Weekly Wrap Up: Sweet Valley Horror

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]A week of reading involving werewolves, a trawler, and a sensational supervillain.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> Hi all here. Um I don't think I can say welcome and welcome back to my channel anymore having seen that roundly satirized.

[00:00:21]>> [laughter] >> Um I'll just say hello. Hello to you.

[00:00:26]This is my channel where I talk about books and magazines and comics and sometimes other bits of pop culture and sometimes connections between them.

[00:00:36]And this is one of my informal Saturday morning tiswas slot wrap-ups of things I've read and done bookishly in the week. So, let's see.

[00:00:50]Last weekend I read a Sweet Valley High novel kindly gifted to me by Criminale.

[00:00:58]So, this one it's the second in the horror in London series. I have read the first one year ago actually. I took it on a trip to London as my guide book. Uh this one's called A Date with a Werewolf. So, very long-running series about these two twins and they're teenagers in this. There's other spin-off series where they're different ages. Not from each other cuz they're twins, but there's like kids ones and university ones. Anyway, yes, in the main series it's very long.

[00:01:32]This is book 105.

[00:01:35]So, obviously they had to come up with some new slants as well as just sort of um the trials and tribulations of teenage romance and such like. So, this one involves a sort of werewolf and murders and there's all sorts of stuff going on and it's in London and it's fantastic. So, one thing >> [laughter] >> Let's see if written Francine Pascal is like the creator of the series, but it's sort of farmed out to other authors. Um this one doesn't say who wrote it, but I'm thinking not an English person because there are some weird bits of language like the word bloke being used indiscriminately for men and women.

[00:02:24]Um that never happens. Um and oh my word, the there's a brilliant version of the royal family.

[00:02:34]So, it's almost as unrealistic as those weird Christmas movies that have like non-existent countries in them that are sort of English [snorts] stroke Ruritanian. So, in this one, Queen Elizabeth has several female children.

[00:02:54]And the youngest one uh I think it's Eliana.

[00:03:00]Um she's like a teenager in 1994. Well, the Queen was born in 1926, so that's pretty good going. I suppose she she's the Queen, she can do what she wants.

[00:03:12]And um in sort of Prince and the Pauper style, bit of a spoiler this, she's gone AWOL, disguised herself as a normal girl by wearing hats and sunglasses, but also speaking with a Liverpudlian accent.

[00:03:34]And she's she's espousing uh sort of republican views about the royal family being interbred generations.

[00:03:45]So, that's a lot of fun. Um and there's all this werewolf stuff. And you know, it's a mystery as well as a bit of feuding between the sisters as there always is. So, can't wait for the third one, which I've also got.

[00:04:00]Um probably wait another year to read that though. Um it's a terrifying three-part series.

[00:04:05]Jessica and Elizabeth have never been in so much danger.

[00:04:10]>> [snorts] >> And there is often jeopardy. This They've been kidnapped, co-opted by cults, all sorts of all sorts of things. Uh good. Right, yes, Wolfman. So, that was my sort of light weekend read. I had started doing a light weekend read and then talking about it on a Monday cuz I kind of thought, let's give people a fillip on a Monday morning. Um but the videos were taking so long to make, it was like I was making a third full video really, and that was a bit too much. So, I might come back to that. I mean, it could be done, but maybe as a go live, you know, I just press the button, go live, so there's no possibility of editing. Uh and not bother too much whether anybody shows up in the comments, but if they do, that's a bonus.

[00:04:59]I don't know. Uh and it still would still exist afterwards, right? You can still watch it. It's just it's made live rather than normally cuz I get into the editing and then I want to sort of put in a little film clip and some scans and edit out every time I say sort of or you know, and you know, before you know it, it's like 4:00 in the afternoon.

[00:05:22]Uh anyway, yeah, that was good. Um also finished the I've finished and ruined The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings, L.T.

[00:05:33]Meade, Robert Eustace. So, this is the May read for Neglected Victorian Bestsellers. That's my read-along event where I'm like the sort of captain of the ship I suppose or at least the pilot. Um so, it's a it's about books and writers who were super popular back then, and now you hardly hear of them. So, what's going on? Um this was fun, and it's going to get its own video. I'll explore what happens in the story, and how it appeared in the Strand magazine in the sort of 1890s. Yes, there I go again. Sort of sort of sort of verbal tick.

[00:06:16]Um how it appeared in the Strand magazine in the 1890s, in the reign of Queen Victoria.

[00:06:25]Uh but suffice to say, it's a lot of fun.

[00:06:28]Female scientist leader of a criminal society wreaking havoc in London and Britain again.

[00:06:41]Bit like that. And um will she Will she be brought to justice? We will have to see.

[00:06:50]So, that was good. Um what else? Well, it's still Horror Mayhem.

[00:06:57]So, I dug into Of the Flesh, 18 Stories of Modern Horror. No named editor.

[00:07:05]Published by the Borough Press.

[00:07:09]So, this was just a like pick it off the shelf in Waterstones. Looks like a cool book.

[00:07:17]Um and I did pretty much enjoy it. I mean, it's >> [clears throat] >> I did pretty much enjoy it. It If nothing else, it's added some countries to my reading. So, a theme for Horror Mayhem this year is like world tour.

[00:07:33]And the idea is the where the stories are set, not necessarily where the authors come from. And I decided I was just going to read some stuff without deliberately seeking out that sort of that sort of story. You know, if I did want to, I could have bought something like Valancourt Book of World Horror and probably covered the globe. But anyway, with starting with a story in Malaysia and having some South American set stories as as well, this um put me on the road quite a bit there.

[00:08:10]So, I've notched up a few countries.

[00:08:13]It's a pretty good collection, I'd say.

[00:08:16]Not sure what you'd expect. I'd say if there's such a thing as mild body horror, this is it. If you want to collection where there's a sort of overlap between contemporary fiction and horror, so there's some contemporary fiction with a horror slant and some horror that's a bit sort of literary, but I guess that's what you're getting here.

[00:08:43]Um There were some There were some good one. It opens with a real banger, Fight, Flight, Freeze by Susan Barker.

[00:08:51]So, that's the story that takes us to Malaysia and there's a woman basically fleeing a ghost. Uh but there's a lot more to it than that. It's really um really well done and uh like a lot of these stories, you know, the characters are great. I mean, I suppose one thing about horror and character is by putting people in extreme situations, they're you know, you can bring out aspects of people's past and so on in a kind of dramatic dramatic way. You can peel off all the layers, uh you know, in one one um one stroke of the scalpel, as it were.

[00:09:35]Um so, yeah, some good ones. There was a bit of repetition between the stories.

[00:09:41]There's a lot about food. And again, maybe it's this flesh idea.

[00:09:47]Um, there's more than one. There could even be three, maybe even four stories where a woman or child is being oppressed in some way or treated badly. And something supernatural happens either they've caused or that sort of befalls as a result of that.

[00:10:11]That kind of, um, destroy destroys their aggressor, if that makes sense. Um, which I suppose it's a tale as old as time.

[00:10:22]And I do have a favorite story as well.

[00:10:24]I'll mention what that was in my monthly wrap-up, I think. So, leave leave something to say there, but, um, it was called Bob a Job by James Smythe.

[00:10:38]Okay. So, did that. Um, and then made a start on Miss Linwood Entertains by John Linwood Grant collection. That's a single author collection.

[00:10:50]Um, with a couple of new countries in that, Brazil and France. Um, >> [laughter] >> really good. I mean, I really like John Linwood Grant as a writer. I think he's a great storyteller.

[00:11:02]And I was thinking last night as I was going to sleep, one thing I would say about his stories is they have a a sort of humanity to them. There's more going on than just achieving the effect of strangeness, weirdness, or indeed horror.

[00:11:21]Uh, but some great stories so far, so I'll circle back to that when I finish the book. Um, what else? Well, I read a Commando comic. I read Top Secret Trawler, one of the older ones that I have as a present.

[00:11:35]Um, I've got quite a lot of these now waiting to be read and discovered that um empty ammo boxes are the perfect size for them, which is good. Top Secret Trailer, I for some reason like the ones where it's some sort of odd conveyance, you know, like a a catering van or something.

[00:11:55]Um, and this was good. Let's see from dear, that's be quite a quite old because 24p.

[00:12:02]Back when they had pin-ups of footballers randomly inserted. Okay.

[00:12:07]Apart from that, mail call.

[00:12:14]So, I got following up on my Whitman Authorized Editions.

[00:12:22]Uh, I think when I was reading the Lucy one, so Donna Parker Special Agent mentioned.

[00:12:31]Uh, this isn't a Whitman, this is a World Publishers.

[00:12:37]So, I think it's like a British edition.

[00:12:39]Um So, here she is.

[00:12:43]Plots abound when I'm around.

[00:12:47]Every girl will love Donna Parker.

[00:12:49]Will understand the problems that face her as she comes up into senior school, enjoy her successes, sympathize with her failures, and sigh with relief as Donna clears the hurdles that confront her in her school career that involves being a special agent.

[00:13:08]So, we'll find out what Donna Parker is all about. And a book that is co-edited by fellow booktuber Elizabeth Drumey, Elizabeth Literary Princess. So, this is recovering lost voices, 19th Century British Literature.

[00:13:26]And from the Vernon Press, just come out. It's an academic book. It's a collection talking about lost 19th century literature, which obviously is something I'm super interested in, partly because of the read-along I'm involved in, which is probably going to have continued for another year. So, it's an academic book and they're famously not cheap, but several things brought this within my range, I suppose.

[00:13:57]One is they've actually produced a paperback, not always the case.

[00:14:02]Two is Elizabeth kindly provided to viewers a discount code. And three, they've done something clever involving the print production of this and the way they're posted that means there isn't a catastrophic postage charge, even though it's an American publisher. So, yeah, it's just I felt I had to get it cuz it's so spot-on in that it's about these kind of lost voices from that period.

[00:14:31]Um and there's authors I've not heard of.

[00:14:33]Alice Flowerday, um Thomas Anstey Guthrie, Elizabeth Murray, um and then there's some that we have actually been reading.

[00:14:45]L.T. Meade, mentioned in this very video, detection and gender in L.T.

[00:14:50]Meade's mysteries.

[00:14:52]And also there's a Marie Corelli article, yeah, recovering Egypt's in Marie Corelli's Ziska.

[00:15:01]So, not read that book yet. I've got a copy and I'm interested in Egyptomania as well, so we'll see.

[00:15:07]So, lots and lots of stuff, really on the nose for stuff I'm interested in.

[00:15:12]Um and um hooray for Elizabeth uh co-editing a fantastic book.

[00:15:20]Um so, yeah, looking forward to that.

[00:15:25]Um, I think that's about it. What else happened? I launched a tag into the world that people are doing, the wamblish knowing on the bookish wambling tag.

[00:15:36]So, we'll have to see if anybody else picks up on that. People seem to be having fun with it, which is good.

[00:15:42]And quote of the week. Another example of English speech from the Sweet Valley high book. Elizabeth's walking along with her potential boyfriend, Luke, and a dog barks at him. As a passing couple with green hair sticking up in spikes, apparently.

[00:16:05]Uh, you'd better watch it, chap, the green-haired boy said laughing at him.

[00:16:10]That little yapper is out for your blood.

[00:16:15]Maybe he's the werewolf. Anyway, that's me with my slightly short due to recording issues easy breezy catch-up on the week, and I'll be back soon with something else.

[00:16:27]Bye.