• odd, strange, or unusual noises
• lights turning off or on by themselves
• things are moving when they shouldn't be
• some things disappear or can't be found
• shadows that don't match the surroundings
• weird symbols or writing
• animals are sensitive to something unseen
• children or pets react to people only they can see
• something touches you but nothing is there
• unexplained cold spots

Does this list worry you, or do you feel like writing a great horror story about a spooky old house now?

I wanted to keep track of the books I've enjoyed over this winter. I've had a back-to-reading time lately. Even more while the Internet was off. I would spend a lot of the day reading, having books as company when the world got too quiet.

Most recent is Sarah Pinborough. Her books usually don't have happy endings which is a good change. But, it was sad to have some of the characters I came to like finish off the story deceased.

• Christina Henry - I went looking for more of her books and have read all available so far.
• Rachel Harrison - a new favourite. Described as a feminist horror writer.
• Kelly Link - her short stories are hit and miss for me.
• John Langan
• Kelley Armstong - I've read several of her books years before now.
• Rebecca Schaeffer - Her first book was a good story but by the third in the series the gore was too much for me.
• John Scalzi - I read several but did not like one of them.
• Jill Bearup - I liked her first book but I think it was too much humour for me.
• Sophie Irwin
• Wallis Kinney
• Lindsay Wong - Disappointed to find I did not like her short stories as I had hoped to.
• Kim Harrison - Reading more of her series but I don't feel as connected to the series as I was in the earlier books.
• Emily Croy Barker
• Sarah Beth Durst
• Auralee Wallace - Canadian writer. I'll read more of her books.
• Dawn Cook - The writer has another pen name that I forget right now.
• Cory Doctorow - Canadian science fiction writer.
• Kimberly Raye - Really enjoyed her books over the years. She doesn't seem to be writing any more.
• John Wyndham
• MaryJanice Davidson - She was a favourite but the most recent in the series claim to be the last. I think she writes more for fan/sales pressure now and the books don't have the same sense of fun.
• Shirley Jackson - A long time favourite, reading and re-reading her books.
• Kelly Barnhill - "When Women Were Dragons" I'd gladly read whatever she writes next.
• Margaret St. Clair - A vintage science fiction writer and an inspiration for 'Dungeons and Dragons'.
• Celina Myers - Promoting her book, 'Hollow' for fans of YA vampire fiction. It was probably good for them. Not so much for me.
• Raven Snow - It could have been better. I won't look for more.
• Kevin Gallant - The one I did not read. I tried but the writing was poor and I kept editing it instead of being able to read it. I've read that some books on Amazon now are being written by AIs (artificial intelligence). This could be the case but the characters showed promise.
• Adrian Tchaikovsky - An apocalypse story for people who want to learn about science as well as a good story. I'm reading another of his books next.
• Gerry Dee - Canadian comedian and game show host. I read his autobiography.
• Cassandra Rose Clarke - A favourite for years. Somehow one of her books was under my bed with the dust bunnies I swept out.

All of these are in the book bags to go to the second hand bookstore or the Little Library boxes around the local area here.

The words "never seen again" are the creepiest phrase I've ever heard. They show up in childhood fantasy tales, as well as horror stories. So any story, fiction or fact, with those words haunts me. They are creepy and fascinating and a mystery usually not solved.

I turned on Tubi and watched a few episodes of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction last night. One of the episodes, 'The Kid in the Closet', was about a boy with a monster in his closet. His older brother teased him about it and then, to prove there was no monster, he went into the closet and shut the door. They heard him making a ruckus, yelling and banging at the door, then it went quiet. The Mother came in to see what was going on. She opened the closet, no one was inside. No older brother. But, his shoes and a pile of the clothes he had been wearing were there, without him.

Police were called, inspected the closet and found no way for him to get out. At the end of the episode they said he was never seen again and claimed this story is based on a true event.

Any time someone is never seen again is creepy. The police thought the boy had run away. On the show they left that sort of hanging, but doubtful. Also, the police had not found any way he would have gotten out of the closet, other than the door. His clothes and shoes were left in the closet. Those two things seem a bit odd, even after I found out more.

It turns out, according to the source I found after a bit of a search, that the boy did run away. So, how did he get out of the closet? The police didn't notice the ceiling panel when they looked? I guess he was at least wearing his underwear, the show didn't say all his clothes were left in the closet. So, it is still a little puzzle. It is possible the whole thing really is a hoax, in spite of the show saying it was fact, not fiction.

A bit of digging turns up at least one comment on the show’s IMDB message board, posted on February 12, 2008, in which the commenter shared her correspondence with someone who had worked on Beyond Belief and knew the actual truth:

“The Beyond Belief: fact or fiction story about the monster in the kid’s closet was based on an actual event that I personally investigated,” she was told. “At the time it happened there was no explanation for the boy’s disappearance— until two weeks later when it was learned that he had climbed out of the closet through a ceiling panel and ran away from home. He stayed at a friend’s house surreptitiously until the friend’s mother discovered him hiding in the attic of their home and exposed the ruse.”

The show’s producer wouldn’t discover this very important detail until it was far too late.

Source: Stranger Dimensions - Beyond Belief: The Kid in the Closet

Can you buy and then read the last book in a series, knowing there will not be another. Once you read the final page all the adventures will be over. When you close the cover all those characters will become just memories.

This is The End for Rachel Morgan and the Hollows series of books by Kim Harrison

Letting go of a great book is hard. But, knowing this is the last book in what has been such a wonderful, readable adventure... that's really hard. Kim Harrison's series of books with Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and the rest of the group living at the old church in the Hollows has become my complete favourite in the urban fantasy/ horror genre.

Multi genre series: urban fantasy, alternate history or horror? Not always easy to find in a bookstore.

The Hollows is a location just outside of Cincinnati. Our current time line all changed when the existence of Others came to light. Tomatoes became deadly, for awhile. The people divided themselves into Others and humans/ everyone else. Rachel Morgan doesn't know it but she's a demon witch or witch demon depending on how you look at it. Long ago Rachel was saved from death due to her demon blood and this becomes an important part of her life as the adventure moves along from the world of paranormal bounty hunter, vampire culture bystander, a witch shunned and a demon who can perform dark magic but at the cost of collecting smut on her aura. The story covers 13 books so you don't need to know it all before you even begin, at the beginning.

The Misadventures of Rachel Morgan...

There are a lot of great characters in the Hollows

My favourite character (other than Rachel) is Ivy. Kim Harrison herself once wrote that Ivy scared her as she wrote the character even. That always stuck in my mind. The vampire culture and history was given a lot of focus as the Hollows series goes along. I liked the backstory evolving for Ivy and her vampire kin. I hope her story gets more attention, maybe a book of her own.

My other favourite is Algaliarept, most often known by the short form, Al. Rachel dated a few men (and Ivy) during the series but this was never the focus. It is all about the story, the adventure. But, of all the men in Rachel's adventures: Nick, Kisten, Glenn, Pierce, Trent, David and a couple others on the fringes, Al is the only one I really wanted her to care about and keep around. Al is more than just the character in the pages of a series of books. I really will miss Al because what other story could you find a demon who can be self serving, almost romantic, sometimes gentlemanly and old fashioned and yet kind of sweet in his own odd way. Al doesn't seem likely to be the guy who gets the girl at the end of the last book - but he is the one who has stuck by Rachel and been a faithful companion even in the beginning when he cursed her for his own reasons. Al is just complex and misunderstood.

How I Started as a Fan of Kim Harrison and The Hollows

I was so lucky! By luck and good fortune I found a blog the publisher was running to promote more of their books. All I had to do was request the book I wanted to read and the publisher sent it to me. Within a week or two I had a fresh, new hardcover book sent to my door. It had that great smell which only a newly minted hardcover book gets. I was so impressed, I even wrote about it in my blog before reading the book at all.

Then I did read the book. Great story. Not muddled by romance and dating and the endless drivel of boy/ girl stuff. Characters I loved and wanted to know more about. A real storyline which grew as each book came out. Every book could be read on it's own but... how could you read just one and not want to know what happened before and what happened next?

From the start I was a fan of Kim Harrison's writing, her story and her character, Rachel Morgan.