#carmilla (amy chu)

[haveyoureadthiscomic-poll]

[jeridandridge]

Since it’s almost pride month and I post about comics from time to time, I figure why not give a good LGBTQ+ rec? This story is so fun and draws from the FIRST lesbian vampire story Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu from 1872. It also has Chinese history and lore woven beautifully into the story that takes place in 1990s New York with amazing art work. It’s the perfect graphic novel for pride month.

Summary:

At the height of the Lunar New Year in 1990s New York City, an idealistic social worker turns detective when she discovers young, homeless LGBTQ+ women are being murdered and no one, especially the police, seems to care.

A series of clues points her to Carmilla's, a mysterious nightclub in the heart of her neighborhood, Chinatown. There she falls for the next likely target, landing her at the center of a real-life horror story—and face-to-face with illusions about herself, her life, and her hidden past.

[smashpages]

Chu + Lee revisit the first vampire in ‘Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter’

Dark Horse will publish the sequel graphic novel next July.

[myhikari21things]

Read of Carmilla The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Soo Lee (2023) (100pgs)

[nyx-b-log]

this week was a bit scattershot.

started tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by gabrielle zevin but couldn't get into it at all. idk if i'm just not at a point where i can enjoy it, or it's the writing style, but i had to dnf it. sorry to all the people who love it.

then, carmilla by amy chu, soo lee and sal cipriano came in from the library and tho i was really looking forward to it, i was kind of underwhelmed. the art is great, suits the story well and the character designs are fun (plus there were sketches in the back that were also great to see) but everything else (plot, character development, etc.) felt a bit rushed and underdeveloped. this needed to be longer, or a serial, or smth. it's being set up for a sequel, so i might check that out when it comes out.

feeling a reading slump coming, i borrowed the audiobook of i was born for this by alice oseman, cos i've been wanting to do a reread and, for some reason, got rid of my copy. aside from occasional sound quality issues, i'm enjoying it!

i'm also (finally) reading acceptance by jeff vandermeer, last one in the southern reach trilogy. i'm not too far in yet, so i'll update on that next week.

for manga, i finished vol 1 of jujutsu kaisen and have started vol 2. very good fun, he's really got a talent for facial expressions and detail at the appropriate moments

hopefully next week is less all over the place!

[geekcavepodcast]

"Carmilla" Graphic Novel Adaptation Continues with "Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter"

Dark Horse's graphic novel adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla in continuing with Amy Chu and Soo Lee's Carmella: The Last Vampire Hunter. Chu and Lee are joined by letterer Sal Cipriano.

"Social worker turned vampire hunter Athena Lo has just lost everyone she loves--and it's all her fault. Hoping to put her life back together, Athena travels to San Francisco’s Chinatown on a quest to uncover the truth about her dark family history. But her journey escalates into a nightmare when she’s violently introduced to a new gang of Asian American vampires and its unlikely leader, who hold shocking secrets. As she navigates this dangerous territory, Athena can't escape the ghost of Carmilla... and neither can the vampires. In Volume Two of this feminist tale of murder, mystery and monsters, Athena must decide—whose side is she on?" (Dark Horse)

Carmilla Volume 2: The Last Vampire Hunter goes on sale in bookstores on July 9, 2024, and in comic shops on July 10, 2024.

(Image via Dark Horse - Cover of Carmilla Volume 2: The Last Vampire Hunter)

[graphicpolicy]

Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter continues the modern horror tale

Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter continues the modern horror tale #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Before Dracula, before Nosferatu, there was Carmilla! Following their widely praised reimagining of Le Fanu’s gothic novella, writer Amy Chu and artist Soo Lee return to their tale of obsession, vampires and Chinese folklore with Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter. The new graphic novel, with lettering by Sal Cipriano, is set to arrive in July 2024. Social worker turned vampire hunter Athena Lo…

[horrorpatch]

Comic Crypt: CARMILLA: THE LAST VAMPIRE HUNTER To Debut In July 2024!

Dark Horse Comics has announced a new retelling of the classic Carmilla, vampire tale in CARMILLA: THE LAST VAMPIRE HUNTER! The graphic novel by writer Amy Chu and artist Soo Lee will bow in July of 2024. Keep reading for more details right here below. From The Press Release MILWAUKIE, Ore., (November 22, 2023)—Before Dracula, before Nosferatu, there was Carmilla! Following their widely praised…

[downthetubes]

Amy Chu joins Lakes International Comic Art Festival line-up in Bowness this autumn

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced that DC Comics, Marvel and Netflix writer Amy Chu will be joining the line-up for their year’s weekend-long annual event

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Sapphic Books Coming Out July 2024

Contemporary 💖 Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd 💖 The Loves of Her Life by Haley Donnell 💖 The Coin by Yasmin Zaher 💖 Making It by Laura Kay 💖 The Black Bird of Chernobyl by Ann McMan 💖 About Last Night by Laura Henry 💖 Together We Fall Apart by Sophie Matthiesson 💖 Lover Birds by Leanne Egan 💖 Forbidden Girl by Kristen Zimmer 💖 Cash Delgado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia 💖 One Last Summer by Kristin Keppler 💖 Rainbow Allies by Nancy Churnin 💖 Unbecoming by Seema Yasmin 💖 The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford 💖 StreamLine by Lauren Melissa Ellzey

Paranormal/Horror 💖 Carmilla, Vol. 2: The Last Vampire Hunter by Amy Chu & Soo Lee 💖 The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington 💖 I Will Never Leave You by Kara A. Kennedy 💖 So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky

Fantasy 💖 The Princess and the Thief by Mary Lynne Gibbs 💖 A Wolf in Stone by Jane Fletcher 💖 The Second Son by Adrienne Tooley 💖 Daughters of Chaos by Jen Fawkes 💖 Queen B by Juno Dawson

Historical 💖 A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki 💖 A Lethal Lady by Nekesa Afia

Mystery/Thriller 💖 The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani 💖 Charlotte Illes Is Not a Teacher by Katie Siegel 💖 The Devil You Know by Ali Vali 💖 Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor 💖 The Meaning of Liberty by Sage Donnell 💖 Undercurrent by Patricia Evans

Sci-Fi 💖 Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 2/27/2024

this is the longest ive ever been unemployed and media is only doing so much to beat back the horrors. so let’s talk about the media instead of the horrors

listening

Come Up For Air by We The Commas, off i think one of the autogenerated spotify indie mixes?

sort of a rollicking modern little surf rock thing, they describe themselves as "surf and alternate rhythm and blue" which is pretty bang on imo. they're all brothers (their last name genuinely is Comma, which i salute as a fellow weird last name haver), and cite john mayer (i don't really hear it) and the beach boys (yes i hear this very much) as some of their influences. a song i had on loop for an entire forty minute drive and did not get tired of. spotify

-

reading

three books that MUST go back to the library tomorrow bc their autorenew is up and i was emotionally unable to get a library card without tooling around and getting a stack of books a month ago.

thank you philip.

i really only liked the Carmilla adaptation by Amy Chu, bc it really gets at what i didn't realize was the heart of the original 1872 lesbian vampire novella: a toxic gay housing situation you have fallen into and can't get out of bc your area is so so so expensive and housing is so so so tenuous. i have read the original but not in a while, this is an excellent modern adaptation centering around a nyc social worker in the late seventies that presupposes no knowledge and intertwines the original novella in the form of a stolen rare book. (nonconsecutive pages)

i don't have much to say about the DC young adult comic about the circus career of one of the Robins (Dick Grayson). i didn't love the loose artstyle and am not in its intended age range plus it had a bit too much therapyspeak, but it did have a clever use of a very limited color palette.

let's yank the amazon description for the detective novel, which i grabbed bc it vaguely pinged something in my brain about one of the fallout 4 sidequests and i've picked books up for worse reasons (SPOILERS):

Jacob Rigolet, a soon-to-be former assistant to a wealthy art collector, looks up from his seat at an auction—his mother, former head librarian at the Halifax Free Library, is walking almost casually up the aisle. Before a stunned audience, she flings an open jar of black ink at master photographer Robert Capa’s “Death on a Leipzig Balcony.” Jacob’s police detective fiancée, Martha Crauchet, is assigned to the ensuing interrogation. 

i simply fucking hated this authorial style and tone and ditched it two chapters in. i don’t currently have the patience for reading about a clinically insane mother and hate crimes against Jewish people. despite the fairly dark premise, the first two chapters veer into cozy mystery with very short sentences, which do not a noir make. now, it does not advertise itself as noir or neo-noir, but as an homage to noir. it is for me unbearably smug. in my most unkind heart of hearts i want to say it's like if wes anderson tried to make a noir. this is a book that wants you to know it has read other noirs. yes thank you ive read several others, that’s why im reading this one, stop reminding me of better books i could be reading.

there's some weird descriptions of womens' bodies in here. chandler (my beloved) is certainly guilty of this as well, but he lavishes a sort of equal opportunity eye on the men in his mysteries. cf the infamous daniel lavery description.

when i read a chandler description of someone’s physical appearance there’s a fruity bisexual aftertaste in my mouth. Howard Norman, below, saying a woman takes great care of herself puts my hackles up. i understand the difference between an author and a character believing something and i don’t want to read a book where either the author or the character have this sort of pitying condescension towards a woman’s body. im feeling extremely terrible about my own body right now due to the various maladies, and another sort of breaking point for me is when an author repeatedly describes "naked breasts" (exact wording) pressing against someone's torso. it feels so juvenile. that's the sexiest thing you can possibly think of??? that's the sexiest way you can think of to describe an early mornign moment of intimacy???? augh i read the NYT review and it gets worse.

shut the FUCK up. i left my apartment at 1130 PM to go put this book in my CAR. i don't want it in my HOUSE.

-

watching

Bullitt (1968, dir. Yates, free on Tubi). the baddie in this is Robert Vaughn (who i know from cowboys), a guy i fucking love to see. i can take or leave Steve McQueen but he does such a killer job parallel parking in this movie and i wish all driving movies made their leads parallel park. shockingly realistic hospital, morgue, and police work scenes, apparently was one of the big films to popularize blood squibs. also love to see a haunted man splash water on his face and stare into a mirror.

if you asked me how long the famous car chase was i would have said like 2:30? substantial but snappy. no!!! eleven minutes!! (video a bit trimmed). also a rare movie that makes a foot chase through an airport as exciting as that eleven minute car chase!!!

the mob dodging plot was a little hard to follow, but i was operating on like four hours of sleep and a rum and coke. this has got to be a tremendous movie to watch when you’re home and sick on the couch huddled under a blanket. i mean this as a compliment, as someone who watches Escape from New York whenever i feel very sick

-

playing

really wanted to get to 69 shrines before writing this post and finally did it. all the little divine beasts walking along the loading screen are SO cute i've never gotten all four before

all the divine beasts are unlocked and the champions laid to rest! im feeling some type of way emotionally speaking about all of them telling link IMMEDIATELY that it wasn't his or zelda's fault they died

rudania has the worst boarding mission (in order of ones i most enjoyed it's camel [SO fast and SO fun], bird [lots of time to think and plan and aim], elephant [did not make me do a tedious stealth mission but i am bad at locking on to rapidly moving things behind me, much like in real life], and lizard. the lizard stealth mission is simply unpleasant). however, my brain really clicked with the puzzles in rudania: i had to consult a walkthrough once for an optional chest. in order of interior beast puzzle enjoyment for me it's lizard, bird, elephant, and camel. really got stuck for a long time on the waterwheels with the elephant before consulting a walkthrough.

the yiga clan stealth mission was not as hard as i thought it would be. i don't know why i put that off for two real life weeks but i will not learn my lesson and i will never improve. this boss battle was just silly.

the vah naboris interior puzzles were not fun. idk what it was about them or my brain that made me have such a bad time, but i spammed revali's gale and skipped a lot of chests bc i was not having fun. this is why god invented the walkthrough but sometimes. shit is just too fiddly.

i did succeed on the thunder ganon boss battle first try, but i came in with extra hearts from mipha's grace, used another mipha's grace in the fight, went through five fairies and seven hearty simmered fruits that were 5x durians (which gives you 20 extra hearts or some shit). fucking nightmare. i was stuck on one hit left on ganon for like five minutes bc he got stuck in the very fast flurry attack cycle. unpleasant. deeply grateful it only made me smack him with the magnesis pillar once bc that was also really fiddly with my poor reaction time + poor fine motor skills + previously mentioned ancient controller with some drift. in order of boss battle enjoyment i think it's lizard (made me think and kept me on my toes a little but i did have to look up how to break the shield), elephant (you can just kind of tank it), bird (same), and camel (extremely not fun).

this was WITH a fully upgraded gimp suit btw. that shit (ganon) just hits hard.

shrine shenanigans:

crowned beast very fun, i have one or two of kass' songs left and then i hope i get to see him back in rito village with his family??? a little nervous bc i went right to the jungle spring without hearing his song first so idk if that will. count??? or softlock me.

the MOUNDS of failed cooking attempts around this shrine on the grasslands side of the gerudo barrier mountains were SO funny.

unlocked all the spring shrines. what a fun mission. what a fun climb.

went to my FAVORITE shrine!!! going into what you think will be a normal cave and discovering it is DEEP with a BIG WHALE INSIDE is top three video game whale moments (the other two are diving with the whales in ABZU and meeting the last whale in the first dishonored).

other bits and bobs:

eggman rocks???

this quest was really cute and i wish there was a corresponding quest for the guy hanging around the broken heart pond, but it always makes me laugh whenever a dragon shows up in the background of a screenshot. a really great touching moment but watch out for the elemental orbs rapidly approaching us

also made me chortle. get it together barta.

i wish the helm was upgradable but i think making me kill a molduga in order to borrow it is a pretty fair trade actually.

-

making

i originally had a really long thing here about litterbox trials and tribulations but i have decided to spare you all. you're welcome.

many balcony improvements, including putting up trellises and installing bird spikes to hopefully keep a very persistent orange tom off my balcony and away from my girls.

there are a goofy number of obstacles in the way of me making a proper planting diagram (sketchbooks buried deep in closet. flung the seeds in a box on a shelf i need to find my stepstool for. can't find pencil sharpener) so for the second week in a row that's not happening. however, sprouts.

baby italian lettuce blend

bush beans in the front and cucumbers + sweet peas in the back.

[bookclub4m]

Episode 184 - Horror

This episode we’re discussing the fiction genre of Horror! We talk about fear, control, Goosebumps, bad dogs, horror-comedy, creepypasta, the apocalypse, lizard romance, and more! 

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Straight by Chuck Tingle

Mister Magic by Kiersten White, narrated by Rebecca Lowman

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Leech by Hiron Ennes

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen edited by Ellen Datlow

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit: Fazbear Frights #1 by Scott Cawthon and Elley Cooper

Sadako at the End of the World by Koma Natsumi

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus, Book 3 by Eiji Otsuka and Yamazaki Housui

Things We Read (but didn’t talk about in this episode)

Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki! by Kanako Inuki

Résumé With Monsters by William Browning Spencer

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Soo Lee

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

A Song for the Quiet by Cassandra Khaw

The Helios Syndrome by Vivian Shaw

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

Other Media (& Authors) We Mentioned

Captain Britain And MI13, Volume 3: Vampire State by Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk, and Mike Collins

Stephen King

Misery

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Cujo

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Alien: Isolation (Wikipedia)

Dead Space (2008 video game) (Wikipedia)

R.L. Stine

Goosebumps

Fear Street

Junji Ito

The Enigma of Amigara Fault - “T-this is my hole! It was made for me!”

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

Emily Carroll

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Smart Podcast Trashy Books: 579. Punk Rock Writing with Chuck Tingle

Candle Cove by Kris Straub

Candle Cove (Wikipedia)

SCP Foundation 

SCP-087

The SCP Foundation: Declassified (YouTube)

The Ring (2002 film) (Wikipedia)

We talked more about the novel The Ring in Episode 078 - Supernatural Thrillers

Crapshots Ep608 - The Old Ones (YouTube) 

Links, Articles, Etc.

Episode 176: Fantasy

Episode 123: Psychological Horror

Does the Dog Die?

Matthew’s spooky phone case is a variant of this one

Matthew did a “31 Spooky Manga” challenge a few years ago and read a different spooky manga every day in October.

The Midnight Library: Episode 001 - Halloween Poetry

Sound Effects

Big Thunder And Distant Thunder Rain Birds by morvei01

Dramatic Organ, A by InspectorJ

bats1 by sofie

Pigeons (St Stephens Green, Dublin) by iainmccurdy

31 Recent Horror Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

This list features horror fiction by BIPOC authors published within the last 3 years.

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Morena-Garcia 

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn

Manmade Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Chlorine by Jade Song

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky: Indigenous Horror Stories by Alex Soop

There's No Way I'd Die First by Lisa Springer

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality: Stories by Lindsay Wong

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth 

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, November 7th when we’ll be discussing the non-fiction genre of Crafts and Crafting!

Then on Tuesday, December 5th we’ll be talking about the genre of Suspense Fiction!

[amychu]

Thanks to you, we're getting a sequel...!

In the second volume of this feminist tale of murder, monsters, and mystery layered with dark Chinese folklore, social worker turned vampire hunter Athena Lo has just lost everyone she loves--and it's all her fault.

Hoping to put her life back together, Athena travels to San Franciscos Chinatown on a quest to uncover the secrets of her mysterious family history. But her journey escalates into a nightmare when shes violently introduced to a new, ruthless gang of Asian American vampires and its unlikely leader, who hold shocking truths. As she navigates this dangerous territory, Athena can't escape the ghost of Carmilla...and neither can the vampires. Athena must decide--whose side is she on?

Inspired by the gothic novel that started the vampire genre, this queer, feminist murder mystery graphic novel is a tale of identity, obsession and fateful family secrets. 

Praise for Carmilla: The First Vampire:

Part of the challenge when writing about the Asian-American experience is attempting to define something that feels so amorphous. Chu and Lee ingeniously meld one of Western horror's oldest icons with the touchstones of the East.--Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian, Infidel)

A sophisticated and modern reimagination of one of the great classics of the horror genre, Chu and Lee have crafted a Vampire story you do not want to miss.--James Tynion IV (Something Is Killing The Children, The Department of Truth)

Carmilla is an itch in the back of your head, the horror of knowing somethings right behind you, whether it be a creature, a nightmare, or a terrible love. Amy Chu and Soo Lee weave a beautiful tale full of mystery in an unsettling New York. I highly recommend it.--Chip Zdarsky (Batman, Sex Criminals)

[kitabasis]

August 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

(feel free to ask me questions about my reviews or whatever for any of these!)

(Yes I did procrastinate on posting this. The books are all ones I read during August though!)

Dead Boy Detectives TPB by Toby Litt et al

The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Soo Lee

Lion's Legacy by L.C. Rosen

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Manliness in Britain, 1760-1900 by Joanne Begiato

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon

Tristan & Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti and L.S. Biehler

Violet Ghosts by Leah Thomas

The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes

...-32. Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun Vols. 1-19 by Aidalro

33. Half A Soul by Olivia Atwater

34. The Latch Key by Olivia Atwater (short story)

[cielsosinfel]

reading log #19348239534867598y7

Last reading log update of the yeaaaaar... I actually read 74 library books to completion this year (counting comics, sewing/mending/needle felt books I read cover to cover, and also recipe books I actually got sucked into) (My library has a system for making lists of books, so it's a list that contains my actual borrowed books and non-library books I read that were still in their system... I did read some more books that weren't so the number is higher than 74)

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, ed. Carmen Maria Machado: I'd never read Carmilla before, though I'd engaged with a lot of media inspired by it or directly remixing it. I was excited because of Machado being the editor! Unfortunately I disliked Carmilla (the book) and Machado's editing was not what I expected. I was hoping for actual information on the historical context of the story, or asides about Le Fanu's life and how it might be relevant to the writing. But Machado's "editing" was actually kind of a story-within-a-story, setting up an alternate reality where Carmilla and Laura and the rest of the characters were real, living people (names changed), and vampires are real, and some other weird stuff. At the same time, there were VERY few of these footnotes expanding on this alternate world/historical timeline... so I didn't see the point.

Carmilla itself is such a dry, sexless novel for how much INCREDIBLY horny work it has inspired. Also, Laura is the first-person narrator POV for the entire book, but the actual dialogue and monologuing must be at least 70% various men (her father, the doctor, the general, the huntsman). Also several racist moments that amount to "dark-skinned foreigners are horrifying". Maybe if I had not read and watched better stories built off it, I would have gotten more out of reading it.

Carmilla by Amy Chu & Soo Lee: This is a comic about a Athena, Chinese-American homeless services social worker, investigating a string of deaths among homeless young queer girls, some of whom are her clients. The deaths are all connected to Carmilla, a hip club built in what used to be a Chinese opera house and a pillar of Chinatown's community. She gets tangled up with one young runaway, Violet, inviting her to crash at her place to keep her safe, and falling deeper into a toxic dynamic that pushes away Athena's own girlfriend (whom she lives with!!!) and drags her deeper into Carmilla's own history.

I would have enjoyed this a lot more if the pacing was not all over the place!! It's just... both the writing itself, the story beats, and the panel sequencing are honestly hard to follow and made the overall story much less enjoyable. It's using a vampire horror story as a foundation to explore the state of stigma against homeless people and also the gentrification of New York's Chinatown and the very mundane but all-consuming horrors therein, which I was into and wish the writing had been easier to follow to get more drawn into it. There's also a twist at the end regarding her family which didn't feel like there was nearly enough build-up to, for it to have any real emotional impact with the reader, and I have no idea if it was meant to set up a sequel that never came to fruition...

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice: An isolated Anishinaabe community in the far north of Canada suddenly finds itself cut off from power and satellite, losing internet, TV, and phone lines, in the middle of winter. Slowly they come to realize that society has collapsed, that the power will never be restored, that the trucks that carry foods and goods to their far-flung community are not coming, and they'll need to figure out bringing their community together to fend for themselves and care for one another. (Spoiler: it does not go well.)

This is a book I would have been into a lot more if not for bouncing off the prose. It's very flat, and it's hard to get emotionally attached to the characters because we never really get anything of substance about their emotions and relationships to one another, besides things that are directly, plainly stated. There is one central narrator for the entire story, in what alternates between close third person POV and distant third person, but the narration also does that thing that bugs me, where for one or two sentences it will jump to a completely different character's internal thoughts, before jumping back to the main narrator.

I did really like how the author painted the cold, snow-buried landscape, and how the story built up to the characters realizing what was happening to the world around them, but never outright SAYING what happened. I also think there could have been more explanation, for why things fall apart so fast in the urban areas. The metaphors used to explain colonialism, ongoing threats of cultural genocide and the metaphorical and literal consumption of First Nations communities and resources by white Canadians was really well done.

There's a sequel coming out in February that I will be reading even though this book left me pretty cold (pun intended.)