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You Should DO ANYTHING To See This Movie + My 6 (😳) September Reads

Charlotte Chambers

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You Should DO ANYTHING To See This Movie + My 6 (😳) September Reads
Ophelia with a Blue Wimple in the Water, Odilon Redon, 1905

As usual, life continues to get in the way of my cool and interesting hobbies, like writing this newsletter and reading, but I'm wrapping up September before November comes, technically, so not too bad, right? 😅.

My husband I took our two boys to Laika Studio's Wildwood in matinee this past Saturday. I absolutely loved the book, but I can say this with my whole chest: the movie is better.

If you've read HAVING WRITTEN for awhile, no surprise I rushed to see a handmade, stop-animation movie that took seven years to produce and who's director zealously eschewed the specter of AI.

Wildwood is truly, absolutely stunning, a marvel. Part of what makes the scene work and the physical movement of the figures (like the complicated facial expressions, I still can't believe it!) so breathtaking is that you know human hands made it. I will always spend my hard-earned money supporting such things.

But there's another reason I took my kids to see it.

My boys are 5 and 9. There is some heavy stuff in Wildwood. It's rated PG-13 for that reason. But honestly, why shouldn't they be traumatized like I was in the 90's watching Artax sink into the Swamp of Sadness? Or when that priest rips that guy's beating heart out of his chest in Temple of Doom?

I'm kind of joking, but also not.

I actually think exposing children to the right kind of DANGER in a safe environment is a hugely important way for their little brains to develop and understand the nature of consequences. To understand what could be taken from us, fair or not.

My little white boys are living a life that 99% of people on this planet could only dream about. They live in a beautiful, safe, and charming town that looks like someone built it as a replica from the movie Pleasantville, next to one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.

Their school system is consistently ranked one of the best in the state, kids go to top universities every year, and their arts program is incredible (like, regularly producing A-list stars kind of incredible). Very small children ride their bikes about town, untethered to their parents, and return home safe.

So how else are they going to know that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Even more important: that good people must still DO SOMETHING about bad things, even if their present situation is comfortable, just like Prue (the FMC) did.

This is a lesson that, outside of experience, is only made available through good, human-rendered art.

Look, Wildhood has some stabbings (maybe a beheading? I forget) and poisonings. There is a baby in like REAL danger, who is also not having his needs met as his big sister works to save him. There's an incredibly stunning and beautifully-rendered battle scene where characters boil alive in flaming tar.

Both my boys absolutely loved it, even at its lengthy 2 hours and 12 minutes. Totally rapt the entire time. They went home and "played Wildwood." I pulled out my copies of the trilogy, and we looked through the pictures. My oldest and I talked about how the villain Alexandra did truly bad things, but the original reason driving her actions (intense grief) was understandable. Then we talked about the complicated nature of just labeling people "good or evil" and how not to get lured in by charismatic leaders.

Anyway. Later that day my oldest played Minecraft for two hours straight and my almost 5yo watched the same episode of Dinosaur Train he's seen 100 times. It's not like they're little prodigies, nor will Wildwood turn them into such.

But it sure did make them smile, laugh, shriek, but most importantly?

Think.

Good new writing you should read!

Some gorgeous poetry and short stories out of my writing friends, including Sarah, a beloved mentor, and three of my wildly talented cohort from Kenyon's summer writing workshop.

Their work spans such a vast literary space, but the defining feature of each is that they will make you feel something in that way only art can!

Book Reviews!

The Man, by Laura Sims
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Literary Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: A talented amateur photographer and 1960s housewife thrives in her photography practice when she begins to suspect the man who assaulted her as a child has returned to stalk her. Her photography teacher at the community college encourages her to send her work out for publication, though she's afraid. Shenanigans seriously ensue.

Review: Well if you're ever wondering what in the hell a "literary thriller" is, pick up The Man by Laura Sims. A thriller if I ever read one, and the language and character interiority is truly magnificent. Full of nuance, our FMC starts to spiral as she believes The Man is stalking her, that he's showing up in her pictures. Her nosy professor gets involved in her life, intensifying her frustration. There is an abrupt and beautifully-executed midpoint, like Gone Girl-level shocking. Absolutely one to read, and if you're interested, would definitely suggest the audiobook.

The Bane Witch, by Ava Morgan
Rating: 4/5
Squick: 1/5
Genre: Commercial Fantasy Thriller/"Good for her"
Super Short Synopsis: A woman who longs to eat poisonous berries escapes her abusive marriage by faking her own death. Finally landing in the Adirondacks, she attempts to create a new life for herself. But, naturally, shenanigans ensue.

Review: This review has to be short because if I reveal much more, I'll spoil it. But if you like found family, witchery, and, most of all, when sex predators die at the hand of the abused, I highly suggest The Bane Witch. 😈

(Mostly) Human Resources, by Eliza Clark
Rating: 4/5
Squick: 2.5/5
Genre: Commercial Thriller-Horromance
Super Short Synopsis: An HR professional working for The Entity (a secret organization who tracks, hunts, and traps (if needed) various monsters and spookies) is forced to team up with an annoying (and stupidly hot) research scientist working for the same company in order to save a missing agent. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: As I query my debut novel WHAT THE BODY WANTS, I see agents constantly asking for genre mashups. Well, if anyone has ever wondered, "what does THAT mean?" here is a good example! This is, no joke, a Thriller-Romance-Horror-Kind of Science Fiction novel? (Also, there is a decent amount of squick!) More books in the series are forthcoming, and I'm excited. (Mostly) Human Resources is interspersed with funny bureaucratic memoranda and diary entries, which for me added to the allure.

We Were Forbidden, by Jacqueline Harpman
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Literary Short Story Collection
Super Short Synopsis: Three short stories written by the author of I Who Have Never Known Men (a book that rearranged my DNA), never before translated into English.

Review: The first story in the collection feels like an ideological prequel to the superior I Who Have Never Known Men. Still loved it. The subsequent stories are, or so we're told, something of autofiction. What all three told me is this: Harpmann can WRITE. But nothing will ever hit me like IWHNKM so...had to go with 4 stars.

Also, this edition was published by the INCOMPARABLE Transit Books. An indie press dedicated to bringing international literature to the United States. I've pretty much bought out their website. They also just published Booker Prize longlister May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry (review on that one comes next month!) In addition to the fantastic catalogue, they publish really finely-crafted paperback books; I love the quality of the paper and covers. Highly recommend checking Transit out!

Sky Daddy, by Kate Folk
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction/"Weird Girl"
Super Short Synopsis: A young woman working as a social media content moderator spends all her money and free time flying because she is LITERALLY * checks notes * in love with airplanes and wants to marry one.

Review: If Otessa Moshfegh popularized "Weird Girl Lit," Kate Folk has refined it to maximum purity in Sky Daddy. Eminently readable, Sky Daddy made me feel like I was on a vacation from being a Normie (much as I detest this aspect of myself, it's still unfortunately true). And NEVER did I think, when I picked up this book, that I'd read one of the sweetest platonic female friendships in modern day literature. Absolutely 10/10, A+100, no frigging notes. I don't think I would react well if someone told me "I hated Sky Daddy" to my face. So just lie, please.

Peach, by Emma Glass
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: After a young woman is assaulted, she sees her attacker everywhere.

Review: I love Emma Glass' writing, and while Glass is doing something really special and inventive in Peach, it didn't have the enveloping, un-put-downable quality Rest and Be Thankful and Mrs Jekyll held for me. Peach is almost a poem, a little bit surreal, a testament to the evils of men and the danger women live in 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. If you are sensitive to depictions of sexual assault and the resulting trauma, I would steer clear of this one.

OOF. September was a crazy month with little time to read, but I also spent the bulk of my (extremely limited) free time querying WHAT THE BODY WANTS. I am very pleased with the progress (lots of full requests are outstanding and under review!), but the whole thing could move MUCH FASTER than it is, WOOF 😅.

In the meantime, I continue to receive regular rejections for a short story I absolutely love, titled Severance Mommy, from literary magazines and honestly wonder why I'm even bothering.

But, alas, I will keep subbing it because I truly think it rocks and needs to be in the world. Hopefully I'll be able to share with you all soon enough!

MAKE SURE YOU GET OUT TO VOTE, either early or on November 3. And of course, have a great week, and read banned books.

LYLAS/B,
Charlotte

IG: @charlotte.chambers.writer
BlueSky: having-written.bsky.social
Website: charlottechamberswriter.com