June Wrap Up

Hi Ghosties!

I’m back to posting blogs, making it two months in a row. How impressive!

Big news: my book is officially on the shelves at Reread Used Books! You can find it at both Ottawa locations—Riverside South and Stittsville—or order online if you’d like to support a small bookstore and an indie author in one spooky little swoop. Also, your girl is a huge fan of supporting used bookstores because it ensures books stay out of dumpsters and allows them to reach more people.

Current Work in Progresses

Of Blood and Bone

A collection of horrifying short stories sure to give you goosebumps and the “ick”.

This month's update: I finished story number four and began on story number five.

To wet your whistle, here are the titles of the currently finished stories:

-       The Diner;

-       Blood Oath;

-       Pet;

-       The Lure.

Untitled - The Elysium Duet, Book 2

No big update, but I am working on the outline whilst reviewing what I’ve written. If I’m honest, the short fiction has been my focus for now.

What I’m Reading

Five-Star Reads of June

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

“People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded town. And that rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior hockey team is about to compete in the national championships, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of the town now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. A victory would send star player Kevin onto a brilliant professional future in the NHL. It would mean everything to Amat, a scrawny fifteen-year-old treated like an outcast everywhere but on the ice. And it would justify the choice that Peter, the team’s general manager, and his wife, Kira, made to return to his hometown and raise their children in this beautiful but isolated place. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semifinal match is the catalyst for a violent act that leaves a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Hers is a story no one wants to believe since the truth would mean the end of the dream. Accusations are made, and like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.”

Before I start, look up the trigger warnings for the book. Please, it deals with some heavy topics.

This book…this freaking book…it made me angry, sad, frustrated. I screamed, laughed, and cried. Backman explores hockey and small-town culture, masculinity, being an outcast, being seen as other, and most importantly, what happens to victims of rape and sexual assault. The system re-victimizes these victims. People often disbelieve them because they can’t imagine a star athlete committing such a heinous act, so they conclude the victims must merely regret having sex with him.  

The way this book is a woven tapestry of intricate characters, complex connections, and small decisions affecting others. Oh!!!! If it isn’t clear, I picked up book two, Us Against You.  

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

“The apocalypse will be televised! A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible. In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground. The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe. Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over. In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style. You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big. You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that “it” factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy. They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game.”

You’ve probably seen this book online; it’s worth the hype. Now I gave it five stars not because it is a perfect piece of literature, but because I play a lot of TTRPGs and RPGs, and it hit home. It’s funny and heartbreaking in some moments, but it explores humanity in a world where humanity is at risk. If you want an easy read, I recommend it, although I’ve been told it gets darker as the series progresses.

Well, ghosties, that’s all from me. Here’s to me updating you for a third month in a row.  

Lots of love!

Amalia