Author: Jessica Avery

Get Out Your Pumpkin Buckets!

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date October 22, 2021

Some Terrifying Tricks…

Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder

You know I love a short short collection, and that goes double for the fantastic, holiday-themed Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder. Halloween Season is a collection of stories inspired by the many facets of Halloween. From the traditional trappings of the holiday— the chilling haunted houses that pop up in abandoned forts or winding corn mazes to the buckets of candy and scary movie marathons— these stories run the gamut from chilling to hilarious, so there’s a little something for every kind of horror reader.

Devil’s Hill by E. Reyes

Must-read Halloween collection number two on our lists is Devil’s Hill by E. Reyes. These fifteen Halloween-inspired stories offer readers a range of terrifying delights all set in the town of Devil’s Hill, Arizona where, for one long night, the veil between the living and the dead has been lifted and evil has been set free in the streets. Each story is its own, separate narrative, but all fifteen are connected to the fallout of a summoning spell which imbued a scarecrow with the consciousness of an ancient god. Because what could POSSIBLY go wrong with that scenario? As if scarecrows weren’t creepy enough already.

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper

If you like your Halloween a little retro and a lot bloody, with a side serving of flesh-eating, I can’t recommend a better horror read for the holiday than Benny Rose, the Cannibal King! A Halloween prank goes horribly wrong in Blackwood, Vermont when a vicious Halloween storm in 1987 leaves high school student Desiree St. Fleur, her friends, and the unfortunate new girl they were trying to prank stranded far from home. 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.

And Some Seriously Sweet Treats.

Halloween-Inspired Bookmarks
Shall we start with bookmarks? You can never have too many (particularly since mine always seem to grow legs and walk off the second I’m not looking at them…) and these Halloween themed bookmarks are particularly adorable.

“Booooks” Ghostly Halloween T-Shirt
Speaking of adorable, how cute is this booooookish Halloween t-shirt? Yes, I know this is the second adorable ghost item in a row. But look I am a simple girl with simple needs, and I…. may need to order one of these t-shirts.

Creepy Book Fingers
I’m not sure if this counts as a bookmark, or book ends, or just a really phenomenal piece of bookshelf décor, but oh my gosh how creepy is this set of monster fingers? Can you imagine forgetting that you put this on your shelves only to look over and scare yourself half to death? Perfection. 10/10 recommend waiting until your houseguests are not looking before slipping this in between a couple of books and sharing the scare.

Death by TBR Mug
Skeletons are one of my favorite parts of Halloween. So please share my delight in this extremely relatable skeleton mug as we all embrace the inevitability of never finishing our TBRs. And possibility of being literally killed by them, in the instance of a fatal book avalanche.

“That’s What I Do” Black Cat Poster
Confession? Halloween is the time of year when I buy like 90% of my home décor. That includes wall art, and I love this bookish black cat print. I adore the colors and the vintage-esque design. It feels very classic Halloween!

Fly Amanita Skull Stained Glass Suncatcher
MUSHROOMS. Okay, yes, I know that this isn’t explicitly bookish. But how. Absolutely. Incredibly Gorgeous is this suncatcher? Y’all know my unabashed obsession with horror fungi. So of course my heart went pitter patter in my chest when I saw this piece. And I highly recommend checking out the artists entire Halloween collection! They’re creepy glass perfection.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Tor is killing it with their horror content this Halloween season, and today’s picks are very… toothy. Linden Lewis is recommending 5 Books for People Who Crave More Vampires, which includes the much anticipated re-release of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things and my beloved fav A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. And Lee Mandelo wrote a fantastic piece on Cassanda Khaw’s new novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth.

Stephen Graham Jones’ amazing slasher homage, My Heart is a Chainsaw, is getting a sequel!

For your weekly dose of Book Riot horror content, Emily Martin pulled together a list of terrifying middle grade books for the budding horror fan in your life! And Jamie Canaves discusses the ways in which fictional horror can help us escape from the ever day horrors of the world we live in.

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

The Fright Stuff

Whatever Walked There: 62 Years of Hill House

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date October 15, 2021

Sponsored by Vault Comics – the best in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror Comics!

Welcome to Comfort Notch. You’ll never want to leave… Following the death of her estranged mother, Kat Somerville and her daughter, Sybil, flee a difficult life in Chicago for the quaint–and possibly pernicious–town of Comfort Notch, New Hampshire – hoping to fit in. But the town’s obscure history and strange customs make it a struggle, leading to a shocking confrontation. Gruesome truths are revealed, sacrifices are made, and life in Comfort Notch bursts into flames. By New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus & star artist Chris Shehan! AVAILABLE NOW!

62 years ago, in October of 1959, Viking Press published the first edition of Shirley Jackson’s quintessential ghost story The Haunting of Hill House, a novel now so familiar to horror readers that I’d be willing to bet most of us can quote at least part of its iconic opening paragraph from memory. I was on a plane back from the West Coast the first time I read Hill House. I spent the first half of that flight so consumed that I forgot I was even on a plane, and by the time I was done I’m pretty sure those opening lines were permanently tattooed on my brain.

In Laura Miller’s introduction to the 2006 Penguin Classics edition, she describes classic ghost stories like Hill House as being traps for their protagonists, luring them in by virtue of their own curiosity (ix). I mean, how many times when watching a horror movie have you caught yourself shouting at the main character to stop opening all the damn creepy doors? Right? It’s because we know. We know that if you give in to the nervous impulse to open door after door, drawn on by the “what if”s— “what if there’s something there”, “what if that sound I heard was real”, “what if that little voice in the back of my head was right”— the haunting in the house will pull you in too deep. Because you have to know! You have to know all the bad things that might be behind the door, because if you don’t find them then you know they’ll find you first. So it’s just “what if” over and over, door after door, until you’re trapped. Until none of the doors you left open behind you lead out.

On my first read through, I picked up on the anxious, trapped feeling that permeates The Haunting of Hill House (it’s hard to miss), but at the time I didn’t make a connection to my own struggles with anxiety over the years. I just knew that I deeply empathized with Eleanor, and the struggle against the pull of Hill House which ultimately consumed her. Eleanor was a dreamer, insulating herself in fantasy against the threat of “absolute reality,” keeping the world at bay with dreams to escape from her fears and anxieties from the trauma of being emotionally abused and neglected by her own family for years. But Hill House, as we are told, is “not sane.” It cannot dream. It is an amphitheater of absolute reality with an entrance like a lobster trap; one way in, no way out. Poor Eleanor and her dream world never really stood a chance.

Whether you choose to believe that the house is haunted, or that, as Miller suggests in her introduction, Eleanor may herself be the “whatever” haunting in Hill House, is a matter of opinion left up to the individual reader. The novel is open ended enough to let us make our own decisions. I think it’s a bit of both. I’ve always believed that Hill House is “not sane”, as we’re told, but that the only ghosts within its walls are those its visitors bring with them. Amphitheaters are designed to amplify, after all. So the “what if” you find behind the closed door is more likely to be a phantom of your own making than a ghost in the literal sense.

Speaking from personal experience, “whatever walked there, walked alone” is pretty much exactly what the inside of my head feels like when I’m panicking. Haunted but alone, caught in the echo chamber of my own anxieties. But then, Shirley Jackson was very well acquainted with what it feels like to live with anxiety. So if Hill House‘s claustrophobic tension bears an echo of that oh so familiar tight, twisting in the chest and throat that a particularly good spike of anxiety can cause, well, rightly so.

But that’s the beauty of horror, isn’t it? We talk often about the catharsis of watching or reading horror, the way that just the right book or movie can help us cope with the horrors of real life or the monsters in our own heads. However, re-reading The Haunting of Hill House recently reminded me that horror is also the way in which we communicate our fears to others to see if perhaps those fears and anxieties are shared. Whether as an author putting their story out into the world, or a reader recommending their favorite books to other readers, we want to share the things that frighten us, and find others who feel the same. I mean, it makes sense! When it comes to haunted houses, ghosts, monsters, or masked killers, there’s always strength in numbers.

So a very happy 62nd birthday, to a genuinely frightening book whose horrors never fade with age! The Haunting of Hill House permanently transformed the haunted house narrative, and for that this anxious horror reader is eternally grateful.

For more on The Haunting of Hill House, check out these excellent articles:

Speaking of Laura Miller, you can read part of her introduction on LitHub!

Annika Barranti Klein at Book Riot wrote a fantastic deep dive into the first line of the novel (2019), and Lee Mandelo explored the novel’s queerness, and the theme of isolation which runs throughout, for Tor (2016).

Also for Tor, but a bit more recently, last September Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys included Hill House in their Reading the Weird series, and wrote a series of responses to the text, the first of which is linked here (2020). Beware of spoilers if you haven’t read the book yet! Each response begins with a summary of the portion of book being discussed.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Nightfire’s “Out for Blood” Queer Horror Panel, featuring Cassandra Khaw (Nothing But Blackened Teeth), Zin E Rocklyn (Flowers for the Sea), and Lee Mandelo (Summer Sons), is this Thursday the 21st! If you have a chance to tune in at 7PM (ET), you definitely should. All three of these books are amazing.

Tananarive Due wrote an article for Novel Suspects “On Horror and the Creations that Shape Us”, in which she discusses Black Horror, how she developed her love of horror, and the recent reissue of her novel The Between.

Last but definitely not least, Margaret Kingsbury has put together a list of 21 must read new and upcoming horror novels for Buzzfeed, so get out those reading lists and a pen, people!

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

The Fright Stuff

If You Go Down in the Woods Today…

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date October 8, 2021

If You Liked They Threw Us Away…

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon

If there’s one thing you can always count on, it’s that horror will find a way to make all your childhood memories terrifying. And we all know that there’s already something innately creepy about hide and seek. But if you ever wondered just how wrong one game of hide and seek could go, you need to add Hide and Seeker to your reading list. Justin’s friend Zee went missing, and came back wrong. Though Justin can’t figure out exactly what about Zee is different, he knows that something has changed and not for the better. Then a seemingly harmless game of hide and seek at Zee’s welcome home party takes a terrifying turn as the players start to disappear and Justin finds himself trapped in the nightmarish world of the Seeker.

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkhaf

Lots of kids have an imaginary friend. It’s normal, and definitely not cause for concern! Until, that is, your kid’s “imaginary” friend turns out to be not so imaginary and far from benign. Now, technically Suraya’s friend, Pink, isn’t imaginary. She’s a pelesit, a spirit companion gifted to Suraya by her grandmother, and the two are the best of friends. But pelesits aren’t entirely benign – they have a dark side which Suraya knows nothing about. One which could destroy them both.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Looking for more MG horror? The Ladies of Horror Fiction publish a list of new YA and MG horror titles at the ended of every month. September’s list went up a few days ago, and October’s should be up just in time for Halloween book shopping. That’s how we “treat” ourselves in this apartment, people!

October is a month full of exciting book releases, which of course means it’s also a month full of exciting book events! Up next is Copper Dog Books’ Oct 14th “Art of the Novella” panel, featuring Catherynne M Valente, Zin E Rocklyn, Cassandra Khaw, and Adrian Tchaikovsky

Let the horror party continue! Whether you’re in the mood for some horror comedy, a Shirley Jackson fan on the hunt for a read-alike, or ready to design your perfect monster team to find your next horror read, we’ve got screams a plenty over at Book Riot.

Speaking of Book Riot, we’re celebrating our 10th Anniversary this year! And for the month of October only we’re offering some fantastic limited edition clothing and assorted Book Riot swag. Take a look!

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

The Fright Stuff

The Season of Scares is Upon Us!

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date October 1, 2021

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (October 5th)

Oh my god I can’t believe that this book is finally almost here. I can’t wait to put this monstrous, gorgeous book in my eyeballs. It’s peak Gothic goodness and, surprising absolutely no one, I am living for it. When Jane Shoringfield makes a calculated choice to marry a stranger to ensure her security and independence, wooooow does she bet on the wrong horse. I mean sure, Augustine Lawrence seems like the perfect choice. He’s wealthy, he’s charming, and best of all, he’s a recluse who doesn’t even want her to set foot in his house. What could be better? Until Jane ends up stranded on his doorstep on their wedding night and what she finds inside Lindridge Hall throws all her careful planning into disarray. So much for best laid plans, because there is something very, very wrong in Lindridge Hall.

Cackle by Rachel Harrison (October 5th)

I honestly don’t know if we can get more “perfect Halloween read” than Cackle, folks. I have been counting down the days until October when this book and it’s gorgeous cover would be released upon the world. Tired of her ordinary, safe life in Manhattan, Annie abandons everything in exchange for a teaching position in a small village in upstate New York, a picturesque town almost too good to be true! Even her apartment is Instagram ready – except of course for the spiders. Still, even a persistent eight-legged infestation can’t put a damper on what looks like a shining start to her new life. Especially once Annie meets beautiful, charming, and independent Sophie, who wants to help Annie to finally start living her life. If the townsfolk seem a little frightened of Sophie, so what? It’s not like witches are real. Right?

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (October 5th)

Can I offer you some (more) queer horror in this trying time? This new YA horror by Aden Polydoros takes place in 1893 Chicago during the illustrious World’s Fair. But while most of the city is caught up in the glitter and whirl of the fair, Alter Rosen is hunting a killer. Alter came to America to make a better life for himself, and a future for his mother and sisters still living in Romania. But the violent murders of several young Jewish men, the most recent of which was Alter’s best friend Yakov, have brought Alter’s American dream to a halt. Now Yakov’s dybbuk is possessing Alter, threatening his very existence, and leaving Alter no choice but to team up with a dangerous boy from his past and find the killer before the killer finds him first. Or Yakov’s dybbuk takes him over entirely.

Nothing B ut Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (October 19th)

This novella, people. It’s so full of rot, and mold, and gore! A perfect, weird, delightfully horrifying ghost story. When a group of friends descends upon an abandoned, reputedly haunted Heian-era mansion for a wedding, things quickly go sideways when a scary story told in a dark room resurrects the vengeful spirit of the house. My favorite part of this was definitely Khaw’s descriptions of the house as just seething with rot, as though the whole thing were a decomposing corpse in its own right. If you love watching groups of people crumble as external terrors expose and put pressure on the cracks between them, you’re going to love Nothing But Blackened Teeth.

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn (October 19th)

Rocklyn’s forthcoming post-apocalyptic cosmic horror novella is one of those books that really sticks to you after you put it down. It’s gorgeous – and definitely a bit gross in places (but in the best horror way, of course) – and the amount of worldbuilding that Rocklyn fit into 112 pages puts some 300 pages novels I’ve read to shame. Survivors of a flooded land exist in isolation, fighting for their continued survival on an ark. Supplies are dwindling, terrifying sea monsters circle, and Iraxi, locked away deep in the hold of the ark, is heavily pregnant with a child she does not want. A child that may not even be human. In a society in which Iraxi’s people are reviled, but her ability to bear a child when so many others cannot is revered, she straddles a strange line between outcast and idol. But there may be an even darker and more powerful fate awaiting her.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (October 19th)

Be still my Brontë loving heart. Within These Wicked Walls is Gothic, it’s creepy, it’s romantic, so of course I enjoyed every minute of it. I mean I’m a simple girl. Give me a room full of blood and I’m content. Jane Eyre fans will recognize a few beloved lines and familiar scenes, but even when paying homage to her source text, Blackwood has created something wholly original and unique. Andromeda is a debtera without a license, making her little better than an eternal apprentice in the eyes of the world. If she wants to continue to work, she’s going to need a patron. So when Magnus Rochester hires her sight unseen to cleanse his house of the Evil Eye, despite her lack of licensure, Andromeda decides to take her one chance at a future and run with it. But she could never have predicted the degree of horror lurking inside of Magnus’ home, nor the youth and charm of her new employer. With both her life and heart in danger, Andromeda will have to work fast if she hopes to save Magnus from the curse that threatens to tear them apart.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (October 26th)

I have been absolutely DYING to talk to you about this book. For real. I had to put a big old moratorium on it in my head so that I wouldn’t write about it too soon and risk being run out of town for spoiling a genuinely upsetting reveal that had me gasping out loud. Sophia knows nothing but the reality of her perfect, sheltered, beloved life behind the safe walls of Arcadia Gardens. Her husband is her whole world. She was made to be his little darling, and she’s never once questioned that. That is, until the perfection of her life begins to crack around the edges, letting in a strangeness that just might lead her to the truth behind the only life she’s ever known. A truth perhaps lurking in the locked basement of their home, where Sophia is never, ever to go.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

As always, if you’re looking for yet more October horror new releases, I absolutely have to refer you to Nightfire’s list of their most anticipated 2021 horror titles.

Speaking of Nightfire, you are not going to want to miss their Out for Blood: Queer Tales to Tell in the Dark panel on October 21st at 7PM, featuring Cassanda Khaw, Lee Mandelo, and Zin E. Rocklyn!

Beloved Horror Host, Queer Icon (!), and Mistress of the Dark, Elvira, has hit number 4 on the New York Times Best Seller List for her recently released biography Yours Cruelly, Elvira! And somebody ring the shame bell, because guess who still has not picked up her copy.

We’ve got a full compliment of new scary content for you at Book Riot! From horror comedy reads to the best horror manhwa and manga, to the depth-haunting terrors of the ocean.

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

The Fright Stuff

This one’s for you, Mistress of the Dark

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date September 24, 2021

To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames

So hot off the presses that the ink’s barely dry, Ame’s To Break a Covenant is about an ex-mining town capitalizing on its haunted past to bring in the tourism money that’s keeping the town alive, and a group of girls determined to discover the mystery behind the strange phenomena that plague their town. Moon Basin’s haunting supposedly stems from the violent deaths of sixteen people the day the mine exploded and touched off an underground fire that burns still. Now only New Basin is left. Clem and Nina, best friends since childhood, and on the verge of being something more, are joined by Lisey and Piper as they journey deep into the abandoned mines of Moon Basin in search of the truth.

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

I love Machado’s work, so I was beyond excited when I found out she would be contributing to the 2020 Hill House comic series! Her graphic novel, The Low, Low Woods, is about two teenagers, El and Octavia, who are best friends that grew up in the tiny town of Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. A strange forgetting illness has begun to affect the inhabitants of the town, stealing their memories as horrors stalk the streets of a town on fire. Its long burning coal mines abandoned but still aflame (sense a theme here?). When El and Octavia are infected, the two take it upon themselves to investigate the dark mysteries of their town before they loose themselves forever.

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

This one probably sways the most towards dark fantasy, rather than being more fully horror. Our heroine Jessamyn hears the voice of her estranged grandmother, now a mysterious deity who is determined to make use of Jessamyn to settle a vengeful score. With that, plus the existence of a whole strange world full of danger, gods, ghosts, and secrets, I think there’s plenty here to keep dark fiction readers intrigued. And while I freely admit that I haven’t read Black Water Sister yet, the reviews I’ve seen suggest there might even be a few scenes that are down right, graphically scary. Cho described Black Water Sister as “A stressed zillennial lesbian fights gods, ghosts, gangsters & grandmas in 21st century Penang”, and I mean honestly what better inducement can I offer?

Dead Lez Walking by G. Benson

I will never miss a chance to include zombies on absolutely any list where I can fit them. Particularly these days, when zombie apocalypse novels have taken on an additional shade of emotional significance. There’s something extra cathartic about a plague with a physical manifestation that you can actually fight. I doubt that comes as much a relief to Taren and Joy, though, as the hospital they work at is suddenly overtaken with the living dead. With a soured “almost romance” hanging between them, the two find themselves unable to avoid one another, trapped in the hospital with a group of other survivors. Their only way out is to work together and fight their way free. Which makes this a bit of an awkward time to find themselves falling in love. Did I specifically make room for this book because I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of the horror romance? Pfft. Of course I did.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

So this one might also fall more under the umbrella of dark fantasy, but it has plenty of creepy, Gothic goodness to sate horror readers. In This Poison Heart, Briseis finds herself spending the summer at the dilapidated estate of her dead aunt, surrounded by its vast gardens. There, Bri hopes that she will learn to control her extraordinary gift: the ability to grow plants from seed to full bloom with just a touch of her hand. But the estate is old, and dark, and one of its gardens is comprised of nothing but the world’s most deadly plants. As she falls into creating tinctures and elixirs for those who come to the estate seeking help, Bri meets Marie, a young woman keeping dark secrets, who knows more about the estate than she is letting on.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Speaking of queer horror in general, that wonderful terrible book that ruined my life (yes I’m talking about Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo) comes out next week and Unabridged Bookstore will be holding a virtual event to celebrate on Monday the 27th! That’s tonight folks!

October 19th TorDotCom Publishing is hosting an event to celebrate the publication of Zin E. Rocklyn’s fantastic cosmic horror novella, Flowers for the Sea!

It’s finally fall, which means Book Riot is ramping up its production of creepy good fun to make sure you’re Halloween reading seasons are well supplied. For shiny new YA horror to haunt your nights, check out this list by Kelly Jensen or stock up on indigenous horror with a little help from Ann-Marie Cahill.

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

The Fright Stuff

Happy Birthday, Stephen King!

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date September 17, 2021

Fresh From the Skelton’s Mouth

Emily Martin over at Book Riot has a list of 2021 horror novels to keep you well stocked with scares!

Janelle Janson interviewed Stephen Graham Jones about his most recent book and slasher tribute novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw, for Nightfire.

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

The Fright Stuff

In Which Marsupials Are Generally Terrifying

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date September 10, 2021

The Roo by Alan Baxter

This was The First book that I thought of when I decided on this topic. In fact I’m pretty sure that that cover has permanent residence in my subconscious (and my nightmares). Right next to that terrifying video of that real life kangaroo trying to get into some guy’s house that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. The claws! Why does it have claws?! Basically: Kangaroos are terrifying. Which means that they make for perfect foil for some classic creature horror in Alan Baxter’s The Roo in which an evil kangaroo menaces a remote little town, taking out the inhabitants one by one. The locals are going to have to join forces if they want to survive this hippy-hoppy menace from hell.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

I didn’t get acquainted with Christina Henry’s work until this year, but I’m definitely well on a way to becoming a fan. She’s got fantastic range, and having Near the Bone be the first book of hers I read was a good life choice. It’s also a book that I wanted to include on this list because there is a genuinely creepy wolf/bear/monster/thing in this book, capable of snatching a grown man clean off his feet in the blink of an eye. But, it’s not the only, or the biggest monster in this book. Yes, Mattie and the cryptozoology enthusiasts trying to rescue her from the mountain are trying to make it to the bottom without getting monster snatched. But they wouldn’t be trying to rescue her in the first place if it weren’t for William, the real monster in this book, who has kept Mattie captive on the mountain since she was child. The monster was scary, but it was definitely William I wanted to stab.

Playing Possum by Stephanie Rabig

Okay, so, technically this is a were-possum (omg that just make’s me so happy) book, but aside from poor Tiffany’s sudden marsupial evolution, Playing Possum is really about a small town being pitted against, and I quote, an army of “ravenous furry hell-beasts”. So it qualifies. It also gets bonus points for being queer horror! Tiffany’s life was going pretty well before her late night encounter with the possum of doom, she was even saving up to buy an engagement ring for her partner. Let’s just hope Vanessa doesn’t mind dating a were-possum, because ever since that parking lot run in, Tiffany’s been acting a bit… odd. I love this book so much. We have a delightful small town ensemble cast, including our leads, a deadly (cuddly) army of killer possums, and I honestly ask you: what else do you need?

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Two words: Elk. Monster. One more word: Antlers. Listen, antlers are one of the gnarliest accessories in nature. Putting aside what they can do to us and all our vulnerable organs if applied correctly, have you ever seen an elk or a deer shed its velvet in the fall? Look it up, it’s amazingly disgusting. Now here’s were I admit that I hesitated to add The Only Good Indians to the list because technically the Elk Head Woman isn’t really an elk/animal/beast-thing. Not all the time, anyway, and not entirely. But I solemnly swear that this book will make you look sideways at every antlered animal that crosses your path, possibly for the rest of your days. And you didn’t even do anything to make the elk lady angry! But the four male leads of the novel did, and she will not stop until she has exacted her revenge on each one of them in as violent a manner possible.

Up From the Deep by Vaughn A Jackson

Confession: my only real exposure to kaiju is the 1998 Godzilla movie, which I grew up with. Which I love, fight me. But I love the idea of giant creatures doing whatever it is kaiju… do? Knocking over buildings, eating some people, you know. The norm. Anyway! Ancient creature that’s basically a giant crocodile-thing from the Mariana Trench with a mouth full of teeth that are probably as long as I am tall? Yes, please. Awakened by a covert operation gone awry, this sleepy lizard baby is not happy that someone woke it up before its alarm, and it’s ready to wreak some havoc. The detective responsible for waking the creature finds himself teaming up with a couple of “Kaiju groupies” in an attempt to bring it down before it can cause anymore damage. But they’re up against not just the creature itself but also the shadowy criminal organization determined to harness the creature’s power to conquer the world.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

The 2020 This is Horror Award winners have been announced! Get ready to load up those TBRs for the long winter ahead.

Ready to make the jump from creatures to full-blown monsters? Anne Mai Yee Jensen has a fantastic list of horror books about monsters for you over at Book Riot. Or if you prefer (mostly) human monsters, make sure to check out K.W. Colyard’s list of the slasher novels!

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

The Fright Stuff

Hello Horror, Goodbye Shelf Space

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 27, 2021

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (September 7)

I have been looking forward to Certain Dark Things ever since Nightfire announced that they were going to re-release it. The new cover is a neon dream, and you can never go wrong with vampires! In Mexico City, street kid Domingo is just trying to survive when he meets vampire-on-the-run Atl. Atl is the descendent of Aztec blood drinkers, on the run from a rival vampire clan. Their meeting happens by chance, but as time goes on the two find themselves working together to escape the dark streets with their lives (life and un-life?) intact. I’ve heard that Moreno-Garcia’s vampire worldbuilding is really unique, and I’m excited to get to read it with my own eyes!

The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates (September 7)

I just recently finished the excellent haunted house story by the Queen of Extremely Suspect Realty herself, and let me tell you, if you are looking for a clever, creepy take on the classic haunted house narrative, The Haunting of Leigh Harker needs to be on your radar. Something is living in Leigh’s house, stalking her every move. But the more that she fights back, determined not to be locked out of her own home, the more strange and unexpected things become. Something is deeply wrong with the door beneath the stairs. The very house around her seems to sicken and rot, and if Leigh can’t find out why she may be next.

The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (September 7)

I know I’ve been talking this book up higher than the starry firmament it’s set in, but I am a simple girl. And this simple girls likes space, scary things, and scary things in space. And I just know that Khaw is going to deliver. Starring a cast of former criminals, as broken as they are dangerous, The All-Consuming World pits its unusual band of protagonists against a universe ruled by powerful, evolved AI who will do anything to maintain their control. The answer to defeating them and regaining control of the universe lies with the secret at the heart of a plant called DImmuborgir, but between their own traumas and a fleet of something called “sapient ageships” (just contemplating what that might mean is conjuring up some horrible potential concepts) the odds seem insurmountable.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson (September 14th)

You’ve seen White Smoke on Fright Stuff before, more than once, and now it’s finally almost release day for one of best haunted house stories of the fall. For Marigold, recently arrived from her California hometown by the sea, Cedarville is supposed to be a new beginning. But there’s something sinister lurking beneath the renovated facade of their new house. Things move on their own, doors open, lights turn off. Marigold sees shadows, hears voices, and there’s a bad smell inside that house that no one else seems to notice. The more she learns about the house, the more she realizes that the danger isn’t contained just within its wall. All of Cedarville is haunted by secrets from its past that will no longer be contained.

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom (September 14)

This book was so not what I expected, in the very best way, and I cannot wait to hold a finished copy in my hands and read it all again. Fantastical and horrifying, Slewfoot is a dark, magical story about how monsters, and witches, are made. And listen, if you are an aesthetics person, or a book collector, you are going to want this gorgeous, semi-illustrated hardcover. When Abitha is widowed suddenly by a suspicious accident, she finds her self desperately trying to hold on to her freedom in the midst of a pious and patriarchal society that would rather see her tucked neatly under the thumb of another man. Enter Slewfoot, a newly woken spirit who, like Abitha, is searching for his place in the world for good or for evil.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (September 28)

I feel like that Elmo fire gif. Just throwing my arms up like “IT IS TIME”. But listen, if you like your horror gothic, queer, and critical of the institutional academia, Summer Sons needs to be on your September list. Andrew and Eddie have always been inseparable, ever since they were kids. Until Eddie dies suddenly, just days before Andrew was supposed to join him for their grad program at Vanderbilt. He leaves Andrew a car, a small fortune, a house, a pile of secrets, and a haunt that clings to Andrew’s shadow, dropping hints that Eddie’s death was not all that it seems.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

As I said, the titles on this list are just a small selection of the amazing books being released this September. So if you’re looking for even more horror to add to your fall reading lists, make sure to check out Nightfire’s list of all the horror books they’re excited about in 2021!

Speaking of horror content, over at Book Riot we’ve got 8 of the Best Horror Books To Creep You Out This Fall, and 10 of the Best Horror Novels Featuring Cults. Which, I mean, I am always down for creepy cult times. Anyone else?

There’s an excellent essay on the Tor blog about the Gothic! Don’t miss “Becoming the Thing That Haunts the House: Gothic Fiction and the Fear of Change”

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

The Fright Stuff

A Gilead for a New Age

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 20, 2021

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Have a new horror reader in your life? Addison Rizer has a guide to Horror Books for Beginners over at Book Riot.

The 2020 Shirley Jackson Award winners have been announced!

Need more stabby slasher books? (Trick question, you always need more stabby slasher books.) Sadie Hartmann put together a TikTok of recommendations just for you!

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

The Fright Stuff

“Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 13, 2021

Sponsored by Harper Perennial, publisher of When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen.

Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south more than a decade ago. But now she’s back in Kipsen to attend the wedding of her childhood best friend, Celine at the Woodsman plantation which has recently been transformed into a lush vacation resort. But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history and there are rumors that can’t be ignored: whisperings that the ghosts of enslaved people roam the property, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them. And many of those descendants are guests at Celine’s wedding…

Lately, I’ve found myself haunted by a recurring thought while reading. One that won’t let me be. I suppose it could be because of the books that I’m choosing, or the stories that I find myself drawn to, especially as fall closes in. It first appeared when I was reading The Scarlet Letter last month. Then it subsided for a little while, only for me to get to the end of Plain Bad Heroines the other day, and there it was again. Alright, I thought, well that’s not surprising. It takes place in New England, after all, and centers independent, queer women.

Then, just a few nights before sitting down to write this week’s newsletter, I read Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The Foreigner” for the first time, as part of the same New England Gothic reading project that had me picking up The Scarlet Letter. And low and behold, as I neared the thick of the story, there again comes that same old thought:

“It always comes back to this.”

The this, in this case, being witchcraft. Or, more accurately, the accusation thereof against someone living outside the mold of society, in one way or another. I’ve found that a witch panic is one of those things that I never build up a resistance too. It is always consistently upsetting when the whispering starts, and the dread begins to build, and you know – because we all know – how ugly it’s going to get once the word “Witch” finally manifests. And I guess that’s what makes it such good horror. One of the genres strengths is taking things that frighten or disturb us in real life, amplifying them, and giving us a safe place to deal with what they make us feel.

What they make me feel, specifically, is rage. The incandescent sort of rage that I often feel when I look at what’s going on in the world around me. The difference being that bad things happen to judgmental, persecutory puritans in fiction. Every cruelty they visit upon the victims of their witch panic is returned to them in full. Whether their targets were already witches, or whether the violence and fear visited upon them made them turn to witchcraft in search of justice, evil reaps what evil sewed. And there’s something delightfully cathartic about that cosmic comeuppance. Don’t you think?

So this week we’re celebrating books that flip the cauldron – so to speak – on the human-shaped monsters that hunt down “witches”, only to realize that they have bitten off much more than they chew. So light the fires, and get ready to dance! Let’s conjure a little vengeance.

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Immanuelle Moore is an outcast. Among the pious, obedient people of the lands of Bethel, where the word of their Prophet is law, she is viewed as an aberration despite her best attempts to submit and conform. Nothing that Immanuelle does, or doesn’t do, will ever erase her mother’s shame, no matter how obedient or devoted she tries to become. But when a mishap lands her in the terrifying Darkwood that surrounds Bethel – a places of witches, spirits, and evil – leads Immanuelle to unexpected answers about her mother, and about the dark truth behind the Church of Bethel, she finds herself faced with a difficult choice. Bethel is her home, whether she “belongs” there or not, and it is being threatened by forces not from the Darkwood, but from within the walls of Bethel itself. Immanuelle may hold the key to saving the people from themselves, if she wishes. Or she can leave them to their grim fate.

Boneset and Feathers by Gwendolyn Kiste

Odette knows the danger of crossing path with the witchfinders. Her entire family is gone, executed for witchcraft, and she was lucky to escape with her life. No amount of magic was enough to save her mother and sister, and now Odette is alone, living in an exile of her own choosing. She lives deep in the woods outside her village, swearing off magic and hoping only for peace. But she ought to have realized that in a world of superstition and witch-hunts, peace was too much for a known witch to ask. When her magic begins to spin out of her control, menacing the village, it summons the return of the witchfinders. And this time they will not stop until Odette is dead, leaving her no choice but to defend herself. By any means necessary.

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Abitha is already betrothed to a stranger when she arrives at the Puritan colony that is to become her home, only to find herself widowed almost as quickly as she became a bride. Now she stands alone, trying to keep hold of her sudden freedom in the midst of a pious and patriarchal society that would rather see her tucked neatly under the thumb of another man. Slewfoot is a newly woken spirit who, like Abitha, is searching for his place in the world, for good or for evil. When suspicious deaths in the colony give rise to rumors of witchcraft, and Abitha and Slewfoot must decide who they will be and how they will survive in a world determined to see them hang.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

This Nightfire essay on the use of Killer Color in Mexican Gothic is amazing! I totally nerded out, and now I need a re-read so that I can circle every mention of color inside of High Place. Obsession INTENSIFIES.

Make sure you head over to Book Riot and add some terrifying YA graphic novels to your reading list for the fall!

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

Some Terrifying Tricks…

Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder

Devil’s Hill by E. Reyes

Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper

And Some Seriously Sweet Treats.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

If You Liked They Threw Us Away…

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkhaf

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (October 5th)

Cackle by Rachel Harrison (October 5th)

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (October 5th)

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (October 19th)

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn (October 19th)

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (October 19th)

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (October 26th)

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Dead Lez Walking by G. Benson

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Fresh From the Skelton’s Mouth

The Roo by Alan Baxter

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Playing Possum by Stephanie Rabig

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Up From the Deep by Vaughn A Jackson

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (September 7)

The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates (September 7)

The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (September 7)

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson (September 14th)

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom (September 14)

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (September 28)

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Boneset and Feathers by Gwendolyn Kiste

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Nothing B ut Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (October 19th)