Review of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me coverThe world of professional ballet can be cut-throat—literally. Jamison Shea’s debut YA horror novel, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, takes an unflinching look at ambitious young women in a highly competitive field and the hellish lengths to which they will go to achieve their dreams. If you like morally gray female characters who embrace their dark sides, you definitely don’t want to miss this book, which came out last summer. Continue reading Review of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me

Review of Coffin Hill—Gothic Comics

Coffin Hill vol 1 cover“Wicked witch of Coffin Hill, buried in the woods and lives there still. Hide your face and close your eyes, if you see her you will die. Only the crows to hear you cry…” So goes the nursery rhyme at the heart of the Coffin Hill comics by Caitlin Kittredge, with art by Inaki Miranda and coloring by Eva de la Cruz. This comic series, published by Vertigo between 2013 and 2015, consists of twenty issues which have been collected in three trade volumes: Forest of the Night, Dark Endeavors, and Haunted Houses. With stunningly macabre artwork and a storyline that features black magic, bloody murders, and generational curses, this series is the perfect gateway into comics for any Gothic literature lovers. Continue reading Review of Coffin Hill—Gothic Comics

Review of Never Whistle at Night—Indiginous Horror

Never Whistle at Night coverFrom “wendigos” to “Indian burial grounds,” the folklore and tragic history of North America’s indigenous populations has frequently been mined for inspiration and twisted to suit the purposes of horror authors writing outside of their own cultures. In recent years, however, we’ve seen a real rise in the number of indigenous voices within the horror scene telling their own stories. A new collection of short horror stories celebrates this surge of Native American writers: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. This anthology, which contains twenty-six stories plus a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones, came out just last week, in plenty of time for spooky season. Continue reading Review of Never Whistle at Night—Indiginous Horror

Review of Silver Nitrate—Cursed Films

Silver Nitrate coverDon’t play with magic you don’t understand. You’d think this would be common sense by now, but there’s always some skeptic willing to treat mystic rituals like a game—to their own detriment. Montserrat and Tristán learn this lesson the hard way in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest horror novel Silver Nitrate, which came out last month. Continue reading Review of Silver Nitrate—Cursed Films

Review of A House with Good Bones—Bugs, Blooms, and Boogeymen

A House with Good Bones coverOld houses always have buried secrets. An archeological entomologist is perhaps extra qualified to dig those up—and she’ll need to if she wants to get to the bottom of her mom’s strange behavior in A House with Good Bones, a delightful Southern Gothic by T. Kingfisher which came out back in March. In a fun coincidence, the audiobook for this one is narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal, author of the book I reviewed last week, The Spare Man. Continue reading Review of A House with Good Bones—Bugs, Blooms, and Boogeymen

Review of Camp Damascus—Horrors Real and Imagined

Camp Damascus coverSummer camp is one of the last places you want to find yourself if you’re living inside a horror novel. But the scariest thing about Camp Damascus? Rose can’t even remember attending it. Internet-famous erotica author Chuck Tingle deftly pivots to serious horror in his first traditionally published novel Camp Damascus, out tomorrow, July 18. Continue reading Review of Camp Damascus—Horrors Real and Imagined

Review of Starve Acre—Slow-burn Folk Horror

Starve Acre cover“There’s not an inch of soil that’s still alive.” Nothing grows on the land where the town hanging tree once stood in Andrew Michael Hurley’s folk horror novel Starve Acre. Originally published in the UK in 2019, Starve Acre is being newly released in the U.S. tomorrow, July 4.  Continue reading Review of Starve Acre—Slow-burn Folk Horror

Review of Night’s Edge—A Vampire Pandemic

Night's Edge coverYou’re not sick of pandemic books yet, are you? Liz Kerin uses the premise of a vampire pandemic—and the restrictions and lockdowns that come with it—to explore complicated family relationships in her sophomore horror novel Night’s Edge. The book, which follows a young woman who has devoted her life to being caretaker to her infected mother, comes out tomorrow, June 20. Continue reading Review of Night’s Edge—A Vampire Pandemic

Review of The Scourge Between Stars

The Scourge Between Stars cover“Don’t open the door.” This warning comes just a little bit too late for Jacklyn and her crew in The Scourge Between Stars, a stunning debut sci-fi thriller by Ness Brown that came out in April. This tense game of cat-and-mouse between a starship crew and unseen alien intruders lurking within the vessel’s walls is perfect for fans of the Alien film franchise who have been waiting for something new and fresh in that vein.  Continue reading Review of The Scourge Between Stars

The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review

The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses coverAn orphaned governess takes up a new position in a remote manor and begins to develop inadvisable feelings for her employer. You’ve heard this story before—or have you? L. V. Russell puts a new twist on this classic Gothic premise in The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses, which came out earlier this month from small indie press Quill & Crow Publishing House. Continue reading The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review