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This post written by Clint Algernon Blackwood has been called the master of the English ghost story. He is often listed in the horror section, although he didn’t write what you probably consider horror. Blackwood’s stories are about the supernatural – ghosts, magic, and other strange creatures. Sometimes bad things happen, but some times they don’t. His stories aren’t terrifying in the blood and gore and monsters everywhere sense, but they are usually eerie or strange. He was a master of atmosphere and buildup,
Blackwood wrote a lot of short stories, and his themes ranged from reincarnation to romance to encounters with strange, unexplained creatures. However, almost every one of his stories has some weird element to it.
He also created John Silence, one of the earliest supernatural investigators.
Algernon Blackwood isn’t that famous among people who read modern horror, but he had a strong influence on H. P. Lovecraft and probably many modern horror writers, too.
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Where to Find His Books
You can read a lot of his books and stories online at the Penn State Online Books page.
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This post written by Clint Watership Down
by Richard Adams
[cover name=watershipdown]
Watership Down is a fantasy story about people leaving their old home, traveling across the country to start a new one, and defending it from the forces of evil. What makes this book unusual is that most of the characters in it are rabbits.
Fiver is a young rabbit who has visions of the future. One day he has a horrible vision of his warren (the rabbit version of a city) being destroyed, but the leaders of the warren will not listen to him. Fiver and his brother Hazel, along with a few other rabbits, leave the warren in search of a safe place that Fiver also saw in his vision. They are joined by two warrior rabbits, Bigwig and Silver. This group faces many dangers as they travel across the English countryside, like stray dogs, rabbit snares, and highways. Eventually they make it to Watership Down, the place Fiver recognizes from his vision, and start a new warren.
Now that they have a chance to relax, the rabbits notice that there aren’t any female rabbits. With the help of Kehaar the seagull, they manage to find another warren in the area that might be willing to share some of its people. Unfortunately, this new warren turns out to be a police state run by a crazy killer bunny who calls himself General Woundwort, but Hazel and the others manage to free a few of the rabbits from Woundwort. General Woundwort won’t allow anyone to leave, so he and some of his soldiers attack Watership Down. The Watership Down rabbits aren’t really warriors, but they are smart, experienced, and desperate.
Watership Down is more than just an adventure story. When the rabbits stop for the evening, they tell each other stories from bunny history, myth, and legend. Along the way you learn a little bit of the bunny language, too. Richard Adams did a really good job of making rabbit culture interesting.
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This post written by Clint The Lies of Locke Lamora
by Scott Lynch
[cover name=theliesoflockelamora]
Locke Lamora is the best thief in the city of Camorr, a city that is kind of like a fantasy version of Venice. As a young child, his parents are killed in a plague. When the city guards come to round up survivors, Locke steals one off their purses. From there, he was sold to a man called the Thiefmaker, who trains orphans to be thieves. Locke’s work is just too much for the Thiefmaker to handle, but rather than kill Locke, the Thiefmaker sells him to a priest named Chains.
Rather than trying to turn Locke into a decent citizen, Chains teaches Locke to be an even better thief. Eventually, Chains assembles a team of outstanding pickpockets, burglars, and con artists. Locke and his friends Jean, Bug, Caldo, and Galdo, are masters of disguise and deception. They can convincingly impersonate nearly anyone, from a priest of the god of death to a nobleman.
Thieves in Camorr must follow a few simple rules set by Capa Barsavi, the crime boss of the city. Among other things, they must give him their allegiance, pay him a portion of their earnings, not draw too much attention (Locke is really bad at this part), and leave the nobility alone (Lock is really, really bad at this one). In return, the city guard pretty much leaves the thieves alone. This is called the Secret Peace,and it works pretty well for the nobility and the thieves, but not for anybody else.
Locke and his friends ignore the secret peace. After all, stealing from the nobility has three huge advantages over stealing from anyone else.
- They’ve got the money.
- They’d never expect it.
- Many of them deserve it.
However, Locke and his pals aren’t the only people breaking the Secret Peace. Thieves are being murdered, but nobody has the faintest idea who is doing it. This throws the criminal underground into chaos just as Locke, Jean, Caldo, Galdo, and Bug are in the middle of the con of a lifetime.
The scams Locke and his friends use in this book are just amazing. They are works of art. This is like Ocean’s Eleven, except much more clever. However, the story is also a lot grittier and more violent. There’s a lot of swearing, and a fair amount of bloodshed. Locke isn’t much of a fighter, but Jean is a big guy who fights with a pair of axes, and he gets to use them on more than one occasion.
The setting for The Lies of Locke Lamora is really elaborate and creative. Scott Lynch has put a lot of detail into the city and the many different cultures of the world. This is a fantasy novel, and while there aren’t a lot of people who can cast spells, there are still plenty of fantastic elements. Another race of creatures ruled the world before recorded human history, and they left amazing artifacts behind. Much of the city is made out of a special material known as Elderglass, which is indestructible and glows just after the sun sets. The towers on the cover shown above are the five main Elderglass towers of Camorr, where the rich and powerful live. Of course, since nobody alive can really work with Elderglass, and since whatever ancient devices once moved people from one floor to another have long since broken down, the nobles of Camorr get around these giant towers in crude wooden elevators slapped onto the sides of the towers.
Alchemy, a fantasy version of science (plus a little magic) is also an important part of the world. Alchemists make poisons and potions, but they also make lights, cooking stones that heat up when you pour water on them, and many more nifty things. Alchemists also help develop new kinds of plants – alchemically enhanced fruit and wine are popular treats among the extremely wealthy.
I haven’t really mentioned the characters yet, but they are really well done. Pretty much everybody is interesting and has a twist and a surprise or two hiding inside. Locke, of course, always has a trick up his sleeve. Jean is a big, chunky, axe-wielding accountant with a soft spot for romance novels. Capa Barsavi was a famous scholar before he took control of Camorr’s underworld. There are too many twists and surprises for me to spoil, but I’ll leave the rest for you.
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This post written by Clint The Night Birds
by Thomas Maltman
[cover name=thenightbirds]
The year is 1876, and Asa Senger lives on his family’s farm in Minnesota. Asa’s parents generally avoid talking about family history, but Asa learns far more than he expected when Aunt Hazel comes home from an asylum where she was held for many years.
The Sengers are unwilling to talk about the past because their family has been right in the middle of some really ugly events. They had to flee Missouri because of an argument about the abolition of slavery. Life in Minnesota was very challenging: nature was not nice to settlers, but then, settlers weren’t really nice to nature, either. The Senger family, especially Hazel, made connections with the local Dakota Sioux tribe, and they were involved with the Dakota uprising of 1862. All of this is news to poor Asa, who has never thought about his family like this before.
The story bounces back and forth between Hazel’s past and Asa and Hazel’s present. Part of it is family history, part is Asa’s life in 1876, and part is Asa’s coming to terms with his family’s turbulent past.
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This post written by Clint The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
[cover name=thenameofthewind]
Kote is a simple innkeeper. Unfortunately, the roads are not safe these days, so business isn’t doing so well. Part of the problem is that a bunch of giant spider-like creatures are living near his village, so Kote decides to wipe them out. Because simple innkeepers always kill packs of monsters in their spare time.
One man is sure that Kote is more than he seems. He calls himself Chronicler, and he is sure that Kote is the legendary hero or villain (depending on which legend you listen to) Kvothe. After hounding Kote for a while, Chronicler finally gets him to confess to being Kvothe. Chronicler really wants to know the truth behind all of the stories about Kvothe, but Kvothe will only talk if Chronicler promises to write exactly what Kvothe says.
Much of The Name of the Wind is Kvothe telling us about his life. He’s done some pretty impressive things. He was born into a group of traveling performers, so he learned to act, sing, and ply instruments. An wizard/scholar named Abenthy travels with his family for a while, and he teaches Kvothe the basics of magic/science. However, Abenthy never teaches him the really powerful magic, where if you can name something, you can control it. Kvothe decides he wantes to learn the name of the wind, which is something that Abenthy knows. Abenthy encourages him to attend the University, where he can learn that kind of magic, but before that can happen, Kvothe’s family is killed.
Kvohte survives as an orphan for a while, but he eventually gets into the University, where can study naming magic, and maybe even find out more about who killed his family. We learn a lot about Kvothe’s life at the University – how he fell in love, how he was banned from ever setting foot in the library again after an incident involving a candle, and how he manages to become a student of the Master Namer.
This book is big, but it is only part on of three. We get a lot of hints about the things he has done, but we don’t know, for example, why he eventually gets expelled from the University, how he gets the nickname of Kvoth Kingkiller, or why he decides to pretend to be an inkeeper.. However, this book isn’t all about the past. Parts of it are set int he present, where dark forces appear to be at work. Kvothe may have very good reasons for hiding out.
You can read an excerpt from the book online at the author’s website.
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This post written by Clint His Majesty’s Dragon
by Naomi Novik
[cover name=hismajestysdragon]
Did you enjoy the movie Master and Commander? This book is a lot like that, but with dragons.
His Majesty’s Dragon is set in the early part of the 19th century, during the Napoleonic Wars.* Will Laurence is a captain in the British Royal Navy who captures a dragon’s egg from a French ship. When the egg hatched, the baby dragon attached itself to Laurence. He names the dragon Temeraire, after the famous ship. As far as Laurence is concerned, Temeraire has just ruined his life.
Why? Wouldn’t it be awesome to have your own dragon? Well, not exactly. The dragon becomes property of the British Empire, and since it seems to really like Laurence, he is forced to give up command of his ship and serve in the Aerial Corps. That means living out in the middle of nowhere, where the dragons have the space they need and won’t cause trouble. That probably means never getting married, since the Aerial Corps is no place for a gentleman. As far as Laurence’s wealthy family and friends are concerned, commanding a ship is fine. Commanding a dragon is so undignified.
Temeraire, as it turns out, is an unusual dragon. He isn’t one of the kinds of dragons you find in Europe. Instead, he seems to be some special breed from China. He is smarter than many other dragons – he enjoys being read to, and he questions the way dragons are treated in the military.
Laurence stands out just like Temeraire does in the Aerial Corps. As a former Royal Navy captain, he is very fond of rules and regulations and politeness. Nobody else in the Corps really cares about that stuff. They are misfits, isolated from regular society. Of course, one of the most shocking things Laurence finds is that the Corps allows women to be soldiers.
Laurence also stands out because, despite his obsession with making lower-ranking soldiers salute and call him “sir,” he takes way better care of his dragon than anyone else. Most people in the Corps like their dragons, but they treat them more like pets and horses than people. Laurence is very different – he treats Temeraire like a person, and he thinks all dragons should be treated that way.
A lot of the story is about Laurence loosening up, learning to fit in as much as honor will allow, and dealing with his family, who are not happy about his new position. We also get to see a lot about the daily life of dragons, and we get to watch Temeraire grow up. As you might guess from a book about dragons in the military, there is also some good dragon-to-dragon and dragon-to-ship combat.
If you like Master and Commander and you also enjoy fantasy, this should be the perfect book for you. Unlike Master and Commander, there aren’t many nautical terms in the book, so you don’t need to worry about what a bosun’s chair is or anything like that.
If you want to read the first chapter or so online, it’s on the author’s official website.
* This is also when the Master and Commander series takes place. It’s also when the Horatio Hornblower and the Bolitho series take place. Why? Because Will Laurence and Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower and Richard Bolitho and probably a dozen more fictional captains are all based on the same person, Thomas Cochrane. If you enjoy these kinds of books, you should really read about Cochrane.
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This post written by Clint Sharp Teeth
by Toby Barlow
[cover name=sharpteeth]
Anthony Silvo has just gotten a job as a dogcatcher in East L.A. He doesn’t really want to send the dogs to the pound, but he needs the money. Then he meets a mysterious woman who gets him caught in the middle of a big supernatural mess.
Werewolves are alive and well in East L.A. Well, not exactly werewolves. More weredogs, who can shift back and forth between human and dog whenever they want. There are a number of things going on in the story. Lark, the leader of one pack, is betrayed by one of his followers. He decides to hide out in an animal shelter and is eventually adopted. When his owners are out, he organizes a new pack, but he slowly realizes that he likes the quiet life. Meanwhile, Anthony’s mysterious girlfriend is killing off certain weredogs. A couple of people from Lark’s pack end up playing in a bridge (not poker!) tournament that may have a connection to the L.A. drug trade. Finally, a detective named Peabody (probably a reference to Mister Peabody) is investigating a series of murders that relate to the weredog packs.
This is a werewolf story, so you can expect a fair amount of violence. The author also sneaks in a lot of dog-related humor, as you can see from the bridge-playing dogs and Peabody. The unusual thing is that this story is told in verse, sort of. Why? I’m not sure, but a couple of recent authors have tried it, so I guess it must be trendy. The book looks like a giant poem, but once you start reading, it’s basically a novel with very short lines.
If you want to give the book a try, you can browse it for free at the publisher’s website.
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This post written by Clint The Stepsister Scheme
by Jim C. Hines
[cover name=thestepsisterscheme]
You have probably seen the Disney films Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella. However, you may not know that there were stories about these three characters long before Disney, and that some of the old stories were much more disturbing. In some older Sleeping Beauty stories, the prince’s mother tries to kill and eat Sleeping Beauty. In one old Snow White story, the wicked queen is tortured to death. In an old Cinderella story, those cute Disney birds attack her step-sisters and blind them.
Jim Hines takes some of these older stories and tells you what happens after Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella had their happy endings. The story begins shortly after Snow White’s wedding, when one of her step-sisters tries to assassinate her. When that fails, she kidnaps the prince. Cinderella sets off to save him, accompanied by Snow White and a particularly kick-butt Sleeping Beauty.
If you want to read the first chapter, the author has put it up on his website.
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This post written by Clint The Dragons of Babel
by Michael Swanwick
[cover name=thedragonsofbabel]
The Dragons of Babel is set in a fantasy world that includes some bits of the real world. You’ll find assault weapons, Vespa scooters, and Mohammad Ali mixed in with elves, dwarves, centaurs, and dragons. There is a war going on, with mechanical dragons fighting basilisks. One day a dragon is shot down near the village where the main character, Will le Fey, lives. Even though the dragon is badly damaged and cannot fly, it is still powerful enough to take over the village. It makes Will its servant and uses him to identify people who might cause trouble. Naturally, since Will’s job is to spy on his friends, people start to hate him, and he is eventually thrown out of the village.
Will ends up in a “refugee camp,” and from there is put on a train and taken to Babel, a sort of fantasy version of New York City. On the train he meets Nat, a con artist, and Esme, a woman who has traded all of her memories for eternal youth. Once he gets to Babel, he gets involved with a gang and becomes a hero to the poor who live in tunnels underneath the city. Eventually he meets and falls in love with Alcyone, a noblewoman. Then Nat comes up with an elaborate scheme that, in addition to making a lot of money, might help Will and Alcyone get together.
You should keep in mind that this world is not the real world and the people are not humans, so they do things that seem strange to us. For example, when Will had a good day fishing, he would smear fish on his great-great-great-grandmother’s feet to show respect. Sex is also mentioned in the story, and since the characters are not human, one or two scenes might seem a little weird. However, all of these details and many more make a really interesting, elaborate world. It’s a very different world, but it’s one that can easily pull you in.
You can read some of it online through Google Books.
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This post written by Clint The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
by Chris Wooding
[cover name=thehauntingofalaizabelcray]
Alaizabel Cray isn’t exactly haunted. Ghosts don’t follow her around and cause trouble. She’s more possessed. Sometimes. Plus, monsters are drawn to her.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is set in London during the Victorian period, although they never say what year. The Victorian period feels right because houses and streets are still lit by gas lamps and horse-pulled carriages are still the main form of transportation. However, history doesn’t exactly match up. In this world, the United Kingdom lost a war with the Prussians and, not too long after that, monsters called wytch-kin started taking over part of London.
Two of our main characters, Thaniel and Cathaline, are professional wytch-hunters who run around London at night and do their best to kill wytch-kin. While hunting a Cradlejack, a wytch-kin that abducts babies, Thaniel stumbles across a dirty, crazy woman who doesn’t seem to mind hanging out near the Cradlejack. Feeling sorry for her, Thaniel takes her home and, much to his surprise, nurses her back to sanity. Not too long after that, Thaniel and Cathaline discover that they are all in the middle of a supernatural plot that threatens to destroy the entire world.
One thing I have always wanted to see in a book is a villain who says something like, “Yeah, I’m evil, but I don’t want to destroy the world. I live there!” We get one of those in this story. However, despite the fact that he sounded like he was off to save the world, I found his actual role kind of disappointing.
Some people put this book under horror. I don’t think that’s quite right. It’s more along the lines of supernatural investigation. It has monsters and a serial killer, and there a couple of slightly gruesome scenes, but nothing that bad.
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