Tag Archives: horror

Shattered Worlds challenge: black-eyed horrors and more boys

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Death Knocks is available exclusively in Shattered Worlds. Click to grab your copy.

Well, my learn from my reading this week was to GIVE IT A CHANCE, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

This week I picked Death Knocks from Shattered Worlds. It starts with two boys playing console games while they babysit one of their little sisters. I’m sorry to have to admit I’d probably have put it down right there if I was free reading because I am that impatient a reader. Fortunately, I gave it a bit more of a chance (and only a bit more – you probably get 3 pages of everyday life before the story kicks in), and I ended up glad I had.

Death Knocks is creepy as all get-out. It did a really good job of turning the everyday (a knock at the door) into something VERY unsettling. Told in alternate chapters by a male/female POV voice the characters were fabulous (I loved sidekick Marcus and his “shiitake!”), and the story rattled along, dragging me with it in the breathless way I love best. I’m so glad I stuck with it!

Next on my list is Audrey Grey’s Curse Breaker. I’ve been looking forward to this since I read an extract way back before the set even launched, so check back next week to see what I made of it.

Self-medicate with a book

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I’ve been feeling down lately. Nothing major, probably due to the gloomy weather, lack of sunlight and Christmas stress. But I’ve also been reading a lot of dystopian fiction which it occurred to me might not be helping. When I finish a book and need to take a look out of the window to ensure I’m in the real world and that the book world exists only on the pages I’ve just set down, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised if my mood is less than perky.

One of the most wonderful things about books is that they let you slip on someone else’s skin and live their life for a while, and maybe I should treat that priviledge with caution. I don’t read horror deliberately because a horror story takes wa-ay too long to leave me after I’ve finished the book, so it’s reasonable to think that other genres will have an effect and should be rationed. Books allow you to “walk a mile” in someone else’s shoes; sometimes I should run a mile rather than accept that offer.

Now, perhaps this is akin to the notion that shoot-em-up video games “make” us violent and my mood is nothing to do with my reading matter, but I’m taking no chances. To perk myself up I’m reading a cosy romance where I know that however bad things might appear, life will come right for the characters in the end.

How about you – do you find your mood changes with your reading matter?