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Monster Kid Request: The Hunt for “Fearsome Critters”

         

 

Well, his birthday is not until September but the Monster Kid came to me last night and told me what he wanted for his birthday.

Specifically, he requested a book called Fearsome Critters. 

“You remember, Mom, Dad had a copy for Monster Librarian. It had the Hodag in it.” (The Hodag?)

We looked it up on Amazon. There are some interesting books that come up on Amazon when you search the term “fearsome critters” but the only book of that name appeared to have been written many, many years ago. So, not one that we would have had sent to us for review.  I knew the book he was talking about, so I could identify the front cover.  It is not a book that appears on Amazon, or comes up at usedbooksearch.net, although the first book we found, Fearsome Critters by Henry H. Tryon, kept popping up, as well as one by Alvin Schwartz that looked pretty neat, called Kickle Snifters and Other Fearsome Critters. This, I am sure, is a children’s book, based in folklore, because that’s what Alvin Schwartz wrote (he was also the compiler for the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark books).  A book that did pop up during our Amazon search, and a much more recent choice, would be Monica Farrier’s Mysterious Beasties of the Northwoods: Creatures from North American Folklore. It’s described as an illustrated field guide, but I can’t tell whether it would be a good choice for children (illustrated=interesting to look at, as far as the Monster Kid is concerned, but I have no idea if it’s age appropriate in content) I’m not sure why she substituted “mysterious beasties” for “fearsome critters”, since “fearsome critters” is clearly the term that is most widely used.

“I need the second book, Mom, The Return of The Fearsome Critters.”  Okay, more information is always good. Still nothing on Amazon, although it does look like I could get my very own baby doll “fearsome critters” T-shirt if I want to.  So back to usedbooksearch.net I go. And yes! There is a book with that title by an author named Warren S. James, at both AbeBooks.com and Biblio.com, for sale from a tiny independent bookseller in Canada, Laird Books. There’s a picture of the cover, and the cover is the one I remember. This is the book! Laird Books identifies it as a children’s book, so now I just have to figure out where in the house it has wandered off to, or snag a copy from this bookstore in Canada. Problem solved.

But what is more interesting to me than the book the Monster Kid was really asking about is that there is actually an original book titled Fearsome Critters, and it was written in 1939 by a man named Henry H. Tryon, to document the tales told by lumberjacks about the creatures that inhabited the northwoods. So “fearsome critters” aren’t just the fictional invention of one man, they’re part of an entire tradition of scary stories about creatures that might have been lurking just outside the reach of the light of the campfires. Creatures that, yes, even scared burly lumberjacks. And I discovered that you can read an illustrated copy online, at lumberwoods.com, which has all kinds of interesting information about fearsome critters, including online copies of two additional books written on the same subject:  Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by William T. Cox, (published in 1910), and  The Hodag, And Other Tales Of The Logging Camps by Luke Kearny (published in 1928) written on the same subject. Not only that, but a composer named Laurence Bitensky has actually written a musical score for wind ensemble, with a narrator, based partially on the descriptions found in Tryon’s book! You can listen to it here.

So there. Campfire stories to give you the creeps don’t have to come from urban legend. There is a tradition of frightening American folklore built right in to not just the present, but the past. Then, as now, there was plenty to be afraid of in the dark. Remember that the next time you pitch a tent in the woods as the sun is going down.

Or, instead, you could turn the pages of one of these guides in the comfort of your home, with your monster-loving kid sitting, mesmerized by the habits of the Hodag, right beside you.

 

 

 

Posted on July 5, 2014 by , 2 comments

Book Review: Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1491046883

Available: Paperback, Kindle, Audible Book, Digital Lending

 

For those fans of Alexandra Sokoloff’s supernatural gems, such as The Harrowing, The Price, or The Unseen, this thriller (book 1 of The Huntress/FBI Thrillers) will illuminate another facet of this talented author’s skills. For those who are tired of the serial killer novel,  give this one a shot and be prepared to shed preconceptions of the subgenre.  The concept of a female serial killer is relatively untouched territory, with only a couple of other quality entries in modern literature. Sokoloff creates a killer who is complex enough to be real, rising above any tropes, but is stone cold in her methods. Peeling away the layers of this character is worth the price of the book itself, but like any of her novels, Sokoloff presents quite an enjoyable story, as well.

With her background in screenwriting, one might be quick to worry that her books might be static, or lack the three-dimensional quality necessary for a knockout novel. Sokoloff, however, also has a background in theater, and her ability to emote from the point of view of  any of her characters is uncanny. She truly is ‘inside their heads’. To live within the killer’s head is chilling, yet, at times, touching and thought provoking.

The story itself? FBI Agent Matthew Roarke watches a fellow agent become a hood ornament for a passing bus– just a moment after he appears to hear a woman say something to him. The woman disappears into the crowd, leaving readers with the feeling she is somehow familiar. The hunt is on, and it’s far from cliché.

We find the “Huntress” wandering on a beach, where she meets a recently divorced man and his young child. What ensues is unexpected, and ratchets up the suspense to that intense level readers expect of Sokoloff’s horror. While Huntress Moon is not, strictly speaking, a horror novel, terror like this should be found in any psychological thriller worth its salt. The cat and mouse game is nothing new, but Sokoloff’s lean writing mesmerizes the reader; her style quickly captivates and intrigues. Her settings are vividly painted in a manner usually reserved for books that spend many more pages on scenery development. If  a reader’s tastes run towards dark thrillers with fully fleshed-out characters, and stories that keep the neurons firing long after the covers have shut, then this series is for you.

Highly recommended for high school to adults

Reviewed by David Simms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 3, 2014 by , Reply

Guest Post by Piers Torday: Climate Change Horror: Too Real For Middle Grade?

Piers Torday photo credit James Betts

 

     Piers Torday is the author of the middle grade novel The Last Wild, a unique book that deals with a topic usually dealt with in nonfiction with children– climate change. I asked Piers why he chose to write fiction on this topic for children instead of teens or adults, and he wrote this guest post for us here. Having just returned from vacation in Alaska, where my children actually held a chunk of melting glacier in their hands, this hits home for me. For them, it was a novelty and photo opportunity, although I found it to be pretty disturbing to see the pieces melting in front of me. Now that I’m home and have read what he has to say,  I think it’s very important for there to be books like his, that appeal to the imagination while creating an opportunity for awareness of this situation. Look for a review of The Last Wild to be posted shortly. Many thanks to Piers for sharing his thoughts with us.

CLIMATE CHANGE HORROR: TOO REAL FOR MIDDLE GRADE?

 

Of our many fears that can animate great stories, for me perhaps the greatest and the most palpable is our fear of the future. Wherever you stand on the politics, from dwindling (not to mention overheating) power supplies to water wars, housing space to food security, we all face major ecological challenges in the years ahead.

Most of those challenges, whether they come in the form of rising sea levels, increased immigration or extreme weather, are not predicted to come fully online until later in the century. It’s the middle grade readers of today who will have to face them.

The level of economic and political sacrifice required to avert major climate change make it nigh impossible for any decisive global unity on how to approach it. Certainly I don’t pretend to have the answers. What I do know for sure is that it’s going to take more than recycling the odd soda can to change anything.

The first problem with tackling this subject for middle grade readers is no one, especially children, likes being lectured to. Saving the planet, as the science currently stands, would require a level of sacrifice across the board that makes it hard for one person or country to stand up and tell another how to behave. I am writing this blog on a computer (and you’re probably reading it on one) which I use constantly for my work and am not really prepared to use much less. And I am just one of seven billion people on the planet who probably, given the chance, would all like to use a computer which they can turn on and off at will.

The second problem is that, unless you’re a polar bear on a shrinking ice cap, it still feels very abstract. Statistical modelling of carbon emissions and ocean acidity levels are hard to grasp at any age, and bar the odd unexpected hurricane or drought, most young people in the West don’t necessarily experience the effects of climate change in a tangible first hand way. Yet.

As a storyteller, I relish the challenge of animating these vital issues for the readers in whose hands the planet’s future resides.  First off, I can ask some questions. Do animals have an equal right to share this planet with us? What is greater within us, the desire for consumption or the ability to conserve?

Secondly, these abstract concepts are a gift for metaphor. In The Last Wild series I’m primarily using the animal characters – a heroic stag, a brave cockroach, some ditzy pigeons, a mini-spread of biodiversity – to represent the earth itself and through their different characters, provide some emotional heart to global issues that can feel dry and lacking in genuine, page-turning jeopardy.

Then, rather than scaremongering developing minds with totally bleak catastrophe scenarios (although there is no denying their power) in telling the story of my hero’s quest to save the last animals left alive on earth, what I can offer most of all is hope. Because, believe it or not, what I really feel is that human beings – through our curiosity, ingenuity and humanity – do have the ability to overcome those challenges and still make Earth a pleasant place to live for all creatures. If we choose.

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Piers Torday is the author of The Last Wild (Viking, $16.99). The sequel, The Dark Wild is due out next spring. You can follow him on Twitter @PiersTorday or catch up with him at www.pierstorday.co.uk.

Posted on June 28, 2014 by , Reply
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