Weirdathon Intro

What counts as weird? Anything that’s weird to you. Maybe that’s aliens. But for others maybe it’s bizarro fiction written in a created dialect starring a talking fruit.

What is going to count for weird for me?  That’s hard.  I think that a lot of people consider a lot of the books I read weird already.  I do read a lot of fantasy so talking animals and aliens and multiple dimensions are normal for me.  Some people think reading about different foods is weird.

Here are a few books that I might read this month.

Atomik Aztex by Sesshu Foster

“In the alternate universe of this glitteringly surreal first novel, the Aztecs rule, having conquered the European invaders. Zenzontli, Keeper of the House of Darkness, is visited by visions of a parallel world run by the Europeans, where consumerism reigns supreme. Aztecs armed with automatic weapons, totemic powers and blood sacrifice conquer and colonize 1940s Europe, as ghosts of the world wars emerge to haunt contemporary Los Angeles.”

This one totally wins on weird. I’ve started it and this Aztec warrior is having visions of himself in an alternate reality where he works in a slaughterhouse in Los Angeles. His superiors are pushing him to get a hole drilled in his head to let the spirits out so he can get on with his life.

The True Game: Kings Blood Four/Necromancer Nine/Wizard’s Eleven by Sheri S. Tepper

“In the lands of the True Game, your lifelong identity emerges as you play-Prince or Sorcerer, Demon or Doyen. Raising the dead is the least of the Necromancer’s Talents-he is a wild card who threatens the True Game itself. A giant stalks the mountains. Shadowpeople gather by the light of the moon. Bonedancers raise up armies of the dead. And the Wizard’s Eleven sleep trapped in their dreams. Players, take your places. The final Game begins now…”

I started this one and then set it aside because it was so hard to wrap my head around. People are basically playing pieces in a huge live action role playing game between magicians. You have to understand the rules of the game to read the book and they are complex.
Demon Child by Kylie Chan

“This trilogy follows the story of John Chen and Emma Donohoe. They have just found out that Emma has Demon blood and they have suffered the miscarriage of their first child. The Sidhe—or Shining folk, who defeated the Western Shen a thousand years ago—are prepared to do battle against the Western Shen to retain their dominance. Emma’s allegiance is torn: to fight for her kind, the Western demons she is descended from, or to stand alongside her beloved Xuan Wu.”

I’ll be posting more about this series in a few days. I like it but don’t talk about it on the blog because it is just so weird at this point that reviews wouldn’t make any sense to someone who hasn’t read the rest of the series.

Scale-Bright by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

“Julienne’s aunts are the archer who shot down the suns and the woman who lives on the moon. They teach her that there’s more to the city of her birth than meets the eye – that beneath the modern chrome and glass of Hong Kong there are demons, gods, and the seethe of ancient feuds. As a mortal Julienne is to give them wide berth, for unlike her divine aunts she is painfully vulnerable, and choice prey for any demon.

Until one day, she comes across a wounded, bleeding woman no one else can see, and is drawn into an old, old story of love, snake women, and the deathless monk who hunts them.”

I’ve started this and it is thematically similar to the Kylie Chen books above. Maybe Hong Kong really is full of demons and gods and snake women battling it out?

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

“Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.”

I’ve never read any Diana Wynne Jones but I love this movie so I’ve decided to start with this book.