The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The story is told by an orphan boy, Will Henry, who is the apprentice to Erasmus Grey, a monstrumologist, or scientist who studies monsters.  Erasmus Grey is clearly mad, obsessed and manic in his behavior seeking out monsters.

This novel focuses on the legendary anthroposophai, headless bipeds with rows of sharklike teeth in their stomachs.  What makes the monsters frightening actions endurable is the cold clinical scientific detachment that stems from Erasmus Grey; brains eaten, bodies ripped to shreds in frenzy, and children killed.  What would drive most other people mad fascinates and repels the monstrumologist.

The heros of the story are as dark as the creatures they are hunting.  We get an excellent description of nihilism, and being truly beyond good or evil when we meet the hunter Kearns.

The creatures are pulled directly out of Greek and African mythology.  The author adds a kind of natural history to the creatures with travelers accounts, bits of strange natural history, and inexplicabe deaths found in the newspapers.

This books writing is superb.  It combines modern psychological suspense with the old fashioned fear of ghost stories, classic horror, and strange cryptozoological accounts.  It is not overbearing, or overly gross and would be appropriate for both teenagers and adults.

The book won the Michael L. Printz Honor, YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice For Youth, Kids' Indie Next List, and Florida Books Award, Silver Medal. 

The story is gripping.  It makes me want to read the next book in the series, The Curse of the Wendigo (Monstrumologist) by Rick Yancey.

Twilight - Fantasy or Horror?

The big word for 2009? Twilight.

While vampire stories used to be strictly considered horror, lines between genres seem to be blurring. But Stephenie Meyer's Twilight still didn't make the top 25 with fantasy readers. (It came in at #31.)

According to this list of the Top 100 Fantasy books, the real favorite was -
Ta-da! The Lord of the Rings, which ranked at #1.

I admit, I didn't read many from the list either. How many did you read? (Well, seeing the movie counts for something, right?)

And what is Twilight - horror or fantasy?

Here's the top 10 Fantasies with older and some new authors:

1 Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
2 Harry Potter series, JK Rowling
3 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkein
4 Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan
5 A Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin
6 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
7 The Belgariad Series - David Eddings
8 Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
9 Magician - Raymond E. Feist
10 His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

** Your turn: What's your favorite fantasy book? (Or movie?)

Dead Friends Forever

Extreme Hauntings #1

Wanna be among the first to read it?

BUY HERE

Skater Kaylee Hensler might not be Miss Popular, but there are some friends a girl can do without. When the decaying ghost of a murdered girl decides they need to be total BFF’s, Kaylee will sacrifice the trust of her family, her swim coach’s respect, and any hope of a date for the Harvest Dance.

And oh yeah… discover that super-evil entities are nothing at all like they are on TV or in the movies Aside from seriously bad attitudes, they not only like to kill…but replay the killing again and again for all eternity. To avoid that fate, she’ll have to rely on her wheelchair-bound friend Davey, the mysterious Madame Maggie, and the surprising depth of her own power.

Will Kaylee survive, or will she become someone else's DFF: Dead Friend Forever?

Reviews:
"This book is exceptional! Turner takes a typical kid and ignites her courage to face unthinkable evil. Creepy, exciting, and totally cool, keep a light on when you read this one!" –M.K. Scott, author of Zamora's Ultimate Challenge (aka Michele Scott, The Wine Lovers Mysteries)

"Dead Friends Forever is a gripping tale of teenage turmoil taken to an extreme level. …it's more than a great story, it's a life, or shall I say, after-life event." –Matthew-Levi Kalik

"An incredible book…constantly changing and surprising me…sometimes leaving me breathless after an intense scene…one of the top books I've read…it has the power to leave anyone who reads it completely enthralled… A GREAT READ!!!!" –Skyler Byas

Bio:
During the long winters in central Wisconsin, J.R. Turner loves watching movies, doing arts and crafts and hanging out on MySpace. In the summer she can be found gardening, camping and enjoying the fresh water lakes and rivers. As a kid, her imagination got her in tons of trouble. At seven she dragged her five year old brother onto the roof of their two story home to practice for an imaginary flood, then later nearly drowned him when she imagined a five-foot tarantula in the shadows of the river bank. Many years later, she made her family proud when she won her first award for that very same talent. Today, she takes great pleasure in exploring exciting new story ideas and great characters, as well as chocolate of all kinds.

Quick Facts:
Release Date: March 2009
Title: DFF: Dead Friends Forever (Extreme Haunting #1)
Author: J.R. Turner
ISBN: 978-1-59080-625-8 (10-Digit 1-59080-625-5)
Genre: YA Horror
Pages: 272
Price: $13.99 US $16.99 CAN
Age Group: 12 +

Retail Distribution:
Echelon/Quake Direct (*45% - no minimum -returnable in sellable condition)
Ingram Book Co.
Partners Book Dist.
Follett Distribution
Brodart Co.
Amazon.com
Fictionwise (e-Formats)
*Paid pre-orders will receive a 48% discount.

The Gatekeepers: Raven's Gate (Book Review)

The Gatekeepers: Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 0-439-85629-9

Matt isn't really a bad kid, he's just looking for someplace to belong and maybe a reason. He is however different from your average kids, and someone out there seems to know that. When he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, Matt's entire life is ripped apart and he is sent on a journey that is more than a little strange, and altogether terrifying.

Worse yet, when he finds himself packed off to Lesser Malling, things get even weirder. Knowing he needs to escape the nightmare he is living, Matt is faced with mortality and his true self. But everyone who tries to help Matt ends up dead or missing. Is the place he's supposed to call home filled with witches or is there a greater evil at hand?

Anthony Horowitz writes a remarkably dark tale. As an adult, I wondered if it might be too graphic for the kids, but I could not put it down. I can see where readers of the dark and gritty would high five Mr. Horowitz's talent for the creepy. A very good read and I am looking forward to Evil Star.

Reviewed by Karen Syed

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