protean depravity

All the Protean Depravity columns have a deeply ritual (or shall I, less flatteringly, say repetitive?) character, and although I'd love to add more new, flashy, and exciting things to my blog, I also find comfort in little traditions. The wrapping up column, in which I look back at my reading challenges of the past, and most anticipated books in the upcoming year, is one of those comfort writes. The other main one being the best titles of the year, which is due next week, so hold on tight for that! But before, let's wrap up this year's reading. Among all the chaos and bad luck I had last year, there is one accomplishment that I'm proud of - I finished ALL my reading challenges I pledged to finish, and I'm a little proud of that. I have to add that I was very careful not to put too much on my plate and sometimes read as little as four or seven books per challenge, but that technique helped me finishing them, some of them even quite early in the year.

So, I definitely need to start wrapping up everything 2024 and to look into the future, and that involves writing the last short reviews of the year, focusing on the End of the Year list, and plan new challenges for 20. Hope you enjoy them as always, despite the abominable weather.

On the verge of her cousin Keziah's marriage, Bata, a girl who lives in a small Nigerian town with her family, has a kind of episode during which she steps into another dimension and, dressed as an awesome warrior-bride, kicks the ass of an evil ghost bride, who apparently formerly was engaged to her cousin's groom. See, Bata has been different all her life, suffering from nightmares which keep the whole household awake - and make them resent her a little bit. Before she is subjected to an exorcism by the town's medicine man Dibia, she is snatched by a magnificient spirit who takes her to Ibaja La, the land of ghost brides, and informs her that she is a sort of chosen-one, and she has a paranormal mission she needs to fulfill as a Bride-Sentinel. Of course, for a ten year old girl coming from a family in which things are less than ideal, a household divided into itself, a house in which she always has been the odd one, to arrive in a sort of wonderland of young women in ...

End of the year also means deciding which books to take along into the new year and which ones can find their way to new owners who will appreciate them more than I do. Before they wander into the second hand section of the Otherland Bookstore or the phone booth little free library at the end of my street, I'm giving you guys the choice to take any of the books in the picture you may want to have. 👉 These are mostly review copies, but this time I included a couple of books I actually bought years ago, but never have read, and presumably never will read. It's better and only fair someone who will really read takes them. Please don't hesitate at all and seize the opportunity!

The last couple of months of the year are good times both for planning for the year ahead, as well as watching lots of movies which will be released around Christmas, the time of the year to spend money galore. So, I too have started looking into the next year's cinema and film programs and found quite a few great watches coming in December and early next year. I'm especially psyched to see recurring favorite names like Oz Perkins, Stephen King, but also two werewolf movies which both look good to me.

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Here's finally the almost monthly writeup with fresh short reviews! My health has been bad these last few weeks and that contributes to my reading slump, so if you're a fan of the shorts column, I wouldn't hold my breath. Plus, I am starting to read seemingly random books, like high fantasy stuff, just so I can finish my challenges until the end of the year. It's only a month away, it's pervers how fast time goes by. Despite all, please enjoy!

There’s much to appreciate about an author who can, in a short story collection, juggle with a limited and recurring set of ideas without coming off as monotonous and repetitive. Collections are considered accomplished to the degree that they are varied and reflect a mixed assortment of literary devices; differing points of view, thematic and stylistic variation, anything to keep tedium away. It takes a master hand like Evenson to go against that convention and to write a collection of stories thematically focused and subtly interconnected, extremely well curated and arranged, unparalleled in minimalistic writing and laconic dialogues, examining themes like environmental collapse, paranoia, AI, or cruel family ties through heady, composed, original horror.