Any Moment Called Now

Alice returns - First play report

I know this is a book blog but it's my book blog and since this is at least remotely literately related I say it goes. It works wonderfully with my Autumnal Horror Theme as well because I've played horror games and watched horror games being played and this is actually among the scarier. So, what am I talking about in this horridly roundabout way? Well Alice: Madness Returns of course.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat, gothic (and creepy) version

Take the classic story about Alice who follows the rabbit and falls into Wonderland and add some gothic themes, horror and mindtwisters, mix it with some traditional platform action and presdo, one creepy game with awesome costumes and scary monsters with dollfaces and also deadly foes with oversized forks.

It is well known that I suck at platform games but this I can manage because when I fall down, and I do - frequently - I won't get knocked back too far and there are ways to save oneself from falling too. And the fighting is similar, it's not easy but you won't get punished too severely if you make a mistake and die. So it fits me.

I'm not even done with the first chapter yet but so far I am loving it. And I have to know how it ends, always a good motivator for both books and games.

On the reading side I am now on George R R Martin's steamboat vampire tale and I am delighted at the classic way he is handling the bloodsuckers.

I've also decided what my next themes here on the blog will be. Some hints: Winter is coming and Steam Springs Eternal.

Låt den rätte komma in - John Ajvide Lindkvist

Låt den rätte komma in by John Ajvide Lindqvist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know I said I would write in Swedish about Swedish books but as this one has been something of an international success, at least the movie, I will take it in English because really, any fan of writing that creeps under your skin, clings to your back as a child sized nighttime monster and sticks in your chest like a pole through the heart needs to be read.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read this, it might be a side-effect of my dislike for Swedish movies or maybe something left over from when I was that scared pre-teen girl. In any case I am kind of glad I did because now the setting of this book is just a metro trip away and that makes it just a bit more real. A bit more scary.

One interesting part is that if you were to take out the supernatural elements of this story I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. It would be wallowing in real life and misery and that really isn’t my cup of tea. Unless there are vampires apparently. Because the clever addition of a classical monster in a very untraditional guise makes the misery stand out so much more, makes my heart ache for Oscar and the others. Makes it a better book in my point of view.

Maybe it’s different when you grew up in the same world, in the same country. I remember the 80’s in Sweden; I remember many of the things mentioned in passing. If someone who didn’t grow up in the same environment read this book they probably won’t get the same experience. But they on the other hand will get the faint exoticism I get when reading books set in England or USA. In the end I think a good book is worth to read regardless. And this is a very good book.


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Skräckhöst! (The Autumnal Horror Theme)

The wind is near howling outside and darkness in creeping in closer. Let's ignore the dying breaths of summer and get immersed in the gothic horror of autumn not to very far from the frigid north. I am launching my first theme here on the blog and it is, as you dear reader might already have guessed, a theme of horror.

The goal is to read as much of the horror books I've either missed in my misspent youth as a scaredy cat or just haven't had time to pick up. In fact I've already started, I am almost finished with Peter Straub's lost girl lost boy and it's so good I just wanna read more by him!


Other books that have risen to the top of my rather large to-read list are It, Bag of Bones, The Stand and Carrie all of course by the King himself. I also got the Necronomicon as a birthday gift yesterday so there will be some classic Mythos-stories in-between the other books because much as I love H.P Lovecraft his writing can be rather heavy at times.

A rather unexpected addition to the theme is a book the darling husband picked up at sf-bokhandeln yesterday, Fevre Dream. It's written by George R.R Martin and I tempts me with vampires and steamboats. Add Mr Martin's wont to be surprising in his storytelling and I for one is sold.

I have 12 more books to read to beat the challenge I set up early this year and with this theme I don't think it will be hard. The question might just be how many I go over with.

One thing you can trust, there won't be a glittering pseudovampire in sight! I am happy to take recommendation of anything creepy, gory or just plain scary though!

Skräckfika!

(Will be taking this in Swedish as it is again very local and such, sorry. Do come back soon for a post about my upcoming autumnal horror extravaganza though!)

Att försöka sammanfatta allt vi hann diskutera under det två timmar långa skräckfikat på Muffinsfabriken på söndagen vore helt omöjligt. Vi åt gigantiska muffins, drack kaffe av olika sort och avhandlade allt mellan himmel och jord. Det blev mycket skratt, många rekommendationer och jag blev ivrigt påhejjad att starta projektet skräckhöst här på bloggen (se senare inlägg).
 Det som från början var ett generellt bloggfika blev av en slump förvandlat till skräckfika när de som kom var stora delar av mörkerelitistbokklubben och så jag och Ett hem utan böcker-Martina som båda gillar mörk och krypande fantastik. Så skräckfika blev det, och roligt var det.

Helena har också skrivit om fikat och mycket mer verbalt och genomtänkt än mig som just kommit hem från en lång dag av shopping och trevligheter. Gå och läs hennes bloggpost! Jag måste säga att fikan och möten som detta är bland det bästa med att ha flyttat till Stockholm. Att mötas i verkligheten ger verkligen konversationerna ett lyft även om internetprat också är trevligt.

Bloggare i fyra nyanser av goth

Men, nu ska jag nog sova och imorgon blir det inlägg om den stundande Skräckhösten! (och kanske lite om böckerna jag fått/köpt/fått maken att köpa, vad sägs om George RR Martin + Vampyrer + Ångdrivna flodbåtar?)

A tiny review of The Tiny Wife

The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Tiny Wife is a tiny adorable book, easily read in a single sitting and most awesomely absurd in both its premise and in its execution. It is hard to say something about the story as almost anything would be a spoiler but what can be said is that in the end it is a story about people, a story about knowing yourself and a story about life. And also tattoos turning into lions and people shrinking until they almost disappear. Or do disappear.

This book reminds me a little bit about Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About and somewhat about Microserfs as those books are also about life and are told with in a slightly odd angle and with a first person view.

I recommend this book to anyone in need of a bit of a pick-me-up or just a ray of sunshine. Go read it, you won’t regret it!


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Rot and Ruin - Jonathan Maberry

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book in a review challenge from Swedish Zombie, and I started reading it just after finishing with a very long and complicated hard SF novel by Peter Hamilton. This might not have been completely fair to Rot and Ruin. I spent the whole first third of the book being annoyed at the main character for being an idiot when he in fact was being a pretty ordinary teenager.

Basis of the book is this: two brothers live together in a small town of survivors about 14 years after First Night, the outbreak of the unknown cause for everyone dying rising again a while later with a mindless urge to consume anything living. The older brother is a zombie hunter while the younger is just trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. Then stuff happens. Perceptions change and in the end the read’s been told a fairly engaging story.

In some way this felt like The Passage light. There’s a strange young girl and a young man finding himself in this one too but the storytelling seems aimed at more inexperienced readers. I use that term instead of Young Adult or Teenagers because age have very little to do with it. I would just as soon put this in the hands of an adult who is rediscovering reading or someone who just want something fun and light while sunning at a resort.

At the start I was pretty sure I was going to be annoyed the whole way through the book but in the end I wouldn’t mind reading more by the author and even a continuation of the book. I also have a sneaking suspicion that if this was filmed I would be hopelessly mooning over Tom (the older brother) even though he is a bit too good to be true at times, even his faults were endearing.

One thing the author does very well is balance the gender roles. Contrary to many post apocalyptic novels both males and females are allowed in any role they feel they could manage but despite this the gender identity is not erased to be replaced with some kind of hard-ass male template. Women are women, just women who can also kick ass when needed. There might not be terribly many women portrayed in Rot and Ruin but those that are feel real, and in the end that’s what matters most.


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Meet the bloggers? (Bloggträff?)

I'm gonna take this in Swedish because it's so very local. Poke me if you're a reader/blogger who is non-Swedish speaking and happens to be in Stockholm early October and I'll translate!

Så, i början på oktober, den 1-3 för att vara precis, så kommer Martina från Ett hem utan böcker och hälsar på mig. Och vad passar då bättre än en träff med fika och massor av bokprat? (och säkert prat om annat också).

Min tanke är söndag den 2:a tidig eftermiddag och platsen Muffinsfabriken vid Skanstull. De har ett litet sidorum som vi nog kan få boka (om vi är många nog) och deras muffins är supergoda, kaffet gott (Pressbryggare) och de har laktosfri mjölk! Jag har inte testat teet men de verkade ha ett försvarbart urval.

Anmäl er genom att kommentera på denna post. Väl mött!

Preliminära anmälningar än så länge (förutom mig och Martina):
Bokstävlarna
Dark Places
Tystnad