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
Tag: 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 Buffalo Hunter Hunter—Vampires in the Wild West
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.” Much blood was spilled forming the American West into what it is today, so perhaps it should be no surprise this setting would make such fertile ground for a vampire tale. When I heard that Stephen Graham Jones—who has quickly become one of my favorite horror authors (check out my reviews of The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and I Was a Teenage Slasher)—was coming out with a historical vampire novel, I knew it would be right up my alley. When The Buffalo Hunter Hunter came out last March, I went to a release event at The Strand in New York City and got a signed copy of the special edition with red sprayed edges. I savored the book slowly all through the fall until last week when I got to the point where I had to stay up until 1:00am to see how it would end. Though this is my very first book review of 2026, I can already tell that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is going to end up on my favorites of the year list. Continue reading Review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter—Vampires in the Wild West
Review of Spread Me—Erotic Horror
They say that fear and arousal are remarkably similar sensations. Sarah Gailey, the multi-talented author of alt-history adventure books like River of Teeth and more traditional horror such as Just Like Home, exploits this overlap in their recent erotic horror novella Spread Me, which came out back in September. Part re-imagining of John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film The Thing, part post-Pandemic fever dream, Spread Me is guaranteed to be quite unlike anything you’ve ever read. Continue reading Review of Spread Me—Erotic Horror
Review of Play Nice—Demons and Dysfunctional Families
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
#AScareADay 2025 Reading Challenge Reflections
What better way to spend October than reading thirty-one scary short stories and poems? Every year, Dr. Sam Hirst of Romancing the Gothic puts together a magnificent reading list for spooky season of short tales that span the breadth of Gothic literature. We read one story for each day of October and keep a running commentary going on BlueSky or the Site Formerly Known as Twitter using the #AScareADay hashtag—be sure to check it out to see some other folks’ perspectives on these stories! This is my fourth year in a row doing Romancing the Gothic’s #AScareADay reading challenge, and my third time reflecting on those readings in a blog post. Check out my past posts about the 2024 and 2023 reading challenges. Though occasionally a bit grueling on top of my other reading responsibilities, the #AScareADay reading challenge is one of my favorite times of year because it pushes me to discover new authors, to read critically and share my thoughts with others in a concise manner, and to stay connected to an international group of brilliant Gothic scholars and enthusiasts. This year’s challenge was no exception, and I had a great time! The selection of stories and poems was particularly well-balanced and almost entirely new to me. You can find the reading list here. Continue reading #AScareADay 2025 Reading Challenge Reflections
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
The Twisted Spine—Brooklyn’s New Horror Bookstore!
Looking for your next spooky read? Now you can browse a brand new bookstore that specializes in the genre! The Twisted Spine, an independent bookstore focused on horror and “dark literature” just opened up in Brooklyn, New York, earlier this month. I made sure to visit during opening week so I could tell you all about it.
Genre specialty bookstores seem to be growing in popularity. In fact, The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore that first opened in Los Angeles in 2016, expanded to a second location in Brooklyn just a couple of years ago and saw a similarly enthusiastic welcome to The Twisted Spine. In many ways, I think these highly curated and specialized indie stores are a reaction against the over-saturation of the book market and the algorithm-driven chaos of Amazon and other online retailers. Horror as a genre is also having a real boom right now—as it so often does in times of uncertainty and rapid change, since it reflects the anxieties of a society. Now is really the perfect time for a horror specialty bookstore, as Twisted Spine owners Lauren Komer and Jason Mellow clearly saw. Continue reading The Twisted Spine—Brooklyn’s New Horror Bookstore!
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