The Night Eaters is a gorgeous graphic horror novel by by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, which tells the story of a Chinese American family. Ipo and Keon, the parents, are in town visiting their children, twins Milly and Billy, who are working hard to keep their restaurant afloat. Despite their hard work, however, the parents wonder if they’ve been too soft on their children, wondering if they are going to be able to stand on their own.
Underlying this struggle is a deeper mystery. The house across the street is overgrown and eerie in appearance. When Ipo enlists her children to help her clean up the house, the hellish truth behind the haunted structure is revealed, as well as hidden family truths.
The story feels both grounded in family conflict, while at the same time providing an interesting exploration of the fantastical — along with darker and more dangerous threats that are likely to come in future volumes. This, combined with the stunning, layered artwork makes for a beautiful, unsettling book. I can’t wait to read more from these authors, and I may have to also catch up on their previous work, Monstress.
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.”
Poetry as Spellcasting, written and edited by Tamiko Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, and Lisbeth White is a beautiful collection of essays and poetry about the ways in which poetry connects to and reflects the sacred, spiritual, and magical — and the ways the author use the act of writing poetry as a sacred practice, a form of healing, a method for connecting with ancestors and community, and a path toward building a better future. In addition to the essays and poetry, the book includes prompts and suggestions to delving into poetry while staying grounded and connected to spirit.
System Collapse is the seventh book in Martha Wells’ Murderbot series — one of my all-time favorite series and one of the few that I feel compelled to continue reading after the first few books. Murderbot is still its sarcastic self, but lacks the usual confidence when it comes to facing incoming dangers and protecting its humans. The harrowing events have left their mark on Murderbot. Although its mechanical aspects are able to recover quickly, its organic bits are marked by trauma, causing panic attacks. But life doesn’t stop for trauma and new dangers arise while the team works to help the surviving colonists on an alien remnants contaminated planet. I love the way this book continues to evolve this character and its relationships with the bots and humans who have become its family. This is such a wonderful series.
Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones is the second book of the Indian Lake Trilogy. Four years after the deadly events of the first book, Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is released released from when her murder conviction is overturned. She returns to her home in the rural lake town of Proofrock a different person. After the trauma of surviving the Independence Day Massacre and the years being ground down by the prison system, Jade has revert to her birth name of Jennifer and is more reserved. She has let go of her obsession with slasher movies and attempts to let go of the past.
Tracy Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop is an excellent read for anyone looking into understanding the full scope of the game design process. The book carries the reader through every step of the process, from ideation to prototyping, development and iteration, QA testing, and publishing. In addition, she provides Exercises at the end of most sections that provide the reader with an opportunity to further explore the concepts in a practical way, which also offers a means of building a portfolio of work as you follow along (a step that I skipped at this time, but intend to pursue down the road).