Reflections of Failure: A Monster Musing

My name is Michele and I’m a failure. It’s no surprise given the state of the world. *gestures, or possibly waves smoke away from face* I’ve been failure as a reader, and especially as a reviewer. This blog has been quiet for too long, and while I’d like to think I’m going to change that […]

Stoker Awards Ballot Announced

**Edited to correct the Long List to the Final Ballot**   The 2021 Stoker ballot has been announced. Repeated below with links to the titles Monster Librarian has reviewed. The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot Superior Achievement in a Novel Castro, V. – The Queen of the Cicadas (Flame Tree Press) Hendrix, Grady – The Final Girl […]

Gaming is for Everyone

And we mean everyone. We’ve rounded up links on Gaming in Education and I’ve mentioned how Gaming is used in therapy. Today’s resources are all about consent and accessibility in Gaming. Character sheets for those with Dyslexia The X Card (a stop button for disturbing or triggering content in Game sessions) Dissecting the X-Card Controversy […]

Gaming In Therapy

Previously I’ve posted links to articles about the use of traditional RPGs (like Dungeons and Dragons) in the teaching settings. In this post I want to add in resources and articles on the use of gaming in Therapy. Fun and Function: How Role-Playing Games can Heal Your Mind and Body Role-Playing Gaming Recreation Therapy Handbook […]

Gaming in Education

In August I attended my first GenCon in Indianapolis, IN. While I’ve been a gamer since high school (in every form, tabletop, board games, video games) I only recently started game design and only recently started exploring gaming as an education and cultural tool. Gaming is becoming widely more recognized as a good modern tool […]

Book Review: Wuftoom by Mary G. Thompson

Clarion, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0547637242 Available: New hardcover, paperback, and Kindle edition Deformed by disease, Evan’s only visitor and caretaker is his mother, until he is visited by a wormlike creature of the dark who informs Evan that he is transforming into a Wuftoom . Desperate to hang on to his humanity, Evan resists. Then he […]

Book Review: A Scaly Tale (Ripley’s RBI #1) by Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

Ripley Publishing, 2010 ISBN: 9781893951525 Availability: New and Used     The Ripley’s Bureau of Investigation (RBI) is a collection of teenagers that go on undercover missions to uncover the truth about reports of the unbelievable. In A Scaly Tale, there are rumors of a man-like lizard living in the Everglades, and it’s up to them to determine whether […]

Book Review: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Penguin Group, 2010 ISBN: 9780142416723 Available: New Kelly Link taps into teenagers’ darkest emotions in Pretty Monsters. The selfishness and ego of a boy who attempts to dig up his dead girlfriend’s grave so he can reclaim the poetry he buried with her; the anger and fear at being singled out; the cruelty friends and siblings can […]

Anime Crash Course: Castlevania

Like vampires and demons and snark? Then this is an anime for you. Inspired by the Castlevania video game franchise, this series follows Vlad Dracula and his vampires as they try to exterminate the human race and Trevor Belmont, Alucard Dracula, and magician Sypha Belnades as they try to stop the genocide. Castlevania contains violence […]