MISC HORROR

The Hot Blood series is an old favorite of mine. I love horror anthologies, so I picked up a volume from the middle of the series in a bookstore, then had to get them all. The stories are all horror erotica, some quite graphic, so they're not for kids or the faint of heart.

There are, appropriately, thirteen total volumes that were published between 1989-2007. I reread them every few years and they work well for that, even though I know the endings of the stories.

During my current reread, I noticed my favorite story from multiple volumes was usually the one by Graham Masterton. I don't know how I never noticed it before or got into Masterton's writing before now. He's been at it since almost the same time as Stephen King, who's a childhood favorite. Carrie was published in 1974 and The Manitou, Masterton's first, was in 1976. So I decided to start picking up some Masterton novels and short story collections.

I ordered a few off Abebooks, which is where I typically get the best deals on used books. Masterton sadly did not take off in the US like Stephen King, so I couldn't just jump on ebay and buy a lot of 20 used books. While waiting for the ones I ordered to arrive, I stopped in the used bookstore downtown and was pleasantly surprised to find several books, some of course being ones I'd just ordered. But I purchased three.

I figured I'd start with The Manitou. Honestly, I wasn't impressed with it much. It's a good first novel, but you can tell it's a first novel. It's kind of like Carrie is far from my favorite King book. Some of the characters are interesting, but some with potential die too quickly to be developed. The final battle is really drawn out and ends up being a bit on the sci-fi side instead of horror. I won't go into more details so as not to spoil, but yeah, I didn't much care for it. Not sure I'm going to continue reading The Manitou series or not, but if I do pick it up, it won't be until I've read a lot of his other books first.

Picture of Evil I enjoyed much more. This one was also published as Family Portrait, which I actually think is a better name, being the title of the portrait that's the source of all the trouble in the story. You see, this is based on Dorian Gray. The characters here get to be much more developed and interesting. Unfortunately, I had a problem with the ending again, but up until that point, I really enjoyed it. I'll skip dissecting it, because I don't like to go into too much detail on horror. Part of the fun is finding things out for yourself, like with mysteries.

I will definitely be talking about more Masterton books here as I read them. I just started The 5th Witch today.  

The EMILY WINDSNAP Series

After picking up the first Philippa Fisher book used, I checked the Emily Windsnap series out of the library. They're cute books and I recommend them to anyone who wants a bit of light reading about modern mermaids.

Each book contains a pretty dramatic adventure and some of the concepts would be a little scary for younger kids. The high stakes challenges are what kept me coming back. The characters are all fun, but it was the missions Emily faced each time and learning a little more about the mer world that were most interesting to me.

They're very quick reads, but you still get a good story for the couple hours or so it takes to whip through the book.

STAR DARLINGS 5

Okay, I'll say it right off the bat: Scarlet is not the most pleasant character. That's part of her appeal for me. She's different than the others and things that come naturally to the other Starlings don't come naturally to her. I'm not the most touchy-feely person ever, so I can relate to her having difficulty with the constant touching that is part of Starling culture. That's why I related to Vidia in Disney Fairies. Like Scarlet, she's more realistic and not all happy-sappy, touchy-feely all the time. They're actually quite realistic characters in fantasy settings that are designed to be naturally happy environments. Being that Earth isn't a naturally happy place, those places seem very foreign to me and as Scarlet would say, forced. So yes, Scarlet and Vidia are my girls for a good reason.

Scarlet overhears Cassie and Sage talking about her from her new dorm room in the third/fourth year dorm. (Quick Cassie aside: She has both hair colors in this book. Silvery-white here at the beginning and pinkish-white later on. Ophelia is still orange.) One of the more interesting things they mention is that Leona's Wish Pendant burned out because she didn't use her special power. I'm not sure if this is a theory or a fact. Cassie mentions the flowers and Sage treats her like a little kid. I can see why Cassie gets so annoyed with this.

Then we meet Mira, Scarlet's new roommate, whose color is indigo. She's an actress and she first appears dressed as an old woman, trying to trick Scarlet into thinking she's Mira's grandmother. We learn a bit more about Scarlet here. Her parents are famous classical musicians who travel a lot and Scarlet initially got into the color black (later on referred to as the Starlings' least favorite color) to be rebellious. Her hair is naturally hot pink. She chose to apply to the school so she could live on her own.

Vega texts her and Scarlet meets up with her in the maze, which she doesn't like because she doesn't have the patience for it. (I'd probably feel the same.) Vega immediately starts blabbing about her wish mission and then the band, and Scarlet gets justifiably annoyed with her. After all, SHE was the one who texted Vega to talk about something, not hear about things she can't do and reminders that she's no longer a SD. Vega tells Scarlet about Cassie's flower theory. Then she makes a deal that she'll try to help Scarlet if Scarlet goes back to class.

Scarlet does the next day. As she sits alone at lunch, she flashes back to when she was told she was no longer a SD. It's Lady Cordial who showed Lady Stella the school records, but Scarlet doesn't believe she can possibly be lower than the others, because she's actually extremely powerful. Scarlet skips her next class and goes to her room to play her drums and clear her head. Then she uses her roommate's costume stash to disguise herself as a man and attempt to sneak into the records room. She succeeds...almost. She isn't caught, not even in the teachers' lounge, but the records room is closed.

That night, Scarlet can't sleep, so she goes to the Star Caves. She'd actually discovered one of the secret entrances a week before she learned she was a SD. This time, she happens to find a passage into the records room and confirms her theory. She tries to see Lady Stella in the morning, but runs into Cordial instead. She tells her there's been a mix-up, that her scores were switched with Ophelia's. Cordial is clearly shocked and offers to tell Lady Stella herself, which I firmly believe she didn't do, because something's totally up with her.

Scarlet meets up with Vega, who brings Cassie along, and tells them the news. Vega once again brings up the band, because there's a battle of the bands happening soon.

Now honestly, Vega is supposed to be the smart, driven one. How would she feel if she'd been the one kicked out? You cannot tell me she wouldn't have put her brilliant mind to fixing the mess and would have been equally irritated with anyone who tried to bring up trivial things. She's being written kind of out of character here, if you ask me. Like I'd have an easier time believing ANY other character would make this mistake, but not Vega.

Anyway, the botany lab contacts Cassie and the three girls go check it out. And Cassie was right. (Eat that, Vega. I love Vega, but her not believing Cassie annoyed me and I'm glad to see her intelligent, logical theory is correct.) The lab people say it's as if the flowers were grown in negative-energy-infused soil. While the girls are there, a Wish Orb is identified. Scarlet tries to go with them, but they convince (sort of) her to stay away from the meeting. But she's waiting when they come out and she's not happy to learn that Ophelia was chosen. Or that Lady Cordial said nothing about Scarlet. Scarlet is even less happy when both Vega and Cassie seem now convinced that she doesn't belong in SD.

Scarlet grumps her way through the rest of the day and a professor catches her off-guard. He wants her to continue reading from where Leona left off and Scarlet has no clue where that is. Leona unexpectedly helps her, then after class, she tells Scarlet she owes her. Naturally, she only did it because she wants Scarlet back in the band for the competition. Scarlet refuses and Leona tries to talk her into it, but Scarlet is smart. She throws Leona's nasty dismissal of her at the end of her book right back in her face just like she deserves. Why in the world should Scarlet help her when she kicked Scarlet out of the room and ignored her when she needed help? Damn right, Scarlet. You show her what an ass she is. Leona is speechless and Scarlet would have actually been happy with just an apology, but they're interrupted by a text and Leona races to the office. Scarlet follows. She sneaks into the office and hears the announcement that Ophelia's wish Orb has gone black, which means her mission is close to failure and there's "potential loss of a Starling." Leona offers to go help, which makes me like her a teeny tiny smidge, even though I'm sure her motivations are at least 25% selfish, but Lady Stella says the Wish Orb will choose. And it chooses the hidden Scarlet.

I'll keep the Wishworld mission brief. It's a fun read, but not necessary to the summary much. Although Scarlet and Ophelia's interactions are fun and it's cute to see Scarlet warm up to the girl. Scarlet's Wishworld eyes are described as brown in the text, but are clearly green in both the art and doll. And her hair is black. It's actually black and not purple in both her forms. No idea why Jakks is acting afraid of black hair. I'm sure Vega's WW doll will have it. Sigh. Scarlet finds Ophelia hiding in her tent in a field. She can't get her StarZap to work. She hasn't changed appearance. She hasn't found her wisher. She's massively incompetent and it wouldn't surprise me if she was the worst student in the school. Like she's sweet, but she's clearly not cut out for this and I'm kind of amazed she even got into the school, which is definitely not easy to make it into. Scarlet helps her change appearance and they go find her wisher, only it's Scarlet's wish pendant boots that glow, not Ophelia's bracelet. They fairly quickly learn that the wisher is afraid of butterflies, which is keeping her from being a successful project partner to two girls she wants to be friends with. So they take her to the local butterfly sanctuary to get her over her fear. Unfortunately, it's closed, but a tiny butterfly lands on the girl's shoulder and she's actually okay. The wish energy is collected...by SCARLET.

The girls return to Starland and Lady Stella offers thanks and apologies because Scarlet is clearly the SD and not Ophelia (who is blissfully relieved). Scarlet heads off by herself because she needs to process things alone, but she gets texts from Vega and Cassie, revealing that the flowers were grown on the Isle of Misera. Or something having to do with the Isle. We'll find out next book!

Definitely enjoyed this one a lot. Scarlet is one of my two favorite characters, along with Piper. Libby and Cassie are right behind them, followed very closely by Vega. I am looking forward to getting to know the other girls though. They're doing a decent job with this group of them, slowly expanding the band group to include Cassie and a little bit of Piper, Clover and Gemma, but I want more.

STAR DARLINGS 4

This book is a breath of fresh air after Leona's.

The first chapter sums up what's been going on recently and introduces both Vega and Piper. Their roommate conflict is covered a bit.

Then we've got band practice, during which Leona's incessant bitching pisses off Clover and she leaves. Libby uses her Libran diplomatic skills to help and they decide to meet again when Leona's more up to it. The girls go their separate ways and Vega heads to the hedge maze, which is her favorite place. She decides to text Cassie, who's struck up an "unlikely" friendship with Leona. I'm glad that gets a comment, because I sure commented on it during Leona's book. Vega thinks about her mother while she's waiting for Cassie. Cassie, by the way, has returned to wearing silver and white, like she originally did. It's noted in both Leona and Vega's books, contradicting her switch to pinkish-white in Sage's book. Cassie has also gone through a slight change in personality. She's far more mouthy than she was originally. She's not too thrilled with having to go through the maze and then she snaps at Vega when Vega's looking at her "like some precious little doll." Good girl, Cassie. You stick up for yourself.  After a brief discussion about Scarlet and then Leona, Cassie decides to talk to Leona after dinner and asks Vega to accompany her.

At dinner, Leona's quiet and only speaking to her new roommate Ophelia, whose color is now orange. It was yellow in Leona's book. Astra asks why she's so quiet, but this just causes problems. After dinner, Vega and Cassie finagle their way to Leona's room, but when Cassie asks questions about Ophelia, Leona becomes angrily defensive and basically throws the pair out. She also can't resist throwing in another nasty comment or two about Scarlet. Seriously, Leona's just a fucking bitch. Yeah, you bombed your mission, but don't take your failure out on your teammates when they've done nothing wrong. Only being nice to the one girl that's a weaker SD than you isn't the answer. I understand her attitude a little more here, except the comment about Scarlet's "weird" stuff which is her old brand of bitch, but there had better be a goddamn apology scene in a future book. If the writers let her get away with acting like this, this will be one of the few times in all the modern kids' books I read that I've seen such behavior go unpunished.

Whatever. I'm sick of Leona and her piss poor personality. Moving on.

The one good thing is that Leona let it slip that she's seen Scarlet recently. Not that she'd actually consider being fucking helpful for one "starmin," but info is info. Vega comments that at least Leona gets along with Ophelia, then adds that she and Piper still have problems. She asks how Cassie and Sage are doing and Cassie suddenly realizes they've been getting along fine ever since she threw out the flowers every SD room got. Cassie got a weird feeling about them and threw them out and ever since, she and Sage have been fine. But Vega, showing one of her rarer moments of obnoxiousness, pooh-poohs Cassie's theory, just because she's been wrong about a couple other things before. Cassie continues to stick up for her idea, especially after reviewing the holo-video Vega took of Leona's room, which reveals no flowers in sight. Vega thinks to herself that Cassie has a temper, and yeah, most people would after you've consistently shut down her perfectly logical theory and evidence. The girls make a bet (Vega loves games of any kind) about the flowers and plan to take them to the botany lab.

The next morning, the girls drop off the flowers with one of the botany lab assistants, Gladiolus Rose, who says they're not like anything she's seen before. She comments that they smell like her favorite flower, reiterating the fact from Libby's book that they smell different to each person. Cassie and Vega stop for breakfast, then chase down Scarlet, but it turns out not to be her. Then Vega daydreams in Professor Delphinus's class and gets embarrassed, only to continue to feel so when that prof turns up in their SD class at the end of the day. But Vega is forgiven and shines in class. Ophelia continues to not get simple SD things and Cassie's convinced she shouldn't be one of them.

The next day, the girls go to check on the flowers, but the assistant hasn't shown them to the person she planned on, because that professor's been in a bad mood. Cassie's convinced that's more evidence that she's right, but Vega, of course, is not sold. The girls go to breakfast and then are summoned to a Wish Orb presentation. Vega is chosen and the next day, she's off on her Wishworld mission.

I'm not going to go into huge detail about Vega's mission. She's in a bigger city and spends the night with a very wealthy classmate after identifying her wisher, who's a different girl. I love her wisher, because she's clearly a bit of a goth girl (without using the word) and yet she's very popular and all her classmates copy certain elements of her style. Vega experiments with her special talent and discovers that it's mind control. This moment reminded me that Leona didn't use a talent at all. And I honestly have totally forgotten what Libby and Sage's were. Anyway, Vega stumbles across Ella, her wisher, in the library and Ella gets mad at her for "spying" on her. But Vega overhears Ella wishing that her lie would go away. Vega ends up paired with Ella for an interview project, thanks to her mind control talent. The two girls get to know each other during this and Vega guesses her wish incorrectly, which makes Ella angry again. Clover appears and it's clear Vega's on the wrong track, which is pretty obvious. During Bring Your Parent to School Day, which Ella is absent from, Vega finally realizes that Ella is not the rich girl with a fashion designer mother that everyone thinks she is. She uses her talent to find out Ella's address and rushes over there with Clover. Ella tells them that her mother is a housekeeper for a famous fashion designer, which Katie misheard and that started the lie. Ella actually makes her clothes herself from thrift store finds and castaways from her mom's employer. Vega convinces Ella to admit it to the school, and she does over the PA system, saying she's starting a club called Designing with Ella. Naturally, the club is packed with girls and Ella's problems are solved. Vega collects her wish energy and she and Clover return to Starland.

Vega has her Wish Blossom ceremony and then tries to call her mother, something she's been avoiding. When she gets back to her room, she finds her mom waiting. Piper called her and told her Vega could use a visit from her, so it seems the flowers' powers have worn off. As she's falling asleep, her StarZap goes off with a text from Scarlet, saying to meet her in the hedge maze the next day.

And that's it! The mystery of the flowers is not solved, but it's on the way there. I really like Vega's character, because she's kind of a perfectionist, but she also seems capable of learning her lessons. Like I'm hoping she won't pick on Cassie for incorrect hunches anymore, because she sure had some of those on Wishworld. I loved the bits with her and her mother, because they rounded out her character a lot. That's one issue I had with Leona's book, now that I've read Vega's. Sage, Libby and Vega all came out more well-rounded during their books and we learned more about their families and such. We learned a little about Leona's, but only very shallow details. Cassie is shaping up to be an excellent character. Clover's appearances made me both like and dislike her a tad. I liked that she didn't suffer through Leona's shit, but for someone who hasn't been on a Wishworld mission, she was way too smirky and smug about Vega having problems. None of the missions have gone perfectly so far, so why act all smug? It's not helping anything. And I still adore Piper and can't wait for her book.

I skimmed my Libby summary, checking for a reference while writing this, and I'd written that Leona laughed at Lady Cordial in Libby's book. Lady Cordial also said something at the end of Leona's book about inexperienced Starlings that was quite unlike how she usually speaks. I wonder if she's behind some of these odd occurrences. Maybe her bumbling, stuttering, awkward self is just a facade and she's hiding something. Hmm!

STAR DARLINGS 3

So let's recap quick: In Libby's book, several pairs of SD roommates are having problems and it's clear to the readers, but not to the characters, that it's caused by these flower bouquets they've been sent. Libby has a successful mission, but does not get her Wish Blossom ceremony, because the bad news that Scarlet is actually not a Star Darling is sprung on the group.

Leona's book begins with her writing a letter home. A letter in which she's a total uncaring bitch. She's clearly thrilled that Scarlet moved out of their room. "It looks soooooo much better without all that black." She also wishes for a new roommate whose color goes better with gold. Uh, on what planet do black and gold not go together? They go very well together. Dumbass.

Lady Stella sends out a Star Zap summons, so Leona, clad in her PJs, heads for the office. Being Leona, her thoughts on what the meeting could be about turn quickly to selfish invented accomplishments of her own. UGH. The summons, however, is specifically for the band members: Leona, Sage, Vega, Libby and Scarlet, but Scarlet isn't there. The other girls are concerned about her, but not bitchface Leona. Lady Stella is upset that the girls named their band the Star Darlings, but it's quickly revealed that the band name was given by the Ranker, who chose the band members after auditions.

The next day, Tessa and Adora are fighting. Then Cassie calls Leona, which strikes me as odd. Cassie's a bit shy and timid, so how is she already on calling terms with Leona, who is at best described as brash? Cassie expresses worry about Scarlet. Leona blows it off again. Cassie and Leona join Piper and Gemma at lunch. Once again, the discussion turns to Scarlet and it's clear Leona is happy she's gone. She says, "It's like she was never there," and Piper, being an actual decent person, replies, "Ah, but she was. Don't forget that." Conversation continues and Leona puts down Scarlet AGAIN. Then Gemma mentions she's still fighting with Libby and roommates Astra and Clover join the group, also in the middle of a fight. The girls discuss what they were fighting about, but the effects of the argument seem to be wearing off. (My theory is that the power of the flowers wears off when you're away from them for awhile. Which makes Leona not spelled by the flowers at all. She's just a bitch when it comes to Scarlet.) Piper brings up her worries about the tensions between the group. Piper and Vega are having problems, too. But then Leona's food comes and naturally, she can't be bothered to have a serious discussion, so she uses food as an excuse not to. The other girls arrive and discussion turns back to Scarlet and Leona insults her AGAIN. I find it horrible that Leona thinks Scarlet can't be trusted when SHE is the one who took Scarlet's deceased grandfather's hat several times despite being told not to. That's what untrustworthy behavior actually is, you selfish bitch. Oh, but then Libby mentions Scarlet's drums and NOW Leona suddenly cares about her...or rather cares about who's going to play drums in her precious band.

I had to put the book down at this point, because I do not think I have EVER had to read a book from the point of view of such a terrible, self-centered, just plain nasty character. I despise Leona in terms of anything having to do with Scarlet.

The girls meet for band practice and Scarlet doesn't show, but Vivica does and drops the bombshell that she asked the Ranker to create a second band from the rankings. Naturally, she's lead singer and the band is called Vivica and the Visionaries. This is interesting because Vivica got to choose her band's name, but Leona couldn't. The girls try to practice, but without Scarlet's beat, they suck. They call Clover, who has more musical talent than all of them put together, but refuses to be onstage. She agrees to sit in for practices, but won't perform ever.

Cassie sends Sage a text and we see the Leona Attitude turn on Sage when she doesn't immediately tell the others what's going on. When she finally does, it's big. Cassie thinks she's seen Scarlet's replacement. The girls rush to Lady Stella's office and eventually she comes out, having known they were there the entire time and called the others to join them. She introduces Ophelia, the "true" twelfth SD, a teeny tiny girl with yellow pigtails and a lot of freckles. Then Libby has her Wish Blossom ceremony.

Ophelia becomes Leona's roommate and finally we see an actually likeable side of Leona. She has two little sisters so I'm wondering if she somehow is a good person around younger, more delicate girls because of them. Cassie apparently reminds her of Duchess, one of said little sisters, and now Ophelia is like that, too. The two of them bond a bit, until Leona smells the stupid flowers and then she's a bit bitchy. The SDs continue to have squabbles and Leona accuses Ophelia of moving their flowers, but she says she didn't. The two make up quickly. During the special SD class at the end of school, Ophelia begins to worry that she's too far behind the others to really be a SD.

A new Wish Orb is ready and Leona is chosen to go. She makes an amusing landing in the middle of a lake, then acclimates herself to boarding school, after bitching about the ugly uniforms. (Vega says something about them, too, later. What do these girls have against plaid?) She finds her wisher pretty quickly and convinces her to try out for the talent show. They make it back into the auditorium just in time, with her wisher performing in her pajamas. She makes the cut, but has to endure taunting from the class bitches and an unsupportive older sister. Vega arrives to tell Leona her wish is a bit off-track, but Leona can't figure out how until she's onstage. She had been going to perform a duet with her wisher, but makes her do a solo instead. Her wisher doesn't think she can do it, but a little coaching from Leona and she's ready. Leona collects her wish energy, then the mean girls pick on her again, only to be shot down by some support from the wisher's older sister, which earns Leona even more wish energy. What she'd been a bit off-track about was her wisher's wanting her older sis's support. Vega wants to leave right after the show, but Leona's wisher wants to do a duet with her, which Leona agrees to.

Then everything goes wrong. On the trip back to Starland, Leona's star malfunctions and Vega has to rescue her, but the worst thing is that Leona's wish pendant is destroyed. However, no one is sure how it happened. It was fine when they arrived on Starland, but when they go to the Wish Blossom ceremony, it's all burnt up. Wish Pendants are designed to hold an unlimited amount of energy, so she didn't overload it.

Leona is crushed about her failure, which she sees as her own fault and not some odd occurrence. She feels worse when she returns to her room and Scarlet is there. Scarlet wants to talk to her about something that is clearly important, but Leona is so utterly rude to her that I can hardly believe this is a children's book. Scarlet leaves, telling her she's making a big mistake.

So that's the book and I am so glad I've read it and it's over. Leona is actually a decent character when she's with Ophelia and on Earth. When she's capable of thinking of others, she's fine. But those moments are completely overshadowed by her poor attitude toward Scarlet and her inability to see that this thing is bigger than herself and treat the situation with the importance it deserves.