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Erica Robyn Reads

a horror book review blog

[Feature] Clever Elements in Books

November 18, 2021      Erica Robyn      9 Comments

7 Clever Elements in Books

While reading a book, I literally read from cover to cover. Sometimes this pays off in wonderful ways as I spot elements that others may have missed if they just stuck to the story content.

To highlight some clever things that I have seen, I wanted to begin a new series titled simply, Clever Elements in Books.

Let’s dive in to the first installment!

Seven Clever Elements in Books

This copyright statement from The Ghoul Archipelago by Stephen Kozeniewski cracks me up! I’ve heard that this is a trend for Stephen with this press, so I can’t wait to read more to check it out!

The Ghoul Archipelago copyright statement

Speaking of copy-write pages, this note in Dead Meat: Day 5 by Nick Clausen also had me laughing!

“No zombies were harmed in the making of this book.”

Dead Meat: Day 5 by Nick Clausen Copyright note

In Aiden Merchant’s re-releases, he added a note to the beginning of the books to let readers know content warnings are listed at the end of the book. What an awesome idea this is! This perfectly solves the debate on whether to include trigger warnings or not. If the reader wants to see them, they can simply flip to the back, and those that are worried about being “spoiled” won’t see them at the start.

Content Warnings Kill For Them By Aiden Merchant

In We Bleed Orange and Black by Jeff C. Carter, Jeff added a section about which tales are family friendly so readers could share some of the tales in the collection with their kids.

We Bleed Orange & Black Kid Friendly page

In NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, the Acknowledgements section was broken up into The Nice List and The Naughty List. The Naughty list made me laugh out loud. How clever!

The Nice List in NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
The Naughty List in NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

I love when authors allow superstition for adjust the format of their books! This little chapter for chapter thirteen in Even Halos Can Be Crooked by L.M. Schukraft was so spot on for the humor of the story.

Even Halos Chapter 13

How many people read the “Note On The Type” in the very back of the book? I do! I read this mainly because I love learning more about fonts thanks to a graphic design class I took that was really just about fonts and printing. At the end of NOS4A2, I was so thrilled to begin reading the note about the font just to be surprised by more of the story! So clever!

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill Note on Type

Thanks for reading!
What is a clever element of a book that you’ve seen recently?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lauren @ Always Me says

    November 18, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    Huh! I always read the acknowledgements or the historical notes. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Erica Robyn says

      November 24, 2021 at 10:16 am

      <3

      Reply
  2. Greg says

    November 20, 2021 at 3:44 am

    I love these! The one about chapter thirteen cracked me up. I actually love little extras like these in books. 🙂

    Reply
    • Erica Robyn says

      November 24, 2021 at 10:17 am

      I do too! It’s so smart to include things like this and I love spotting them! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Angela says

    November 21, 2021 at 3:22 pm

    How fun! I always love reading the dedication and acknowledgments because sometimes they are surprising. I feel like maybe the Smartypants Romance books (or maybe just Penny Reid) have some funny wording in the copyright info!

    Reply
    • Erica Robyn says

      November 24, 2021 at 10:17 am

      😀

      Reply
  4. ShootingStarsMag says

    November 29, 2021 at 9:59 am

    These are all great. I’m definitely the person who reads almost everything – the acknowledgements, the author notes and letters, etc. etc.

    Reply
    • Erica Robyn says

      November 29, 2021 at 9:14 pm

      <3

      Reply

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