REVIEW: Psycho (book) by Robert Bloch

Psycho is a horror/thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

All Mary was thinking when she drove off with the money that she was supposed to deposit at the bank for her workplace was that she and her boyfriend Sam could finally afford to get married. Sam would probably have questions, but Mary figured she'd think of something. It wasn't like she was getting any younger.

Unfortunately, she took a wrong turn on her way to Sam's and ended up at the Bates Motel, a small, run-down place. Norman Bates, the manager, is odd and kind of pitiful, but he's nice enough to provide her with a sandwich before she settles down in her room. What she doesn't realize is that Norman is a mess of repressed desires, a middle-aged man who has spent his whole life under his mother's thumb and doesn't expect that he'll ever get out.

I've seen Hitchcock's movie and decided it might be nice to read the book it was based on. Aside from some character appearance differences (the original Norman had much less in the way of movie star charisma and was instead an overweight 40-something) and an additional death that I don't recall happening in the movie, the two are very similar.  

Overall, I enjoyed this, although, as with the film version, I had some issues with the psychological aspects.  

REVIEW: Dead of Winter (book) by Darcy Coates

Dead of Winter is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Christa is trying to recover, emotionally, after an incident in her past that left her struggling with depression. She's in therapy, and she now has a wonderful and supportive boyfriend, Kiernan. Kiernan convinces her to join him on a two-week trip to the Blackstone Alpine Lodge to have the kind of winter experiences he grew up with. Christa suspects he's going to propose to her.

Unfortunately, the bus to the lodge encounters a tree on the road. While the group's guide, Brian, stops to try to deal with the tree, Christa and Kiernan wander off a bit. They don't intend to go far, but the weather soon becomes worse than either one of them expects. They're suddenly lost in the snow. Then they're separated, and the only one the tour group finds is Christa. The tree couldn't be moved, so everyone is now holing up in an abandoned hunting cabin.

Christa, who almost certainly has frostbite, desperately wants to go looking for Kiernan. Brian tries to humor her, but it's already too dark and visibility is just too bad. He tells her they can try again in the morning. Unfortunately, when morning comes, it's discovered that Brian has been beheaded - his head is in a tree near the cabin, and his body is nowhere to be found. 

Is there a murderer among the survivors, or is someone outside hunting them? As more people turn up dead, no one knows who can be trusted.

REVIEW: Silent Hill 2 (nonfiction book) by Mike Drucker

Silent Hill 2 is nonfiction, book 27 in the Boss Fight Books series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I've never played any of the Silent Hill games before. I've seen the 2006 Silent Hill movie, and I've read a bit about Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill f in social media posts, but that's the extent of my knowledge. When Drucker told readers, at the beginning of this book, to go play the game if they hadn't already done so, I knew I wasn't going to be doing that. I don't have the nerves for horror games, no matter how much some of them intrigue me.

Thankfully, Drucker then went ahead and explained the game's story and characters in detail. From the sounds of things, he went pretty much scene by scene as players would experience the game. It was interesting and enjoyable reading, and probably the closest I'll ever get to actually playing the game besides maybe a "Let's Play" video or something.

Drucker analyzed the game's characters and various aspects of the story and gameplay, mentioning the first Silent Hill game and the Resident Evil games for comparison (I once played 20 seconds or so of a Resident Evil game, so my knowledge there is about the same). He also went through and analyzed the various endings and what players had to do to achieve them, looked at how the game was marketed, and talked about how efforts to remaster the game changed the overall experience of it.

This is my first exposure to Boss Fight Books, and I hope all of them are this good, because this is exactly the kind of focus and detail I'd like to read about individual games. The analysis was interesting without, usually, being too dense to follow, and it gave me a solid appreciation for the game. There are no pictures of any sort (if you want to know more about the marketing Drucker mentions, you have to look it up yourself), but it makes up for it with really solid and thorough text. 

REVIEW: Carl's Doomsday Scenario (book) by Matt Dinniman

Carl's Doomsday Scenario is a LitRPG SFF book. It's the second in Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

 As is usual with these serial stories, this picks up right where the first book left off, with no real effort made to remind readers of what happened earlier. Even though it wasn't that long ago that I read the first book, it still took me a bit to orient myself, and there were references to characters and events in Book 1 that I couldn't always recall well. For the most part, this wasn't too much of an issue for me.

This entire book takes place on the third floor of Dungeon Crawler World. At the start of it, Carl and Princess Donut are faced with decisions about their race and class, with an overwhelming (to me) number of options available to both of them. After that, it's time to deal with the floor itself, which is more dangerous and has a few new game mechanics added to it. Carl and Donut have only eight days to find an exit to the fourth floor before they're flattened. 

This time around, in addition to regular enemies and bosses, Carl and Donut have to deal with the additional complication of quests and NPCs called "elites."

REVIEW: A Soul to Heal (book) by Opal Reyne

A Soul to Heal is a fantasy erotic romance. It's the second book in Reyne's Duskwalker Brides series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Delora used to be a happy young woman who enjoyed painting. Being sent to a new town to marry Hadith left her with few social connections or friends, but it wasn't a bad marriage, at first. Then Delora struggled to get pregnant, gained weight, and started shrinking in on herself as Hadith emotionally abused her and blamed her for their childlessness. Her last straw was when she caught Hadith in their bed with another woman. In a fit of rage, she killed them both. Now, as punishment, she's being taken to the Veil to be eaten alive by demons.

Instead, she literally lands on top of Nameless, the young Duskwalker Orpheus met in the first book. Nameless had been thinking about how he'd love to have a Bride of his own, but he'd figured it was unlikely considering his current existence and level of development. He's pleased and pleasantly surprised when Delora agrees to give him her soul before he can succumb to his instinctual hunger and rage caused by her fear. Delora, for her part, is deeply depressed, thinks she's just agreed to die at Nameless' hands, and considers it a just punishment for the lives she took.

Nameless (who Delora eventually names Magnar) is thrilled to have a Bride of his own. He has no idea what's wrong with her or how to make it right, but he's determined to create a home for them both where she'll be happy.

REVIEW: Several People Are Typing (book) by Calvin Kasulke

Several People Are Typing is a blend of workplace comedy, science fiction, and horror. I bought my copy new.

This review includes major spoilers. 

Review:

Gerald is working on a spreadsheet of winter coats he might want to purchase when his consciousness is suddenly somehow sucked into the internal Slack channels of the marketing company he works for. He doesn't hide this from anyone and, in fact, asks for help multiple times, but most of his coworkers are convinced that this is some kind of weird bit and that Gerald is just working from home. Gerald's boss is impressed with his improved levels of productivity.

The one person who knows Gerald isn't just really committed to a weird joke is his coworker Pradeep, who reluctantly takes care of Gerald's physical body while he's not in it. As Gerald and Pradeep try to figure out how to get Gerald back into his body, several of their coworkers try to create social media posts that will somehow improve the reputation of a dog food company whose product has suddenly killed dozens of Pomeranians. They also talk about their dogs, kids, and secret office romances. 

REVIEW: Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation of Kids to Catch Them All (nonfiction book) by Daniel Dockery

Monster Kids is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, Dockery covers the history of Pokemon and its North American (particularly US) marketing and popularity. Connected to that marketing aspect, Dockery also covers franchises such as Digimon, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Cardcaptors (not Cardcaptor Sakura).

I got this for the in-depth focus on Pokemon, which wasn't a franchise I was ever much interested in when I was younger, although I've come to appreciate the videogames as an adult. I hadn't expected this book to spend so much time on Digimon (in the "Pokemon vs. Digimon?" debate, Younger Me was very firmly in the Digimon camp, probably because I was at the older end of the age range these franchises targeted). Dockery hit me right in the nostalgia.

REVIEW: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies (nonfiction book) by Caitlin Doughty, illustrations by Dianné Ruz

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, Doughty answers 34 death-related questions in some depth, and an additional five questions more briefly in a "Rapid-fire Death Questions" section. She also wraps up the book with a chapter aimed at parents who are concerned about their child's questions about death - this one features answers by Dr. Alicia Jorgenson, a child and adolescent psychologist.

Doughty's answers were direct and didn't shy away from some of the grosser aspects of death, but, at the same time, her tone was always light and oddly reassuring. The question that gave the book its title is also the first one Doughty addresses. I hadn't specifically wondered about whether my cat would eat my eyeballs after my death, but I figured that, if it took long enough for someone to find me, she'd probably eat some part of me, which is essentially what Doughty's answer ended up being (she also mentions dogs and a few other pets). I knew I'd appreciate the way she framed her answers, however, when she began this one by saying "For hours, even days, after your death, Snickers will expect you to rise from the dead and fill his normal food bowl with his normal food. He won't be diving straight for the human flesh. But a cat has got to eat, and you are the person who feeds him. That is the cat-human compact. Death doesn't free you from performing your contractual obligations." (1)

Doughty says that most (all?) of the questions in this book came from children, who tend to be more open about their curiosity about death. I could easily imagine some kid asking Doughty "Can we give Grandma a Viking funeral?" or "Can I be buried in the same grave as my hamster?" Even when the questions weren't things I've ever personally wondered, Doughty's answers were fascinating. I would've loved to have had her around after my maternal grandmother died when I was a kid and I was freaked out about things none of the adults around seemed to want to talk about. 

I definitely plan to read more of Doughty's works.

Unrelated to the actual content of the books, I loved Dianné Ruz's creepy/funny/sweet illustrations at the start of each chapter. 

REVIEW: 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Invented Modern Forensics (nonfiction book) by Bruce Goldfarb

18 Tiny Deaths is both a biography of Frances Glessner Lee and a look at the early history of forensic science in the United States. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I first learned about Frances Glessner Lee and her Nutshell Studies through a miniatures group I was following. Unfortunately, the post didn't include a lot of information, but it did leave me fascinated with the idea of the Nutshell Studies, tiny meticulously constructed crime scenes. When I stumbled across this book, I knew I wanted to read it.

Less of this was focused directly on Lee and her Nutshell Studies than I expected, although it was mostly still an interesting read. 

The slowest part, for me, was the portion focused on Lee's parents and childhood - there were really only a handful of details here and there that were important for understanding later moments. I became much more interested when Goldfarb shifted to the state of death investigation in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. A large chunk of the book was necessarily devoted to the career of George Burgess Magrath, Suffolk County Medical Examiner and a deeply influential person in Lee's life. It was Magrath who impressed upon Lee the value of the medical examiner system over the coroner system, leading her to spend years and a great deal of money trying to establish a strong forensic science department at Harvard. 

If all that was needed was money, effort, and sheer force of will, Lee probably could have accomplished anything. As it was, even she struggled to get buy-in for a lot of her plans (Harvard pretty much only humored her for her money and the possibility of getting more of it after she died), although she ended up doing a lot for homicide training for United States police officers. 

It took about half the book before the Nutshell Studies were finally mentioned in any real detail. Although I was a bit disappointed that there were no pictures (I need to see about getting a copy of Corinne May Botz's The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death), I enjoyed learning more about the work and planning that went into the miniature scenes. I hadn't realized quite how much detail they included.

REVIEW: Family Business (book) by Jonathan Sims

Family Business is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Angie was Diya's best and closest childhood friend. As adults, they started sharing an apartment together after Angie went through some difficult times. When Angie suddenly dies, Diya can barely keep functioning. It feels like the whole world expects her to go right back to normal, but Diya can't bring herself to go to work like usual and can hardly stand to keep up with the other people in her life.

If she wants to keep her and Angie's apartment, however, she's either going to have to take on a new roommate (not happening) or start working again. When one of the people working for the small cleaning business, Slough & Sons, that came to clean Angie's blood from the floor suddenly calls to offer her a job, she accepts, even though she's never done work like this before. Considering Angie, she initially worries that cleaning up after the recently deceased might hit her too hard. There are, understandably, aspects she could do without, but in general the physicality of the work appeals to her. It also helps that she gets along well with Xen, one of her new coworkers.

Diya begins to worry as she starts having odd "episodes" at some of Slough & Sons' jobs. Everything is normal, and then suddenly she finds herself overwhelmed with what seems to be the final thoughts and feelings of the deceased people she's cleaning up after. It's deeply disturbing, and it seems to be getting worse. Is there something wrong with her, or is there something more sinister going on?

REVIEW: The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil (graphic novel) by Stephen Collins

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil is a fantasy black comedy graphic novel. I bought my copy used.

Review:

Dave is one of the many orderly and neat residents of Here. When he isn't at work, looking at data and arranging it into neat charts and graphs that he then turns into presentations, Dave likes to spend time looking out at the street in front of his house and drawing what he sees. When he wants to relax, Dave listens to his favorite song, the only one he ever listens to, "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles.

There are odd moments, however, when Dave finds himself thinking about There, a place of chaos and disorder. It lies just outside of Here, and stories have been told of the horrible things that befell anyone who tried to journey to There. Unfortunately for Dave, one day his only bit of untidiness, the small hair growing under his nose that keeps coming back no matter how many times he plucks it, starts growing into a massive, bushy beard. It can't be trimmed, tamed, or removed. Its unruliness calls to mind the chaos of There, and the residents of Here can't help but be horrified and fascinated.

REVIEW: Time and Again (book) by Jack Finney

Time and Again is time travel fiction. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

Si Morley is a young graphic designer at an advertising firm. He has a deep love for the past, as evidenced by his fascination with the old stereoscopic slides at his girlfriend's antiques shop. As he pores over those slides, he can practically feel himself being pulled into the past.

Which makes him the perfect person for a secret government project involving time travel. The idea is this: the people chosen to travel back to particular times and places will, as part of their preparation, completely immerse themselves in the time and place they intend to travel to. That immersion will be so complete that they'll feel as if they're actually there - and, somehow, they then will be. 

Although Si is initially supposed to be part of an effort to travel to the San Francisco of 1901, he instead convinces the folks involved with the project to allow him to focus on New York City, January 1882. Si's girlfriend's foster father had always wanted to solve the mystery surrounding his father's suicide. The one remaining clue is a cryptic, partially burned letter. Si wants to see the moment that letter was mailed at the Main Post Office. He's told that he won't be allowed to interact or interfere with that moment, and he's fine with that. He figures that just seeing the person who mailed the letter might reveal something his girlfriend's foster father was never able to discover.

REVIEW: Catching Fire (book) by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is the second book in Collins' Hunger Games YA dystopian series. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

I read The Hunger Games way back in 2011. I had to read my review of it to remind myself what I thought of it - I liked it well enough but had issues with Katniss and disliked the developing love triangle. I never got around to reading more - for some reason, each new movie and book release, particularly after the original trilogy, reduced my desire to go back to it. However, one of my library's student workers was absolutely shocked that I'd only read the first book, so I decided to finally continue on in order to appease her.

In this book, the latest Hunger Games are over, but that doesn't mean that Katniss and Peeta are free from it all. Katniss and Peeta are both still in the spotlight and, as a result, they're forced to continue acting like they're a happy couple. Katniss still has feelings for Gale, but he'll barely speak to her. 

Whether Katniss wants it to or not, a rebellion is brewing with her at its center. Katniss' family's living conditions are better than they once were, but Katniss is painfully aware that this could change at any time on President Snow's orders. She tries her best to be a well-behaved victor in order to keep her friends and family safe, but even her best efforts might not be enough. 

When news about changes to the Hunger Games is released, Katniss realizes that even the smallest sliver of safety she'd found was nothing more than a cruel illusion.

REVIEW: My Dog: The Paradox: A Lovable Discourse About Man's Best Friend (graphic novel) by The Oatmeal

My Dog: The Paradox is humor. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is the full-color version of the comic originally published online at The Oatmeal. Much like some other print versions of comics originally published online, for some reason this worked better for me online than it did in print. I'm not sure why. 

Inman's brief update online about his dog Rambo made me go hug my cat. I imagine it'll resonate with anyone who's ever loved and lost a pet, whatever the species. 

REVIEW: DPS Only! (graphic novel) by Velinxi

DPS Only! is a contemporary-set one-shot graphic novel focused on e-sports. I bought my copy new.

Review:

High school student Vicky Tan is a shy girl who lives in her esports superstar brother's shadow. She handles her brother Virgil's social media presence, and he mistakenly thinks she doesn't even like gaming. However, Vicky has a secret. When she's on her own, she logs on to Xenith Orion (the same game her brother plays). She's good enough that another player even asks her to join his team for the upcoming XO Tournament.

As she works with her new teammates and learns to communicate with them better, Vicky gradually comes into her own and gains confidence. However, when her masked secret gamer persona goes viral, will she be able to hold up against all the extra attention...and the possibility that her brother could learn her secret?

REVIEW: Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch (nonfiction book) by Emily C. Hughes

Horror for Weenies is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This covers 25 movies released between 1960 and 2018. Each movie includes a brief description, reasons you might want to watch or continue to avoid the movie (these parts tended to be more humorous than helpful), a detailed description of exactly what happens, info about why this particular movie matters in the history of horror films, some trivia, some iconic moments, and 3-4 similar books you might be interested in reading if you find that horror novels are easier for you to handle than movies.

I was hesitant to get this because, well, Wikipedia exists, and that's generally how I find out what happens in movies I'm too chicken to watch. However, the descriptions in this book are much more thorough and entertaining than Wikipedia - it made me wish that Hughes had covered many more movies than she did. I just checked whether she'd ever written books similar to this one and didn't find anything. Too bad.

The information about the impact of each of the various movies was helpful. Also, as someone who does generally do better with horror novels than movies, I appreciated the book recommendations (although it would have been nice if they'd been annotated with brief descriptions or some mention of why they were being recommended). Not that I need more book recommendations. 

REVIEW: Touch My Brother and You Die, Vol. 3 (book) by Morpho

Touch My Brother and You Die is a Korean fantasy comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Rosalite is sent to the Largole Empire to negotiate some stuff and ends up taking full advantage of the fourth imperial prince's instant adoration of Aster (Rosalite's bodyguard/lady's maid?). After a successful experience, Rosalite heads back home (with a new member of her household in tow, who she plans to use as a living printer/copier), only to find herself neck deep in what are essentially personnel problems: Jack Brown runs away due to issues with his sister, Glen is stressed and frustrated to the point where he actually plans to make some demands, and Rosalite's father is mad because she's willingly calling Sage Oswald "papa."

The publisher's description for this implies that there will be more tension and racing against the clock than there actually is. Glen's mother is barely in this, and Rosalite has hardly a thought to spare for the supposed apocalypse on the horizon.

Hey, I finally reviewed one of these volumes soon after finishing it! Not that it made much of a difference. I can remember particular events better, but the overarching story, whatever it is at this point, is still super foggy in my mind. 

The brief period from Jack Brown's POV was nice and all, except that his POV didn't feel all that different from Rosalite's, beyond him having a few thoughts about Rosalite's actions and those around her that didn't match up with Rosalite's own feelings.

I really need to stop reading this series. I have so many better things to read. 

REVIEW: Touch My Brother and You Die, Vol. 2 (book) by Morpho

Touch My Brother and You Die is a fantasy comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

As usual, I should have reviewed this closer to the time when I finished it. All I can recall, at this point, is that Rosalite leaned on Glen's capable self even more (stressing him out and causing him to, rightfully, doubt that she has any interest in him as a man or even a person), and then she spent a great deal of time obsessing over Prince Marius (the third imperial prince of Largole, a neighboring kingdom) and his sexy muscles.

It probably didn't help that I'd read the first volume over a year prior, but for some reason I couldn't follow anything that was going on in this. I kept wishing that the author would let up on the "hilariously enraged/frustrated" tone enough to give a recap of a few events, and maybe more info on who some of the characters were and why they were at all important to Rosalite's overall goals. Speaking of which, what even are Rosalite's goals? I know she wants to do whatever necessary to keep from dying and being reborn yet again, and that that involves keeping her brother from attracting the romantic attentions of a bunch of the book's male characters, but that doesn't explain many of her actions.

I finished this thinking "I should probably stop here." And then, for some reason, I got volume 3. I guess I was hoping it would improve and/or start making more sense?