tied up in a tent!) Finally, the jaw-dropping ending upped the stakes, and certainly has readers like me hotly anticipating the 2019 sequel.

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Kacey's two best friends start acting distant, and avoid inviting her to one of the biggest parties of the year. However, when one of them fails to make it back home that night, she starts looking more and more like the guilty party. ⠀ ⠀ Featuring:⠀ ⠀ 🎃Sleuthing, spooky séances, and plenty of suspicion.⠀ 🎃Positive representation of step-family life.⠀ 🎃A culprit that you won't see coming until right near the end.⠀ 🎃Dark, twisty high school drama.⠀

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Truly Terrifying Pumpkins (see 9 more)