#djeli

[emrad001]

Djinkans chap 16 preview 3

[novelconcepts]

Another year, another absurd amount of books read (296, because if I wasn't reading or writing this year, my brain was on fire). I was asked again for my top books of the year, so here we go: 2023's top 10, in no particular order.

This was the first book I read of the year--literally, vacated the hangout with my wife and sibling-in-laws to sit on their couch upstairs and eat through it. Do you love The Fall of the House of Usher, but wish for a nonbinary protagonist and a lot more mushrooms? This is the book for you! (T. Kingfisher is fucking rad, I made a concerted effort to only list ONE of her books on here, but honorable mention goes to The Twisted Ones for fucking me upppp.)

A gay, post-apocolyptic Pinocchio retelling involving copious robots, found family elements, and a cool-ass treehouse. Klune always hits for me with his unrepentant queer family dynamics and sense of humor. Honorable mention to the first two in the Green Creek series (although that's got a lot more...adult elements in among the werewolves, you've been warned).

I thiiiink I found this through The Homo Schedule podcast (PSA: if you missed out on Jasmin Savoy Brown and Liv Hewson doing a podcast together, now you know better), and it wrecked my shit. Tons of trigger warnings, as this is a memoir about abuse within a queer relationship, but it's so beautifully written. I personally suggest listening to the audiobook first, then standing anxiously behind someone at a book warehouse sale, hoping they'll set down the only paperback copy so you can swipe it.

A fantastical-historical reimagining in which the KKK is filled with literal monsters, and Black women are resistance fighters armed to take them out. Visceral and intense, and truly an excellent horror story.

Just. Such a soft time travel story about a daughter and her father and cherishing the time you get with loved ones. I was thoroughly unprepared for how lovely I found this one. It's very kind.

Spooky house, take-no-shit redhead, protective sibling elements, bisexual recluse with a sword who really just needs a nap. I haven't found a Harrow book yet I haven't slapped five stars on. She's so good at character and atmosphere, and I'm always surprised at how fast her stories race by.

The whole Daevabad trilogy (of which this is the first book) is just magical. A girl from the mortal world finds herself embroiled with the centuries-long prejudices and wars of djinn in a fantastical city. It's one of the rare stories of its kind that does have a love triangle, but doesn't feel like a love triangle; it's far less interested in the insufferable "who gets picked" than it is in the actual horrors these people are both perpetrating and coping with. It's an intoxicating ride.

Fuck You, TERFS: the book. Given that fact, there's obviously quite a lot of transphobia to deal with, but it's very clear that those people are wrong, and it's a super-engaging (and super-oh-god-what-comes-next) witchy time populated with queer, protective, interesting characters I'm excited to see again in the follow-up.

Have you ever wanted a haunted house story with visceral imagery and a rather lovely twist? Gailey has you covered. As much as I enjoyed The Echo Wife, I think I actually loved this one more, and it makes me so excited to see what else they've got up their sleeve.

One of my final reads for the year, when I was just churning through hardcovers at the speed of sound. I love this book. I recognize it won't be for everyone, but it takes so much of what I love about IT (one of my all-time favorite books, despite its flaws) and twists it through the lens of an author who escaped the Mormon church. It's horrific, it's fantastically abstract in places, it explores childhood and memory, imagination and abuse, and almost every character is queer. It's a great "I simply cannot sleep until I've finished" read.

[bookcub]

Book Rec of Djinn . . .Jinn. .. Jinni. . .

Rated on how likely the jinn would be my friend

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah- Qadir is the jinn with the largest role and I cannot decide if he would find me mildly amusing or mildly annoying. Either way, he would probably not be talkative and not view me as a threat or a priority.

5/10

The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty- While the term djinn is a controversial one in this world, there are plenty of djinn to choose from. Nahri might be my friend, if she didn't see me as an easy mark (which is very likely). I would very much enjoy her company if she didn't have her defenses up. Ali would probably find me interesting as a human and ask me a mixture of interesting and boring questions. Both would care if I died, unlike Dara, who wouldn't care if he accidentally caused my death.

6/10

A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark- I don't want to cause any spoilers but our main djinn would absolutely find me adorable, if not easily manipulated. We could definitely have a few fun nights for sure.

7/10

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi- Alizah would 1000% defend me with her life and successfully save it, but I am uncertain how receptive she would be to friendship, considering how guarded she is. I, however, would absolutely put in the effort for her.

7.5/10

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir- If I remember book two correctly, I would absolutely never become friends with this jinn. And I think they would actively want to kill me.

0/10

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - Ahmed would not be friends with me and be very very rude to me, although he would not kill me. I would rather be friends with Chava, the golem instead. We would be besties.

1/10

Nayra and the Djinn by Iasmin Omar Ata-

Majan is a delight and I think we are likely to get along fairly well, although certainly not to the extent Nayra and Marjan have bonded. But we could tell each other stories and reignite some of the spark in each other's lives, encouraging exploration and connection. A fun and emotional time!!

8/10

[shay-the-reader]

📖: ring shout x p. djèlí clark (2020)

genres: historical fiction, horror, fantasy

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

review in one sentence: i loved the overall concept but thought aspects of the plot and characters could benefit from this being a longer book and not a novella.

“For a moment it seems the two are battling: my songs and his uneven chorus. But it was never a real fight. What I have is beautiful music inspired by struggle and fierce love. What he got ain’t nothing but hateful noise.”

🗡️👻🪘

if you like this, you might also enjoy…

📺 lovecraft country (2020)

🎬 us (2019)

📖 kindred x octavia butler (1979)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS by P. Djèlí Clark.

Tore through this today! It was very fun--I've really enjoyed all of Clark's novella-length work that I've read so far, and this was no exception. Gorgeous descriptions, neat worldbuilding in a little package, and I liked our MC (Eveen) and all of her reckless decisions (which I suppose is allowed if you're a badass undead assassin under contract and on a time crunch).

The jacket/Goodreads blurb captures the ~assassins~ part of this story really well, but I don't think it does justice to the Inherent Weirdness--there's more loadbearing magic going on that is, unfortunately, spoilery, but super cool and mind-bendy and verging on timey-wimey (is that proper usage?? sorry I don't go here).

Overall: fucked up funny weird little story! This definitely startled laughter out of me in spots, and I love that. I had a really fun time, which, per his acknowledgements, is what he set out to write. Mission accomplished, sir!

[b-plot-butch]

started the dead cat tail assassins yesterday and i LOVE it

[remnantglow]

both the new james sa corey and p djeli clark books coming out on the same day in 2 weeks... big day for people with good taste in sff

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[desdasiwrites]

"You! You can’t just walk in here! This is a crime scene!”

“That would explain the dead bodies, then,” she replied. He blinked dumbly, and she sighed. Wasting good sarcasm was annoying.

– P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

[explosionshark]

top 5 horror book recommendations? it's spooky season and i need to get my read on...

Hell yeah! Gonna break this down a little. First an obligatory rehash of books I always recommend for this, these are like all-time faves for me

Wounds/North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud - can't choose between these two, so they're tied for my favorite single author short story collection. Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite writers of all time

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - a very very close second for my favorite single-author short story collection. Machado is a beautiful writer and finding an author writing such powerful horror from a queer woman's perspective was world changing for me.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - COME ON!!!! You might have already read this but consider reading it again! Absolute classic.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja - dark, fucked up meditation on art and addiction and toxic relationships. I think about this book all the time. A guy finds a weird hole in his apartment basement and then everything goes wrong (first slowly and then very very quickly)

Red X by David Demchuk - talked about this a lot before too but I really do love it. Fictional story inspired by real life serial killings that took place in Toronto's gay village over decades. The author inserts essays throughout the book that makes it part memoir as well. A supernatural story about real queer trauma.

--

Okay with that out of the way, here's some recommendations for stuff I think would be fun for Halloween specifically

Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow - OKAY CHEATING I ALSO RECOMMEND THIS ALL THE TIME BUT IT'S A PERFECT OCTOBER BOOK!!! Fuck-off huge ghost story anthology. Huge range of tones, pretty diverse group of contributing authors, it's my all-time favorite anthology.

Slewfoot by BROM - this one's got major autumn vibes. It's a story of a woman in Puritan New England who's accused of witchcraft. It's also a story about the devil. Kind of. The print version has really amazing paintings by the author, but I've heard this is also good in audio.

Come Closer by Sara Gran - this is a great little novella. Possession story that really packs a punch. I can't really say much more than that, but it's not a huge time investment and I think it's really worthwhile.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu - if you can, get the version edited by Carmen Maria Machado (she adds in some great footnotes and it has some neat art too). This is a classic and also quite a brisk read. The original lesbian vampire story.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - here's a new release for you! I always watch a ton of horror movies in October, and if you're anything like me maybe you'll want to read a horror novel about horror movies. This story follows a female film editor in 90s Mexico and her washed up actor friend as they help a retired filmmaker complete his famously unfinished last film, which he had been making with a former Nazi occultist before strange misfortunes and the occultist's mysterious disappearance forced production to shut down.

Okay that was double the amount of recommendations requested so I'm stopping here. Haha don't look in the tags don't worry about it there's nothing there you're crazy

[ghosthermione-reads]

I've been clearing my TBR of all the short stories I put on it that are available for free and never read.

A few recs:

The Dryad's Shoe by T. Kingfisher:

Cinderella retelling like only Kingfisher can come up with. Fun, upbeat, short, involves birds and bees but not how you think.

Compulsory, By Martha Wells:

Murderbot before All Systems Red, being the dysfunctional bot construct we know and love

The Angel of Khan El-Khalili, by P. Djèlí Clark

Same Cairo as Master of Djinn and the Haunting of Tram Car 015, different but equally spunky main character.

I think the last two can serve as good intros for those universes, but I equally love a good standalone short story, and both Angel and Dryad work without any extra context

[do-not-go-gently-42]

already being a fan of p djeli clark’s work, I had a lot of expectations for The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. “they sent my younger self to the future and hired me to kill her” was not on my bingo card though

[radiophd]

djeli moussa diawara -- s/t [album, 1982]

[noahsbookhoard]

🦇📚September 2024 Book Review (Part 1/4)📚🦇

Today is Halloween so in honor of that I pulled every spooky read from September and put them all together!

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim

Ji-won's life has fallen apart since her father left her mother and her mother found a new boyfriend, George, a misogynist, condescending man who eyes out every Asian waitress. Adding to this stress due to her collegue studies and the persistent nice guy who won't take no for an answer, Ji-won starts having wierd dreams, dreams of bright blue, delicious looking eyeballs.

In terms of taboos, cannibalism ranks pretty high. It is deeply uncomfortable to hear stories about it yet it is an interesting question whwne it comes to moral vs survival. Yet I had never read a book that dived into the subject. What is interesting here is that Ji-won's hunger is 1) pretty specialised 2) entirely opportunistic and not driven by a need to survive. There's no point in judging the moral values of a fictional characters and I know that's kinda the point of horror as a genre but Ji-won's action sometimes made me really uncomfortable.

There is also a critique of misogyny and Asian fetishization which is well handled as far as I could tell. The father cheated and left with another woman, George to is cheating but he is even more disturbing than the whole eye eating thing, he is a creep, a cheater, demanding, borderline pedophile and just unsufferable as a person. If I was Ji-won I would have done more than hide is car keys in the fridge.

As for the end, it's wierd, it's just wierd. It's hard so say what was really murderous pulsions because George deserved it and what was Ji-won being sick, what was real and what was supernatural (if any of it was).

Overall it was a pleasant enough read in term of style. As for the theme I don't know if I like it or hate it. Maybe it's also a matter of setting, I usually like my horror a little bit less modern and down to earth but that is a matter of preference.

Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark

Just after World War I in the South of the US, the KKK is everywhere. Most of them are human, except among their ranks are hidden monsters just as dangerous as those men and women. Maryse and a group of resistant are fighting the Klan, through skirmish and sabotage but something more evil than before is brewing in Macon...

It has a really creepy but really cool twist on the Klan: there is still human member who embody the values of the KKK, and that's horrifying; but there are monsters with the same white form but wierd limbs, eyes and teeth. I love the author's way of introducing those supernatural elements: they are the first Klan members we see and it is unsettling to see them pounce on a dog carcass when you were expecting humans in costume. It's interesting to use real historical racist threats (the KKK, Birth of A Nation) and add to it a supernatural element while still maintaining the actual real life danger. It also raised the classic question: where is the line between man and monster?

I am neither American nor black so I can't really comment on the African American cultural aspects but they were really interesting and fitted well in the fantasy aspect of the novella as well as creating a contrast with the white side of Macon.

The characterization is great, I love the characters, Maryse and her comrade Sadie especially but the antagonist really brought the "Love To Hate Them" feeling for me. Also the Aunties, they are just the best.

I really liked it, but I might have appreciated even more with a deeper understanding of the period and the culture (too bad for me). Lots of actions, great characters and a really cool battle at the end, go for it!

What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) by T Kingfisher

Alex Easton just arrived in the most rural and isolated part of Galicia at the request of Madeline Usher, a childhood friend. Her brother, Roderick, reveals what has been going on for the last months: Madeline is ill, dying probably. However some things sticks Easton as odd: why is Madeline sleepwalking all of the sudden? What is the white fur like substance growing on her skin? And what does it have to do with local superstition of Witch Hare?

Short but incredibly impactful. Fungi are really a freak of nature that works really well in horror: there's a ton of them, they interact with other living things in wierd ways and they are really hard to classify for non mycologist. The rewriting of Poe's classic short story The House of Usher is good, it keeps the key elements of the plot and characterization but develops everything around it. Roderick and Madeline are pretty much in character and I liked what she added to them. I liked Galicia, the country Kingfisher created for this story a lot: the land sets and atmosphere, it's cold, gray and wet. It also all happens in a very isolated place, ifused with traditions and superstitions that serves as foreshadowing and red herring.

Alex Easton also is a treat. A gender non conforming former soldier with no people skills whatsoever. The Sworn Soldier system is really cool and allows some ambiguity with Easton's gender that I loved. The PTSD is really well treated and adds both to the characterization and to the atmosphere. I also loved Angus and Miss Potter who added some much needed common sense to the cast.

I really loved it. The traditions, legends and history of Galicia are imersive and the way it tied supernatural elements with more natural but just as spooky threats works really well. I have just finished reading What Feat at Night, I heard somewhere that a third novella will be released somewhere in 2025 and I'm really looking forward to that.

The Book of Blood (Vol. 1) by Clive Barker

A series of twisted stories, from a serial killer on the subway in NYC to a theater of undead, not forgetting a monstrous man eating sow.

This was September's blind draw, let's say many of the book club members skipped this one. This is a collection of short stories, they vary a lot on theme, ton and unfortunately the enjoyment I took reading them: some where really good and disturbing, some where forgettable, some still baffle me six weeks later.

"The Book of Blood" is the prologue, and it sets the tone: creepy, characters that are deeply flawed and supernatural gory elements. It is also the shortest. It did well as an introduction but it wasn't very memorable to me.

"The Midnight Meat Train" left me divided: I was sold on the serial killer butchering people in subways. I was interested in the part where the city knew and let it happened. I was mildly disappointed by the supernatural element that fell a bit short after the adrenaline of the subway train scene. Yet it was interesting and well written.

"The Yattering and Jack" didn't left me much memories, except that it was quite funny. It is a Beetlejuice meet the Grinch kind of atmosphere. I liked the twist on the demon haunting that made the main character aware of what was going on but pushing through and frustrating the demon to no end. I never felt any real threat from the demon, though.

"Pig Blood Blues" is the gory twisted tale I was promised in the back cover: ghost, scary animals, possessions, ritual sacrifice and cannibalism; you name it, it's in it! Redwal's as a very down to earth character that you usually see in Stephen King's main character and his discovery of the giant sow who is at the center of human sacrifice rituals is just as satisfying. The sow itself gave me shivers, it is described in an entirely too human way to be comfortable. Lacey, a young boy that starts as the frightened victim scared of ghost and ends up just as monstrous as all the over character perfectly sets the mood. I was really wiered out by Redwall's attitude toward Lacey but his punishment at the end is really satisfying.

"Sex, Death, and Starshine" is my favorite but not the scariest! The living characters takes some time to realise that other are dead but once they do it's all fun and games and playing Twelfth Night in front of a ghost audience before going on a road trip! Just the tiny bit of whimsy, loved it!

"In the Hills, the Cities" is the most disturbing to me because I'm still wondering what the hell that was. Every years two cities straps themselves together to create a giant man shaped structure and they merrily go as a Flesh Transformer to the other city's Flesh Transformer. People die. Not because of the battle but because there assigned place in the comstruct is the sole of the feet. I guess I was supposed to feel some sort of eldritch fear but mainly I was working out the how and why and couldn't focus on the scary parts. Just plain bizarre.

[haveyoureadthishorrorbookpoll]

Have you read...

In America, demons wear white hoods. In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

submit a horror book!

[kitsuneheartreviews]

Fantasy (audiobook): "The Dead Cat Tail Assassins" by P. Djèlí Clark (2024-08-06)

Masterfully sarcastic and fast-paced! Clark takes the intense possibility of an assassin tale, makes it silly, and then makes it INTENSE. The finale is MWAH, perfection! I was CACKLING.

The setting here is fascinating. A world, but more specifically a city, full of gods...who actually DO STUFF. Like, in recent memory, undeniably, and with VIGOR. I hope Clark returns to Tal Abisi, because he has created something with a lot of potential. Like, numerous guilds, pantheons, political structures, all ready to mix and meld in really unique ways. And whenever he wants to create something, he can just throw it in, because we know this is a nexus of trade and society, so anything goes!

I'd actually hope that further books in Tal Abisi don't feature our narrator, Eveen the Eviscerator, but not because of any problems. She's great. She's a jerk. I like that. It's just I want to see this city from every angle! Maybe have some of the characters from this book pop up in the background, but I trust Clark to make someone new to steal a second show.

Narrator Lynnette R. Freeman is so good at Eveen's snark, but the real stunner is when she gets to break out accents. There's one character's voice who is just thick and dangerous and wonderful. And she's got great range, so I don't think there was any repeat voices. It's all very easy to follow, audio-wise.

This is so getting one of my Hugo noms in 2025.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.