The nitty gritty: A woman on the run encounters mysteries and horrors on a derelict space ship, in this scary but uneven space thriller. I can’t resist a good sci-fi horror story, and once again S.A. Barnes gives her fans a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller with some good jump scares and plenty of atmosphere. Although Cold […]
The nitty-gritty: A powerful and complex tale of revenge, Stephen Graham Jones’ latest is an emotionally draining but ultimately rewarding reading experience. “What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.” No one can write a raw, unflinching account of the Indigenous experience like Stephen Graham Jones can, […]
The nitty-gritty: A grim, bloody delight with pitch perfect black humor, Victorian Psycho will make you gasp and laugh in the same breath. “Mother first tried to kill me when I was thirteen months old. ‘You learned to walk so fast,’ she told me later. ‘I thought I might as well stop you while I […]
The nitty-gritty: I enjoyed parts of this bizarre fantasy/horror novella, but some elements were a little too bizarre. But Not Too Bold is a very weird piece of fiction that didn’t completely work for me, but I do appreciate some of the things the author did with worldbuilding. I also loved the Latin American flavor […]
The nitty gritty: An emotional journey through grief and self-loathing, Eric LaRocca’s latest is a dark, gut punch of a story. “The world is nothing more than a carnivorous plant that devours the things that are the softest and most delicate.” Eric LaRocca has come up with yet another intense, emotional story about damaged people […]
The nitty-gritty: A mysterious tower is the setting for this entertaining sci-fi/fantasy tale, made better by Dan Hanks’ emotional themes. Dan Hanks takes a familiar idea—the survival game—and twists it into something new and exciting. The Way Up is Death is a fast-paced thriller with horror elements and a bit of a LitRPG feel to […]
The nitty-gritty: A bold, violent and sometimes shocking possession story, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is light on plot but impossible to forget. Clay McLeod Chapman isn’t afraid to take risks with his writing, and he’s embraced that completely in Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, a unique take on the possession story. Chapman’s […]
The nitty-gritty: Grady Hendrix’s latest takes a more serious tone as he explores heavy topics like teen pregnancy in this emotion-packed story of friendship and self discovery. Power cannot be given, it must be taken. It is the ability to enact your will upon the world and it must be earned by the spilling of […]
The nitty-gritty: A well written story with plenty of unsettling and scary moments, The Return is an excellent and entertaining debut. I’m catching up with Rachel Harrison’s backlist, and I decided to try her debut horror story. The Return is super creepy and weird, and while it’s not my favorite of her books, I had […]
The nitty-gritty: Mystery and horror combine with gothic literary elements in this excellent, atmospheric tale. If you haven’t discovered Christa Carmen yet, now’s your chance. In Beneath the Poet’s House, Carmen sets her literary, gothic mystery in Providence, Rhode Island and centers it around 19th century poet Sarah Helen Whitman’s famous house at 88 Benefit […]