What if the only person who might be able to break your family curse was the ex-boyfriend you’ve been trying so hard not to text? S. T. Gibson explores demon bargains and complicated relationship dynamics in Evocation, the first book in her Summoner’s Circle series. I attended one of Gibson’s book tour events back when the book first came out in 2024, and then lost all control over my TBR (oops). But having loved Robbergirl, Gibson’s reimagining of classic fairytale “The Snow Queen,” and A Dowry of Blood, her (anti-)love letter to Dracula, I was excited to see this author tackle a fantasy world entirely of her own making. Continue reading Review of Evocation—Faustian Bargains and Found Family
Tag: queer
Review of Moss’d in Space—More Cozy Sci-fi
No space ship captain wants to discover that the ship they’ve been saving up for is already inhabited. But what do you do when that inhabitant is a moss-based organic computer with abandonment issues? Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne, which came out earlier this summer, joins the ranks of delightful cozy sci-fi that seems to be a growing trend. Continue reading Review of Moss’d in Space—More Cozy Sci-fi
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 Hell’s Heart—Moby-Dick in Space
Romance authors pivoting to sci-fi seems to be a new trend, if Olivia Waite and now Alexis Hall are any indication. But while Olivia Waite leaned into her experience with cozy, uplifting stories to create her Dorothy Gentleman sci-fi mystery series, Alexis Hall instead leans into the excitement and eroticism in their new space epic. Hell’s Heart, which came out in March, is a brilliantly odd reimagining of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick set aboard a space-faring hunter barque in pursuit of leviathans in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Continue reading Review of Hell’s Heart—Moby-Dick in Space
Review of The Red Winter—Werewolves in Revolutionary France
A man-eating beast stalks the impoverished countryside of Gévaudan, France. Only Professor Sebastian Grave, who defeated it once before, knows the beast’s true nature and why it seems to have returned. Cameron Sullivan crafts a brilliant reimagining of the historical legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, inspiration for many a modern werewolf tale, in his impressive debut fantasy, The Red Winter, out tomorrow from Tor! Continue reading Review of The Red Winter—Werewolves in Revolutionary France
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 Cinder House—A Haunting Fairy Tale
“A ghost was how a building held a grudge.” What if Cinderella was a ghost, murdered by her stepmother and only able to interact with the world outside the home she haunts for the three precious nights of the prince’s ball? Freya Markse (whose The Last Binding series I absolutely loved) puts a delightful, eerie spin on this classic fairy tale in her bite-size novella Cinder House, which came out earlier this fall. Continue reading Review of Cinder House—A Haunting Fairy Tale
Review of They Bloom at Night—Algae Horror
You’ve heard of mushroom horror? Well, make room for its new cousin: algae horror. Anyone who has experienced the notorious “red tides” off of the United States’ southern coasts knows just how harmful, creepy, and off-putting large-scale algal blooms can be. But Trang Thahn Tran (author of She Is a Haunting) takes the red tide to new supernatural heights in their latest YA horror novel, They Bloom at Night, which came out earlier this month. Continue reading Review of They Bloom at Night—Algae Horror
Books with Nonbinary/Ungendered Protagonists
Happy Pride Month, dear readers! I’ve written a few times on this blog about how Gothic literature has been used to explore marginalized genders and sexualities, both in joyful, celebratory ways and as a way of exploring societal and personal anxieties about not conforming to the norm. Many queer authors have found their place in the field of Gothic fiction, and you’ll also find many queer characters both as villains and as protagonists (or sometimes, both). Today I want to highlight a few of my favorite recent reads in Gothic-descended genres that are written from the point of view of a nonbinary or ungendered protagonist: Continue reading Books with Nonbinary/Ungendered Protagonists
Review of What Grows in the Dark—A Spooky Debut
What if you could turn your trauma into your hustle? It might not be the healthiest way of dealing, but Brigit does just that by creating a ghost hunting show centered on her connection to her dead sister in What Grows in the Dark, a debut horror novel by Jaq Evans that came out earlier this year. Continue reading Review of What Grows in the Dark—A Spooky Debut