It is now October, which is of course the month of Halloween (a.k.a. best holiday ever!). And I'm in the mood to read some scary books. Recommend me your favorites!

I was going to make a list of ones I've read already, but a) that would be a really long list, and b) I'm willing to reread good things. So go ahead and throw out all the horror novels and ghost stories and so on you've got! I like supernatural horror (vampires and werewolves, most Stephen King), I like realistic stuff (serial killers, deadly plagues, Thomas Harris), I like existential stuff (The House of Leaves, Natsuo Kirino), I like gothics (Anne Rice- well, her early stuff- Turn of the Screw), I like modern stuff (I don't think I need an example here!) and classic stuff (Dracula, Frankenstein), I like cheesy melodrama and thoughtful, deep writing. Basically, if it's scary, I like it. I am not so interested in Charlaine Harris/most urban fantasy/Twilight type books, anything where the focus is more on romance than horror. Bonus points if it's available as an ebook, and, since I'm falling behind on 50books_poc, super double bonus points for authors of color.

I'm going on a cruise in January! Wheeeeeee! It's for ten days in the Caribbean. I find this to be pretty totally exciting; I've been on one cruise before, but this time I get to go in winter (escaping the cold!), with rm, for longer, and it's all just pretty awesome. But what I am coming to you for, O LJ, is book recs. Because, hey, it's a cruise! I need appropriate lounge-type books to read while lying in the sun. I'm looking for any kind of book (novel, short story, non-fiction, travel, poetry, whatever), as long as it makes for interesting, easy reading. Rec me cruise-type books! However, bonus points if:

- the book is set in or about the Caribbean, especially: the Bahamas, Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, Bonaire, Curacao, or Aruba.

- the author is from the Caribbean.

Oh, flist, source of all knowledge: give me recommendations for 'smart' hip-hop. By smart, I mean with lyrics about politics, culture, racism, sexism, art, religion, etc.* Links to downloads would be awesome, but are not necessary.



* This is not to say that there's anything wrong with hip-hop with lyrics about dancing, drinking, hooking up, Apple Bottom jeans/boots with the fur, etc. I love that kind of hip-hop also. I just love it to the extent that I don't need help finding it, and probably already have too much.

I hear there's this new Merlin thing that all the cool people are talking about. If one were to be, say, interested, where would one get access to said New Hot Thing?

I got a new mac for Christmas! Yay! I just realized I have to reformat my ipod to use it with it. ...argh, redoing all my playlists, argh.

Anyway. Racheline will be here in two days! Yay!

What podcasts do you all listen to? I want to, but I don't know what the interesting ones are. I suppose it would help if I picked a topic, but eh. Recommend me things regardless!

Now that I've finally gotten around to paying for my usericons, I have new, extra spaces! Wheee. Because 115 icons just was not enough.

I really want a New York icon. But I cannot find one, and though I am usually competent enough to make any icon I want, google images has not provided me with any good photos. Does anyone want to be terribly kind and point out some icons that already exist, so I can be lazy and use those?

Speaking of New York (most labored segue ever), I need to clean my room so that I can entertain visitors. No: I really, really need to clean my room. It looks like a bomb exploded in here. Um, if they made bombs out of clothes and loose sheets of journal articles.

Oh, I don't want to go to class today. I'm very tired. Let's all just take a nap instead of working; I think it would be a very productive day.

So, I keep seeing Georgette Heyer mentioned as an influence on Swordspoint, and I want to read some of her books, but apparently she wrote, like, fifty, and I have no idea where to start. Does anyone have recommendations for ones that are particularly relevant/well-written?

Any other book recommendations, by the way, are also welcome. And I know, I know, asking for such general recommendations tends to get me few responses, because it's so wide open that it actually stymies thought instead of encouraging it, but I can't think of a genre I want at the moment, other than "good". Um. Epic fantasy with interesting relationships always gets bonus points from me?

dracula1897: I linked to this back when it first started, but I figure I'll point it out again, since I'm enjoying it so much. Bram Stoker's Dracula, posted in real time. There's about a month left before the end of the novel, but I highly recommend it, whether you've read it before or not. You can always simply page back to read the older entries and catch up. I've never read it, and I'm loving it; the comments of the other people in the group make it so fun to follow along. We're in the middle of the exciting vampire-fighting part now, so it's a great time to join.

Wondermark: my new favorite webcomic. It's completely insane and offbeat, with no continuity or plot, but I adore it. This is my favorite strip, though be warned for black humor.

By the way, if anyone could recommend a place for me to find free classical music downloads, I'd appreciate it. This has nothing to do with fst's challenge of Anti-Heroes coinciding with my current obsession, because who would be crazy enough to do decide to do an entire soundtrack of a genre of music you have absolutely no knowledge of?

( Spoilers for the end of Full Metal Alchemist )

And since I've been sufficiently warned off the fandom by nearly everyone, give me some recs so I don't have to search for them myself. I like Mustang, but feel free to throw anything out.

Does anyone have a copy of 'Dignity and Shame' by Crooked Fingers? I used to have this song, but lost it, and I really want to hear it again.

It's driving me particularly crazy because the band's website supposedly has it up for download, but I can't get it to work.