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Women In Horror Month Is (Almost) Here!

February is Women in Horror Month, and that means it’s a great time to promote and celebrate the incredible women who write and create in the horror genre, and really throw open the doors of the library to an audience that is nearly invisible to the rest of the world- women who unapologetically read, watch, review, and LOVE the horror genre. To find out a little more about it, you can check out this manifesto (warning, it’s R-rated) on the importance of reccognizing women and horror, by Hannah Neurotica, of the feminist horror zine Ax Wound. This year, one of the online events that will be part of WiHM is a “Women of Horror” series of blog posts at Darkeva’s Dark Delights. where she’ll be writing about her top twenty writers, editors, and journalists in the horror community.

Looking for a few writers to showcase? You can always start with the classics, like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Check out the doings of the Horror Writers Association, which nominated Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Hotel Transylvania and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire as possibilities for Vampire Novel of the Century. Lisa Morton, the current treasurer of HWA, is an incredibly talented writer who made our Top Picks list for 2011 with her book The Samhanach. And that’s just a beginning. I challenge you to do something different this month in your library display case- celebrate the creative talents of women in the horror genre.

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Kirsten, Reply

Digital Comics

My new issue of Knowledge Quest (the official journal of the American Association of School Librarians) has an article on digital graphic novels, a format I haven’t though much about. There are web comics I follow (I love Unshelved), and some of them have even gone to print editions, but that seems a little different than a graphic novel. When I’ve looked at heavily illustrated books on Kindle or Nook, I haven’t been impressed. But the author discussed a very cool platform for digital comics, called ComiXology, which you probably already know about if you are a big comics reader. But if you aren’t, this might just get you hooked.

First, ComiXology started out as a tool for retailers, to help them promote print comic books, and they still have a commitment to working with retailers so they get revenue from sales of comics sold through them, so you can set up your order through this site or buy through them and still be supporting your local comic book store. I think that’s pretty cool. Second, they have created not just a catalog but a space for a community of comics lovers to discuss and review comics, and it’s free to do so, without extraneous annoying advertisements. Presumably, if you are a member you’re there to discuss and buy comics so ComiXology’s own promotions won’t bother you, and there aren’t any others. They also have free comics, a nice feature that the author of the article I read mentioned… one of them for this week is Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things #1. Third, they have some pretty great partnerships and relationships with comics publishers, including DC, Marvel, and BOOM! Studios, so there’s a wide variety of comics available and ways to access them, which I won’t go into except that there are apps, and you want more details you can read about it here.

What’s fun for me, in terms of promoting horror through a variety of media, is that if you start from ComiXology’s home page for digital comics, there’s a “Browse” tab with a drop down menu that allows you to search in a variety of ways, including series, publisher, creator, story arc, top rated, and GENRE. And one of the genres you can explore is horror. I didn’t wander around much there but just on the first page I saw 28 Days Later, 30 Days of Night, and American Vampire, all of which we’ve reviewed here. The newest issue of The Walking Dead was a featured comic, too. There’s a lot going on out there not just in the world of ebooks, but in the comics world as well, and the arguments as to whether there’s a legitimate place for digital comics will, I’m sure, continue.

After a brief look, I know I’m probably intrigued enough to download the app and try a free comic, at the very least, to see what the reading experience is like. I’d love to hear what you think about the rise of digital comics, or ComiXology!

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Kirsten, Reply

MonsterLibrarian.com’s Top Picks for 2011- Adult Books

Well, we’re not churning out 5,000 reviews a year like Kirkus Reviews, but our volunteer reviewers worked hard in 2011, reading and reviewing close to 300 books- some good, some bad, and some that were really extraordinary pieces of writing and storytelling.

With a new year beginning, it’s time for the Monster Librarian, in consultation with contributing reviewers, to reflect back on the past year’s reading and reviewing. We didn’t get out a list of the top picks for 2010, but now we’re back now, with our Top Picks for 2011. Each book on the list below was reviewed in the past year, although not all the books were published in 2011. If the book made a Top Picks list in the past, it won’t be on this year’s list (Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, was first reviewed in 2009 and made the list that year, so it’s not on this year’s list).

Books that made this list were chosen by our reviewers as exceptional examples of compelling writing, creativity, and original illustration or presentation. Many of them provided considerable food for thought as well as entertainment value. The choices were made only from books reviewed for the site, so there are many fine titles that do not appear here. The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011, listed below, have not been ranked in any order. You’ll find a list for each age group: Adult, Young Adult, and Kids. Below you’ll find our list of Top Picks for Adult Fiction in 2011. I’ll post the lists for young adult and children’s books shortly.

Note for librarians and readers: As with all recommended reading lists, not all of The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011 will be appropriate for or appreciated by every reader. Please take the time to check out reviews of these titles at MonsterLibrarian.com before making a decision about reading them or recommending them to others.

The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011

Titles for Adults

A special mention goes to Lisa Morton’s The Samhanach, which three of our reviewers independently chose to review. All three reviewers highly recommended this book. And now, the list.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz

Allison Hewitt Is Trapped: A Zombie Novel, by Madeleine Roux

Bedbugs, by Ben H. Winter

Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods, by Eric S. Brown

Bone Marrow Stew, by Tim Curran (limited edition available only from Tasmaniac Publications)

Crucified Dreams, edited by Joe R. Lansdale

Cuckoo, by Richard Wright

Dust, by Joan Frances Turner

Draculas: A Novel of Terror, by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre

Eternal Unrest: A Novel of Mummy Terror, by Lorne Dixon

Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher