Shelf #90

I rented a shelf at the Casual Poet Library recently, and I didn’t adorn it with any kind of message or description because, firstly, I didn’t know what to write, and, more importantly, I wanted to replicate the feeling of stumbling upon a great read purely by chance.

Where’s Molly by H.D. Carlton

I found this book in the horror section of Dasa Book Cafe in Bangkok. I didn’t know anything about it, didn’t know the author, didn’t even know it was a spin-off from Haunting Adeline. All I knew was that it was such a pretty book. There is a recommendation in the book to read the first two books of the Cat and Mouse series before this one, but I found myself enjoying it regardless. There was a portion that felt as if a bunch of story was just skipped right over, but I think this book still works without it. Before this, I would have never expected that I would be able to enjoy a dark romance book.

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

I was swiping through the latest books section of my Libby app when I saw this book. From the description and the cover, it would seem that this book has a really ridiculous premise; a love story between two people, with one of them turning into a shark. The fact that people get conditions that turn them into animals, in Lewis’s case a great white shark, is written about seriously despite how silly it might seem, with enough worldbuilding to put some sci-fi novels to shame.

The story veered unexpectedly (for me at least) into flashback territory about halfway through the book, detailing the story of Wren’s mother, Angela. While the description does say that Angela’s story is “woven throughout this bold novel”, I didn’t read the past the first paragraph of the description before I decided to get this book. I also wouldn’t call a big fat chunk that takes up about half of the book “woven”. But it works. I got goosebumps when I understood what the author was trying to do.

But the best part of this book is the writing. It is filled with many phrases that start out one way but turn an unexpected corner into the sublime. My favourite one is:

When Wren remembered a carefree time when she “did not have to guard the borders of her story.”

And I wouldn’t even have known about this book if I hadn’t, on a whim, decided to browse through the entire fiction list, instead of narrowing down to sci-fi, fantasy, or horror.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation series by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

A stray comment for an anime on MyAnimeList.net led me to the live-action adaptation of this book series, The Untamed, on Netflix. Despite its title, the show is decidedly tame compared to the books, probably because of Chinese censorship. But it was still the first show I saw where a platonic bromance was featured so heavily, and I’ve never even seen anything close from Western media.

And these books are a class unto their own. It’s no longer a bromance but an actual romance. I’m 100% straight but I still found Hanguang-jun 100% cute.

The Big Meat by Carlton Mellick III

I can’t even remember how I heard of Carlton Mellick III’s The Haunted Vagina, but I’ve been a fan of his ever since. The Big Meat is one of his more straightforward works, but straightforward for him is a wild ride for others. I would classify this more as character driven sci-fi horror rather than bizarro.

House of Rot by Danger Slater

Danger Slater started following me on Twitter for some unknown reason, so I took a look at his books. This one is bizarro to the gills. There’s fungal horror with a bizarre origin, there’s a weird neighbour, and there’s body horror that descends into madness, but the characters treat as relatively normal, which made it kinda funny, like when the woman explodes when diving into an electrified pool in The Monkey. Don’t get me wrong, the situation the characters find themselves in is 100% horrific. It’s just that sometimes it is so absurd that it loops back into comedy.

Books like this are why I like bizarro!!

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

This book has been hyped up by every platform out there. But I found that the ending was probably too long, and seemed to set up a second book with all the talk about a bigger threat that is about to come (which AFAIK isn’t coming).

And there was the usage of “clicks”, which I thought was a misspelling of “klicks”, as in kilometers, at first, but found out in the glossary at the end that it’s actually based on how far a tongue click can carry (roughly equivalent to 1.75 miles), which doesn’t make sense. A tongue click which is 100dB at 1m is only 40dB at 1km and 34dB at 2km without taking into account atmospheric absorption. Even with a very favorable 70100 Pa air pressure at -15°C and 100% relative humidity, sound at 1KHz is attenuated by 13dB per km, which means the 40dB at 1km becomes 27dB, which is softer than a whisper. I kinda want to know how the author derived that 1.75 miles figure.

But I was totally engrossed most of the way through. The characters were well written and I wanted to know what happened next. I even teared up at some point.

P.S. I want to reemphasize that this book is very very good!!!

The Hematophages by Stephen Kozeniewski

This book always pops up in r/horrorlit when people ask for space or sci-fi horror.

The book description declared that “there are no limits to the depravity and violence of the grotesque nightmares known as…THE HEMATOPHAGES”, so I thought I was going to read another type of story. It might just be me but I don’t think the book was as depraved as the copywriter thought it would be.

It’s still pretty good though. The only time my eyes have widened in shock while reading was when I was reading this book.

Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper

Saw this book on a shelf in my local Kinokuniya, took a look at the first line:

When Captain Marcel Apone walked out onto the deck, and stood tall, hands behind his back, everyone shut the fuck up.

I bought it right away.

It didn’t disappoint. Bishop had a great character arc in this.

Samurai Barber Versus Ninja Hairstylist by me

Yes, I put my own book on my shelf. Some people like it, some people hate it, but I think it’s okay. My next book will definitely be better.