EVERY HEART A DOORWAY -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #6

image from Goodreads

What would you do if you found a door that didn't belong? Would you go through it? What if you came back but were irreparably changed?

I chose this book for the Popsugar Reading Challenge number 6: A book with a plant in the title or on the cover.  The cover has a forest of trees on it.

This is the premise behind Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire.  Kids are pulled through doorways to different worlds. Many don't return, but sometimes they come back.  These kids are given a chance to acclimatize back to our world with the help of Eleanor West and her school.

Nancy is the main character in this book, but she has changed since her experience in one of the Underworlds. Her parents send her to Eleanor's school to get 'better'. Here she finds she can be her new self but always hoping she can find the door back to her new home.

She is surrounded by a plethora of other characters that have had similar experiences like hers just in different worlds. Each have their problems.

It also becomes a bit of a murder mystery. It's not a super duper complicated, but it does give a bit of extra spice to the story line.

I read this book in two hours. I recommend it for those that like magical realism and fantasy as well as a bit of darkness.

I would love to see Nancy's world.  If you could go anywhere through a doorway, what kind of world you would wand to find?

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Abel Nightroad, Nanami Momozono #atozchallenge

Abel Nightroad is the bumbling main character in the Anime Trinity Blood.  It takes place in a  post-apocalyptic world where humans and Methuselah (vampires) are at odds. He is a caring priest in the Church, but he can become serious when the situation calls for it.

He may appear to be incompetent at his job  holds a dark secret inside him.

He is a Krusnik. A creature that is not man nor vampire. He has sentient nanomacines within him that turn him into a vampire that drinks from vampires.  In this form he has wings and a scythe made of his own blood.

He could destroy a city in this powerful form.

💮💮💮💮💮💮

The long suffering Nanami Momozono was kicked out her apartment when her father ran away leaving tons of debt behind in the first episode of the Anime Kamisama Kiss.

She finds a home in the shrine of Mikage, the land god, but with a price. She ends up becoming the land god herself.

On top of that, yokai and spirits are trying to eat her because of her new found powers and her vulnerability as a mortal.

And yet, it gets even more complicated when Tomoe, the familiar of the shrine hates the very thought of having a human land god.

Her determination and perky attitude to help others causes her to get into mischief, which has Tomoe coming to the rescue.

And then the real fun begins.

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Dororo, D #atozchallenge

Dororo (doe-roe-roe), the blue ninja pascifist alien frog, is from the comedic, insane, crazy, and wild Anime Sgt. Frog.  As a Lance Corporal in the A.R.M.P.I.T. Platoon (Advance Recon Mission Preparatory Invasion Terror), his mission was to help his commander Sgt. Keroro to invade Earth, which fails miserably.

 He was once an assassin in the Keron Army with the name of Zeroro.

He was rescued by  Koyuki Azumaya a Pekoponian (pee-ko-po-nee-an) (a.k.a. an Earthling) and accepts the ninja way of life and becomes one with nature.  His change of lifestyle has him balking at following the many of the plans that Keroro comes up to continue the highly comedic escapades of global domination.

🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎

D is the enigmatic traveler of the movie Anime of Vampire Hunter D. One of the classic animes of the 80s, it has been a fan favorite for a long time.  Coming from the novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi, it is an amalgamation of dystopianish horror and science fiction. It takes place in the year 12,090 A.D.

D has a symbiotic companion on his left hand, who can operate

separately from D.  A loner by nature, D comes off as aloof and cold, but he helps people that are plagued by Nobles (vampires).

He is a dhampir, half vampire half human.  His origins are a mystery, but there are hints that he may be the son of the Sacred Ancestor or one of His experiments to halt the decline of the Nobility.

A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- NUKEKUBI

Blood! Blood! 

The cry rips through your mind as you hunger for it.  Your craving must be fulfilled.  You need it.

A lone man walks down the street.  You grin as you chase him down.

He turns, cries out in fright, and raises his arms to fight you off.  Only, you are faster and more agile than him.  You have the upper hand.

You pierce his neck with your teeth, drinking the hot, coppery liquid in ravenous gulps.

Your craving has been met.



This, my friends, is a Nukekubi.  Nukekubi (removable neck, missing neck) is a creature that does not know that she is a creature.  She is a vampiric version of the Rokurokubi. , which translates roughly to pulley neck.

By day she is a normal woman.  It's at night that her head detaches and and goes flying about looking for victims.

The woman can pass this to their daughter.

Some say that there are lines or wrinkles around the neck where the head comes off the body.

A TO Z CHALLENGE 2016 -- ITTAN MOMEN, ISO OONA

The whir of the sewing machine is a pleasant sound as the final blocks are coming together.

A cool breeze drifts in from the open window, refreshing the room.

You lift your foot off the peddle and cut the thread and sigh with accomplishment.

Without warning, a shadow blocks the light above you.  A startled gasp escapes. You begin to turn but cry out as a cloth wraps around your face and neck.

You fight.  You struggle.  The cloth tightens even more.  Your lungs burn.  Then nothing.


And that, my friends, is the Ittan-Momen.  It's the quilter's worst nightmare.  It literally is a piece of cloth (it's name translates basically to one tan (kind of a like a bolt) of cotton.  Only this baby has been possessed.

This tsukumogami likes to fly around at night and attack random strangers by strangling them and/or suffocating them by wrapping themselves around the person's face.

This guys are out and out evil.

They originated in Kagoshima Prefecture.

So beware quilters.  You never know when those rolls of fabric might be staring back at you.

gh

Walking along the rocky beach, you see a beautiful woman gazing upon the sea.  Concerned because she is dripping wet, you approach.

When you open your mouth to speak, a sound so terrible nearly blinds and deafens you.  Unable to move, your blurry vision only sees strings of black.

Then the horrendous pain begins.  Thousands of sharp stabs all over your body are like needles.  It's so overwhelming you are barely aware of being dragged into the ocean.


This devilish creature from the deep is the Iso Onna.  She is similar to Sirens and Nure Onna.  They are creatures that use their hair to suck a victim's blood.

Iso Onna translates to something like coast woman.  (its tough to find a reliable online translator.) They are Japanese in origin from Western coastline and favor the Kyushu region.

They sometimes attack from the water to drag helpless victims from boats, and they even call their prey from cliff sides.  These poor souls are so mesmerized by The Iso Onna's voice that don't realize that they are even in danger of falling.

They are the vampires of the sea, and we are their tasty treats.