Fantastic Finds

 Jackaby by William Ritter

“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

After DNFing Girl from the Well, plodding through Storm Front (the first entry in the very popular Dresden Files series), and being underwhelmed by Fiendish, I was dying for a good supernatural read. I've had my eye on Jackaby for months- here's what I typed frantically into Goodreads when I first heard about it:

I didn't even get past “Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” before thinking "oh my god YES." Then I skimmed the rest of the intro and saw the bit about it being "Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre."

Oh my hopes. They have been raised exceedingly high.

 So was the wait worth it? Definitely. Ritter knows exactly what he is about in terms of blending these two genre favorites, and if you enjoy the recent BBC adaptation of Sherlock and new run of Doctor Who, I can't imagine you'll read this without smiling. Abigail Rook is an able and progressive protagonist, and what jaded reader can't get behind a girl who ditched her restrictive Victorian future to dig for fossils and, eventually, help solve spooky mysteries? She's as much Charley Pollard as she is Rose Tyler, for all you Whovians, and I love her for it.

Jackaby serves as your Sherlock/Doctor/Howl/Chrestomanci/Eccentric Intellectual stand-in, and while never quite reaching the heights of his forbears, he has his own skillset to offer and is plenty likable. (He may be clueless enough to mistake gunpowder for paprika, but he knows his lore and is a fantastic advocate for the strange and overlooked.) I was really concerned about the seeming likelihood of a romance between our two leads, but that was dismissed almost immediately, and the two instead have the makings of an excellent platonic team. Don't worry though, there is potential for romance for Abigail and Jackaby from amongst the side characters, several of whom are fully-realized and could support books of their own.

While it's not exactly horrifying, there are chills to be had and cases to be cracked. The dialogue occasionally falters a bit in terms of historical accuracy, but if you're anything like me you'll be having to much fun to be really bothered by it. I can't wait for the next installments in a promising new series!

Any regular or even occasional reader of this blog could probably come up with some of my favorite shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, Community), but aside from the odd name drop or reference, I've never reviewed a show on here.

Until now. *dramatic music*



Why now, you ask? Because now there is a little show called Sleepy Hollow and it is INSANE and I can't stop talking about it. Here are some reasons why.

The Plot
Well, ok, actually the plot is the thing that made me initially want to stay far, far away from Sleepy Hollow. Time-travelling Ichabod Crane solving crimes in the 21st century? Puh-lease. Actually though, it's shaping up to be a pretty great supernatural series, with some "freak of the week" monsters, as well as season/series long arcs. The horror parts are actually kind of terrifying, and even the ridiculous elements are so fun you'll probably just enjoy the ride.

The Setting
Small historic city with loads of colonial buildings, twisty rivers, and misty woods? Um, yeah, I'm there.

The Characters
Like the better Supernatural (see what I did there?) shows, this isn't all about wacky hijinks and mysterious beasties. It's about the relationships between the characters. Lieutenant Abbie Mills is a skeptic, and not just because there needs to be one on a show like this. She's a skeptic because she and her sister witnessed something as kids that caused massive fallout for them that they are both still struggling with. Ichabod Crane doesn't just have to cope with automatic doors and a 10% levy on baked goods ("insane!"). He's been awakened in a time not his own, one in which his wife has been dead for 200+ years and he has no one to turn to. The chemistry that these two have is amazing, which brings me to... 

The Cast
I love this cast. Even when the show is at its craziest, the actors do an amazing job of injecting gravitas, emotion and humor. Watching them interact is one of the best things about the show, and while it's not overdone, watching Mills try to translate modern quirks for Ichabod is so fun.


A lot has been made of the diversity of the cast, and rightly so. There are several main characters who happen to be POC, and guests stars of various backgrounds have been introduced as well (with mixed results, the Native American episode was a little off). Orlando Jones, who plays Mills' commanding officer (police chief? detective inspector? no hang on...) has promised more and better to come, so here's hoping this trend will continue.

Tom Mison. Tall. Dark. British. His voice nearly knocked me off my chair the first time I heard it, and he's forever doing things that, having been brought up on a steady diet of English costume dramas, make me swoon. He shoots with his arm behind his back. He dashes about in an excellent (if worse for wear) coat. He pronounces "Lieutenant" "Leftenant" and makes use of their extreme and wonderful height difference to hold up police tape for his partner. Also he speaks Middle English and has the best bitchface this side of the Winchesters. Move over Hornblower, I've got a new 18th century man.

The Fandom
This is the first time I've been part of a fandom from the start and it is a blast. Thanks to tumblr, I can see other fans reactions to episodes, share gif sets, art and fic from moments that happened hours before, and geek out about Tom Mison's overly expressive eyebrows to my heart's content. And it's not only the fans. The creators and cast are in on it too, especially the amazingly lovely Orlando Jones. He live tweets episodes, refers to fans lovingly as Sleepy Heads, shares fan art, teases future episodes, acknowledges and praises fan participation with the show, and ships IchAbbie as much as any of us- with the occasional nod to IchaTrina. Be still my nerd heart.

Speaking of shippers... Ship wars can often be the worst part of a fandom, as people take sites, bitterly defend their own OTPs, and lash out at other pairings and shippers. I haven't seen any of that in the Sleepy Hollow fandom yet, which may only be because the fandom is so new, but I like to think it's because we have learned from past mistakes (the Hannibal fandom also seems pretty much free of ship wars, so hopefully this is becoming the norm). 

The Surprise
Honestly, I still can't believe how much I love this show. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be more excited by this hunk of supernatural cheese than by the new Joss Whedon (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) show, I would have scoffed until I hurt something.



Now? I hate to say it, but other than the always charming and perfect Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is leaving me cold. It's making me flashback to when Dollhouse was on. I watched that religiously, afraid that if I missed one episode it would be cancelled out from under me and I would have no right to complain (obviously, this happened anyway). People would ask me if it was good, and I would pause, trying to find the will to gush, and then mumble something about the cool tech and gorgeous set pieces. But I didn't love it, and that bummed me out more than I can reasonably say. Since then I've come to appreciate Dollhouse more, and to genuinely enjoy it. Unless S.H.I.E.L.D. has a whole arsenal of surprises, though, I don't see that happening here. I want to love it, I took it for granted that I would love it, but the characters are missing some essential spark, and the Bus just looks like Serenity in ways that hurt my still broken Browncoat heart.

But Sleepy Hollow!! I don't know what else to say other than that I love it, unreservedly. The first 5 episodes are on Hulu so there is plenty of time to catch up. I hope you like it.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

"One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Title? Sold. Cover? Double sold. Summary, setting, premise? I needed this book two days before I'd even heard of it. I was immediately hooked, and once I got my grabby little hands on it, I tore through it in two days. 

Almost everything about this book worked for me. Choo offers so many cultural and historical details that were entirely new to me, and most of them fit seamlessly into an engaging plot. I loved learning more about the historical dress, diet, and history of late 19th century Malaya (Malaysia), and that was before I got to the rich superstitions and folklore. This was all to the good because although the plot is engaging, it is not quick. You really have to want to wander the streets of this port city with Li Lan and her Amah, to visit with the fortune teller, explore the market place, get lost in the afterlife, and be haunted by a variety of spirits. Luckily that's pretty much all I wanted to do, so, no problems there. 

Besides, the pace does pick up in certain parts, especially as Li Lan unravels more of the mysteries facing her and uncovers more of her family's past, while racing to reclaim what is rightfully hers. Fans of Spirited Away or historical/magic realist novels should be excited about this one, and while most libraries will probably have it shelved with adult fiction, its young protagonist, supernatural elements, and romance will appeal to many readers of YA. 

(To get especially nerdy for a moment, I would trade a small, non-essential organ to have this adapted into a video game by Vanillaware, the company that brought us Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The combination of mythology, spirits, exploring underworlds, fighting otherworldly perils, helpful companions, and taking time out for noodles and other traditional foods makes me long for an RPG adaptation in the WORST way)

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after... -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads


I knew I was right to like Ronan. As I've seen other reviewers put it, he's a "tough sell," with his rudeness, tough guy shtick, and general obnoxious behavior. But I knew a guy who could be so smitten with a baby raven couldn't be that bad. Much of this book is focused on Ronan, so we get to see through the chinks in his leather jacket (this is especially metaphorical as I'm not positive he did wear a leather jacket, I just know that he would). Most revealing are the descriptions of his childhood home, and the passages with his brothers- one younger, who worships him, and one older, the officious Mycroft to his Sherlock. We learn more about Ronan's dream abilities, and his relationships with the rest of the ensemble cast. Stiefvater pulls off some of the best character development and description I've yet read, and I loved putting the pieces of Ronan's story together.

Adam, to me, was a much harder sell. Adam's the only male character who grew up in Cabeswater, and as expected, the course of trailer park to preppy private school never did run smooth (I've been watching too much Shakespeare lately, gimme a break). He's believably drawn- of course someone in his position would fear losing it, struggle with the financial and cultural divides between himself and his peers, and be fiercely independent. That's all well and good, but there's only so many times I could read him lashing out at his well-meaning friends and shooting himself in the foot before I got seriously annoyed. Still, his circumstances pretty much speak for themselves, and I did finish the book liking him again. I do think a lot of the drama in future books will center more around him even than Gansey, and I'm dying to see how that plays out.

Blue took a bit of a back seat in this story, which was a shame, but it really is an ensemble cast and the story will play out over a few more books, so I'm not too bothered. We did get to see more of her witchy family, especially her mother, in scenes I really enjoyed, and that reminded me of the best bits of Practical Magic.

Also, can we talk about the Gray Man for a second? CHILLS. He reads like a Thomas Harris villain, and I can honestly say that this is the first time I've been this scared of a YA antagonist in years, and many of the best twists, turns and scares are courtesy of this enigma. Staggeringly good writing, Ms. Stiefvater.

If you liked The Raven Boys, you need to read this sequel. You may want to reread it, or at least read a summary before diving into this one. You will not be disappointed.

(And then send me a private message so we can dish about the romance without fear of spoilers ;-) )

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

I almost passed this one by. 1920s? New York? Eh, cool, but not really my thing. But I kept being drawn back in by The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult- and I'm really, really glad.

This book has pretty nearly everything I love. It captures the chilly, haunting, exhilarating feeling of fall. It's bursting with lore, legends, creepiness, urban legends, folklore, and mythology. The historical setting is fully realized, vibrant, detailed, and dovetails perfectly with the plot and characters. Bray could have chosen any setting, but the frantic energy of New York City between the World Wars, full of dream chasers, immigrants, the haves and have nots, the old and the new, is crucial to the story. There are murderers, psychics, flappers, professors, doomsday cults and newsies. For the first time in a long time, I felt completely connected to a full set of diverse, complex, unique characters, and was as invested in their stories as the plot. 

Speaking of which, the plot is fantastic. Despite a length of 575 pages, I never felt tempted to skip ahead. Instead, I would go back and re-read passages to soak up all the prose and to make sure I didn't miss any clues to a character's past or the mystery unfolding. It never seemed like things were moving too slowly, and Bray almost perfectly balanced the tricky task of answering some questions while leading the reader to ask others. 

Finally, Bray gets massive kudos from me for pulling one of the hardest feats in young adult literature- writing an authentic, believable, lovable and strong female protagonist. I'm more than a little in love with Evie right now. She's feisty, resourceful, clever, reckless, caring, vulnerable and strong all at the same time. So many books I've read this year have had passable but not incredibly memorable characters-  Hemlock, Under the Never Sky, Cinder- but The Diviners is different. Evie is phenomenal, and I found myself caring very nearly as much about gentle giant Jericho, an aspiring Harlem poet/healer named Memphis, wild child Theta, and others.

Do not miss this book. 

Some other books you might enjoy:

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Oh, how I loved this book. There's the Practical Magic-esque house full of eccentric female female psychics (Blue, her mother, Maura, outspoken cousin Calla, and odd, dreamy Persephone), a heroine who stands out from the crowd, a well-developed cast of believable and non-stock characters, mystery, spirits, folklore, RAVENS! 

This could easily have been an angsty, sloggy tale of woe and star-crossed lovers. Instead, it's a story of a group of friends coming together to unravel a centuries old mystery. Some characters take longer to get to know than others (Noah is a bit hard to pin down until about halfway through), and some I was surprised by liking, like Ronan. A pretty rich boy with rage issues? Yeah, no thanks. I've never been one to swoon over the Logans and Tylers of the teen scene.

....Oh, wait, he rescued a baby raven? And... is Irish? And likes Celtic folk music? And stands up for his friends when it counts? 

Damn it.

The action kicks well into gear towards the end of the book, and there were some solid surprises and welcome twists along the way. Despite the summary, there wasn't much romance in this one, which is fine with me. I think too many YA authors give the mushy/swoony/broody stuff too much time in the spotlight, when they could really spend more time developing plot, fleshing out characters and world-building. Besides, there's a good reason for it- would you be feeling especially romantic if there was a prophecy looming over your head?

 I do wish that a few more questions had been answered, but there is at least one sequel planned, so I won't quibble about that too much. Book 2, The Dream Thieves, is slated for a September 2013 release. Hurray!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

I had meant to wait on this one until closer to Halloween, but I'm glad I couldn't wait because it was just SO GOOD. Cas is an immensely enjoyable narrator (he's got a very "young Dean Winchester" thing going for him), and I loved pretty much every other aspect of this book. It's got a great cast of characters (including his Wiccan online store owner mother, a completely atypical Queen Bee female friend, a crotchety old antique store owner/occult adept, and Anna, a terrifying ghost I dare you not to fall in love with), a seriously spooky atmosphere, some genuine scares, and plenty of humor. 

I've already got the sequel, Girl of Nightmares, checked out and waiting for me. I wonder if I can make it to October this time... 

I very much doubt it.

Does the media in your life ever start to meld into weird little personal sub-genres? Mine does. I'm not even sure what I want to call this one, but maybe if you read this entry and look into/already know some of these stories, you'll see what I mean.

I encountered most of the following books, musical artists, and other things before, but watching the first few seasons of the CW's Supernatural is what really kicked me off thinking about this new (entirely made up) sub-genre of mine. The show is soooo atmospheric and pretty much everything that makes me think of these as linked can be found on Supernatural. Small, run-down towns, the (lonely) open road, deserted buildings, half-forgotten folklore, demons (personal or otherwise), vintage.... stuff, the blues, America, and, it almost goes without saying, the supernatural. There are other things I could tack on- urban fantasy, folklore/-music, sometimes rustic (or even rust-belt) settings with a strong and authentic sense of place... Does anyone already have a name for this? Dark Americana? Folkpunk? Oo I kind of like that..... dibs on the name if it ever becomes a Thing, like Steampunk!

Anyway, here are the media odds and ends that have been floating around in my head:

Supernatural

 Two brothers travel the country, hunting the demon that killed their mother. Along the way they encounter ghosts, spirits, helhounds and other things which bump in they night. They bump back, trading barbs and pop-culture references along the way. Lots of fantastic standalone episodes, excellent atmosphere, and plenty of genuinely scary scenes. This series is so good, it made me like Kansas. o.o


Neko Case


Love. Her. I'm no audiophile and I don't even know much about music, so I don't really know what to say here. She has a really unique, soulful voice, a twangy guitar, and super evocative lyrics. Even if you've never heard of her, I'm sure you've heard one or two of her singles used in the backgrounds of shoes. A recent episode of True Blood ended with her "I Wish I Was the Moon Tonight." The songs that especially fit with this theme are "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" and "Make Your Bed." Really though, her whole "feel" fits.


Robert Jordan (no, not that one)


If you haven't heard this guy's story, you've been missing out. Legend has it that Mr. Jordan went to a crossroads and traded his soul to the Devil in order to master the guitar. He plays a mean blues song, so who's to say he didn't succeed? As mentioned on the show Supernatural (and hey, lest I lose some of my very scant music cred, I knew this before the show thankyouverymuch), his lyrics are full of references to the otherwordly. The song above is "Hellhounds on My Trail," about being pursued by the Devil's own hounds. There is an even more directly related song, "Cross Road Blues," possibly referencing the belief that one would meet the Devil at a cross road to sell one's soul.

(If you've seen the Coen Brothers' film O Brother Where Art Thou, this might sound familiar to you. The character Tommy is based on Robert Jordan.)



The Replacement, Brenna Yovanoff

 I've already raved about this book here. Really dark. Really good.











The Boneshaker, Kate Milford

 Thirteen-year-old Natalie Minks loves machines, particularly automata—self-operating mechanical devices, usually powered by clockwork. When Jake Limberleg and his traveling medicine show arrive in her small Missouri town with a mysterious vehicle under a tarp and an uncanny ability to make Natalie’s half-built automaton move, she feels in her gut that something about this caravan of healers is a bit off. Her uneasiness leads her to investigate the intricate maze of the medicine show, where she discovers a horrible truth and realizes that only she has the power to set things right.

Set in 1914, The Boneshaker is a gripping, richly textured novel about family, community, courage, and looking evil directly in the face in order to conquer it. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

What this summary misses out on is the dusty, eccentric character of Arcane, Natalie's beloved hometown. This is a tiny bit steampunk with rich storytelling, a set of quirky small-town characters, and some seriously unsettling villains. Oh, and lots of bicycles. And how can you not love a children's/tween's book with Demonology as an official subject heading?



Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt

 Doomed to - or blessed with - eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

 Remember this from elementary/middle school? This and the actually pretty decent Disney movie version definitely line up with the theme.

On a weird side note, I heard Fastball's "The Way" while reading this book, and got it into my 9 year old head that the song was written about the book. I know now that's not the case, but it still matches pretty well.



American Gods, Neil Gaiman


American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days. -Borrowed from Goodreads

I couldn't skip this book, one of my favorites since high school. For anyone interested in mythology, folklore, the power of places or the idea of national/cultural identities- or if you're just looking for a gripping story- this is a must read.  



Big Fish

After a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing as he shifts from macabre fairy tales to Southern tall tales. Big Fish twines in and out of the oversized stories of Edward Bloom, played as a young man by Ewan McGregor and as a dying father by Albert Finney. Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup) sits by his father's bedside but has little patience with the old man's fables, because he feels these stories have kept him from knowing who his father really is. Burton dives into Bloom's imagination with zest, sending the determined young man into haunted woods, an idealized Southern town, a traveling circus, and much more. The result is sweet but--thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility--never saccharine.  -Plot summary borrowed from Amazon

This film is gorgeous and has its own very definite sense of style (hardly surprising, it is a Burton film). There are so many things to love her, not least the haunting journey Bloom takes on his way from his tiny birthplace to Make His Way in the World. It's not all, or even mostly, dark though. If you haven't seen it could be a great Netflix option.



Vanishing Hitchhiker, Jan Harold Brunvan


The Vanishing Hitchhiker was Professor Brunvand's first popular book on urban legends, and it remains a classic. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research, this book is a must-have for urban legend lovers. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

For when you've run out of Supernatural episodes, or are feeling nostalgic for the early, "freak of the week" feel. 




Weird U.S.

You might also want to check out the Weird U.S. series. This began as a series of magazines documenting local folklore, legends, abandoned creepy places, anomalies, and other oddments. There is a website as well as plenty of print books which can be found pertaining to your area. As a bonus, you and your friends can hop in your Mystery Vans and check out the places mentioned for yourselves!




I thought about adding Miss Peregrine's Home for Forgotten Children to this list, but it wasn't my favorite book of the year, and besides, it's definitely more English. Are there any things that seem like they would fit with this list that you can think of? Or do you have any weird little sub-genres of your own?