Thoughts on Ghoul Games

Well, the latter end of the two 2027 Goosebumps House of Shivers releases has been revealed. It was known for a while the the book's title was going to be Ghoul Games, but we didn't have much of a concrete answer as to what exactly a title like that would entail exactly. But now we have both a synopsis and the official cover artwork (dropped on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 of all days, but whatever), it's time to gather my thoughts on this book. I mean this has been a recurring segment of the blog since Camp Bigfoot, and since we have like eleven months before we can review this one, it's only fair to give some early thoughts on this one as well.

Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #33: Claudia and the Great Search

Well we got a "very special episode" book last time, so it feels only fitting to have one that feels straight out of a sitcom plot. One of the major things we know of Claudia is that she often feels like an outsider to her own family. Janine's the genius, Claudia's very bad at schoolwork and most basic spelling. Her parents are more conservative, she's a fan of more out there clothing, junk food and art. Could it be that Claudia was... ADOPTED!?

Well, only one way to find out. Let's solve this fractured family mystery with Claudia and the Great Search.

The reprint cover wins here. Easily. Why? Because it does something the other one doesn't. And that's give focus to the actual plot. The original just has her watching Emily Michelle. It's fine for selling the book series' overall gimmick, but doesn't scream "Claudia concerned that she may be adopted" outside of the fact that she's sitting for an adopted child, which you'd get if you were an avid reader, but not so much if this was like your first book. With the reprint, it does a far better sell job. Her facial expression, Mr. and Mrs. Kishi behind her seemingly getting along with Janine better than with Claudia and most importantly, the photo album which is integral to the plot. The original is fine, but this is a case where the reprint is far superior.

Club-Read: The Karen Tax: Baby-Sitters Little Sister #07: Karen's Birthday

It's time to celebrate, or given this is a Karen book, it's time to feel frustrated? You never really know with these ones. But what we do know is we have a birthday story this time around. This one could be interesting, given it's more status quo shifting for Karen and all, or it could just be like a lot of these books and mostly be fluff AKA that quality blog filler I do so well. Let's find out as we blow out the candles for Karen's Birthday.

Some variety with the three covers this time around. Weakest is the reprint. It's a nice enough scene with Karen and Andrew, but far from the most interesting of the three works. I swear I really am trying to not just knock the reprints. It just keeps happening. The graphic novel's is fun. I love the lighting. Gives Karen this really ominous look to her that I feel is so goofy it wraps around to being amazing. But the winner here is easily the original for one real reason. This is the first time we get a cover with the Engles, Karen's family in the little house. We get illustrations in the books, but having them on a cover is neat. The first cover with Seth and Lisa. I love how the cover gives Seth this very Bob Vila-esque look to him. Previous books established that Lisa looks a lot like Karen, especially with Karen now having glasses and all. And it's a nice little scene altogether. "Quaint" is the word that flies in my head when I see it. All in all three solid enough covers to represent birthdays in this franchise. 

Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #32: Kristy and the Secret of Susan

Okay, so from the jump, this was one I was  VERY concerned about when I learned about its existence. We're in very special episode territory once again with the BSC. And we have a story about autism. An autism story from 1990. So I'm very interested to see how Ann M. Martin handles the subject matter. I trust her to at the very least do as good a job as she possibly can, but I still feel concerned. But one can only hope this goes well. We'll find out with Kristy and the Secret of Susan.

Both covers are just okay at best, and I guess sell the concept at the very least. I like the reprint cover a bit more here. While neither cover fully screams "kid with autism" it does feel more prevalent in the original cover with Susan's face having a more blank expression, where the reprint doesn't do that so much. In other words, it doesn't try to "other" Susan as much. More of a testament to how much the world has learned about autistic people in the 35 years from both releases. 

The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Cat

We've finally made it to the finish line when it comes to the original Fear Street run. Every mainline and Super Chiller pre-New Fear Street/Seniors. And it's kind of oddly fitting that the final book is the one I've been most intrigued by. Because this one sounds like it's going to be dumb. And it's a book with Stine's most favorite trope of them all with teen horror, and that's killing animals. Especially pets. So many animal corpses in these books you'd swear Stine's deranged. I mean we know he's deranged, but more deranged than anyone would imagine. This also feels very much like a story we've seen him redo for Goosebumps around the same time, so it'll be interesting to see which one does the job better. But let's nip this in the bud and see if this book's the cat's meow. Let's talk about Cat.

And this is why I wanted to talk about this one for so long because the cover is just so wonderfully goofy. Like it's trying to be scary, especially with our main villain cat here, but I don't know. It just falls into that "too cute to be taken as scary" situations. Feeling less like a threatening scene and just some lady wanting to show you one of her lil' fluffy babies. Her cat eyes are neat though that's kind of creepy. Every bit as corny as you'd want from a Fear Street cover. Love it.

The Stinal Countdown: Goosebumps House of Shivers #07: What We Do At Night

It's time for the second of the two Goosebumps House of Shivers books. We had a really strong start this year when One Night at Camp Bigfoot turned out to be pretty good all told. I still maintain that, with a couple exceptions, that House of Shivers has been consistently good. Well not we have kids who are also birds to deal with this time around. Part of me hopes that this is a make-good for the stinker that was Night of the Squawker. But knowing Stine, I'm giving him too much credit again. Only one way to know for sure, let's find out What We Do At Night.

I like this cover. And a lot of that has to do with the colors. The purples, the oranges, yellows, pinks and blues that makes everything really pop. I especially love the sky, It's very pretty. And then we have our nightbirds and I do like their general designs. More crow-like, but they have human arms. I like how gangly and creepy they look on the bird on the mailbox.Then we have the one in the sky who is more human than bird. There's even some classic Jacobus styled warping. It all makes for honestly one of the better covers in House of Shivers. One that Robert Ball illustrated mind you, it's not AI. I still maintain that, despite concerns on how the art can look, I don't believe that there's any evidence of Ball using AI outside of pure speculation and people just generally not liking his work and thus we throw the accusations. But, those issues aside, this is still a top notch cover. Not super scary, but one of the more compelling covers. 

State of the Blog: Six Years Later

We're entering the seventh year of this blog, which shocks the utter hell out of me when I really think about it. A blog made out of boredom to stave off COVID-era depression ultimately became something I've put actual time and effort into. So was that time and effort put into a good year of content? And what does the future hold going into this seventh year? Let's find out as we take a moment to talk about 2025-2026's blog content.