#RIPXX 14 September 2025
Headless Horseman
What am I listening to ?
Audiobooks: The Edgar Allan Poe Complete Works Collection – Stories, Poems, Novels, and Essays
- Edgar Allan Poe is the master of macabre literature and pioneer of detective fiction,
- …and haunting tales that explore the depths of human psychology.
- Release date: 02.04.2022 Audible .com
- Edgar Allan Poe Society (list of all works) LINK
- Timeline: 60 hrs of classic literature….suspense, terror, gothic, horror.
- It is read by Audie Award-winning actors Peter Noble and Jonathan Keeble.
- Believe me, the narration is mesmerising!
- Again…this audiobook is worth every penny!
Read this week:
- A Descent into the Maelström – harrowing tale at sea (tale)
- A Predicament – good laugh, funny… (tale)
- Tale of Jerusalem – I couldn’t make heads or tails of this one! Bizarre.
- Tale of the Ragged Mountains – Mr.Bedloe morphine for breakfast, walks in the woods, dreams, medicinal leeches! Jick.
- Berenice – short horror story – obsession (teeth), mental illness, and the macabre.
- Bon-Bon – short comedic story – restaurateur has a humorous encounter with the Devil.
What am I reading?
-
by 
Stephen King
Finish date: 09.09. 2025
Genre: horror
Rating: C-
Challenge #RIPXX
I finally finished The Shining. “I’ve been avoiding this book for years….probably because b/c of images I saw in the trailer for the film version. (never saw the movie). I found many readers still giving this book 5 star reviews…so I must get this book off my TGR and my mind! 75% of the book was a intriguing look at a failing marriage, job loss, child with the gift of “The Shining. The last 25% was a rollercoaster ride. Impressed by King’s descriptions of the haunted Outlook H0tel and its disintegration. One reader summarised the book very well: “…Spends top much time on background stuff with not enough payoff.” The book is done and dusted and I’m still…not a Stephen King fan.
by P.L. McMillan
Finish date: 09. 09.2025
Genre: horror, 18 short stories
Rating: D-
Challenge #RIPXX
Bad news: Good heavens, I couldn’t sleep one night and read the first story in Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror Nr 1 was about human sacrifice by a group of witches! Now I’ll never get to sleep. The “hook” story was not exactly a great beginning for the book. I was sure there were better writers and I read at a slow but constant and deliberate pace.
Good News: I was ready to toss this book in the DNF bin…but I kept reading: found 5 excellent writers. Never give up on a book!
Personal: I took a gamble and found this anthology on a website about adventures in fantasy literature. The book is the perfect place for aspiring writers in the Dark Fantasy, Horror and Gothic Chick (…yes that is a thing). I struggled to get through 18 short stories. You can’t just write about any bloody, gory, horrific scenes….the story has to have structure. These 5 authors understand this and are worth your reading time!
The Fourth Scene – Brian Evenson (professor of Literary Arts)
White Owl – Stevie Edwards (assistant professor of Poetry)
A Dark Quadrivium – David Worn (neuroscientist)
The Mouth of Hell – Cody Goodfellow (screenplay writer)
A Dowry for Your Hand – Michelle Tang (Canadian speculative writer)
3 stories were readable (mèh)… and 9 stories were absolutely “not my cup of tea”….awful!
NancyElin.blog 
It sounds like you have had some very good experiences and some that are so so. Too bad about The Shining. I have read some fiction by Stephen King and like it but not really a big fan. And a lot of his work is just too scary for me.
Thank for your comment, Tracy. Yes, I agree Stephen King is too scary for me…but I do like “scary Poe”. King’s book “Pet Cemetery”…I remember gripping the paperback with fright and suspense! Part of the #RIPXX is “mystery”. I’m trying to find a CF/mystery book with supernatural or magic realism (…also #RIPXX) elements. Any suggestions?
I do have some suggestions for mysteries with supernatural elements:
The Coroner’s Lunch (1st book in series) or Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill (Set in Laos. My notes said “heavy on supernatural elements.”)
The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman (Main character is a vicar and an exorcist. Very long book.)
9Tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Bobby Zha, a Sergeant in the San Francisco Police Department, dies. He has to solve his own murder with the help of a nine-tailed celestial fox.) My son and my husband have also read that one.
I am sure that there are other good ones and if I think of others I will leave another comment.
Tracy, wonderful! I’m just about to start my next CF after a ‘cozy” Agatha Christie. Your suggestions (…I’ll look at all of them) will be quite a change in tone and suspense!