I’m surprised how many people this month have sincerely used the phrase “it’s Spooky Season” to me in regular conversation.
The dark whimsy and scary vibes of Halloween have surged in popularity, like a dark counterpoint to cozy, pumpkin-spiced Autumn-worship. So, set down your wool sweater by the fireplace and pick up a vampire bat and hockey mask to celebrate Halloween with some new horror fiction.
Chuck Tingle became an internet phenomenon with his truly eccentric erotic novels (maybe don’t Google that) and masked public persona. In recent years, he has moved towards unique and subversive fiction in other genres.
His latest work, Bury Your Gays, follows Misha, a Hollywood writer who has finally found success with his newest screen project. After receiving an Oscar nomination, Misha is told by his producer that he must kill off his series’ queer characters “for the sake of the algorithm.” While struggling with this mandate, villains and monsters from his works begin coming to life and stalking the writer and his friends. The book is an entertaining work of horror, gore, comedy, and social commentary.
It’s just been released, but I’m very excited to get my hands on Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror. Editor Xueting C. Ni explores the rise of horror fiction in mainland China. While all horror deals with the universal emotion and experience of fear, different cultures are terrified by different things, and respond in unique ways, influenced by their own mythologies, histories, geographies, and beliefs. Given the enormity and variety of China and its population, this leads to diverse concerns, viewpoints, and priorities from the writers in this collection.
I don’t usually think about horror and non-fiction coming together, but one popular title this year does: Stanley Milford Jr.’s The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator’s Search for the Unexplained. In this memoir, Milford discusses how his Cherokee and Navajo upbringing taught him that the supernatural was a part of life, and he took this outlook with him when he joined the world of the Navajo Rangers. What follows are tales of his investigations into situations of the bizarre, shocking, and unexplained.
The horror genre seems tailor-made for short stories: an author can give a brief build-up, a shock, and then get out of there. And in today’s horror market, you can’t throw a stick without hitting a work influenced by the eerie cosmic mythology of writer H.P. Lovecraft.
We can get both with Joe R. Landsdale’s new short story collection In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. This basket of tales veers from gritty to snarky, taking the themes of elder gods and cult insanity to new scenarios like the Wild West, a lifeboat on the ocean, gentleman detectives, and literally “what if Huckleberry Finn encountered untold darkness?”
The La Mesa Library has some great regular programs for bodies and brains.
Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., you can join our Chair Yoga program to stretch and strengthen.
And K-12 students who need a little extra help can sign-up for our Math Coaching sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays by calling (619) 469-2151 or visiting the La Mesa Library to sign-up.
