October 4

Glass by Ellen Hopkins


This review is part of MonsterLibrarian.com’s celebration of Banned Books Week. You can read all our reviews here.

McElderry; Reprint edition, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1416940913
Available: New and Used

Glass is the direct follow up to Crank. Glass continues the story of Kristina Snow after she’s had her baby, and kicked meth and nicotine, shortly before her eighteenth birthday. It follows her relapse in her struggle with the meth monster and goes farther than Crank imagined. Sharp and painful, Glass is hard to read. For one, Kristina seems to not even care that she’s making such horrible mistakes. Almost on autopilot in her quest to fill simple needs, this reader more than once wanted to reach into the lines and try to shake some sense into her.

While Crank goes very far to combat drug use as an introductory tale, Glass is Anti-Drug 201, a hardcore look at more of the nasty side effects of addiction, as good as an uncut marathon of Intervention with viewers thrust, uncomfortably, inside Kristina’s head. There’s no doubt it will be too much for many readers, either too brutal, or too close to home. Hopkins savagely slices through any illusions of “normal life” with beautiful poems and style that makes the story she’s telling all the more horrific. Highly recommended.

Contains: sex, drug use, language, domestic violence

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October 1

Crank by Ellen Hopkins


This review is part of MonsterLibrarian.com’s celebration of Banned Books Week. You can read all our reviews here.

McElderry; Original edition, 2004
ISBN-13: 978-0689865190
Available: New and Used

Crank is Ellen Hopkins’ controversial, and sorely needed, verse novel. Kristina Snow’s life changes forever when her father and the boy she’s crushing introduce her to meth. Unlike Impulse, which is raw and shredding in its emotion, Crank is almost cold at times, brutally showing a girl on the edge of being a woman, who should have the kind of life that discourages drug use, choosing to ride with the monster time after time. Likewise, the people in her life who should be able to step in, fail, leaving Kristina alone to fight a beast that defeats most adults.

Crank is a difficult book to handle, but it’s far closer to reality than any drug awareness program I went through in school. Hopkins’ books are strongly positioned to be of great value as fiction, as poetry, and for their educational value, as they boldly strip away pretenses and sensitivities to show addiction as the cruel master it is. Highly recommended for public collections as well as recommended reading material for those whose lives have been scarred by the real life monsters on our streets.

Contains: sex, drug use, rape, language
Review by Michele Lee

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September 28

Pets, Pets and next time on…

A few bits from my life lately.

First,  our household has grown. Meet Kenshi and Pokey (who are shy because they’re not used to the water yet, according to my 6 year old.)

Last week we were talking about seriously considering setting up a tank and the next day we were given one. Of course we had to get the trimmings (which had to wait for pay day) but as of right now Kenshi and Pokey have been with us for nine hours, which (sadly) is the longest I’ve ever managed to keep fish. (Keep in mind that I was a kid those three other times. And I did keep a crawfish for over a year.)

So right now I’m sitting here like a kid again trying not to rush in and check on them every few minutes and marveling that everything’s going well so far. And of course there’s their names. Not to mention unlike all the other fish I’ve tried to keep (which comes up to like 10) they are…well they’ve got real personality. They’ve been playing with things, and playing tag and watching the bubbles from the bubble stone. And they’ve been watching us too.

I’ve never had fish with such personality before (of course I always went with goldfish before too). They are so adorable. (And I’m gushing again. Onward!)

The rest of the week is going to be serious discussion like stuff. In fact, I’m probably going to be boring for a while because between work, working on a kids’ zombie book (that I want to have done to give personal copies to my kiddos for Yule. See, they’re tired of me writing things they can’t read. They like zombies too and want a zombie book that’s scary and funny but not too scary or grown up. Or so I was told.), and trying to prep for Word Fantasy Con (yes, I start preparing a month early, don’t you?) and working on my massive review list I’m very busy and with stuff I’m sure no one else would find fascinating. See this is the part of writing (and life) that gets hidden behind the fun-dazzling-excitement of Stuff! This is the part that people are always looking for a way around. This is putting in the work.

Of course there is fun stuff, like the margarita/hot tub/pinball party with the Horror Belles I’m attending Saturday. And Horror Library volume 4 which I did final proofs on and will be seeing soon. And Dark Futures (OMG look at that table of contents!! Some of my favorite writers are on there! And I can say the same about Horror Library 4!) is out. And I have 3 invites to submit I’m working on.

But I don’t really have anything “officially” coming out after this (though I have several things in a “probably sale but not finalized yet” category. It doesn’t help that there’s been a lot of complications with markets closing or failing or what not this year.

But this is the life, you know, balancing family and work and trying to find time to get words or mutilating manuscripts edit.

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September 28

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins


This review is part of MonsterLibrarian.com’s celebration of Banned Books Week. You can read all our reviews here.

McElderry; 1st Simon Pulse edition, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1416903574
Available: New and Used

Floored, that’s how readers will feel even when they are only part of the way into this breathtaking tale of three teens admitted to a mental care center after each has attempted suicide. While the book is large, 666 pages, it’s written in poetry form, so it’s a fast read. The terrible story of how these three kids, who should be enjoying the last years of high school, ended up where they are, is boiled down to terse, powerful, images that will leave readers feeling scarred.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It puts adults into the head space of serious teen suffering and offers teens a real, honest look at how addiction, parasitic relationships and mental disorders (like depression and bipolar disorder) work, washing it all with a message of sympathy and solidarity. There are an increasing number of books out there designed to help parents and teens understand and cope with the big, very real, problems that they face. But none that I’ve read have been as real as Impulse. It skips the clinical approach altogether and puts the reader directly into the characters’ heads, slowly revealing their lives, even as they themselves face up to the significance of things. Few books are must-reads in the large scope of fiction, but for teens and even parents suffering from or seeking to support someone who struggles with these issues, Impulse is a must-read. Nothing else crosses the barrier between “normal” and not with such strength and odd beauty. Impulse simply should be available in all public collections.

Contains: references to sex, addiction, self mutilation, suicide, language

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September 23

In the Closet, Under the Bed

Reviewed for The Letter‘s book review site

ISBN: 9780981863214

While Lee Thomas is no newcomer to GLBT-themed horror it’s possible you’ve not heard of him before. If so, this quiet-looking book is your chance to experience a dazzling, sometimes blistering, example of queer horror.

In the Closet, Under the Bed is a collection of fifteen horror tales that range in scope from the horrors of being gay, to the the unique, strange and sometimes erotic horror drawn to an unconventional life. You’ll never think of bears the same way again after “Down to Sleep”. Thomas tackles shame, the delicate difficulty of pretending to the point of maintaining a “traditional” family and even the hidden complications of gay spousal abuse. And the one story told from a female perspective, “They Would Say She Danced” is perhaps the most poignant despite addressing the intricacies of gay life from an outside point of view.

Absolutely dark, absolutely queer Thomas’ collection would collapse without with either the gay or horror aspects. Breathtaking only begins describe this example of what horror, science fiction and fantasy could be, if it could just drag itself out of the closet. Highly recommend.

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