#Ethan M. Aldridge

[the-final-sentence]

Top Final Sentences of 2023

He knew that on the day of his death he would see her face and he could hope to carry that beauty into the darkness with him, the last pagan on earth, singing softly upon his pallet in an unknown tongue. Cormac McCarthy, from The Passenger

And there are so many silences to be broken. Audre Lorde, from “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”

For Guinevere Tallow, it felt like coming home. Ethan M. Aldridge, from Deephaven

And we laughed and held each other and filled our hearts with the faith that we could always do that, always blow away the clouds that threatened our stars. Andrew Neiderman as V.C. Andrews, from Honey

But as anyone who loves reading and writing quickly learns, both activities allow you to commune with the living and the dead, to listen to the thoughts of those who have come before you and argue, cajole, and sing praise for them in response. Kaitlyn Greenidge, from “Books for a Black Girl’s Soul”

The greatest shame would be to reach the end of our lives and have the epitaph read, ‘They worked really hard.’ Roxane Gay, from “Yes, Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All Important.”

The sky is gory with stars, like the insides of a gutted night. Julia Armfield, from “Salt Slow”

Sometimes, even in towns built on curses, at least once in a blue moon, things turn out okay. Ryan Douglass, from “Knickknack”

Eventually, if we speak the truth to each other, it will become unavoidable to ourselves. Audre Lorde, from “Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger”

In the distance, the darkness has started to lift like a veil, the first light of dawn spilling over the Beijing skyline, a promise of all the beautiful and terrible and sun-soaked days to come. Ann Liang, from If You Could See the Sun

[freckles-and-books]

Middle grade reads I want to read this spooky season 👻

[lgbtqreads]

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade Fiction: July-December 2024

Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton (July 2nd) Benji Zeb has a lot going on. He has a lot of studying to do, not only for school but also for his upcoming bar mitzvah. He’s nervous about Mr. Rutherford, the aggressive local rancher who hates Benji’s family’s kibbutz and wolf sanctuary. And he hasn’t figured out what to do about Caleb, Mr. Rutherford’s stepson, who has been bullying…

[transbookoftheday]

Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

From Ethan M. Aldridge, bestselling creator of Estranged, comes a gothic middle grade prose novel that follows a nonbinary student who is drawn to their boarding school’s forbidden east wing, where something stalks the shadowy corridors. Perfect for fans of J.A. White and Mary Downing Hahn!

When Guinevere "Nev" Tallow receives an acceptance letter to the exclusive Deephaven Academy, they know it’s the fresh start that they’ve been looking for.

But things are strange from the moment they arrive—the house itself seems to breathe, students whisper secrets in dark corridors, and the entire east wing of the academy is locked away for reasons no one wants to explain. And Nev knows something ragged stalks the shadowy corridors, something that sobs quietly and scratches at the walls, waiting to be released.

With the help of another first-year student, Nev takes it upon themselves to unravel the mysteries hidden in Deephaven's halls. But will they risk their fresh start to bring the academy’s secret to light?

[aroaessidhe]

grand viscount hyacinth appreciation post!!

from The Pale Queen by Ethan M. Aldridge

[mollyhats]

Historical Fiction meets Fantasy (Middle-Grade and YA)

Here's a list of books that take real world history and give it a supernatural spin. Sometimes it's a full alternate universe (1860s NYC--WITH DINOSAURS) and sometimes it's more subtle.

Middle-Grade (about 8-12)

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older

When?: 1863

Fantasy element?: There's dinosaurs around that people can ride and it's AWESOME

Elevator pitch: During the Draft Riots of 1863, a group of Black and Latine children escape the destruction of their orphanage and must outwit a gang of kidnappers--by riding pterodactyls!

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

When?: the Victorian era

Fantasy element?: a tree that grants wishes...for a horrible price

Elevator pitch: An Irish girl and her disabled little brother manage to get a job at an English estate after their parents are lost. But they soon learn their new refuge is haunted by a strange spectre guarding a mysterious tree. An excellent spooky story.

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty

When?: the turn of the 20th century

Fantasy element?: magic, in many specific cultural forms, is real, and there's a lot of politics and regulation around its use

Elevator pitch: Picture your standard turn of the century immigrant New York coming of age story: All Of A Kind Family or An American Tail. Now imagine that in this world, magic is real, and much like any valuable tool, there's a whole lot of laws and discrimination governing who can use it and how. Sacha can see magic, and is immediately pressed into service helping an investigator. He's thrust into a deadly world of politics, labor rights, organized crime, and strange new magic technologies that threaten everything Sacha holds dear.

The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz

When?: 1242

Fantasy element?: 3 magical children and their holy dog

Elevator pitch: The Middle Ages were weirder than even comedy has led us to believe, and this book taps into the stories and history of the era. Many people in an inn take turns telling tales of three children with superpowers (one super strong, one gifted with visions, and one healing) and their dog (who's a saint). Somehow these unexpected friends made an enemy of King Louis IX, and the road to get there (and how it resolves) is unpredictable, playful, yet grounded in a solid context of medieval history and literature.

Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

When?: the Great Depression

Fantasy elements?: A boarding school full of occult secrets.

Elevator pitch: Nev Tallow receives an invitation to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere that no one has ever heard of, but it's the Great Depression and options are limited. Mysteries soon abound--the prefects aren't quite right, the classes include occult languages, and nobody's supposed to talk about the collapse that killed a student last year...despite the wing where they supposedly died still standing. They're going to get to the bottom of this with help from their friends, even if they have to take on a monster with nothing but a fencing foil and some barely-understood spells. The first in a series!

Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland

When?: the 1920s (particularly the Great Migration)

Fantasy elements?: ghosts

Elevator pitch: Ophelia first starts seeing ghosts after her father is murdered in an act of racial violence. Now she works with her mother in an old manor in Pittsburgh, dealing with the racist lady of the house. And the ghosts. Ophie becomes determined to help one of them, but the price--and the secrets buried with her--may destroy the fragile life her mother has made.

Young Adult (13+)

Lovely War by Julie Berry

When?: World War I

Fantasy element?: A peanut gallery made up of half the Greek pantheon

Elevator pitch: Hephaestus catches Ares and Aphrodite cheating in his net, so to teach them all about love, Aphrodite launches into the stories of four young adults caught in WWI, torn between their ambitions, their pasts, and love. Other gods drop in and out to put in their two cents, and on occasion they influence the story in mortal guise.

The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith

When?: World War II

Fantasy element?: Mysterious shadow magic that grants visions and can tear people apart.

Elevator pitch: Picture Inglorious Basterds but some of the ultraviolence is from extremely horrifying shadow magic. It's a roaring rampage of gay, Jewish, Black, and Algerian teens and young adults avenging themselves on Nazis and keeping them from acquiring the power of Eldritch horrors beyond our world. It's a tough balance to get right tonally, but imo they made it cathartic instead of trivializing.

If you have any questions about any of these, message me, shoot me an ask, or comment!

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

[mathstrangelove]

Mail day: The first of my spooky season pre-orders arrived today!

[atrusofmyst]

SIMPLY HAVING A WONDERFUL KRAMPUS TIME!

SIMPLY HAVING A WONDERFUL KRAMPUS TIME!

The nights are long

The stars are bright

Hear the bell's song

It's Krampus Night!

[graphicpolicy]

Marvel Super Stories Amazing Adventures Vol. 2 is an anthology with adventures for young readers

Marvel Super Stories Amazing Adventures Vol. 2 is an anthology with adventures for young readers #comics #graphicnovel #ncbd

The second volume in a brand-new middle-grade anthology series with Marvel Comics, edited by John Jennings. Featuring 15 all-new six-page stories written and illustrated by some of the biggest names in comics for young readers, this all-star lineup features original stand-alone stories featuring Spider-Man, Captain America, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Incredible Hulk, Doctor…

[the-final-sentence]

For Guinevere Tallow, it felt like coming home.

Ethan M. Aldridge, from Deephaven

[roseunspindle]

What I Read in July 2024

I really wanted to like this one but it was actually boring and just...lacked any substance or the charm of slice-of-life

Soji and Sei are all but on the same page feelings wise without ever fully talking about it. It's kinda cute.

Enjoyed this immensely. I like where Drizzt is a calm collected caring person but also totally bonkers when offered a really good fight/challange

Another good one. I really like Aldrige's fae creatures.

The crow one was my favorite but I liked all the stories.

Poor Marco

a fun little adventure. I do wish we had lunchbox and dinner pail trees

This was so much fun!

one of my favorite manga series (reread of volume 1)

very cute (reread of volume 1)

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: June 25, 2024

Middle Grade The Pale Queen by Ethan M. Aldridge Agatha has always dreamed of the stars. But when a chance encounter introduces her to the Lady of the Hills, Agatha is shocked to learn that a secret magical world lays hidden in the mist-shrouded land next to her village. She finds herself quickly captivated by the Lady, but is the Lady who she appears to be? As Agatha forms a new friendship with…

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Estranged

Series: Estranged #1Writer/Artist: Ethan M. AldridgePublisher: HarperCollinsReleased: August 7, 2018Received: Library Summary: Legends tell us of a fae swapping human babies with their own. For some, this is nothing more than a myth, but it is painfully true for those like Edmund and Childe. For this is the story of their lives. Edmund is a changeling, living in secret with his human/adoptive…

[detectivereads]

Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

5/5

This post is for fan entertainment, I’m not being paid.

I got this book and immediately started to read it as soon as I could. I have been hyped about this book since I saw the artwork of Nev, our main character.  

Reading the first few pages my heart went out to Nev, who up till they arrived at the school, had a hard life: their mother left and their father is having issues of his own, and Nev decided to go off to school and start over with a new life.

When Nev entered the school, we met a student who is also one of the prefects, Patience Sleepwell, who chose to stay over the summer break, and the principal of Deephaven Academy, Principal Blanchly.

Upon meeting with the principal, you get the feeling that she is not someone to mess with, she has a low tolerance for rule breakers and expects all the students to be outstanding.

Skipping ahead when the rest of the students came back, Nev finds themselves in a restricted area where they meet a boy named Danny, and the male prefect Thaddues. At the opening assembly of the new term, we do hear about a unfortune accident that happen last term where a student died.

We met several other characters, some in which are insufferable with how they think they are better than everyone, and others using their status to get what they want, Thaddues being one of them. There are some other characters that gave me warning flags of don’t trust them.

This story is amazing, when I got to the part with the initiation, and we meet the creature, good lord the suspense for both Nev and Danny being on their own against this creature, the panic that Danny felt when he was in a small, enclosed space was very scary. Nev, during their exploration of the restricted wing, finds some issues with what Thaddues had said early when all three of them met, that the east wing is structurally unsafe but there are no signs of the issues that Thaddues mentioned.

(Yes!!! It’s a mystery!!!!!!!! Woooooo)

I don’t want to spoil to much of the story, but reading the ending it gave me a somber vibe, Nev and Danny both had close calls with the creature that lived in Deephaven. Both characters do have a heart to heart about there lives up till coming to Deephaven.

However, when I got towards the ending of the book, I was shocked with the information we received, and it kept hitting one right after another.

My original thoughts were that the creature was eldritch, but I was wrong (which I had a feeling it was wrong but that was my first guess before reading the book). Now I was worried that this book was going to be too scary (I like Goosebumps level scares and Classic Horror), this book had a feeling of foreboding and at some points of the book that made my anxiety raise.

If you want a spooky book, I highly recommend this book. I can see this book becoming one of my yearly reads for the fall season. The ending of the book gave me the feeling that Deephaven has more secrets to tell us, and I am hoping that there will be more books.

[shadowuserannie]

For the sake of hoping more people send asks, I'm reblogging this. (Please-anyone can send so long it's still Wednesday somewhere in the world)

WIP Wednesday

So I'm doing this again, apparently.

Rules copied (and mildly changed) from @cer-rata;

Make a list of five (or so--) of your WIPs for anyone to chose from.

I like providing short synopses/teases to give some context, but you can be super vague if you desire

Post a snippet from one of your fics that you’ve worked on in the past week.

You get to send an ask with one of the five listed WIPs!

You must then write a paragraph or so in that file. If the filename is one you can’t share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write a paragraph on it anyway, and then another that you can share from something else.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

Files;

we could hide away in daylight [ongoing, already published] Hiro Hamada heads to Gotham, hoping to trick Batman into not discovering BH6's identities. The plan he executes is heavily convoluted-exactly as a blood son's would be. [BH6 x Batman: WFA, Bio! son of Bruce Wayne Hiro]

Charge of Lightning, Beware The Earths [ongoing, not yet published] Denki Kaminari is almost 13 years old when he and his mother are attacked by a massive black dog and he's sent to a camp. The Fates whisper of another child of the eldest gods-concerning as the Battle of the Labyrinth is about to begin. [MHA x PJO/HOO, son of Zeus Denki Kaminari]

The Elementals [ongoing, not yet published] In the wake of a mysterious earthquake that devastates his home, Tanah moves to Pulau Rintis to live with his grandfather. He meets two mysterious girls-Halilintar and Taufan-just as aliens bear down on the planet. [Boboiboy 7 Elementals AU, begins with Tanah, Halilintar and Taufan and then continues on, series rewrite]

and even if it seems like it leads to glory (what is left in between) [ongoing, not yet published] Tai Pham is 14 years old when he meets Damian Wayne. Tai Pham is 15 years old when he's benched for being too young. Tai Pham is 16 years old and he stays benched because his family asks him to. Tai Pham is almost 17 years old and if John hadn't held him back he would've tossed a middle finger to the Guardians as thanks for letting him have his ring back. [Tai Pham 'The Kids Are Alright' AU by @cer-rata, Green Lantern Legacy]

Demigod Mercenary [ongoing, published] 032 is only half-brothers with 006. He's well aware and has been staying alive for years without needing a likely-just-as-hellish-as-the-last-one camp, okay?! He doesn't need Camp Half-Blood, and he is going to do his damn best to escape. [Teenage Mercenary x HOO/TOA, a demigod 032 AU]

Miraculous: Tales of Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker [ongoing, unpublished] Sophie receives the Ladybug Miraculous after helping an old man. Fitz receives the Black Cat after helping an old woman. The Butterfly holder warns of rebellions and elves, of secret societies and torn loyalties between wishes. Sophie and Fitz must find the cracks in the lies to unearth the truths-if what's left of these century-old rebellions don't tear them apart first. [Miraculous x KOTLC fusion AU, with Ladybug! Sophie and Black cat! Fitz, series delving into development is up]

Eyes of an Oni [ongoing, unpublished] Fang's Power Band is taken by a purple serpentine alien, so obviously he's prepared to get it back. Wait, what do you mean his Shadow Dragon looks like an ancient evil that's been terrorizing this dimension since before time was named?! [Boboiboy Galaxy x the GiAG AU by @sunnylighter, Fang's Shadow Dragon looks like the Overlord in this AU where the prophecy never came to fruition and Pythor is a bastard so he weaponizes it]

grabbing a red pen (my destiny is in my hands) [Ongoing, unpublished] Twelve-year-old Fitz Vacker's father is the police commissioner of Eternalia, who's been working with the Council to hunt the freaks that are the rebels-except Fitz can hear thoughts, just like them. But then he meets another 'freak' who can manipulate any technology, a tiny ten-year-old with too much bitterness and rebellion for his height-Dex Dizznee, who's been in the Black Swan since he found out his mother was. They're the beginning of a team that changes the United Cities-Team Rebel is taking their destiny by storm. [KOTLC human! superhero AU, team grows in following order, | is joining at the same time, Dex|Fitz (as founders), Tam|Linh, Keefe, Biana, Marella, Sophie, any others after the Nightfall crew are...in idk]

Shadow Users Team [ongoing, published] The Shadow Users' timelines have begun receiving some...corrections. But the Shadow Users begin getting suspicious of the girl who brought them together-especially after Nico relays news of a body none of them knew existed. [Boboiboy Galaxy, Estranged, Ever After High, Keeper of the Lost Cities, My Hero Academia, Trials of Apollo]

soot on skin and cinders between teeth (feel the fire, watch it blaze within me) A fic about Cinder Carter, Changeling King of the World Below, charting a new adventure as he battles a troll uprising and maybe gets some friends other than his golem, boyfriend and siblings. [Estranged, TBA fandoms]

Feel free to ask! (help please)

Tagging: @cer-rata @crippling-pages @ohmygoly @thelasttaleofthepari @kotlcpuppetshow @telugu-girl-13 @bookworm-fangirl1 @samaniala @ksqvljhz @fantasygeek-134 @crazybookenthusiast @theaspengrove @floofeeeeee @eternal-everblaze any other people I missed

anyway just ask what you want