Jason Parker (Author of A Hostile World)

Jason Parker rated a book it was amazing Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House is both a good old fashioned ghost story but also a highly innovative one – genuinely scary (which, in my humble opinion, contrary to what the gushing reviews of ARC readers suggest, is hard to do), quite a ...more
Jun 24, 2026 06:30AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book liked it What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1) by T. Kingfisher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher’s retelling of Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher,” is a short, mostly satisfying throwback to Victorian horror, a fun, spooky tale and first book in a trilogy. Alex Easton, a retired soldier and veteran of war, is ...more
Jun 04, 2026 03:29PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book really liked it I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
There was a moment, as I was reading I Was a Teenage Slasher, in which I started to understand what Stephen Graham Jones was doing as slasher-to-be Tolly Driver was being tested by his best friend (and big horror fan) Amber. In scenes that will appe ...more
May 20, 2026 07:00PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book really liked it The Talisman (The Talisman, #1) by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
When it was announced that after 25 years, Stephen King would be returning to the world of the Territories in a third installment of The Talisman series, I thought I would give the first book of the same name another read (also probably the second i ...more
Apr 14, 2026 09:04AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Talisman by Stephen King. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Talisman by Stephen King <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book liked it The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, is a well-written science fiction novel with well-developed characters and an interesting concept. However, said concept tends to get muddled throughout the book. A story that seems to start out like a humor ...more
Jan 15, 2026 11:31AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book liked it Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1) by Rebecca Ross (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The premise of Divine Rivals draws you right in: in a fictionalized yet still familiar version of England, two ancient gods, Dacre and Enva, wage war on each other with mythical creatures but also vast armies of humans in a conflict much like one of ...more
Jan 11, 2026 03:13PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book really liked it The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Inventive, woefully short, well-written (though perhaps with a somewhat gratuitous usage of big, fancy words), The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror-fantasy novella that takes familiar fairy tale tropes and twists them and turns them on their head. It fo ...more
Jan 06, 2026 08:02AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book really liked it The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1) by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Over the last few years, the idea of the “alternate universe,” that is, a parallel universe (or millions of them) that exists alongside ours with changes in our lives or the people we know, sometimes small, sometimes large, has become ubiquitous. Thi ...more
Jan 02, 2026 09:08PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Midnight Library by Matt Haig <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jason Parker rated a book it was amazing The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones’ writes a veritable masterclass in how to take an ancient (and sometimes exhausted) plot device such as the literary vampire and both turn it on its head while also remaining true and faithful to th ...more
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Jason Parker is currently reading Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 12, 2025 09:30AM · like

Jason Parker rated a book it was amazing

Incidents Around the House
by Josh Malerman (Goodreads Author)

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Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House is both a good old fashioned ghost story but also a highly innovative one – genuinely scary (which, in my humble opinion, contrary to what the gushing reviews of ARC readers suggest, is hard to do), quite a Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House is both a good old fashioned ghost story but also a highly innovative one – genuinely scary (which, in my humble opinion, contrary to what the gushing reviews of ARC readers suggest, is hard to do), quite a bit sad, and kept me turning the pages in a way I have not been motivated to do in a long time.
The book centers on and is narrated by Bela, a little girl who is being visited by an entity she calls Other Mommy, a kindly, friendly presence that asks Bela if she can enter her “heart,” which becomes pretty clear pretty quickly is a euphemism for possession. Through Bela’s simple but insightful narration, we gather that things are not particularly right between her Mommy, Ursula, and Daddo, Russ, sometimes from dialogue that Bela doesn’t always understand, sometimes from things she seems to gather are going wrong in their relationship. Initially, it is only Bela that can see Other Mommy, but that doesn’t last, as the entity’s desire to take over Bela’s body causes her to reveal herself to others, setting into motion a desperate flight and series of confrontations between the family and Other Mommy.
Malerman expertly weaves traditional ghost story tropes into the novel such as the child as the subject of the entity’s desire, and the consultation with “experts” such as psychics and paranormal investigators, but he also flips the tropes on their head. The child is the narrator in this story, and so-called “experts” only seem to make things worse.
Though distracting at times, the marital drama between Ursula and Russ adds character and human drama to a very inhuman story. The family is in peril, brought together by a supernatural force none of them are prepared for, and the family’s flight from place to place, person to person as they seek refuge from Other Mommy, keeps the reader tense and on the edge of their seat, the hopelessness of the situation oozing off the page.
The dark presence of Other Mommy hangs over the entire book, effectively portrayed through minimal prose. The presence of Other Mommy at time is merely suggested, Malerman having Bela talk about how she hears creaking or steps upstairs is enough to keep you reading. When Other Mommy is around, she’s a terrifying, monstrous entity.
Can’t exactly say what I feel about the ending, but it is a doozy, and I’m sure glad I read the book.

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What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
by T. Kingfisher

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What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher’s retelling of Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher,” is a short, mostly satisfying throwback to Victorian horror, a fun, spooky tale and first book in a trilogy.
Alex Easton, a retired soldier and veteran of war, is What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher’s retelling of Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher,” is a short, mostly satisfying throwback to Victorian horror, a fun, spooky tale and first book in a trilogy.
Alex Easton, a retired soldier and veteran of war, is contacted by childhood friend Roderick Usher, who pleads with Alex to come visit, as Usher’s sister Madeline, also a friend of Alex’s, is gravely ill. Upon arriving at the Usher estate, Alex finds the house in utter disrepair, an air of darkness hanging over the place like fog. When he sees Madeline, he is shocked to see that Madeline is corpse-like in appearance, the house inside falling apart, infested by mold, and devoid of servants as the family is in dire straits financially. Roderick himself seems very ill, the causes of the maladies unknown. Beyond the woeful condition of his friend, the property is infested by strange, unearthly, zombie-like hares and a glowing lake.
The story is slow, but still ushers (pun intended …) the reader along nicely with Victorian ghost story tropes: phantom white figures walking through the halls, strange noises in the night, and yes, the glowing lake and demonic hares that are, at times, bullet-resistant. Rounding out the cast of characters is Denton, an American friend of Usher’s who served as a physician in the American Civil War, Angus, a gruff Scotsman companion of Alex’s, and Eugenia Potter, an upper-class Englishwoman and amateur mycologist whose passion for mushrooms might be their only hope for finding out the true cause of Madeline’s and the estate's mysterious maladies.
Kingfisher does well with the Victoria vibe and lingo, and after a slow start, the novella builds on the horror as it goes, culminating in surprising and somewhat original twists. The plot varies widely from Poe’s original tale, but the quasi-scientific source of the Usher’s malaise perhaps works better for a modern audience. Fungi seem to be the monster du jour, thanks mostly to HBO’s The Last of Us, and Kingfisher weaves science and horror together well to craft her tale.
A short, fun read that should get you curious about the sequels.

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I Was a Teenage Slasher
by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author)

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There was a moment, as I was reading I Was a Teenage Slasher, in which I started to understand what Stephen Graham Jones was doing as slasher-to-be Tolly Driver was being tested by his best friend (and big horror fan) Amber. In scenes that will appe There was a moment, as I was reading I Was a Teenage Slasher, in which I started to understand what Stephen Graham Jones was doing as slasher-to-be Tolly Driver was being tested by his best friend (and big horror fan) Amber. In scenes that will appear familiar to fans of everything from Scream to Shazam, in which a hapless person is fan-splained the rules of the genre or given a battery of tests to gauge their abilities, Amber, convinced Tolly has become a “slasher” in the vein of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, puts him through a battery of tests, all of which seem to confirm what she believes. He can run surprisingly fast, even when there’s a rock in his shoe; he can sense when police are near; he can open doors that should be locked; he has impossibly good aim. These scenes are both darkly humorous and strikingly meta in a genre not often known for being original. These scenes, and many like them, including once the fabled Final Girl comes into the picture, are extremely creative and illustrate once again that Jones is one of today’s great horror writers.
At a party, Tolly Driver is tied down with belts and fed peanuts, which he is extremely allergic to, by a group of teenagers. Most slashers have some kind of humiliating origin story – (remember poor young Jason Voorhees drowning as the camp counselors got busy?) and between the trauma of being humiliated and nearly dying, along with a series of extremely spoilery events that I’ll avoid going into here (and kiddies, I didn’t any of them coming), Tolly is “made” into a slasher who seeks revenge on those who wronged him and is wary of his Final Girl (for the uninitiated, think his arch-nemesis), who must be out there somewhere for, as the rules state, if there’s a Slasher in our midst, there must be a Final Girl, too.
The bulk of the book is Tolly’s struggle with this new, dark part of himself. He has no desire to be a slasher, no desire for revenge at all, but finds out quickly that the compulsion, the power, call it what you will – within him, is stronger than his desire to just be an ordinary kid. With his friend Amber Big Plume Dennison, he starts to understand what it means to be a slasher and the abilities – both good and terrible - that come with it.
If the story sounds a little tongue-in-cheek, I suppose it is. As I mentioned before, some of these scenes where Amber is convincing him of his new, unwanted vocation feel more like something out of a superhero story, but that belies the fact that they are so darn clever, proving that Jones knows his slashers. Long-time fans of the genre (yours truly is guilty as charged) will be tickled pink – or perhaps crimson, like blood, once they realize what Amber is getting it, and you’ll instantly call to mind scenes from your favorite slasher pictures.
Slasher stories are virtually never told from the perspective of the slasher themselves. One, that would give away their identity, which many stories try to keep a secret, at least for a while, and two, while they might have a few skeletons in their closet - which of us don’t - most of us certainly don’t go around hacking up our tormentors. But I Was A Teenage Slasher is told in first-person narration by Tolly himself, which might at times conflict some readers, for he’s a likeable kid, he does not want to be a slasher at all, and yet, on the same page, dispatches other teens with sadistic aplomb. On that note, for fans of the genre, Jones does not disappoint. There are some deliciously wicked kill scenes in here. If you’ve ever seen SGJ in person or heard him interviewed, that is not a surprise.
In the way he does with other familiar concepts in the horror genre, from werewolves to slashers and final girls and paranormal entities in his Indian Lake trilogy, Jones takes a concept that has been done a million times before and manages to spin something new out of it, injecting his humor, his culture, and his considerable talent in another fun read.

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The Talisman (The Talisman, #1)
by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

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When it was announced that after 25 years, Stephen King would be returning to the world of the Territories in a third installment of The Talisman series, I thought I would give the first book of the same name another read (also probably the second i When it was announced that after 25 years, Stephen King would be returning to the world of the Territories in a third installment of The Talisman series, I thought I would give the first book of the same name another read (also probably the second in preparation for the third). The novel is a typical 80’s-era King dictionary-sized tome, the original paperback running year to 700 pages. Written in collaboration with fellow horror author and friend Peter Straub, The Talisman is at times overly long, a bloated Hero’s Journey story with far too many obstacles and characters on our hero’s Road of Trials, and yet at the same time, it is an action-packed, cleverly written, ahead-of-its-time horror/fantasy that remains a fun read.
In the novel, twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer moves to New Hampshire with his ailing former actress mother to start over and get away from Morgan Sloat, the business partner of Jack’s now deceased father. While there, Jack meets Speedy Parker, a mysterious local who introduces Jack to the idea of the Territories, a fantastical world parallel to our own, complete with “twinners,” identical yet different versions of some people, and that there is an object there, the Talisman, that can heal his mother, who is dying from cancer. Jack, whose twinner in the Territories is none other than a prince, son to Queen Laura DeLoessian, who is also severely ill. Jack learns that, because his twinner is dead in the Territories, he has the ability to travel back and forth between worlds, which he does in search of the magical Talisman so as to save his mother and the Queen.
Going through the book a second time, I found myself irritated, as I was on my first go round, that King and Straub spend far more time in our world and the constant setbacks Jack suffers along the way and not as much in the Territories. The Territories resemble your typical medieval magical realm but are also quite different from many other stories, likely due to the fact that neither author wrote much in that genre, and there’s much about their history, their politics, and their monsters I would have liked to learn more about.
Jack’s back-and-forth journey between our world and the Territories is replete with tremendous setbacks, some of which take up far too many pages for my taste, including Jack taking a job at a bar and grill to earn money, working under the thumb of an abusive boss, and a very long sidetrack in an institution for boys run by a sadistic televangelist type. These passages, while part of Jack’s journey, seem more like distractions from the overall story. They are likely meant to serve as formative experiences for Jack, and yet, Jack himself is somewhat of a different problem. At only twelve years old, he reads more like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old, and while he is supposed to be beyond his years, it is a little improbable at times.
There are some colorful supporting characters and villains in the book, in typical King-Straub fashion, including Speedy (though his “jive” talk feels a little cringey and dated), the villainous Osmond, and my favorite (and probably everybody else’s), Wolf, part of a clan of literal werewolves that protect the Queen’s sheep and helps Jack along his journey.
The criticism of the lack of the Territories in the book is valid, I think, but also is a good decision. If Jack stayed there the entire book, it would be the story of a modern boy as a Fish out of Water in a magical land story. The back and forth travel leaves you wanting more and turning the pages to see if you get it. The story, unbeknownst to readers and even the authors at the time, is not only connected to King’s Dark Tower series but also ahead of its time. Parallel universes are all the rage as a story device these days, some of that groundwork being laid here, in the Territories, in The Talisman. I’m looking forward to the third.

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The Ministry of Time
by Kaliane Bradley

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The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, is a well-written science fiction novel with well-developed characters and an interesting concept. However, said concept tends to get muddled throughout the book. A story that seems to start out like a humor The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, is a well-written science fiction novel with well-developed characters and an interesting concept. However, said concept tends to get muddled throughout the book. A story that seems to start out like a humorous satire takes turns being an everyday Sci-Fi time travel book, a romance, and a spy story. Some of these elements don’t come as a surprise – it is a Sci-Fi story after all, and you can see the romance coming from a mile away, but what starts as a relatively light-hearted novel takes a few very serious turns, culminating in a very serious ending the reader might not see coming.
In short, an English government agency, heretofore referred to as, “The Ministry,” has somehow come to master the science of time travel and has decided, for reasons not entirely clear, to “rescue” people from various periods from English history. The “Expats,” as they are known, are assigned a “bridge,” a ministry employee charged with acclimating them to 21st-century life as well as monitoring them for any irregular behavior. If this sounds like a dangerous proposition, the ministry is in essence “saving” these people, all of whom died (at least according to history) prior to the ministry taking them to the present. Our narrator (unnamed), seems in many ways out of her element and unqualified to be a bridge; it seems as if she’s practically fallen into the job of taking care of Graham Gore, an expat from 1847.
The chemistry between Gore and the narrator is charming and well-written. The novel starts out somewhat light-heartedly, leading the reader, at least this reader, to believe that perhaps what we’re reading is Time Travel, Actually, a story with some serious undertones but one that pokes fun at itself when appropriate. Later on, the novel becomes a full-blown mystery and thriller with a couple of surprising twists, some that are kind of cool and one in particular that is just plain unfortunate.
For my money, the best parts of the story were early on, especially the expats’ reactions to learning certain things about the modern world. Bradley handles these deftly, reminding us 2st-century folks just how good we have it while at the same time, pointing out that perhaps the past wasn’t always as bad as it seems. The expats, the book focuses on Gore, are complete fish out of water, leading to some humorous scenes. What becomes less believable, as the story unfolds, is the gradual acclimation of them into modern society. While their bridges are there to help them do this, they take to things such as motorbikes and Spotify more like people who happened to be in a coma for a decade or so and not snatched through the centuries.
There is an undercurrent of mystery, even menace to the ministry – they are clearly hiding something and have some ulterior motive for bringing the expats to the modern world, but not enough to foreshadow the confrontations to come. Perhaps I missed something, but the change of tone in the last part of the novel seemed a 180 to me.
That is not to say that the book is bad; it’s not. It’s actually a good, easy read with some fun moments and a few dark ones. Readers should be aware, however, that if they're looking for “Happy Ever After,” well, maybe they should try time travel.

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Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
by Rebecca Ross (Goodreads Author)

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The premise of Divine Rivals draws you right in: in a fictionalized yet still familiar version of England, two ancient gods, Dacre and Enva, wage war on each other with mythical creatures but also vast armies of humans in a conflict much like one of ...more

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The Salt Grows Heavy
by Cassandra Khaw (Goodreads Author)

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Inventive, woefully short, well-written (though perhaps with a somewhat gratuitous usage of big, fancy words), The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror-fantasy novella that takes familiar fairy tale tropes and twists them and turns them on their head. It fo Inventive, woefully short, well-written (though perhaps with a somewhat gratuitous usage of big, fancy words), The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror-fantasy novella that takes familiar fairy tale tropes and twists them and turns them on their head. It follows a mermaid and her plague doctor companion (neither character ever given a proper name) as they traverse through a tortured landscape, encountering a brutal tribe of murderous children and their horrific “saints.”

The mermaid, who serves as our narrator, like Ariel in the famous story, can’t speak, though our mermaid has had her tongue cut out by her husband, who was devoured by their children, who then burned the kingdom to ashes. She is on the run with a mysterious plague doctor, a foreboding, dark companion who, unmasked, proves to be androgynous and stitched together, a “manufactured” being like a type of Frankenstein’s monster. They come across a group of brutal children who murder each other, brought back to life by their “saints,” who they see as gods, who are merely using them in a dark fairy tale version of a black market organ factory. The action is as gruesome as it sounds, more Grimm than Disney.

The main problem with the novella is its length. Khaw has created an interesting world but spends little time exploring it. This, of course, follows the format of your average fairy tale: characters inhabit a world that is much like our own, yet strikingly different, but Khaw's juicy, macabre prose makes the reader want to know more. The same goes for her characters.

In your everyday fairy tale, the characters often aren’t named, rather, are identified by trope: maiden, farmer, peasant, etc., and Khaw does the same, though her mermaid and plague doctor are not just one-dimensional archetypes. They are fascinating characters I would love to revisit.

A short, wicked read that leaves you thirsty for more, The Salt Grows Heavy should appeal to fans of fantasy, horror, and fairy tales.

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The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1)
by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)

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Over the last few years, the idea of the “alternate universe,” that is, a parallel universe (or millions of them) that exists alongside ours with changes in our lives or the people we know, sometimes small, sometimes large, has become ubiquitous. Thi Over the last few years, the idea of the “alternate universe,” that is, a parallel universe (or millions of them) that exists alongside ours with changes in our lives or the people we know, sometimes small, sometimes large, has become ubiquitous. This has become the Go-To for a lot of superhero movies lately, as Hollywood has decided it is the ultimate way to reboot (codeword for “recast with younger people) a franchise. When I heard that The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig, revolved around a similar concept, I was skeptical. However, the novel is smart, thought-provoking, and has a lot of heart.

Nora Seed, an unremarkable young woman in Bedford, England, reflects back on her life and doesn’t like the choices she has made. Reaching the breaking point, Nora attempts suicide, waking up in the Midnight Library, a mystical trove of books, all representing possible different lives had Nora made different choices, presided over by Mrs. Elm, Nora’s childhood librarian. Mrs. Elm tells Nora that she can experience any of the lives in the library and can choose to stay in whichever one she chooses. The catch? The minute Nora feels disappointment in that life, it's back to the Midnight Library she goes. All she has to do is call out a life where she made such-and-such a choie, the book starts spinning, and off she goes.

While the scope of Noar’s journey is predictable – if you’re paying attention, many of the lives she experiences are foreshadowed in the early pages of the book- it is still a worthy one. She experiences everything from superstardom as a rockstar, international prestige as an Olympic swimmer and motivational speaker, a researcher in the Arctic, and everything in between, including, finally, the domestic happiness that has seemed to elude her all these years.

What makes Nora’s journey work is Nora herself. While at times just a bit whiny, maybe even a trifle bit annoying, which of us, when contemplating times in our lives when we turned left when we should have turned right, can’t also be a bit of both? She’s also intelligent, funny, and her journey through possible lives is thought-provoking. Readers can’t help but be taken in by this opportunity Nora’s been given, wondering what we ourselves would do with it. While the stock answer most people give would be, "I wouldn't change a thing," would it not be interesting to see what would have happened if you pursued that far-fetched dream, ended up with the one that got away, and so on? I know I would be tempted.

The Midnight Library is ultimately a short, poignant read in simple, witty prose.

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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author)

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In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones’ writes a veritable masterclass in how to take an ancient (and sometimes exhausted) plot device such as the literary vampire and both turn it on its head while also remaining true and faithful to th In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones’ writes a veritable masterclass in how to take an ancient (and sometimes exhausted) plot device such as the literary vampire and both turn it on its head while also remaining true and faithful to the kinds of tropes that fans have come to expect. With its narrative structure, an epistolary-style novel told mostly in journal entries and flashbacks, recalling everything from Stoker’s Dracula to Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, the novel immediately connects itself to the canon of vampire literature while at the same time, by setting his story in the American west with a Native American vampire telling his tale, he makes it new while also injecting it with not-so-subtle commentary on the erasure of Native culture, the enduring power of guilt, the curse of vengeance, and yes, some gory, gooey, vampire fun.
The novel opens with Communications Professor Etsy Beaucarne being asked to study a recently discovered manuscript written by a distant ancestor, a Lutheran minister named Arthur Beaucarne, written in the 1800s. In a well-crafted tale-within-a-tale-within-a-tale-within-a-tale, Beaucarne’s manuscript, written during his time in Miles City, Montana, describes his encounter with a mysterious Blackfoot Indian named Good Stab, who wishes Beaucarne to hear his confession, in essence, a long, shocking, and violent tale of how he became a vampire and his subsequent mission to annihilate hunters of the sacred buffalo. Beaucarne finds Good Stab’s horrid tale unbelievable at first, but as he becomes increasingly convinced that Good Stab is also responsible for a recent slate of deaths in the town, coupled with other strange, unignorable occurrences, he gets drawn farther and farther into the tale, a tale that has more to do with him than he would have realized, or wished to be true. Throughout the course of the novel, we learn more and more about Beaucarne’s own tragic and highly problematic past, interspersed among Good Stab’s irrevocable journey into vampirism, learning what he can and cannot do, learning to succumb with his insatiable thirst for blood, and his battles with the enigmatic Cat Man, the vampire at the center of his own transformation. The novel reaches its climax when the truth about Beaucarne and his connection to Good Stab is ultimately revealed, circling back to his descendant Etsy and how it becomes her responsibility to make the past as “right” as possible.
Good Stab is a tragic hero, his story, and the story of his becoming a vampire is intertwined with the erasure of his people, culture, and the settling of his land by the Napikwans, a name the Blackfoot use for white people. Jones, himself a Blackfoot Indian, always weaves the past history and current conditions of Native peoples into his horror, and perhaps never so expertly as he does it here in this novel. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is part historical-fiction, part entertaining vampire yarn, perfect for Spooky Season while remaining thought-provoking. The novel gives a haunting portrayal of the consequences of the past, generational trauma, and a desire for retribution as insatiable and as consequential as the vampire’s thirst for blood. Yet the novel still remains fun and creepy because Jones himself is such a fan of horror.
Jones’ vampires are partly traditional in nature, while being unique. I didn’t love every addition to the canon, but Jones more than makes up with it with other moments in the book. The bookended parts of the book that take place in the 21st century felt distracting at first, but ultimately tie into the aforementioned themes of the novel, as well as tying it to its literary ancestors.
In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones has crafted a thought-provoking narrative that dives deep into our problematic past, using two men as vehicles for themes that still resonate today. It should be read.

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