#ryan douglass

[the-final-sentence]

Top Final Sentences of 2023

He knew that on the day of his death he would see her face and he could hope to carry that beauty into the darkness with him, the last pagan on earth, singing softly upon his pallet in an unknown tongue. Cormac McCarthy, from The Passenger

And there are so many silences to be broken. Audre Lorde, from “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”

For Guinevere Tallow, it felt like coming home. Ethan M. Aldridge, from Deephaven

And we laughed and held each other and filled our hearts with the faith that we could always do that, always blow away the clouds that threatened our stars. Andrew Neiderman as V.C. Andrews, from Honey

But as anyone who loves reading and writing quickly learns, both activities allow you to commune with the living and the dead, to listen to the thoughts of those who have come before you and argue, cajole, and sing praise for them in response. Kaitlyn Greenidge, from “Books for a Black Girl’s Soul”

The greatest shame would be to reach the end of our lives and have the epitaph read, ‘They worked really hard.’ Roxane Gay, from “Yes, Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All Important.”

The sky is gory with stars, like the insides of a gutted night. Julia Armfield, from “Salt Slow”

Sometimes, even in towns built on curses, at least once in a blue moon, things turn out okay. Ryan Douglass, from “Knickknack”

Eventually, if we speak the truth to each other, it will become unavoidable to ourselves. Audre Lorde, from “Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger”

In the distance, the darkness has started to lift like a veil, the first light of dawn spilling over the Beijing skyline, a promise of all the beautiful and terrible and sun-soaked days to come. Ann Liang, from If You Could See the Sun

#Cormac McCarthy #the passenger #The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action #audre lorde #Ethan M. Aldridge #deephaven #Andrew Neiderman #v.c. andrews #honey #Kaitlyn Greenidge #Books for a Black Girl’s Soul #roxane gay #Yes Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All Important. #Julia Armfield #salt slow #Ryan Douglass #Knickknack #Eye to Eye: Black Women Hatred and Anger #If You Could See the Sun #ann liang #best of 2023

[bracketsoffear]

Ever After High: The Legend of Shadow High (Shannon & Dean Hale) "Now, Ever After High itself is very Web. The children of famous fairytales being destiny-bound to relive their stories or go 'poof' is the driving force behind all the books' conflicts.

However, Shadow High takes it to another level. The narrators, who were present throughout the series, are more influential within the story. Even the straight-laced narrator parents who believe only in observing stories leave 'plop devices' to coerce characters in or out of making decisions. The titular Shadow High is a school for narrators run by antagonist Ms. Direction after a narrator schism between those who observe stories and those who control them. Ms. Direction uses 'unmaking lava' that turns characters and props into the words that compose them, destroying them so that they can be made again in her vision. She also uses narration to compel characters into doing her bidding. The narrator of the book, Brooke Page, is the daughter of the other books' narrators and has frequent arguments with her parents between chapters about why she can't intervene in the story to help the characters. Brooke ultimately does this in the book's climax by climbing the Fourth Wall and asking the reader for help, turning the book into a choose-your-own-adventure and having the reader write in how Ms. Direction is ultimately defeated.

Also, it's a crossover with Monster High so Frankie Stein and Draculaura are there."

The Taking of Jake Livingston (Ryan Douglass) "Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win."

#web poll #the web #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Ever After High #The Legend of Shadow High #Shannon Hale #Dean Hale #The Taking of Jake Livingston #Ryan Douglass

[slaughter-books]

Day 15: JOMPBPC: Black Books

Four beautiful black books! 🖤

#justonemorepage #jompbpc #black books #a monster calls #patrick ness #jim kay #promise boys #nick brooks #stars above #marissa meyer #the taking of jake livingston #ryan douglass #happy halloween #francis #i love books

[therefugeofbooks]

Currently reading The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

#booklr #books #book photography #the taking of jake livingston #ryan douglass #jake livingston vê gente morta #ya contemporary #horror #ya horror #books and coffee #the refuge of books

[professionalqueerbookworm]

Queer Reviews: Ryan Douglass, "The Taking of Jake Livingston".

CW: mildly graphic violence, racism, child abuse, domestic abuse, mentions of different kinds assault

Plot: Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win.

9/10 on the Rainbow Scale™ 🌈: It doesn't happen everyday that I feel sympathy for a villain while also being genuinely terrified of them, but this novel managed just that. The storytelling is incredible, the characters are complex and fleshed out, I had to remind myself to breathe at times. A true masterpiece of queer horror.

#queer reads #lgbtq books #book review #book recommendations #ryan douglass #the taking of jake livingston #gay #horror #suspense #ya books

[rainydaypaperback]

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It's hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time.

Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don't interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake.

Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he's going to win.

Text based bookclub via Bethel CT. Pride's Discord.

#the taking of jake livingston #queer book club #ryan douglass #online bookclub

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Got some books from my tbr!

#booklr #books #bookblr #fiction #book #the murders of molly southbourne #life ceremony #the taking of jake livingston #ya #literary fiction #short stories #novella #ryan douglass #sayaka murata #tade thompson

[crowclubkaz]

I’m so excited to announce that the Queer Horror Cult will be having its first official book club in August, and we’ll be reading The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass 👻

Are you a fan of queer horror books? You’ve come to the right place! The Queer Horror Cult is a Goodreads group and book club that anyone can join, from anywhere in the world! Every month, we’ll group read a queer horror book, and you can discuss your fav queer horror reads and authors in discussion threads! Join the Queer Horror Cult on Goodreads here!

Please note that The Taking Of Jake Livingston has the following trigger warnings: references to abuse (domestic, child, and sexual), sexual assault, school shootings and gun violence, homophobia, racism, references to suicide, and death, injury, and gore. If any of these topics may be triggering for you, please feel free to skip this month’s read, and join us for the September book club!

#horror books #queer horror #book club #book clubs #books #book recs #the taking of jake livingston #Ryan douglass

[mangotortoise]

Ok mood

[Picture of a paragraph from "The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass. Conversation between the main character Jake and his brother:

"You knew?"

"Yes, everybody knows." He smiles and blinks, not mocking, but not concerned with it either. "I'm glad almost dying in the middle of the road has given you the courage to say it."

"I can't be that gay."

"Nah, you're pretty gay."]

#The Taking of Jake Livingston #GAY #Sorry my italics don't work it's hit or miss on my browser #Ryan Douglass #Booklr #Book Thoughts #Books and reading #Spoiler tw

[illustration-alcove]

Corey Brickley’s illustrated cover for Ryan Douglass’s The Taking of Jake Livingston.

#corey brickley #the taking of jake livingston #book covers #ryan douglass #american literature

[pocsinspeculativefiction]

Impressions: The Taking of Jake Livingston

Title: The Taking of Jake Livingston Series: N/A; Standalone Author: Ryan Douglass Author Website: https://ryandouglasswriter.com/ Trigger Warnings: Suicide, homophobia, sexual assault, active shootings, murder, physical abuse, bullying Year Released: 2021 Demographic: Young Adult Genres/Subgenres: Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Ghosts, LGBTQ+

Trailer:

Synopsis:

From Goodreads

"Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student—the handsome Allister—and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake.

Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he's a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win."

Themes

Effects of bullying

Homophobia

Racism through microaggressions

Gun violence

Poorly treated mental illness

Parental abuse and neglect

Best Features

A pretty well-paced plot

A fleshed-out protagonist with gradual and believable character development

A menacing and cold-hearted but sympathetic/pitiable villain

A charming and believable MLM romance

Jake's grim, cynical narrative voice vividly details the world of racism, violence, and senseless tragedy he observes

Sawyer's depressing and hopeless narrative voice engenders sympathy but also builds tension and dread for the heinous actions he is destined to take

A fleshed-out power system for Jake as a medium and Sawyer as a vengeful spirit

Worst Features

The supporting cast plays a minimal role in the story

The subplots are few and mostly unimportant

The romantic subplot could have used more scenes. I found their relationship very charming and wished they had interacted more.

Manipulation of ectomist is the source of a lot of medium abilities. The substance might do more than you’re willing to believe that it can.

Favorite Spoiler-free Quotes:

“How many more of our friends do we have to lose before we say ‘enough is enough’? There are demons out there who just want the world to burn. And we have to come together to make sure they can’t get the weapons to harm us.”

“When our hands touch, green light blossoms between our thumbs, curls around our fingers, and spirals up our arms. Like a breath of ivy creating one aura between us. Pink flowers sprout to dress the vine and . . . I can honestly say, in all my years as a medium, I have never seen a garden grow between me and another person.”

“It’s amazing how many people don’t want to look racist and how few care about not actually being it.”

Overall Rating - 3.5 out of 5

#the taking of jake livingston #young adult #ya fiction #horror #black authors #lgbtq #lgbt fiction #lgbtqia #lgbtqiia+ #book review #paranormal fiction #Youtube #ryan douglass

[the-final-sentence]

Sometimes, even in towns built on curses, at least once in a blue moon, things turn out okay.

Ryan Douglass, from “Knickknack”

#Knickknack #Ryan Douglass

[fffartonceaweek]

For Samhain 2021 we brought together Ryan Douglass, Gretchen Felker-Martin and Alison Rumfitt, the authors of three ghoulish horror debuts – The Taking of Jake Livingston, Manhunt and Tell Me I’m Worthless respectively – under the banner of the Small Trans Samhain. The three sat down for a public Zoom interview and chatted with librarian and writer James Hudson about all things horror and humanity in their books.

#ryan douglass #gretchen felker martin #alison rumfitt #horror #lgbtq #literature #lgbtqia #the taking of jake livingston #manhunt #tell me i'm worthless #small trans library dublin #struggle session recs #leslie lee iii

[slaughter-books]

Day 30: JOMPBPC: Freebie

I loved reading this book last month! ❤️

#justonemorepage #jompbpc #freebie #the taking of jake livingston #ryan douglass #beautiful book #beautiful cover #amazing author #lgbt+ #pretty flowers #i love books

[dariiareads]

𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙟𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨

my goodreads rating: ★★★★★

7 scaredy cats out of 10

I don't even know if I should rate this book with scaredy cats as I usually do with the horror genre. this book is way more than a horror story.

I’m completely at a loss for words.

this amazing book deserves more recognition than it already has. it’s a fresh air among YA horror and if it doesn’t become classic one day – the world will be wrong about it.

let’s start from the beginning.

Jake Livingston – a lonely teenage boy surrounded by people who don’t understand him and…ghosts. trying to balance his growing up stage with being a medium is not the easiest task. plus, he faces racism and homophobia at the school he’s at. and not only his school, his closest circle doesn’t support neither his supernatural talent nor his sexuality. both of this stuff brings him low self-esteem and nightmares, the main reason for which is Sawyer.

Sawyer is a broken soul of a school shooter. and as much as one might feel sorry for all the awful things that have happened to him (and that stuff is dark, let me tell you, please check TW before reading this book), we can’t justify the killing of his innocent fellow students.

I had very mixed feelings about him. part of me wanted to be empathetic, his story even made me cry, but another part of me just absolutely despised him.

the author includes Sawyer’s diary passages which let us inside a cruel routine of the teenager’s life.

I will never relate to anything that has happened to any of the characters from this book. but I have a couple of thoughts.

the world is cruel. and I’m not even talking about the world existing inside this book. it’s not imaginary, not author’s dystopian fantasy. it is what’s happening around us every day, even when we are not a part of these events.

please, take care of people surrounding you and people who you don’t even know. thank you for this amazing book! can’t wait for another masterpiece from this author.

#the taking of jake livingston #ryan douglass #dariiareviews #short stories #spooky #spooky stories #halloween #spooky season #horror story #90s #book review #booktok #book recommendations #book reccs #reading #goodreads

[bethelctpride]

The Taking of Jake Livingston is our online book club book this month. Discussion is online via Discord on October 20th-21st.

Message us for a discord link!

#taking of Jake livingston #ryan douglass #queer books #queer book club #Youtube