Synopsis: “In the spring of 1912, American writer Arthur Pearce is reeling from the wounds inflicted by a disastrous marriage and the public humiliation that ensued. But his plans to travel abroad, write a new novel, and forget his ex-wife are interrupted by a lovely young woman he encounters on a London-bound train. Her name is […]
Body Horror
Review: A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez
Synopsis: Welcome to Argentina and the fascinating, frightening, fantastical imagination of Mariana Enriquez. In twelve spellbinding new stories, Enriquez writes about ordinary people, especially women, whose lives turn inside out when they encounter terror, the surreal, and the supernatural. A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by […]
7 Favorite Leading Ladies for International Women’s Day
It is International Women’s Day and in honor of that I thought of listing 7 of my favorite leading ladies written by some of my favorite female authors across recent SFF! These characters are all different examples of womanhood and inspiring in their own respective ways.
Review: Phengaris by Anna Orridge
Synopsis There’s something very wrong in Thurstrop Wood. Mark Warner never noticed it before. He’s there to get away from his life, his ailing mother. Out of his head. Not to think about anything. Birds sing in the wood. But their rhythms seem wrong somehow. Insects crawl and nest, but not where you’d expect them […]
REVIEW: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
SYNOPSIS One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives. As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of […]
Review: I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew
Hello again dear reader or listener, do you fancy reading some YA horror? Perhaps with a dark romance, a teeny dash of eat the rich, but mostly an awful lot of body horror and supernatural phenomena of the eldritch variety?
Well, curtesy of the lovely folk over at Scholastic Press, I have just the thing for you!
Review: The Unkillable Frank Lightning by Josh Rountree
Synopsis: Catherine Coldbridge is a complicated woman: a doctor, an occultist, and briefly, a widow. In 1879, her husband, Private Frank Humble, was killed in a Sioux attack. Consumed by grief, Catherine used her formidable skills to resurrect her husband. But after the reanimation, Frank lost his soul, becoming a vicious undead monster. Unable to […]
Review: Violent Faculties by Charlene Elsby
Synopsis: Violent Faculties follows a philosophy professor influenced by Sade and Bataille. She is ejected by university administrators aiming to impose business strategies in the interest of profit over knowledge. She designs a series of experiments to demonstrate the value of philosophy as a discipline, not because of its potential for financial benefit, but because of […]
Review: The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff
Synopsis: Jennifer Plummer and the Divine Flesh have exactly three things in common: 1) they’re trapped inside Jennifer’s body; 2) they despise each other; and 3) they’re in love with Daryl Plummer, Jennifer’s ex-husband. But when Jennifer takes an experimental wonder drug to free herself from the Divine Flesh’s control, it only makes things worse. […]
Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
I can confidently say that this is the first book I’ve read where I’ve felt physically unwell reading a birth scene. There’s one in particular where the girl is referred to as a ‘patient’ and it’s meant to feel detached from reality, but the body horror and detail Hendrix included made me flush hot and cold. I genuinely felt like I was going to pass out. And I think that’s a sign of some truly incredible writing.
Review: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
Synopsis: This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on […]
Review: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis: A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over […]