death

Madness Monday: “Little Talks” by Kate McGourty

October Spooky Features

Meet Kate McGourty.

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Kate McGourty is a poet living in Lancaster City, PA. She draws inspiration from all facets of life: love, family, sexuality, and occasionally nature.

She gets paid to work in a library and she returns always to language to make her way in the world.

 

***Disclaimer: All rights are the authors with the permission given to share for this special blog themed feature.

 

The Feature.

“Little Talks”

A flash fiction piece  based on the song by Of Monsters and Men. This is my imagining of what their child would perceive. 

 

She’s so pretty on the days when the voices speak. Her face is soft, listening. She laughs at them and I laugh, too, even though I can’t hear what they are saying. He doesn’t laugh. He is worried. He says, “Your mind is playing tricks on you, my Dear.” He says the truth is a thing that varies.

The stairs creak when she sleeps, it keeps her awake. She doesn’t like our house when she’s alone. He takes her hand and walks the hall with her. They are playing a game: the house is a ship, taking them safely to shore. She isn’t afraid, when he’s there.

She tells him that some days, she can’t even trust herself. “It’s killing me to see you this way,” he whispers. He never cries where she can see him.

They used to go outside, he tells me. He sighs. “We were full of life, then, full of love.”

He sings to me, but he is sad. He brushes my hair. He says she’s gone away, I can only see her when I sleep.

Some nights, I wish I heard the voices, too

I wonder if they sound like her?

Reign of the Fallen ARC Tour Review

Blog Tour, Book Reviews

*Disclaimer: This is a reposted review approved by this ARC tour’s host Brittany. Enjoy and preorder your Reign of the Fallen copy now! Opinions are my own.

 

Reign of the Fallen.jpg

Reign of the Fallen Review
By: Yours truly – Rae

“The giant Shade was baiting us. Hunting us, when we thought we were hunting it.” – Sarah Glenn Marsh, Reign of the Fallen

So… the Dead are still among the living and are essentially glorified zombies, you get paid handsomely to raise said Dead and are respected for it, and change is non-existent because it is bad… hello Reign of the Fallen. Let’s get started shall we?

Right away I connected with the lead character nicknamed Sparrow. I hated her, loved her, was jealous of her, and annoyed with her frequently depending on her mood and mine throughout Marsh’s story. Of course, Sparrow goes through a ton – raising the dead that could turn into a Shade “aka something you never want to meet in a dark alley unless you don’t want your soul anymore” and handling a new job as a Master Necromancer, with favor among the elite, isn’t exactly easy. Throw in missing Dead, a tearful (still not recovered plot twist), a brewing unrest, and giant-sized shades and you about sum up Reign of the Fallen. I can’t give away too much, I feel like there is a mine field of spoilers to navigate but I’ll continue trying.

Moving away from Sparrow, just for a moment, I have to fangirl appropriately over my man Jax. I love this character so much. He was a little weird with his love of meat on the raw side, the need to wear a formal old-fashioned cloak to parties, and his not so nice (blunt – oh he was so blunt) when speaking… that who wouldn’t love this guy? I need more from him and cannot wait to see how he develops along with the other ragtag group of characters. Evander was a sweetheart. I totally felt for him and his desire to explore and see the world. Simeon and Danial yes please – so adorable together and indivdually! Princess Valoria you can totally save the world girl, don’t stop dreaming. Kasmira… how can I not love weather controlling powers? Meredy… you do you because being a beast master is kickbutt.

What I’m really getting at here is that each character was unique from Simeon’s need to crack a joke to ease the tension to Jax and his anger at the uncontrollable situations he is in. I didn’t feel like they followed the familiar stereotypes of this is how they should or shouldn’t act. They have nasty habits, but they grow and they deserve it. I feel like Reign of the Fallen was really about the characters and change because change was everything in this book.

Which means I should touch on Sparrow again because she really goes through the ringer *insert plot twist I am not over and then multiple other twists I saw coming but hated anyway.* She is actually in a dark place the majority of Marsh’s story. Most of the time it isn’t pretty. She is drunk, drugged, and borderline suicidal. She also is selfish and guilted ridden. I know I don’t make it sound like she is a winning character but I connected with her because of her dark moments and faults. She has a lot of growing left to do.

Should I mention the bad guys… no wait spoilers. Bad guys are bad but with a purpose and not just thrown in to be bad.

Onto plot, scenery, and themes. I’ll keep this short and sweet. I wanted more scenery details of the time, even though the Deadlands “aka the place souls go after they die” was very cool.

I think I’ve rambled on enough. If you couldn’t tell I really did enjoy Reign of the Fallen and in truth, read it in a day much to the annoyance of my Shepherd pup.
Want to know more about the lovely Sarah Glenn Marsh? Visit her website here.
Want to preorder your own copy of Reign of the Fallen *wink/nudge* because you know you do. I’ll just leave this preorder information here.

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

Happy reading!

Reign of the Fallen Review

Book Reviews

*** Disclaimer: Super rusty at this. It has been forever since I wrote a review. I won an ARC of Reign of the Fallen at my local B-fest and all opinions are my own.

Reign of the Fallen.jpg

Reign of the Fallen Review
By: Yours truly – Rae

“The giant Shade was baiting us. Hunting us, when we thought we were hunting it.” – Sarah Glenn Marsh, Reign of the Fallen

So… the Dead are still among the living and are essentially glorified zombies, you get paid handsomely to raise said Dead and are respected for it, and change is non-existent because it is bad… hello Reign of the Fallen. Let’s get started shall we?

Right away I connected with the lead character nicknamed Sparrow. I hated her, loved her, was jealous of her, and annoyed with her frequently depending on her mood and mine throughout Marsh’s story. Of course, Sparrow goes through a ton – raising the dead that could turn into a Shade “aka something you never want to meet in a dark alley unless you don’t want your soul anymore” and handling a new job as a Master Necromancer, with favor among the elite, isn’t exactly easy. Throw in missing Dead, a tearful (still not recovered plot twist), a brewing unrest, and giant-sized shades and you about sum up Reign of the Fallen. I can’t give away too much, I feel like there is a mine field of spoilers to navigate but I’ll continue trying.
Moving away from Sparrow, just for a moment, I have to fangirl appropriately over my man Jax. I love this character so much. He was a little weird with his love of meat on the raw side, the need to wear a formal old-fashioned cloak to parties, and his not so nice (blunt – oh he was so blunt) when speaking… that who wouldn’t love this guy? I need more from him and cannot wait to see how he develops along with the other ragtag group of characters. Evander was a sweetheart. I totally felt for him and his desire to explore and see the world. Simeon and Danial yes please – so adorable together and indivdually! Princess Valoria you can totally save the world girl, don’t stop dreaming. Kasmira… how can I not love weather controlling powers? Meredy… you do you because being a beast master is kickbutt.

What I’m really getting at here is that each character was unique from Simeon’s need to crack a joke to ease the tension to Jax and his anger at the uncontrollable situations he is in. I didn’t feel like they followed the familiar stereotypes of this is how they should or shouldn’t act. They have nasty habits, but they grow and they deserve it. I feel like Reign of the Fallen was really about the characters and change because change was everything in this book.
Which means I should touch on Sparrow again because she really goes through the ringer *insert plot twist I am not over and then multiple other twists I saw coming but hated anyway.* She is actually in a dark place the majority of Marsh’s story. Most of the time it isn’t pretty. She is drunk, drugged, and borderline suicidal. She also is selfish and guilted ridden. I know I don’t make it sound like she is a winning character but I connected with her because of her dark moments and faults. She has a lot of growing left to do.
Should I mention the bad guys… no wait spoilers. Bad guys are bad but with a purpose and not just thrown in to be bad
Onto plot, scenery, and themes. I’ll keep this short and sweet. I wanted more scenery details of the time, even though the Deadlands “aka the place souls go after they die” was very cool.
I think I’ve rambled on enough. If you couldn’t tell I really did enjoy Reign of the Fallen and in truth, read it in a day much to the annoyance of my Shepherd pup.
Want to know more about the lovely Sarah Glenn Marsh? Visit her website here.
Want to preorder your own copy of Reign of the Fallen *wink/nudge* because you know you do. I’ll just leave this preorder information here.

If you have read Reign of the Fallen and want to fangirl over it – just shoot me an email and be prepared for paragraphs of feels in response. I also have bookstagram picture today featuring the beautiful character cards I received – check that out here.

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

Happy reading!