The best (and creepiest) quotes from “The Stepford Wives” by Ira Levin

“Look at that sky,” he said. “Worth every penny it cost us.”

“Look at that sky,” he said. “Worth every penny it cost us.”

The day was vivid and gem-edged, a signal of autumn.

Joanna looked after her, and into the cart of another woman going slowly past her. My God, she thought, they even fill their carts neatly! She looked into her own: a jumble of boxes and cans and jars. A guilty impulse to put it in order prodded her; but I’m damned if I will! she thought, and grabbed a box from the shelf—Ivory Snow—and tossed it in. Didn’t even need the damn stuff!

That’s what she was, Joanna felt suddenly. That’s what they all were, all the Stepford wives: actresses in commercials, pleased with detergents and floor wax, with cleansers, shampoos, and deodorants. Pretty actresses, big in the bosom but small in the talent, playing suburban housewives unconvincingly, too nicey-nice to be real.

They never stop, these Stepford wives. They something something all their lives. Work like robots. Yes, that would fit. They work like robots all their lives.

I’m not crazy, she thought. I’m not crazy.

Oh, right, episode 27! The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

What is time? It seems like just yesterday I was finishing up this excellent piece of classic horror/satire.

What is time? It seems like just yesterday I was finishing up this excellent piece of classic horror/satire.

I went in with fairly low expectations. Honestly, I read it because it was available at the library, and I figured why not? (And how bad could it be?)

Well, it wasn’t bad at all! In fact, as I mentioned on Insta, it made me genuinely anxious as I got closer and closer to the end.

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it! And if you have, give a listen to the episode and let me know what you think – robots? Drugs? The wallpaper?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unpleasantville-the-stepford-wives-by-ira-levin/id1469388636?i=1000470462406

Episode 26 is out! Take a spooky adventure with me and Gustav Gloom

I can’t read pandemic horror right now, spooky friends, so instead I turned to middle-grade goth spooky silly adventure story – and the first in a series! It’s cute, charming, and Gustav is like a young Edward Scissorhands (without the scissors) and the setting is quite Burton-esque. That’s a compliment!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-black-everything-gustav-gloom-people-taker-by-adam/id1469388636?i=1000469841515

If you need a nice break from news of the global pandemic, you can finish the book in an afternoon.

Aurelien’s favorite quotes from “Magic for Liars” by Sarah Gailey

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34594037-magic-for-liars

Non-spoilery, as always!

As Mrs. Webb’s voice finally began to crack with the strain of screaming, the books in the middle of the Theoretical Magic section of the library at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages began to whisper once more.

Across the bay, San Francisco bled money like an unzipped artery.

I tried not to feel temporary. Just for a few seconds. But trying not to feel something isn’t the same as not feeling it, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I was alone again. That’s how life goes. People don’t stick.

The lie was as obvious as if it were a tarantula perched astride his wide, thin-lipped mouth.

This time was going to be different. This time was going to be better. This time, I was going to be enough.

I pushed my shoulders back as I walked to the table and tried to look like I hadn’t just been giving myself a pep talk in a bathroom that had phone numbers written on the walls.

It is a testament to my unparalleled self-control that I nodded politely at this, rather than telling him to sew himself into a burlap sack so I could throw him into the ocean.

Want to talk horror movie final girls and poetry on the podcast?

Hey spooky friends! Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there.

Do you love horror movies and especially final girls/heroines?

Do you want to come on an episode of the podcast?

I started reading Claire C. Holland’s great poetry collection “I Am Not Your Final Girl”, poems inspired by horror movie final girls. And then started thinking about the episode I wanted to do and realized.. I just haven’t seen enough of these horror movies!

So I’d love to find a guest-host for the episode who wants to geek out about final girls and horror movies like Rosemary’s Baby, Silence of the Lambs, Carrie, The Craft, The Ring, and Martha Marcy May Marlene (among others!)

It’s a great set of poems and a super easy read. If you’re stuck inside, have a microphone, and want to talk horror, email me at spookysistersbookclub@gmail.com!

Musing on choose-your-own-adventure stories

“But perhaps the more existential problem is that it makes a book difficult to really end. The work exists to showcase there is no right choice… The experience is then about sampling them all. Of remaining within.” 

David Lerner Schwartz
How Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Continues to Show Up in Literary Fiction

I love this quote from the piece above, written by David Lerner Schwartz. I think it perfectly captures the appeal, and the eventual monotony, of choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA) stories. I have always loved choosing my own adventures but never thought too much about why.

One of my favorite Sylvia Plath quotes explores a similar feeling:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” 💗

CYOA stories allow us to explore a freedom, a level of choice and undoable regret, that we’ll never experience in our own lives.

What do you think? Especially in a time of anxiety, do CYOA stories give us a sense of control and comfort?

Episode 25! Let’s discuss Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Tor Books, 2019

It was a feeling like nostalgia, but for something I’d never done. Something I’d never had.

Murder! Mages! Hard-boiled detective noir meets magic school fantasy, with a dash of sibling rivalry, and scads of teen angst in “Magic for Liars” by Sarah Gailey. Aurelien reviews this trope-busting, genre-crossing mystery novel, and digs into the alluring dream of the Hogwarts letter, with call-outs to X-Men, “The Magicians”, and Bewitched (1964-1972).

Have you read “Magic for Liars”? Listen to the episode, then let me know what you thought!

Apple // Stitcher // Google // iHeartRadio

Bored in quarantine? Read some flash fiction with me!

Take a 5 minute adventure with me through some flash fiction! Super short fiction, all of them under 1000 words, and interesting, weird, bizarre, fantastical, and in one of them, pretty effing horrifying.

Not sure what to do with yourself? Surrounded by piles of books, and not sure where to start?

Why not take a 5 minute adventure with me through some flash fiction? Super short fiction, all of them under 1000 words, and interesting, weird, bizarre, fantastical, and in one of them, pretty effing horrifying.

Listen to my mini episode to decide which one is for you or go ahead and read them all!

* “The Man in My Closet” by Amy Clark: https://everydayfiction.com/the-man-in-my-closet-by-amy-clark/

For fans of: magical realism with a dark underbelly; if you liked the tv show “Man Seeking Woman”; if you wanted “Fight Club” to be a little sunnier; and if you like your weirdness firmly grounded in reality.

* “How to Clean Out A Cupboard” by Cheryl Powell: https://everydayfiction.com/how-to-clean-out-a-cupboard-by-cheryl-powell/

For fans of: wordplay and dark humor; if you liked reading “Boomsday” by Christopher Buckley or “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” by Jeanette Winterson.

* “The Machine” by P. Djèlí Clark: https://everydayfiction.com/the-machine-by-p-djeli-clark/

For fans of: big metaphors; symbolism and myths; Terry Pratchett and the Discworld books.

* “Ghosted” by Amie Heasley: https://everydayfiction.com/ghosted-by-amie-heasley/

For fans of: hopeful fantasy; magical realism; if you like Neil Gaiman’s lighter work; if you’ve always dreamed of running away with a pirate.

* “The Postman is A Creep” by Nathan Good: https://everydayfiction.com/the-postman-is-a-creep-by-nathan-good/

For fans of: surreal horror; the ugly, dangerous side of Tim Burton and Joe Hill; if you like feeling unsettled and on edge; and if you need a good mental scream.

What’s your favorite flash fiction? Share it!

Who is this Artemis in the new “Artemis Fowl” trailer?

I’ve been eagerly anticipating an Artemis Fowl movie for years. The first book came out when I was a teen and I just loved it: action and adventure, snarky, weird, with an unapologetically morally grey main character — but one who was also a child, learning more about the world, with time (and people around him) to grow into a better person.

Well, the movie finally finally got made, and if this trailer is any indication, it’s not for me.

  • They significantly changed the entire story. In the first book, Artemis gets into crime to continue building the family fortune and prove that fairies exist. He wants to steal their gold!
  • His father is basically a non-entity in the first few books, just a shadowy criminal who may or may not still be alive. Artemis keeps an eye out for him, but is mostly consumed with his mission. (And also, if he’s worried about anyone, it’s his poor mom!)
  • And speaking of the mission! Artemis is a bad guy! He wants to steal gold! And he’s an egotistical jerk.
  • Plus, he kidnaps a fairy! Holly, our true protagonist, who is fighting off this persistent child thief and trying to progress her career in the LEPrecon.
  • And the only reason someone needs to “save the world”? Because Artemis put it in fucking danger with his dumb, selfish decisions — again, that’s kind of the point.
  • The first book sets up a series arc where Artemis grows up, learns about the world(s), gains empathy, gets smarter, and figures out who he wants to be. And sure, he saves the world a few times — but not with his dad, or his money, it’s with the friends/colleagues he picks up along the way.
  • Not to mention the humor. The first book opens and closes with notes from Artemis’ therapist. It’s kind of silly, a bit Evil Overlord-y, but a clever way to introduce our anti-hero. I didn’t catch any sarcasm or wit in this trailer.

It’s not just a matter of being different than how I imagined. I don’t understand why they used the books as a base for this movie at all.

What do you think? Are you an Artemis book fan?

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