Wasteland

Wasteland
by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan
New York: HarperTeen
2013
328 pages



Wasteland is the first book of a trilogy, with two more books to come out. This is a post-apocalyptic disaster story for teens, another type of horror that attracts and repels me. The horror of living in a world that is so unlike what we know is possibly more real and scary to people than the typical horror story with ghosts and ghouls. We hear stories about horrific wars and violence in the news every day, and The End of Everything We Know is something that many people worry about. I do sometimes. We all want to know if we would be able to survive a disaster.

This story is told from the viewpoint of Esther, a 15-year-old girl who lives in the rubble of a city called Prin. In her world there are only young people, since 19 seems to be the average lifespan before kids get the disease that kills them. They do not know what it is, and there are no doctors, so there is no cure. Once someone comes down with the first symptoms, they are "shunned" and sent out into the desert wasteland alone to die. Children must grow up very quickly in this society, and partnering (the term in the book) is usually done before Esther's age of 15.

The town is governed (or rather, terrorized) by a young man named Levi who has holed himself up in a large warehouse called "The Source" on the outskirts of the main town. Levi is making Prin as much of a wasteland as any natural disaster had. He selfishly controls and guards all of the food, water, and supplies that were found in the warehouse, and Levi is the one who trades these items for work performed, or there are punishments incurred. The citizens must work beginning at age 5 and there are three main job assignments:

1. Excavation: teams are told to dig holes around the area. They do not know why or for what purpose.
2. Gleaning: exploring the area for anything useful, including medical supplies, bedding, fuel, etc. and taking it to the Source to be tallied up and traded for more food and water in the town's allotment.
3. Harvesting: exploring the area to recover gasoline, the most valuable resource in Prin, from vehicles to trade to Levi for more food and water.

Needless to say, there are many dangers in this world, besides the lack of food and water. There is the intense heat of the day that continues into night. There are mutants called "variants" who are humans who have changed so much in appearance and gender identity that they really don't seem human any longer. The variants are hostile to the citizens of Prin, although the reason for that doesn't become apparent until later in the story..  But probably the biggest threat is Levi, who is not a great benefactor but a devious and possibly insane opportunist.

Esther is a rather rebellious girl who does not like to participate in the mandatory job assignments. She is constantly being reprimanded by her older sister, Sarah, but to no avail. Esther has a variant friend, as well as a friend named Jacob who lives outside of the town with his cats. She also meets Caleb, a newcomer to town who is looking for his lost son who was stolen from him. She is a free thinker who does not want things to remain the way they are and have been for a long time.

This is basically a story about good versus evil and how people, if they work together, can defeat evil to help each other. It is a story of survival. We are not told what has happened to the world, which is perhaps one of the flaws of the story, but we assume it is a nuclear war and that the sickness and mutations must be caused by radiation poisoning. I do not have the feeling that the disaster was recent, either, so the present generation of the story have evolved and changed and adapted somewhat. But I also suspect it couldn't have happened too long ago, since there are still valuables to find in the surrounding area. We also don't learn about any other communities of "normal" people. Is the entire country like this, a barren wasteland run by children?

There have been other stories about kids surviving on their own and what we imagine it would be like. Lord of the Flies comes immediately to mind, and there is no happy ending to that tale. Wasteland, however, does have a happy ending: Esther resolves her issues and gains acceptance by her community, Levi is destroyed, and the town finds something they need desperately to survive which gives them hope for the future.

Although I have read better dystopian books, this one has some interesting plot lines. It has a strong female character, a romance, and satisfying resolution to a main problem. Teens who are interested in dystopian fiction will probably want to try this series, but due to the more graphic sexual discussions in the book, I would recommend to older teens, perhaps 15 and older.

Wait for What Will Come

Wait for What Will Come

by Barbara Michaels

first published in 1978

about 280 pages, depending on edition

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, one of my favorite authors, Barbara Michaels aka Elizabeth Peters, died this month. The books she wrote under her pseudonym Barbara Michaels are gothic thrillers, usually with a supernatural connection. I want to read many of these over again, some I haven't read since high school. The first I read was Wait for What Will Come because I had it on my nook already.

Carla Tregellas is the last of an old Cornish family. She is tracked down by a lawyer and learns that she has inherited the old family mansion in Cornwall. There is no money with the legacy to take care of the place, and it's in bad shape, but Carla decides to go and spend her summer vacation there learning about her heritage before it has to be sold. It will be an exciting opportunity that this math teacher may never have again!

I imagine the Tregellas mansion on a Cornish cliffside similar to this.

Upon her arrival, the elderly housekeeper shrieks and practically faints. "It is Lady Caroline back from the dead!" Who is Lady Caroline, you might ask? We learn that Lady Caroline Tregellas disappeared 200 years ago and was said to have been kidnapped by a selkie on Midsummer's Night and taken to his watery kingdom, never seen or heard from again. And now it is going to happen again and Carla will be taken away by the selkie, or at least that is what Mrs. Pendennis the housekeeper believes!

I think some of you might not know about the selkies. Mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish folklore, selchies (silkies, selchies) live as seals in the sea but shed their skins on land to become human. In the stories, male selkies kidnap human women to be their wives and take them to sea. This is the legend explored in this book. For more on the selkies, this Wikipedia article will be helpful.

Carla has a lot to put up with in this story. We have Mrs. Pendennis, the elderly housekeeper who can hardly bear to look at Carla because of the curse and Lady Caroline. Then we have Mike, Mrs. Pendennis' grandson who is living in the house and taking care of the garden. Carla thinks he is surly, but she is also attracted to him. Mike used to be a fairly well-known dancer, so why he is here mucking about? He tells Carla that he would like to buy the house with his mysterious friend, Tim, but he hopes she will take payments.

Other love interests are Allan, the suave lawyer who has been entrusted to advise Carla on estate matters. Also Simon, a folklore-loving local doctor who is only too happy to tell Carla all about the selkie story. Then we also have John, the local vicar, who is keen on solving the mystery of Lady Caroline in time to save Carla from a similar fate.

This book has all of the elements of a good gothic thriller: the spooky house of doom, the archetypal hero (although at first we don't quite know which of the four young men is the hero), and the portent of evil. Despite the rather corny possibilities this could lead to, Carla is a very level-headed young lady who is not easily frightened. Although I somewhat doubt that any young woman could receive so many marriage proposals within such a short time, having only met all three men within a couple of months of their declarations, it works in the story, especially when you find out which one(s) are not sincere.

The ending of this story, which I am not going to give away, leaves us wondering if there might not be some truth to the selkie story after all. I heartily approve of Barbara Michaels' leaving us with this possibility. Some things are just better left unexplained. 

Rebecca

"Last night I dreamt I was at Manderley again...."

Rebecca
by Daphne Du Maurier
first published in 1938

Rebecca
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier George Sanders, and Judith Anderson
1940

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is the only book I had to read again directly after finishing it for the first time because the "book withdrawal" was too painful. I could not stand the idea that I was finished with the story, that I was unable to spend more time with the characters of Maxim and the unnamed Mrs. de Winter and find out what happens next with them. I knew what happened to them, since that is explained somewhat in the beginning of the story, but I was having a hard time getting my brain from the dramatic burning of Manderley to the de Winters' life in exile. I guess Maxim and Mrs. de Winter must have had the same problem, since they couldn't bear the thought of even going back to England to live somewhere else. You would think, though, that Mrs. de Winter would be rather happy that the house haunted by the past was destroyed and they could finally be free from Rebecca.

And Manderley is definitely haunted. Everywhere we look there are signs of the title character, Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. We don't have to meet her or see her ghost, she is there everywhere for us to run into unexpectedly. Her name is on the stationery in the morning room, her monogram is on the table linen, her name is invoked by the servants, and even the dog misses her. Who could match up to somebody who was so talented, beautiful, involved, and organized? Certainly not the new Mrs. de Winter, who is a little mouse of a girl, much younger than her new husband and totally unused to life in a large house as a society wife.

This is a story about bad marriages. We eventually come to find out just how bad the marriage is between Max and Rebecca, despite appearances, but what about the marriage of Maxim and his new much younger wife? It doesn't have the best of beginnings, with a casual proposal and a joke about white frocks and conservatories. Our narrator thinks so little of herself that she doesn't expect a more affectionate proposal; this one was a complete surprise, and I think it means much more to our narrator than to Maxim. I also think Maxim's disregard of his new wife's feelings and experience shows that he has not embarked on a better, more equal marriage. She hesitatingly tries to tell him about her fears and inadequacies, but he pushes them aside without really listening. Mrs. de Winter asks him several times throughout the story if they are really happy together, that their marriage is a success. I think if she has to ask, it probably isn't.

But our biggest sign that this new marriage is not a "marriage of true minds" is that Maxim never once tells his new wife about his real feelings for Rebecca. Mrs. de Winter would not ask him herself, she is too insecure and has had heard from Mrs. Van Hopper about how devoted Max was to Rebecca. He didn't have to confess to her death, but he could have and should have told his new wife that their relationship was not paradise on earth. I know he wants to forget Rebecca and the disaster of their marriage and her death, but how could he not prepare his new wife for what she would face at Manderley? What total insensitivity! And it would have saved a lot of trouble later. But then what would happen to the story? Where would it be without that conflict and uncertainty?! Okay, I admit it, without Maxim being an insensitive man, the story wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Recently I showed the Alfred Hitchcock version of Rebecca (1940) during my public library Classic Movie series. This movie won an Academy Award as Best Picture (Hitchock's only Best Picture win), and rocketed Daphne du Maurier's book to its place as one of the best gothic horror stories of all time. How does it compare to the book? Well, for me it has good points and bad points.

Laurence Olivier and
Joan Fontaine

The main stars of this movie are Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, with Judith Anderson and George Sanders. I think Laurence Olivier is superb as the suave, sophisticated, wealthy, broody Max de Winter. Joan Fontaine, however, does not match my mental image of the new Mrs. de Winter. First of all, she is much too pretty, I think. The age difference between these two actors is or seems minimal, whereas the book characters are definitely about twenty years apart. Also, Joan Fontaine does not come across as a gauche girl/woman who doesn't know much about the herself, let alone society.

The true star of the book and the movie is Mrs. Danvers, played in the movie by Judith Anderson. Mrs. Danvers is the epitome of the creepy housekeeper. She may be good at her job and seems to run Manderley quite well, but she is the main reason that Rebecca is allowed to haunt the house. She enshrines Rebecca in the West Wing, keeping everything just as it was on Rebecca's last night. She constantly refers to Rebecca and the way she wanted things done. Strong people like Maxim might think that Mrs. Danvers' obsession with Rebecca is normal since she was with her from the time Rebecca was a girl. As long as the house runs smoothly! But how could a new wife unaccustomed to running a household or servants deal with this obsession? Obviously, Mrs. de Winter can't. She is absolutely terrorized by Mrs. Danvers, not only by her inexperience, but Mrs. Danvers' subtle campaign against her.

What could Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) be whispering
 to Mrs. De Winter (Joan Fontaine)

I think that Rebecca's true character is subdued in the Alfred Hitchcock movie--in the book, she is much worse. She is like the rose in William Blake's poem:

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

But the worm inside her not only destroyed her life, it very nearly destroyed everyone around her.

If you enjoy stories about the complexities of relationships, as well as how people can affect each other even after death, you will find this story intriguing. Add to that the scary big house, the crazy housekeeper, the mystery of Rebecca's death, and the haunting and you have all the makings of a very satisfying ghost story.

Julie Harris and The Haunting of Hill House

One of my favorite movie scenes.
Claire Bloom and Julie Harris

The actress Julie Harris died yesterday at age 87.

I will always remember her best for her performance as Eleanor Vance, in one of my favorite stories, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The book was written in 1959 and has become the most famous haunted house story of the 20th Century. No blog about scary books would be complete without discussing it!

The first movie adaption of this book came out in 1963. Julie Harris played the main character, Eleanor Vance, who comes to Hill House for a vacation. Yes, that's correct. A vacation, a holiday from home. You might be thinking, Is this lady nuts?! Well, actually, maybe.

Eleanor is told in her letter from Dr. Markway about the house and the experiment, but I don't think Eleanor gets it at first. She just sees this as a chance to get away--away from her past life of caring for her mother who is now dead, away from her unreasonable sister who has filled in their mother's shoes as another person who imprisons Eleanor in a life of drudgery. Eleanor is so reclusive and shy that I have often wondered how she dared break free, even with the promise of somewhere to go. The movie doesn't include the book's description of Eleanor's visit to the small coffeehouse in the depressing town near Hill House. I think this experience shows that Eleanor is more determined to get away than we might expect because I would probably have wanted to run back home myself after being stared at by those odd villagers.

At Hill House, Eleanor meets some interesting personalities. Dr. John Markway, the scientific parapsychologist, seems friendly and organized, if not a little naive about what a truly haunted house will do to sensitive people like Eleanor. Theo seems to be everything that Eleanor would like to be: sophisticated, independent, beautiful, talented, self-assured. Luke Sanderson is the heir to Hill House and is quite mercenary about the whole visit. And who can forget the Dudleys, especially the efficient and charming Mrs. Dudley:

Rosalie Crutchley as the creepy Mrs. Dudley

"I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at 6. I clear up in the morning. I have breakfast for you at 9. I don't wait on people. I don't stay after I set out the dinner, not after it begins to get dark. I leave before the dark....We live over in town, miles away.... So there won't be anyone around if you need help....We couldn't hear you. In the night.... No one could.... No one lives any nearer than town. No one will come any nearer than that.... In the night. In the dark."

Well, we have only arrived and we're not scared yet, right?

Quite soon we get into the haunting and everything you could want in a good haunting happens: spooky noises, walls that move, disembodied voices, phantom animals, mysterious writing on the wall, magically appearing blood stains, noxious smells. Add to that the extremely creepy past history lesson that Dr. Markway gives to his new students and it is no wonder this story scares most people. We do have some lighter moments, with Mrs. Dudley's rather comical insistence on adhering to a schedule, Eleanor and Theo painting their toe nails, dancing in the conservatory, and delicious meals in the dining room. But these moments only help prevent us from dying from fright.

Julie Harris as Eleanor Vance

I think Julie Harris does a good job of playing Eleanor as a rather mixed-up psychological mess. We are not really certain how much of what is going on is in her mind or not. Obviously it is not ALL in her mind, since we know in the movie and the book that the others see and hear things that are disturbing and frightening. Eleanor, the young woman who felt that she doesn't belong anywhere, begins to feel at home in Hill House not long after her initial repulsion of the invitation on the wall of "Help Eleanor come home". Something snaps inside her when she sees her own name on the wall of Hill House, and she (and we) begin to wonder, what does this mean? I certainly never thought Eleanor would willingly go back to her sister's home, the only home she had, once she had found the strength to leave at last. But where would she go after her time at Hill House? Maybe Hill House itself has found the answer.

There is another movie adaptation based on this book. The Haunting with Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson came out in 1999. Despite the excellent cast, I feel that the screenwriters were too free with their adaptation, including too many story changes. I hate cheap tricks in scary movies, and this one is full of them. Shirley Jackson and her phenomenal book deserved better.

I first read this story in high school and was suitably scared silly. I think I read this story and see the Julie Harris version of the movie at least once a year. I have inflicted it on others--family, friends, and library patrons. It is often quoted, especially the reference to "whatever walked there, walked alone." It is a high bar to clear when evaluating or writing other haunted house stories. Nobody who likes horror stories should miss this book, and nobody who likes horror movies should miss Julie Harris's movie performance.

The Man in the Picture

The Man in the Picture
by Susan Hill
Woodstock, N.Y.: The Overlook Press
2007
145 pages



Another book I read this summer was The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill. I had read Susan Hill's most famous book, The Woman in Black, and really enjoyed it as a deliciously satisfying ghost story. I was attracted to check out The Man in the Picture story because of the painting aspect. My son is an art major and we visit a lot of art museums. The concept of haunted paintings is also one I have seen before in other books.  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a story about a decadent man who stays young but his picture deteriorates into a horrifying monster. Stephen King includes haunted paintings in two of his stories: "The Road Virus Heads North" in the Everything's Eventual collection in which the writer buys a painting of a car, but the background keeps changing; and Rose Madder, the story of a woman who finds a painting at a pawn shop that changes her life. And a painting in The Witches by Roald Dahl eats a little girl named Erica.

The painting in this book eats people, too.

Told as a frame, or box, story, our first narrator is a man, Oliver, who is visiting his old tutor at Cambridge, Theo Parmitter. It is a cold, winter evening, and the two have just enjoyed a good dinner, when Theo asks his friend if he would like to hear a strange, disturbing, yet true tale. Being comfortable and enjoying his friend's company, Oliver is eager to hear whatever Theo has to tell him. Oliver is directed to examine a painting, hanging in a dark corner. It depicts a night scene during Venice's carnival near the Grand Canal, crowded with entertainers and masked revellers in brightly colored costumes. It is a dark oil painting, rather "artificial" in subject matter, in Oliver's opinion, yet accomplished by an expert hand.

Francois Flameng (1856-1923): The Carnival, Venice

At this time, Theo begins the first installment of his story. He tells Oliver about his love of art, nurtured by his aunt, and his discovery of the Carnival painting at an auction. A mysterious buyer approached him after the auction, offering to pay more than Theo had for the painting, but Theo was enraptured with the painting and would not sell it. He took it home to his rooms at Cambridge and began to study it more closely. One day he noticed a man's figure in the foreground that he didn't remember from his previous examinations. The man was not wearing festival clothing, but ordinary clothing of the day, and he seemed to be looking out into the room with an expression of astonishment or fear, as two masked revellers held his wrists and seemed to be dragging him away. Did Theo just not notice this figure before? Or did it suddenly appear, and how?

I'm not going to give away any more of the plot. We learn more about the paintings history. Strange things happen to Theo and Oliver, and eventually there is a frightening ending, all of which are satisfying to the ghost story fan.

This story reminded me of older ghost stories I have read, such as those of Le Fanu, Nesbit, and Henry James. The writing style is satisfyingly descriptive and balanced nicely with the dialogue. Tension is built slowly and with skill. Spooky things happen but they are planned carefully by the author rather than coming too frequently, which I think tends to desensitize us too much to the frightening elements. The frame story works well here, too; we get the background from Theo Parmitter who needs to find relief in telling his story, and the entirety of the horror of the painting stuns us with Oliver's further experiences.

Pietro Longhi, The Ridotto in Venice, c1750s

I have found two paintings of the Venetian Carnival that remind me of this story. The top painting, by Francois Flameng, a Frenchman painting in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, depicts a similar scene to that of the mysterious painting of this book. It is an outdoor scene, on the quayside, with revellers, musicians, and gondoliers dancing and cavorting. This scene differs, however, in that it is a pleasant day, with fluffy clouds and blue sky visible above, rather than night. I get a feeling of joy and festivity and fun from this painting.

The second painting, by Venetian painter Pietro Longhi, suits the mood of the book much better. Longhi included masked figures in many of his paintings, and this painting has a darkness, mystery, and secrecy that is lacking in the Flameng painting, I think. The characters in this scene, rather than enjoying light-hearted and good-natured fun, seem to be relishing the anonymity the masks give them, freeing them to commit acts they would not dare to do without the masks.

The Man in the Picture is a quick read. The best time to hear this "strange, disturbing, yet true" tale is on a dark evening in front of the fire. You just might want to turn the paintings in the room to the wall first!

Joyland

Joyland

by Stephen King

New York: Simon & Schuster Audio

2013

7 sound discs (ca. 7.5 hours)

This summer I listened to the audio version of Stephen King's latest book, Joyland. When I first heard about it, I was excited--Hurray, a new Stephen King book! Hurray, a spooky book set in an amusement park! Hurray, more creepy clowns!

Well, although I really liked the story, I was disappointed about the horror factor. No creepy clowns in this one. There is a ghost, though, which for this afficionado of everything ghostly is better than creepy clowns. The only drawback is that the ghost doesn't get to do all that much in this story!

We learn about the ghost early on in the narration from Devin Jones, a college student who has a summer job at the North Carolina amusement park. The ghost has been seen--where else?--in the Horror House ride! Sounds promising, doesn't it? BUT it is not until a couple of hours into the book (page 117 in my print copy) that the main characters go into the haunted ride to look for the ghost. Are they supposed to be real college students?!!! I know that if I were a student working at a haunted amusement park, the first place I would head would be the haunted ride to check out the ghost! 

I think the ghost, a murder victim named Linda Gray who was killed in the Horror House, should have done more haunting in this book. She appears to some people but that is about all that happens. Nothing bad happens if you see her, there isn't a curse put on you, you don't go mad, nothing like that at all. She just stands there in the shadows of the horror ride. Devin's friend, Tom, sees the ghost on their first (and only) trip into the Horror House, and seems affected by the vision, but only in a melancholy sort of way. It doesn't spur him on to find out more about the girl and her murder, as it does Erin and Devin. It's more like he had a shock that is hard to get over. But why? Seeing a dead girl who just stands there doesn't sound that scary to me! Now if she chased them, or was dripping blood all over, or screaming like a banshee, I could understand his shock better.

Also, we don't hear very much about other park attendees seeing the ghost. Why not? All summer long, we are in that park, and there is no mention of other people, besides Tom, seeing the ghost. What about other people going on the ride? Surely they know the story of the dead girl and are looking for her. Even though this is 1973 and there is no internet to pass on the story, I would be surprised if people didn't know the ride was supposed to be haunted. This would bring a lot of people to the park just to see the ghost!

With the character of the little boy, Mike, we have echoes of Danny Torrence from The Shining. Mike is also psychic, not in the degree that Danny is, but it saves Devin in the end when he is in mortal danger. The story of Mike and his mother, Annie, is interesting and poignant, and the two play a major role in the climax. But Mike does not see the ghost on his only visit to Joyland, either.

The book is a good detective story, with Devin and his fellow Joyland co-worker, Erin Cook, playing detective to find out who killed Linda Gray. We find out and the ending is exciting, but not horrifying in a paranormal way. The paranormal element is just peripheral. It is still a good story, but not what I expected from the cover or the hype. Still, it was definitely worth reading. A warning for parents of teen readers: there is a sexual scene in this book which might not be appropriate for teens under 15.

I found out there were two real Joyland Amusement park, one in Wichita, Kansas, and one in Lubbock, Texas. The Texas park is still in operation and here is a link to the Texas website:

Joyland Amusement Park

The Wichita, Kansas park is now abandoned. It was in operation from 1949 to 2004. You can explore the park in this video on YouTube. I think this would have made a good back drop for a horror book. Come in if you dare!

172 Hours on the Moon--Another Lottery Story

Here is a book I reviewed awhile ago for a local magazine. I have been thinking about it lately and plan to reread it soon.

172 Hours on the Moon
By Johan Harstad
New York: Little Brown & Co.
First US Edition 2012
351 pages



172 Hours on the Moon by Norwegian author Johan Harstad is an intense science fiction/horror book. We begin this story by learning that before the end of the last manned space flight to the moon in 1972, a lunar base named Darlah 2 was built for future space exploration and the possible excavation of the moon's mineral resources. The base was abandoned and never used, without explanation, and all knowledge of it was locked away in secret files. Now, years later, scientists at NASA have found out about the unused moon base and want to use it to house scientists and excavators of tantalum seventy-three, a material needed for most modern technology and found on the moon in large supply. Their biggest problem: how to get funding for lunar exploration in a time of insufficient budgets and low public interest. They decide to hold a worldwide lottery to select three fortunate teenagers to accompany them on the mission. Interest, both among the public and large investors, will surely follow.

The main portion of this story is about the three lottery winners, especially Norwegian Mia Nomeland. The author is very good at describing their lives before and after the lottery and their fears about going to the moon. This is not a typical science fiction story, however. When the teens and scientists reach the moon, we are rocketed into a situation that starts out bad and soon reaches horrifying. Why was the moon base built but immediately abandoned? We are about to find out.

For those who like horror, this book will be difficult to put down. Johan Harstad builds tension slowly, but as soon as the astronauts arrive on the moon, the situation quickly deteriorates into absolute terror for the teens. The reader will not really understand the meaning of what is wrong with Lunar Base Darlah 2 until nearly the very end of this well-crafted story.

Recommended for readers 13 and up. This book is on the 2013 YALSA Teens' Top Ten Nomination List--I think it is a winner!

Youtube has some video press conferences with the teenagers who won the lottery, as well as last transmissions from the moon. Here is a link to the main page of clips:
172 Hours on the Moon Clips.

I am including here the last transmission of Midori Yoshida from Yokohama, Japan. Everything is NOT going well.

R.I.P. Barbara Michaels / Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite authors died last week. Barbara Mertz, otherwise known as Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters, died at the age of 85. She wrote some of the best Gothic horror stories of the 20th Century, which I discovered as a teen. Now I am motivated to reread as many of them as I can. The first on my list is Wait for What Will Come, which I already have on my nook. I will give you a synopsis and review about this later, when I finish reading it again.

Besides Gothic horror stories, Barbara/Elizabeth wrote the admirable mysteries about Amelia Peabody Emerson. I learned nearly all I know about Egyptology from Amelia, and her sense of humor always left me in stitches! I also loved the other series about Jacqueline Kirby, librarian par excellence, and Dr. Vickie Bliss, beautiful and super-smart art historian/detective. Barbara/Elizabeth certainly had a way of making her characters memorable and well-developed, lol.

Interconnected and inseparable with my reading of Barbara Michaels'/Elizabeth Peters' stories, is listening to the audiobook versions, read by one of the best narrators out there, Barbara Rosenblat. She definitely has a knack of making exciting stories even more exciting! I often forget that it is one reader I am hearing, since her voice changes are so quick, consistent, and completely different. I just love it when she does her Schmitt voice in the Vickie Bliss stories, or her Amelia P. Emerson voice! Barbara adds dimension to the characters through her reading.

Here is the website to learn more about Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters and her books. I know I will be tracking down the older iInes through interlibrary loan and amazon. I am also including a link to Barbara Rosenblat's homepage with info on her audio books (you will want to hear them all, just so you can listen to Barbara's voice changes).

Official Website of Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Rosenblat Homepage

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson

Last night I reread "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, a short story that I had read many years ago. Shirley Jackson, in my opinion, is the Queen of Modern Horror. Her book, The Haunting of Hill House, is one of my favorite ghost stories. She manages to make somewhat ordinary incidents turn into situations fraught with terror.

"The Lottery" is no exception. Most people today think of lotteries as happy occasions when some lucky person has won a lot of money. The dictionary.com definition of "lottery" is a gambling game or method of raising money, in which large members of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes, any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance, or any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance. Prizes are usually involved. That sounds nice and fun, doesn't it? But there is an ancient tradition of casting lots or drawing straws to decide something or who will do something unpleasant. You might like to read this Wikipedia article on Sortition, the process of and reasons for casting lots. The article goes into the advantages and disadvantages. This process is often seen as the most fair without discrimination among participants, but Mrs. Hutchinson brings up fairness several times.

What struck me about this story in reading it again was the lack of any obvious horror element until the very end, when she sprung it on me full-force. It was a quick blast and left me shocked and stunned. Up until the very end, I had no inkling of what was to come. I didn't remember, from my earlier reading of the story, how absolutely ordinary the people were or how casual they acted about the event of the lottery. These are good neighbors, friendly and considerate of each other, people I'd like to know. The lottery is lumped together with the other "square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween party" run by civic leader, Mr. Summers. I could be attending any ordinary village celebration or meeting.

Are there hints of what is to come? Well, the children gathering rocks in a pile might give us a clue; however, I know a lot of kids who like to collect rocks, so I'm not surprised by their gatherings. Despite the neighborhood block party atmosphere, I don't feel like there is a lot of mingling, and the conversations among villagers seem quite subdued. They just seem to be waiting for the meeting to start. When Mr. Summers asks for assistance in stabilizing the big black box, there is "hesitation" before somebody comes forward to help. Is there a reluctance to touch the box? Mrs. Hutchinson is definitely unhappy that she is late, but I get unhappy, too, if I am late for an important meeting. And clearly, Mrs. Hutchinson is upset about her family being drawn in the lottery and is questioning the fairness of the process. What is the prize for this lottery anyway? It must be something that people don't really want, but if that is the case, why weren't they acting more upset and nervous in the beginning?

What we are lacking in this story is the WHY of it all. Obviously the black box is quite old and the ritual of the lottery has been happening for some time. But why? What is the history and the purpose of the event? Do the people in the story even know why they are doing it? Is the tradition lost in time and they just continue it as a part of their culture? I was a little disturbed at the beginning (only because I had read the story before and remembered the ending) that these lotteries seem to be a common occurrence, not just in this community but in others, as well.  Shirley doesn't explain and I have wondered about the back story, but maybe I am kept in the dark on purpose to make me connect more with the villagers, who might also be in the dark about the history of the event. It's just something that takes place once a year that everybody is supposed to participate in. But the event is brutal and savage and totally unexplained and unexplainable. Of course, those features make it more horrible, along with the fact that these people, who are so civil and jovial towards each other one moment, can suddenly commit this act towards one of their own. I would like to know more about the why of it all. Wouldn't you? Or would that only spoil the horror of the story if we knew more?

Here are some past book covers which I found interesting. Sometimes I really wonder about the designers of book covers. Do they ever READ the story first before they do the cover. I  often think not. The first cover on the left shows us an inkling of the story, with the stones, but I'm not sure what to make of the young woman. Is she dancing? She also could be described as being in a cruxifix form, making me think of sacrifices. Perhaps this cover is the closest to giving me a clue into the story's topic, but only after reading it do I get it.

The cover on the right seems to be a woman dressed in a nice suit with an old-fashioned handbag. Is she going to a ladies' social? Maybe the ladies in the story could be dressed like this. I would not know what this story is about from that picture. Maybe the woman on the cover won the lottery and keeps her winning ticket in her purse until she can cash it in. 

The middle cover is my favorite, mainly because it is just strange and very 1950s sexy Sci Fi. What does a lady with her dress falling off have to do with this story? Mrs. Hutchinson seemed to be an ordinary housewife and probably would not have worn this outfit to the town meeting. The title of The Lottery seems to have a subtitle, too: "The Adventures of a Demon Lover".This is actually another of Shirley Jackson's short stories, not a subtitle. It adds another enticing promise, though--adventures with demon lovers. Hmm. I also don't know what the little black prehistoric figures around the central figure signify. The woman does look horrified, though. Maybe she is shocked to find that her new boyfriend is a demon. I would be, too! I wonder if Shirley liked this cover? Maybe she thought it was rather funny, it's so obviously wrong for the story.

As horror stories go, however, this is one that should not be missed. It makes us think of so many issues: community, families, traditions, and what we would be willing to do to each other.

Velcome!

I did not get up this morning thinking, I am going to start a blog today. It happened later in the day, when I thought to myself, I would like to have the experience of blogging about something, but what could I talk about that hasn't already been said? This led a conversation with myself about what do I like to talk and think about:

• Working in a public library
• Reading books
• Reading books about ghosts
• Reading books about disasters and end-of-the-world scenarios
• Watching movies about above
• Talking to my teenage children about the above

So what can I do with those interests? I can write my blog on the horror and disaster books that I read and find at the library. I can write about the ghost stories and movies and television shows that catch my attention. Will this be something that interests anybody but me? I don't know, but it will get me thinking about a genre which I particularly like. If it turns out that I can share my thoughts with others, that will be a bonus! Maybe my kids will participate, we will see.

Anyway, "velcome" to my blog.