Archive | February, 2024

Horrors Retold: What Feasts At Night and Interview with the Vampire the Series

14 Feb

What Feasts at Night
by T. Kingfisher
I had enjoyed Kingfisher’s previous novella with Alex Easton, What Moves the Dead, so was curious to read Alex’s continuing adventures. The character is loosely based on the soldier from the Poe story, Fall of the House of Usher. In Kingfisher’s stories, Alex Easton is a retired soldier, who by custom of their homeland, though they used female pronouns as a child, now chooses to use the nonbinary term specifically reserved for sworn soldiers; Gallacians also have pronouns specific to religious leaders. In this story they have traveled from Paris to their family’s Hunting Lodge along with their faithful servant Angus. When they get to the Lodge they are surprised to learn the Groundskeeper had passed away. They are soon joined by Miss Potter who had aided them with their previous mystery and is curious to study the local mushrooms. The dialogue between the characters is charming, but the possible cause of the mysterious illness that has afflicted the village suitably spooky for horror fans to enjoy. The novel can stand alone from What Feasts at Night so you can enjoy this story without having read the previous one, but both are highly recommended. This is the perfect book to snuggle up with on a wintry day, though I’m not sure if I’d recommend reading it right before bed, lest your dreams become haunted.

Interview with the Vampire: Season One
As a teen goth, Anne Rice was of course one of my favorite authors and though I was less enamored with her later writing, her early works to me still hold up as classics of vampire fiction. I had enjoyed the adaptation of Interview with the Vampire with Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis so was interested to see what this newest interpretation would bring to the stories. While the former holds closer to the originals and has some memorable performances, the series still held my attention with its slower pace which allows some changes and additions to the back stories of the characters which gives them slightly more depth than they previously had. The series feels more somber than the movie and the book it is derived from. In this version Louis is played by Jacob Anderson and re-imagined as not a white man of French descent, but instead a wealthy black man who keeps his homosexuality a secret. Claudia is also of African descent in this retelling and is played by Bailey Bass. Due to the Louisiana setting of the story, this lets the series explore issues of racism and slavery that were only hinted at before. If you enjoy this series, Mayfair Witches, about a modern descendant of witches, based on another book series of Rice’s is also available to stream.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Outstanding Stories in Outer Space: The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles and Chilling Effect

7 Feb

Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
by Malka Older
The second in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series, Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older comes out February 13. We will be discussing the first book in the series The Mimicking of Known Successes during our February Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group. Although both books clock in around novella length they are packed with interesting world building and fun mysteries. Mossa is a detective while Pleiti is a professor who studies the classics, as in the classical way things were done on Earth and that the human’s who are now living in Space hope they may be able to return one day. Platforms built around Jupiter, a Gas Giant, as well as life on IO one of the moon’s is detailed in the story with clever details like a bunker home being referred to as a “Hobbit” style. Although a couple in their younger days, the two women, have only have become reunited after Mossa’s last case and the tentative attempts between them to develop their relationship further add another sweet element to the plot. I hope we will see more adventures starring the couple in the future.

Chilling Effect
by Valerie Valdes
Chilling Effect is the first in the three book trilogy by Valerie Valdes that revolves around a spunky Cuban Captain Eva Innocente and her rag tag crew of La Sirena Negra (the black mermaid). I haven’t read a lot of Space Opera incorporating Latin American influences and it was cool seeing how Valdes incorporated cultural details and Cuban idioms in the novel; my favorite is arroz con mango or mango with rice which Eva uses when she gets in sticky situations (they happen often enough she also uses it as her code word at one point in the story in answer to what her favorite food is). Much of the story revolves around her blood family causing dramatic situations for her found family of crew. In this story she also is being stalked by a creepy space emperor and has a slow burning romance with one of her fellow crew members whose species gives off different scents based on their emotions and thoughts, which Valdes uses to clever effect. There is a great deal of humor and heart in the novel and if you are looking for cozy Space Opera (a colony of space cats lives on board the ship) than check this one out. I look forward to also reading book two, Prime Deception, and book three, Fault Tolerance, in the series.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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