Book Review: The Mammoth Book Of Haunted Houses Stories

Hi readers, 

Today I'm reviewing an anthology of short stories that I have half previously read but never finished and once again, I probably won't finish because as much as I love and have raved about The Mammoth Books before, I just enjoy dipping in and out of them instead of reading them cover to cover. This is because I use them as something to read in between novels or when going on trips/holidays (I'm weird and don't actually like reading on holidays, guess because I'd rather be off exploring!) or like this time around, I couldn't make my mind up about what to read next, so I just decided I needed some inspiration for the short novella I've been writing over on my other blog. Thus I choice a collection about haunted houses!  

To make life easy, I've decided to focus on the stories I've read, but first let me say something about this collection as a whole. I have the expanded edition which has the added stories picked by famous horror movie actors as the last section. Unfortunately, I've not read any of those yet! This anthology is divided into different sections so that stories on the similar themes are group together. I've read Haunted Places; Fact or Fiction, Avenging Spirits and Little Terrors. I like the idea of doing this because you can just read a section that takes your fancy and avoid ones that you might find scary. 

Speaking of, I haven't been scared by the stories I've read so far, but that's mostly because they are mega old dating from 1800's and early 1900's. These stories don't really appeal to me due to their old fashioned style and language. Though there's nothing overall wrong with the writing and characters. Each story opens with this 'fact file' of information about the haunted house in question and a bio of the writer. I found these interested and a good introduction to the stories. There's a mixture of British, American and other places setting, which is nice and keeps the interested up. There's also a range of authors, but they all have one thing in common and that's they are well known for writing supernatural stories. Authors included are; Stephan King, James Herbert, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf.

The first story, The Haunted And The Hunters, has the main character and narrator investigating an an haunted house which is based on a true story. The narrator claims the house has been sent up to keep people away and he is proven true. I did like this one because of the twist at the end and that it reflects the tricks the Victorians used to get people to believe in ghosts. 

The next one, Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, sees a family moved to the coast and stay in a very haunted house. The two daughters see ghostly figures and the father believes them to be burglars. Though it turns out that the remains of a old woman are buried in the back garden and she has been haunting the house. I found this one okay and the descriptions of the ghosts are good.  

A Case of Eavesdropping is set in a New York boardinghouse. A young man gets a room on the top floor and starts hearing a German son and father arguing over marriage and money. He complains about the noise, but nights later he over hears the killing of the son and thus learns that it happened years ago and he's been overhearing these events. I really liked this one because of the tension and the fact that you don't find out the truth till the end. 

Moving on, The Old House in Vauxhall Walk, is the story of a young man who's had an argument with his father and has left home. Luckily he meets an old friend/servant who invites him to stay the night in the house he and has family have just moved out of. There the young man is haunted by a old woman, who turns out hide all her riches and can't rest because of her selfish behavior. I liked the set up to this one and the ending too. 

My favorite has to be No. 252 Rue M. Le Price, which has a group of men stay in a haunted house were dark magic has taken place and the house is now haunted. I liked the creepy feeling to this story and it has a traditional ghost tale about it. It gripped me, though the opening is long, because I really wanted to know what was going to happen!  

The Southwest Chamber is another story set in an America boardinghouse. A teacher comes to stay in a boardinghouse run by two sisters and is put in the room where their aunt died. It turns out she wasn't a good person and there's this whole family saga along side the ghost aunt moving stuff and changing the bedroom around. I liked this story because of the interesting use of the mirror and the ghost making things not as they appear. 

Feet Foremost was one of the last stories I've read. A group of people gather in a house where a young bride was murdered. Her ghost has to be invited into the house and then she kills the person who invited her in. I found this one enjoyable, but the twist at the end just felt it was there as plot device to save the main character's boyfriend.

I've read a few more, but I didn't want to write about them all. I was hoping to have it close to finishing, but I've been busy doing other stuff and like I said at the start I do tend just to dip in and out. I did enjoy reading these, but I do find the age to some of the stories puts me off a bit. I would also say that it wasn't one of my favorite Mammoth collections and I do enjoy the vampire ones more!

Overall, this is a good anthology of short stories with a range of authors and different ghost stories. I'd so recommend this if you are in ghost/haunted house stories. 

Next Monday it's a life update! So, please come from that and also check out my other blog where you can get a story a day. Thanks for reading. 

     

Image from: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580933.The_Mammoth_Book_of_Haunted_House_Stories

Book Review: The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith

Hi readers, 

As some of you might remember from my last post, I was gifted this e-book in exchange for a review. Let me first say it's not what I normally read, but I did find the idea behind it interesting. Though I guess it appealed to the writer side of me more then the reader side! I think this is because, and I've noticed this small issue with reading stories on my kindle before, I'm more aware of mistakes and analyzing the work then just purely reading it for pleasure. Perhaps, the long hours spent sitting at a screen proof-reading and editing mine and other people's works is to blame? Still though, I thought I'd give this go as who says no to a free book? 

That aside, of course everyone knows the story of Snow White. The most famous being Disney's version as a lot of fairy tales are known by and with the cliched ending of  'lived happily ever after.' It seems to me there's been a spur in the re-telling of famous fairy tales, what with a lot of movies focusing on upgrading the stories for adult audiences and I guess authors have been doing the same for years. In this case, Meredith has questioned the 'happily ever after' ending and done away with it to write about what did happen to Snow White and Princes Charming.   

I was a little unsure when I first looked at this e-book. The cover image is really nice, but at no point does Snow White sit at a pond, it merely reflects as -ironic as that sounds!- Snow White looking at her past selfs and reflecting upon many life stages. The story opens with Snow White listening to plans of her daughter's coming wedding, but she seems far too distant and lost in her own thoughts. She deeply misses Charming who has died - he was a lot older then her- and she can't get over how lonely she feels. Also, the fact he use to do everything and was always there for her. 

This deep sense of loss comes over really well and I did feel sad for Snow White because she does get so lost in her grieve that she can't escape from it. However, I thought her having a daughter would give her a greater purpose and something to re-focus on, but Snow White seems to have lost interested in her too. I guess because the daughter is getting married and about to also become 'lost' ? (in a sense). I know the story is about Snow White, but for me the daughter takes too much of a back seat and isn't a good supporting character. Though at the end things do get turned around and Snow White does become a mother figure.  

The plot then goes; desperate to have some peace in her busy castle, Snow White goes to the rooms of her wicked step-mother and discovers the magic mirror. There the mirror shows Snow White moments of her past she has buried and how they prove she is a strong woman. We get a re-telling in parts of the original fairy tale by the Grimm brothers, which is far more horror like then the pretty, flowery Disney version! In this context it works very well though and Meredith goes into detail about the abuse and neglected that the child Snow White faced. 

The other moment that stuck with me was the wedding night sex scene. I accidentally, whilst seeing what other people thought briefly about the e-book, read someone's thoughts on this scene and they described it as being rape. That for whatever reason struck me when I reached that part. I didn't see it that way, but I understand why some women might do. It becomes clear that Snow White knows nothing about sex because no one has ever told her anything. Charming, who clearly does know, doesn't take the time to tell her much and just gets on with it. Though, Snow White does seem to enjoy it. There's not much graphic detail of the sex and what I got out of it was the tradition of it and the fact that a heir was needed. 

After having seen and reflected on these hidden events of her past, Snow White sees that she was wrong about herself and she's not an incapable, weak woman. The abuse and lost she suffered has made her stronger and she was able to move on from them before. This allows her to move on from the death of Charming and grew as a queen. Thus, having a happier old age. 

The plot itself does work well and lots of themes do get explored, including death, loss, depression and love. There was enough interest for me to keep reading and I did want to find out about Snow White's time with Prince Charming. However, it is short. When I first started reading, my Kindle told me it was going to take just over two hours and half to read. For most people, that wouldn't be a bother, but for the writer in me I could see areas that could have been expanded upon. Also and as I've said before, I like my stories to have a linear flow and not be so choppy and jumping to flashbacks. I think having a better and more subtle movements into the flashbacks of the past would have improved the narrative structure. 

My second major issue, and this I know is personal to me more then anything else, is the language that Meredith uses. I get he was really trying to capture the settings and time, which came across to me is medieval style and German (true to the original Snow White), but every few words my dyslexic brain would stumble and I'd be like okay I've no idea what that word means, skip it! And it made it hard going for me. Don't get me wrong though, it is nicely written and there is something poetic and old fashioned romantic about the language, but it might take a few pages to get into. 

I think that many readers will easily be able to connect with the character of Snow White and the themes. Haven't we all lost someone and been in love? She is grieving and doubting herself because of that, though at the end she comes out okay. It does feel realistic to life despite the time setting.  

One of the main things I'm taking away from reading this e-book is that you don't actually need a magic mirror to reflect on your past. Though that'd be very useful! You just need some space and time. For me, reflecting has always come easily, I guess years of writing diaries and sub-consciously thinking in my story writing, then my four uni years of having to review my own work and writing book reviews. I always written when I need to reflect on something, often before I talk to someone about it and that just gives me the chance to gather my thoughts and feelings together. This story just reminded me how important it is to reflect back, because no matter how dark your past there is always some good, even if it's only small. Also, don't let your past hold you back!      

Overall, I did enjoy reading this e-book even though I had a few problems with it, but I think that's more personal to me then actual 'issues' with plot, character and language. I'd recommend this to adults who wonder what happened after 'the happily ever after' because it does give a whole new aspect to the Snow White story which makes her more interesting.  

You can find it here on Amazon;  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflections-Queen-Snow-White-ebook/dp/B00FLF4JAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458591579&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Reflections+of+Queen+Snow+White

Thanks for reading and next week I'm returning to a book that past me did read, but present me has no memory of. I wonder what future me is going to think about it? See you next Monday for that. 

            

My other blog and links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestoryfiles 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=327832

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=208056472&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/

Blogger: http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Wordpress: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley-hardman

Google + : https://plus.google.com/u/0/+HayleyHardman

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thestoryfilesblog

Image from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18780192-the-reflections-of-queen-snow-white

Book Review: Millions Of Women Are Waiting To Meet You by Sean Thomas

Hi readers, 

Though I didn't think I was going to do it, here's a book review for you! Firstly, let me say that my mum found this book for sale in a library close to where she was working last week and thought it'd be a laugh. She knew I'd done internet dating in the past - how I met my last two ex-boyfriends and been on some boring dates with a few guys before too- and the fact I'm currently waiting to sign up for it again. I just need to get myself more together and figure out what I want to do for the next few months and years. 

This book is one man's humors memoir about his experiences internet dating and the women he encountered. Sean is asked by the editor of a magazine whom he currently works for to do a piece about internet dating. With all his expenses, including the first few dates, being paid for, he decides to give it a shot and I guess this is the book he ended up writing afterwards! It is also about his past relationships, growing up, his travels, reflections on relationships and women and some psychological stuff. 

I would say that whilst the audience does seem to be middle-aged/older men, women would also find this book useful. It gives some insight into a man's head, but it's not as deep as say Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus and those kind of books. You know those types of books that actually analyse the way and differences between the thoughts and reactions of men and women. This book uses those points more to back up what'd being said. 

The book opens with Sean debating if and how he should propose to his girlfriend. That leads into the whole world of us getting to know him and he being assigned to discover internet dating. To me it felt true to the experience of online dating; the whole looking at profiles and photos, deciding who you like and if you'll match. Then messaging them and waiting ages, but more likely never, to hear back from them and getting messages from random people too. It has changed the way people now meet and date, but as Sean states, it's made it freer. In the past, for me, it's just been so much easier to meet people online. I guess, I might have to write about my experiences in my life up date posts when I decided to give it ago again! 

I really enjoyed the way Sean writes. I guess because he's a journalist and has had novels published, the flow and humor are naturally there. There's one part that's going to stick with me because I was reading it on the bus and I just burst out laughing. He had put his height wrong and made himself one foot nine instead of five foot eleven! I also enjoyed his description of the women's personalities and he does meet some crazy ladies; like the one who stalks him and sends him birthday cards, the one who's living with a bunch of cats and the one who doesn't like soup. Of course, it being a very 'for lads book' there's a heavy focus on women's bodies and sex, but I just overlooked that stuff. 

Actually, I found his past interesting and though it's interwoven between him talking about these relationships, he brings it into make connections between why he thinks like he does. He's also spent a lot of time traveling and just embracing life and though that's not something I can connect to, I could understand his experiences from doing that. I understood his heartbreak a lot more too and that's something I did deeply connect with. 

If there's one thing that bugged me it was that the flashbacks/reflections of past relationships and the thoughts he has come in-between the 'now' relationships/scene, thus making it very non-linear. I get way he does this because he wants you to read on and because it's making reference to things. I guess if this was a linear memoir it might get a bit boring, but I think it was more to do with the fact that these flashbacks are too long. Not that I forgot where he was and who he was with, but I just thought that in real life you might not have so many flashbacks to past girls all the time whilst you're dating a new girl...or maybe men do that? I don't know.    

Overall, at it's core Millions is a man's reflection on love. I think that if you are interested in internet dating or are currently or maybe just you fancy a laugh at someone's struggles with relationships and to met some interesting characters then it's worth reading. But if you want to figure out why your other half behaves the way they do then go for one of the more psychological aimed books. 

Thanks for reading be sure to check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Next week: hopefully another book review! I just got gifted an e-book by the author in exchange for a fair review. Something I've not done before and I'm looking forward to it! See you next Monday for that.        

Image from: http://www.popmatters.com/review/millions-of-women-are-waiting-to-meet-you-by-sean-thomas/

March Life Update: Getting Crafty!

Hi readers,

I've been so busy over the last few weeks, so this weekend I thought I'd take the time to have a chill. One of my favorite things to do is sewing. I love making little soft toys, key rings and coin pouches. I decided as Mother's Day was yesterday in the UK, I'd make my mum some of the stuff I'd recently been looking at for making with the young people at the youth center. I had all ready made a white bunny, a pink bunny keyring and I re-did the owl coin pouch from last month. I was so not happy with how it turned out, so I made the pattern bigger and give it another shot. It turned out a lot better!

I wanted to make cute bunnies with kids for Easter, but I need something quick and simple. These 'Giving Bunnies' met all my needs and can be found here: http://www.urbanthreads.com/blog/?p=7487. They are really easy to do, so easy in fact that you might end up with a family of them before you know it! I loved adding the bows and the knitted scarfs because it just finished them off. The love heart one was originally meant to have patchwork strips on her, but it didn't turn out as I wanted, so I cut the hearts out and sewed them on.

My mum really loved her's and now I'm hoping the kids at the youth center will do too! I brought the fabric and I went with micro-fleece instead of felt because it's softer and worked out cheaper to bulk buy. I'll be cutting out the bunnies before hand because it'll be easier and the kids just have to sew them up. I won't be knitting scarfs for them all though! But they could put other things on if they wanted.

The second bunny pattern I picked is super cute and is made up as keyring. though you could always re-size the pattern if you wanted create a soft toy or a pillow. The first one I made, I used the stitches the instructions suggested, but it wasn't neat enough for me and I found it hard to keep things the same. I decided to blanket stitch the second one -I made for my mum- and that turned out so much better. Here's the link: http://www.michaelannmade.com/2012/03/little-peep-pal-diy-with-pdf-pattern.html?utm_campaign=sniply

I think for the kids I'm not going to do the strip/gusset to make them 3D, because I found it tricky and I imagine that they'd find it far too hard and just give up. So, we'll be making them flat then stuffing them to give them a little depth instead. I got pink micro-fleece and shall be cutting them out too. I wanted to get some blue for the boys or those girls who didn't want pink and I was unable to because it wasn't half price like the white and pink and I didn't want to spend a lot of money. (I can claim my money back via the resources department, but as the youth center is a charity I always feel a bit bad about claiming money back from them). I'll offer blue felt instead, I think.

I was going to make an owl coin pouch for my mum like my re-did one, but I found this one and decided it looked a lot better; http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2014/10/felt-owl-coin-purse-hidden-closure.html I love the hidden button and it turned out great. I know I should have used matching thread for the eyes, but I wanted to give it that homemade look. My mum really liked this and said she was going to put £2 coins in which she likes to collect. It also matches the bag and purse I got her at Christmas. I have half fancy making one for myself, but I really don't have need of another coin purse right now! I know I friend who might like one though....

Also, here's the one I re-did! It turned out a lot better and I can actually fit money inside of it. I added some stuffing to the wings and eyes because I didn't like how flat it looked. The pattern can be found on the same website as the other one.

Lastly, I made this felt love heart with a hanger and stitched mum on it. I made these with the kids last Tuesday. I'd actually wanted to make mini no sew heart cushions, but I got the pattern size wrong and it only works with like A4 size, which would have meant using up too much felt at the youth center and then I know some of the kids can't tie knots, so I went for an easier option. We made these and put dried lavender and scented beads, which I had left over from ages ago when they made the scented pouches. The kids really seemed to like them. My mum likes her's too.

Today, I made a felt Pusheen kitty. The pattern has been on my desk since I printed out the other stuff and though I'm not a big fan of cats, it looked like another things to get the kids at the Factory to make. Though I'll have to make the pattern simpler because it is a little complicated. The guy's tutorial video is bad and after I watched it I just made Pusheen up as I would a normal 3D soft toy. I don't get why he cuts off the feet and stitches them and the belly on separately and the space he leaves for turning kitty the right way and stuffing is far too small!

So, if you're going to make this, I'd say watch the video to get understand where all the pieces go, then just make it up how you'd normally do. Here's the links: http://grnmarco.deviantart.com/art/Pusheen-The-Cat-Template-367261676
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gckh0vI-i4

Mine turned out okay. I know I didn't get the mouth right, maybe I might change that later and yeah, I did glue all the black parts on. It was so much easier then sewing due to the fact they are small. I think for the kids, I'd just get them to make it flat or with just the belly gusset. Doesn't the little tail look so cute though?

The second part of update post is that I finally got around to making two pieces of art! I'm no artist, in fact I'm super bad at drawing and art as a whole. I know I do a lot of arty stuff with the kids, but it's normally simple easy stuff. I saw these two projects on Pinterest and decided that I wanted to give them ago even if I didn't do them at the factory.

The first is this sun catcher photo frame where you use food coloring and glue to paint on the glass. I thought it looked very effective and easy for the kids to do. It can be found here: http://www.smartschoolhouse.com/diy-crafts/stained-glass-art#_a5y_p=3565407 I won't be using mine as sun catcher as I've not got any place to really put it at the moment. I just like it in the frame, it looks really pretty, though of course of the sun coming through it'd light up real nice. I also thought it'd be a great way to use up old photo frames - if anyone's got any laying around. I can image the kids getting very hands on with doing this! They love making messes!

Mine was still wet this morning and the red -maybe I used to much? - had really bled into the other colors. I only used red, yellow, orange and blue, but they seemed to have mixed together too much. I've put it on the heater to finish drying now, but I'm thinking maybe I might try again and not add red. Though then I'd have another photo frame that I couldn't really put anywhere! I'm thinking you could do this was glass paints and glitter glue too and that's probably what I'll use with the kids because my fingers are now stained red...

The next thing is my button tree! I've been talking about doing this since last September/November and yesterday, I decided it was time to make it. Unfortunately, the image I'd picked to copy, I can't find anywhere! It was a purple and pink dripping together background with the tree in the center. I had to use this one instead http://craftsbyamanda.com/vibrant-button-tree-on-canvas-a-giveaway, but of course I didn't make mine look like that because it seemed to take on a life of it's own...

I'm okay with how it turned out, but I wish I'd made the tree trunk smaller and got more branches and leaves/buttons at the top. I'm sure it'll look fine on my wall though, which is what I wanted it for. As a DIY art piece it was cheap to make. I got the canvas for £3 as it was on sale, the paint was £1 a bottle, I used four bottles as I added some black glitter paint on top and I used some for the paint before to make the Halloween/Christmas jars. The buttons I paid £4 for 200 grams off Amazon and I've LOT left over! So, it was about £11 all together and it took me about 3 hours to make including paint drying time. The buttons need over night to dry, of course. I might look at making another one or I've seen like four canvas together to make the four seasons and I really like the look of that. I need more wall space first though!

So that's everything I've been up to, but I got one last thing to share for today. A few weekends back now, I saw this knitting pattern for a whale in one of my mum's knitting magazines and I just fell in love with him and had to have him. We got the wool really cheap and he only took a weekend to make up. I love him so much and use him as a body pillow. He's like 3 foot long and takes up a quarter of my single bed! I swear I've been sleeping better with him too. He's got a snugly underside and the top of him is getting softer the more I rest my head on him. This photo doesn't really show how huge he is, but he's taking up two seats on the corner sofa and that was the only place I could find to put him for the photo!

Currently, my mum is knitting me a sparkly purple triceratops. I was hoping she'd be finished in time to write and show today, but mum didn't want to mess up the last of the horns and sewing her together, so I'll have to wait. Though that's okay because I've got a felt stegosaurus to make. I really wanted to make a felt triceratops but couldn't find any free patterns and the cheapest ones to download still seemed expensive to me when I could have a go at making my own. As it turned out, mum got the knitted pattern for free and I decided I liked it so much that it'd do instead.

So that's all for now. Thanks for reading. Next week is meant to be a book review, but I only just finished The End Of Days, so I'm not sure what'll pick up to read tonight. In the mean time please check out my other blog, where a write a short story everyday.

Links:

For the patterns;
http://www.urbanthreads.com/blog/?p=7487
http://www.michaelannmade.com/2012/03/little-peep-pal-diy-with-pdf-pattern.html?utm_campaign=sniply
http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2014/10/felt-owl-coin-purse-hidden-closure.html
 http://grnmarco.deviantart.com/art/Pusheen-The-Cat-Template-367261676
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gckh0vI-i4
http://www.smartschoolhouse.com/diy-crafts/stained-glass-art#_a5y_p=3565407
http://craftsbyamanda.com/vibrant-button-tree-on-canvas-a-giveaway/

Me on Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/hails9/
My other blog, The Story Files: https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Photos:
All my own.