Got a splinter from the pulp on this one.

 Once again, it's October, and I'm trying to read spooky stuff for the season, particularly spooky stuff I have in my library I never got around to reading. Which brings us to The Unforgiven, by Patricia J. MacDonald, who it looks has had a decent career in spite of this pulpy mass market rack book. 

This doesn't do full justice for the cut out face behind the cover.

We open on one Maggie Fraser, who is currently serving 12 years in a women's pen for allegedly murdering her married lover. While Maggie claims innocence, her mom's nun buddy Sister Dolerita insists that Maggie needs to confess her sin unless she wants to burn in eternal damnation. Maggie is also being harassed by the other women in the prison, which might explain why our introduction to her ends with Maggie drinking a bottle of disinfectant to try to kill herself. 

Sadly, she survives, and we join her on a ferry to Heron's Neck, a city and island in the Massachusetts Bay. Seems she's been corresponding with the owner of the local paper, who wants her to come work for him after she gets released. We get more of an impression of her wilting violet impersonation as she sees two kids torment a tortoise as she disembarks. She gets to the paper office the next day to find out the man she's been talking to is out of town on business, but Jess, who runs the paper, keeps her on and puts her to work over the objections of Grace and to a lesser degree, Evy. 

Most of the first half is Maggie finding a place to stay, lying to everyone about her background, and getting serious about Jess, who wants to date her. We do know someone is stalking her, but for the most part, there's very little interaction there. A moved perfume bottle, someone staring at Maggie trying on dresses, a missing pocket book... Enough that you expect this is a gaslighting tale from 1981. Not so. About halfway through, we find out who the stalker is, although it takes a bit longer to find out the motives. (It should be fairly obvious, since there's really like only one other character who could have conceivably put razor sharp glass in the apple pie.) This does mean we spend the first half of the last half waiting for everyone to catch up with the narrative. 

Eventually, everything gets resolved, although the resolution after the climax felt a bit hurried and abrupt. Like there are some major plot threads that got resolved by a sentence in a telephone call, and frankly, the killer's motives wind up making even less sense when a left field reveal happens during the climax.

While this does fall more under thriller than horror, it was a fun distraction. Not great, but amusing.

When ideals collide

 So I recently found out Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman released another new DragonLance novel, and while it's not listed as part of a planned trilogy, it could be. 

War Wizard is focused on Huma (Hero of the 3rd Dragon War) and his adopted brother Devon Aynshire, who about a quarter of the way through changes his name to Magius after an ancestor who worked with the Legendary Vinas Solamnus ti defeat the Ergothian horde. (Yeah, we're actually in fairly early Krynnish history here. Plus somewhere, I missed a dragon war, since I thought Huma won the Second War.) Anyway, we see Magius grow up with his adoptive brother and get trained in magic by the Neutral Goddess of Magic, Lunitari (which appears to be a change. Most published history starts him off in Black robes, moves him to red, turns him renegade, then dying in white.) 

Any rate, Solamnics are bred to fear and distrust  Arcane Magic (they take no issue with divine magic in this era), so Magius is fighting an uphill battle to get traction with the Knights of Solamnia (basically freakin' paladins). 

Quite a bit happens, from supportive adoptive parents fighting for him, his close friendship with Huma, and his betrothal to his adoptive sister. Magius takes his test at the Tower of High Sorcery (named back in AD&D before sorcery became it's own thing) the same time that Huma takes his spurs and becomes a knight. So, Fiancee ends up dying thanks to Huma's at this time arch nemesis (he eventually pissess of the Queen of Darkness), and Magius tries getting the Device of Time Traveling to go back and save her. Thankfully, he changes his mind, because frankly, given how many canonical time edits characters have made in this setting over time would end a game of Chrononauts with the universe exploding. 

We end with Magius creating his famous staff a later wizard uses quite famously.  

Anyway. 

The interplay between Huma and Magius is really similar to that between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, giving them a really queer subtext.  On the other hand, when Greta and Magius are betrothed and sharing a camp bed, nothing happens because they're waiting for marriage. (Guessing that was a Tracy thing, given he discusses his opinions on saving it for marriage in the Annotated Chronicles when it comes up with Goldmoon and Riverwind). 

Will they write another one? Probably, the books sell well and Hasbro near as I can tell hasn't yet squeezed  all the possible profit out of the franchise as of yet. (Forgive me, but they currently own WotC, and keep releasing unrelated to the main storyline Magic the Gathering sets based on Hasbro properties.) But, honestly, I kind of feel like they're now paying Hickman and Weis to go back and retell stories already told by others rather than tell an original story. (The last trilogy had an original story, but kept screwing with a timeline they created in the first place. Should they continue this out, one is left to wander if they plan to redact those changes.) 

SMUT alert

 So, I picked up Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone because somewhere along the line, someone made a show out of it that I kept getting ads for in Facebook Reels. (Based on what's in the reels, the show deviates from the book a few places. I'm also not paying for the app to watch the show.)

We start meeting Mark Trevena and his twin sister at their younger sister's wedding to a military man. We get the impression the siblings are hip deep in shady practices, and then we switch to our narrating character, Tristan Thomas. Tristan is a 30 year old virgin, recently discharged from the Army, following some hinted around at events playing bodyguard for an unpopular foreign leader. Mark hires him to be his bodyguard at Lyonesse, an exclusive high end kinky sex club on the Potomac in DC. We learn Mark is former CIA and the memberships at Lyonesse are paid for with information, more than money. 

We get to go through Tristan's shock at seeing kinky sex on the reg,  and eventually, he admits that he wants to be Mark's submissive, which in turn leads into smut. 

Eventually, during an "open house", Lyonesse gets invaded, Mark gets stabbed. Which means Mark has Tristan go to Ireland to pick up Mark's heretofore unknown female fiance and ride a yacht with her from Ireland to Manhattan. After a few chapters of Tristan whining about not feeling right submitting to Mark when he's engaged, Isolde and Tristan board the boat, and Tristan learns all about kinky hetero sex. 

In the end, they arrive in Manhattan and it's suggested there were cameras on the boat, so Mark is aware of what his sub and his fiancee were doing once they passed the Azores, leaving us a cliffhanger for the next book. 

Based on the information I could find, the trilogy is a modern take on the 13th century Tristan and Isolde, which, after digging through several folklore sites, has several different versions, from chaste forbidden love to King Mark killing Tristan for sleeping with Isolde after accidentally taking a love potion. So, I can't really complain about taking the basic story and making a modern version, even though the medieval versions skipped King Mark tying Knight Tristan to a table and dripping hot wax on his privates. Further investigation shows where the legend got wrapped into Arthurian Legend, which is where Lyonesse comes from, basically an English version of Atlantis. 

I mean, it's readable, and honestly tame compared to some Erotica I've read on occasion.  If you like MMF erotic lit, give it a go. Just understand most men aren't blessed with the refraction time men in erotic seem to have. 

WASSUP!

 I needed a severe break from Dune, so I dug out The Wrong Number, a Fear Street novel by R.L. Stine. (I swear, between him and Christopher Pike, they kept my childhood LIT!)

 Urgh, so anyway, we have Jade and Deena, making deep, breathy phone calls to boys at their high school, as kind of a prank. Problem being Deena's half brother Chuck arrives from California, where he's been kicked out of his high school for reasons unknown. He finds Deena and JAde making phone whoopie, and joins in the game. Problem is, his call goes to a house of Fear Street *DUNdunDUN*, where the woman who answers is screaming for help. The three teens drive out, break in the back door, and find a dead woman with a phone in her hand, and get attacked by a guy with a mask on. 

Anyway, the husband accuses  Chuck of killing his wife, everyone winds up in trouble, Chuck goes to jail, and Deena and Jade, being utter dumbasses that they are, decide to clear Chuck's name. Given this is YA fiction, they succeed, only after putting themselves in moderate danger. 

OK, this was quite a bit more fun tan some of the other reprints I have on hand. While it's not undying prose by any means, I remained amused throughout the narrative, which is all I really wanted.  

Kicking the Wasp's Nest

 So I forget how I wound up preordering Butterfly Effects, the newest installment in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, but I did, and I wound up mostly devouring it during my free time. 

So, basically we're centered around Sarah the Cuckoo Queen, and Antimony, the fire sorcerer dating a monkey hybrid. We start with Sarah getting kidnapped (arrested) by the Jhorlac, the species of sentient wasp that her race, the Cuckoos split from. Seems the Instar Sarah went through a ways back violates their laws, and she's in deep doo doo. They kidnap Arthur, the half incubus Sarah mindwiped a while back as evidence. 

This sends Antimony, Sam, and Grandma Alice, and Grandpa Thomas dimension hopping to free her.

 Let's just say it takes two trips, gets into Matrix Reloaded territory, and winds up with a whole new love triangle that promises to be really ugly in future volumes. 

Fun read. I enjoy that the characters in this series are a lot more flexible than some of the others.  

Ah alchemy

 OK, so I somehow missed Seanan McGuire's next October Daye book dropped a while back (indeed a newer one is coming soon), but hey, Silver and Lead showed up at the end of my Incarnations of Immortality reread, so yay!

OK, so we're joining Toby and 8.5 months pregnant and confined to quarters while she's getting ready to give birth. Well, at least until the Queen manages to rouse Toby into action to investigate who the hell stole all the kingdom's treasures during Titania's illusion. 

Which, as seems to happen in these books, has Toby running around investigating, getting kidnapped, getting put in mortal danger, and even getting a Caesarian in the middle of a boss fight. (And at 8.5 months pregnant, I started hearing every character talking like they were from Fargo. 

By the end, everything is back to semi normal, and we spend the novella after witnessing Dianda give birth Undersea. 

While these pretty much have a formula of sorts the longer this goes on, it remains engaging and fun reading. 

Sometimes, they come back again

 I was kind of shocked to find out David R. Slayton's Redneck Revenant existed, since I though book 3 was a series ender. But no, Book 4 came out, the library didn't have a copy, so I managed to get an InterLibrary Loan to get a copy, mainly because I don't own any of the first 3 books, and I try to avoid buying hardcovers if I don't own any of the other books. 

Anyway, Adam (the Redneck Warlock) and his boyfriend Vic (the Latino Reaper) are still dating, but not quite moving forward. Adam's brother, Bobby, whom Adam is still living with, get a shock when his dead wife shows up on the doorstep, alive and fully healed. Yes, Annie, who died while possessed by something older than Death, is alive and well with no memory of of pretty much anything that happened in the last few days she was alive. 

What follows is finding out why her Mom and Dad brought her back to life, who the mysterious spirit wearing a wolf mask is, and sorting out Elven Court drama. 

Which is all exquisitely readable and absorbing, even as we get hit with themes of forgiveness and acceptance, none of which is easy for the traumatized. 

I'm happy to see that this series is continuing, I just wish I had known sooner.  

The Eyes of Mediocrity

I may have mentioned a time or two ago that I devoured Dean R. Koontz in the late 80's early 90's, along with just about every other fiction reader in the era. What I found out later was that he also wrote several novels under pen names, although as time went on, he republished many of them under the Koontz name. (Mind you, there's a whole bunch with a nkui inc copywrite, so I've never been entirely convinced just one person wrote all the novels.)

 Any rate, I mention this because I discovered one of the pen named books in the stuff I recovered from mom's attic, and decided to see how it holds up. 

 As you can see, this is also one of those fun design covers, with a picture hidden behind the cutout on the cover. 

Problem being, the Copywrite is 1981, and even if I didn't know Dean R. Koontz was the author, I would have known after a few chapters. 

Scrappy female heroine? Good guy who knows military protocol? Evil secret government organization doing something bad? Why yes, all the hallmarks of Koontz at his most technophobic and trying to defend government conspiracy are in here.

We open on Tina, who is producing a Vegas show centered on Magic that opens December 30th. Her son died not quite a year ago, but she keeps finding messages in his bedroom about not being dead, and dreams of a horror comic character from her son's EC style comics. Elliot Stryker, a former intelligence officer, takes her on a date on New Year's Eve. She asks him to help get her son's body exhumed, which is how we learn Danny died somewhere in the mountains around Reno with his Scout troop. However, the exhumation request sets off a bunch of warning bells at a secret agency that starts a chase from Vegas to Reno, then to the mountains, as we find out whatever nonsense is going on involves a totally unrelated development wherein Danny now has a host of psychic powers. 

Seriously. it echoes so many of his early 80's plot lines, I couldn't get excited in the action.  Particularly when they find Danny and a convenient good guy scientist lays out the entire foundation of what happened, after dealing with psychic Danny Deus ex Machina-ing Elliot and Tina into the facility. 

 It's silly, but in its time period it was wonderful. in 2025, not so much.  

An arm and a leg

 As we wind down spooky season, I finished John Russo's Limb to Limb from 1981 this morning. 

Again, the 80's provide awesome covers.

Problem being, the plot as was outlined on the back had next to nothing to do with what actually happened in the book. The back cover makes it sound like a ballerina loses her leg, and suddenly some madman starts cutting off legs of other ballerinas. No, not what's happening. 

See, Tiffany Blake is the star of a Pittsburgh ballet company, who's been recruited to dance in New York City. Her dad, who is rich and owns a hot dog company, doesn't want her to go. They get in a fight, she gets run over by a train, losing a leg. A doctor manages to reattach the leg, but it's several inches shorter, and Tiffany will never dance again. 

Enter the two nice Jewish doctor brothers, freshly released from prison for running a third trimester abortion clinic, who's father was forced to work with a Nazi doctor in the camps on overcoming organ rejection. They're willing to give Tiffany a new leg, they just need one. Which leads to the kidnapping of Tiffany's two major competitors for Prima Ballerina, in hopes of grafting on of theirs on Tiffany. 

In the meantime, the two kidnapped girls have boyfriends who were filming a documentary about Tiffany. One gets involved in the kidnapping plot, the other doesn't. He indeed is the one who gets the third reel horror reveal of what's been going on. 

Honestly, while I enjoyed this, it again had nothing to do with what was promised. 

Also, John Russo wrote Night of the Living Dead, and wrote and produced alongside Romero quite frequently. Given two of our protagonists work in the film industry, we get more than a few self inserts at various points in time.  

My biggest issue in here is that we keep switching focus on characters with no real warning, and the transitions can be like grinding a gear trying to shift. But once you get used to it, it's a good read.  

He seems a little stiff

 Spooky October reading continues, as we hit 1981's PIN, written by Andrew Neiderman. It bears mentioning here that Mr. Neiderman may be better known by his pen name, V. C. Andrews. (So, technically, he ghost writes all of her stuff, or did, since she died in 1988. There's no real authoritative list of when he actually took over.) And frankly, reading this, you can tell. 

 The 80's trick of the hidden picture behind the cover.

 

 We open on older brother Leon and younger sister Ursula, and PIN, an anatomical teaching doll who The Doctor (their father) used to use ventriloquism to make talk to the kids, patients, etc. Well, somewhere along the line, Leon kept talking to PIN (short for Pinocchio) long after the Doctor stopped making him talk. This makes reading the story interesting, since Leon narrates all but the epilogue, and therefore PIN is treated as a living breathing character. 

When Leon is 18 and Ursula is 16, The Doctor and Mother die in a car crash. There's a bit of drama about whether or not they should live with relatives, and who should handle the sizable estate (it's suggested the one uncle would likely take the money from the kids, although Leon is not exactly a reliable narrator). Leon ends up taking control of the estate, and keeps Ursula at home with him, eventually moving PIN in with them in a separate downstairs bedroom. 

This is the basic set up. We get some rather....disturbing details of their adolescence, like Ursula's lesbian experience that Leon joins in with, Ursula's abortion at 14, Leon's few sexual encounters, but the plot really gets going when Ursula meets Stanley at her job at the library. Stanley is in town with his dying mother, he has a wooden leg after losing the original in Vietnam. He does his best to treat PIN like an actual human, although Leon hears him telling Ursula that she'd be better off moving out, since something's off with Leon. (DUH.)

We get more goddamn creepy not quite incest, as when Stanley's mother dies, Leon gets Ursula to sleep with PIN, and strongly implies she did this quite often after they brought him home following the parental deaths. Anyway, Stanley does propose to Ursula, leading Leon and PIN to plot how to murder Stanley to keep Ursula at home. 

The book is unsettling, not particularly scary. (Kind of how I feel about The Exorcist, really.) I realize in 1981, we would have thought Leon was schizophrenic, even if we really meant he had Multiple Personality Disorder, now Dissociative Identity Disorder, but I'm under the impression that usually involves internal monologues, not a separate personality projected onto an admittedly creep inanimate object. 

If you like VC Andrews and also like a bit more psycho spice, this book will be among your favorites. Past that, depending on your tastes in creepy young adults, you'll probably be entertained.