Our Dark Journey Begins

~ capricious

“I can’t help it when people are frightened,” says Merricat. “I always want to frighten them more.” ― Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Twitter Avatar 2Crisp leaves.

Pumpkin spice.

Sweaters and wool socks and chilly noses.

There is something in the air and my soul is yearning with excitement. Why I find comfort in fall is no surprise, but I can’t explain why I find spooky books, movies, and music a comfort as well. I do though. Oh, how I do.

Welcome to the THIRTEENTH year of Readers Imbibing Peril, or RIP, as it is affectionately called. For the last 13 years, we here at RIP headquarters have embraced the spookiness of the seasons’ change.

The purpose of the R.I.P. Challenge is to enjoy books that could be classified as:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.
The emphasis is never on the word challenge, instead it is about coming together as a community and embracing the autumnal mood, whether the weather is cooperative where you live or not.

The goals are simple. 

1. Have fun reading.

2. Share that fun with others.

As we do each and every year, there are multiple levels of participation (Perils) that allow you to be a part of R.I.P. XII without adding the burden of another commitment to your already busy lives. There is even a one book only option for those who feel that this sort of reading is not their cup of tea (or who have many other commitments) but want to participate all the same.

Multiple perils await you. You can participate in just one, or participate in them all.

Peril the First:

Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (our very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be Stephen King or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Shirley Jackson or Tananarive Due…or anyone in between.

Peril the Second:

Read two books of any length that you believe fit within the challenge categories.

Peril the Third:

We all want you to participate. This Peril involves reading one book that fits within the R.I.P. definition.

Peril of the Short Story:

We are fans of short stories and our desire for them is perhaps no greater than in autumn. We see Jackson in our future for sure! You can read short stories any time during the challenge. We sometimes like to read short stories over the weekend and post about them around that time. Feel free to do this however you want, but if you review short stories on your site, please link to those reviews on our RIPXII Book Review pages.

Peril on the Screen:

This is for those of us who like to watch suitably scary, eerie, mysterious gothic fare during this time of year. It may be something on the small screen or large. It might be a television show, like Dark Shadows, or your favorite film. If you are so inclined, please post links to any R.I.P.-related viewing you do on our book review pages as well.

Peril of the Review:

Submit a short review of any book you read and you may see it here on the blog! Again, you may participate in one or all of the various Perils. Our one demand: enjoy yourself!
The R.I.P. XII Challenge does not require you to read from a pre-selected list of books, but like many of you we love to get ideas from what others are thinking of reading. If you want to include a pool of potential reads when you sign up, either in the comments or on your own sign up post on your blog (not required for participation), please do!
This challenge is always a joy because of one thing: you! You sharing your passion for books, reading, films, television, etc. helps bring us together and ensures that we all have a great time. Thank each and every one of you who choose to participate on any level. We are honored that you would choose to do so.

So sign up below and join us, won’t you? It’s going to be a screaming good time. Starts September 1st.

Published by capricious

I'm a 14+ year blogger looking to find a new home on the internet. I've spent all my blogging life blogging about books. It's time to branch out and try new things already!

59 thoughts on “Our Dark Journey Begins”

  3. This is wicked brill! 🙂 I believe I unsuccessfully tried to participate in the past – however, it’s your 13th Year (congratulations!) and it’s my 5th – so that has to be ‘meant to be’ eh, for me to succeed!? I have some audiobooks which befit the categories and I would love to tackle reading at least one Classic selection from my #theclassicsclub list which I’m overhauling this August. So, yes, consider me, in PERIL!

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  4. This is a very special year for RIP! I can’t resist joining up for #13! Thanks for hosting. I’m really looking forward to a lot of enjoyable Fall reading!

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  11. First timer here! Excited for this! October = Kingtober for me, second year doing it, so I’ll pepper in some other horror/thriller/mystery throughout September. 🙂

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  12. Signing up via IG now I don’t have my blog any more! RIP is such a staple in my reading year I wasn’t going to let a little thing like being blogless stand in the way of the spookiness, haha. Roll on 1 September…

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  38. I’m going to join in. My favorite categories of books. Post will be up on my blog on Saturday and I’ll include my link then. Thanks so much for doing this!!!

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  40. Finally, my WordPress account is up and running! This is the first time I’ve heard of this particular reading challenge, and it’s right up my alley! I love to read horror and sci-fi books. I signed up with my Instagram account, but now that WordPress is up, I followed you guys and will be sharing on here as well. So glad I found this!

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  49. I’m excited about this! My school always puts our midterms and finals on Halloween, and last year I was so overwhelmed I didn’t celebrate at all. This will at least give me more motivation to celebrate as the season winds up to it.

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