Bloody Books, Creepy Coincidences, and the Urge To Give Up

You may have noticed that today’s newsletter is going out later than usual. To keep things totally real with you, I completely spaced yesterday and lost track of which day of the week it was.

Anyway, I have a few bloody books to share, as well as some creepy coincidences that have occurred as I write my novel. Because of course creepy things are happening while I write a spooky novel. It’s only natural, right?

I’m a big fan of the public library, and I didn’t buy any books for several months. As a chronic book buyer, I feel like I deserve a gold medal for that. But what goes up must come down. My last book haul unleashed the beast…and I recently purchased three more books—without realizing they were all bloody in one way or another.

Enough is enough. I’ll be holding off on buying more books for a while again. In the meantime, here are the bloody books in question:

This book drew me in for several reasons. One, I’m a sucker for a vampire story. I wish I had a cool anecdote about discovering vampires through mysterious means, but no. My love of vampires began with none other than the Twilight series. I started a fan club and everything for it back in the day. I don’t play when it comes to my hyper-fixations.

Two, I love that this book is written by a Latina author! So often, vampire stories and all things gothic are told from a Eurocentric lens (and don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy them). This novel and its historical backdrop of the Mexican-American War felt like a much-needed departure in the space.

Three, I was intrigued by the multi-genre aspects of this novel. It’s described as horror, historical fiction, romance, and a supernatural western all at once. Which may seem like a lot… but it all totally makes sense to me. I can’t wait to dig into it and report back.

Carmilla is widely regarded as being THE original vampire story that entered the cultural zeitgest. Pre-dating Dracula, it laid the groundwork for so many of the vampire stories and lore we get to enjoy today. It’s also a sapphic story, which has garnered debate over whether or not it’s transgressive vs. voyeuristic within queer circles. I’m interested to read the book and see for myself.

Here’s a brief description from the publisher’s website:

Does it get any more Gothic Victorian than that? Note: It’s important to mention that this particular edition is edited by Carmen Maria Machado, so it differs from the original text in some ways.

I was influenced. There, I said it. I’ve been seeing this book mentioned all over BookTok, and I finally gave in. Once I looked into the plot a bit more, it sounded fascinating and deeply disturbing. AKA, my kind of read.

Tender Is the Flesh follows a man who slaughters humans for a living (pun unintended) at a local meat processing plant. As his personal life falls apart, a new virus infects animal meat—causing the government to implement a “transition” plan. Once everyone has to eat human flesh, he’s then introduced to a specimen that makes him question things.

This book definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. I’m interested to see where this gory dystopian novel goes, since I’ve heard a handful of mixed reviews so far.

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Whether you want to call them coincidences, confirmation bias, or synchronicities, I’ve had a handful of strange experiences occur while I’ve been writing my book. I’m convinced that the act of creating art of any kind can bring about certain events that aren’t always possible to explain.

It could be a spark of inspiration from a stranger that feels oddly specific to what you needed for a project. The uncanny thing your friend said that happened to be the exact phrasing of something you wrote earlier that day. You get the gist.

Below are a few notable “coincidences” I’ve had:

The neck tat: Back in the outlining stages of my book, I had an idea for my protagonist’s name, and wasn’t 100% sure if it was the right fit or not. Later that day, I saw a man with a GIANT tattoo of that name on his neck. Mind you, it’s not a very common name. I was shook. Needless to stay, I took it as a sign of some kind and stuck with it.

Food poisoning: A few weeks ago, I wrote a gross scene where the protagonist throws up. Later that same evening, I got food poisoning. It was me who was throwing up the very next morning. I hadn’t been sick like that in a long time.

The woman on the phone: One of the main characters in my book is very ~Old Hollywood~ and speaks in an almost transatlantic accent. For Valentine’s Day, my husband called ahead to see if we needed to make a reservation at a restaurant. When he hung up the phone, he mentioned that he was taken aback by how Old Hollywood the woman on the phone sounded. She told him “It’s first come, first served, darling.” It sounded so much like something my character would say! She regularly says “darling,” by the way.

Aside from these instances, I’ve also had several bizarre dreams that have helped guide the direction of my novel. It may all sound woo woo, but I’m leaning into it at this point. I’m curious, what do you think? Coincidence, or not?

It’s not fun to share, but I want to make a point of sharing the good, bad, and the ugly. I’ve been getting in my head about my creative projects lately, falling into the comparison trap, and just generally letting impostor syndrome get to me.

At times, I’ve felt like giving up. Like when Peppa Pig hung up the phone because she couldn’t whistle. I’m trying to remind myself that this is all normal. To let myself feel it, let it pass, and not get hung up on it. It’s all a part of the process.

I know I just need to give myself some grace and ride it out. Consider this your reminder to be nicer to yourself, too. Easier said than done. Trust me…I know, but you deserve to create freely and from a place of joy!

I don’t feel like Santigold gets her flowers often enough, which is sadly all too common for weird girls who do things differently. I remember discovering her music in high school as I was starting to define my own music taste, and I hadn’t heard anyone like her before. Her genre-bending sound is uniquely her own. I still can’t think of an artist I could compare her to.

Although I discovered Santigold’s debut album Santogold several years after it was released, I can still vividly remember hearing tracks like “I’m a Lady” for the first time, and listening on repeat. I’d go as far as to argue that a lot of her early music was the blueprint for future indie sleaze anthems that came out of the indie music scene years later.

I was delighted to find out that she’s still making music, and I’d recommend checking out this article for a full review of her latest album, Spirituals.

She’s also about to embark on a US tour. Here are the tour dates if you want to see if she’ll be in your area!

That’s it for today. Want more weird?

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The Weird Girl Edit is a weekly newsletter written by Maya Rector, and it gets published every Wednesday. View past editions here. If you haven’t already, subscribe for the latest wacky musings in literature, media, and pop culture each week!