Time for another book tag – it’s been a while since I did one, but when Noly showed this to me, I knew I needed to do it! And then I was tagged by Ashlee (Books are 42) so here we are.
Noly (The Artsy Reader) is the creator, and you can find out a lot more about it (and some official graphics if you want them) on her blog.
Strange Noise in the Night
Which book character would you choose to protect you from harm?
Aragorn from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, by J. R. R. Tolkien.
My criteria for this answer was pretty simple: who do I think I would survive best with. He’s a very good fighter (implausibly good at times, but hey, it’s fantasy and he’s the hero so who cares?), knows how to survive in the wilderness (though the tube might baffle him, so I might be able to contribute something), and is a gentleman, so I’m not exchanging one danger for another.
Hotel next to a Cemetery
Which book character do you really hope is not hiding in the shadows?
The birds from FLOCK HORROR, by Jennifer Killick.
Frankly, any of the monsters from the DREAD WOOD series would be awful to find in the shadows as they are incredibly unpleasant (spiders, brain worms, giant octopus). This series takes normal creatures and makes them so much worse (the creepy nursery rhymes also helps a lot!) However something about the fact that birds come at you in a flock from the sky at speed makes them worse than even the spiders. It’s just too many of them and too many directions to watch.
Cold Night so Staying in
Which three book characters would you like to spend a trivia quiz and board game night with?
The honest answer is characters from books I’ve written/am writing. I think several would be really fun to play board games with, the ones whose personalities align a little more with me. Also, they’ve been in my head a while now (some more than a decade) so they feel quite real already.
Big Adventure!
Pick a scary book - where have you been transported to?
The abandoned fairground from HIDE, by Kiersten White – and I am not happy about it.
I don’t particularly enjoy theme parks in real life. I have vertigo, so most rides are awful. They’re noisy and full of too many people. But make it an abandoned one? There’s something horrible about that, with everything rusting and abandoned (health and safety nightmare too!) And then add in the fact people are going missing in this particular space and I want to be nowhere near it, thank you very much.
Fairy Sacrifice?
Which scary book from your shelves goes?
THE DARK BETWEEN THE TREES, by Fiona Barnett.
I actually quite liked this book (I gave it four stars in the end). It was creepy and unnerving and I liked that it played with historical perspectives. However, it was a little hard to follow at times thanks to the initial dual timelines and then how time got bent in the wood, taking me a long time to get straight exactly what was happening. I don’t think I’d read it again so it would be an easy one to part with (it’s on the “remove from house for shelf space” pile already).
Autumnal
Which book setting do you choose for autumnal vibes rather than scary?
A SINGLE THREAD OF MOONLIGHT, by Laura Wood.
This book is set in the autumn at a stately home in the English countryside during the Victorian era. It contains falling leaves, warm drinks by roaring fires, and walks in the grounds with handsome men.
The story is also not at all scary in the slightest. It is, instead, a historical romance about a seamstress coming back to her childhood home in disguise where her stepmother now rules after the death of her father (it’s a Cinderella-inspired story.)
Witches Cauldron
Which item from a book are you adding to a cauldron spell?
Anything from the apothecary supplies in THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER, by Melinda Salisbury.
This series has a lot of potions in it, with the main character of the second book being an apprentice herbalist herself. Some of these potions are benign, some deadly, and some very useful (and might even defeat the big bad, if they can work out how to do it.) So if I pick things from this series, I can toss something into most potions and hopefully not mess it up too badly regardless of what the intended outcome is.
Spooky Setting
Which book setting is the scariest?
The caves from IT’S BEHIND YOU, by Kathryn Foxfield.
I have mild claustrophobia so the caves the TV contestants get trapped in during this book were utterly horrifing. They were so unsettling, and then there’s a killer on the loose too. To make matters worse, the characters have to escape through not-safe-for-the-public (or frankly anyone) caves. We’re talking lightless, narrow passages half filled with water that you’re wiggling through. Even thinking about it makes me feel panicky, so well done Kathryn, I guess.
Halloween Costume
Which character are you dressing up as?
It has to be someone historical, and I need plenty of time to compile a costume as accurately as I can because that’s the sort of person I am. I don’t really think I’d want to do something scary, just want to indulge in layers of skirts, and the satisfaction of doing it well (according to my own metric.) So it’s probably just a specific period with inspiration from insert-illuminated-manuscript.
I am leaving the tag open on this one!
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 