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 […]
Grief
Review: At The Bottom of The Garden by Camilla Bruce
Synopsis: Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flower bed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she’s always thought. Then the girls arrive. […]
Review: The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein
Synopsis: There’s something wrong in Renfield County. It’s in the water, the soil, the wood. But worst of all, it’s in the minds of the residents, slowly driving them mad. When Lawrence Renfield massacred his family and drew The Giant in his farmhouse with their blood, no one imagined the repercussions. At the very least, […]
Review: Jingle Hel by T.P. Theyson
Synopsis Long ago a dark elf entered the underworld to hold audience with Hel, the goddess of the dead. He offered her a proposition to make him King, one that she refused. Angered by this, the elf gathered an army formed out of greed of those who wished to overthrow the goddess and take what […]
Review: The Thing in Christmas Town by Iseult Murphy
Synopsis Welcome to Christmas Town, where it is Christmas every day!Visit the town where your wishes come true. Recapture the magic of your youth. Find love and happiness.You’ll never want to leave. Christmas was once Diane’s favourite holiday, but she can’t face it after the tragic accident that took her husband’s life shortly before the […]
Review: The Drowning Machine and Other Obsessions by Emma. E Murray
Synopsis: In these eighteen stories, Emma E. Murray navigates uncharted waters of love, lust, and loss, descending into that most darkest of places: the human (and inhuman) heart.Amidst the spiral and churn, you will hear frighteningly realistic tales of parental regret, the death of innocence, carnal yearning, and creeping evil, among other voices of the […]
Review: The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis: If drinking mercury from a thermometer didn’t kill him, maybe spray painting in an unventilated garage would. Or so Nolan’s father thought. One inspired yet failed suicide attempt after another, each with a note to his son—with only a hint of accusation. But as Nolan sits in an empty office building, the last customer […]
Review: Kill Your Darling by Clay Mcleod Chapman
Synopsis: The body of Glenn Partridge’s 15-year-old son was discovered in a vacant lot nearly forty years ago. The police are still no closer to finding the murderer decades later. Glenn refuses to let the memory of his son fade—or let anyone else within this small working-class community forget. His long-suffering wife signs him up […]
Review: Gone to the Dogs by Mark Towse
Synopsis A Northern Town in England. It smells, prospects are grim, and the sun never shines. Each day blends into the next, and residents have settled into a resentful acceptance, assuming things cannot get any worse. So when the sky starts raining blood and a sinkhole appears in the middle of the main road, spitting […]
Review: At Dark I Become Loathsome by Eric Larocca
Synopsis: “If you’re reading this, you’ve likely thought that the world would be a better place without you.” A single line of text, glowing in the darkness of the internet. Written by Ashley Lutin, who has often thought the same–and worse–in the years since his wife died and his young son disappeared. But the peace […]
Review: Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror Edited by Xueting Christine Ni
Synopsis An anthology of chilling tales from contemporary China, translated into English for the very first time. An anthology of unsettling tales from contemporary China, translated into English for the very first time. Fourteen dazzling horror stories delve deep into the psyche of modern China in this new anthology curated by acclaimed writer and essayist […]
Review: And He Shall Appear by Kate Van Der Borgh
And He Shall Appear is very much a spec-fic character and psychology study, with few and unexpected answers, beautiful if at times self-indulgent prose (which fits perfectly in context) and very lyrical narration carried out by an unreliable and (very cleverly) unnamed narrator.