Categories
The Fright Stuff

Horror Pride 2: The New Books Cometh

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.

Welcome to week two of celebrating queer horror here on The Fright Stuff! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Pride, and getting plenty of reading done in between events! Fun fact: I didn’t plan it this way, but there is actually one new queer horror book on this list for every month from July through November. So. You’re welcome. Let’s all pretend that I was actually that organized on purpose.

Really, though, it worked out that way because there are so many fantastic queer horror titles coming out this year! More than are even listed here because I literally ran out of words to tell you about them all. We may still be short on in-person Pride events this year (for good reasons, obviously), but at least we have books!

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (July 13th)

Being able to see the dead is just a part of who Jake Livingston is, just like being one of the only Black kids in his exclusive prep school, or being less popular than his well-liked older brother. But while being a teenager can be an endless series of threats–social, emotional, physical–some more serious than others, at least the dead can be relied upon to be predictable. Most are just harmless fragments of lost life, stuck in a loop of their own death. Sad but safe. Until Sawyer, a powerful vengeful ghost with the ability to put Jake’s very life in danger. In life, Sawyer committed a terrible act of violence, shooting six kids at a local high school and then himself. In death he has plans, and those plans require Jake.

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (August 3rd)

There are a lot of amazing horror books coming out this summer (Seriously. My bank account weeps.), but this one is particularly high on my radar. Two girls–Logan, whose dads are the stars of the popular TV ghost hunting show ParaSpectors, and Ashley, a Snakebite native whose boyfriend has gone missing–face off against a small town full of secrets, slipping slowly into chaos. The ghost of Ashley’s boyfriend has begun haunting her and the only only one she can trust is Logan, even as their investigation into the town’s secrets threatens everything they believe they know about Snakebite, their families, and themselves.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (September 28th)

Sometimes friendships end quietly. Transitions in our lives nudge us apart from the people we thought we knew better than everyone, and who we thought we’d know forever, and we just drift apart. It’s so gradual you don’t even notice it happening until they’re gone. Andrew and Eddie were best friends, closer than brothers. And when Eddie left to start his graduate program, Andrew knew that he’d be only six months behind him. Until that day, a few days before Andrew was supposed to leave for Nashville, when Eddie died by suicide and left behind a life that Andrew realizes he knew nothing about. A secret life full of strangers and grisly phantoms, lies, secrets; a dark, ugly family history and an Eddie he never knew who spent his days bouncing from a cutthroat academic world to a seedy underground world of vice and violence. Now it’s up to Andrew to discover who his friend really was before Eddie’s secret life can consume him as well.

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

Are you tired of me talking about this book yet? Not sorry! I’m so excited about this book. I finally have an ARC on my Kindle and it is just staring me down, waiting for me to finish my pre-determined reading list for this month. Though if any book can tempt me to break from The List, it will probably be Flowers for the Sea. Survivors of a flooded land exist in isolation, fighting for their continued survival on an ark. Supplies are dwindling, hungry, terrifying sea monsters circle – in other words, circumstances are NOT ideal. Among the survivors is Iraxi, pregnant with a child that may not be entirely human. The future of the ark and its survivors is uncertain, and Iraxi’s own fate may be darker still.

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper (November 1st)

Jessica, is there anything that Hailey Piper writes that you won’t buy? Probably no. Particularly when it has to do with vagina dentata – because you know that’s going to be wild. Also have you seen that cover? It’s so pink! I love it! When Yaya Betancourt discovers that she has spouted teeth in her vagina, she assumes that it is a side effect of a pharmaceutically-induced genetic condition that she and thousands of others developed in the womb with a little help from AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical. Whoops. But when she realizes that ABP is determined to hunt her down after her incident of toothy sprouting, and when her condition suddenly… worsens, Yaya has to consider the possibility that there may be another, darker motive behind ABP’s pursuit.

Quick Note: If you don’t want to wait until the trade paperback release in November, there are still a few weeks to pre-order a special hardcover edition!

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Speaking of forthcoming queer horror: have you seen the newly released cover for Gretchen Fleker-Martin’s Manhunt? (2.22.22 from Nightfire) Seriously, this book is going to be… well I’d normally say bananas, but that would be the wrong fruit for this context.

One of my favorite horror podcasts Books in the Freezer has released their Pride Month Special so be sure to tune in for even more queer horror recommendations!

This gorgeous story by Allyson Shaw was published in the most recent issue of Fireside Magazine, is available on their website, and is 100% everything that I love.

Over at Book Riot, Steph Auteri has curated a list of must read horror comics to add to your summer reading list.


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Happy (Scary) Pride, Horror Fans!

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.

Happy Pride, everyone! Pride’s always a month to celebrate, but I have to admit that I love it just that much more when you add a little (or a lot) of horror. And thanks to this glorious horror boom that we are currently experiencing, I have a wealth of incredible titles to choose from! Which is why I’m going to split this list in two, so we can have two weeks of queer horror recommendations.

This week, I’m going to highlight some of the amazing queer horror titles from the last few years, and believe me when I tell you that this is just a sample of what’s out there. Which is why I’m going to share a couple of lists in the news section at the bottom with even more titles for you to peruse.

Let’s talk books!

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

I’m a big fan of anything Piper writes at this point, but this was particularly my brand of horror. Set in the New York City of the ‘90s, where it’s easy for people to just disappear and never to be seen again, Worm’s protagonist Monique is on a quest to find her missing girlfriend, Donna. But she’s not the only one who has disappeared in recent days, and as other impoverished women start to vanish from the city streets, Monique begins to hear rumors of monsters stalking the city’s underbelly. In order to save Donna, Monique must follow the rumors deep into the world below New York, a subterranean kingdom of creatures, cultists, and an even more terrible, ancient evil lurking there in the dark.

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

Okay, so, not actually from the last few years. Technically Zárate’s cult vampire novella was published in 1998, but this gorgeous translation by David Bowles finally made this title available to English-language readers just this year. So I’m counting it! The Route of Ice and Salt is a queer retelling of a small portion of the plot of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: the journey of the doomed Demeter. Varna to Whitby is a route the steadfast captain of the Demeter has traveled many times, alone among his men, dreams full of longings and pleasures he cannot permit himself. But something about this journey is different. Wrong. Rumors spread that something evil is stalking the captain’s ship and the crew are uneasy, looking to their captain to protect them.

The Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

There are not enough dark fantasy polyamory stories in my life. Which is probably why I bought The Ravenous Dark before I even knew what it was really about. Throw in some magic and undead spirits and honestly what else do you need? In Thanopolis, undead spirits are used to control and guard the magically gifted. People like Rovan, whose life was upended when her magic was revealed. Now, surrounded by deceit and danger, she finds herself falling for both a rebellious princess, and the very spirit that now controls her body and soul. But can she trust them? Or will a dangerous secret that threatens all of Thanopolis force her to choose: give into her heart, or betray those she loves.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

If you’re looking for something more romantic, delightfully queer, and more moderately scary (versus scare your pants off scary) for your Pride TBR, Aiden Thomas’ Cemetery Boys is the book for you. Yadriel is determined to prove to his traditional family that he is a real brujo so that they will finally accept his true gender. But when he sets out to find and free the spirit of his murdered cousin he accidentally summons the ghost of resident school bad boy, Julian Diaz, who now refuses to leave him alone. Until Yadriel helps Julian find out what happened to him, Julian is determined that he isn’t going anywhere.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Why have only one Dracula retelling on a list when you can have two? Plus, I could (and will if you let me) talk about this book forever. A Dowry of Blood is the story of Dracula’s brides, told from the perspective of Constanta, the first of three brides whom Dracula creates to be his companions over the course of the novel. It is written as a farewell letter to the man she loved and hated in equal measure, detailing a hundred lifetimes of tenderness, abuse, and the unexpected love that develops between her and her fellow brides. This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and one of the most beautiful.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Looking for more Queer Horror recommendations? Over on Book Riot, Rah Froemming-Carter’s Hallowqueen list from a few years ago has a range of titles from newer books to horror classics. Tor also has this great list of “Five Horror Novels that Move Beyond the ‘Bury Your Gays’. Trope” And when in doubt there’s always the massive lists (of varying quality) on Goodreads like this Queer Horror one.

MacMillan Library is giving away an ARC of one of the most anticipated horror releases of the year: Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street. I read this one recently and believe me if you love psychological horror you do not want to miss this title. Plus you might also win a super cute enamel black cat pin!

Cat Scully has threaded some amazing middle grade horror titles that you should add to your TBR!

If you’re looking forward to Hailey Piper’s Queen of Teeth as much as I am, there’s still time to pre-order a hardcover edition from Rooster Republic Press! Pre-orders end June 30th.


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Sunny Days, Short Nights, and Horror Delights

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.

Next Monday is a holiday here in the States which means no new Fright Stuff, so I thought we’d take this last newsletter in May to prep your TBRs for June! This summer is going to be positively packed with horror, not to mention the various other denominations of dark fiction. I could not be more excited! (My bank account, on the other hand, is afraid. So afraid.)

I know we usually associate horror with all things autumnal, but there’s just something about summer that makes me crave horror. It’s all summer camps, isolated lake cabins, and sea monsters, and I love it. (What, you’re summer doesn’t involve sea monsters?) So as the weather warms up in the northern hemisphere, and my toes finally remember what it’s like not to be frozen for months on end, I’m thinking ahead to long summer days and piles upon piles of new horror reads.

Let’s get started!

Bacchanal by Veronica G. Henry (June 1)

You know how much I love carnival and circus horror, but be forewarned: Veronica Henry’s June release may be called Bacchanal, but it’s no party. The titular Bacchanal Carnival conceals a terrible evil behind the veneer of a traveling Depression-era carnival, roaming the South. But Eliza Meeks, its newest member, is unaware of the danger. To her, the carnival is her only way out of Baton Rouge, and she quickly finds herself at home among the troupe of performers, carnies, and barkers, many of whom are far stranger than Eliza and her unusual gift of speaking to animals. She has no idea that an ancient demon resides at the heart of Bacchanal, preying on the innocent, or that she may be the only one capable of defeating it.

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten (June 15)

I don’t even have words for how excited I am about this book. I basically just spend my days refreshing my Barnes & Noble order page, waiting for it to ship… Okay I exaggerate. But seriously this is going to be complete catnip and I’m so ready. I blame Angela Carter for the fact that I’m helpless in the face of any dark fantasy fantasy retelling of Red Riding Hood. She ruined me, and Whitten is going to finish the job. Red is a Second Daughter, the first in centuries, which means that her one purpose in life is to be sacrificed. The Wolf in the Wood holds the world’s gods captive and every second daughter born is sacrificed in hopes that he might release them. But what she finds in the depths of the Wilderwood is a tangle of lies, and everything she thought she knew about her world comes undone.

(Oh. This one is going to hit me right in the obsessed Dragon Age fan feels, I can already tell.)

The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro (June 22)

At this point if V. Castro writes a book I barely stop to read the synopsis before I buy. Her books are just THAT good. This one, in particularly, I’m super excited for! In 2018, Belinda Alvarez returns to south Texas to attend her best friend’s wedding at a picturesque farm that happens to be the site of an eerie urban legend: La Reina de Las Chicharras. The Queen of the Cicadas. A murdered farmworker in the 1950s made a deal with an Aztec goddess of death to live again and take her vengeance on those who hurt her and those who forgot her. Now, as the legend unfolds, Belinda finds that her life – and that of the farmhouse owner, Hector – is entwined with that of the murdered woman, Milagros. As the two become immersed in the past it becomes clear that Milagros’ fate may be theirs as well.

Survive the Night by Riley Sager (June 29)

Okay, so, I’m REALLY excited about this book. Playing up the isolation of a world before cellphones, and the vast emptiness of rural highways, Sager sets the stage for what promises to be a heart pounding new thriller guaranteed to keep us guessing! Charlie Jordan is a grief-stricken college student sharing the long ride home to Ohio with another student she barely knows. Josh claims that he’s hurrying home to help care for his sick father, and Charlie is fleeing her survivor guilt after her best friend fell prey to the Campus Killer, a serial offender stalking the college grounds. But trapped in a car with Josh on an empty highway in the middle of the night, Charlie starts to have doubts about her traveling companion. Now Charlie loves movies, she’s even named after a Hitchcock heroine, so it could just be her murder-fueled imagination talking. But there are holes in Josh’s story, and something in the trunk he doesn’t want her to see.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Speaking of Summertime horror, is anyone else impatiently counting the days until Netflix’s three film Fear Street series?

If you’re looking for something to watch while you wait, Melissa Baron over at Book Riot has a list of 13 horror movie and TV adaptations that you can stream now! And in other Book Riot news, we’ve got a giveaway going for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here!

V. Castro wrote a fantastic piece for the Nightfire blog on The Vision, Voice, and Authenticity of Chicana Horror.

Okay so not technically book related, but I know how popular the original movie is with the horror community so: Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy are all officially returning for a Hocus Pocus sequel and I am basically one giant scream of joy.


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

More Secrets Than Stop Signs

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.

Everyone can close their eyes and conjure an image of a small town without much effort. Clusters of houses, some small, some big, old, and empty, set back from dusty, cracked streets that the local municipality can’t be bothered to resurface. The cracks always come back anyway. It’s faded, but still pretty. People passing through, stopping at the one gas station in the middle of town (probably right next to the diner), will remember it as “quaint.”

But any horror reader could tell you that no matter how pretty or idyllic the surface, no place hides secrets deeper or darker than a small town. So this week on The Fright Stuff we’re celebrating some recent and forthcoming works of small town horror that explore the claustrophobic nightmare of a town in crisis, when everything it’s tried to keep hidden comes slithering up through the cracks.

The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates

On a dark and stormy night (yes, literally), a woman on the run takes shelter in an abandoned groundskeeper’s cottage at the edge of a cemetery in the town of Blighty. Frankly, I think it sounds positively peaceful but then again I have noisy neighbors. And technically, so does Keira. Because while to others the cemetery would appear still and silent, Kiera can hear the dead whispering all around her. The cemetery is alive with the ghosts of those recently, and not so recently, departed, led by a woman who died before her time who begins to haunt Keira when she realizes that the living woman can see her. With the clock of her life running down, Keira races to unearth the dark secrets of Blighty’s past that will not let the woman’s spirit rest.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (August 31)

I honestly don’t have words for how excited I am for this book. All I know is that it had me at slasher homage, and August can’t come too soon. Most people think of small towns as intimate places where “everyone knows everyone” and everyone is at home. But when you are an outcast – the one person who doesn’t belong in a town that everyone else calls home – a small town can be the loneliest place in the world. Jade Daniels is the outcast in Proofrock, a small lake town slowly being overrun by gentrification. In her anger and her loneliness, Jade turns to horror for comfort, letting herself get lost in a world of masked killers and revenge. But when Proofrock’s wealthy newcomers begin dying in bizarre ways, Jade realizes that there is a familiar pattern to their deaths. A pattern that only she can see, and that may foretell a massacre in the making.

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

Lauren’s small town of Smith’s Hollow has a serious amnesia problem. Because they forgot that a year ago her father was found murdered with his heart ripped out, and even though the bodies of two girls have just been found torn apart, Lauren knows that it’s just a matter of time before they’re forgotten too. The police will never find the killer, and everyone will just move on. But somewhere out there in the woods a monster lurks and Lauren is determined to track it down before it can kill anyone else. She’s not going to “just move on” like everyone else, even if hunting the monster means uncovering frightening truths about the small town she calls home.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson (September 14)

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 façade of their new house, tucked between its rundown neighbors like a beacon of revitalization and change. Things move on their own, doors open, lights turn off. Marigold sees shadows, hears voices, and there’s a bad smell inside the house that no one else seems to notice. The more Marigold learns about the house, however, the more she realizes that the danger isn’t contained just within its walls. All of Cedarville is haunted by secrets from its past that will no longer be contained.

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (August 17)

In Courtney Gould’s forthcoming small town horror, two girls–Logan, whose dads are the stars of the popular TV ghost hunting show ParaSpectors, and Ashley, a Snakebite native whose boyfriend has gone missing–face off against a small town full of secrets, slipping slowly into chaos. Ashley’s boyfriend was only the first in a string of teenage disappearances, only the dead have returned, and even the weather has turned unnatural. What’s more, the dead are not sleeping easy. The ghost of Ashley’s boyfriend has begun haunting her and the only one she can trust is Logan, even as their investigation into the town’s secrets threatens everything they believe they know about Snakebite, their families, and themselves.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

S.T. Gibson (A Dowry of Blood) and Lauren Blackwood (Within These Wicked Walls) are joining forces at 8pm EST on May 20th on Gibson’s Instagram to talk about gothic lit and reimaginings!

This awesome horror subgenre chart that the Horror Writers Association made is both delightful and extremely useful. Also, does anyone else really REALLY want a poster version for their reading room?

Don’t forget to browse our Horror Archive over at Book Riot if you’re looking for your next great horror read!

Speaking of Book Riot, we’ve got a giveaway going for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here!


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Don’t Mess With Horror Moms

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

It’s true that the horror genre doesn’t always have a good track record when it comes to mothers. There’s an abundance of dead or monstrous mothers in horror that can definitely be blamed on the fact that the genre’s literary roots are sunk deep into the fertile, dead-and/or-absent-mothers soil of fairy tales and Gothic Romanticism. But for every absent or terrible mother-figure in the horror genre, there’s a badass mom going to (often bloody) extremes to protect her family, or to exact revenge on those who hurt them. So since yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the states, and since there are so many incredible recent and forthcoming titles about motherhood that I can’t wait to share with you, this week’s Fright Stuff is dedicated to the horror moms who get it done. No matter what it takes!

Dark Lullaby by Polly Ho-Yen

Dark Lullaby was one of those impulse buy books where the minute I read the synopsis I went straight to my buyer of choice and added it to my cart. Toted as Black Mirror meets The Handmaid’s Tale, Dark Lullaby is set in a near future society where parenting is strictly monitored and children not being reared to the exacting requirements of the Office of Standards in Parenting are Extracted. Kit thinks she knows the risks when she decides to have a child, and that she can live up to the depends of the OSIP. But when she comes under the Office’s scrutiny she has to decide how far she will go to protect her family.

crossroads by laurel hightower cover

Crossroads by Laurel Hightower

Any book about the tragic death of a child is going to be a harrowing read, and Crossroads is as much about grief as it is about ghosts. Chris’ son Trey dies in a tragic car crash and takes her whole world with him. Until the day a drop of her blood falls on her son’s roadside memorial and changes everything. That night Chris sees her son’s ghost outside her window – or so she believes. But is it really her son? Or does something far more sinister lurk behind the face of the child she lost? And how deeply will Chris entangle herself with these dark forces if it means seeing Trey alive again?

Sorrowland cover

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

Rivers Solomon’s newest book – hot off the presses from its May 4th release! – is about the metamorphic nature of motherhood, and what one mother will do to protect her children from the world in which she was raised. Vern fled the strict religious compound in which she grew up when she was seven months pregnant and took shelter in the woods, where she gives birth to twins. But the community she fled will not give her up so easily, and when Vern is forced to fight back against them her body begins to undergo a series of strange and frightening metamorphoses.

Immortelle by Catherine McCarthy

You’ll have to wait a couple of months for Catherine McCarthy’s forthcoming novel Immortelle (July 15) but it is definitely going to be worth the wait. Elinor, a ceramic artist whose work is inspired by her grandmother’s interest in the supernatural, bends her craft to its own supernatural purpose when her daughter Rowena is murdered. Elinor is sure she knows who is responsible, so she crafts an immortelle out of clay in the shape of a starling to try and capture Rowena’s spirit. As word of her skill spreads, Elinor is soon overwhelmed by requests for immortelles, her power growing with each crafting. And as the dead whisper their secrets and the truth about her daughter’s murder is revealed, Elinor begins to craft her terrible revenge.

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E Rocklyn

Zin E Rocklyn’s Flowers for the Sea (October 19) is yet another reason to wish that October would hurry up and get here this year! I’m so excited about this book. Survivors of a flooded land exist in isolation, fighting for their continued survival on an ark. Supplies are dwindling, hungry, terrifying sea monsters circle – in other words, circumstances are NOT ideal. Among the survivors is Iraxi, pregnant with a child that may not be entirely human. The future of the ark and its survivors is uncertain, and Iraxi’s own fate may be darker still.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Nightfire has published their list of May horror releases!

Okay so this is not exclusively book horror related, it’s more horror in general. But Pride month in the horror community is my hands down favorite time of the year, and this To “Die” For t-shirt from Mixtape Massacre and Gayly Deadful is so gorgeous I could “die”. (Ba dum tish) And, most importantly, all Profits from the sales of this tee or sticker will be donated to the Transgender Law Center. So buy so rainbow horror gear and do good works!

We have some creepy new horror content for you over at Book Riot, from Kelly Jensen’s delightfully nostalgic post of Goosebumps swag to Rey Rowland’s list of must-read horror anthologies! And if you missed my recent historical horror newsletter, it’s been added to the site. So go forth and fill your TBR!

Speaking of Book Riot, we’ve got a giveaway going for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here!


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Some Scares Never Get Old

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

Grab your acid wash jeans and your flannel, it’s I Love the ’80s (and the ’90s) week on Fright Stuff! Some of the best horror on page or screen came out of the genre in the ’80s and ’90s. Okay, yes, and also the late ’70s. Maybe we should refer to the era as the long-1980s, then we can lump the late ’70s and early ’90s into the ’80s… I’m so sorry to my enlightenment literature professor, by the way, who introduced me to the phrase long 18th century and is probably writhing in mental agony at my misappropriation of that device. MOVING ON. The horror genre as we know it today just wouldn’t be the same without the horror of the ’80s and ’90s. Many of the tropes and archetypes that we still love in horror today had their first hurrah in those early mass market paperback days! So I thought this week we’d have a little fun with some horror titles either set in the ’80s and ’90s, and/or inspired by those vibrant (and often very strange) two decades of horror.

cirque berzerk by jessica guess cover rewind or die

Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess

Cirque Berserk is seriously becoming one of my go-to recommendations. Not only does it fit into so many categories that I love (creepy carnival horror, retro-horror, coming of age massacres), it’s hands down a really good book. In the summer of 1989, disaster strikes the town of Shadows Creek, Florida when a group of teens massacred a dozen people at the local carnival and then vanished. Thirty years later a new group of teens escape their boring senior trip and decide to explore the mystery of the infamous Cirque Berserk, unaware of the bloody dangers that lurk behind its gates.

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

Set in the New York City of the ‘90s, where it’s easy for people to just disappear and never to be seen again, Worm’s protagonist Monique is on a quest to find her missing girlfriend Donna. But it’s not just Donna who has vanished, and as other impoverished women start to disappear from the city streets, Monique begins to hear rumors of monsters stalking the city’s underbelly. In order to save Donna, Monique must follow the rumors deep into the world below New York, a subterranean kingdom of creatures, cultists, and an even more terrible, ancient evil lurking there in the dark.

The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones

Okay so I know that this is one of those books that I keep recommending over and over again but it’s just so good. The Last Final Girl is a love letter to slasher films, and in particular to the glory that is ’80s horror. Homecoming Queen Lindsay is a final girl. She survived – barely – the brutal attentions of Billie Jean, the sadistic murder in a Michael Jackson mask who was determined to kill her. She’s a legend. But Billie Jean isn’t done with Lindsey, and Lindsey’s not the only final girl in town. When the masked killer slaughters her royal court, Lindsay replaces them with other final girls, stacking the decks in her favor. One psycho killer vs a homecoming court full of final girls, all competing to be the last survivor standing when the credits roll.

Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw

I had the chance to read Mina and the Undead before it was released earlier this year and it really hit me right in the nostalgia sweet spot. If The Last Final Girl is a tribute to slasher films, this is Amy McCaw’s love letter to the vampire genre. Seventeen-year-old Mina travels from England to New Orleans to visit with her estranged sister Libby, excited to explore a city as steeped in vampire literary references as her home town of Whitby. But Mina gets more than she bargained for when she becomes embroiled in a series of violent murders that all seem to point to Libby. Technically, Mina and the Undead has only been released in the UK, but luckily you can still order a copy through Book Depository!

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Okay so Hendrix’s forthcoming book isn’t set in the ’80s or the ’90s like the rest of these books, but I had to include it on this list. Because The Final Girl Support Group wouldn’t exist without the horror of the late ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. We all know who the final girl is, most horror fans can name at least a handful without really having to think about it. She’s the one who survives. She’s the one who fights back. She’s every horror villain’s worst nightmare because her life spells their death. But what happens with the credits roll and the monster IS dead, but the final girl is still left standing? Lynnette is one of a group of former final girls who, years later, are just trying to put their lives back together. Until one of them goes missing.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

The latest episode of the Post Mortem Podcast features author and filmmaker Clive Barker in conversation with host Mick Garris about writing horror without boundaries.

We have some new haunting horror content for you over at Book Riot with this list of 15 Horror Movies Based on Books.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh who’s ready for Fear Street?! I’m so excited. All three Fear Street movies will be released on Netflix this summer as part of the streaming services “Summer of Fear”, and my wishlist is READY.

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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Sir, That’s My Emotional Support Alien

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

Happy Alien Day, everybody! Who’s ready to get nerdy with me?

I’m sure it will surprise exactly none of you – especially since I went practically feral over Alex White’s Alien: Into Charybdis last month – but I am obsessed with the Alien franchise. It is my one true love, and a constant source of joy. You remember that meme going around that went “bitches be like this is my comfort movie” and then it would be a screen shot from some horror movie or some other equally unlikely film? Well I’m bitches and Alien is my comfort movie.

But as much as I love the Alien films, I love the Alien novels more! The Alien franchise would be a pale shadow of its detailed and expansive self were it not for its extensive novel canon and the cooperative efforts of many talented writers over the years. A book, particularly a lengthy book, will always do a better job of worldbuilding in detail than a film simply by virtue of having more leg room. That’s not meant to be a slam on film, or an absolute statement (there are some films that do incredible worldbuilding and some books that utterly fail at it). But when it comes to the Alien series, we really reap the benefits of so much additional content. Even novels like Scott Sigler’s Aliens: Phalanx or Mira Grant’s YA novel Alien: Echo, which standalone from the main storylines of the franchise, add color and explore the unlimited potential of this fictional universe.

It make sense that the Alien franchise would flourish as a series of books when its roots have always been literary. And though there are explicit references to mythology and literature in the series – for instance the various ships’ names; Nostromo and Sulaco from the novels of Joseph Conrad (a favorite of Ridley Scott’s, apparently), or the blatantly obvious Prometheus – it’s the larger scale themes of the franchise that truly speak to its literary heart.

One of the most present themes is, of course, the consequences of human greed – another tribute to Ridley’s fondness for Conrad, who often revisited the theme of the corruptive power of greed in his books. In the Alien films we are offered a front row seat to the unending grasping of the Weyland-Yutani corporation, the real and true evil in the Alien universe. But it’s in the companion novels to the film series that we see the real depth of The Company’s corruption and greed as they attempt to weaponize and monetize first the xenomorph and then, in the most recent generation of novels, the mysterious pathogen – plagiarus praepotens – with its horrific but immensely powerful mutagenic capabilities.

If you summed the heart of the Alien franchise up as “Capitalism Bad” you wouldn’t be far off your mark. But there are other themes in the franchise as well with obvious literary origins: the pursuit of the forbidden knowledge/science (in this case the act of creation), the responsibility of the creator to the created, and the betrayal of the creator by the created. These are massive, mythic themes, and I’m obsessed. There’s a direct line from the Prometheus myth to Milton’s Paradise Lost to Shelley’s Frankenstein clear to the Alien franchise, and I honestly think I could spend ages unpacking the way these themes intersect across mediums. Not to mention The Synthetic Question: that whole moral, ethical quandary – which Alex White has done amazing work with in their novels The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis, by the way – about what defines “a person” and what it means to create one.

You can pick up on these thematic intersections by watching the Alien films, of course. But the novels add so much depth and nuance to things that, on film, are the work of seconds. Since 2017 alone there have been 13 new Alien novels, and that’s not even taking into account the wealth of graphic novels which work in tandem with the novel canon to develop the ever expanding Alien universe. This franchise is thriving on the page!

That isn’t to say that we’ll never see the story carried forward in any other form of media, in fact most of you are probably aware that we are expecting a new video game this summer, Aliens: Fireteam, to which the newest novel in the franchise, Weston Ochse’s suspenseful Aliens: Infiltrator is actually the prequel! And somewhere out there in the aether lingers the sweet promise of a whole Alien series on Hulu

But what we have seen, with Infiltrator and other recent novels, and what I hope we will continue to see with future novels, is that the map for the future of the Alien franchise is being developed on the page. Which is a brilliant set up, really! Prequels, sequels, interquels, and novelizations allow for multiple voices to have input in the franchise while also taking some of the burden of worldbuilding off of the more visual mediums. Can you play Fireteam without reading Infiltrator? Sure! But think of how much more depths the addition of 300+ pages of background and worldbuilding will give your playthrough!

Not that everything is picture perfect in Alien land. While we are awash in books to read, our pool of authors is almost bereft of diversity entirely. We desperately need authors of color, as well as more women and nonbinary authors. The Alien universe is vast and full of potential, and it will be a sad waste of that potential if efforts are not made to include new voices and perspectives to the mix. Still, the franchise is growing so I live in hope!

In the mean time, may I offer you a tasty sci-fi book by an author of color to add to your reading list along with your Alien picks? Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda would be a perfect space horror fit for Alien fans! I also highly recommend checking out Toxic by Lydia Kang, which is a fabulous space horror novel about a living space ship and the one young woman left on board.


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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Like a Tardis… But Scarier.

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

This week we’re going to be time traveling with some hair-raising historical horror (say that three times fast, huh?). I love historical horror. It’s a subgenre with unlimited potential. I know that, in some cases, there is definitely a certain aesthetic that pulls me in. You can sell me on any book that oozes gorgeous gothic architecture, Victorian velvets, and crumbling, haunted estates in the middle of wild, sweeping, isolated locals. But that’s only a fraction of what Historical Horror has to offer.

There’s also the fact that history is horrifying in its own right, and many of the most horrible parts of history still negatively impact the world in which we live today. From the evils of racism, to the bottomless maw of capitalism, to the terrors inherent in just existing in a world designed to despise everything you are, historical horror investigates the dark corners of history and interrogate the roots of our modern fears.

plain bad heroines by emily a danforth cover

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Set in 1902, Plain Bad Heroines tells the linked stories of two sets of girls whose lives are entwined in the history of a mysterious New England boarding school (It’s always New England, right? All we have up here are creepy small towns and creepy, isolated boarding schools, apparently). There’s Flo and Clara, who were students at the school and died tragically, and over a century later, there’s Harper and Audrey, who are playing Flo and Clara in a horror film about their gruesome deaths and the supposedly haunted and cursed Gilded-Age school. When past and present get tangled up during filming what is real and what is fiction becomes increasingly uncertain.

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich

Set in the famous (or, in many ways, infamous) Lowell Textile Mills in 19th century Massachusetts, Malerich’s horror novella is about two young women embroiled in a worker’s strike at the mills. The success of the strike means fair wages, safe working conditions, and decent room and board for all the mill girls. So Judith, a newcomer to Lowell and ringleader of the strike, and Hannah, her best friend and possible love, will do whatever it takes to to make sure this strike does not fail. Thankfully, they’ve got witchcraft on their side to make sure the picket line holds.

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Set in Prohibition Georgia, Ring Shout imagines an alternative history of the South in which D.W. Griffith’s terrible The Birth of a Nation is actually a spell that gathers its power from the dark thoughts and wishes at the heart of the country and raises the Klan into a place of prominence as they spearhead a plot to unleashed a terrible evil. But whiskey bootlegger and magic sword wielder Maryse Boudreaux – along with her companions, a foul-mouth sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter – is ready to fight back. Her mission is to destroy the monstrous Klan members, she’s damn good at it, and she’ll do whatever it takes to stem the tide of hate that threatens to consume her entire world.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Ah, the Victorian Age. Era of extravagance. Era of invention. Era… of fucking creepy dolls. Now, I’ll grant you, the painted wooden figure in Purcell’s The Silent Companions is not exactly one of the terrifying porcelain faced dolls of my nightmares. But it’s still creepy. Terrifying really. And it looks uncannily like our heroine. Elsie was widowed almost as soon as she was married, her dreams of a luxurious life are in danger, her servants are resentful strangers, and the local villagers are downright hostile, making her a prisoner inside the home she once coveted. But she’s not alone in this prison, because behind a locked door she finds the strange wooden figure. One that terrifies the locals, though she doesn’t know why. One that has her face. And though she tries to dismiss it all as superstition and the strain of grief, there is something deeply unsettling about the way it follows her with its eyes.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

1926, Shanghai. Two gangs locked in a bloody feud have submerged the city in chaos in this Romeo and Juliette-inspired dark tale of vengeance and monsters. Eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai is heir to the Scarlet Gang, a powerful criminal network and the rivals of the White Flowers, with whom they have been at war for hundreds of years. Roma Montagov is, you guessed it, the heir to the White Flowers. Roma is also Juliette’s first love and the one who brutally betrayed her. Is there any thing better than lovers-to-enemies? So much loathing mixed with longing. So much unresolved sexual tension. But when a strange contagion starts to spread through both gangs, causing members to go mad and claw their own throats out in the end, Roma and Juliette have no choice but the try and put their past aside and work together to fight this unknown evil before all of Shanghai falls victim.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Danielle Trussoni (The Ancestor) wrote a piece for Crime Reads about the “Dizzying Allure” of mysteries set in the Alps, the setting of her 2020 novel.

The promotional boxes for The Last House on Needless Street are giving me LIFE, for real. How cute are these freaking boxes?

Horror. Themed. Sushi. This makes me so happy.

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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

Finding Your Haunted Niche

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

So if you’ve been subscribed to the newsletter for a while now you know that I occasionally like to break up the weekly books recs to talk about something horror-related, or horror reading-related in this case – that has caught my attention. This week it’s reader burnout, finding your niche(s) in the genre, and having that be okay.

Horror is a massive genre. We have the full complement of subgenres, and our subgenres have subgenres/categories/things. Many of which overlap! That’s a lot of ground to cover for a newbie horror reader, which I was just a couple of years ago. It can be intimidating, like approaching a series with 13 books except it’s a whole genre with thousands of books. Picking a place to start, I have found, happens in one of a couple of ways. Some new readers slide in from other related genres like dark fantasy, true crime, or thrillers. Others decide that they want to try horror and they just dive in blind and start feeling their way around. Regardless of how a horror reader gets their start, one thing remains constant: it always starts with a book, that leads to another book. Then the next thing you know, you’re a horror reader.

And in the beginning, you want to try everything. Sample every subgenre, every writing style, every format from poetry to full-length novels. And that’s good! That’s exactly how you should go at a new genre because it’s the best way to figure out what you’re going to love, what you’ll only like, and what you will definitely not want. But, like I said, it’s a lot of open ground. Eventually you have to narrow your field, or you’ll keep trying to push yourself to read everything and you’ll burn out on the genre and all the fun will go out of your reading.

Ask me how I know.

I love horror. But I may, just slightly, have over done it in the last year. And suddenly I was looking at stacks of horror in my TBR and found that I had 0 interest in like 40% of them. I thought “Well. That’s it. So much for my newsletter. I’m off horror.” Which, I’ll grant you, was a bit of an overreaction but hey. 2021. Also known as 2020: The Re-twentying.

But my problem wasn’t that I’d gone off horror. It was that, without realizing it or at least without acknowledging it, I had refined my preferences in the last two years. I had realized what I loved and wanted in horror and what I didn’t. Yet I was stuck on this idea that I had to be reading ALL the horror, and it was throwing up a roadblock because in the end I just didn’t want to. There are some horror books that I’ve read that I regretted reading because they left me feeling gross, or disturbed, and put images in my head I’ll never unread. And some people want that from their horror, and that’s great! That’s their kind of horror.

But I don’t like feeling like that, which is probably one of the reasons that – as I’ve mentioned before – I like my horror to end on an upbeat note. And thinking that I had to read horror I didn’t want to read completely killed my fun. There’s no greater thief of joy than homework reading.

I guess what I’m saying – the point of all this – is that it’s okay to cherry pick your horror. It doesn’t have to interfere with your ability to read diversely! Whatever your horror poison of choice is, more likely than not you can find diverse recs for your reading list. That’s the beauty of a big genre that grows in diversity every year! You can pick the books you want to read and ignore the rest, even if “the rest” are bestsellers and the hot picks on everybody’s lists. You don’t have to read “the next big horror novel” if it’s not your thing, even if everyone else is reading it. Sometimes we get so caught up in being professional readers, especially if you’re a blogger or a reviewer, and we feel like we have to read what’s new when it’s new even if we aren’t feeling it.

So if you are one of those people, like me, who need permission: here it is! Read what you love and you’ll keep loving the genre you read.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Check out this gorgeous cover art for the forthcoming spec fic anthology Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, edited by Dave Ring and set to be published by Neon Hemlock in October!

This folk horror anthology being crowdsourced over at Unbound is absolutely gorgeous The illustrations are creepy and atmospheric, and as far as collectable books go it’s definitely worth checking out. Pledging closes on April 25th, so it’s not to late to join in and pre-order your copy!

Don’t mind me, I’m just somewhat mesmerized by these Fabergé organs. Technically they’re not real – they’re digital images created as part of a pro-organ donation campaign from Brazil – but aren’t they stunning!?

Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls (an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre) is WAY up there on my shopping list for this fall, and would you just look at this gorgeous painting of the heroine by @ArthShahverdyan. So good.

This announcement for Jessica Lewis’ forthcoming book, right? Oh 2022 why are you so far away?

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

Categories
The Fright Stuff

April is for Terror, Not Just for Tulips!

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌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.‌

If you can believe it, we are already at the start of another month. As much as time seems to lack all meaning these days, it certainly does seem to be flying. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but at least it means that spring has nearly sprung and warmth is on its way to this part of the world. Of course there’s another reason to celebrate the start of a new month: new books! As we’ve already seen, 2021 is going to be an amazing year for horror, and each month means a whole new crop of creepy to fill out our readings lists. So in the spirit of encouraging you to grow your own book collections, I thought we’d take this first Monday in April to celebrate some of the exciting new releases coming out this month!

Blessed Monsters by Emily A Duncan (April 6)

I ordered the books in this newsletter based on released date, not on how badly I want to read them. But I have to confess that I might have put this one first regardless, because I am desperate to get my hands on it. This also gives me a chance to once again recommend this dark fantasy series to horror readers looking for books that successfully bridge the genre lines. As much cosmic horror (so. many. eyes.) as it is dark fantasy, this Slavic-inspired setting is peopled with bloody magic, hungry gods, and (again) so SO many eyeballs. In places that eyeballs really should not be. Blessed Monsters is the final book in this trilogy, so if you’ve been looking for a completed series to marathon, now’s your chance!

Near the Bone by Christina Henry (April 13)

I’ve already had the pleasure of reading Near the Bone, and it is 100% everything I want in a horror novel. The isolation, the deep and growing sense of dread, it’s fantastic. Mattie and William have been living on the mountain for longer than she can remember, just the two of them. Until the day that Mattie finds a mutilated fox in the woods and realizes that there is someone or something on the mountain with them. Lurking in the trees, making terrible noises, savaging the wildlife with sharp teeth and claws. But when a group of strangers appears to hunt the creature in the woods they don’t just pose a threat to the monster. Their unwelcome presence makes William angry, and Mattie knows how dangerous it can be when William gets angry.

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (April 20)

From the author of last year’s chilling The Silence of the Bones comes a new story about families, secrets, and deception. Hwani’s family and life have fallen apart ever since she and her younger sister vanished and were found unconscious in the forest on the edge of a crime scene. Though the family fled their small village to escape the incident, some histories are not so easily banished. Years later Hawni’s father, Detective Min, is drawn back to their hometown by the unsolved cases of 13 other girls who recently vanished under similar circumstances as his own daughters. But when he returns to investigate, he too vanishes, leaving Hwani to follow in his footsteps in an attempt to find her father and finally put an end to the mystery that tore her family apart.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart (April 20)

Based on the early reviews I’ve seen, Witches Steeped in Gold is going to be a deliciously dark edition to both the fantasy and horror genres. This Jamaican-inspired fantasy pits two enemy witches against a powerful queen, forcing them into an uneasy alliance in order to take her down. Iraya has lived her whole life in a cell, plotting her revenge. Jasmyne is the queen’s daughter, and determined not to be the next body in a long line of daughters sacrificed to strengthen their mother’s power. Though she and Iraya are sworn enemies, they are left with no choice but to combine forces and pursue, at any cost, the queen who threatens both their lives.

A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus (April 27)

Okay so by now we all know that I adore a short fiction collections, yes? And since I also have an obsession with themes of transformation in horror (thanks Mary Shelley), obviously I am super excited for trans author Callum Angus’ forthcoming debut collection A Natural History of Transition. Angus’ collection “disrupts the notion that trans people can only have one transformation” as its characters undergo incredible, unusual, and at times alarming changes, exploring what it means to “become”. Described as a mix of alternative history, horror, and magic steeped realism, Angus’ first collection promises to be a memorable introduction to a talented new author.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Need more titles to pad out your April reading list? Or maybe your 2021 TBR in general? The Ladies of Horror Fiction, Bloody Disgusting, and Night Fire all have 2021 new release lists for you to peruse!

Author Kate Doughty (The Follower) wrote a fascinating guest post for the Ladies of Horror Fiction blog about “The Alternate Reality of Internet Horror” and the way in which social media is being used to craft new, exciting forms of horror.

May 21st is the 5th Annual Stoker Con /HWA Librarian’s Day! This year it is also a part of StokerCon 2021, and $75 dollars will get you access to the whole con, not just Librarian’s Day. Becky Spratford has a fantastic thread over on twitter with all the details you need to get signed up as well as a full schedule for the event!


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