New Reads - The Monstrumologist

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Much more violent than I expected... Cringingly so. This one makes me wonder what YA genre is, exactly. I compare it to the style of The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, which was marketed as adult, albeit not horror. I actually think teens might have a difficult time with the language in this book, but they probably deserve the challenge.

And cheers to the Printz committee for awarding this book an Honor. The story is not typical awards fare (and thank goodness for that!), but it definitely stands out for the authentic voice and beautifully written, and effectively nauseating, prose.



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Help Me Create the Ultimate Nightmare!

Hello Everyone,

Last October, in celebration of The Stone Child's release, I presented a contest on this blog where I wrote a ghost story a day and asked you all to guess whether it was "real" or "fiction."

THIS YEAR, to say "cheers" to The NIGHTMARYS, my newest book, I'm doing something different.

I invite you to participate in my next writing project. I want to hear about your greatest fears, nightmares, and phobias.

In the comments section of this post, leave me a little story. It can be a description of your worst nightmare. It can be an experience that totally freaked you out or something you fear might happen.

At the end of the month, on Halloween, I will read through your comments, plucking elements from each to create one huge, epic Nightmare story which I will post on this site. And I will choose at random a commenter who participates to receive a signed hardcover copy of The NIGHTMARYS.

How's that for a Halloween surprise?

A couple caveats: to win, you must follow this blog. AND, if I feel like I'm not getting enough comments from you, dear readers, the game is forfeit. SO SPREAD THE WORD. If you want to help me write my next scary story... direct your friends to this site. And tell them to scare me!

Together, we can frighten the WORLD. Mwah-hah-hah!

All best nightmares,
Dan