i know we all have a habit of using whatevers around us for holding the place in our books lol, the other day i had to use a pair of scissors and then a hairdryer 😭😭😭 today its nice and simple, a star wars postcard i bought the other day,

this one here!

but yus i would love to hear what everyone else currently using as a bookmark whether its an actual bookmark or a fun little bonus object we just had lying around lmao, this is show and tell time 🙂‍↕️✨️

I wish the author didn't use Persian words with the English counterparts right after. For instance, when the word "kilim" is used, it is immediately followed by "rug", so on page they appear as a pair, kilim rug. But doesn't kilim already mean a rug? The same goes for hamam bath.

My native language has many Persian loanwords, so I might be more annoyed by this than most people. Does anyone else find this bothersome, or am I alone? Or is kilim rug and hamam bath actually the natural way these terms are used in English? 🤔

Lately I’ve been seeing more and more forum posts talking about characters or the narration repeating details throughout the book and how it feels like the author doesn’t trust readers to remember them.

Unless it’s egregious (stated multiple times on a page or every few pages) it’s not something I’ve ever noticed or cared about much since I know readers miss or forget important details. Or maybe even brushed a statement off as something unimportant only for it to be a big deal later.

So out of curiosity, when does this repetition go from being something important to the character that they’re constantly thinking about to “this author thinks I’m incapable of remembering anything” and how likely are you to notice it?

hi folks!

there have been a few forum posts asking about whether there are any non-christian titles in this quest. it’s something i’ve addressed in a few comments and in the introductory post, but i thought it might be beneficial to give this topic its own post that can be updated as necessary!

the following books revolve around religions other than christianity:

existing religions:

• zero saints - santeria and yoruba religion
• the good house - vodún
• pilgrim - inspired by a blend of religions
• a short stay in hell - mormonism and zoroastrianism

fictional religions:

• revelator - a mysterious religion revolving around a mountain god
• the year of the witching - a fictional religion set in a dystopian, fantasy world

i’ll also note that i included whisper down the lane for its look at satanism, though i won’t include it in the above list because i don’t necessarily think that’s what people are looking for when they reach for non-christian horror!

so: why aren’t there more? i hope that soon, there will be, but the reality is that the vast majority of books in the religious horror subgenre are christian horror. if i look up ‘religious horror books’, at least half of the first page results are explicitly for ‘christian horror books’, and the rest are also first and foremost highlighting christian horror books. there are a few non-christian religious horror books that i looked into but were out of print (non-mainstream titles from the 90s and early 2000s). by pagebound rules, i can only add titles that are accessible, which means, unfortunately, an out of print cult horror only accessible by purchasing a $90 paperback on amazon doesn’t make the cut. there are also a few more popular non-christian religious horror books that approach the cultures and religions they’re discussing in a way that is offensive, exploitative, and generally prejudicial. i will never add a book to this quest that i believe does more harm than good. the titles that i have curated here were thoroughly researched on my part and, to the best of my understanding, represent well-researched, thoughtful and nuanced interrogations of religion. i am continuing to search as hard as i can for genuine horror books representing a range of religions in a non-appropriative way. this is proving a difficult job, and is reflective of the publishing industry itself. that being said, titles that look at religions other than christianity are my absolute priority at the moment, so if you have any you’d like to recommend, please bring them to my attention!

i hope that this post offers some clarity, and feel free to ask any more questions here if you have them!