Melanie Bell

Tag: reading

  • Book Review: The Gold Persimmon by Lindsay Merbaum

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    Looking for some queer, feminist horror? The Gold Persimmon is a new novel full of lush, surreal hotels, precise language, and chilling threats that haunt the characters gradually.   Two stories cross paths in this book. The first, a third-person framing narrative that starts and ends the book, focuses on a young woman named Clytemnestra who…

  • “Loveless” for Pride Month: A Book Recommendation

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    Happy Pride Month! This June, I’d like to acknowledge and celebrate a book written by one of my favorite YA authors, Alice Oseman. Loveless is the story of Georgia, a relatable college student who is obsessed with the idea of romance and an avid fan of fictional relationships, yet she has never had a crush.…

  • Where to Find New Book Discoveries and Deals

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    During London’s third lockdown (with restrictions just beginning to ease recently), I read more than ever. Books provided solace and escape into other worlds. I took full advantage of library loans and collected e-books, keeping my eyes peeled for deals and new discoveries. If you devour books more quickly than popcorn, or simply aspire to…

  • Excerpt from my Forthcoming Novelette “The Cliffman”

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    I’m delighted to announce the publication of my novelette “The Cliffman” in Hard for Hope to Flourish, a Midnight Bites collection of three chilling novellas from Crone Girls Press. The e-book comes out on March 11 and you can pre-order it now. If you like dark fairy tales, supernatural beings, and complicated sibling relationships, “The…

  • Books I Read During 2020 That I Wouldn’t Have Otherwise

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    In 2019, I read a lot, partly thanks to gift cards that let me buy harder-to-access books I’d been wanting to read for years. I’d thought that in 2020 I’d spend less time reading and more time doing things. Then March happened. The gist of it is, lockdown left me with a lot of reading…

  • Some Recent Fantastic Reads by Black Authors

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    Black lives matter. This should be something obvious, not something that needs to be said. But recent news shows just how deeply racial tensions run, how embedded they are in our institutions, and how much harm they cause. In the interest of supporting Black creators, I’ve put together a list of books by Black authors…

  • Creative Coping

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    I write this from home, where I now do my full-time job, giving new meaning to the term “in-house”! A spider plant from work sits on my kitchen table. I grabbed it in a panic when the UK government announced that all non-essential workers would henceforth be working from home. I didn’t want it to…