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byslantedlightCan you tell I'm catching up...? *g*
The clock strikes twelve. Beneath the wind and the remorseless tolling of the bell, no one can hear the scream...
1912. A Sussex churchyard. Villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will not survive the coming year are thought to walk. And in the shadows, a woman lies dead.
As the floodwaters rise, Connie Gifford is marooned in a decaying house with her increasingly tormented father. He drinks to escape the past, but an accident has robbed her of one of her most significant childhood memories. Until the disturbance at the church awakens fragments of those vanished years...
Sounds good, doesn't it? And what a coincidence that here's another book that starts with a vigil in a churchyard to see the year's dead-to-come. Bu-ut... Despite it having definite gothic-y overtones and atmospheres, this story just never really grabbed me. I finished it in a rush, and I'm glad that I did finish it, but... I think it was that I just didn't warm to the characters, which is my main reason for reading, usually - connecting with the characters. It also dotted around a bit too much, from one person to another, which didn't help when I put it down and then left it down for a good few weeks, before picking it up again.
The end in particular felt alot like it had been written to be filmed, as if I was reading a television show, or a film. Perhaps once that was a good effect, and was all about the brilliant atmosphere and place built by the author, but if so my head's turned it around to "but I don't want to watch it on tv, I want to read it"... and somehow I expect more, deeper of a book. I feel oddly guilty for not liking this, as I know Kate Mosse is one of the current author-stars, but her other books have never grabbed me when I picked them up in bookshops, and I guess this one proved that I was right all those times...
Peril the First: Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux… or anyone in between.
1. Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman
2. Bedlam by Ally Kennan
3. The Ghosts of Motley Hall by Richard Carpenter
4. The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles
5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
6. The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse
Peril of the Short Story: We are big fans of short stories and the desire for them is perhaps no greater than in Autumn. You can read short stories any time during the challenge.
1. The Phantom Schooner (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
2. The Phantom Schooner (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
The Cooee Hut (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
4-25. All the spooky short Pros stories I've been reading for October...
Peril On the Screen: This is for those of us that like to watch suitably scary, eerie, mysterious gothic fare during this time of year. It may be something on the small screen or large. It might be a television show, like Dark Shadows or Midsomer Murders, or your favorite film.
1. The Ghosts of Motley Hall (Granada Television, 1976-78)
The clock strikes twelve. Beneath the wind and the remorseless tolling of the bell, no one can hear the scream... 1912. A Sussex churchyard. Villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will not survive the coming year are thought to walk. And in the shadows, a woman lies dead.
As the floodwaters rise, Connie Gifford is marooned in a decaying house with her increasingly tormented father. He drinks to escape the past, but an accident has robbed her of one of her most significant childhood memories. Until the disturbance at the church awakens fragments of those vanished years...
Sounds good, doesn't it? And what a coincidence that here's another book that starts with a vigil in a churchyard to see the year's dead-to-come. Bu-ut... Despite it having definite gothic-y overtones and atmospheres, this story just never really grabbed me. I finished it in a rush, and I'm glad that I did finish it, but... I think it was that I just didn't warm to the characters, which is my main reason for reading, usually - connecting with the characters. It also dotted around a bit too much, from one person to another, which didn't help when I put it down and then left it down for a good few weeks, before picking it up again.
The end in particular felt alot like it had been written to be filmed, as if I was reading a television show, or a film. Perhaps once that was a good effect, and was all about the brilliant atmosphere and place built by the author, but if so my head's turned it around to "but I don't want to watch it on tv, I want to read it"... and somehow I expect more, deeper of a book. I feel oddly guilty for not liking this, as I know Kate Mosse is one of the current author-stars, but her other books have never grabbed me when I picked them up in bookshops, and I guess this one proved that I was right all those times...
Peril the First: Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux… or anyone in between.1. Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman
2. Bedlam by Ally Kennan
3. The Ghosts of Motley Hall by Richard Carpenter
4. The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles
5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
6. The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse
Peril of the Short Story: We are big fans of short stories and the desire for them is perhaps no greater than in Autumn. You can read short stories any time during the challenge.1. The Phantom Schooner (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
2. The Phantom Schooner (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
The Cooee Hut (In Shudders and Shakes: Ghostly Tales from Australia, compiled by Anne Bower Ingram)
4-25. All the spooky short Pros stories I've been reading for October...
Peril On the Screen: This is for those of us that like to watch suitably scary, eerie, mysterious gothic fare during this time of year. It may be something on the small screen or large. It might be a television show, like Dark Shadows or Midsomer Murders, or your favorite film.1. The Ghosts of Motley Hall (Granada Television, 1976-78)
no subject
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2015 11:34 am (UTC)Too right, if the characters don't grab you, the book probably won't, either. Been many a book that has failed because of that. It can sometimes be a huge disappointment. I've never read any of Mosse's books. Doesn't seem as if I will. *g*
no subject
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2015 12:33 pm (UTC)Kate Mosse is such a renowned author that I really felt I should be in sympathy with her characters in some way - or at least one of them - but it wasn't to be... That said, that's just me, so you might feel entirely differently! *g*
no subject
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2015 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2015 11:04 pm (UTC)And thanks! If I'd not been distracted by the Marlows in the middle I would have done better yet - I have a whole pile of RiP books still for reading! *g*