Well autumn is well and truly here with foggy mornings and stormy weather meaning it’s definitely sweater weather here in the UK. And that mention last month of “silly season” in the retail world, well it’s just been ramping up lately!
I’ll be leaning on work as an excuse for limited writing again this month. As I’ve mentioned before, I work in retail so things get busy now in preparation for the Black Friday and Christmas season run.
BUT – there is news for you this month.
Chasing Shadows will be coming to Audible before the year is out! I’m working with a great narrator (more on that soon) having gone through a series of auditions. I’ve received the 15-minute sample and was pleased to approve this, so now the real work sets in as they work on the rest of the audiobook!
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
I’d distantly heard of this series but somehow just not given it a try. When a friend mentioned it to me and how much they enjoyed it, I thought I’d give it a go. And how happy I am that I did! Carl finds himself navigating the literal collapse of the world in an alien invasion; his only chance to survive is to head underground into a gaming-style dungeon with his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning cat, Princess Donut. What follows is a battle for survival against a few hostile human survivors and hordes of monstrous enemies while navigating Dounut’s new ability to speak. It’s filled with references to video and tabletop role-playing games and so much dark humour it almost becomes normal. I was hooked from start to finish, and have found my new obsession.
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
Shockingly, I dove straight into Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, the second book in this series. And it certainly lives up to the first! It takes place on the third level of the dungeon. While Donut laps up every opportunity to increase her fanbase and be seen on the myriad alien chat shows, she and Carl also get stuck into the dungeon proper. In this outing, they have to choose their race and class type for the rest of the “game” while navigating the Over City – a more living, bustling setting with a series of towns, villages and settlements dotted around it. They pick up new tasks and side quests, interact with a bizarre cast of side characters and embark on yet more chaos and mayhem involving a cursed circus. A fantastic follow-up to a brilliant first book.
Dracula (Audible)
I read the original novel last year and absolutely loved it. When I saw Audible were releasing a full cast version, I had to give it a listen. And it did not disappoint. It was wonderfully cast with Jonathan Bailey, Ella Purnell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aimee Lou Wood. The cast really brought the story to life, with a soundtrack that really added a sense of atmosphere. It felt like it stayed true to the original book, maintaining a sense of the documentary style while breathing new life into it. Definitely one I’ll look forward to listening to again next year!
Carrie
What a fantastic series this became. I read the original Stephen King novel not too long ago and wondered how I’d waited so long to read it. This series modernised the story and brought it into the present day. Mike Flanagan has taken a few liberties and made some changes, with things like social media having such a presence in the narrative, amongst other deviations from the original novel. I won’t go too far into them, lest it spoil what is a fantastic series for anyone yet to watch it. And it really is – dark, tense and suspenseful. The cast really makes this series, with a selection of relatively unknown actors at the helm, along with a frankly brilliant cameo from Matthew Lillard as the high school principal. I cannot wait to see what they build on for a second season!
Another month gone and the end of the year rapidly approaches! The nights draw in, and I look forward to the festive season now.
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