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BOOK REVIEW: Catherine Cavendish’s ‘The Garden of Bewitchment’

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The Garden of Bewitchment

The Garden of Bewitchment, the latest novel from author Catherine Cavendish, is out on February 20, 2020 from Flame Tree Press, and is a must-read for fans of atmospheric tales of the supernatural that creep into the psyche.

The year is 1893. Identical twin sisters Evelyn and Claire, burgeoning authors obsessed with the writings of the storied Bronte sisters, leave their comfortable home in Yorkshire for a rural manor house on the English moors. Soon after their arrival, they happen upon a child’s game called The Garden of Bewitchment and, without realizing the dangers, unleash horrors they could never imagined plunging them both into circumstances that will make them question everything they have ever known.

One thing becomes very clear by the end of the first two or three chapters of this novel: Cavendish is a master storyteller, capable of building a world that is almost too real for the reader. This is especially important in a novel like this one, and it is an element that her literary ancestors Henry James, Shirley Jackson, Arthur Machen, and yes, the Bronte sisters understood all too well.

How can we understand just how off-kilter her characters feel when the supernatural happens if we can’t first smell the scents of their cooking, feel the stairs that lead to their bedrooms under our feet, hear the sound of their writing as they create new worlds themselves?

So Cavendish gives us those things.

First, she supplies those small details of home life, almost downplaying their importance, until they become second nature to the reader, something we absorb without thought.

Next, she grounds the novel in reality and history with the inclusion of Claire’s obsession with Branwell Bronte. Less well-known that his sisters, Branwell was predominantly a painter and poet who unfortunately seemed born with an addictive personality and would later succumb to alcohol and opiates without ever achieving real fame for his work.

Then, she takes us out onto the moors, themselves, allowing us to feel their impossibly lush green grasses beneath our feet and to become lost in their misty landscapes a time or two for good measure.

Then, when we know the world and are becoming quite comfortable, she not-too-gently slides the very practical rug right out from under us.

Thus, The Garden of Bewitchment becomes a novel that does not so much beg to be read as it commands the next page be turned.

The novel is not without one or two minor flaws which mostly come in the resolution of the final chapters. There are perhaps one or two coincidences that are just a little too convenient, but even those are forgivable when taken within the context of the genre in which the novel is firmly set.

Overall, The Garden of Bewitchment is not only successful but exceptional storytelling by an author who clearly knows what she is doing, and I cannot recommend it enough.

The novel is available for purchase online and fans of traditional ghost stories with their sinister spirits, almost claustrophobic settings, memorable characters, and chilling atmosphere will definitely want to add this book to their collection.

 

For more reading suggestions, check out our review of The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.

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‘Alien’ is Being Made Into a Children’s ABC Book

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Alien Book

That Disney buyout of Fox is making for strange crossovers. Just look at this new children’s book that teaches children the alphabet via the 1979 Alien movie.

From the library of Penguin House’s classic Little Golden Books comes A is for Alien: An ABC Book.

Pre-Order Here

The next few years are going to be big for the space monster. First, just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, we are getting a new franchise film called Alien: Romulus. Then Hulu, also owned by Disney is creating a television series, although they say that might not be ready until 2025.

The book is currently available for pre-order here, and is set to release on July 9, 2024. It might be fun to guess which letter will represent which part of the movie. Such as “J is for Jonesy” or “M is for Mother.”

Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16, 2024. Not since 2017 have we revisited the Alien cinematic universe in Covenant. Apparently, this next entry follows, “Young people from a distant world facing the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Until then “A is for Anticipation” and “F is for Facehugger.”

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Holland House Ent. Announces New Book “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

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Screenwriter and Director Tom Holland is delighting fans with books containing scripts, visual memoirs, continuation of stories, and now behind-the-scenes books on his iconic films. These books offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, script revisions, continued stories and the challenges faced during production. Holland’s accounts and personal anecdotes provide a treasure trove of insights for movie enthusiasts, shedding new light on the magic of filmmaking! Check out the press release below on Hollan’s newest fascinating story of the making of his critically acclaimed horror sequel Psycho II in a brand new book!

Horror icon and filmmaker Tom Holland returns to the world he envisioned in 1983’s critically acclaimed feature film Psycho II in the all-new 176-page book Oh Mother, What Have You Done? now available from Holland House Entertainment.

‘Psycho II’ House. “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Authored by Tom Holland and containing unpublished memoirs by late Psycho II director Richard Franklin and conversations with the film’s editor Andrew London, Oh Mother, What Have You Done? offers fans a unique glimpse into the continuation of the beloved Psycho film franchise, which created nightmares for millions of people showering worldwide.

Created using never-before-seen production materials and photos – many from Holland’s own personal archive – Oh Mother, What Have You Done? abounds with rare hand-written development and production notes, early budgets, personal Polaroids and more, all set against fascinating conversations with the film’s writer, director and editor which document the development, filming, and reception of the much-celebrated Psycho II.  

‘Oh Mother, What Have you Done? – The Making of Psycho II

Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

“Reading them,” continues Holland, “was like being transported back in time, and I had to share them, along with my memories and personal archives with the fans of Psycho, the sequels, and the excellent Bates Motel. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I did in putting it together. My thanks to Andrew London, who edited, and to Mr. Hitchcock, without whom none of this would have existed.”

“So, step back with me forty years and let’s see how it happened.”

Anthony Perkins – Norman Bates

Oh Mother, What Have You Done? is available now in both hardback and paperback through Amazon and at Terror Time (for copies autographed by Tom Holland)

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Sequel to ‘Cujo’ Just One Offering in New Stephen King Anthology

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It’s been a minute since Stephen King put out a short story anthology. But in 2024 a new one containing some original works is getting published just in time for summer. Even the book title “You Like It Darker,” suggests the author is giving readers something more.

The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com.

The website also gives a synopsis of some of the other shorts in the book: “The other tales include ‘Two Talented Bastids,’ which explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills, and ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ about a brief and unprecedented psychic flash that upends dozens of lives. In ‘The Dreamers,’ a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored while ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.”

Here’s the table of contents from “You Like It Darker,”:

  • “Two Talented Bastids”
  • “The Fifth Step”
  • “Willie the Weirdo”
  • “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
  • “Finn”
  • “On Slide Inn Road”
  • “Red Screen”
  • “The Turbulence Expert”
  • “Laurie”
  • “Rattlesnakes”
  • “The Dreamers”
  • “The Answer Man”

Except for “The Outsider” (2018) King has been releasing crime novels and adventure books instead of true horror in the past few years. Known mostly for his terrifying early supernatural novels such as “Pet Sematary,” “It,” “The Shining” and “Christine,” the 76-year-old author has diversified from what made him famous starting with “Carrie” in 1974.

A 1986 article from Time Magazine explained that King planned on quitting horror after he wrote “It.” At the time he said there was too much competition, citing Clive Barker as “better than I am now” and “a lot more energetic.” But that was almost four decades ago. Since then he’s written some horror classics such as “The Dark Half, “Needful Things,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Bag of Bones.”

Maybe the King of Horror is waxing nostalgic with this latest anthology by revisiting the “Cujo” universe in this latest book. We will have to find out when “You Like It Darker” hits bookshelves and digital platforms starting May 21, 2024.

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