As I remember it, a foolhardy wizard manages to broach all the security measures surrounding the ultra-classified This-Is-Not-A-Place-Of-Honor containment chamber for a forbidden spell that he believes will neutralize his rivals’ powers. Turns out that he’s right—because the spell causes magic, period, to self-destruct. Fleeing the Wizards’ Council HQ, he consoles himself with the thought that his rivals are at least powerless against him—except that the populace have gotten wind of the fact that the healing, blessing, and fertility magic is gone (and who’s to blame), and torches and pitchforks still work just fine.
But literally the only thing I can remember is the book cover *facepalm*
I’m pretty sure it was a reddish or pinkish colour (but honestly, don’t take that as gospel, I could be mis-remembering it, I was only a teen at the time).
The cover had a huge galaxy like Andromeda or the Milky Way galaxy in the sky of a planet (the pov was from the planet looking at the galaxy in the sky) and it was never truly night because the galaxy was so bright all the time. I remember a character commenting on how it was never fully dark because the galaxy was so bright.
It was either a hardcover, or large library edition paperback. I feel like it was a well known sci-fi author of that time but can’t remember a name.
It looked sort like the style of this book cover…
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60641307-andromeda
…with a full galaxy in the sky of a planet, but it was more like daytime, and more of an 80’s-90’s art style, and the galaxy was larger in the planets sky, also the planet had atmosphere, no spacesuits needed.
If this book cover is familiar to anyone, please help me find it again?
I've been trying to find a book I read as a child, that had some snippets of poetry, some stories by different authors, and at least one non-fiction piece. I've tried googling some of the names of the stories, but no joy.
Here's what I know/can remember:
-It would have been published in the UK no later than about 1993 - however it's probably from the 80's.
-It was a paperback with a blue cover, possibly with a church window and a bat on.
-It featured a Shakespeare sonnet in it - "Now is the time of night"
-There was a story/poem by (I think) Joan Aitken called "The Nine O'clock Horses" about horses that spirit away children that stay out late at night.
-There was a story about a boy who did a brass rubbing of a skeletal knight
-One story was about a ghostly goalkeeper
-Possibly the same story had a boy explaining to his little sister about ghosts, she wasn't scared but he was told of by his mum for scaring her - all the sister had said was "poor man that you can see through". He'd explained that you could see through ghosts, a bit like you could see the bones of her fish.
-There was both a story and a non-fiction piece on Herne the Hunter
-The last story was about a very young stonemason who dies carving an angel on a church
You all helped me out with a children's book years ago, and I have returned to try and find a book I read prior to 2005. It's not too far off from the first Vampire Diaries books, but, uh, with immortal cannibals?
Note: I almost certainly got this from a public library between 1997 and 2005; I have no idea of what the cover was like, but it was almost certainly a pulp paperback romance novel. I don't think it's VC Andrews, but it definitely had the vibe.
Setting: A large secluded historical home with gardens- I *think* it is a US Southern former slave plantation, it's definitely in the US, but I was in my mid teens when I read this and it's quite likely that I misread the setting. The time period is modern era -I assume it's at least after the 1960s but it might be as late as the 1990s. Cell phones were not present in the book.
Genre: Horror romance? Romance? Given when I read this, it could have been a romance novel aimed at adults or it might have been aimed at older teens. Generally, a pulpy sort of book.
CONTENT NOTE: This book has cannibalism and incest.
General plot: A young woman (our view point character and protagonist) takes a job( or for some other reason?) goes to live at a large rural home of stately history. She's a very Gothic heroine - her mom seemed to have no family and no history, and the protagonist is on her own. She goes to live in this large manor/plantation, where an stately old woman and two much younger, hot, brothers live together. The protagonist thinks they are grandsons of the old woman, but it's not clear. She feels oddly like this mansion/plantation home is somewhere she knows before, or should have been before. There's a strong Gothic tone to the setting - the protagonist is always overhearing cryptic conversations that don't make sense.
In the romantic plot, the two brothers are both attractive and seem to be attempting to woo the protagonist, but at least one of them seems to be having (somewhat kinky, bitey) sex with the matriarch character. The protagonist is confused and scared by this - she thought they were related??
The resolution of the plot is that BOTH the brothers are actually immortal, unaging, and under a curse - they were in a love triangle with a woman hundreds of years ago, and instead of handling it, they murdered/dueled each other and the woman they loved did some kind of magic/curse, so they are now immortal, and the three of them entered into a triad relationship. (The time setting for this MIGHT have been the Civil War?)
They are also cannibals??? There's a plot point where they also eat their girlfriend to survive, but uh, she somehow doesn't die?
As time passed, the trio had a daughter, and when the daughter grew up, welp. The brothers started having a relationship with her - meaning that, in the present day, we are several generations into a cannibalistic, incestuous, undead threesome, all centered around this plantation house. And, of course, the protagonist is actually part of this family- the matriarch is her grandmother. Her mother was supposed to be the next in line for this triad, but she fled and made her own life elsewhere. (I cannot remember if the protagonist was born there and taken, or if she is the result of the mom having married someone else and he just happened to be out of the picture. - I suspect the former.) The brothers have magically summoned her back to the plantation home to continue the family together.
The ending of the book is that the protagonist accepts her role, seems relieved to not have to choose between the brothers, they have not-super-explicit sex, and, in a time jump, is shown to have had a toddler who is playing in the gardens of this mansion with her fathers.
Specific scene memories:
-The protagonist, while eavesdropping, sees one of the hot brothers kissing and biting the neck of the older woman, who is clearly into it, but it's also kind of vaguely vampiric in tone and the protagonist can't figure out if she's actually being injured.
-One of the brothers, explaining the whole curse situation to the protagonist, proclaims "There is not even a word for what we are." Because, well, immortal brothers in a curse that makes them periodically eat their girlfriend.
- I vaguely remember the protagonist is generally FINE with the ending, and feels calm and at peace with her unusual choices.
I do not know if they book is GOOD, but I was trying to describe this plot to someone in a discussion of Gothic romance, and since I couldn't remember the book, I now feel compelled to try and find it to prove that I did not make it up.
The book is a duopoly. It is a historical fiction with a romantic plot central to the storyline. The setting is not modern and felt more medieval. The main female character was the daughter of a nobleman and the love interest was of more common birth. They fell in love but for some reason couldn’t be together. That’s all I remember from book one unfortunately.
Book 2 starts with the main guy character (having felt betrayed by the female love interest) leaving and going back to Ireland or Scotland (I always get those confused in stories). The main female character follows him and tries to win back his love and while in Ireland/Scotland she stays with his family. They fall in love
With her and welcome her but it takes the whole second book to win back the affection of the male love interest as he is pretty cold to her.
I just remember the romantic plot line of these two books being amazing! I know it’s not much to go on but I have hope. Thank you!
Psych thriller
Aug. 5th, 2020 20:49forgotten Y/A novel
Jul. 16th, 2020 16:13A few scenes I remember are:
A scene where she got angry and used her magic to roll a tire.
A scene where she wanted to have sex with him in a hotel but he wanted to wait for a better place to do it
(SPOILERS)
Near the end of the book Adam dies. (I dont really remember whether this happened in it or not but i think she was able to see Adam as a ghost after he died).
If anyone can remember the title that would be so helpful. Thanks!
Here's what I remember. My google-fu has failed.
I'm pretty sure I read it in the 90s. Young adult/teen. No idea author/publisher/cover/title.
The protagonist is a 16ish year old girl. Her parents are artists. I think her mom is a chidren's book illustrator. Dad gave up art & became a farmer. They may be separated/divorced. Definitely some strife.
Girl & dad move, i think, to his family home. It's a big old Gothic-type house. Weird, supernatural goings-on. Family's a little kooky.
Girl makes friend in school. Boy lives kitty-corner. Boy is cute but has big ears?
Maybe Canada?
Maybe seances, maybe mirror. Definitely evil family ancestor, Scottish, I reckon. Definitely remember them calling bad guy ancestor "laird." Laird Greagor?
Girl is only one who can defeat him. I remember the family and girl and boy have a plan and a final seance. Maybe a black cloak, swirling evil spirits trying to break chain of hands.
Girl prevails, happy ending.
Please, please, please somebody recognize this book with this crazy description. It is driving me up the wallllllllll.
Please help!
May. 14th, 2020 11:02I think the characters you can interact with in the simulation are modelled off of real life people, and I think the main character meets one of the people in real life that he interacted with in the simulation.
Definitely a book for adults, borrowed from a library but can't log into my library account anymore to look at my loan history.
Spoiler
Near the end of the book, the guy has sex with one of the main female characters, and he chokes her as she requests and she pretends to go limp which scares him into thinking shes dead momentarily.
It's science fiction and YA and I read it as a kid/young teen, so it must be from the early 90s or even earlier. I know the protagonist was a girl and I think she was on some space station or spaceship with her family. There was an alien threat(?) that either took over people's bodies or duplicated them, if I'm not mistaken they had red eyes when compromised and I remember that her father was one of the victims/duplicates and confronts her at some point, which I found super creepy. I don't remember anything else about the plot or cover image and I'm not sure where the book originates from but if I had to choose I'd say either UK or Germany.
I'm happy about any suggestions (if I read summaries on Goodreads or elsewhere it might bring back the memory...) Thank you ♥
Red and Green Dragons
Jan. 17th, 2020 15:34So the green dragon left to go see if there were other green dragons and I think the girl red dragon went with him.
I DISTINCTLY remember the cover, which had a red dragon and a green dragon flying on it.
Any help finding this book would be so appreciated!
World War Two book
Dec. 26th, 2019 01:10Its not much, since its been what 10 years now that Ive read this book, but hopefully someone can help !Thank you !
Mother Nature?
Dec. 19th, 2019 17:45I distinctly remember that she woke up at her usual hour and it totally messed up the schedule of the sun rising, to the point that it was in the news or something like that.
Sorry I don't have anything more to go on!
YA SF anthology
Dec. 10th, 2019 08:57- One was about a post-apocalyptic city, with the not-too-bright protagonist (a mutant) being chased by a group of normal people. The story ended with the protagonist trapped atop a tower with the chasers coming up after him, so he jumped out of a window, and the last lines were "I can fly! I can fly!"
- One was about a kid whose father had invented a sort of time machine: it shows you what your life will be like if you make certain choices. The kid snuck in to try out the machine to see what his life would be like as a football player, and then a couple of other career options. It ended with him getting a talking-to from his father, and then deciding that he wanted to be a scientist.
- This may have been the book that included a story about an alien who goes to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eats all the food they have, teleporting it back to his starving home planet, and in exchange gives the Earth all kinds of scientific knowledge, but leaving the buffet owner broke.
- The last story in the book was about a teenager whose parents had just died in a car crash, and a kid from the middle ages turns up claiming that they're his parents too... they're time-travellers, who go around having kids who will grow up to be world-changing.
Thanks!
Comic book-style with pigs
Dec. 8th, 2019 14:12There was a book I loved as a toddler. It featured a bunch of pigs illustrated in a comic book style (with panels). They were getting ready for the day. I specifically remember a page where they were all huddled around a mirror brushing their teeth and maybe a page where they were making pancakes. I think it might be British and with little to no words.
Any suggestions?
The general story is that a woman (I believe) has killed her male lover out of some sort of rage or calculated manner, and is preparing him for consumption in a way that resembles a highbrow cookbook recipe. In fact, the language used in the short story is of such an elevated and pretentious character that it stands out like a sore thumb.
I think the story is narrated, but I could be wrong.
I do remember that at the conclusion of the story, as this man has been dismembered, marinated, cooked, etc. the murderous cook (chef?) has taken a spoon and collected just a drop of liquid from the man’s penis and thus reflects sadly on the whole affair. Not very appetizing if you ask me, but again, the writing is of such an elevated nature that it doesn’t come across as salacious, just horrifying.
Those are my recollections of the story, there may be some differences.
Any help with the title and author would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.