Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee and The Hat Man by Greg Marchand

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee is great at world building by creating a modern society of fairies, nymphs, elves, kelpies, and other magical creatures. It has a fascinating albeit gruesome plot and characters with potential. However, it is a slow paced book that gets repetitive very quickly.

In an alternate universe in which magical creatures live their daily modern lives, Cora is a barista, bounty hunter, smuggler, and art thief. Her client Finneas gives her a new assignment to retrieve a kelpie’s heart from the witch who stole it and give it to a potential buyer. While investigating Filla, the witch who took the heart, she learns that the heart belongs to Damien, a kelpie who is also her ex. He is alive but is growing weaker without his heart. Cora must choose between duty of following her assignment and a love that never really ended.

The strongest aspect of this book is the world building. It does not pull the old standard “Fairylands are stuck in a pastoral arcane Medieval like society" trope. If human society changes, there is no reason to assume that Fairy Worlds wouldn’t. They live in a society where magic and technology combine to create a world that is both fantastic and identifiable. 

This is a world where nymphs and sprites live next door to each other in suburban homes. Where an elf runs the local cafe. Where a doctor might treat your illness or injuries or you might get a witch to do it. Lee clearly had a lot of fun with treating magical characters like people that we might see every day. They just happen to have powers to create storms, curse people, heal with their hands, or teleport from one place to another. 

Some might have large ears, fur on their whole bodies, wings, sharp fangs, or look more animal than human. But they are just like you and me. They go to work or school, go shopping, run errands, hang out with friends, spend money, relax at home, and live mundane lives while having awesome powers and fascinating physical characteristics. 

The book has a promising character and its plot is alright for the most part. Cora isn’t a smuggler simply for money. She steals because she loves and appreciates art. Her love of art is inherited from her late father. In a way, her career keeps her memory of him alive even if her pursuits aren't exactly legal.

Cora’s love for her father also is evident in her conflicts with Damien. In fact, their fathers had a violent confrontation. As children who are close to their parents will do, Cora and Damien defended their old men and ended their relationship in a battle of words. While Cora rejects what she lost, she recognizes that Damien doesn’t deserve to have his heart taken out and doesn’t want his death on her conscience. No matter how their relationship ended, she does not want to be the one to give him a death sentence. 

The most serious drawback in the book is its pacing and it drags what would be an interesting plot. The heart assignment is well executed and there is genuine suspense in Cora’s search and retrieval of the heart. It could be a thrilling cat and mouse game that happens to have a living macguffin and lucky for Damien, a patient that is actually alive to take part in the search.

However the slowest moments occur during Cora and Damien’s reunions. There are several chapters devoted to them discussing their conflicts before they are resolved. A few are fine because this is a couple with a lot of serious baggage but those chapters repeat themselves. Cora and Damien spend a lot of talking in circles over the same topics and discussions without coming to any resolution or clarity. 

The pacing drags down what could be an interesting book with a fascinating premise and characters and makes it tedious and even boring. Their conversations could have been shorter, or came to the main points quicker. Also instead of talking about their issues and telling each other how they feel, they could show each other. What is overly verbose could have more action showing the two coming closer together emotionally on this heart stopping, pun not intended adventure. 

The Hat Man by Greg Marchand 

A supernatural creature that has gained popular culture relevance is The Hat Man. a mysterious tall figure with no facial features and dressed in a black suit, coat, and fedora appears from out of the shadows and stands over an unwilling victim usually in their bedrooms, in an abandoned street, or the woods, somewhere they are alone. It doesn’t touch them or talk to them mostly. It just stands there as a frightening silent presence. The Hat Man is most commonly associated with sleep paralysis as humans have largely reported seeing it in their bedrooms and over their beds before approaching REM sleep. There are urban legends of Benadryl users taking large quantities of the antihistamine to purposely encounter the figure. 

The Hat Men inspired the look of various characters like Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, The Babadook, and Creepypasta’s Slenderman. He has also appeared in the horror films, Shadow People and The Shadow Man, the documentaries The Nightmare and The Hat Man: Cases of Pure Evil, the games LSD: Dream Emulator and Deep Sleep, the Jason Pargin novel, John Dies At the End, and The Twilight Zone episode, “The Shadow Man.” The Twilight Zone episode in particular builds on the legend by depicting The Shadow Man as attacking people except “the one under whose bed (they) lay.” Unfortunately, the young protagonist finds himself the prey of a Shadow Man from under someone else’s bed!

The most recent portrayal of this enigmatic eerie and otherworldly figure can be found in Greg Marchand’s horror novel, The Hat Man. Similar to The Twilight Zone episode, it shows a Hat Man who isn't just terrifying because of its mere presence. It isn’t above using violence to make a point. 

This version of the Hat Man appears after a couple excavate trees for their gum. Instead of the expected sap from a slash pine, blood emerges and the two stumble upon an abandoned grave. They then see a terrifying figure dressed in a fedora who attacks the couple. Once unleashed, The Hat Man attacks various characters in violent ways. Two brothers searching for the monster are separated then murdered with great efficiency by The Hat Man. It falls to Sadie Burrows and Colton Garrett, who lose loved ones to the Hat Man, to investigate the mystery of this strange specter, its origins, and hopefully how to stop it. 

This book embellishes The Hat Man mythos by giving it more agency, character traits, and even a backstory. Instead of being a silent detached observer, it is an aggressive creature of action and rage. He uses his sharp claws, ice cold death breath, and superhuman strength to overpower then kill its victims. The action removes the more ominous ambiguous presence from the legend but makes sense from a storytelling point of view in this context. 

In some ways, Marchand combines the behavior of The Hat Man with more malevolent spirits like the dybbuk, which possesses and torments the living and the revenant which returns from the dead to inflict harm or terror. 

The behavior of the Hat Man becomes more understandable once we learn about its backstory before its death. It was once a person that was involved in horrible things and died graphically and violently. It is trying to seek the vengeance and justice in death that was denied in life. It’s not a particularly understandable or sympathetic character in the past or present, but knowing that it was once human gives it more of a relatable edge.

 There are many people filled with such hatred in their hearts that they make life miserable for those around them. Their words, actions, and very presence stirs negative emotions within people and they almost delight in that persona. They could fly into violent rages or play cold sociopathic mind games, but no matter their means they bring cruelty and inspire fear, despair, dependance, self-blame, guilt, submission, anger, fury, trauma, depression, anxiety, complacency, and apathy. Now picture a person like that coming back to life after their death and having supernatural abilities. It’s very easy to see why The Hat Man leaves such an impression on those he encounters.

This presence is also augmented by the personal suffering inflicted by the human characters. Sadie is coming off of an abusive relationship in which her ex hurt her dog, Buddy, who would later be killed by The Hat Man. A vet assistant and animal lover, Sadie’s strongest emotional core was her dog and the Hat Man destroys it. 

Colton’s family is extremely dysfunctional, particularly his troubled, addicted younger brother, Trevor, whom Colton has always taken a paternal role towards. He also greatly admires his older steadier brother, Bill, who is also the Sheriff. Both are murdered by The Hat Man. In killing them, The Hat Man also deprives Colton of his strongest emotional touchstones. 

It’s not enough for The Hat Man to kill someone physically, he destroys them emotionally by removing those they love the most and leaving them completely vulnerable and helpless when he comes after them.

That is the atmosphere that surrounds the book. It is a cruel world obsessed with death and violence that is reflected by an even crueler afterworld where the violence doesn’t end. Instead it increases. One of the more disturbing passages occurs when Sadie, Colton, and their friends hunt for The Hat Man during a Mardi Gras parade and stare befuddled and shaken at a float from The Hat Man Krewe, a float that not only honors the terrifying spirit that ruined their lives, but turns him into an attraction. It is one thing to become victimized by a disturbing person or presence but it is another thing to see that same presence glamorized into a figure of fun, sexuality, or worse admiration. 

The Hat Man book reveals a lot about a supernatural creature but it also reveals a lot more about the humans who talk about it. 

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

 

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Warning: Before I begin this review, I insist that you read my review of the book, Boy From Two Worlds as this book will reveal important spoilers in this series. I will also reiterate that this review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!

I find it an interesting experience to read a book series out of order. Sometimes, it can be very confusing. Sometimes, it can be tedious if the exciting parts happen in the earlier volume so we have to encounter the exposition. Other times, it actually makes the books better especially if you think of them as though they were meant to be written out of order. 

An example of the latter experience falls in The Girl in the Corn by Jason Offutt which is actually the first book in Offutt’s two part series but is actually the second book that I read in the series after its follow up Boy From Two Worlds. Reading the two books in the proper order works in a linear storytelling fashion in which the plot points are introduced, conflicts begin, action builds up to a climax, the events expand in the next volume, characters evolve, the scope of the threat expands, solutions are given, and resolutions are made. 

But Offutt gives his books a unique gift in which they are just as well written out of order as they are in. Instead of thinking of the books as an ongoing series, one can instead look at Boy From Two Worlds as the main book that tells the important story and Girl in the Corn as the prequel that sets up the situation retroactively. They can be read in order or out of order and the Reader would still be just as fascinated either way. 

In Boy From Two Worlds, a mass murder committed by Bobby Garrett sets up a chain reaction that includes the birth of his son, Jakey, by a woman named Marguerite Jenkins, the disintegration of the relationship between Thomas Cavannaugh and his girlfriend Jillian Robertson, and a series of strange events that get stranger. It is eventually revealed that there are fairies that are violent predators who feast on human flesh and live for their suffering. Jakey inherited some of their powers which the fairies want to take full advantage of in their campaign against the mortals of St. Joseph, Missouri

Girl in the Corn takes us back in time to when 6-year-old Thomas first encounters a fairy in his mother’s garden who tells him that he is special. The fairy girl appears throughout his life telling him that he must defeat Dauor, a dark creature from her world. Meanwhile we are introduced to Bobby, who pre-murder is a teenager with violent impulses that are nurtured by a mysterious creature who takes the form of a Girl Scout. Throughout the years, Thomas and Bobby are encouraged, tormented, cajoled, persuaded, and shaped by these strange creatures who eventually pull them into a battle between supernatural forces, the lives and souls of many, and their own sanity. 

One thing that Boy From Two Worlds did well was expand the universe. Weird things didn't just happen to Thomas or Bobby. They happened all over St. Joseph. Through that we got to explore the town itself and particularly its obsession with Wild West outlaw/infamous native son, Jesse James. Exploring the daily realistic life of St. Joseph's residents builds up tension when the otherworldly action begins.

The supernatural incidents vary including bloody ritualistic murder, cattle mutilations, abductions, lost time, mass murder. If you didn't know going into the book series what happened in the first volume, you would be led to believe that anything could be responsible for the strange happenings.

Instead of expansion, Girl in The Corn focuses on intimacy. The events specifically happen to Thomas, Bobby, or someone associated with them. While we lose something in the setting, we gain something in character. It is not so much the supernatural invading an unprepared small town as it is the supernatural affecting two specific young men who happen to live in that town.

Through their separate experiences, the Reader is given contrasting characters that will end up confronting one another. 

When Thomas first encounters the fairy, he is a little boy. She appears as a sweet innocent little girl, one who promises to befriend the young boy. She plays on the portrayal of old fairy tale concepts where fairies were seen as beautiful,helpful, charming, adorable, and innocent creatures. 

As Thomas matures, his meetings with the fairy become more intense and less fanciful. She now appears as a troubled young woman who appeals to Thomas's good guy helpful personality and his insecurities about being average. She builds up his confidence by saying that he is destined to fight Dauor. This plays on Epic Fantasies where ordinary people are given the Chosen One narrative where they are the ones destined to fight evil for…reasons. Of course, this book is a clever subversion of that trope because it asks the question whether the figure predicting the heroism can be trusted and whether they have ulterior motives for what they do.

As with Boy From Two Worlds, Girl in the Corn builds on different genres. While Thomas's journey compared to Fairy Tales and Fantasy novels, Bobby’s story is more grounded in Occult Supernatural Horror. He comes from a religious family and has his own complicated spiritual beliefs so the fairy builds on that. It first appears as a disembodied voice that builds on Bobby’s anxieties and fears of God's judgment. Bobby begins to commit violence to silence those ever growing fears.

As Bobby ages, his spiritual encounters become angrier, more fierce, and graphic. They are reminiscent of his diminishing mental state and growing blood lust. It takes on horrific images like the body of a murdered girl to taunt and rage at Bobby until he does what it wants. If it weren't for knowing what would happen in the next book, it could be entirely possible that this fairy is in Bobby's head. But since we do know, it's a matter of seeing where it's going to go before it reaches its foreseen explosive conclusion.

Reading the series backwards, turns this book into an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. We see all of the sides and colors and are waiting for the whole image to show. “Okay we see Thomas and Bobby,” the Reader might think. “What about Jillian and Marguerite? When is Jakey conceived? What about the mass murder?” All of those questions are answered and the pieces fit in ways that make the Readers look at them differently in Boy From Two Worlds or deepen understanding in the second book if we read them in the right order.

Cleverly, Thomas and Bobby's journeys seem to be a battle of good vs. evil but once they face those final confrontations, those lines are less defined. The two young men realize that they were led to this conclusion by not only the magical influences but by their own choices. They were given great gifts to see another world, obtain intuition and knowledge, and to decide what to do with that information. In reading the two books, it becomes apparent that the trouble didn't start with a mass murder in a hospital. It started when a six year old boy met a fairy and chose to follow her.

The Shabti by Megaera C. Lorenz; Phony Mediums, Egyptian Curses, and a Charming Gay Romance Makes a Chilling Historical Supernatural Horror

 The Shabti by Megaera C. Lorenz; Phony Mediums, Egyptian Curses, and  a Charming Gay Romance Makes a Chilling Historical Supernatural Horror

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Megaera C. Lorenz’s The Shabti has a lot going for it: An engaging historical setting, an inside look at the Spiritualists movement and the tricks that frauds pulled, a genuinely creepy supernatural threat, and a charming romantic gay couple that encounters these problems.

In the 1930’s, Dashiel Quicke was once a noted Spiritualist that many would pay top dollar to get his psychic impressions or communicate with deceased loved ones. He now spends his time exposing the hucksters and grifters of the Spiritualist Movement, revealing how they actually accomplished their tricks. During one of his lectures, he captures the interest of Professor Herman Goschalk, an Egyptologist and museum curator. Herman tells Dashiel that his museum is the center of some strange activity: footsteps, whispers, missing items, stuff being thrown around, bleeding walls, the usual. At first the situation seems easily explained by science or an overactive imagination but as Dashiel gets to know Herman and experiences more of these strange events, it becomes clear that they are being haunted by a real ghostly apparition, a ghost from Ancient Egypt who inflicts great pain, curses, and suffering against all it comes near. All of the flimflam tricks aren't going to save them when they are faced with the real thing.

From beginning to end, this is a book brilliantly charged with a sense of Historical Horror. Instead of going for big shocks and scares, The Shabti leisurely builds its pace by taking a straight line from events that are odd but could be explained to the cosmic horror in which the barriers between time and space and life and death must fade before that horror can be encountered and possibly defeated.

One of the ways that it accomplishes this fear is by giving us a protagonist who has seen the supernatural world from the inside and knows how people bend and use it to their advantage.

The most interesting moments early on in the book occur when Dashiel tells how Spiritualists operate. He describes how they hire spies in the queue to gather information then sneak into the mark’s house to take a valuable object to look like the “spirits” used “relocation” to appear in the medium’s hands. Information gathered by the spies, cold readings, and early special effects added to the performance to sway the audience. It's a pretty clever grift and a sweet scam that is easy to see why many are fooled, especially those who have lost loved ones or want proof of life after death.

 That life also comes to weigh in on Dashiel as he admits to Herman that many former clients, particularly a sickly elderly woman, came to bad ends because of their trust in Dashiel and his former colleagues. His past also figuratively comes back to haunt him when a former partner and lover wants to reignite their relationship both on and off stage. It doesn't take much for the former Spiritualist to see the guilt and danger that a life of deceiving others would bring, and it is understandable why he would expose it. However, his skeptical nature and career of exposing the Spiritualist Movement is just as much a vulnerability as when he was an active participant in scamming others, when he faces real ghosts. He has to use the same procedures seriously to save Herman and himself that he once used deceptively to gain money.

The fraudulent style of Spiritualism puts Dashiel in a false sense of confidence when he is faced with the Egyptian Ghost. He could assume that bleeding walls are rust, creaking walls are a house settling, footsteps and whispers are signs of an overactive imagination. But after a while, those scientific rationales and previous charlatan history becomes moot when those small signs become large unrecognizable monsters and the whispers become shouts of the undead.

It's enough to make one doubt their beliefs and particularly their minds. There are many chapters where the supernatural encounters cause tremendous physical and psychological pain to Dashiel and Herman. They are shaken, disturbed, and quite often bedridden after facing the remnants of the Egyptian Ghost’s curse. It is a terrifying experience because of how it affects their bodies and minds and the only healing balm they have is each other.

Speaking of Dashiel and Herman, their relationship is a bright spot in this Horror Show of Ancient Terror. It is one of those relationships that begin organically with the two beginning to understand and relate to one another. Herman is confused and fascinated by Dashiel’s career as a Spiritualist and is on the fence between skepticism and belief. Dashiel gets arcane knowledge from Herman’s studies and while he explains Spiritualism and gives possibilities to Herman's encounters, he never ridicules him and likes talking with him.

 A friendship grows between the two protagonists that in other works could have remained platonic but fortunately for them, it does not. Their romance begins  unexpectedly just as  the Reader might think, “Hmm, they would make a nice couple” a few pages before they actually kiss. Their love strengthens each other as Herman’s knowledge of Egyptology and Dashiel’s Spiritualism experience counter the Ghost's wrath.

This book is set in the 1930’s and it doesn't go into the legal and prejudicial ramifications and potential hardship that could occur if a romance between two men is made public. On the one hand, it does a mighty historical disservice in showing how courageous the two characters are just by being together. But on the other hand, it also proves to be a source of light and brightness in this dark disturbing supernatural world. 

When the two men work together to fight the Egyptian Ghost alongside friends and Dashiel’s former colleagues, their love is the truest and most honest thing that counters the terror of the otherworldly darkness but also the deception and mind games that Dashiel was once proud to be a part of.

What Happened At The Abbey (The Straithbairn Trilogy) Book One by Isobel Blackthorn; Blackthorn Goes Gothic in Engaging Historical Murder Mystery

 

What Happened At The Abbey (The Straithbairn Trilogy) Book One by Isobel Blackthorn; Blackthorn Goes Gothic in Engaging Historical Murder Mystery 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Isobel Blackthorn is a favorite author of the blog. She is one of the best recent mystery/suspense authors. Her attention to setting and character brings new light to the Cozy Mystery, Locked Room Case, and other subgenres. Her books, The Cabin Sessions and Emma's Tapestry were favorites on the Best of the Best Year End Lists of 2021 and 2022 respectively. So when I say that What Happened At The Abbey, the first in Blackthorn's The Straithbairn Trilogy is the best of Blackthorn's work, I mean that it is the best of quite an impressive collection indeed.

What Happened at the Abbey is a loving tribute to the Gothic Mystery with an innocent female protagonist hired to work at a creepy wealthy estate for an eccentric family and unearths a secret that the family or their antecedents are trying to hide. It is a wonderful subgenre already and a personal favorite but Blackthorn's attention to tone and character make this a great addition to the genre and a stellar work in its own right.

Ingrid Barker is escaping an abusive marriage with her daughter, Susan. She had to leave her upper middle class lifestyle behind and travel North to Scotland to accept the position of housekeeper at Straithbairn Abbey. As she adjusts to her new surroundings and life as a single mother, Ingrid gets to know her employers, the McLeod Family particularly the argumentative daughter, Gertrude and the feckless secretive son, Miles. Miles in particular arouses suspicion with his cryptic words, his habit of sneaking around outside at night, and family's apparent dislike of him. It becomes clear that something is creepy in the estate of Straithbairn. Meanwhile, Ingrid is receiving threats of her own as she learns that her abusive ex husband is hot on her trail.

The atmosphere is one of stern judgment and deep ominous potentially demonic energy. Ingrid personifies Straithbairn as a “house that seems to frown down on all who behold it.” It's described with rugged countryside, omnipresent sharp craggy stones, a dour facade, and no softness. It is cold, imposing, and already unloving. 

The people who dwell inside Straithbairn are just as dysfunctional as the location that surrounds them. The McCleods are people who share a last name but harbor no illusions that they love each other or consider themselves family. Charles, their father, has a tight psychological grip on his children. Gertrude cares more about the estate than she does for the people who live inside it. Blake loses himself in alcohol and defeatism.

Then there's Miles whose arrival instantly brings derision and anger from the rest of his family. He is the McLeod Family Outsider. He appears at Straithbairn to collect moss for an academic study. But his first person narrative (which he alternates with Ingrid’s point of view) reveals more about him than he tells others. 

Miles is haunted by his family history and is searching for some answers to questions that have dogged him for years. His narration suggests him as someone who is teetering on the edge of sanity. He alternates between trying to retain rational thought and drifting towards paranoid delusions and fantasies. With the potentially supernatural atmosphere that charges the air, there are moments where it is uncertain if Miles is going insane or actually possessed by demons. What is apparent is that Miles is a man who is inwardly suffering and has no support from the people around him leading to further suffering.

The tension is also experienced by Ingrid. For someone who survived a physically and emotionally abusive marriage, Ingrid no doubt personifies her own experience with the setting around her. Her Anxiety and PTSD is paramount as well as her desire to get away from her previous situation. Straithbairn reminds her of her marriage: intimidating, isolated, domineering, confining, and loveless.

Ingrid is also someone whose own nerves are naturally at an all-time high. She shows a tremendous amount of strength of character by pulling herself and Susan out of a bad situation and  starting over in another country by telling people that she is a widow. However, she shows obvious signs of PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. She is suspicious of the bond that develops between Susan and Ethel, the cook. She finds a newcomer, Hamish, to be alternatively attractive and mysterious. Then there is the news of Edward's return which causes her to fear the world inside and outside the estate.

The tension in the air consumes Ingrid and it becomes clear that something terrifying is hiding in the fringes or under the surface and is about to happen. 

It breaks when Ingrid and Miles come face to face with their own fears, anxieties, insecurities, and paranoia and those that cause them. 

 

Weekly Reader: Murder Through An Open Door (A Book Magic Mystery) by Melissa Bourbon; Cozy Mystery/Fantasy Has More Than a Touch of Celtic Magic

 

Weekly Reader: Murder Through An Open Door (A Book Magic Mystery) by Melissa Bourbon; Cozy Mystery/Fantasy Has More Than a Touch of Celtic Magic

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Many Bookworms would probably love to have the gift of bibliomancy. Some may have even used it. Bibliomancy is an art of divination in which someone reads a random passage from a book. Sometimes the bibliomancer asks a question, then flips open a page at random. A passage or a sentence stands out as an answer to their question. Many have used the Bible, but any book can be used: a book of poems, a favorite childhood novel, anything that has a personal connection to the diviner.

Like any other oracular ability, bibliomancy could be magical but could also be a matter of synchronicity or coincidence. After all, if someone is in a quandary, they are likely to look for connections everywhere, even grafting solutions to anything. However, if you believe in such things, it can be comforting to know that a love of reading can be a sign from a caring universe. Maybe even from books themselves that reciprocate that love to their Readers.

Bibliomancy is a talent that is inherited by the family of Pippin Lane Hawthorne, the co-protagonist of Melissa Bourbon's Book Magic Mystery series and its first novel Murder Through An Open Door. Pippin is the proprietor of the Sea Captain's Inn and uses bibliomancy to solve mysteries, like the murder of Connell Foley, an out of towner who was found dead in the local bookshop, The Open Door. His body was found surrounded by classic books like Treasure Island and Captain Blood. 

Using a love of reading and an acceptance of signs from the Universe, Pippin uses books like her childhood favorite, The Secret Garden, to find hints about the motive towards this mysterious death and what it has to do with her.  Foley specifically said that he wanted to speak with her but didn't get the chance before he shuffled off this mortal coil.

Bibliomancy is not the only inherited trait that is handed down within her family. Both she and her twin brother and the series other protagonist, Grey are the latest generation that has a family curse hanging over their heads. Their mother's family, The Lanes have been cursed since their times living in Roman occupied Ireland in which the women are destined to die in childbirth and the men to be killed at sea. This curse seems to even carry over to family by marriage as their father perished at sea and their aunt by marriage succumbed after delivering twin daughters. 

Even when they think that they have it beat, the Lanes are still play things to Fate's whims. Pippin and Grey's mother discovered this when after she delivered the twins unscathed, she passed away giving birth to a younger son who died with her.

Pippin and Grey are doing everything they can to end the curse or at least defy it. Grey has left the inn to take up woodworking and is becoming interested in sea travel to Pippin's fear. Pippin herself has stirrings for bookshop owner and Medieval Studies expert, Jamie but is concerned about what this means for her future.

The Lane Hawthornes have been looking for answers about the roots of their curse and how to end it. They may have found some potential solutions in some mysterious visitors that know about the curse or their family history more than they do. 

One with that kind of knowledge might have been Connell Foley. Could that knowledge have been what he was going to tell Pippin and also the reason for his murder?

Murder Through An Open Door is that perfect blend of cozy mystery and gentle supernatural fantasy. The setting is Devil's Cove, North Carolina and is one of those charming small towns that primarily exist in the cozy mystery subgenre. It's a place where window shopping and weekend strolls were meant for. A town filled with shops that boast cutesy names like the Once Upon a Time Clock Shop, The Bed Head Salon, and the Devil's Brew Cafe. 

The type of town where murders might be present but issues like income inequality, systemic racism, and political division don't exist unless the plot calls for them. In some ways, that makes the settings of cozy mystery as fanciful as Epic Fantasy, but also makes them lovely to visit at least through the pages of a book. The fictional settings sparkle in ways that real life counterparts may not always.

Even the fantastic elements have elements of old world charm. Despite having a huge body count, the Lane family curse seems to come out of Celtic lore. The Lanes are connected to the ancient Irish gods like Manann, Dadga, and The Morrigan. The backstory behind the curse is just as fascinating, sometimes more so, than the action in front of us. However, the curse is not insurmountable and while fatal, Pippin and Grey are not overcome by the curse. They try to live their lives in spite of and find ways around and ultimately end it.

There are many tangled webs that weave their way into the overall mystery including long lost family members and a conspiracy of treasure hunters that are affiliated with the Lane Family Curse, Connell Foley's murder, or both of the above. 

The connections are everywhere almost like they are a part of the curse or a means to end it. While the mystery has resolution, the curse does not. It becomes clear that this will be a continuing plot throughout the rest of the series leaving that resolution for a later, perhaps the final, volume. 

You don't need Pippin's bibliomancy abilities to tell you this is a charming first volume in a hopefully brilliant series.

New Book Alert: Dark Maiden By Ian Conner; Native American Folklore Mixes With Modern Horror

New Book Alert: Dark Maiden By Ian Conner; Native American Folklore Mixes With Modern Horror

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Dark Maiden by Ian Conner is like one of those ghost stories that you read in Haunted Places collections or hear about in an urban legend. It tells of an old evil spirit with a fascinating backstory that intrudes upon the present day to enact some sort of vengeance or malicious intent on subsequent generations. A story like this might be familiar, but Conner gives it enough atmosphere to send chills down your spine.

A mysterious creature called The Skadegamutc or Ghost Witch has been haunting the Pequabuck Lake in Nollesemic Village, Maine. Many people since the 16th century have been missing and some have drowned despite varying degrees of swimming ability. In 2005, disappearances are quite high particularly because Carlyle Allen, a wealthy developer, wants to build new property in the area leading to more people and more victims to fall prey to the Ghost Witch's clutches.

What is known about the Ghost Witch is that it sometimes takes the form of a beautiful maiden that lures its prey. It appears to have a fondness for twins since many of its victims either are twins or are parts of families that have them. It also seems to have a vendetta against the Two Spears and Four Claws Families, two local clans who have been sworn enemies of the creature for 500 years.

The Ghost Witch is an actual figure from Wabanaki folklore. In Conner's book, it is given a chilling backstory and modus operandi that gives this old narrative a modern scare.

One of the best chapters in the entire book is the first where the Reader is first introduced to this enigmatic spectre in the 16th century. It takes the form of a Maiden that captivates four young women who consider themselves homely as compared to this otherworldly beauty swimming in the lake. As they swim, the girls not only find that they have become beautiful, but are drawn to this mysterious maiden. The Ghost Witch gives an alluring almost erotic presence as it draws the young mortal woman only to take their lives. A story with variations that are repeated so often that it has become hoary and even cliche is transformed into a moment of seduction and terror thanks to Conner's engaging writing. 

That seduction and terror continues for centuries as people are  drawn to and appalled by the Ghost Witch and its actions. It seems to get off on people's most negative emotions like insecurity and greed. Perhaps the Ghost Witch is a metaphor for unbridled and extreme desires and what happens when those desires overpower and take control. They draw someone towards them to a dark and disturbing end.

What is compelling about the Ghost Witch is that it harbors no distinction between who it attacks (except that it has a fondness for twins). Male or female, white or Native American. It's all the same to it. While there is a subplot about redevelopment and the potential destruction of the land and environment, it's clear that the Ghost Witch is not there as a symbol of Mother Nature's rage. In fact, since it uses the most negative emotions to draw prey inside, maybe it's hoping for more greed from the developers and rage and hopelessness from the residents. More negative emotions means more humans to play with and snack on. However, The Ghost Witch doesn't care who it hurts. It will destroy anyone that is unfortunate enough to cross its path.

In fact, its worst enemies are from the Two Spears and Four Claws families. While the Ghost Witch attacks in the present, we are also given the back story of how this creature came to be and why the families are united in their drive to destroy it. For spoiler's sake, I won't go into it in this review but it is compelling and makes the characters more understandable.

 The history gives more dimensions to this inhuman character and its enemies to remind us that it once was actually human, came from somewhere, and fell in the worst way possible. The backstory also reveals why the Two Spears and Four Claws families are so determined to destroy the Ghost Witch and why the current generation feel that it's their responsibility to end this evil once and for all.

Dark Maiden is a construction and restructuring of an ancient folk tale. By giving us its origins, motives, and means, Conner shows that this is not simply some unstoppable demon. Instead it was once human and like all humans is prey to weakness. If understood, it can be defeated.

Weekly Reader: Nightfall Gardens (Nightfall Gardens Series Book One) by Allen Houston; Memorably Eerie Mysterious Novel Tribute To The Dark Gothic YA Novels of Our Youth

 

Weekly Reader: Nightfall Gardens (Nightfall Gardens Series Book One) by Allen Houston; Memorably Eerie Mysterious Novel Tribute To The Dark Gothic YA Novels of Our Youth

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: While I read Nightfall Gardens by Allen Houston, I kept picturing in my head the illustrations of Ed Gorey. Nightfall Gardens is that kind of deliciously wicked Gothic YA novel. It evokes the writing style of books like The House With A Clock On Its Walls by John Bellair, Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton, or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It's that type of book where eerie things happen in a dark and imaginative setting to some young children. The best YA books are the ones that remind us that dark magical spooky things can happen even to young people and aren't afraid to give their young Readers a bit of a scare. Allen Houston excels at that.

Lily and Silas Blackwood are part of a family of traveling actors. They haven't exactly achieved success, because of dwindling audiences, leaky theaters, and a lead actor who is a full course ham sandwich. After their latest lackluster performance, Lily encounters a very sinister looking man who frightens her on sight and reveals that he is her uncle Jonquil.

Jonquil has reunited with his brother's family to inform them that his mother, the guardian of the mysterious Nightfall Gardens is dying. Nightfall Gardens needs a new female heir or all hell will break loose, literally, and to keep the family tradition going, Lily is selected for the position. After Lily's parents turn the offer down flat,  Jonquil and his men kidnap Lily to take her to Nightfall Gardens with Silas in tow. The children have to be prepared for Lily's new role as Guardian and Silas' as a Rider (or security guard for the Gardens and the people inside the manor). The Blackwood children are introduced to their eccentric grandmother, Deiva, and the Gardens' creepy denizens including ghosts, fauns, werewolves, gargoyles, and Cassandra, a sardonic girl with green skin and a huge grudge against the Blackwoods. Oh and should they want to leave, well they can't. The Nightfall Gardens are cut off from the rest of the world including Lily and Silas' parents.

Nightfall Gardens is one of those memorable settings that are found so often in children's literature: brilliantly imaginative, at times sinister, but knows how to capture that wonder and zeal. Think Wonderland, OZ, Never Land, Hogwarts, Fantastica, The Labyrinth, or The Woods in most fairy tales. We may be stretched by our wonder and imagination. We might love to visit these places but we never forget that there are often dark mysterious forces at bay.

Nightfall Gardens is like every haunted mansion that has ever existed and considering its backstory, it could be seen as the original haunted mansion. (I won't spoil the surprise but let's just say that it involves a certain Greek woman and a certain box which should not be opened.)

Nightfall Gardens gives an unmistakable eerie yet seductive aura from the moment that Jonquil and the Blackwood children enter and face a group of violent Pans. (Not cookware, Pan the satyr from Hellenic mythology. They were the wild feral creatures, half men and half goats, who loved to play their pipes, frolic in the woods, and do unspeakable things to ladies).

 It's the kind of place where that shadow that you swear is a rack of clothes really is a monster in the closet. "Dark is never far and is always looking for a way in," Jonquil says and he is not kidding. It is always dusk or dark around the Gardens. The Gardens themselves draw magical creatures towards it, making living there an unpleasant but enchanting home for the Blackwoods and all who inhabit it.

It turns out that the Pans are just the opening act because Nightfall Gardens is full of surprises. The very ground has weeds and vines that appear to trap and scratch the unwary traveler until they bleed to death. Rooms appear and disappear and mirrors show ghastly reflections instead of the person looking into them. That's not counting the animals and humans, or those that appear as such, that surround the place.

Shades, or Ghosts, take the form of Lily to trap Silas and almost succeed. The White Garden, where the Shades live, is also home to Demons, Banshees, Succubi, Lords of the Underworld, and Wicked Crones. Grandma Deiva is forever waiting for the ghost of her late husband, the children's grandfather, to escort her to her death. Before that, the children have close encounters with him. 

There are some enigmatic figures called The Smiling Ladies that Lily and Silas are advised to just stay away from ("Someone you don't want to meet unless you want eternal sleep," a character somberly says). These creepy creatures are all there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for something, and are ready for the moment when they can strike and shed some blood.

Nightfall Gardens is the first book in the Nightfall Gardens Series, so it does what most first books do: sets up the world. Houston makes the Gardens an unforgettable place that the Reader wants to explore at least through writing. (This Reader is too much of a coward to go to a place like that for real.) Like many, the first book isn't so strong in plot as it is in tone. Plot points are introduced, but due to the book being part of a series, are not resolved by the end. This suggests that these will be ongoing struggles, motifs, and themes that will occur throughout the series rather than being resolved by Book 1.

Besides setting, Houston does a good job in characterizing the Blackwoods. This is a family that has a tremendous burden. They don't want to do it. They have often fought against it, but they know that they have to. Many of them are willing to sacrifice their own personal happiness and welfare to remain in this haunted and disturbing estate for the larger picture of protecting the world.

Since Lily and Silas are new to this responsibility, they try to fight it. Lily in particular is somewhat narcissistic and longs to return to the legitimate stage so she can become a star. When she hears about a possible loophole, she spends some time looking for it so she and her brother can be freed and not have to suffer the burden that their ancestors did.

Silas is more pragmatic and realizes that his own protective nature towards his sister was the reason for his arrival. He wasn't supposed to come and just forced his way in. However, now that he is here, he is determined to do what he can to protect the Gardens and especially Lily.

Nightfall Gardens is one of those literary locations that you will never forget. You might be too scared to visit and you certainly wouldn't want to live there. But you don't mind reading about it, so you can get a good old fashioned Gothic scare.

 

Weekly Reader: Miss Mabel's School For Girls (Book One in The Network School) by Katie Cross; Dark Fantasy About Magical Girl's School is Spooky and Spectacular

 

Weekly Reader: Miss Mabel's School For Girls (Book One in The Network School) by Katie Cross; Dark Fantasy About Magical Girl's School is Spooky and Spectacular

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Okay, I admit it. As much as I love most books and other works about witches and other magic users, I am not nor have I ever been a big fan of the Harry Potter Series. I recognize J.K. Rowling's attention to world building, the influence on getting kids to enjoy reading, and the impact that it had and continues to have on Children's Literature and the Fantasy Genre. 

However, personally I never cared that much for the series itself. I find Harry Potter himself the worst kind of Chosen One insufferable lead, a Gary Stu. The other characters are mostly flat and the dimensions that they possess happen too late for me to really care. The series falls to the standard good vs. evil conflict without much gray area interest. It calls back to the late 19th early 20th century of the so-called Golden Age of English Literature in terms of structure and subtle themes of classicism, racism, and adherence to traditional gender roles.

Many of the plot points are predictable and even some of the twists were obvious. Even the idea of a school of witches and wizards had been used before in works like The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. When it comes down to it, the Harry Potter series wasn't any better written than the OZ series.

Not only that, but I found the publicity and media attention to be overblown, making what I found to be an average series at best overrated. (I'm the contrary sort that the more you tell me that I am supposed to like something the more I will dislike it to the point of hating it.) Worst of all, the single minded attention to Harry Potter overshadowed other books that were also about witches, wizards, and magic users that were better in quality that came out around the time but not near as well known and certainly deserved even some of the publicity that Potter got. Books like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke which was one of my favorite fantasy books during the Aughts.

Another of the books which has similar ideas to Harry Potter but is also better written is Katie Cross' Miss Mabel's School For Girls. It has a better plot, characters, and is less defined in its themes of recognizing darkness in others and recognizing power and darkness in oneself.

16 year old, Bianca Monroe gets accepted to the prestigious Miss Mabel's School For Girls, a boarding school for young witches. It is one of the most notable schools in The Network, a sockety of witches and other magic users with their own government, schools, society, economic structure and so on. 

Bianca makes friends with fellow first years, Camille and Leda and gets the attention of instructors like Miss Bernadette, Miss Scarlet and Miss Celia. When a competition comes for third years only, Bianca raises her hand. She doesn't want to show off her abilities, though they are impressive. She wants to face Miss Mabel, the headmistress. Mabel put a curse on Bianca's family years ago and she wants the curse either removed by Mabel voluntarily or by her death.

Bianca is no Harry Potter. She is not stunned and amazed by this new world where she is propped up as a prophecized hero since she was a baby simply by surviving. She knows about The Network. She is experienced and even cynical about the way the magical world works. 

For lack of a better world, Bianca was home schooled by her father to practice magic. He also teaches her to suppress her thoughts and knowledge so the treacherous Miss Mabel doesn't catch on. She is even told to suppress the magic that she learned outside of school so she can act like the average student and no one knows where or from whom she learned her powers. During her education, Bianca behaves like a spy in enemy territory being a good student but always knowing that the enemy is within.

While the Harry Potter series gets progressively darker, the older the kids get and the more the series continues, the darkness in Miss Mabel's School For Girls is present from the beginning. Many characters pay a terrible price for using and specializing in magic. Leda, Bianca's friend, has precognitive abilities but they make her so physically ill that she prefers to be alone rather than inadvertently reveal a future that someone doesn't want to know.

Many of the tests in the competition are meant to bring out the more sinister side to the characters. Even the smallest assignments like finding the student's individual butterfly comes with the caveat not to trust anyone or anything. The participants have to face their deepest fears and go through psychological torture to move ahead in the competition. 

One of the final tests puts the young witches through a personal physical and mental pain that will only be recalled if the witch withdraws from the competition. The test and results reveal a lot about Bianca and the other participants, what's most important to them, and what drives them to succeed.

Instead of Hogwarts which appears to be a kid's wish fulfillment where Readers long to visit,Miss Mabel's School For Girls should come with a warning: Enter at Your Own Risk. Warning: Physical and Mental Side Effects May Occur.

When Bianca finally gets some alone time with Miss Mabel, it becomes a one on one battle. Bianca has to use all of her self taught magic, love of her family, and desire to end this painful and destructive curse to face Mabel who has power, influence, and a strong ambition to be at the top of the Network. 

Mabel gives off this impression of being a stern but loving leader and headmistress to young witches. However, she has a ruthless cunning nature that destroys anyone who dares oppose or disagree with her. 

To fight against her, Bianca has to be ruthless, cunning, and duplicitous and hide that nature. To face that darkness in Miss Mabel, Bianca has to find that darkness in herself. It takes her one book to learn what it took Harry seven (and eight movies). 

While some could call Miss Mabel's School For Girls, a Harry Potter knockoff, it is less concrete, deals less with absolutes of black and white, and contains less of the old school Golden Age of Literature structure disguised as a new experience. Miss Mabel's has the nuances in character and plot development and shades of gray that Rowling's franchise lacks.

Classics Corner: Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women 1890-1949 Edited by Melissa Edmondson; Weird Ghost Story Anthology by Some of the Best Female Authors

 

Classics Corner: Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women 1890-1949 Edited by Melissa Edmondson; Weird Ghost Story Anthology by Some of the Best Female Authors

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The word weird (Old English for "fate or destiny") has often been associated with women, wrote editor Melissa Edmondson. She's not wrong. Greek mythology has the Fates-Clothos, Lachesis, Atropos-three goddesses who weave the fate of humanity. Clothos spun the thread. Lachesis measured the thread. Atropos cut the thread. Norse mythology had the Norns, three goddesses who drew water from their sacred well to nourish Yggsdrael the sacred tree. Urd who told the past, Verdandi who told the present, and Skaldi who foretold the future. There are various triple goddesses in Celtic mythology such as the three forms of Brigid or The Morrigan. Many current Witch spiritual paths worship the Goddess in three forms: Maiden, Mother/Nymph, Crone

Of course, where would Shakespeare's Macbeth be without The Weird Sisters predicting his ascension to kinghood and his downfall by "a man not born of woman" and "when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane"?

Melissa Edmondson's  anthology Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women 1890-1940 lives up to its name. It is filled with ghost stories by many of the most famous female authors and some who should be recognized in the 21st century. The stories are not jump scare stories in the style of Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft. Instead, the majority of them present an eerie sensibility like an old familiar ghost story told in a new way. 

The best stories are: 

"The Weird of the Walfords" by Louisa Baldwin

Cursed objects are as prevalent in hauntings as ghosts themselves. The Hope Diamond. James Dean's Porsche Spider. The Annabelle Doll. Sometimes the curses have more to do with the people that are being cursed than the object itself.

That's certainly true with this creepy story. Humphrey Walford, has inherited not only the family estate but is the not so proud owner of the Walford Family old carved oak four poster bedstead. For three hundred years, every Walford has been born and died in that bed. When he becomes lord of the manor, Humphrey vows that he will not let this arbitrary curse control how he dies so he orders the bed destroyed. Well anyone who has read any story of a curse ever, knows that destruction of the object does nothing. Even after he marries and becomes a father, Humphrey can't escape the inevitable.

This story is fascinating as Humphrey is at first confident that he can beat  this curse then as circumstances put him right where he doesn't want to be, he becomes more unglued. His skepticism and confidence wavers as the supernatural presence lingers and he has no choice but to accept the inevitable.

"The Giant Wistaria" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

As anyone who reads this blog knows, one of my favorite short stories is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper".' The creepy atmosphere of a woman driven to near insanity by the rest cure that her husband forces upon her is one of the best crafted short stories in American literature. It is a great combination of psychological horror and feminist literature showing how the limited female roles  can drive some women to breakdowns and other psychological disorders.

Gilman also delivers that gift of horror combined with questioning of women's roles in society with "The Giant Wistaria." 

The story begins during the 17th century when a young woman is the object of a scandal. Her parents seek to force her into marriage and abandon her. Meanwhile, a giant wistaria grows right outside the house.

Centuries later, a married couple and their friends explore their new home. Mrs. Jenny is excited about the prospect that the house contains a ghost to her husband's skeptical dismay. However, she keeps seeing images of a ghostly woman near the wistaria.

This story reflects many of Gilman's most common themes of women trapped by society's constraints. Though this one offers a measure of hope that "The Yellow Wallpaper" does not. The communication between a woman of the past and a woman of the present might finally end up freeing her.

"Kerfol" by Edith Wharton

Another of my favorite authors, Edith Wharton, is represented here. Besides her satires of upper class New Yorkers like The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, she also wrote ghost stories. The story represented in this volume, "Kerfol", shows that abuse can still haunt long afterwards.

The Narrator considers buying the property of Kerfol. Of course, there is a haunting story connected to it. The Narrator sees various ghostly dogs hovering around and hears mysterious barking. 

The backstory connected to this haunting is a moving one dealing with domestic and animal abuse. Those who are sensitive to mistreatment of animals might be appalled by the actions of one of the characters and may be pleased by the retribution that they receive.

"Unseen-Unfeared" by Francis Stevens

While they are things of the past, museums of curiosities and sideshows provided much artistic inspiration. Elaine Showalter's A Jury of Her Peers, a comprehensive look at American Literature written by women, said that it was a favorite writing topic for female authors in the 19th and early 29th century. Perhaps because they identified with the outsider status of the show runners and entertainers who paraded themselves before the so-called normal people who were often worse than those that they observed. 

That is certainly true of Francis Stevens "Unseen-Unfeared"." The Narrator is a xenophobic racist asshole who grumbles about the immigrants and people of color that he sees on the streets every day. (This character could have easily been the Narrator of a modern story.) The Narrator sees an advertisement for "The Great Unseen." 

Snootily thinking that it's a museum of fakery, The Narrator pays his dime and tries to ignore his impending sense of dread and evil as he enters.

What starts out as a display showing the wonders of the newly created photography quickly becomes a lot more terrifying. The Narrator sees various creatures in the dark inside the museum including spiders on the walls, monsters with human faces, and a thing that he can't describe but refers to in all caps (THING). 

It's tempting to say that this display is The Showman, Dr. Hodge, being evil by gaslighting The Narrator or is in possession of evil powers but Hodge's diatribe reveals a more subtle side to his character. He talks about the evil that he sees around him. Of course The Narrator's attitude before he entered the Museum can't be discounted. The visions are reactions towards the evil that exists in those who are observing them. The Narrator's loathing of his fellow humans creates the evil that he fears. Even when he thinks that Hodge is gone and the museum is closed, he can't escape the evil that exists inside him.

"The Twelve Apostles" by Eleanor Scott

This story is a combination of ghost story and mystery. Mr. Matthews, an American, buys an English manor actually hoping that there is a ghost or a story behind it. He is then told of Sir Jerome, a 16th century recluse,parish priest, and practicing sorcerer. Sir Jerome's writings reveal him to be a man of great knowledge and curiosity who paid a Faustian bargain for his pursuits. Later a body was found mysteriously dead at the manor. There is also a story of a lost treasure in Jerome's manor.

Matthews's curiosity is overwhelming as he investigates Sir Jerome's history. His trek through the library and a secret room is eerie as he views a portrait of a priest that looks alive and twelve carvings that look intimidating. 

Matthew's curiosity and greed prove to be his undoing as he ignores fear and common sense to pursue this mystery of Sir Jerome and the treasure. It's almost as though Sir Jerome's curiosity and greed has been reincarnated into Matthews. Just as Jerome did, Matthews is practically destined to follow the same path. He almost does. If not for a moment that scares sense into him, he would have ended up like his predecessor.

"The Book" by Margaret Irwin

Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), the protagonist of The Mummy said "What harm can come from opening a book?" This short story is Margaret Irwin's way of saying "Uh, plenty of harm actually."

Bored with reading an obvious murder mystery, Mr. Corbett searches his private library for something new to read. In fact he is bored with his usual books and ultimately reading in general. (GASP!) He searches his uncle's theological library before he loses his interest in reading entirely. He chooses a book written in Latin and with strange illustrations. At first, the book is about some secret society but then some new fresh ink appears on the blank pages. The Book tells Corbett that its work isn't done and predicts things that happen in Corbett's life like great wealth and success.

This book has a very Twilight Zone-like feel with the supernatural elements and twist that deals a lot with the protagonist's personality. As the book is written, Corbett's personality becomes more fierce, ambitious, and argumentative towards his family. He then has to make a choice when the price of the book's knowledge becomes too great.

"The Book" reveals the depravity of the main character as Corbett's darker impulses are revealed in the writing. He is willing to put his home, occupation, and family on the line to fill his ambitions. In the end, he proves to be a deplorable cowardly character who only ends his connection to The Book when it affects him personally.

"With and Without Buttons" by Mary Butts

This short story turns the Battle of the Sexes into a Battle of Scares. Two sisters have had enough of a know it all neighbor so they decide to play a prank on him to "create a nightmare." They insist that they don't want to scare him, that they want to have power over him in a way that is not sexual. They want to outsmart him.

The sisters leave a pair of female kid gloves at his house then create a story that it was left by a ghostly woman. Unfortunately, like many stories which start as a prank it turns out the Spirit World has a sick sense of humor.

The sisters like many of the other protagonists in this anthology are not likeable. They put their neighbor through a fear which turns on them. This shows what happens when mortals use the deceased as playthings, they will find themselves to be the ones played with. In their drive to outsmart their neighbor, the sisters prove to be the real fools.

Women's Weird gives the Reader an off-kilter feeling that something's not right with the world. The stories are strange,bizarre, spooky, and yes weird.