Matt

A Song for a New Day is a really awesome dystopian novel by Sarah Pinsker. Told by two protagonists, this is the story of a world warped by twin epidemics of violence and disease (not to mention massive corporate control) and how despite all manner of adversity music continues on. In some of ways this was tough to listen to. Despite being written prior to COVID, A Song for a New Day proved remarkably prescient in some respects, while also proving strikingly fictional in others. The central conflict between the musicians and their society's version of stay at home orders made me feel both intrigued and uncomfortable. Having lived through a real-world pandemic, these sections hit differently than I think they would have if I had read the book in 2019 when it was first released. I think I would have been very judgmental of Luce's attitudes two years ago, so it was a fascinating experience to empathize with her as a character in this novel. I enjoyed the thought-provoking narrative and conflicted feelings I experienced as I navigate the post-vaccine COVID reality the world finds itself in today. I really enjoyed the characters throughout the book, and the audiobook narrators Dylan Moore and Nicol Zanzarella were fantastic! The final third or so of the plot felt a bit weaker and less developed than the first 2/3rds. It seemed to wrap up too easily and too cleanly. Additionally, I felt like the violence described in the beginning of the book was totally overshadowed by the pox as the book went on, and I also wondered why Pinsker decided to include it. Despite these criticisms, I really liked this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

When Things Get Dark edited by Ellen Datlow is a magnificent anthology of short fiction inspired by Shirley Jackson. While a reader does not necessarily need to be familiar with Jackson to appreciate these stories, I do think that readers who have read her will get more out of this collection. Like Jackson's works, many of these stories are loaded with mystery, ambiguity, and the appearance of the supernatural. Most are superbly written. This is one of the strongest horror anthologies I've read. I was going to list my favorite stories, but honestly it's almost all of them. The final two - Tiptoe by Laird Barron and Skinder's Veil by Kelly Link - were particularly great! This is an excellent short story anthology. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a mixed bag that's at times fun, confusing, and frustrating. In this book Lynette is a member of a support group for final girls, or the sole survivors of a murder event. Someone starts killing/setting up the members of this group. Lynette tries to figure out who and why. I should probably begin by disclaiming that I'm not very well versed in the slasher films and books this novel is based on. I'm also not well versed in therapy. So there's probably a lot that I simply didn't get, and that deficiency is with me, not with Hendrix. With that said, I found the plot confusing. I didn't care for how Hendrix revealed information in the book (waiting until much too late to reveal critical info about the protagonist's backstory). I thought the book was a bit slow to start and found pretty much every character unlikable (although I came to like Lynette more as the book went on). Unlike all of Hendrix's other books (at least the ones readily available) there is no supernatural element in this one, and I definitely missed it. There were some exciting scenes in the book, but overall this one didn't hook me the way some of Hendrix's other books have. If I was ranking Hendrix books I'd rank them 1. Horrorstor/My Best Friend's Exorcism, 3. SBC Guide to Slaying Vampires, 4. We Sold Our Souls, and then finally 5. The Final Girls Support Group. I'm disappointed to have not enjoyed this book more. Maybe if I watch a bunch of slasher films and read it again I'd have a different opinion. But for now ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Joyland is truly a joy to read or listen to. In this short novel King tells a story filled with mystery, romance, the supernatural, a bit of horror, and a nostalgic look back at what it was to be 21. Dev, a college student at UNH, takes a summer job at Joyland - a North Carolina amusement park filled with the old carnival spirit - where he discovers more than he could have ever bargained for. The first part of the book felt super wholesome and focused on having a summer job, finding one's self, being in love, etc. As the book progressed things started to get a bit more weird and Joyland quickly began to make connections to the lore of other King books. While it might be fair to say that King does little here he hasn't done in some of his previous books, I do think it's noteworthy that he's packed so many themes, tropes, and other elements from his other work into a shorter volume with a New Adult protagonist. Overall I had a great time listening to this book and highly recommend it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Nice House on the Lake Vol 1 is an excellent collected edition beginning a horror comic series. A bit LOST meets THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD, this series has kept me guessing and consistently drawn me with the development of each character. If you're in to locked room mysteries and postapocalyptic stories, I think you'll really enjoy this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a complimentary eARC of Howls from the Dark Ages edited by P.L. McMillian and Solomon Forse from HOWL Society Press, and provided feedback on formatting and typos. I am also a member of the HOWL Society, but I am not published in this anthology of medieval horror and am not personally profiting from its sale. All opinions are my own.

Howls from the Dark Ages is the second anthology of short horror fiction from HOWL Society Press, following their debut anthology Howls from Hell in 2021. This book, like the prior volume, is largely an effort of emerging horror authors from the writers channel in the HOWL Society Discord, an online book club which clawed its way into existence out of the /r/horrorlit subreddit in the early months of the COVID pandemic. Unlike the prior book, which featured a variety of different stories spanning sub-genres, this collection features stories specifically set in the medieval period from both HOWLS members and other authors.

HftDA begins with an introduction from Christopher Buehlman, who lends insight from the process of writing his own novel of medieval horror (Between Two Fires) to illuminate the challenge of writing period horror and contextualize the tales that follow.

The book begins with a short note from a “curator,” establishing a recurring framework in which the reader is cast in the role of a visitor to a mysterious museum. Before each story the reader reads a short note about and views an object (created by a litany of artists) which features prominently in the story that follows. This was a fascinating idea, even if this concept did seem slightly confusing as I read the first curatorial note.

The stories are all set during the medieval period, most in Europe though the Americas and China are also represented. The protagonists come from a variety of backgrounds, though as might be expected a great many are monks, nuns, knights, etc. One of the strengths of a common time period setting is the ability to explore similar themes, tropes, and other elements across multiple authors, styles, and points of view. Yet this also resulted in a lot of repetition in themes, character types, etc. This isn't a bad thing, just know going in that you're going to read a lot of stories exploring some common ground. For example, a lot of the stories dealt with medieval Christianity (and attitudes about it ranged from critical to creative!)

Overall I found the stories to range from “good” to “great.” While a few left me with unanswered questions or a bit confused, many were totally immersive in the medieval world and combined excellent storytelling with horrifying and engaging plots and imagery. My favorite stories in the anthologies included Angelus by Philippa Evans, Brother Cornelius by Peter Ong Cook, Deus Vult by Ethan Yoder, The Final Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles by M.E. Bronstein, The Fourth Scene by Brian Evenson, White Owl Stevie Edwards, A Dark Quadrivium by David Worn, and the story-in-verse The Lai of the Danse Macabre by Jessica Peter.

I enjoyed HftDA. Fans of medieval horror (or just medieval stories) will likely love it too. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read this for a book club (HOWLS) and I enjoyed it both less and then more than I thought I would.

The initial premise sounded intriguing (secret underground city at the US/Mexico border), but I was flabbergasted by the density of the prose. Goodfellow packed so much information into each sentence that the reading experience was a bit overwhelming, perhaps not unlike the chaotic setting described in the novel itself. This is a literary achievement, but was nevertheless an intense and somewhat challenging read. I also found the plot somewhat hard to follow. At various points I really felt like I had no idea what was going on and I was just along for the ride.

Content wise the book is a dystopian horror examination of our present and recent past in America. Goodfellow examines capitalism, immigration policy, American exceptionalism, and faith through a complex narrative with strong cyberpunk vibes.

As the book went on I became more and more interested and I actually really enjoyed the ending. I liked Unamerica. It's a book that would probably merit a second reading, albeit I don't relish the prospect of diving into the dense prose again. If they made an audiobook version of this with a really good narrator, I'd love to listen to it!

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe (audiobook read by Mara Wilson) is a haunting story of generational trauma, of mothers and daughters, told through the lens of supernatural horror. This novel weaves together multiple timelines in joined together by both location and blood, and does so more successfully than some other works that utilize the alternating timeline structure. Overall I found the story of Meredith and her daughter, Alice, and mother, Judith, in their town of Cape Disappointment (what a name, and it's a real place) to be anything but. Monroe did an excellent job of establishing setting in vivid detail and crafting lots of fascinating characters across different eras. I found some parts of the plot to be a bit muddy and the pacing too slow in some sections, but nevertheless this was an extremely enjoyable read. This is not, in my opinion, the kind of horror that will give readers nightmares, but rather a more literary and reflective book that manages to be both chilling and poignant. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado is a haunting memoir revealing and reflecting upon the terrifying realities of queer domestic abuse. Machado writes in breathtakingly beautiful prose about surviving an abusive relationship. At once horror and gothic, while literary and sophisticated, experimental and real - this book is non-fiction that may appeal to those who, like me, do not often read memoirs. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN VOLUME 1 is the beginning of an intriguing horror comic. The lone survivor of a violet attack in the woods meets a mysterious woman who's come to town to discover and stop what's killing the children. I enjoyed the art and concept of this book, but I found the world building and plot a bit sparse. Five issues in and I have a lot of questions and feel like not that much has really happened. Still, it's the beginning of a series and it hooked my interest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman is a haunting book about grief, addiction, trauma, and ultimately life and death. Erin, a recent college grad trying to make her way in the world, along with her friends discover a fantastic new drug that claims to allow the living to see the dead. Is it true? Is it a trip? What are the implications of such a drug, and what are the costs? These are just some of the questions explored by the author of Whisper Down the Lane in his newest narrative. This book, read by Elisabeth Rodgers, represents a very different take on haunted houses and possession than any other work of genre fiction I've encountered. Still, this book is not without antecedents, as fans of that specific horror element found in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic or Caitlin Starling's The Luminous Dead may find spores of delight throughout this hallucinogenic novel. I found this work less grunge and more relatable than Kathe Koja's The Cipher, but also see how certain elements of Ghost Eaters might appeal to fans of that cult classic too. I generally enjoyed this book, and recommend it as a great addition to your spooky season reading list. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great potential, only partially realized. A young woman becomes a senior editor at a publishing house. Weird stuff happens.

The good:
-I enjoyed the conversational writing style and the meta concept of a horror book about a horror editor.
-I liked Lussi, the protagonist.
-The book has a creepy basement in it, and creepy basements are scary!
-Fun 80s references!

The not so good:
-I, more or less, figured out what was going on well before the end of the book.
-Some of the characters behaved in unbelievable ways and the plot was sometimes a bit too convenient.

Overall it's a fun Christmas horror book. It's worth a read if you're in the mood for a holiday horror book. 3.5 stars.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is an addition to the world of horror from Grady Hendrix. The author, well known for Horrorstor and Paperbacks from Hell, makes a return to the world of his previous award winning book My Best Friend's Exorcism. Following a family living next door to the Lang family, several years after the conclusion of Exorcism, this book takes on themes of friendship, gender, and race in an older demographic.

This book is at times funny, suspenseful, and creative in the field of vampire stories. My only disappointment was that Hendrix didn't flesh out his vampire lore as much as I would have desired. Fans of Hendrix's other books will likely enjoy this one. Those who didn't dig Horrorstor or Exorcism might find something interesting in this one too.

The author kindly provided me an ARC to review. Becoming the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar, sequel to 2021's Chasing the Boogeyman, is an excellent meta-fiction horror follow-up. Again taking the format of a true crime novel, this book blends elements of Chizmar's real life with a thrilling narrative following the author-as-character's life years after the events of the first book. The Boogeyman might have been caught in the prior installment, but when similar murders start up again Richard Chizmar finds himself asking who and how once again. If you enjoyed the first book I think you'll find a lot to love in this one too. In the author's note, Chizmar acknowledges that he originally intended for Chasing the Boogeyman to stand alone, and honestly my feelings about this sequel are similar to my thoughts on Stephen Graham Jones' Don't Fear the Reaper: we don't really need it, but I'm glad we have it. In both instances we get to see the protagonist years after the initial story, and they basically do more of the same things but with a different prospective. Becoming the Boogeyman has loads of creepy and tense moments, it made me Google what a window well was (iykyk), and I certainly didn't see many events of the plot coming. Chizmar got even more ambitious in weaving this story together across multiple formats or “sources”, and I think he was largely successful. I had a lot of fun reading this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Murder by Other Means is an excellent follow up to Scalzi's The Dispatcher. Tony once again finds himself collaborating with CPD, but the situation becomes very messy very fast. Again, this series is not characterized by the same kind of humor as Old Man's War or Redshirts, but is nevertheless an excellent sci-fi thriller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seep is a fascinating take on an alien invasion that is as poignant as it is hopeful. Porter conjures nostalgia and wonder in this novel about a future in which aliens known as “The Seep” have solved humanity's problems. Violence, economic inequality, and even death itself have given way to a world where anyone can have whatever they want. Is such a world a utopia or dystopia? How does suffering characterize what it means to be human? These are some of the questions Porter explores in the book, and perhaps the greatest compliment I can give this novel is that after finishing I am pondering these existential questions.

The Pros:
-Short read, yet highly evocative
-Great audiobook narrated by Shakina Nayfack
-Highly original science fiction
-Great protagonist
-Trans representation

The Cons:
-Because this is such a short book, I felt the plot sometimes took a back seat to the ideas the book was striving to explore.
-The book felt slightly heavy-handed at times, as the themes of the book came across very strongly.

For me, this was 4 stars! I'd recommend it!

The Socialite's Guide to Murder by S.K. Golden is a fun debut to a new mystery series. Set in the Pinnacle Hotel in New York City, agoraphobic heirless Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy finds herself at the center of a murder mystery! Set in the last century, the book felt both stylized and contemporary. I really loved Evelyn's voice, wonderfully brought to life by audiobook narrator Amara Jasper, and the tension between her spoiled privileged life and the challenges of living with mental illness in the midst of adversity. Ultimately I loved the ways Golden paid homage to Christie still managed to craft a story that, to me, felt fresh and exciting. I look forward to listening to upcoming installments in this series!

The Beauty is a fascinating horror comic at the intersection of body horror and disease. A disease has spread that transforms the infected into a conventionally beautiful version of themself. But is this disease, The Beauty, too good to be true? I'm enjoying both the art and storyline. I think it's a pretty short run, and I definitely feel like the pacing is a bit quick, but I'm excited to see where this one goes. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this Quick and Easy Guide to learn more about Queer & Trans identities during Pride month. I really enjoyed the art style used in this book and value all the information contained in this short volume. Although much of what this book contained was familiar to me, I also learned some new things and would recommend this book to anyone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell is one of the greatest graphic novels I've ever read. March is a trilogy of three volumes that tell the story of John Lewis and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The book is moving, horrifying, inspiring, educational, and really profoundly important. I, of course, learned about the Civil Rights Movement in school, but in this book I learned so much about both history and Lewis I had either never known or had forgotten. I found this comic to not only be an amazing history lesson, but to sadly resonate with current events today. The insight this book provides about racial attitudes and actions in America, as well as the dynamics within the Movement itself, really contextualizes and illuminates the protests and conversations that have occurred in years since. It is painful and tragic to reflect on the fact that the hate and systemic racism of the 60s (and before) still haunts us today, and to see it so plainly and undeniably illustrated in this book just takes one's breath away. I urge everyone to read March! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I ended up DNFing this book. I might return to it at some point in the future, frankly I don't like abandoning books, but I found the story difficult to follow. Imagine all the politics of Game of Thrones, except much less interesting. Also set in a future dystopia where there are environmental disasters, food shortages, and artificially engineered people. I was listening to the audiobook, but with about 6 hours left I realized I had no idea what was going on and decided not to continue making the effort. There were parts I liked, but overall I felt that plot sometimes felt secondary to world building and detail. With hundreds (ok...maybe even a thousand) books on my TBR, I can't be wasting time on books that bore me, and this one did.

The Imago Sequence and Other Stories is the first collection I've read by Laird Barron, and overall I enjoyed these tales of cosmic horror. In these pages Barron tells rich literary stories loaded with ancient gods and cosmic terror. Some of these stories are very dark, even by the standards of someone who has read dozens of horror books this year. Some of these stories contain elements that could be considered sacrilegious or even blasphemous. Some characters in these stories use language or express attitudes that are not “politically correct.” Barron's stories find the darkness, both within humanity and imagined in the universe around us, and pose it to the reader to see, contemplate, wrestle, and perhaps cower before. There is no denying the quality of Barron's prose, it is excellent, but the content and themes did seem a bit repetitive between a few of the stories in this collection. My favorite entry in the collection was the title story, and I also particularly enjoyed Old Virginia, Hallucigenia, Parallax, and The Royal Zoo is Closed. I listened to this book on Audible (it's in the Plus Catalogue as of posting this review) and it's read by one if my favorite narrators, Ray Porter. Despite Porter's consistent brilliance, I will acknowledge that this is a book that required my full attention to follow. I chalk that up to Barron's prose, which is more literary than my standard audiobook fare. I might not recommend this book to a casual reader or someone new to the genre, but I think fans of H.P. Lovecraft, John Langan, and Philip Fracassi would probably really enjoy this collection. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi is a fantastic audio novella. Imagine if (almost) every murder victim came back. Call it a miracle or weird science, no one knows why. But a new profession emerges, the dispatcher, who kills the dying to ensure they will get to return. Scalzi has created a truly fascinating and original concept in which he then builds an effective thriller. While this book was mostly bereft of the humor I normally anticipate finding in a Scalzi story, I found this work to be highly compelling nonetheless. Quinto's narration was outstanding. Overall this is a wonderful book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookstagram #thedispatcher #johnscalzi #bookreview #audible

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix is a funny, creepy, and also heartwarming take on an exorcism story. When Gretchen begins acting strangely, her best friend Abby is determined to discover the cause. Little does she know it may be more than she imagined. This book has everything. From the expected demonic possession elements to a comedic faith and fitness show to 80s music and more. Hendrix does a great job blending campy comedy with genuinely scary stuff (while still having tenderness and warmth present in the book). Personally I think he does a better job here of blending these elements than in some of his more recent books, but that's just personal taste. The paperback edition has awesome art on the front and back of the book. This book is followed by a spiritual successor, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is set in the same town years later but focuses on a new cast of characters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️