Matt

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree is a cozy fantasy novel about the power of new beginnings and chosen family. It is warm and whimsical, hopeful and kind, and over all brimming with joy. Viv is an orc who decides to hang up her sword and start a business selling an exotic gnomish beverage known as coffee. For better or worse, there isn't too much more to this book than that. Imagine if Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley was a D&D campaign and someone wrote it down as a short novel. That's this book. Sure, there's a plot, but it's very slow and extremely cozy, and it simply was too far removed from the action, adventure, and fantastical world-building I love in fantasy for me to call this a five star read, at least on this listen. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of amusing and heartwarming parts, and a tiny bit of suspense too. Baldree did a great job narrating the audiobook himself, and I enjoyed listening to it. If this coffee shop really existed I'd love to visit. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Later is one to read sooner than...you know ;) In this short novel from Stephen King in the Hard Case Crime series a young protagonist named Jamie can see the dead. Does this sound like other King stories we know? Yes, but in this book King presents a bit of a different take on the concept than in The Shining, etc. Jamie gets caught up in the affairs of the adults around him and uses his powers to help his family and fight crime. It's interesting, amusing, and even thrilling. Despite this being a short book a lot of time is covered in this book and we see Jamie's character really develop over the course of the story. I liked the characters, I liked the premise, and of course the prose was solid. I listened to this book right after finishing Joyland, King's previous Hard Case Crime novel, and I sadly feel that this was a bit of a step down. In my opinion this one lacked some of the charm and nostalgia of Joyland (this isn't to say Later isn't charming or nostalgia inducing, just less so than Joyland in my opinion), and left the reader with unanswered questions/unfulfilled expectations. I don't think it's that controversial of a statement to say that sometimes King's endings aren't satisfying, and Later suffers from the lack of strong resolution. Despite the weakness of the ending, I nevertheless enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of Stephen King. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Warehouse is a chilling and thrilling novel about big business and the plight of humanity trying to survive in the consumer age. With clear allusions to real companies this book paints a picture of what America and the world might have to look forward too if consumption remains unchecked. That is, of course, overlooking the fact that some aspects of this book are already reality for workers around the world today. This is one of the most plausible dystopian books I've read, and also one of the most enjoyable. The book is thrilling, filled with suspense and intrigue, and had me reading late into the night. It also left me questioning my purchasing decisions and wondering how I fit into the patterns of production, consumption, and economic injustice described in the book. It left me in a strange place of wanting to change my habits to ensure this nightmare world does not come to pass, but also not wanting to do anything. I found myself strongly identifying with some of the characters in the book as they struggled with some of these same questions. Perhaps more than anything, Rob Hart has offered a glimpse of the experience of being a consumer in the contemporary world. A view that is not a symbolic, but rather is accurate. The conflicting appeal of greed, convenience, morality, and the reasoning we follow in willingly allowing big business to take over more and more of our lives and economy. This is a story of how people live to work, instead of working to live. I don't know how I feel about the ideas contained in this book, but I know it is the most compelling indictment of wealth inequality and unrestrained capitalism I have ever read. It has certainly given me a lot to think about. Overall, I read this book as a work of fiction that examines how present dangers could lead to a world like the one described in this book. A world not very unlike our own. Highly recommend.

I received a digital ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. The Paradox Hotel is the second book I've read by Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse, and based on how much I enjoyed Hart's last book I was thrilled to receive an uncorrected ebook proof to read in advance of publication. The Paradox Hotel is a hotel located near the Einstein Intercentury Timeport, a federally run time travel hub. January is an agent with the TEA, working at the Paradox to ensure no one violates the strict laws prohibiting changing the past. But on the eve of a summit to sell the hotel and timeport to a private owner a lot of weird stuff starts happening. Part science fiction, part mystery, and part thriller this book is unlike any else I've read. I really enjoyed how Hart explored the concept of time travel and how American consumers might interact with such technology. I also found the book heartwarming and beautiful at times. With the said, there were times when I found the book to be confusing as different times collided and Hart abruptly transitioned from one to another, just as January experienced, without a lot of explanation. Additionally, as with The Warehouse, I thought the ending felt a bit rushed and lacked sufficient detail and information for me to feel like I fully understood what happened. Finally the chapters felt a bit long to me. I read an ARC and there may be changes in the final published version, but I found myself attempting to read “one more chapter” and running out of steam because of how long they were. Despite these criticisms I enjoyed The Paradox Hotel. I think fans of time travel sci-fi and thrillers may like this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard is a great Irish crime novel exploring the past and identity. This book is ultra-contemporary and is set during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some readers will not want to read this book for that reason. If that's you, scroll on. Personally I find value in using art and literature to reflect on and process reality, and I'm glad to see this difficult time recorded in a novel. Apart from the setting during the lockdown, the book was full of twists and surprises and kept me invested in the characters the whole time. I liked the two main characters and wanted to know what was going to happen next. The book's use of moving between different times felt exciting and interesting. That said, there were a couple of reasons why this was not a 5 star read for me. First: the book is told from several different points of view. At one point new information was introduced that changed what we knew about some of the characters and their motivation. For me, this was confusing because we had already read that scene narrated from that character's point of view. Imagine being inside someone's head and then discovering their perception of events wasn't how they experienced it. It just seemed a bit jarring. Second: there were a couple of Garda, and they were great characters, but their plot line just kind of ended. I didn't get a great sense of closure and I almost wondered why these characters played as much of a role in the book as they did. Apart from these criticisms I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend the audiobook, read by Alana Kerr Collins. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar is one of the best books I've read this year. Composed in moving yet highly readable prose, this novel combines fact and imagination from the author's life to form a fictional “true” crime book following a serial killer. Unlike many real true crime books, a genre I have dabbled in but do not count among my favorites, the reader does not know who the criminal is from the outset. This allows Chizmar's masterful narrative to combine elements of mystery along with the journalistic and procedural thriller to weave his tale as the reader, along with Chizmar, seeks to discover the responsible party behind the Edgewood murders. Chizmar's inclusion of photos following each chapter really helped to sell the true crime book genre and really enhanced the reading experience. Although the audiobook narrator did a great job, I'd highly recommend checking out Audible's included PDF or getting a print/ebook copy to check out the pictures. In addition to being a suspenseful and creepy story, where Chasing the Boogeyman really shines is in making sections of the book feel so warm, personal, and nostalgic. By using elements of his own lived experience in the book, author Chizmar has endowed the character Chizmar and his setting with both verisimilitude and personality that draws the reader in and tugs at the heart. Few authors, Chizmar's sometimes collaborator Stephen King among them, manage to write dark fiction that is both scary and heartwarming. This is one area where Richard Chizmar has truly succeeded in Chasing the Boogeyman. Although the story is not historical, it nevertheless felt true, and the character of Richard Chizmar felt relatable. Part “true” crime armature detective thriller, part new adult, part book about books, and part love letter to small towns...Chasing the Boogeyman is not to be missed. I've already pre-ordered Becoming the Boogeyman, and can't wait to read it! 

Tender is the Flesh is an anything but tender dystopian horror examining dehumanization and the hierarchical value assigned to life. The author and translator wrote in blunt and visceral prose, allowing some of the greatest horror of the book to come from the world building more than the plot. While the narrative was slow to start and the characters are unlikable, something about the book seemed hauntingly plausible. It's worth a read.

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan was a chilling vision of contemporary American society. The book was a character focused slow-burn, with echos of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, contrasting the idealistic image of people of Maple Street (and all suburbia, and America) with the murky and hideous rot within.

I received a complimentary digital ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones is a triumph. This love letter to the slasher genre is an excellent ode to Michael, Jason, Freddy, and the like, but it's also a powerful story about coming of age, being different, and longing for love in a world too often filled with hooks, machetes, and yes...chainsaws. High school senior Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is an Indian girl living in Proofrock, Idaho. Jade is a hardcore horror nerd, and her obsession with the slasher genre is the lens through which she sees the world. But as strange things begin to occur in Proofrock and the new development across the lake, could it be that she's living in one? Reading this book was a good time. Before I started I wasn't very familiar with the slasher genre. After reading another slasher book earlier in the year I realized that having some familiarity with slasher films would probably enhance my experience reading My Heart is a Chainsaw. So I started with Friday the 13th (the first three), then Nightmare on Elm Street, then Halloween, then Candyman, then Bay of Blood, and finally all four Screams. I watched as I read and it was fantastically thrilling to begin to really understand many of the references Jones via Jade makes to these films throughout the novel. Thank goodness I watched them because a major part of this book is discussing and relating the characters and events of the plot to these films, often dropping both minor and major spoilers along the way (to be fair some of these movies are 40+ years old.) I felt like I was receiving the slasher education Jade was giving other characters in the book, and it was FUN. This novel made me want to learn about this genre, and Jones taught me to love it via Jade's enthusiasm. That's pretty freakin' cool. Apart from being a love letter to the genre, this book is a story about growing up, dealing with life, feeling like an outcast, etc. Jones' prose is strong throughout. I did think that the pacing of the plot was a little slow at times, and it was hard for me to put all the pieces of the plot together in my mind, but it all built up to an AWESOME penultimate chapter! The actual ending was not something I saw coming. I'm still processing what I think about it. Overall, this is an awesome book. A slasher with heart that's both bloody and meta and unpretentious and fantastic and real. It's a book that opened up a genre of film for me. This is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me.

Stephen Graham Jones is an outstanding author everyone who reads horror should know. I enjoyed his book Mongrels and was therefore excited to pick up The Only Good Indians, and it did not disappoint. The Only Good Indians is a thrilling story of the past coming back to haunt you. Jones' is a Blackfoot author and tells the story through the lens of his culture in a way I've never experienced in fiction before. The book is fascinating and horrifying. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed Scott Carson's The Chill. Although describing this book as horror might leave some readers disappointed, I throughly enjoyed this merging of supernatural and thriller elements. This story seemed both fantastical and plausible, and provided some great character development, especially in the character of Aaron. While Carson could have probably written a shorter book and told the story equally or even more effectively, I throughly enjoyed The Chill.

Venus in the Blind Spot is a creepy manga collecting chilling horror stories. This collection was hit and miss for me. I really liked some of the stories, such as the title story and The Engima of Amigara Fault, but others felt rushed or even a bit silly. Overall the art was great. Some stories in the ComiXology edition were in color or featured sections in color. I don't read enough manga to know if this is common or not. I did question the decision to only render parts of some stories in color (specifically the first few pages and then switch to black and white). I might have enjoyed the whole book in color or black and white, or else limited use of color in a way that seemed more intentional. Despite my criticism of some of the stories, I rate this collection overall as ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a free copy of The Between by Ryan Leslie from The Parliament House in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed The Between. This debut novel by author Ryan Leslie combines elements of science fiction and horror that at times reminded me of The Hike by Drew Magary and Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer, all while being something distinctly different. I enjoyed the world building and conceptual framework employed by Leslie throughout the book, as well as the delightful moments of fear and tension woven into the narrative. There were also some fun references throughout the book, and it was partially set in my home state of Texas! While there was much to be enjoyed, this book is not without some issues. The characters seemed juvenile and unbelievable at first, though over time they grew on me and I became invested in them. There were also some elements in the book that I felt were not adequately explained or resolved, and the plot as a whole stuck me as being a bit off. Toward the middle (actually, maybe more like 1/3rd) of the book a major problem seemed to be resolved, and the decisions the characters made next seemed...insufficiently motivated to be believed. Nevertheless, I enjoyed everything that happened in the plot, but this slightly disjointed plotting clearly betrayed that this work is a debut. I don't know if Leslie will write a sequel to this book or not, but if he did I'd probably read it. I want to know more about this world he's created and what happens next for the protagonist. I would consider leaving me wanting more to be the mark of a good book.

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro is a creative take on a possession story that flips the script on the genre. Lourdes and her friends have a séance for fun, but much to their surprise something answers when they call out. Goddess of Filth uses familiar tropes found in previous possession stories and inverts them into a story about Chicana empowerment. I loved seeing the representation of a culture and experiences not seen often enough in horror literature. It has violence, sex, the supernatural, and more! The book deals with culture, gender, and sexuality as major themes, and in some ways it was fairly critical of Christianity. As a result some readers may find this book a bit unpleasant, but perhaps sometimes feeling discomfort can be a good thing and lead consideration of challenging topics? I found many aspects of this book to be highly compelling. With that said, in some ways this novella seemed underdeveloped. The prose sometimes seemed stilted, oddly formal and simplistic, and various elements of the narrative just didn't work for me. I didn't get a strong sense of all the characters, and thus the arc of some of the characters seemed disjointed while others were utterly forgettable. Although I really enjoyed the concept of this book, I found it's execution to be disappointing. Overall I rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier: my overall impression is that this is a literary novel focused on relationships, life journeys, and the distance between people. The premise is that of a sci-fi alternative history, in which beings on Mars begin communicating with Earth via giant glowing glyphs reflecting complex equations. A ragtag band of graduate students sets out to solve the equation, and the plot ensues. The prose is elevated beyond most books I read, sometimes almost attaining a level of word-craft worthy of being called poetry. It is hard science fiction in that it has lots of references to math and physics, etc. but I never found these elements to be overwhelming. Despite Mars, aliens, etc. being a prominent aspect of the book, it's not a sci-fi adventure/thriller in the sense of Star Wars/Trek, etc. It's really about the humans, not the Martians. In this sense it reminds me a tiny bit of Station Eleven, wherein the big sci-fi event, though important, is really a device for a meditation upon humanity in the form of a story, not the principle focus of the work itself. A couple aspects of the plot confused me. This may be due to me missing something in the audiobook (I do not love the narrator's performance...) and some characters seemed underdeveloped (who exactly is Otis again?) but nevertheless I am thinking this book is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Family Solstice by Kate Maruyama is a challenging book about inequality, privilege, sacrifice, and the relative comforts and horrors of benefitting from systemic injustice...with some cosmic horror thrown in. It's hard to give a synopsis of this short volume without spoiling it. Every Solstice one member of Shae's family must go into the basement of the family home to fight...something. I enjoyed this book. I was really intrigued by trying to figure out what was going on throughout the book. This is a very challenging book on many levels. I think most of us can probably identify with one or more characters in this story as we recognize the ways in which our world is unjust and how we personally, directly or indirectly, intersect with that inequality and what we do or do not do about it. Although fantastical and horrific, this book raises serious questions about how society may be engineered to benefit some rather than all, and how it always has been. What sacrifices are we willing to make to either perpetuate or dismantle systemic inequality? Is it even possible to overcome injustice? That's a lot of very deep questions for such a short book to tackle. While I would maintain that Maruyama does not provide us with clear cut answers, her ability to make me think, even to the point of discomfort, about these questions is commendable. While I would have liked to have known more about...what was in the basement...I nevertheless admire this book for how much it packed into such a short page count. 4.5 stars.

A Fun Short Story Collection

Lucy A. Snyder's Halloween Season is a fun collection of short stories, many of which are set on or around Halloween. The Halloween season means many different things to different people, and this collection provides a nice assortment of tricks and treats which I found mostly delightful. I particularly enjoyed the multiple tales of cosmic horror found in this collection, some with direct allusions to Lovecraft's Mythos. The writing was solid, even if the pacing felt a bit off in a couple of stories or I found myself wanting more from a few. Two of the stories were R-rated, and there were a couple of stories that didn't feel like they really fit into a collection titled Halloween Season, including two about Christmas. Overall I think the general settings and horror elements present throughout most of these works make the book a great choice for spooky season. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars).

I received a free copy of this audiobook from its narrator TJ Clark in exchange for an honest review. The Great American Deception is a delightfully caffeinated adventure sure to amuse fans of science fiction and private detective stories. The book is very silly and wonderfully entertaining while still managing to be suspenseful and exciting. The book takes place in the Great American- a strange and secure bastion from the dystopian outside world. Detective Frank Harken is hired to find the missing person Winsome Smiles with the help of his new coffee maker. Over the course of the book many quirky and funny characters are introduced as the remarkable world of the Great American reveals itself as the plot unfolds. My favorite character in the book was RJ- imagine an AI who is the complete opposite of Skippy in Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force series- who had so many funny lines throughout the book. I found Scott Stein's writing to be reminiscent of authors such as John Scalzi, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), and Scott Meyer while still being unique. I found TJ Clark's narration to be reminiscent of Wil Wheaton and Luke Daniels. I throughly enjoyed this book and hope to enjoy sequels in the future!

The Forest by Lisa Quigley is a great new horror novel examining sacrifice, motherhood, and safety. Edgewood is a special town where nothing bad ever seems to happen. But when things start to go wrong, Faye discovers that safety may have a price. Quigley has written a novel reminiscent of Jackson's The Lottery and Tyron's Harvest Home, but focused in a powerful new direction and told through the lens of a young mother. The characters and quandaries proposed by the novel were highly compelling and heart-wrenching. The structure of alternating timelines (a trope I often find exhausting) was employed to great effect in this novel as each chapter seemed to spur me on to read the next. For all I loved about this book I did find my suspension of disbelief strained at times. Additionally I noticed a fair number of typos throughout the book. For these reasons I'm inclined to rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After finishing Antioch my initial impression is that this is an ambitious, but ultimately flawed debut novel. Jessica Leonard took on a highly creative concept but I think the book is marred by lackluster prose and perhaps too much ambiguity. I was drawn in at first by several subjects in the book: Amelia Earhart, shortwave radio, the mystery of Vlad the Impaler...but the book kind of lost me in the middle before picking up steam at the end, albeit the book ended without providing any clear answers. Antioch is filled with mystery and deception, as the story unfolds people and events are slowly revealed to not be what they seem, beginning with a cryptic radio transmission and spiraling out until this reader could no longer trust anything he read. The writing was inconsistent, sometimes interesting but sometimes the syntax and word choice were simplistic and even amateurish in some sections (in fact between the simplicity of the prose, the unrealistic way characters behaved, and the font I actually wondered if this was a YA book at one point), and plot sometimes felt disjointed. Having read the book, I understand that Bess is an unreliable narrator, and this may account for some of the strange turbulence I found in the plot and composition, but it nevertheless this made reading the book a somewhat unpleasant experience. This may have been the author's intention, but something about how she pulled it off didn't clue me in that it was intentional until the last few chapters, and my ability to enjoy what the author was doing was diminished by what I perceived to be poor writing. This may be a deficiency with me as a reader, or it may be in the writing of the book. Overall this book just didn't seem as polished as what I'm accustomed to reading. Hey, it's a debut novel! All the same, the unreliability of the protagonist felt a bit like a Monopoly get out of jail free card to justify the confusion and plot amounting to an abrupt and ambiguous end. Yes, there were breadcrumbs of the book's conclusion scattered throughout, but the ending still felt like it came way out of left field to me. I might have liked to know a little bit more of what was going on, what was real and what wasn't. I'm sure Bess would have too, and this may be the point. But overall Antioch felt like a book too convoluted for its own good, with a journey that didn't justify the concept of the book or provide a clear ending.

Not that great

Reading this book is indeed a Worst Laid Plan. While a few stories (Greg Sisco, Hailey Piper, and V. Castro) stood out from the pack, most of the rest were lackluster, mediocre, confusing, unoriginal, or underdeveloped. I was really excited about this book and was super into the theme, but overall I was pretty disappointed. I rated each story on a ten star system and came to a mean rating of 4.7 for the anthology, which I've converted to ⭐️⭐️ for Amazon, Goodreads, and IG. For anyone interested, here's my story by story ratings (out of 10):

-You've Been Saved 7
-Summers with Annie 8
-Expertise 5
-Unkindly Girls 8
-Deep in the Heart 4
-Peelings 6
-The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators 1
-The Cucuy of Cancun 10
-Taylor Family Vacation 1
-The Penanggalan 5
-Sex with Dolphins 2
-Caught a Glimpse 5
-In the Water 4
-Good Time in the Badlands 2

Disturbing, Yet Compelling

True Crime is a novel about how a young woman drawn to the true crime genre begins living true crimes of her own. It is also a story about the impact of violence, generational trauma, and how a human being may be consumed and subsumed by the worst days of their life. This novel is loaded with triggering content: child abuse, rape, animal cruelty, homicide, sexual abuse, etc. Reading this story was very off-putting, yet it was also extremely compelling. I read this book quickly and couldn't put it down. The author's skill is evident throughout, beautiful prose and expert pacing transform this depressing tale into something that feels profoundly human. I was frustrated this book, in many ways I felt it represented some of the worst aspects of human nature. Yet just because these characteristics are bad, does not mean they are not true. True Crime seemed to tap into something about the human experience that resonated with me, even if it was antithetical to how I strive to live me life. Pain, fear, indifference, and violence abound. Yet this ultimately a portrayal of the struggle to love and be loved. Overall I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

The Fisherman by John Langan is an excellent cosmic horror novel exploring themes of grief and change through the dark mysterious unknown. Told in sections set in the early 2000s and sections centuries earlier, The Fisherman is a great story blending the fantastic with the mundane, perhaps commenting that the horrors of seeming ordinary life are no less horrible than sea monsters, wizards, or strange cities beside stranger seas. My biggest critique of the book is that the alternation between past and the book's present is, in my opinion, an overused structure in the genre, and the way Langan employed it (through preferable to this reader over other examples) made the middle section feel a bit long. I think Part 3 felt a bit detached from Part 1 because of the length of Part 2, but nevertheless I found The Fisherman to be a compelling novel. This is an excellent read for fans of Lovecraft, Chambers, etc. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Turn of the Shrew by Henry James is a highly atmospheric gothic horror story, though at times it's difficult, maddening, and wordy. James published this tale in 1898 and I think it's critical to keep in mind that the language reflects the era, as well as the cultural norms present in the book. Listening to this book proved more challenging than Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (my previous listen) both in terms of understanding the prose and in terms of empathizing with the protagonist. A governess comes to Bly to care for two young children. She begins seeing strange figures in the house. Are they ghosts of departed household staff, or is she nuts? A worthy question, albeit perhaps one that could have been explored in a short story rather than a novella. Apart from the complexity of the beautiful prose, I was challenged by the way the governess idolized the children. To a 21st century reader the way in which she viewed the children seems at best naive and at worst creepy. Perhaps this was James' intention? At any rate I found it somewhat difficult to fully empathize with her at various points throughout the book. Many moments were unsettling and atmospheric, even if I didn't totally understand the protagonist, or the way the book ended for that matter. I also highly recommend the audio version read by Emma Thompson with music added. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️