Synopsis As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that […]
Review: The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend Letha and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation, and the town, have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to […]
Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Synopsis To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?” When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and […]
Josh Hanson’s Best Horror of 2023
2023 strikes me as a year in which here were a shocking number of great debuts, but as I look back, the trend seems to be a year in which established writers in the horror scene have all of a sudden thrown down their very best work, many of them publishing books that I have […]
Review: Heavy Oceans by Tyler Jones
Synopsis: Struggling with the pressures of being a new father and the weight of regrets, Jamie Fletcher travels to Hawaii in hopes of connecting with his estranged brother, Eric. After a shocking act of violence, the brothers end up on a fishing boat–along with the captain and his son–in the middle of the ocean, where […]
Review: The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree
Synopisis: As always, Floyd Betts rides into town alone. He arrives for his father’s funeral, but he is returning to Galveston, Texas, with two orphaned siblings he has rescued. Nellie, who is descended from a long line of witches, has visions from other people’s minds. Hank, her impulsive younger brother, just wants to break out […]
Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Synopsis: Gracetown, FloridaJune 1950 Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real […]
Review: Lumberjack by Anthony Engebretson
Synopsis: Nebraska city, 1901. There’s a curse on Arbor Lodge—an elusive demon reclaiming the illustrious home in the name of the prairie—and its owner, J. Sterling Morton, proud statesman, is desperate. It couldn’t be more fortuitous for lumberjack Neville, whose greatest desire is to prove himself a true man to the world. Morton offers respect, […]
Review: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
Synopsis Leslie Bruin is assigned to the backwoods township of Spar Creek by the Frontier Nursing Service, under its usual mandate: vaccinate the flock, birth babies, and weather the judgements of churchy locals who look at him and see a failed woman. Forged in the fires of the Western Front and reborn in the cafes […]
Autumn Horrors: a Spotlight on Indie Horror
Featuring C.S. Humble, Rae Knowles, Zach Rosenberg, and Josh Hanson Join the gang as they read from recent work, talk craft, Shirley Jackson, and just have a good chat.
Review: What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
Synopsis The follow-up to T. Kingfisher’s bestselling gothic novella, What Moves the Dead . Retired soldier, Alex Easton, returns in a horrifying new adventure. After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor […]
Review: What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman
Synopsis After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market. It’s there that she connects with old high school […]