Melody Writes

In July, I set out my first ever "reading plan", an idea I stole from  Cliff's Dark Gems  on Youtube. I decided that I liked the idea and am carrying it forward in August. I have also once again signed up for another writing course. This one is a short story writing course from Crystal Lake. In keeping with that theme, I'm going to focus on reading short fiction this month. Photo by Mahendra Kumar on Unsplash July Reading Plan Progress In July, I set out to read an ambitious 8 books over a few categories and completed 5/8, and read a bonus book that wasn't on my list. Completed: The Knave of Graves by S. J. Shank  - Read my review here Hush Don't Wake the Monster Vampire Hunters from Speculative Publications  - Read my review here Theatre Macabre by Sèphera Girón  - Read my review here Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia  - Review forthcoming. Part of my  Horror Reading Challenge All Systems Red by Martha Wells August ...

Theatre Macabre is a short collection of speculative poetry all centered on the stage. The book is cleverly laid out like a stage performance itself, beginning with the aptly named "Curtain Up" a poem about anticipating that moment just before the curtain rises and a play begins. I was in a number of productions during my high school days. This poem captures that nervous uncertainty that comes while you work to calm your jitters and accept that even if mistakes are made, the show must go on. Setting up the book like this allows the reader to imagine each poem as a performance in itself, and Girón brings this metaphorical structure home by wrapping up the collection with a quick little poem called "Curtain Down". The final poem is short, but I think this fits the theatre idea. So much time and energy is spent leading up to a production - rehearsals, costumes, nerves, lines - and then, rather suddenly, it's over.  All of the poems in this collection are about some...