Series Spotlight: Rewind or Die

Hey there horror fiends, I’m Jessica Avery and I’ll be delivering your weekly brief of all that’s ghoulish and grim in the world of Horror. Whether you’re looking for a backlist book that will give you the willies, a terrifying new release, or the latest in horror community news, you’ll find it here in The Fright Stuff.

Series Spotlight: Rewind or Die

This week in a new-to-The-Fright-Stuff feature, we’re putting the series spotlight on Unnerving Magazine’s gloriously retro horror series, Rewind or Die. Touted as the book form of your local movie rental store’s horror section back in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, Rewind or Die is a fifteen book (so far) series of horror novellas that celebrate all that made classic horror so beloved. The monsters, the gore, the camp, the abundance of questionable fashion choices, a healthy dose of rock and roll, and even a little (or more likely a lot) of cannibalism. So here’s to the nostalgic joy of old school horror, and here’s to Rewind or Die!

Select Series Titles

Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess

Nothing says summer like a carnival massacre. One night in 1989, at Cirque Berserk in the town of Shadows Creek, a group of teens murdered a dozen people, then vanished. Thirty years later a second group of teens, led by best friends Sam and Rochelle, decide to ditch their boring senior trip in favor of exploring the dark history behind abandoned Cirque Beserk carnival. One final adventure. Emphasis on final?

 

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper

A Halloween prank goes horribly wrong in Blackwood, Vermont when a vicious storm traps high school student Desiree St. Fleur, her friends, and the unfortunate new girl they were trying to prank. It was just supposed to be a bit of seasonal fun, inspired by Blackwood’s own dark legendary figure: Benny Rose, the Cannibal King. Now the girls are lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, hunted through the streets by a figure straight out of the legend itself. Benny Rose is all too real, and oh so hungry.

 

Hell’s Bells by Lisa Quigley

Rock & Roll and Satanic summonings. Yes please! Four friends in 1991 who spend their time listening to rock music and dabbling in the occult. But when one of the girls, Hayley, becomes convinced that rock music is an evil straight from the devil, her determination to save her friends backfires when they accidentally summon the man himself. They find themselves trapped in a basement, face to face with real evil, and only rock & roll can save them.

 

Hairspray and Switchblades by V. Castro

Sisters Maya and Magdalena are determined to stay together after their parents die. Magdalena, the eldest, will do anything she can to make sure that happens, and to ensure that her baby sister Maya is able to continue the high school education that will guarantee her a better future. Even if it means Magdalena must give up her own dreams and taking up exotic dancing to make a living. But the San Antonio Stripper Ripper is on the loose, putting all Magdalena’s plans in jeopardy.

 

The Kelping by Jan Stinchcomb

Doctor Craig Bo lives a charmed life in a charming coastal town, with his wife, kids, and thriving dermatology practice. But as we know that sort of perfection is usually only, wait for it… skin deep. (You’re welcome). After being crowned Sea King of Beachside at a local festival, Craig’s life takes a strange turn. Something unknown is growing on his skin, his son is telling horrible tales about mermaids in museum attics, and his wife Penelope has been keeping dark secrets about her own connection to the sea.

 

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Over on Book Riot, Danika Ellis wrote about the reclaiming of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla in the 2019 Lanternfish Press edition, edited and introduced by Carmen Maria Machado

Nicole Hill over at Nightfire created a list of novels that explore the horrors of racism, including the forthcoming and much anticipated Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark.

Apex Magazine set up a kickstarter to finance a new run of the magazine in 2021, and they are now fully funded! Not only that but they have unlocked all of their stretch goals. It’s going to be really good to have this excellent magazine of dark speculative fiction back in print!

Hello childhood Goosebumps memories. Hello new nightmares. Seriously, how cool are these covers though?

Jessica, does the new stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio really count as horror? Well it’s being directed by Guillermo del Toro so… probably? Either way, I’m excited. Just look at the cast they’ve got lined up!

I, surprising no one, have no willpower in the face of beautiful hardcovers. Which is why I jumped at the chance to preorder the first two books in Valancourt Press’ new Monster, She Wrote series featuring some of the often overlooked early women writers of the Horror genre. The hardcovers are currently $20 a piece instead of the usual $25 right now so, you know, strike while the iron is hot and the will is weak!

So this sounds amazing and I had no idea it was happening. I’m always a fan of supplementing my fiction reading with critical texts, and The Science of Stephen King by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence falls squarely in my haunted wheelhouse!

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As always, you can catch me on twitter at @JtheBookworm, where I try to keep up on all that’s new and frightening.