Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cabinet Jack–Book Review

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Cabinet Jack (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #16)Cabinet Jack by J.L. Bryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really love this series. It’s a favorite when I need something engaging and entertaining and soothing all at once, and these books always fit the bill. And as always, the settings are fantastic! I love all the odd places we go in these books, and I really like that we get so much history of all the haunted places. We get so many interesting types of ghosts, too. This one had some fascinating oddities in the settings, and I could just picture all the old and intricately carved woodwork.

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Reading, Reviews, and The Girl in the Green Silk Gown

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You know, I meant for this to be about the stories I love and the people who write them and the myths and folklore that inspire them when we’re talking about that kind of story. But then I never got around to writing up any of those story reviews. I always wanted to write so much about each and every one of them, and it seems overwhelming.

Today, though, as I finished my current book (and now the joy and angst of deciding what’s next!), I realized I’ve been ignoring the thing on Goodreads where you can blog your reviews.

It’s not what I initially had in mind, but at least it’s moving into the territory I hoped this blog would cover when I started it.

So here’s the first step. I may even go back and share reviews of favorite books over the years here to fill things out and move a little further toward what I’d like to be doing here.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads #2)The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the poetry of the language and the story–stories, really, because we got so many stories here. This is one of those book I wish I could read for the first time again.

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Goals!

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Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

The break went really fast! The new round of ROW80 started Monday, but I haven’t even put up my goals yet. So here they are.

I realized last round that there was a lot missing from my story. I’ve spent time finding where the holes are (my midpoint is nonexistant!). This round my goal is to complete a Snowflake Method outline for the story. I’m going to be using some tips and tricks from Holly Lisle, too, so I can get it worked out and ready for a rewrite that will, hopefully, actually work.

I’m also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, and I set myself a goal of 20,000 words. I’m barely started on that, but as I get to the longer sections of the snowflake I think I’ll probably get to that. We’ll see. Mostly I’m participating because I like having a goal to aim for and someplace to share word counts.

So that’s it. Goals, ready and waiting for me to get them done. See you Sunday for an update. writ

November is Gone

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It’s been over a month since I wrote here?  How does that happen?  Oh yeah.  NaNoWriMo.  It’s so much fun, and it’s a great jumpstart for your writing, but it really takes over your life for the whole month of November.

A little brag

A little brag

Now the task is to finish out the rough draft and get to the revisions of my story.  I found a really huge plot hole at what should have been the midpoint, so I am working on doing an outline of this thing to try to figure that out.  I’m also having a lovely time researching and setting the mood for my story.  It’s a classic-style spooky tale complete with old mansion and family curses, so I am watching scary movies (so happy that this week Netflix got the 1999 version of The Haunting!)

I also discovered a new-to-me author who does gorgeous, atmospheric stories of just the type I want to write: F.G. Cottam.  Last week I read The Colony, and this week I started The Waiting Room.  I also have The Harrowing (A Ghost Story) by Alexandra Sokoloff queued up when I finish the current read, and then I want to read something by Sarah Rayne, because here work looks like just the right sort of thing to fit my mood, too.  And I’ll be rewatching Rose Red to get some of that great, haunted-house vibe.

So what other spooky tales should I be reading or watching?  Do you have a favorite.

My Week in Myths–October 28, 2013

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Foggy Forest

This week I’m feeling surrounded by myth, and I wanted to share.  Here’s what I encountered:

  • A fabulous book by a new-to-me author: The Wolf at the End of the World by Douglas Smith.  It’s a thriller, an urban fantasy, and definitely mythic fiction.
  • A brand new TV series: NBC’s Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  Very lovely sets and clothes, and some really interesting twists and additions to the original story.  I enjoyed it but am not entirely certain how I feel about the changes.  I’ll have to watch a few more episodes, I guess.
  • The Lost Boys on TV.  This is still one of my favorite vampire movies, and there’s always something special about running across a favorite movie randomly on television.
  • A brand new story, roughly plotted and ready to write for NaNoWriMo.  There’s an ancient family curse, mysterious ghostly creatures in the woods, an abandoned mansion…all the classic yummy horror story stuff.
  • And of course, in a couple of days, Halloween.  My favorite holiday, filled with all the spooky stuff I love so much.

So what’s your week in myth looking like?

100 Movies

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I started this website because I love stories, especially stories with mythic underpinnings.  When I was little, I called them spooky stories, and I still love my spooky stories.  And monsters and magic and mystery, a fog-shrouded moor or a dark, abandoned mansion, and yet I don’t have a place to share my favorite stories.

I have my website, MuseCraftâ„¢, where I write about my writing process, coaching, and other creative pursuits.  But I don’t have a place for my first love, stories.  I’m going to work on fixing that, starting with this list of 100 movies I really like.  After the first three, these are in no particular order.  Those three are the movies I will watch every time I run across them on TV.  The rest are movies I really enjoy watching.

I will probably add to this list because I know I’ve forgotten some, probably even movies I really love.  But this is a good starting place.  Later I’ll write about the story lines of some of these and what it is that makes me like them, but for now here’s a list of pure enjoyment.

Film

 

  1. Halloween (Original)
  2. Independence Day
  3. The Fog (Original)
  4. The Fog (New)
  5. The Thing (1982)
  6. Fright Night (Original)
  7. Fright Night (New)
  8. Lost Boys
  9. Alice (mini-series)
  10. Tin Man (mini-series)
  11. Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp)
  12. Grease
  13. Star Trek (2009)
  14. Iron Man
  15. Iron Man 2
  16. Iron Man 3
  17. The Avengers
  18. Mary Poppins
  19. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  20. Inception
  21. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
  22. Sherlock Holmes
  23. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
  24. From Hell
  25. Alice in Wonderland
  26. The Breakfast Club
  27. Alien
  28. Aliens
  29. Prometheus
  30. Predator
  31. Dirty Dancing
  32. Army of Darkness
  33. The Usual Suspects
  34. Airplane
  35. The Matrix
  36. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
  37. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  38. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  39. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  40. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  41. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  42. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
  43. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
  44. The Cabin in the Woods
  45. The Holiday
  46. X-Men
  47. The Wolf Man
  48. The Wolfman
  49. Species
  50. The Others
  51. Underworld
  52. Constantine
  53. 1408
  54. Tremors
  55. Zombieland
  56. Rose Red (mini-series)
  57. The Woman in White
  58. Halloween H20
  59. The Lost Room (mini series)
  60. Men in Black
  61. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
  62. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
  63. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
  64. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
  65. The Librarian: Quest for the Spear
  66. The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines
  67. The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice
  68. Signs
  69. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
  70. A Nightmare on Elm Street
  71. Pitch Black
  72. Van Helsing
  73. Serenity
  74. The Mist
  75. Night at the Museum
  76. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
  77. Wanted
  78. Eagle Eye
  79. 30 Days of Night
  80. House on Haunted Hill (1999)
  81. Hellboy
  82. The Wizard of Oz
  83. Friday the 13th (Original)
  84. The Howling
  85. Dracula (1931)
  86. Frankenstein
  87. The Legend of Hell House
  88. 13 Ghosts
  89. Cloverfield
  90. Creature from the Black Lagoon
  91. Cursed
  92. Darkness Falls
  93. Jeepers Creepers
  94. Pumpkinhead
  95. Night of the Living Dead (Original)
  96. Shutter
  97. The Awakening
  98. The Mummy (New)
  99. The Prophecy
  100. Transformers

Myths, Writing, Reading, Dreaming

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I started this site quite a while ago.  I’ve made several changes to it, started over, started over yet again while I tried to pinpoint what exactly I was after, what I really wanted to do.  But in the end it turns out that it was a lot more simple and magical than I was letting it be.

Cottages are filled with fairy tales and myths, or at least the starts of them

I want to write and read and dream and learn about fantastical, magical, impossible things.  And I want to talk to other people with the same interests.  I want to talk about fairies and read about ghosts, share good books, maybe read some together.  And I want to talk about writing stories with these things in them.  I want this to be all about mythic fiction, the people who write it, the people who read it, the stories about it, and the creatures that inhabit those worlds.

Who wants to join me?