#himmelstrand

[esevik]

Part 1: Outside

As soon as a pet bunny was introduced in one character's backstory I knew it would meet a tragic end. I may like Lindqvist as a writer but why does he need to keep killing bunnies in his stories? (I like bunnies so it hurts to read about them coming to harm.)

Anyway, this is a horror story where four seemingly random families are transported into some kind of other dimension and they have to figure out a way out of there. So far there is no direct threat to their lives but tension keeps building by every page.

The first family concists of a dad, mum and young daughter (my guess is that she's about six years old). Appearance-wise they look pretty much perfet but in actuallity they barely stand each other and the daughter may or may not be possessed by a demon/something evil. They're pretty dysfunctional bordering on abuseive.

The second family is like the complete oposite of the first one. It also has a dad, mum and a young son (about five years old) and while they look average(maybe even ugly) they love each other and care deeply about one another.

The third family is a stereotypical older couple with a stern conservative man and a woman who "knows her place". However she's far from meek, it's more a case of her finding comfort in her lot in life. And apparently she once poisoned her husband with rat poison (not a deadly dose) just to let him know that whenever she actually puts her foot down she means it. They also has a dog that's one of the point of view characters.

The last family is two middle aged gay guys who are together. It seems like they both had their own lives and families before discovering that they actually were in love with one another. By that I mean they talk as if they know the other person inside-out but they are pretty awkward with intimacy with each other. They also have a cat who sadly isn't a point of view character.

So far it feels like the cause of it all is pointing towards the first family's daughter. However it wouldn't surprise me if she turned out to be a red herring.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Madonna diluting own trademark https://memex.craphound.com/2003/04/21/madonna-diluting-own-trademark/

#20yrsago Teresa’s remedial Don’t-Burn-Libraries 101 https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/2003_04.html#002590

#10yrsago No, universal daycare doesn’t destroy the national character https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/apr/21/childcare-expert-jonas-himmelstrand-tories

#5yrsago The world is no longer willing to tolerate the plague of bullshit “agreements” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-20/uber-paypal-face-reckoning-over-opaque-terms-and-conditions

#5yrsago Family-owned Smugmug acquires Flickr, rescuing it from the sinking post-Yahoo ship https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/04/20/smugmug-buys-flickr-verizon-oath/537377002/

#5yrsago World Bank recommends that countries eliminate minimum wage, dismantle wrongful dismissal rules and contractual protections for workers https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/apr/20/world-bank-fewer-regulations-protecting-workers

Today (Apr 21), I’m speaking in Chicago at the Stigler Center’s Antitrust and Competition Conference. This weekend (Apr 22/23), I’m at the LA Times Festival of Books.

[Image ID: A girl working on a laptop. Her mouth has been taped shut. Glaring out of the laptop screen is the hostile red eye of HAL9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Behind them is a tattered, filthy, burned Canadian flag.]

[gubbanarkist]

Har haft Peter Himmelstrands schlager "Håll dig till höger, Svensson!" på skallen hela dan - alltså en sång som påminde folk om att vi böt för vänster- till högertrafik från när det begavs. Tack, Kalle Lind, för detta.

[portraitsalone]

Cecilia Himmelstrand Sundstrom

[fashioninpaper]

SWEDISH PAPER DOLL SATURDAY!

The Swedish paper dolls (klippdocka) I’ve found online are usually a jumble of magazine clipping. I’ve been trying to clean them up before posting here. I believe this is ape ter Himmelstrand tho I’m not 100% sure. He wrote two songs that won Eurovision Song Contest in 1968 and again in 1978.

[eurovisionsongaday]

And this is the end of 1978! The disco was strong this year, and good fun!

[inthegrassdrinkinglemonade]

Bara jag som inte har en aning vem Peter Himmelstrand är?

[everyeurovisionsong]

Sweden 1968

Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej ('It's beginning to look like love, damn it'), performed by Claes-Göran Hederström. Composition: Peter Himmelstrand. Lyrics: Peter Himmelstrand.

Time to return to 1968, one of my favourite Contests of all time. It's the turn of Sweden to entertain me with a song that feels both timeless and of its era.

Yes, you have the psychadelic movement going on, but you've also got the charts full of this 'Big Band' sound with TV hosts and troubadours such as Val Doonican ('Elusive Butterfly' , Love Affair's 'Everlasting Love' and The Walker Brothers 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore'. Hederström manages to straddle both the key genre movements that are exciting the young and the old in the late sixties.

What 'Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej' is lacking is a little bit of bite, a little grit to go with the 'dammit' of the title. That rough edge is what takes a solid song and makes it into a hit. The potential is there, but Hederström plays this just a little bit too smooth and establishment for me. It's more 'gosh darn' than 'goddammit'). It fits in nicely with the music of the time, but it doesn't even try to stand out.

Fifth on the night is about right, but it had the musical tools to do more.

Points: 15. Placing: 5th.

[modricthediscoman]

Peter Himmelstrand? Vem? Och om han tog in pop till mello, vad är det här för snarkfest till hyllning

[rammchickk]

Tagged

Tag Nine People with Excellent Taste

I was tagged by: @followthecreeper & @beauty-at-matrix, thanks girls :3 Color you’re wearing: dark blue Last band T-shirt you bought: The Last Band Skinny Bitches shirt <3 Last band you saw live: The Last Band <3 Last song you listened to: Loneliness by Wintersun Lipstick or chapstick: I don’t know the difference, lipstick then Last movie you watched: De Premier (passively) and A Prince For Christmas (actively) Last 3 TV shows you watched: The Office (US), Black Sails, The Strain 3 characters you identify with: I don’t know, no one, I don’t usually identify with characters, they are too cool to identify myself with Book you’re currently reading: Himmelstrand by Lindqvist

I tag @sportacusisgay @nightmaretoremember94 @my-sxe-world @children0fbodom

[esevik]

Book review: Himmelstrand by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist

My liveblog.

Short review: It was good, though the ending felt a little rushed.

Long review: First of all I want to say that this is a horror book and has a few trigger warnings to: gore, body horror, self harm/suicide.

There are also some characters with bigoted opinions/thoughts that do appear a few times in the story so some warnings for (casual) homophobia and racism.

With that out of the way the plot of the story is pretty interesting. Four different families who don't know each other are suddenly transported from a camping into some mystical field and now they'll have to figure out how to get out of there. It's simple but effective. However I do find the ending to be a bit lacking. A-

The characters are what drives the majority of the story. And while there are 12 of them (10 humans + 2 animals) they are all developed enough to carry their own stories and different from one another that it's easy to follow along whenever the perspective changes, which it does a lot. Overall the characters feel "real". A+

The worldbuilding is pretty much the mystery the characters are trying to figure out, which means the world and mechanics of it is slowly revealed as they take notice of it. This is both a positive and negative as it means the worldbuilding is an active part of the story but also that some important aspects of the world never gets discussed since the characters themselves focus on other stuff. The world is interesting but I find the lack of some general answers to bring down the ending a bit which is unfortunate. B+

The writing is like with all the other books I've read from John Ajvide Lindqvist great. He does a fantastic job balancing between all the characters and get them all to be relevant to the story. There are quite a few pop culture references in the story but unlike most stories that use them to "feel relatable" he uses it to make the characters feel more real as they all have different tastes and knowledge about media. And whenever a reference is important he makes sure to give basic information about it beyond the reference. Overall I just enjoy the guy's writing. A

Rating: A

[cheshire-cashier-blog]

RULES  :  TAG  PEOPLE  YOU  WANT  TO  GET  TO  KNOW  BETTER, REPOST DON’T REBLOG.

tagged  by: @scientificikhthus​

favorite  color: Blue! All kinds of blue. lipstick  or  chapstick: I like both, but maybe a really cool lipstick ovo last  song  i  listened  to: Loser by Beck last  movie  i  watched: Moana!! top  three  tv  shows: Right now? These changes constantly, haha! Uhm... Stranger Things, the Amazing World of Gumball, A Series of Unfortunate Events top  three characters: At the moment? Burgerpants!! Mae Borowski aaand Greggory from Night in the Woods. uvu <3 top  three ships: I actually... don’t really ship things? I’m boring like that. The only thing I really ship is, uhmmm... Mettapants. *wheezes* books  i’m  currently  reading:  A Swedish book! “Himmelstrand” by John Ajvide Lindqvist! It’s a really spooky and cool book!

TAGGING: Hmmm, @voicetheblook, @so-hypcd, @bonevis, @the-stick-seller and idk, whoever wants to do this! I’d tag all of you if I could! ;V; Sorry if anyone of you have done this already, aaah OTL

[wikimili]

==> https://t.co/aEH5DM3whU #DidYouKnow that Swedish sociologist Ulf Himmelstrand has been called the "father of sociology in Nigeria" #KNOWLEDGE #DYK

[aion-rsa]

Best New Horror Books in October 2018

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Looking for a good horror read? Here are some of the best new horror books to be released in October 2018.

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The Lists Kayti Burt

Horror Books

Oct 22, 2018

'Tis the spookiest of seasons, which means it is the absolute best time to read some horror! Here are some of the horror books coming out in October that we are most looking forward to checking out here at Den of Geek...

Have you joined the Den of Geek Book Club? You should!

Best New Horror Books in October 2018

Blood Communion by Anne Rice

Type: Part of the Vampire Chronicles series Publisher: Knopf Release date: October 2nd

The Vampire Chronicles continue with a riveting, rich saga--part adventure, part suspense--of Prince Lestat and the story of the Blood Communion as he tells the tale of his coming to rule the vampire world and the eternal struggle to find belonging, a place in the universe for the undead, and how, against his will, he must battle the menacing, seemingly unstoppable force determined to thwart his vision and destroy the entire vampire netherworld.

In this spellbinding novel, Lestat, rebel outlaw, addresses the tribe of vampires, directly, intimately, passionately, and tells the mesmerizing story of the formation of the Blood Communion and how he became Prince of the vampire world, the true ruler of this vast realm, and how his vision for all the Children of the Universe to thrive as one, came to be.

The tale spills from Lestat's heart, as he speaks first of his new existence as reigning monarch--and then of his fierce battle of wits and words with the mysterious Rhoshamandes, proud Child of the Millennia, reviled outcast for his senseless slaughter of the legendary ancient vampire Maharet, avowed enemy of Queen Akasha; Rhoshamandes, a demon spirit who refuses to live in harmony at the Court of Prince Lestat and threatens all that Lestat has dreamt of.

As the tale unfolds, Lestat takes us from the towers and battlements of his ancestral castle in the snow-covered mountains of France to the verdant wilds of lush Louisiana with its lingering fragrances of magnolias and night jasmine; from the far reaches of the Pacific's untouched islands to the 18th-century city of St. Petersburg and the court of the Empress Catherine...

Read Blood Communion by Anne Rice

Read our full review of Blood Communion by Anne Rice here.

Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World—And Ourselves

Type: Standalone non-fiction Publisher: Penguin Release date: October 2nd

A brain-bending exploration of real-life zombies and mind controllers, and what they reveal to us about nature—and ourselves.

Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose—and even humans.

In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control. Along the way, he visits a lab where scientists infect ants with zombifying fungi, joins the search for kamikaze crickets in the hills of New Mexico, and travels to Israel to meet the wasp that stings cockroaches in the brain before leading them to their doom.

Nothing Hollywood dreams up can match the brilliant, horrific zombies that natural selection has produced time and time again. Plight of the Living Dead is a surreal dive into a world that would be totally unbelievable if very smart scientists didn’t happen to be proving it’s real, and most troublingly—or maybe intriguingly—of all: how even we humans are affected.

Read Plight of the Living Dead by Matt Simon

Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker

Type: Prequel to Dracula Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Release date: October 2nd

The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula’s true origins but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.

Read Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker

The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke

Type: Standalone non-fiction Publisher: Del Rey Release date: October 9th

Captivating stories of the places where human evil has left a nefarious mark, featuring stories from the podcast Lore—now a streaming television series—including “Echoes,” “Withering Heights,” and “Behind Closed Doors” as well as rare material.   Sometimes you walk into a room, a building, or even a town, and you feel it. Something seems off—an atmosphere that leaves you oddly unsettled, with a sense of lingering darkness. Join Aaron Mahnke, the host of the popular podcast Lore, as he explores some of these dreadful places and the history that haunts them.   Mahnke takes us to Colorado and the palatial Stanley Hotel, where wealthy guests enjoyed views of the Rocky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century—and where, decades later, a restless author would awaken from a nightmare, inspired to write one of the most revered horror novels of all time. Mahnke also crosses land and sea to visit frightful sites—from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, to the brooding, ancient castles of England—each with its own echoes of dark deeds, horrible tragedies, and shocking evil still resounding.   Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they’d visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.

Read The World of Lore: Dreadful Places

I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Type: Standalone novel Publisher: St. Martin's Press Release date: October 16th

A compelling, eerie new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Let the Right One In.

"At the top of his game, Lindqvist gives Stephen King and John Saul at their best a run for the money." —Library Journal (starred) 

"Dubbed the Stephen King of Sweden, Lindqvist lives up to the billing." —New York Post

Four families wake up one morning in their trailer on an ordinary campsite. However, during the night something strange has happened. Everything outside the camping grounds has disappeared, and the world has been transformed into an endless expanse of grass. The sky is blue, but there is no sign of the sun; there are no trees, no flowers, no birds. And every radio plays nothing but the songs of sixties pop icon Peter Himmelstrand.

As the holiday-makers try to come to terms with what has happened, they are forced to confront their deepest fears and secret desires. Past events that each of them has tried to bury rise to the surface and take on terrifying physical forms. Can any of them find a way back to reality?

Read I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

Type: Standalone Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Release date: October 16th

The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations--witchcraft in colonial America--wrapped up in a lyrical novel of psychological suspense.

"Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods."

In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. In the House in the Dark of the Woodsis a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.

Read In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

Slender Man by Anonymous

Type: Epistolary novel Publisher: Harper Voyager Release date: October 23rd

One man’s search for the truth about one of the most intriguing urban legends ever—the modern bogeyman, Slender Man—leads him down a dark, dangerous path in this creepy supernatural fantasy that will make you question where the line between dark myth and terrifying reality begins.

Lauren Bailey has disappeared. As friends at her exclusive school speculate on what happened and the police search for answers, Matt Barker dreams of trees and a black sky . . . and something drawing closer.

Through fragments of journals, news stories, and online conversations, a figure begins to emerge—a tall, slender figure—and all divisions between fiction and delusion, between nightmare and reality, begin to fall.

Chilling, eerie, and addictively readable, Slender Man is a unique spine-tingling story and a brilliant and frightening look at one of the most fascinating—and diabolical—mythical figures in modern times.

Read Slender Man by Anonymous

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

Type: Standalone Publisher: Harper Perennial Release date: October 30th

From the New York Times bestselling co-author of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead.

“This isn’t a story. It’s a road trip."

Keisha Taylor lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day that Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn’t dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country.

Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job with a trucking company, Bay and Creek Transportation, and begins searching for Alice. She eventually stumbles on an otherworldly conflict being waged in the quiet corners of our nation’s highway system—uncovering a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.

Read Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

What horror books are you most looking forward to checking out? Let us know in the comments below or in our Den of Geek Book Club on Goodreads...

Further reading: Best New Science Fiction Books

Further reading: Best New Fantasy Books

Further reading: Best New Young Adult Fiction

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2018 Special Edition Magazine right here!

from Books https://ift.tt/2JcGMU3

[eurovisionsongaday]

So no one is gonna catch up to the UK’s 2nd place record any time soon, but there’s one other country with a truly weird number of specific finishings...

Sweden 5th place count: 1/9