#willowweep

[iamfabiloz]

oc time!! warrior Sturdybranch has a fling with a loner but sadly they die and sturdy takes their kits to be raised in his clan. He has two daughters Goldenoak and Willowweep. Also Snowshiver and Jackdawstar (also finchcry in the bg at the start) cameo for those who know them :]

fun fact the kitten (goldenoak) snowshiver is holding is one of her later murder victims 👍 she was made to die

[readtilyoudie]

THE DIRE DEEP OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR

[sassysnowperson]

book genre: horror

Oooh, tricky one - I don't think I read any pure, classic horror - but some elements of the genre played strong in a few spec-fic books I read:

I read the Locked Tomb Series, and I think I have to go with Harrow the Ninth as the most...horrific of the three. All three have the set dressing of necromancy, body horror rife throughout. But Harrow had the psychological horror in there too, on top of some of the most visceral gore moments in the books as well.

I also want to give a shout out to The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon. There were a lot more horror elements in there than I was expecting. There's a strong theme of AI corruption, biological and mechanical intertwined intentionally and on accident in ways that were viscerally upsetting. (I don't know if it rises to a full rec for me - I felt like the author was trying to say something important about trauma and how it impacts relationships, but it felt clumsy to me. Interesting worldbuilding bits though.)

Also, thematically it's not at all horror, but I really enjoyed The Dire Days of Willoweep Manor as a satire of gothic horror.

Look at that! So fun

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity

This wasn't the book I was expecting, but it was fun. I won't give too much away, but if you enjoy gothic novels with a sci-fi twist, you may want to check this one out.

[blackramhall]

Shaenon K. Garrity

[blogthefiresidechats]

Latest haul...

I got to stop by the bookstore yesterday afternoon and came home with three new books. The first book was something I picked up on a whim because I thought it looked interesting. The other two books were books that were on my list. I’m one of those people that think there’s no such thing as too many books. 

[alley-cat777]

Book Review: The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by: Shaenon K. Garrity & Christopher J. Baldwin (Illustrator)

Initial Thoughts: I need a sequel and a physical copy of this book asap! I ended up borrowing this book from the e-library. I was quickly drawn by the main character’s interest in gothic fiction like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights (two of my favourite books!). I absolutely loved this book. It was off the wall and quirky and I want to read it again sometime soon. Summary A graphic novel about a…

[violsva]

November Reading

Post delayed by a vacation and then PMS. More thoughts than usual, though.

Recent: Finally finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, but fast enough that things did not really sink in, or not all at once. It was good, interesting cultural differences and similarities, probably won't read the sequels.

Reread Steadfast, by Mercedes Lackey. This is not a good book, people. I knew that when I started it. In terms of pacing and plotting and unnecessary digressions and historical accuracy and giving agency to characters it is very very badly done. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is maybe what I need, given how much I get tied into knots about the free fanfic I write for fun needing its theme to be supported by a coherent narrative arc.

I read some of T. Kingfisher's commentary on fairy tales in The Halcyon Fairy Book and most of Lace Making by Eunice Close (published by a tiny Canadian press in 1975, don't go looking for it). I tried to reread The Bacchae for catharsis purposes, but it was a not-great Victorian translation and I didn't get very far. I did find out that Alan Cumming played Dionysus twenty or so years ago and the trailer for that is on Youtube.

Read A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee, which was good for what it was but I did have to force myself to it. On the drive with @consultingpiskies I finally managed to articulate that I am just not up to unfamiliar fiction right now, and maybe that's okay.

I read all of May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer at the library, which is the book of an exhibition of her work and was absolutely gorgeous and also gave me feelings about her relationship with her father, so that was great. And on the theme of the English Arts and Crafts movement, English Embroidered Bookbindings by Cyril Davenport, which might have been improved with more practical knowledge of embroidery but was generally good.

Also read Meet Me on the Other Side by @sparklepocalypse, RWRB 1890s cowboy AU. I could be nitpicky about a couple historical attitudes but basically this is just a really good romance novel and I liked it.

Current: Rereading Swordheart by @tkingfisher, and I really want to know more about the Temple of the White Rat's embroiderer(s). Like, maybe Zale does their own embroidery, but in that case I would have expected them to take a project along for the wagon ride. For a while I was carrying this around with me everywhere, but now that I am getting to the climax things are going more slowly.

Just gave 3/5 of my library books back unstarted due to the fiction realization above. I have two digital craft books to flip through, and also some from the Antique Pattern Library, and Chats on Old Lace and Needlework by Mrs. Lowes. Look, basically what I want to do right now is get overwhelmingly caught up in craft projects and never talk to anyone ever again. I won't, because there is Christmas shopping to do and people I am trying to make friends with and so forth, but that's probably where my head's going to be all month.

Various RWRB fanfics going on still. Oh, and there's been more Madame C—. Thank god for Madame C—.

Future: I still have The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin out from the library, which really does seem fun but I don't know if I have the brain for it. I would also like to get through more of my AO3 Marked for Later list before Yuletide adds a bunch to it, but, well. (I didn't sign up for Yuletide this year, not because I didn't think I could manage it but because I suspected I would hate the process, and that was a good decision.)

If all else fails I will relisten to the Roaring Twenties Magic audiobooks while sewing.

[shaenongarrity]

For this month's Patreon wallpaper, I thought I'd illustrate The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, my graphic novel with Christopher Baldwin, as a classic Women Running from Houses gothic paperback.

[libraryleopard]

November reads

* = reread

Savory and Supernatural by Karen Healey

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shannon K. Garrity and Christopher J. Baldwin

Tar Hollow Trans by Stacy Jane Grover

A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark*

The Dangerous Kingdom of Love by Neil Blackmore

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

Like Happiness by Ursula Villareal-Moura

The Girl Who Kept the Castle by Ryan Graudin

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

This World is Not Your by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

The Gathering Dark: A Folk Horror Anthology edited by Tori Bovalino

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe

And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

[ravenya003]

Stuff I Read/Watched in February...

The Comet by Joe Todd-Stanton

Bear by Ben Queen and Joe Todd-Stanton

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin

Evermore: A Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tale by Isobelle Carmody and Daniel Reed

Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea and Yana Bogatch

Claudia and the Bad Joke by Anne M. Martin

Kristy and the Walking Disaster by Anne M. Martin

The Garden of Lost Secrets by A.M. Howell

The House of One Hundred Clocks by A.M. Howell

Haunted by various authors

The Spook’s Battle by Joseph Delaney

RRR (2022)

Sailor Moon: Season 3 (1994)

Spooks: Season 1 (2002)

Interview with the Vampire: Season 1 (2022)

More details on blog...

[iamfabiloz]

you there. boy. ask me abt my ocs. hello, is anyone there

[readtilyoudie]

THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR

[smashpages]

Happy Birthday to Shaenon Garrity!

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Reluctant Reader Wednesday: The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin

Haley is a fan of gothic romance novels. Like, an ENORMOUS fan. She loves the dark and stormy nights, the handsome and surly men, and the fancy but impractical dresses. One day after school, she rescues a man who’s drowning in the river, and when she brings him back to shore, everything looks different than she remembered. When she meets the brothers, the housekeeper, and the ghost of Willowweep Manor, Haley realizes that she’s in a place that’s almost but not quite like one of her favorite books.

The same way that this universe is not quite what Haley expected, Haley is not quite what this universe expected, either. After all, who says that a maiden has to be swept away by romance and poetry? And who says that a maiden can only be a maiden? What if she wants to be a gothic heroine instead?

Give this book to teens and grownups who enjoy smart, fast-paced, and funny graphic novels about romance, classic books, and redefining your own identity.

[onebluebookworm]

September 2021 Book Club Picks

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld: The year is 1909, and Dr. Sigmund Freud has just touched down on American soil for the first time, in the heart of New York City, eager to experience all the burgeoning metropolis has to offer. The very same night, a beautiful heiress is found dangling from a hotel chandelier, murdered and mutilated horribly. When another young lady escapes the same killer, Dr. Stratham Younger is assigned as her analyst, and beseeches Dr. Freud for help. But nothing is as it appears the deeper Younger probes, and his quest to find the murderer will lead him through a tangled web of deceit, lies, and corruption in an effort to keep his young charge safe and himself from being done in along with her.

Animated Maria by Marion Chesney: Maria Kendall is the perfect candidate for marriage - stunningly beautiful, impeccably mannered, and effortlessly graceful. So all of London is asking one question this season - why on earth is she a charge of Amy and Effie Tribble, known for their work with “difficult misses”? Amy and Effie themselves get an answer when they meet Maria’s horrendously boorish parents, whose crude manners and puffed-up egos drive away any man ready with a proposal. The Kendalls need finishing as much as their day-dreaming daughter, and when roguish Duke of Perham sets his sights on Maria, the Tribble sisters have to act fast to strike the match and secure their incomes.

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity: There’s nothing in this world Haley loves more than Gothic romances, so when she sees a young man drowning in the river, she does what any heroine worth her salt would do - jump in and try to rescue him. But instead of being swept off her feet by a brooding stranger, Haley is swept off to Willowweep Manor, a foreboding house with a creepy housekeepers, a trio of tall, dark, handsome brothers, ghosts, and its fair share of secrets. Willowweep is not what it seems, and its very existence is in danger unless Haley can figure out how to defeat the monstrous threat inching ever closer from the moors. 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: Guy Montag is a fireman, but not the kind we know. In a world where books have been outlawed and fleeting, superficial pleasure sought above all else, Guy’s job is to destroy any and all books he comes across. He’s never questioned the role he has to play, until he meets his eccentric neighbor, a young girl named Clarisse, and a professor named Faber, who introduce him to the wonderous universe the world has left behind.  

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate: Ivan has a pretty good life at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He has his television, he has his best friends - an elderly elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob - and he has his art. He’s so content, he barely remembers his life before, back in the jungle. But then, a new baby elephant named Ruby is brought to the mall, bringing change with her. Ruby remembers her family and her home in the jungle. She knows there is more to life than the glass walls of their domains and entertaining humans all day. When tragedy strikes, Ivan becomes more determined than ever to help Ruby escape from the mall, and perhaps help himself in the process.