I have not come around yet on whether “cozy horror” is a coherent and definable new subgenre of horror fiction. “Cozy” is a genre label most commonly applied to mystery, where it refers to mystery novels with limited on-the-page violence, sexual content, or coarse language and that feature an amateur sleuth who is often an older woman and/or works in a very community-oriented profession like a librarian, baker, or small business owner. It stands in contrast to the grittier crime fiction genres like hardboiled noir or police procedurals. A few years ago, “cozy fantasy” burst onto the scene with books like Legends and Lattes, which have secondary-world settings reminiscent of sprawling epic fantasies but plots that deal with smaller, more local stakes and often focus on small communities and interpersonal relationships. More recently, I’ve noticed a parallel subgenre popping up in science fiction, which sets itself in contrast to epic space operas. (For examples, see my reviews of Murder by Memory and Moss’d in Space.) But is there a parallel subgenre of horror? As cozy escapism becomes ever more popular, I’ve seen the term bandied about to refer to a wide range of horror books, from Someone to Build a Nest In to the works of Grady Hendrix and Rachel Harrison. But is there really such a thing as cozy horror or is it a contradiction in terms? Some Kind of Haunted, the latest release from Hazel Beck, certainly sets out to prove the case. Continue reading Review of Some Kind of Haunted—Cozy Horror?
Category: Horror
Review of Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II
A few years ago, the anthology Never Whistle at Night burst onto the horror fiction scene, introducing readers to a whole slew of talented indigenous authors right when the meteoric rise of Stephen Graham Jones was making Native horror a hot topic. Now those same editors are back with a followup anthology. Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr, came out on August 18. If you loved the first volume or are just interested in expanding your horror horizons, definitely check this one out! Continue reading Review of Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II
Review of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow—Lakeside Horror
Spending the summer in Upstate New York at a private cottage on the shores of Lake Ontario sounds like a dream. But for Sam Payne, whose idyllic childhood summers spent at the family cabin complex were marred by a disturbing murder, returning there is her worst nightmare. And that’s before she learns that the family legend of a headless horseman haunting those shores is true. Kelly Armstrong delivers thrilling folk horror that somehow manages to be a perfect read for both summer and Halloween season with The Haunting of Paynes Hollow, which came out last fall. Continue reading Review of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow—Lakeside Horror
Review of Fabulous Bodies—Brilliant Body Horror
Bodies are just bodies, right? Whether it’s the killer physique that gets her tons of followers on social media or the corpse that she’s stealing from a funeral home to sell on the black market, Poppy hasn’t thought much about bodies other than what they can do for her. But when a corpse pickup goes horribly, violently wrong one night, Poppy is forced to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about bodies and their value. Chuck Tingle’s latest horror novel, Fabulous Bodies, is an equally thoughtful and terrifying work of body horror. I highly recommend the audiobook, which is narrated by Mara Wilson (whom fellow millennials will recognize as the actress from beloved childhood movie Matilda). Continue reading Review of Fabulous Bodies—Brilliant Body Horror
Review of The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion
“When the solstice sun rose, it drew Uliksi into the world. A spirit that turns the predator into the prey.” I’ve been thinking about this book since I first read it years ago. The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion is a horror novella by Margaret Killjoy, the first in her Danielle Cain trilogy about a demon-hunting band of anarchists. It was first published by Tor.com in 2017 and I received it as part of a Pride Month giveaway bundle a couple of years later. For some reason, I never reviewed it on this blog or continued the series, but the imagery in the book of a carnivorous deer demon hunting down those who abuse their power stuck with me, as did the ethical questions that the characters who summoned it wrestle with. When Margaret Killjoy recently announced that she had recorded audiobook editions, I figured now was the perfect time to revisit the series. Continue reading Review of The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion
Review of Japanese Gothic—Beautiful Hauntings
“In the house behind the sword ferns, there was a man, and a murderer, and a stain.” Kylie Lee Baker, the author of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, builds a beautifully haunting tale in her latest horror novel, Japanese Gothic, which came out in April. The title of this novel is, I assume, playing upon Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s highly successful Mexican Gothic, which heralded the current resurgence of the Gothic in popular horror literature. But while Mexican Gothic is a sweeping tale of family drama, generational sins, and colonialism, Japanese Gothic is a quieter story in which the entangled lives of an American college dropout and a young samurai woman play out in a small house tucked away at the edge of reality. Continue reading Review of Japanese Gothic—Beautiful Hauntings
Review of Morsel—Anti-Capitalist Folk Horror
Don’t let your job consume your life. That’s a good reminder we all could probably use, but for the protagonist of Carter Keane’s debut horror novella, Morsel, it’s a dire warning that should be taken very literally. The gorgeous cover first drew me to this book, which came out a few weeks ago, but it was the suspenseful narration style and creepy folk horror atmosphere that had me devouring it over the course of a weekend. Continue reading Review of Morsel—Anti-Capitalist Folk Horror
Review of Wolf Worm—Entomological Horror
How much do you know about botflies? If you’ve got a squeamish stomach about bugs and body horror, don’t look them up. These creepy parasites—which are horrifying enough in real life—become true fodder for nightmares in the hands of one of my favorite horror writers, T. Kingfisher. I’ve often admired the way Kingfisher brings out the horror in the natural world, from infectious fungi in What Moves the Dead to unexpectedly alarming ladybugs in A House with Good Bones. In her latest book, Wolf Worm, which came out last month, she takes it a step further by diving deep into the world of parasitic insects. In the end, though, it is human cruelty more than nature’s parasites that represents the true horror of this story. Continue reading Review of Wolf Worm—Entomological Horror
Review of Night of the Mannequins—Slashers vs Superheroes
“We thought we’d play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead, and I’m really starting to feel kind of guilty about it all…” Stephen Graham Jones writes some killer opening lines. If you’ve been following this blog lately, you’ll know that Jones is swiftly becoming one of my favorite horror writers, especially with his recent masterpiece The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. But Jones is a prolific writer who had published over a dozen books before his star really started to rise. Now that his writing is getting the attention it deserves, his publisher is very cleverly re-releasing some of his earlier books that flew under the radar. One of those is the novella Night of the Mannequins, which initially came out in 2020 amidst the chaos of the pandemic, but got a second chance with a new release this past February. And I’m glad it did! Reading this fun little slasher tale now, you can see Stephen Graham Jones playing around with ideas that he would explore more deeply in later books like My Heart Is a Chainsaw and I Was a Teenage Slasher. Continue reading Review of Night of the Mannequins—Slashers vs Superheroes
Review of The Villa, Once Beloved—Filipino Gothic
“The villa, once beloved, was better left behind in all its tragedies.” You can try to escape a family curse, but in the end the sins of your past will always find you. A young woman named Sophie becomes a reluctant witness to just this sort of Gothic reckoning in The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo, which came out back in November. I loved Victor’s debut sci-fi thriller The Sleepless, so when I heard he was writing a Gothic novel set in his homeland of the Philippines, I knew I had to check it out! The Villa, Once Beloved does a beautiful job of blending classic Gothic tropes with Filipino folklore, a suffocating tropical setting, and the region’s dark history of colonialism and political corruption. Continue reading Review of The Villa, Once Beloved—Filipino Gothic