Welcomes, Spooky Books (and the fulfilment of Resolutions)

Welcome

Hello, friends! This is my first foray into blog writing (yes, I know, I'm 29 years old, I grew up with Tumblr, have I been living under a rock?!? What did teenage me do with his time? etc.) and I'm so glad to have you along for the ride. Lately I've been reflexively drawing back from social media for the sake of my own sanity and in order to remain a positive and upbeat person - as opposed to screaming into a pillow about the state of the world and wanting to hurl myself into the sun - but I want to still be able to stay engaged with you, lovely readers, and this seems like a good way to achieve that. Therefore, it's my intention to produce a new blog post once a fortnight, starting right here. What will it be about? Nothing, and everything. Most likely, I'll be posting updates on my progress with THE GRAVEDIGGER SCRIBE, which my agent (wonderful word-witch Brianne Johnson of HG Literary) is about to begin submitting to editors, and any other projects I may be working on now or in the future (more on that to come!). I'll probably talk about books I've read recently and what I thought of them, and in all likelihood other forms of media too. Maybe we'll discuss the publishing industry, and how I got my agent; maybe I'll complain about how poorly the Maple Leafs are playing; maybe I'll share a bit about life on the farm and whatever's going on. I'm excited. And I should have done this a long, long time ago...

A Brief Aside.

On the subject of intentions, I set out at the beginning of this year with the New Year's Resolution of reading 52 books. One per week. An ambitious goal, what with home life, editing TGS, drafting **something new** and working on the farm. Nevertheless, we're now on week 43, and at present I've read... 32 books. So, I'm a bit behind. I may not actually succeed in what I set out to do, but I've enjoyed the attempt and I'll definitely be issuing myself the same challenge for next year. (I mean, if you count the number of times I've read TGS to myself during editing, I exceeded my goal by about a factor of five, but I know, I know, it's not in the spirit of the game...). Or maybe I'll download a ton of novellas and burrow myself away over Christmas. Who's to say.

Spooktober

There's something about the change in the weather, the turning of the leaves and the new chill in the air that just invites you to read something a little bit spooky, I think. And this October, I decided the time was right to tick a few of those off my 'To-Read' list. In the lead up to Halloween, so far, I've read:

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (can't believe it took me this long, frankly, it was deliciously sinister, and poetic, and FIVE FAT STARS)

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (fantastic, lush, atmospheric, gross, spine-chilling and sweet all at once. FIVE FAT STARS)

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson (I'm going to stop with the star ratings now, because if that's what you want you can find me on Goodreads, but AH WHAT THE HELL, this one's five stars too.)

Obliteration by Darren Wearmouth and James S. Murray (this one was okay. Not really my cup of tea, a bit too cheesy and not all that well-written either. But I read the first two in the series (not sure why, they weren't all that great either) and felt like finishing it, plus I could burn through it in about 2.5 days so one more towards the Resolution Goal, I guess!)

And *just* before the end of the month I started, but have not yet finished:

The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson, and

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Fully expecting to thoroughly enjoy both of these, too.

Anyway, I think that's enough for today. Please be safe, look after each other, get your vaccines if you can, and do your bit for our poor, precious planet. Thanks for reading, and see you in two weeks.

All the best,

RT