Every family has their demons. But for the Barnes family, theirs are a little more literal… Rachel Harrison, best known for her monster stories Such Sharp Teeth and So Thirsty, tackles the haunted house and demonic possession genres in her latest horror novel, Play Nice, which came out back in September. If you like horror that centers on messy women and dysfunctional families, don’t miss this one! Continue reading Review of Play Nice—Demons and Dysfunctional Families
Tag: book review
Review of How to Fake a Haunting
Here’s a recommendation for all of you looking for a good haunted house story this Halloween. What happens when a faux haunting becomes all too real? Christa Carmen (whose Poe-laced thriller Beneath the Poet’s House I reviewed earlier this year) explores this concept and more in her latest horror novel How to Fake a Haunting, which came out on October 7. Continue reading Review of How to Fake a Haunting
Review of America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction
Can Gothic literary tropes help us better understand real life? Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes certainly think so! These two queens of ghostlore who brought us A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts are back again with another nonfiction book analyzing recurring motifs in America’s ghostly folklore and urban legends. America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger than Fiction came out last week and is the perfect read to start off your spooky season! Continue reading Review of America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction
Classics: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James
M. R. James is widely considered the father of the modern ghost story. He was a medievalist scholar and a provost at Cambridge and Eton College in the early twentieth century. He made a hobby out of writing Christmas ghost stories for his students and colleagues and eventually began to publish these stories in collections. Much of his short fiction reflects his academic background and his interest in archaeology and medieval art, architecture, and literature. A few weeks ago, Romancing the Gothic celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his final short story collection A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories with an online conference dedicated to M. R. James, his contemporaries, and the ghost story genre. Leading up to this conference, I decided to read as many of James’s ghost stories as I could. I made it through his first two collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904) and More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911). If you love a good ghost story, you can’t go wrong with picking up some M. R. James. Continue reading Classics: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James
Review of The Bewitching—Witches of Folklore
“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches…” Is there a single element of horror fiction that Silvia Moreno-Garcia can’t write? She first hit it big when she blended traditional Gothic tropes with post-colonial mushroom horror in Mexican Gothic. She put a unique, multicultural noir spin on vampires in Certain Dark Things. And she mixed her love of old horror films with cults and curses in Silver Nitrate. And that’s not to mention the books of hers I haven’t gotten to yet, like The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, which reimagines the classic sci-fi horror tale by H. G. Wells. This prolific and multi-talented author tackles witches in her latest novel, The Bewitching, which came out last month. Continue reading Review of The Bewitching—Witches of Folklore
Review of The Eyes Are the Best Part
Satisfying. That’s the best way I can describe The Eyes Are the Best Part, a bizarrely lovely book about feminine rage and cannibalism. This debut horror novel from Monika Kim came out last summer and swept a whole bunch of awards and nominations, from the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel to being a Goodreads Choice Award nominee. It’s been on my TBR list for a while, and I finally got around to adding it to my plate. If you love stories about complicated and messy young women getting revenge, then The Eyes Are the Best Part is definitely worth savoring. Continue reading Review of The Eyes Are the Best Part
Review of The Library at Hellebore
When your school crest is composed of figs, wasps, and carnivorous deer, you know you’re in for an interesting school year… If anyone has the aesthetics of horror down, it’s Cassandra Khaw, who broke into the genre back in 2021 with Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I had the pleasure of interviewing Khaw before that book’s release to get their thoughts on hauntings and horror novellas. Now Khaw is trying their hand at dark academia with The Library at Hellebore, which came out just last week. If you’re craving more books about magically powerful young adults at deadly schools after finishing Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, then you’ll definitely want to check this one out! Continue reading Review of The Library at Hellebore
Review of Wearing the Lion—Mythical Monsters and Found Family
The full story of Hercules’s twelve labors is rarely included in modern adaptations—I suppose murdering your own children in a fit of madness and then slaying a bunch of monsters in penance was a bit too grim for Disney. But John Wiswell (whose debut Someone You Can Build a Nest In blew me away last year) masterfully tackles this complicated legend in his new novel Wearing the Lion, which came out last month. If you love Greek myth reimaginings like Madeline Miller’s Circe that take on new perspectives and turn classic stories on their heads, you don’t want to miss this one! Continue reading Review of Wearing the Lion—Mythical Monsters and Found Family
Review of Overgrowth—Vampire Plant People from Outer Space
I, for one, welcome our new alien plant people overlords. If you love alien invasion stories like The Day of the Triffids, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or The War of the Worlds, then you don’t want to miss Overgrowth, the first new novel in several years from Mira Grant, the horror/sci-fi alias of celebrated fantasy author Seanan McGuire. Mira Grant’s terrifying take on carnivorous mermaids, Into the Drowning Deep, is still one of my all-time favorite horror novels. So when Overgrowth came out last month, it went straight to the top of my TBR. Continue reading Review of Overgrowth—Vampire Plant People from Outer Space
Review of Staircase in the Woods—A House that Haunts
If you came across a mysterious set of stairs in the middle of a forest, would you climb them? Doing so might not be such a good idea, as a group of friends are quick to discover in Chuck Wendig’s latest horror novel, The Staircase in the Woods, which came out last month. This is some of the most chilling horror I’ve read so far this year, and it takes a truly unique approach to the concept of a haunted house. Continue reading Review of Staircase in the Woods—A House that Haunts