#Cherie priest

[ofliterarynature]

Library sale finds! My tbr shelf weeps in despair.

[gothiccharmschool]

Hey you! Are you in the Seattle -ish area? Want to see the fabulous @cmpriest talk about her new book CINDERWITCH? Want to see me ask her all sorts of questions? Yes, yes you do. YES, YOU DO. May 14 at the University Book Store!

[dzgrizzle]

Came across these notes I made in my phone at DragonCon last year:

“The engine of the Gothic is dread.” ~ Leanna Renee Hieber @leannareneehieber

Cherie Priest @cmpriest on living with a gentleman ghost in her house: A real ghost story doesn't have an ending. It's like a dream. Most early encounters with ghosts are more confusing than scary.

[mfred]

September Reading Wrap-Up

I read 10 books in September, which is an all time low. For my 2024 New Year's Resolutions I promised to read less books but of higher quality-- not so many snacks from Kindle Unlimited and more meals from my bookshelves. That didn't really happen. Bitches be snackin'. I've already blown my Goodreads Reading Challenge out of the water.

But this September, I managed to read TWO books from my bookshelves and one from the library. Everything else was KU, but hey. Not bad.

The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

I liked it but I didn't love it. I wanted the hero to be all in on his feelings much sooner than it took him to get there. And the 3rd act breakup went on a little too long. But it had a lot of charm and whoaaaaa, the dirty talk. I was impressed. 4 stars.

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

The major plot point is resolved halfway through and then I was like, wait-- there's more book to read? Because there was! And I didn't love it. Georgianna was kinda mean, almost cruel, to Maelys and she didn't demonstrate enough brooding, alluring, or dark and mysterious charm to save her from her bad behavior. 4 stars.

Cinderwich by Cherie Priest

Good spooky vibes. Characterization was strong-- characters, even minor ones, stood out and were well rounded. I loved the prickly dynamic between Kate and Judith. And then, there was the ending. It came out of nowhere, and not in a good way. Yeah, it was scary, but it didn't make sense to the story. 4 stars.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

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[haveyoureadthishorrorbookpoll]

Have you read...

note: If you did not finish but feel you read enough to form an opinion, you may choose a ‘Yes’ option instead of 'Partly' (e.g., Yes, I didn’t like it). Interpret "neutral or complicated" however you like, I intended this category to be a broad option between like and dislike.

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....   The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.   But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.   This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

submit a horror

[kjcamilli]

I Am Princess X

Cherie Priest

Illustrated by Kali Ciesemier 

May has had very few friends throughout her life, with the exception of Libby, who she met through their joint creativity with sidewalk chalk. Libby’s initial drawing spawned a series of written adventures about the character–Princess X–that both girls worked on together. They were the best of friends until Libby and her mom drowned, and all the written adventures were lost to Libby’s dad’s moving and carelessness. May knows her best friend is dead, but when she finds out that a webcomic about Princess X is online, she can’t help but hope that there’s something she doesn’t know. This story follows May’s quest to prove that her friend isn’t actually dead by following subtle clues in the online story within a story. The art that goes along with the fictional webcomic is beautiful and will appeal to readers who enjoy graphic novels but might be looking for something more text-heavy. Both a mystery and an adventure set in a realistic contemporary setting, this book can appeal to a wide variety of readers, although it does deal with some heavier topics such as death and grief, kidnapping, race, and divorce and other family issues, along with a few swears that make it solidly for young adult readers. The characters are compelling, from May, a stubborn but sometimes insecure teen who goes out of her way to find the truth, and Patrick, a morally gray hacker with a tendency to get in over his head, to Libby, a traumatized artist with a knack for finding her way out of some sticky situations, and Jackdaw, an outcast genius known for taking in runaways. Readers will likely find themselves drawn to the characters as well as captivated by the complex plot as May works to find her friend and put their mysterious villain behind bars. 

BIBLIO: 2015, Scholastic Books, Ages 12+, $7.99.

REVIEWER: Katherine Camilli  

FORMAT: Traditional and Graphic Novel

ISBN: 9780545907316

[vroomvroomvettel]

Why are there no Trickdaw fanfics?

[doublemegative]

Princess X was the it girl of the Scholastic Book Fair and continues to be the it girl of my heart

[alyssumowo]

I've gotten back into reading books lately and WOW I did not expect a book I bought at a middle school book fair to have the word "porn" in it

[babadork]

I swiped through the pictures, squinting at the small screen. They were exactly what I'd seen when I'd stood there at a distance. They were exactly what they should've been, except for how they weren't. I went back to the first shot I'd taken, the one where the tree was a vaguely arboreal smear. There was a second smear, a very small one behind it and to the right. A sliver of smoke.

I swiped. The next picture was clearer.

No, not a streak or a sliver, but a long gray dress. A dark mass above it, nothing below. The next picture. The mass was a long, winding cloud of hair with a snow-white face that had no eyes.

Next picture.

Had I taken this many? I didn't remember taking this many.

Next picture. Now she had eyes again, large and round and doll-like. Too bright for a real face. Too human for a phantom. One more swipe. There she was again closer to Judith. Not sneaking up, so much as merely being closer this time. And the next time, in the next picture.

No, she hadn't been there. No, I hadn't seen her. No, there had been no woman in gray, tiptoeing between the trees on tiny bare feet that never quite touched the ground.

But there she was anyway, in picture after picture.

In the last one, she was so close that Judith could have reached out and tickled her toes. But Judith only sat there against the tree, leaning her head back, throat exposed, with her eyes closed and the oddest smile on her face. The woman in gray wasn't looking at her. She was looking at me, and she held one finger up to her lips.

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: Week 17 (September 22)

TLDR: I have too many unread books, and I’m asking tumblr to help me downsize. Pick one or none - it doesn't have to be something you've read, just the one you think sounds the worst! Comments and reblogs welcome, book descriptions below the cut. See my pinned post for more info.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska's ice. Thus was Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

Jason Walker has often wished his life could be a bit less predictable--until a routine day at the zoo ends with Jason suddenly transporting from the hippo tank to a place unlike anything he's ever seen. In the past, the people of Lyrian welcomed visitors from the Beyond, but attitudes have changed since the wizard emperor Maldor rose to power. The brave resistors who opposed the emperor have been bought off or broken, leaving a realm where fear and suspicion prevail.

In his search for a way home, Jason meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn to Lyrian from our world. With the help of a few scattered rebels, Jason and Rachel become entangled in a quest to piece together the word of power that can destroy the emperor, and learn that their best hope to find a way home will be to save this world without heroes.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

A bold translation of Nobel Prize-winner Herman Hesse's most inspirational and beloved work, which was nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

Hesse's famous and influential novel, Siddartha, is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922. Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha. His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, through the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan, and of wealth and fame, to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciation.

[myhikari21things]

Read of The Toll by Cherie Priest (2019) (334pgs)

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

The Old West, 1870s/1880s, Seattle. Except. Not quite. It’s been turned into a walled city. Walling in, well, quite a bit. There’s zombies, there’s pirates, and there’s the amazing characters. Briar Wilkes’ son Zeke wants to clear his dead father’s name (his father supposedly did something that caused a toxic gas to be released. That gas is what turned people into ‘rotters’ aka zombies (also, whew and eww to those things. Wow.) Except, as Briar goes to try and save her son, she finds that, maybe her dead husband Leviticus Blue isn’t so dead?

This was a bunch of steampunk goodness, with characters that leapt off the page at me, and the world building that was just amazing (if, as I said, on occasion a little icky). It also was a compact and fast moving plot. There wasn’t must extra anywhere, and, that made it a definite page turner. Such a fun, fun read. And, awesomely enough, there are other books in the Clockwork Century series/universe too! Very exciting.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher, The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher, or An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

[smbilodeau]

The Inexplicables

Finished reading “The Inexplicables” by Cherie Priest. Fourth novel in the Clockwork Century series.

Welcome to a Seattle shaped by the Blight: a toxic gas that slowly turns men to rotters before it kills them. Rotters, undead creatures whose sole motivation is eating anything too slow to escape. Rector Sherman was barely a child when the Blight was released by the Boneshaker, orphaning him.

Now, just 18, he’s been evicted from the orphanage that was the only home he can remember. His sole idea of what to do next is to enter the now-walled city of Seattle, despite the rotters infesting it, in an effort to atone for a sin that lies heavy on his conscience. The sin? The death of the person who’d come closest to being a friend.

Things aren’t quite what Rector thinks, however. People live there, despite the Blight, and the rotters. And something worse is killing off the rotters…

This is a great series: steampunk, zombies, zepplins, mad scientists, a Civil War that never stopped, and now, the Inexplicables. Clean prose, good pacing, and interesting characters are all attributes of anything Priest writes, and she is constantly and consistently raising her game.

I recommend the series, and highly recommend this entry.

[haveyoureadthishorrorbookpoll]

Have you read...

State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, and you’ll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven. But you’d better hope not. Titus and Melanie Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car... When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the driver finds Titus lying in the middle of the road, but Melanie is nowhere to be found.

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