GrimDarkTober & TBR Time

October? I’m just going to tear the calendar off the wall, this is ridiculous.  If you missed my September Wrapup & General Update post, you can find it here.   The final item on it stated that obviously I can’t do GrimDarkTober without Bookstagram, but is that really true?

I had one good friend comment and a few others message me that they enjoyed the content and will miss the festivities, interviews, and such, so I chewed it over and asked some friends for help.  The result is that I’m going to host a hodgepodge of Grimdark content here, from some of my favorite writers in the blog verse, which will all be finalized sometime soon and I’ll post a schedule as I know it.  If enough people follow along maybe I can do prompts and prizes via Twitter next year?

Also if anyone wants to write a spooky themed or grimdark feature to be hosted here, let me know! I’m open to lists of favorites, guest reviews, articles, spooky recommendations, Halloween photography, literally anything you want! 

For now, I have a kind of tentative TBR laid out that hopefully won’t go to trash like last month’s reading.

1) I’m actually almost done with Wizard & Glass, which is turning out to be spooky, sad, and everything else King is known for. I’m definitely an Oy and enjoying “the flashback book”

2) Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen – this is one of the last finished copies I received from St Martin’s Press and I need to get it read and featured asap.  There are ghosts, invisible birds, a murder mystery, lost stories, and more, so it’ll be a good reprieve to read some magical realism after King destroys me at the end of W & G

3) I set it down last month because it was too similar to my prior reads and too dark for me to enjoy at the time, but I’ll pick up Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar again in the spirit of GrimDarkTober! Idk if he’d be willing to interview but I’m probably going to ask

4) Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone – a finished paperback I was sent by the publisher and need to get a move on reading. A haunted mansion, gothic, atmospheric, a monstrous boy that spoiler alert, I bet the main character is going to end up kissing … Judging by the fact that it’s YA and at a 3.5 GoodReads rating, I’m trying to stay optimistic

5) Unrelated to anything spooky but I stole a friend’s copy of Starship Troopers and need to return it, so that’ll be on my list. I know the movie had some disturbing scenes so maybe I can put a dark spin on it

6) GrimDarkTober classic edition – Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde was voted my fall classic by the good folks of Twitter. It’s short and I’ll plug it in somewhere.

7) On the same poll, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne came in a close second.  If I don’t end up scaring off the person/people that might buddy read, I’ll get on that too at some point this month

8) The last one on my definitive TBR is a real Grimdark – The Trials of Ashmount by John Palladino.  He is definitely not my super special Halloween interview guest (Is he?  Can we confirm or deny this yet)? Updates when I know

I’m sure I can squeeze in another book or two but that is my definitive October TBR for you guys!  I keep telling Kevin Ansbro that I’m going to read In the Shadow of Time, and I owe St Martins a review for B.A. Paris’ The Prisoner out 11/1  … So we will see how it goes.

Guest Content: I also have guest posts coming from a few other bloggers so stay tuned for reviews of Norylska Groans by Michael R Fletcher and Clayton W. Snyder from the amazing Dr John Mauro of Grimdark Magazine, The Worthy by Anna Moss from Jamedi at A Vueltas por los Mundos, and, some other confirmed guest content! Get on the list if you want, there’s plenty of time!

What’s on your October TBR?