#Ghost Eaters

[weltonboys]

what is a ghost?

ghost eaters - clay mcleod chapman / stranger in the alps (2017) / war of the foxes - richard siken / summer sons - lee mandelo / yellowjackets (2021) / right where you left me - taylor swift / ghost eaters - clay mcleod chapman / ghost (1990) / haunting of hill house (2018)

[quottakes]

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

[ill-try-to-do-book-reviews]

Ghost Eaters

Clay Mcleod Chapman

RATING: 🕯🕯🕯🔥 (3.5/5)

Ghost Eaters by Clay Mcleod Chapman is a metaphor masquerading as a paranormal horror. It has a wonderful premise and is executed quite well - though a bit lackluster at times. Some parts of the book will have you awake until 3am reading, reading, reading, while others may feel like they drag out just a bit too long. All in all I think this book is certainly worth a read, if only for the perspective on addiction that it offers, just maybe not a second. Not for me, at least.

SUMMARY: "Erin hasn’t been able to set a single boundary with her charismatic but reckless college ex-boyfriend, Silas. When he asks her to bail him out of rehab—again—she knows she needs to cut him off. But days after he gets out, Silas turns up dead of an overdose in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and Erin’s world falls apart.

Then a friend tells her about Ghost, a new drug that allows users to see the dead. Wanna get haunted? he asks. Grieving and desperate for closure with Silas, Erin agrees to a pill-popping “séance.” But the drug has unfathomable side effects—and once you take it, you can never go back."

MY DETAILED REVIEW (SPOILER WARNING)

It took me less than a day to read Ghost Eaters. According to the Libby app, it took me 6 hours and 48 minutes to be exact. The story it tells is a great one - grief, addiction, the dependancy of a toxic relationship, love and loss. The way that Silas and his mushrooms take over the Tobias' body and the entire house like a parasite, the parallels between them are amazing.

As a metaphor, the book is solid. It gives a perspective on addiction that while I cannot comment on as someone who has never had substance abuse issues, I can appreciate. This book I think will be hit or miss with readers, with some loving it and some being a bit ambivalent towards it, like myself.

All in all, it's not my personal vibe but it was an entertaining read. Very visual, sometimes viscerally so. I may get myself a physical copy some day, if only for the love I have of owning physical books.

[marichanmari]

[wholelotofweird]

Meowdy, I hope you're ready to take a peek at all of the books I've read the last 3 months!

By read, I do also mean listened to. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, because my brain is bad.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

I love a good mystery book, and this is a good mystery book. The narrator has a strong voice and is up-front about their unreliable nature. This book does a great job of making sure you are on the narrator's side, it never feels like they are purposefully keeping readers in the dark in order to pull a gotcha.

Pacing and suspense are SO well balanced to the point where I devoured this book in a day.

Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher

I was so prepared for this book to lean way more heavily into a fantasy world where I'd have to learn more terms and how social systems work, and just 1000 other things that can put me off of fantasy books. It's part of the reason I put it off for so long after getting it recommended to me (sorry, Ben.)

THIS BOOK, THOUGH, is not that at all. We don't have to learn new names for "church" or "palm tree". The author manages to thread the line between assuming that readers know the world already, and not creating a bunch of buckwild new words. The handholding though the worldbuilding is so light that you almost don't even feel it.

The setting manages to feel modern and fantastic all at once, which is just... The perfect food for me. The pantheon exists, but it isn't the focus.

This is a romance novel but not a bodice ripper, or overly erotic. I feel the depths of the emotions between the two main characters, which is what I really want.

My one gripe is that the final resolution feels very deus ex. Now, if I was going to pull out my fancy degree and analyze this, I could make an argument that the ending is supposed to feel that, for [spoilers]. But... I'm not sure how true that is. Maybe I'll have to re-read the book and keep that argument in mind.

Even with the ending, this book is lovely.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop - Meredith Katz

This book is short and sweet and a lovely look at an ace relationship.

I haven't read a book sub 200 pages in about a billion years, so many modern books are 600+ pages. Some of them! So good! Others!! Painfully long! This book manages to build an amazing world, atmosphere, multiple characters, and a believable romantic relationship all in the space of a few hundred pages.

Not just that, but the story happens to be about grief, and life, and what it is a person really wants. There are a handful of books I've read in my life that I connect with on such a deep level that I feel seen and changed, Convince Store Woman is one, and this is one.

Cults - Max Cutler

Taking a hard swerve into some non-fiction. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this one. I'm not HUGE into true crime (anymore, 14 year old me S U P E R was), so I was a little concerned that I was signing up for some grim, overly detailed, look into the crimes.

What I got instead was a thoughtful look at the psychology behind cult leaders. Yeah, there are a few sections that are pretty grim, but the book doesn't revel in them, if that makes sense. There is never a point where I feel like I am supposed to be ENJOYING the crimes being detailed.

The focus on not just the leaders lives pre-cult, but the lives of the cult members does a ton of work to unmythologize (.... new word alert) some of these leaders.

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

So... I don't know. I didn't dislike this book, but I'm not sure I'm a fan. I will read the second one when I have access to it, but I don't know that I'd read this one again.

Here is a true fact about me - I don't read summaries of books or horror movies. This, as you may imagine, leads me to having to some WILD times with media.

Anyway, the point is: I was expecting a mystery period piece. What I got was a fantasy mystery period piece. It was fun, it was a little overly complicated. At the end of the day, I was definitely not the target audience for this.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Janette McCurdy

Jesus. Christ.

When i-Carly was popular I was juuuuuust old enough to say I hated it, while watching it with my younger sisters pretty frequently. I didn't make sure to watch any of the big event episodes. I didn't see every episode, but the show was a constant in my life.

To get such a raw look at someone's life who was molded to be a 'peer' was WACK. Jennette doesn't sugar coat anything. Her experiences are raw and honest and it is probably the only way these experiences could be expressed.

Paladin's Strength - T. Kingfisher

You may be asking "why didn't you put this up next to the first book?"

Great question.

I'm putting this list in order that I read them, so like. Ease off.

I equal parts liked this book just as much, and had trouble getting through it. I am once again in love with the world and with the characters. During some of the middle of the book it felt like the book was 600 pages just to be 600 pages, and not because things needed to be said.

When I was in college I was accused of writing too many "stage directions" in my literature. I blame my years of RPing on Gaia Online and fan-fic writing on that. There is a definite style that comes from those writing exercises, a style where you want all of the readers to know everything from point A to point B. The thing is, not all of that is needed. I don't need 200 pages of sexual tension and flirting to believe in the relationship of two people. It's the "show don't tell" rule taken to the extreme.

There are some times when it's okay to tell and not show.

I like this book, I wish it was shorter, I will be reading the next one in the series because, damn it, this series is fun.

The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't tend to read fantasy books Like This anymore. When I was younger this type of book was my bread and butter. I've found that a lot of them (to me, at my advanced age) are tedious. And I'm tired.

This book! Manages not to be tedious and absolutely cradled me in the arms of fantasy I loved when I was younger. The book isn't, plot wise, comforting and yet I felt comforted reading it. I understand that the sentiment makes little sense. I'll say, though, if you were like me and were/are a big fan of Tamora Pierce's work - I cannot recommend this book enough.

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes - Brad Ricca

What is more cool than a woman lawyer, investigator, and social rights advocate in the 1900s? Basically nothing. This is another non-fiction book that truly brought to life the folks it detailed. I am OBSESSED with this woman.

I had never heard of Grace Humiston, which seems like an absolute shame, not just because she was cool as all hell, but because she spent so much time and effort protecting the underserved classes of 1900s New York. She was a lawyer who often worked for free to represent folks who could either not speak or write in English and were being taken advantage of.

She became an investigator, basically, because she knew the police were not putting effort into it.

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw

This was another one that I didn't read the summary for before jumping in. I knew it was a queer book and I knew there was a mermaid, I didn't need any other convincing.

Here we have another sub 200 page book that tells an amazing love story. A story of personhood and growth and revenge.

It is not an easy read either in content or syntax. I haven't really put any trigger warnings with any of the other books, maybe that's a system I'll implement if anyone is interested. But this one: Body Horror, and Gore. If you have a weak stomach I would, sadly, not recommend this to you.

That said, this book is one of the more poetic ones I've read in a long time. Every word feels purposeful in a way that I don't run into often. Keeping the book short works perfectly for that style. If it were any longer I could easily find myself getting lost in the writing.

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

This book has been on my TBR for... A While. It took my friend starting it and sending rave reviews for me to pick it up.

Here's another fun fact about me - My brain is broken. I have a hard time engaging with media that I KNOW I will enjoy, simply because. Because why? I don't know. To be contrary? Because I don't want to be disappointed? Because I'm scared I'll like it too much?

Who knows, don't recommend shows or movies to me and expect me to get back to you in a timely manner. You have to wait 3-5 years.

So, knowing that, I am glad I forced myself to pick this up. This is the coffee shop AU that we all love. The creation of this AU was treated with such love and care, it's clear the author knows what's up. All I want is a big strong character to fall in love with a smaller, softer, character and also run a little shop.

This book delivers on that and more. I cannot WAIT for the next book.

Leech - Hiron Ennes

I'm going to start with the easy stuff - This is a wonderfully dark book. I'm not usually a gothic horror reader, but wow. This book is about horror, identity, reclaiming the self. My library had it miss-tagged as romance which??? It is SUPER not.

The harder part is putting into words how I feel about this book. I like this book, it is complex and poetic. There were times where I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin, in a good way. Emotions are so viscerally described that I could feel them in my gut.

The history of the world feels so deep, and the author does an amazing job at making me feel like that there are things going on outside the view of the character. That is an amazing skill to pull on, making the world around the character feel truly alive.

I told my friends when I finished it that sometimes "u read a book and the book read u."

I haven't put on my literature analysis hat on in nearly a decade. I would LOVE to spend more time to sit with this book and peel back the layers and figure out all of the ways this book makes me feel seen as a queer person. I don't have the words for that right now. Just know that I felt it.

Ghost Eaters - Clay McLeod Chapman

I don't know how I feel about this book. I think, overall, I like it. I think the plot is interesting, but the book isn't really about the plot, it's about the character. It's about grief and relationships and healing.

I felt like the first 200 pages were a real struggle for me. Unlike some of the other books I've read on this list, I did read a blurb about this one. I wonder if that was why the first 3rd of this book was a struggle. I was waiting the hook to find me. Instead, I had pages and pages of character exploration. I don't hate character exploration! But it wasn't what I was expecting.

The end... Left me feeling sad, and a little hopeless. Which, I think is the point. I think is why I don't read a ton of horror books. I love horror movies, I don't mind if the endings of those are bleak and hopeless. I think the difference is time spent. Reading a book takes so much more time and dedication and like... I want to be happy, is the thing.

I like this book, I think it's a wonderfully written look at addiction and grief and the ways those can eat a person alive.

Paladin's Hope - T. Kingfisher

I devoured this book in 5 hours. I... I opened it and did not put it down. I think this one may be my favorite of the three. I think the author managed to strike the exact right balance of tension, romance, and action.

Unlike Paladin's Strength, I never felt that there were these big empty spaces -- There was momentum.

I want to once again say that I LOVE that the characters are into their 30s. As a person also into their 30s it's just nice to see folks who feel real. Maybe I've been reading the wrong books for years, I simply feel a deep connection for characters similar in age who are just so... Normal (ignoring that some of them are paladin's of a dead god... you know what I mean).

[nat-seal-well]

I’m only on like chapter 3 but I’m already so here for this

[ethelcainlovebot]

- Ghost Eaters, Clay McLeod Chapman

[can-i-quote-you-on-that]

'We've gotten haunted houses all wrong.  It's people who are really haunted.'

Ghost Eaters (Clay McLeod Chapman)

[oozywoozycon]

read a shitty book!! brain is currently performing acrobatic maneuvers to make any of it coherent. not very successful

[rldraws]

Review: Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

Happy Friday!! I’m very excited for this weekend. I have paint for my front room, a new coat hook/bench thing to assemble and install, and no other plans! Other than book working, of course. But today, we have a fantastic book by someone else. Description which I hath borrowed: “Erin hasn’t been able to set a single boundary with her charismatic but reckless college ex-boyfriend, Silas. When he…

[these-violet-delights-fic]

Can someone tell me how the book Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman ends, or give a plot synopsis past what is on the back of the book? I have Googled, read and watched reviews, checked Goodreads, Wikipedia, and TV Tropes, but can't find a full book summary. If someone knows where a full plot summary exists, whether in written or video format, a link would also be appreciated.

I am currently listening to the audio book, Libby says I'm 40% of the way through it, and while I want to know what happens in a beat-for-beat sense, I am not enjoying this book and don't want to spend another 5 and a half hours listening to it. If you are a fan and think it gets better, let me know, I might finish it, but right now, I just really want a spoilerific plot summary. If you want to add to this post and put spoilers under a cut, that is also encouraged.

No complaints about the cover art, though. The cover design is solid.

[literarysiren]

Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite authors, and one of the most creative minds I've had the privilege to know, and his newest work, Ghost Eaters, proves he knows how to haunt and break your heart with equal power. Wanna get haunted?

[rocker0486]

My books for the month of October. I read "The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker, "Ghost Eaters" by Clay McLeod Chapman, and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. This was my second time reading "The Hellbound Heart" and enjoyed it more this time around. It's the book that Hellraiser was based on and wanted to read it again before the new movie came out. "Dracula" I finally got around to finishing. I actually started it back in 8th grade but never finished lol. I loved "Ghost Eaters" and it's one of my favorite books of the year so far. It was a crazy story that I couldn't put down.

[2kiran]

ftm!simon riley who rides your poor cock until you’re frantically attempting to push him off of you. his pussy greedily clenching around you to keep all of your cum in.

“mmhh, good boy. good fuckin’ boy. all this f’me, yeah?”

ftm!könig who sits on your face until you can no longer feel it. he’s aware that he could easily crush you beneath his thighs, but he doesn’t care. you can take it, can’t you?

“scheiße. right there, hnng,” he rocks against your tongue, hands tight on the bed’s headboard, “ah— you can do better than that.”

pt2

[flowers-of-io]

Destiny + text posts 17/?

[nelkcats]

Star Thief ✦

After a medical check with Frostbite and a conversation with Clockwork, it turned out that Danny didn't have a protect obsession, and it was more of a ghostly reflex about protecting his haunt from invaders.

The need to protect his home had invaded his mind until it became a priority due to the constant in which the other ghosts kept coming, leaving his space obsession as a secondary priority until the end of the danger.

He only needed one night looking at the sky and getting stellar freckles to realize that he had an obsession with space, the problem? Phantom has become a possessive ghost.

As with his home, he had an irrational fear of the night sky being stolen from him, so he began stealing stars and keeping them with him. This might seem impossible if Danny were a normal person, but he was a half ghost, and a powerful one.

He stole the stars and hid them within his own ectoplasm, turning his appearance into one similar to Nocturn's. Or at least he did until Clockwork scolded him for interfering with his dimension's solar system and forced him to return the stars.

Which he did with great reluctance. But the desire to hoard the stars just for himself did not disappear; Danny looked for an alternative solution to the problem and with the help of the Infinite Map he found "The perfect dimension to steal stars and not have to return them"

However, this did not go unnoticed by the Justice League when an abnormality was detected in all parts of the cosmos, hundreds of stars were disappearing, and fast. They decided to investigate.

On the other hand, Danny was hugging and hoarding stars as he hovered in the new dimension sky. It was perfect! And he wasn't going to return them again.