#TerrorTome series

[joncronshawauthor]

📚 Fantasycon Highlights & Creative Endeavours | Author Diary – October 18, 2024🎩🎃

🏰 Fantasycon Adventures: This past weekend at Fantasycon was a whirlwind of inspiration and connection. Participating in panels, enjoying the banquet, and meeting both fellow authors and avid readers was fantastic. It’s always exhilarating to be part of such a dynamic gathering of creative minds. 🎩 Crafting a New Lord Sidebottom Tale: In the spirit of Halloween, I’ve started working on a new…

[trashmenace]

Terrortome by Garth Marenghi

Terrortome by Garth Marenghi (Matthew Holness) Coronet, 2022

Matthew Holness created Garth Matenghi's Darkplace in 2004, which was presented as an 80s TV series starring author Garth Marenghi and based on his books. Garth is somewhat based on Guy N. Smith and Steven King, with Holness' stock pedantic wanna be tough guy character.

Terrortome is a short story collection as written by Marenghi. To add another meta layer, the main character is author Nick Steen, a stand in for Garth. The first story is a Hellraiser riff, with Steen getting erotically involved with a demonic typewriter. This ends with all the stories in Steen's imagination being unleashed into the world, which he has to stop. We get two more stories - a mad podiatrist and a riff on the Dark Half.

Holness keeps a lot of plates spinning to keep up the conceit. He stays in character with the writing style throughout, keeps the story engaging, writing as if he's dead serious while keeping it funny throughout. Marenghi writes Steen as a cool stand in at the same time Holness presents him as a comic loser.

The audiobook is highly recommended, narrated by Holness in character as Marnghi, and it sounded like the text was changed in places to fit the format.

Available from Amazon

[badwolfwho1]

It's halfway through the year? Got any favorite albums/books/tv shows/whatever to recommend?

So for the first time I have actually been keeping a spreadsheet with the intent of ranking all the things this year to keep track of what I've read/watched etc and not rely on my memory so in theory this should be easy but in truth I've only been updating it for movies and books so I will have to rely on my memory after all.

Albums

I do not keep track of the albums I've been listening but I have been listening to Avantasia's discography lately and it's all been hitting for me, I think the Wicked Symphony especially was my favourite of their work.

I also listened to The Moody Blues' 'Days of Future Passed' just today so I'll mention that as well, I enjoyed it. (I fully intended to come back here and write some more later but I guess I didn't, it's neat I guess)

Judging based off my liked songs on Spotify I really liked most of Deep Purple's album 'House of Blue Light' and both of Savage Garden's albums.

For a perennial I still love The Bangles' third album "Everything", my first listen I had a few standouts like "In Your Room", "Be With You", "Something to Believe In" but I currently adore pretty much every track on there.

Have I listened to much modern this year? Alas no I am cursed by most of my current listening habits coming from deciding to check out whatever is being referenced in the current episode of Jojo that I'm rewatching and since I just reached Part 5 that means at best they'll be 25 years old.

Books

I've actually kept track of my books so this should be easy, 'Catch 22'; It's a classic for a reason, it's just really really good.

The Adrian Tchaikovsky zone; I read 'City of Last Chances', its sequel 'House of Open Wounds' and the final part of the Final Architecture trilogy 'Lords of Uncreation' this year, all phenomenal (2, 3 and 4 on my books of the year list), City of Last Chances slightly pips the others (and as the opener to a series is the easiest rec). You get a huge and diverse range of points of view all over a city under imperial occupation, great worldbuilding as I always expect from him. There's even a giant centipede what more can you ask for? (I'm also reading his Alien Clay right now, that's a stand alone novel starring a scientist exiled to a work camp on another planet because of his political activism, real good so far, love all the weird alien life it has. It'll probably be joining the Tchaikovsky zone unsure where at though yet)

Oh I've just noticed Bret Hart's biography isn't on my list so I gotta say "Hitman", incredible. The life of a wrestler is wild and Bret Hart especially has had quite the life. So much I didn't know about. The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be (but not the best on my list).

The rest of my top ten, CL Clarke's 'The Unbroken' and 'The Faithless', Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone's 'This is How You Lose the Time War', AK Larkwood's 'The Ten Thousand Eyes' and Garth Marenghi's Terrortome

Games

I feel like I've barely played any games this year. Slay the Spire is still the only Roguelike you'll ever need. I'll be replaying Slay the Princess when Pristine Cut comes out later this year so I'll throw that in here, that's an incredible horror visual novel, tons of branching paths, all voice acted to perfection. I'm in the middle of a Freedom Planet replay, so if you like classic 2D Sonic games this is a really good Soniclike

(Me from after I wrote all this) Oh yeah Hades II exists and I somehow forgot about it I have no idea how that happened. Yeah Supergiant (I always have to double check that in case I write Supermassive) always hits, every single one of their games is gold, Hades II continues that trend. It might still be Early Access but it quite comfortably surpasses release Hades I in content so I am incredibly excited to see how it grows.

Movies

Number 1 at my list is Godzilla Minus One, it's so good, I watched it last year, I watched it this year I'll probably watch it again in the Minus Colour version. I'm a Godzilla mark (I still have at least some objectivity Godzilla x Kong sitting at 12 hasn't even broken into my top 10, wait Oppenheimer isn't on here probably 13 then) and while I've definitely not even nearly seen of all Godzilla's filmography I think this is him comfortably at his best. As in all of his best films as a metaphor as well as a giant radioactive dinosaur.

I watched Rashomon the other day and it feels like a real basic thing to say but yeah Rashomon's really good, as with Catch-22 it's a classic for a reason. Not good enough to surpass a radioactive dinosaur apparently but what can?

And my number three on my list, Asteroid City, great framing device, great set design. Just a genuinely fascinating movie, had complete hold of my interest at all times.

The rest of my top ten in order The Banshees of Inisherin, Monster, Speed, The Menu, Happy Death Day, Scream, Scream 2 (Maybe Happy Death Day should be lower than the Screams actually) Oppenheimer is probably going to land somewhere in that top 10 as well.

TV

Delicious in Dungeon is good, everyone knows Delicious in Dungeon is good, everyone's watching it. World building, funny, great cast its all there, I should read the manga some time. I should definitely read more manga in general.

I've also watched The 8 Show, a Korean Drama show. Eight strangers are offered a chance to participate in a psuedo game show where they live on eight seperate floors and are paid money for the length of time the show goes on. The ones living on the lower floors earn less money and the ones on the higher ones earn more. (Shockingly it's a metaphor for capitalism). Things fairly rapidly degenerate. You'll obviously think of Squid Game watching this and its not as good as Squid Game but its still pretty good.

And obvs you know I'm still on that Buffy watch, on the cusp of finishing Series 6 of Buffy, the most frustrating so far in that it has some good ideas dragged down by a number of terrible decisions; magic becoming a metaphor for drugs, having to see those three nerds on screen frequently, that death etc etc.

Oh yeah I'm watching the Acolyte, I'm not gonna say its great but like its shockingly decent. Falls far short of Andor but aside from that its probably one of the best Star Wars shows they've made. If you like Star Wars this is one of the better shows to check out.

(Somehow I forgot I watched all of Hacks this year!?!?!?!) Great stuff, love those two. Hope they continue to be weird about each other forever.

Other

I'd love to rec a manga but I cantinue to only read two manga which are Hajime no Ippo and Jojo and they're both over 30 years old and still going and I cannot recommend something that long. Last time I mentioned Ippo was like at least six months ago I think I said it was slowly moving towards a conclusion it has moved no closer to a conclusion since then I think it's gonna be another decade. I still love it my favourite character is probably going to have his character arc finished by the end of the current arc, Mashiba's is going to become world champion, he is going to be respected rather than just feared, he's going to have friends, he is going to defeat the personification of the dirty boxing style that carried him through most of his career and he's going to stop being so overprotective over his sister. Either that or he'll get injured and have to retire from boxing forever in a karmic callback to his original sin in boxing when he broke Miyata's foot like thirtyodd years ago. Hopefully the first one.

[coutelier]

‘I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards’ – Garth Marenghi

This week, I have been mostly reading Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome:

In case you don’t know, Garth Marenghi is a character played by actor Matthew Holness – an egomaniacal horror author convinced that he’s God’s gift to literature, only God will have no doubt grown envious of his creation. He first appeared in a stage show, then later in the 2004 6 episode series, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace:

It’s honestly a great comedy in which pretty much all the jokes land. Part of it is a poorly made ‘lost’ 80’s TV show that has recently been restored, interspersed with cuts to interviews with the cast in the present (most of them anyway – there is a notable cast member missing and bit of a mystery going on there too). Each episode begins with Garth reading an excerpt from one of his novels (he boasts that he’s one of the few authors to have written more books than he’s read).

Anyway, last year we finally got an edition of three dark tales penned by the Horror Maestro himself. Not much to say in terms of reviewing it, other than that so long as you’re in on the joke it’s very, very funny. Here’s just a random excerpt:

‘Then… am I fictional, too?’

Did Capello want the truth? Or should Nick lie? Hell, he hadn’t realised the escaping of his own mind would in turn create unexpected moral dilemmas like this. Though it was Capello’s problem, and an existential one at that, it was even harder for Nick, who had to shoulder the additional burden of guilt. Like being a parent of Mankind. A reluctant messiah. Yet a messiah, all the same.

[houxlislitspace]

Best Reads of 2024

The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang by Perhat Tursun

Ring by Koji Suzuki

Terrortome & Incarcerate by Garth Marenghi

Honorable Mentions

Tortured Souls: The Legend of Primordium by Clive Barker

Worst Reads of 2024

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Deadly Angels series by Sandra Hill

[explosionshark]

1, 6, 7 for the book asks

1 . book you’ve reread the most times?

answered!

6. what books have you read in the last month?

answering for books finished in May 2023:

Linghun by Ai Jiang (novella, ebook)

Small Game by Blair Braverman (novel, audiobook)

The Kraken's Tooth (Seven Swords series) by Anthony Ryan (novella, ebook)

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee (novella, audiobook)

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud (novel)

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler (novel)

Deity (Six Stories series) by Matt Wesolowski (novel, audiobook)

Lone Women by Victor LaValle (novel)

Jade Legacy (Green Bone Saga) by Fonda Lee (novel, ebook)

Savage Legion (Savage Rebellion series) by Matt Wallace (novel)

Death of the Demon (Hanne Wilhelmsen series) by Anne Holt (novel, ebook)

Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome by Garth Marenghi (novel, audiobook)

whew! productive, for sure. the last two i got done literally yesterday on may 31st lmao

7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?

answered!

book asks

[wickedlehane]

◈ TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER! (feel free to steal, I won’t tag ppl in case of double-ups)

favourite colour(s): purple!

favourite flavour(s): Banana, strawberry, lemon, chocolate, and also garlic LOL

favourite genre(s): horror, supernatural/monsters, fantasy

favourite music: uhhhh a lot of stuff, it’s all over- basically what I call angry girl rock. Also 80s music, and alternative. Artists like Dessa, Cassyette, Poesy, VUKOVI, Fleetwood Mac, Against the Current, Slothrust

favourite movie(s): Wet Hot American Summer, Scream, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson’s Much Ado About Nothing, Napoleon Dynamite, Clue, Bring It On

favourite series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cobra Kai, Jessica Jones, Arrested Development, Bob’s Burgers, Garth Margenhi’s Darkplace

last song: Chill Like That (Sunday Scaries)

last series: Cobra Kai S5

last movie: Wet Hot American Summer

currently reading: Garth Marenghi’s Terrortome

currently watching: Bob’s Burgers Season 13

currently working on: hahahahahahahahaha aha ha.... it’s all under NDA basically. Also working on my turnaround toe stops in roller derby and working on not collapsing under the weight of life.

Tagged by: @crownedhopelesss

Tagging: [anyone who’d like to!]

[wickedlehane]

TAG 9 PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW BETTER (′ꈍωꈍ‵)

FAVORITE COLOR: Purple! I like the bluer-poiples but all purps are good imo

CURRENTLY READING: Out There by Kate Folk (a really cool collection of sci-fi and fabulist short stories). Also partly through Big Bad by Lily Anderson (a Buffy AU novel). I just bought Garth Marenghi’s Terrortome and then Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree to hopefully read over the holidays?? I’m actually a very slow reader RIP

LAST SONG: Wildfire by Against the Current

LAST SERIES: Cobra Kai Cobra Kai Cobra Kai

LAST MOVIE: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

SWEET/SPICY/SAVORY: mmmmmm savory (but i gotta chase it with something sweet)

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: two manuscripts and a comic script, all of which are under NDA lol but they’re really cool

tagged by: @eddapoetic

tagging: [whoever would like to do this, really! i giveth it unto thee for the taking]