#A Guest in the House

[nonetoon]

Popping in again with a comic recommendation!

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll is a very eerie and beautifully drawn graphic novel about a young woman adjusting to her new marriage and step-child (mostly by daydreaming about being a knight and rescuing the ghost of her husband’s late first wife who died under mysterious circumstance, as one does)

If you like ghosts, mysteries, and a punch-to-the-gut story, I highly recommend it!

#text #comic recommendations #comic recommendation #a guest in the house #blood tw #gore tw

[emmartian]

The three perfect things this year to keep me living much much more.

Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon - From Software

I have a soft spot for games where “you” start so low: a corpse, an addict cop fell from grace, a drained bounty hunter sent to a planet alone to get her soul eaten by somehow gentle parasites. 

Armored Core 6 puts you in a body bag and promises to give you a meaning.

The game makes you feel in pain, both physically and mentally, yet you dance the fastest legs exquisitely, while the voices in your brain implants seem to notice you, to worry about you, to tell you you're an artist that can crave for even more.

You choose a how to see if you’re still here. And so, you fly high the miserable sky.

The Boy and the Heron - Studio Ghibli

I’ve read a lot of words about The Boy and the Heron by this point, looking to praise it by finding hidden sources, mysterious meanings and cultural roots behind its attributed “unorthodox” narrative. But I doubt this given depth was THAT intentional.

To me, this film might be the peak of Hayao Miyazaki’s philosophy for process and creation which is well known that doesn’t allow a glimpse of restraint. First and foremost, dealing with a canonical script.

A choice that brings freedom and obsession. A way to live, instead a way to create, to be the stories we tell ourselves. I strongly believe this is what the film exhales. Depth and meaning by making brilliant collaborators invested with the nurtured concepts in his brain. Depth and meaning by making us fall for the intense personality of such a hard work overall.

To grasp a gap in the system you have to be so bold. And I can't wait for what comes next.

A Guest in the House - Emily Carroll

As dear homie Sloane Leong says in her quote, a Guest in the House is a very sophisticated character study coded as a horror tale, with exquisite art, prose and pacing. 100% Emily’s trademark.

Personally, I still can't stop smiling at how it philosophically reads as an essay about evasion. On how skipping reality can be empowering and healing, and more than anything, romantic; even if, you know, it takes you to the grou… Please don't mind me.

Hide from hideous, grasp a glimpse of justice, make the self you want to be, legit. Toxic. The knight or the ghost. In Emily’s safe HUB, the guts spill into refined erotic scenarios that make the average the most dreadful place to be.

Anyway. You don't do a book on this scale alone, to save the day. The accurate craft still feels like a scream. It's the kind of work that saves the medium by making creators unsafe. Please consider reading it and support it. Emily’s writing truly is precious.

She also did a beautiful Bloodborne short out of love this year. For the fans!

#armored core vi #the boy and the heron #a guest in the house #from software #emily carroll #hayao miyazaki #emma ríos

[smashpages]

Out this week: A Guest in the House (First Second, $27.99):

Emily Carroll’s latest graphic novel is about a woman who marries a widower and moves in with him and his daughter — only to become haunted by the memory of his dead wife and obsessed with finding out what really happened to her. Horror at its best, in comics form.

See what else is arriving at your local comic shop this week.

#a guest in the house #emily carroll #first second #graphic novels #horror #new comic book day #can't wait for comics #ncbd #new comics day #new comics #out this week #this week's comics #first second books

[gretashand]

very gorgeous art with a haunting story!!! highly recc grabbing a copy if youre a fan of poorly timed ghostly homosexual awakenings

#graphic novel #emily carroll #a guest in the house #horror #ghost stories

[libraryleopard]

Adult horror graphic novel

Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca

After a lonely young woman marries a recently widowed dentist and moves to a new town for a fresh start with him and his daughter, she begins to suspect that her husband's first wife's death wasn't by natural causes

Gorgeously illustrated, unnerving, queer

Spoilery thoughts on the ending under the cut

Okay it's been a while since I read this, but I'm trying to recall what I thought of the ending since I'm reviewing it

It's certain and abrupt and ambiguous ending but here are things I remember putting together to try and understand it

Abby is probably an unreliable narrator whose own recollections are not always reliable (see: that part where she misremembers the children's picture book) and the scenes in color represent her fantasies/delusions of some kind?

Her husband is a forgetful man (we see him misremembering things), but didn't murder his wife–he was just in an unhappy marriage and lied to say she's dead to gain sympathy?

Beth is Sheila with a different haircut/hair color (I think the scene where Abby gets her hair cut is supposed to plant this idea), which is why she looks different than the photo Crystal has of her

She's been watching the family, but is not a ghost

The ghost is just a complete delusion of Abby's (this is why she's in color)

Abby killed her husband and left his body under the dock, then kills Sheila

Abby is also a repressed lesbian (I thought this was really clear to me but apparently other's didn't see this as so obvious haha)

#the illustrations in this are STUNNING #emily carroll never disappoints with the gorgeous art #this was really interesting though the end is a bit abrupt and requires a lot of thinking #i will probably reread it and see if i pick up on more at some point #a guest in the house #emily carroll #comics #lulu speaks #2023 reads #lulu reads #lulu reads a guest in the house #books

[haveyoureadthiscomic-poll]

#a guest in the house #emily carroll #faber & faber #graphic novel #graphic novels #horror #horror comic #horror comics #poll

[grinchwrapsupreme]

Hey uh what the FUCK was that <- just read A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

#a guest in the house #highly recommend #emily carroll #but seriously what the fuck

[bracketsoffear]

The House on the Borderland (William Hope Hodgson) "Fishing buddies Tonnison and Berreggnog didn't bargain for what they found while on holiday near the remote Irish village of Kraighten. While walking along the riverbank, they're astonished to see that the river abruptly ends. It reappears as a surge from a chasm some 100 feet below the edge of an abyss, where also stand the remains of an oddly shaped house, half-swallowed by the pit.

Exploring the ruins, the friends discover the moldering journal of an unidentified man--the Recluse--who had lived in the house with his sister and faithful dog years ago. Its pages reveal the man's apparent descent into madness--how else to account for his chronicles of otherworldly visions, trips to other dimensions, and attacks by swine-like humanoid creatures that seem to have followed him home? After one particular vision in which he witnesses the end of the earth and time itself, the Recluse awakens in his study to find nothing has changed--except that his dog Pepper is dead, dissolved into a pile of dust. And then the "swine things" return…"

A Guest in the House (Emily Carroll) "After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life" While most riffs on the Bluebeard story are probably slaughter, buried, or eye aligned, much of the horror in this story is the uncertainty and loss of a clear sense of reality. Also the art of Sheila feels very spiral.

#spiral poll #the spiral #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The House on the Borderland #William Hope Hodgson #A Guest in the House #Emily Carroll

[freckles-and-books]

I think I’m on week 4 or 5 in a row of preorders coming in, but I’m not sad about it.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas is also on the way 😈

#books #thornhedge #t kingfisher #emily carroll #a guest in the house

[rustandruin]

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

Sunday, 23 April, 2023

I’m fortunate to have been able to read an advanced reader copy of this graphic novel.

There is something deliciously dreamlike about the worlds Carroll sometimes creates, a kind of surrealism that is both grounded and haunting. A Guest in the House is no different.

The story begins with Abby, a cashier in a small lakeside town, who recently married the dentist who moved there with his young daughter, Crystal. Of course, in classic fashion, there are strange circumstances surrounding the passing of her husband’s first wife, Sheila, and the spectre of it begins to loom large in their relationship. It doesn’t help that Crystal admits to seeing her mother in the lake they live on the edge of, and that sometimes she even speaks to her. But as Abby begins to delve deeper into the events that led them all here, things are not quite as they seem. Especially now that Abby’s begun to see and speak to Sheila herself.

Carroll’s storytelling skill is on display throughout the book, but her artistic prowess is just incredible as she easily moves between different art styles, each evoking a specific feeling, that when brought together creates a kind of discordant tension that only ratchets up as the story progresses.

There’s the washed out greys of Abby’s day-to-day life, versus the brilliant reds and blues of Sheila’s manifestation; a gory sort of stripped back brutality to the blood, guts, and bone, tinged with a sensuality that feels almost tender. The grotesque can be almost seductive, in Carroll’s hands it’s almost guaranteed to be. But this gifts us with some truly memorable visuals. The kind that stay with you after.

My favourite of the styles is that in the beginning sequence that most eager readers will have seen in previews, with the almost midcentury style illustration of a knight evoking the concept art for the animated Sleeping Beauty movie, thus making it even more fantastical and dreamlike, when set against everything else when it does pop up.

A Guest in the House effectively plays with the themes and tropes of all good psychological thrillers, ramping up towards the conclusion as it goes on, Carroll’s visuals tightening the noose that is a growing sense of horror. And like always, she is the master.

I cannot wait for more people to be able to read this so we can finally discuss that ending.

RELEASE DATE: 15 August, 2023

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

#rust and ruin reads #emily carroll #a guest in the house #book review #book reviews #books #graphic novel #book stuff #comic stuff #reading tracker 2023

[semper-legens]

138. A Guest in the House, by Emily Carroll

Owned: No, library Page count: 244 My summary: Abby is newly married. With an inattentive husband, a shy stepdaughter, and a new place to adapt to, she has enough on her plate. But she keeps sensing strangeness beneath her existence. Who was her husband's old wife, the one who died? Why will nobody speak of her? And what do Abby's old dreams of knights and dragons portend? My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

Another in the trilogy of 'I ordered all of the Emily Carroll books I could see at the library'! This is a recent work, published this year and carrying Carroll's signature horror stylings. Unease, body horror, a deep mystery that doesn't quite get an answer, this book has it all, and it was an absolute delight. Relative to all the horror stuff, that is. I love Carroll's work, I love how she crafts a story, and I loved this book. So let's get into it!

First of all, the art is gorgeous. Carroll's style blends the realistic and the horrific and ethereal perfectly, keeping things just within the realm of the real enough that it's shocking when the more supernatural elements rear their head, but not being afraid to let loose and go full weird when it's called for. The very deliberate use of colour is really effective - the ghost is the only character consistently in full colour, Abby's everyday life is greyscale, but her dreams are colourful as well, if brief. It's beautiful, and I just love staring at it.

But the most effective thing in this book is the unease it provokes. Ultimately, there are more questions than answers, but the story isn't unsatisfying because of it. Spaces are too large, characters isolated in the frame, and things are juuuuuuust off enough to keep the reader on edge all throughout. There's so much spookiness to the story, which never quite settles into one thing or another, sliding from idea to idea with a subtle sense of menace.

Next, voices from a real-life tragedy.

#A Guest in the House #Emily Carroll #bookblr #book blog #book blogging #5

[smashpages]

Preview pages from Emily Carroll’s A Guest in the House (First Second, August 2023)

#a guest in the house #first second #emily carroll #graphic novels

[gigantomachylesbian]

Read A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll. It is absolutely gorgeous and very spooky and had me by the throat the entire time I read it.

#k talks #a guest in the house #horror #Emily Carroll continues to be an absolutely fantastic horror artist!!!! #also. minor spoilers following: women in weird lesbian psychosexual situations with ghosts. what else do I even need to say

[msunitedstatesjames]

This is your sign to go read some E. M. Carroll if you never have before. They write and illustrate horror comics, and their use of color is fantastic. They also frequently write queer stories, including their latest graphic novel, A Guest in the House. Here's some samples of their beautiful art:

If you want to check them out, they have lots of free comics available on their website that are great.

They also have three physical graphic novels that have been published, all of which are stunning. They do have some gore and occassional nudity, so just be aware of that if that's something that bothers you. Also, until recently they published under the name Emily Carroll, and some prominent websites such as Goodreads still use that, so if you see that name you've found the right person.

#e.m. carroll #emily carroll #a guest in the house #comics #graphic novels #books #art #Great art #horror #lgbtqia

[graphicpolicy]

Around the Tubes

While you wait the the weekend to begin, here's some comic news and a review from around the web #comics #comicbooks

The weekend is almost here! What geeky things are you all up to? While you wait the the weekend to begin, here’s some comic news and a review from around the web. Smash Pages – Emily Carroll’s ‘A Guest in the House’ wins the L.A. Times Book Prize – Congrats! The Beat – The 12th Annual Black Comic Book Festival returns this weekend – Who’s going? The Beat – Kakao Entertainment will focus more…

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#a guest in the house #black comic book festival #comic books #Comics #emily carroll #kakao entertainment #piccoma #smoking behind the supermarket with you

[bracketsoffear]

Gas Light/Angel Street (Patrick Hamilton) "Under the guise of kindness, Jack Manningham is slowly torturing his fragile wife Bella into insanity in his efforts to cover his search for treasure from his diabolical past. He makes her think she is forgetting things and rattles her nerves with the flickering gaslight, which he controls from another room. One day, when Jack is out, Bella has an unexpected caller: kindly Inspector Rough from Scotland Yard. Rough is convinced that Jack is a homicidal maniac wanted for a murder committed fifteen years earlier in this very house. Gradually the Inspector restores Bella's confidence in herself and as the evidence against Jack unfolds.

The play that inspired the movie 1994 "Gaslight" which brought the term "gaslighting" into the public eye."

A Guest in the House (Emily Carroll) "After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life" While most riffs on the Bluebeard story are probably slaughter, buried, or eye aligned, much of the horror in this story is the uncertainty and loss of a clear sense of reality. Also the art of Sheila feels very spiral.

#spiral poll #the spiral #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Gas Light #Angel Street #Patrick Hamilton #A Guest in the House #Emily Carroll