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5 Horror Books to Read in October

10/4/2020

I have never been one to read, or even watch, much horror. I enjoy a good psychological thriller or ghost story every now and then, but I am not impressed by gore or gratuitous violence. October is the month of spookiness and terror, so I thought I would challenge myself to try to read books that fall into the category of horror, at least in some way. A couple books I already had on my list to read this year fit this category, so I did a quick search and found a few others. In addition to looking for horror novels, I was also looking for them to be written by authors of color to fit my ongoing challenge to explore voices from different backgrounds and histories. The horror stories I am most interested in are steeped in folklore, so I am excited to read tales inspired by the traditions of other cultures and countries. I don't know if I'll make it through all five books this month, but I'm going to do my best. So, without further ado, I give you my sBOOKtober reading list:

I read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow this summer and fell in love with her prose. Soon after, her new book Mexican Gothic was a Book of the Month choice, and I have now had it sitting on my bookshelf for a few months. With Hispanic Heritage Month ending on October 15, I wanted to read a book by a Latinx author and this one checked both boxes.

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find — her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough, smart, and has an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom...

This book is really what piqued my interest in reading horror. The Only Good Indians kept popping up on lists and ads and other friends' posts since it was published in July. I was hesitant to read it, but when I found out that Stephen Graham Jones would be featured at my local book festival this October, it jumped to my definitely read pile. I am also trying to read more indigenous authors, so this book was perfect for my sBOOKtober list.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

I thought that short stories might be easier to find (and easier to read) when it comes to horror, and when I saw this book on a list to read, it stood out to me immediately. I think this will be a good collection for me because it is considered science fiction and several stories include elements of horror.

Throughout the Caribbean are stories of people who aren't what they seem. Skin gives them their human shape, but when the skin comes off, their true selves emerge.

A new collection of short stories from Hopkinson, including "Greedy Choke Puppy," which Africana.com called "a cleverly crafted West Indian story featuring the appearance of both the soucouyant (vampire) & lagahoo (werewolf)," "Ganger (Ball Lightning)," praised by the Washington Post Book World as written in "prose [that] is vivid & immediate," this collection reveals Hopkinson's breadth & accomplishments as a storyteller.

A good ghost story is perfect for an October reading list. I don't know if this story will be more mystical than terrifying, but the brief description sounds eerie enough. This was on a Book Riot list of horror stories by authors of color, and I felt that it would add a little variety and a different sort of pacing to the other stories on my list.

Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women appear out of the mist in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River. Two are unknown to its residents, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor. As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, their frightening power is finally revealed.

When I read Dracula in middle school, I absolutely loved it. It was also one of the few books that made me feel nervous and a little scared while reading. Dracula was a wonderful villain, and when looking for vampire stories, I look for ones similar to what Stoker created. To be honest though, I haven't tried very hard to find more vampire tales because it seems like the popular ones being written today do not have the traditional type of vampire that I am looking for, or are not as dark as Dracula. When I came across Certain Dark Things, I immediately added it to my list. Not just scary vampires, but ones from a different tradition? And the novel is written by an author I know I already love? Sign me up! I also think it will be good for me to - finally - read a contemporary vampire novel.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized. Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in. Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?

Salt: A Most curious mineral wonder

9/20/2020

Years ago I became fascinated with salt and its history and did a little bit of research into how it is created, what forms it can take, and what role it has played in religion and folklore. Many people laughed or shook their head when I told them how interesting salt was. But I believe learning about things that although seem as insignificant or mundane as table salt help me better understand how to create worlds when it comes to writing. To me, the most complete worlds have the smallest details fleshed out and establish an intricate relationship between the characters and their environment. Understanding how a thing like salt can play such a large role for humans helps me explore the possibilities of imagined worlds. There is much to learn about these wondrous crystals, and although I cannot cover everything about them, I would like to provide at least a taste of their significance. I hope by the end you find salt as fascinating as I do.

WHAT IS SALT?
When atoms of sodium (a solid base) bond with atoms of chlorine (an acidic gas), the solid sodium chloride (NaCl) is formed, which is commonly known as salt. Sodium and chlorine are abundant elements in nature, but are never found on their own; together they create the common mineral, Halite. The crystals are often mixed with other minerals that affect its coloring and of course, its chemical makeup. The sodium and chlorine bond creates an almost perfect cubical crystalline form. What’s fascinating about that, is that no matter how you break up salt, it’ll shatter into smaller cubic pieces.

WHERE DOES SALT COME FROM?
Salt comes from water and rocks, and it is harvested from both throughout the world. As freshwater runs down from mountains and through river beds, it collects and carries with it various elements that mix together and can form the different kinds of salt and other minerals found in nature. The most common place we know salt can be found is in our oceans. While they have been around for billions of years, scientists think the saltiness of the oceans has increased over time due to volcanic activity. Chlorine is a volcanic gas and sodium is found in volcanic igneous rock, so with all the volcanoes and faults found along the ocean floor, chlorine and sodium are constantly being added to the ocean, mixing, and forming salt. The mineral makes up about three percent of the ocean water. Salt from the ocean is collected and refined through the common practice of solar evaporation.

.On land, salt can be found in salt flats and underground salt deposits and domes. In these places, salt is a residual product from dried sea beds. The underground deposits build up along with other sedimentary rock and are shaped by pressure from tectonic shifts. Salt is often less dense than the rock around it, so it can flow upward through the layers of sediment. It is also impermeable, so solid material cannot get through it, often causing oil to be trapped around it. Salt is mined and collected from these types of deposits.

TYPES OF SALT
Halite is the most common type of salt. Calcium is also a form of salt, and sulfur is a mineral salt. Two other types of salt are sylvite (Potassium Chloride, KCl) and epsomite (a magnesium sulfate). Sylvite is an evaporite, like common salt, but is one of the last minerals to be left behind after evaporation, so it is found in extremely hot and dry climates and near volcanoes. It is often used as a table salt substitute. Epsomite forms in caverns, and can be found in some mineral hot springs, like those in Epsom, England. You may have heard of epsom salts, which are used for healing, relaxation, beauty, and even gardening.

There are also different kinds of sea and rock salt that come from all over the world and are used for various culinary efforts. Food 52 and America’s Sea Salt Company (Salt Works) offer a quick look at several kinds of salt for these purposes.

GEOLOGICAL WONDERS
If you’ve ever done an experiment in elementary school where you left salt water alone to evaporate, you might recall studying an irregular blob of salty crystals left on a jar lid or a piece of string. And I bet that all of your classmates’ crystals looked slightly different than yours, but just as interesting. When saltwater evaporates, it often leaves behind curious-looking formations of salt, and over time, these can build up to look pretty neat. Around the world, there are natural salt statues rising out of salty seas, carved figurines in the walls of old salt mines, and vast expanses of hard-packed deserts of salt instead of sand. Below are brief descriptions about how these salt formations occur.

Salt flats were left after ancient seas evaporated and left behind vast expanses of salt. Salt flats are also considered salt deserts, and nearly every continent has one.

Salar de Uyuni, in Bolivia, is the largest salt flat in the world (and salty lake water can still be found on it). It is also a source of half of the world’s Lithium and a popular destination for tourists to visit.
The Bonneville Salt Flats and Salt Lake Desert in Utah and the Badwater Basin in Death Valley are also among the largest of the world’s salt flats.

Salt domes and salt deposits underground are mined. Large mines, once mostly emptied out, can become huge salt caverns that may be used for storage spaces, or even tourist destinations. The old Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland is one of the most popular.

Formations in salty waters are created as the briny water evaporates. Salt is left over and builds up over time, because of a process that is often referred to as the “Barrier Theory”. The Dead Sea has quite a few fascinating salt formations because of its high salinity. View the slideshow below to see some of these geological formations and salt mines.

HOLY CRYSTALS
Salt is also found in many religions. One of the first things that piqued my curiosity about salt was the belief that standing within a ring of salt could keep evil spirits at bay. Which made me wonder . . . why salt? In my search for information about salt being used in this manner, I discovered that the granules have been revered throughout the centuries and played a key role in many religious ceremonies and rituals.

Throughout history, salt has often been considered an element of purity and one associated with preservation, so it stands to reason that humans have associated salt with sacred spaces and rituals. Pierre Laszlo, author of Salt: Grain of Life, says of salt in religious culture, “It symbolizes immutability. It is a food, or an accompaniment to food, that is incorruptible, that stands for invariance and permanence and thus can be taken for a feature of the divine.” Salt, in its presumed divinity, is a part of nearly every major religion and has been honoured and sanctified in various faiths and cultures across nearly every continent, purifying food, drink, and homes throughout human history. To many societies it was as important as water and therefore valuable for cultural practices and economic development.

KEEPING EVIL AT BAY
Protective salt rings and lines of salt in front of doorways and windows is a common folkloric practice that is used to ward off evil spirits. You may have seen something like this in a movie about ghosts or evil entities. The protagonists in the CW series Supernatural use salt regularly to off fight spirits and demons. The beings they fight come from all different cultures, and salt is the most common deterrent for the otherworldly beings, even including fairies in one episode. According to some European folklore (mainly Scandinavia, Germany, and the British Isles), salt deters fairies because they must count every grain of it if it is spilled in front of them. Also, throwing salt behind you or on your back, or on the back of an animal, will keep a fairy from latching onto you. Rings of salt are also protective measures to keep away spirits and witches or their spells.

Spirits, fairies, and witches aren’t the only beings that salt can deter. In West African vodou, which then made its way to Haiti, it was believed that feeding salt to a zombie (No, not apocalyptic Walking Dead zombies; zombies that are created by vodou priests) would kill it and release the spirit so it can return to the grave. Salt could not, however, revive the person and bring them back from the dead.

A CULTURAL AND SACRED ELEMENT
With over thirty references to salt throughout the Bible, salt has become a common element in Christianity, especially Catholic rituals. One of the earliest stories in which salt is mentioned in the Bible is when Lot’s wife looks back on Sodom and Gomorrah and is turned into a pillar of salt because she did not heed the angels’ warning. Covenants in the Bible were often sealed with salt, and even Jesus himself can be said to have high regard for the white substance when he said that people are the “salt of the earth.” Catholic holy water is purified by salt and then blessed by a priest. Salt used to play a major part of a Catholic baptism and was sprinkled on a baby’s lips, along with the usual anointing with the holy water. Most baptisms now just use holy water (which as aforementioned, is already salty). Among some Jewish traditions, there were temple offerings of salt and bread dipped in salt as a remembrance of offerings and covenants.

Greek rituals often consecrated salt and the substance was used as payment for slaves, which is how historians think the phrase “worth their salt” originated. After a Buddhist funeral, salt is thrown over your shoulder to repel evil spirits and ensure that none have attached themselves to you. Shinto tradition requires salt to purify the ring before a sumo wrestling fight. In India, salt is a symbol of good luck. And the prophet Muhammad once said that God’s four blessings were water, iron, fire, and salt. The Egyptians learned of salt’s preservative characteristics and used it in their mummification processes and also traded with it. In fact, many cultures used salt for trading purposes in addition to ritual use.

Salt worship and adoration was also present in the North and South American cultures. The Zuni tribe of the Pueblo people worshipped a “Salt Mother” (and Salt Woman, Ma’l Oyattsik’i) who came from a salt lake in New Mexico (now Zuni Salt Lake, which is a holy sanctuary for the Zuni people). The Salt Mother said that all who came to her home, the salt lake, would be healed and would have good fortune. Salt is culturally important to the Zuni who believe it is a gift from the Salt Mother and is a part of her. The Zuni (among other Pueblo tribes like the Hopi, Navajo, Acoma, Laguna, and Apache) used it for healing purposes, seasoned and preserved food with it, traded with it, and used it in various religious ceremonies. One ritual to honor the Salt Woman also removes negative energy and evil spirits from the home by placing salt in a pan and banging the pan to make noise and sprinkle the salt around the home.

Some Southwestern and western native tribes restricted who was allowed to eat salt because it was considered taboo at various times and events in one’s life, such as during menstruation cycles, pregnancy, birth, and initiation rites. The Oneida did not allow boys to eat salt while their voices were changing.

Further south, the Aztecs believed in a goddess, Huixtochiuatl (Lady of Salt) who “symbolized at once salt water, the saltworker’s guild, courtesans, and dissolute women,” according to Laszlo in Salt: Grain of Life. Every year, a young woman was sacrificed in her honour as part of a larger annual festival that honoured numerous deities.

Even today, although not tied to any one religion, people have continued to turn to salt for healing and purification. Salt lamps, salt scrubs, and salt baths have become common household items as more and more people return to the belief that salt has the ability to fight off the invisible, negative forces in our lives.

RESOURCES
This post merely scratches the surface about salt and its uses around the world. There are many other people out there who have been intrigued by this mineral deposit, and instead of trying to cover everything here, I would like to leave you with some resource recommendations should you wish to learn more about salt and its importance to religion, trade, and food.

NOTE: This was previously published in 2013 on my personal blog, which is no longer in use. I will occasionally be recycling and re-posting posts from that blog.

Ghosts of Machu Picchu

9/7/2020

ARRIVAL
When I stepped onto the dirt path and left the overhang of the park entrance, I saw the fog lifting from the bright green terraced mountainsides–a sight I had only seen in textbooks. It was easy to forget that it was only 6am and that my travel buddies and I had just ridden half an hour up a mountain on a bus that threatened to topple over the edge and crush the small town of Aguas Calientes hundreds of feet below. But now, in the early light of dawn, we began our journey through the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Perú.

THROUGH THE FOG
As we walked, we hardly said a word to one another, lost in our own thoughts and silenced by awe. I couldn’t speak; I didn’t want to. I wanted to be on my own without anyone near me and just sit and absorb the atmosphere and watch the thick fog float through the broken doorways and out over the missing roofs. Across the river thousands of feet below, the sunlit mountaintops barely showed above the fog. I imagined what it must have been like, to wake each morning and step to the grassy ledge of a terrace and take in the sights as alpacas grazed and jungle birds began their daily song. For a few moments I thought I could hear the distant hum of families talking, of children running on the packed dirt from one house to another.

In some places, walls of fog eliminated all sight past ten feet, hiding sheer drops that appeared to go on forever, but were only several feet down when you stepped near enough to see. Machu Picchu has a way of making you feel like you are at the precipice of the world, that there is nothing before you but open air, endless mountains, and a steep drop to your death. But the terraced mountainside is quite safe. Each step is completely flat and about six feet wide. If you fell down to one, you could stop yourself from dropping to the next easily, but the heights still twisted my stomach in fear.

PRESENCE OF THE PAST
As we walked down the packed paths, up smoothed steps, and towards Waynapicchu (or Huayna Picchu), our climbing task for the day, the fog slowly lifted from the ruins. The park was nearly empty and it felt we were the only ones there. I took as many pictures as I could of the sites because I knew later there would be tourists in every picture, and I wanted to capture what I could of the stillness and emptiness of the ancient site. It’s believed Machu Picchu could have been a holy place for Inca priests to dwell, and I wanted to capture whatever holiness and serenity I could, but it was the feeling of the place I wanted to hold on to most. It’s nearly impossible to express in words or images what it was like to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu. One of the people in my group said that to her ruins were just ruins, and after one sees so many all over the world, they all start to look the same. But that’s not true for me. Every place is different, every place has a different story to tell. I was in another world, another time. I willed myself to feel the presence of the past that had been and of the people who had lived ages before.

TAKING IT IN
I sat in silence at the base of Waynapicchu, waiting to climb the mountain to get a view of the park, trying to soak everything in. If I could have, I would have waited all day and watched the foggy haze turn to clouds and drift lazily around the mountain peaks before me and stare as the sun swept across the sky and sunk behind the mountains once more. But the gates to the trail opened right on time, and we joined the 100 other people who had come to climb Waynapicchu. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew we wanted the view of a lifetime, so we climbed for an hour to the top, using the same stone steps the Inca put in place centuries before, some only inches high, others nearly a foot or more. The railings were a new addition. Welcome, but sometimes I challenged myself and tried to take the mountain like a true Inca. I wasn’t cut out for that, but it was the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had. There’s nothing like trying to keep standing on soar, quaking legs, ready to complain, and then looking around and seeing a world unlike anything I’ve seen before, and maybe will never see again. Complaints were held back and fatigue pushed through, replaced with renewed vigor. Throughout the day, I was in a constant state of awe and wonder. I was in the ancient realm of the Inca, seeing what they saw, hearing what they heard, stepping where they stepped, touching what they built, and feeling the lingering presence of what could be the ghosts of Machu Picchu.

NOTE: This was previously published in 2012 on my personal blog, which is no longer in use. I will be recycling and re-posting several posts from that blog in the coming months.

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