Adam’s Weekly Blog: October Favourites.

It’s almost Halloween aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I mean, hello and welcome to another weekly blog!

I’ve spent the past week working from home with my man flu- and even though I’m better now, I still have a lot to do. With our content deadline this Friday I’m working hard to create as much great content for the magazine possible, which is slightly hard when you’re at home on your couch surrounded by a lot of distraction.

But those distractions are what I’m here to talk about- this month’s books, shows, movies and games that I discovered and want to recommend. I’ve been reading pretty voraciously so expect a lot of book recommendations, on top of everything else.

So without further ado, I present my October favourites!

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The Simon Snow Trilogy- Rainbow Rowell

I can’t gush about this series enough.

Some of you eagle eyed patrons of About the Town’s Facebook page may have noticed I did a mini review of this series on our book club page, The Skelmersdale Story Project (which starts next week fyi please come say hi).

The Simon Snow trilogy is an LGBT+ text about wizards navigating the modern world- like Harry Potter, except the spells are song lyrics and nursery rhymes, there’s a lot of steamy make outs, and every character is full of witty and sarcastic gems of dialogue. If you enjoy magical schools, hot vampires and having two dudes smooching eachother, you will love this series. I go into a lot more detail in my mini review, so check it out on the Skelmersdale Story Project Facebook page if you want to learn more about this outstanding series of books.

Squid Game- Netflix

The hype is real folks.

If you’ve been on the internet at all the past month, you probably would have come across something from this show at some point, be it the pink playstation looking guards, or the creepy doll who plays “Red Light Green Light”. But I’m telling you now, this South Korean show is not overrated.

Though gory and violent, Squid Game is a gem of horror, suspense and storytelling. Seeing kids games be twisted into death sports is such an imaginative concept and one I, as a horror writer, find so compelling! My favourite character is a pretty controversial pick with Mi-Nyeo. Though most people online seem to find her irritating, her sassy antics and catchphrases have me laughing out loud, and I think she’s a gem to watch.

Though the dub, the version I watched, does have comical or weird moments, they do a pretty good job with the lip synching, and the subbed version is both more true to the series’s vision and gut wrenchingly powerful with its dialogue. Either way is a valid watch. Just make sure the kids aren’t in the room for this one.

Cemetery Boys- Aiden Thomas

This is a book I started recently, and it’s proving a very enjoyable read.

Cemetery Boys focuses on Yadriel, a trans male who is working to become a warlock, or brujo. The book focuses on life as a Latino, specifically the Mexican heritage, with the imagery of the day of the dead, on top of the meaningful impacts and the showing of prejudice in being a story about someone who is transgender. It marries culture and gender identity in a stunningly described read. I’m just under halfway through, and the perspective on the culture and Thomas’s storyline is compelling and an easy, enjoyable read, with some great messages. I’d recommend to anyone struggling with their gender identity, or anyone who wishes to become more educated on these topics.

Pokémon, Secrets of the Jungle- Netflix

This one’s more for the kids.

I have quite the history with Pokémon movies- in that no matter how many times I watch Marley and Me or Avengers Infinity War- Pokémon movies are the only movies that ever get me to cry.

Maybe I’m just an emotionless husk until cute monsters are involved?

Secrets of the Jungle is a heart-warming take on the classic story of Tarzan for any lover of Pokémon. It’s funny, charming and is a great adventure with the classic characters of Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket, with great new characters such as Koko and his Dada Zarude.

I understand to someone who doesn’t know Pokémon this is all gibberish but your kids probably know it!

With a great environmental message and some awesome animation and action sequences, definitely put this movie on for the kids if you need their attention for a little while.

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And those are my favourites for this month. I wanted to try and keep this blog short as I have quite the workload today.

Next week, get ready for some more updates and some other things to talk about that I’ll probably come up with randomly on the spot.

Have a great week everyone!