October SFFKIT: Creature Feature

October SFFKIT: Creature Feature



With Halloween coming up at the end of October, my mind naturally turned to vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other things that go bump in the night. But since some folks (including myself!) aren’t into horror, I don’t want to limit the KIT to only spooky creatures. So instead, this month’s SFFKIT challenge is to read a book with one or more significant nonhuman characters.

As always, you can construe the theme as broadly as you like! Aliens, robots, or sentient spaceships would count; or maybe you’d rather read about ogres, elves, or dragons. Angels, gods, and demons are fair game, as are talking animals and eldritch Cthulhu-like horrors. And of course, the aforementioned vampires, werewolves, and zombies also count! Please share what you’re reading below, and don’t forget to update the wiki!

I'm thinking about In Exile by Alexandra Turney, in which the god Dionysus is re-born in 20th century Rome.

I'll probably catch up with some urban fantasy series I love - Mercy Thompson or October Daye.

I am going to be reading Bird Box by Josh Malerman and Ghost Run by J. L. Bourne. I am also going to be reading Hollow Kingdom which, I believe, features non-human characters.

Not sure what I'll be reading for this one. Maybe Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire, part of the Wayward children, fits the bill (the first two novellas in this series certainly do fit).

>2 Robertgreaves: Ooh, that sounds good!

>4 DeltaQueen50: Definitely Hollow Kingdom - the main characters are a crow and dogs. I really enjoyed it.

Hmmm, I was thinking of The Echo Wife about a clone. But now I am thinking a clone isn't nonhuman, just a version of a human.
I always have plenty of fantasy books waiting in the wings, which definitely have appropriate creatures!

>7 JayneCM: Hmm, clones are an interesting case. I mean, vampires count, and they are technically humans, just undead ones. And werewolves are part human. So maybe it's fine? I don't have strong feelings about it. :) That said, I do think something like a witch would be pushing it -- that's just a human with some cool powers. Hard to define these boundaries sometimes!

I'll probably listen to Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. It features mermaids. I'll have another reread of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I'll be tackling the 1818 edition. It's one of my absolute favorites.

I'll likely read a book in the Family Law series by Mackey Chandler, it has several significant non-human characters.

I've already started reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell for this challenge. It features aliens and the section I most recently read hints at sexual abuse/exploitation. I'm moving forward cautiously.

>8 christina_reads: I think I will go with Cinder instead as I have been meaning to read it forever and it fits.

I have completed my read of Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton and while I found the book very clever and humorous, it didn't quite work it's magic on me.

I read the first three books in the Foreigner series many years ago, think I'll give book #4 Precursor a try.

I'll change my plans since I just remembered that book 4 in the Death Gate series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman has elves, dwarves aplenty, a few dragons possibly, and some kind of evil creature which is a sea serpent or something. Since I'm currently re-reading this series and this is the next book I have to read, I'll read it during this month! :)

I'm going to take a turn at this challenge with The Demon in Business Class by Anthony Dobranski. I bought it a number of years back at DragonCon (what happens when you bring a book lover to the vendor hall and she meets a lot of authors trying to finish selling their books??). While demons are not so much my thing, it sounded good at the time I bought it so I'll give it a try.

If not this one, then R.R. Virdi's book Grave Measures may have enough about creatures in it to meet this month's challenge.

Read Bird Box by Josh Malerman. There are creatures but you'll never get to see one.

I just finished The Bees by Laline Paull, a strange but fascinating literary fantasy novel about, well, bees.

>17 Kristelh: Aha that's a fun choice for this month's theme! :)

Starting The Last Human by Zack Jordan. The last human naturally interacts with other species.

I finished Cinder for this one, a retelling of Cinderella with the main character being a cyborg.

COMPLETED The Last Human by Zack Jordan. Not as much from the aliens' points of view as the first few pages led me to believe, but there were plenty of non human entities involved.

Doing my annual October reread of A Night in the Lonesome October, which is narrated by Snuff the dog. Always a fun, if spooky, read!

Read Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout. A series, called Harbinger, book 1. It is full of creatures (gargoyles, ghosts, demons, angels, hellions). Heavy romance.

I read The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood, with (unsurprisingly) dragons.

Although we never get to actually "see" the creatures that are featured in Bird Box they are an important element to the story. This was an excellent horror apocalyptic story.

COMPLETED A Warning in Blood by Joseph R. G. DeMarco

My review:

Somebody is making children into vampires (a change their minds and bodies cannot handle). Is it random cruelty or is it part of an attempt to destabilise vampire society and create a war between humans and vampires? Dru, the Prime Inquisitor of the Protectorate investigates.

A great story that kept me turning the pages and set in a world I want to know more about. Half a star deducted for some annoying typos.

I have finished A natural history of dragons which fell a bit flat for me. Enjoyable, yes, but also predictable.

For those interested, November's short SFF challenge is up!

Wiki is linked from the challenge page.

>27 Robertgreaves: Also completed the second in the series, "A Battle in Blood" (no touchstone)

I just finished The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik, which features a wide variety of maleficaria, that is, fantastical creatures that are trying to kill the protagonist. They aren't characters per se, but they're certainly a significant part of the story!

I finished Grave Measures by R.R. Virdi that features a deceased problem-solver who occupies bodies to get to the bottom of ghostly mysteries. There are plenty of humans in this book, and they don't quite know that they are interacting with a ghost living in a re-animated body, but they are solving the mysteries of who/what is killing the people living in an insane asylum. Quite a combination of human and non-human elements here!

Forgot to say I finished T. Kingfisher's Minor Mage, which is, I think, the only book I've ever read that has a talking armadillo.