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Monday, October 31, 2016

Darklings try to spread midnight over an entire day (Oct 31)



The Midnighters series is set in a small Oklahoma town where these few special teens can experience a hidden hour at the end of every day. At midnight clocks stop and everyone freezes, everyone except these few teens …and the dark creatures that live in the secret hour! Duh duh duuuuh!!
Blue Noon Coverart - Scott Westerfeld.jpg 
Well, in the third book, midnight starts to break out at other times during the day, and it will push out more and more until it breaks through completely on Samhain (Halloween for you moderns) and the darklings are free to feast on the human scum!!

(PS--I have like zero idea why this series by Scott Westerfeld that hasn’t become wildly popular! It’s super imaginative and gripping, and this is the best conclusion to a series EVAH!)

How to Commemorate

  • Stay up till midnight.
  • Wear blue (the more, the better).
  • Use tridecalogisms (13-letter words) in casual conversation. (Bonus points for using 3 at a time. My fav combo is lethargically anticlimactic nefariousness, but you can find more at Dess’s page.)

Works Cited    
Blue Noon (Midnighters #3)
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Friday, October 28, 2016

Charlie goes to his first real party (Oct 28, 1991)



“Five minutes of a lifetime were truly spent, and we felt young in a good way. I have since bought the record, and I would tell you what it was, but truthfully, it’s not the same unless you’re driving to your first real party, and you’re sitting in the middle seat of a pickup with two nice people when it starts to rain.”

The Perks of Being a Wallflower PosterYou’re probably doing something right now while you read this blog--maybe avoiding work, maybe drinking a glass of wine after work, maybe scrolling past on your phone while your boyfriend rambles about sports.  That’s nice.  Now stop doing that and go out and get this book.  Or get the movie (which is incredible) if you think you have such little time, but go get it.  It’s amazing.  And you’ll thank us.

Oh, and have tissues.  Charlie is one of the best, most complicated and earnest characters we have ever encountered, but …sheesh. There are feels on every page.

How to Commemorate

  • Eat brownies.
  • Throw a party.
  • Watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • Be infinite.


Works Cited    
Perks of Being a Wallflower (book)
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Perks of Being a Wallflower (movie (don’t worry, it was made by the author))
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Other World Wednesday: United Isles (The Rithmatist)



https://teatimewiththemadartist.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/rithmatist_map_webres.jpgThe Rithmatist (by Brandon Sanderson) sets out a whole new re-imagining of the United States where instead of being joined by land, the states make up an archipelago with island names like Rhodes, Milwauk, Zona Arida, and Tennessee.  This isn’t nearly the most interesting thing about the world though.  On the central island of Nebrask, there is a race of two-dimensional wild chalk creatures that can devour people.  Select children are chosen to attend Armedius Academy where they learn to magically duel in chalk to keep these monsters at bay, preventing them from overrunning the entire country. When students at the academy begin to disappear, only non-magical teen Joel has the grit and persistence to find the students and protect the school.

Seriously, does Brandon Sanderson ever sleep?  This guy gives us loads of great high-fantasy books of such stellar quality that he was chosen to write the final book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

How to Commemorate

  • Create chalk drawings. (Bonus points if you duel!)
  • Make yourself a course roster if you were to attend a magical academy.
  • Rename places near you.

Share your celebrations to our twitter or Facebook pages.

Works Cited    
The Rithmatist
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Monday, October 24, 2016

Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium arrives in Green Town, Illinois (Oct 24)



“But one strange wild dark long year, Halloween came early.  One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight.”
Image result for something wicked this way comes book cover 
If you’re in the mood for a solidly spooky book, we recommend Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I mean, if you’re into horror or creepiness and haven’t read it yet, we really don’t know what’s wrong with you, but this is the story that sets up the evil-circus-comes-to-town.   And because it’s Bradbury, his words don’t need us to get in the way of them.  Here’s a section of Chapter 37 where Charles Halloway goes to the library and assembles a collection of books in order to better understand the evil that arrived by rail.

An autumn leaf, very crisp, fell somewhere in the dark.  But it was only the page of a book, turning.

Off in one of the catacombs, bent to a table under a grass-green-shaded lamp, lips pursed, eyes narrowed, sat Charles Halloway, his hands trembling the pages, lifting, rearranging the books, Now and then he hurried off to peer into the autumn night, watchful of the streets. Then again he came back to paper-clip pages, to insert papers, to scribble out quotations, whispering to himself.

…Wet all over, cold to the bone, before night caught him he let the crowd protect, warm, and bear him away up into town, to the library, and to most important books …which he arranged in a great literary clock on a table, like someone learning to tell a new time.

How to Commemorate

  • Go to a circus or festival, anywhere with a mirror maze or a carousel. 
  • Get a tattoo.
  • Laugh a lot.  (Trust us on this.)
  • Listen to the Dans Macabre.



Works Cited    
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Friday, October 21, 2016

Marty McFly travels in time (Oct 21, 1985)




On this day in the Year of our Lord 1985, Marty McFly became the first person to travel through time.  Sure, sure, the dog Einstein beat him to it, but whatever. Back to the Future is widely regarded as one of the best movies ever made, and we at Today in Fiction agree.  Seriously, this movie inspired a generation of kids to learn about science, science-fiction, skateboarding, and DeLoreans.  Of course, the movie celebrated its 30th anniversary last year which also happened to be the year that Marty travels to in the sequel, a temporal coincidence that was magical (and old-ifying) for that same generation of kids.  Netflix made a film about the impact of Doc Brown and the McFly clan called Back in Time, which is certainly worth yours.

How to Commemorate

  • Skateboard (or try to).
  • Crank up some Huey Lewis and the News (and point out his cameo in the movie--you are a true fan, aren’t you?!).
  • Find a safe stretch of road and get up to 88 miles per hour.
  • Traditional Greetings: Great Scott!  This is heavy! We don't need roads.


Works Cited    
Back to the Future trilogy
Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries