Synopsis T. Kingfisher meets Cassandra Khaw in a chilling horror novel that illustrates the fine line between humanity and monstrosity. Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of Crooked Tree. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to […]
Supernatural
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: Uncanny Vows (Huntsmen #2) by Laura Anne Gilman
Gilman opens up this sequel in one of my absolute favorite ways across media, and that is by zooming in from a seemingly normal and sweeping outdoor scene, into an indoor one of absolute chaos and mayhem. And so it is that months after the events of book one, we find Rosemary and Aaron battling pesky imps wreaking havoc during a routine hunt. Not only is this kind of scene absolutely hilarious but the medias res allows you to hit the ground running back into the action you left off from book one.
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: A Bleak Remedy (Savage Panacea #1) by D.S. LaLonde
Synopsis: On the shores of the St. Lawrence River there lies a secretive biomedical research facility. Within that facility’s deepest recesses are two vampires. One is a ravenous humanoid bat. A true apex predator. The other appears human but is no less dangerous than its monstrous peer. These vampires have amazing regenerative abilities, enabling them […]
Australian & New Zealand Author Showcase No 15 – Alan Baxter
Today I have the honour of hosting the Fifteenth author showcase focusing on the awesome talent originating from Australia and New Zealand. The idea came to me whilst seeing so many of the book community gathering at recent conventions in the US and UK. And once my FOMO had subsided, I got to thinking about […]
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 […]
Navigating The Flanaverse: A Guide to Mike Flanagan on Netflix
As the dust settles on Mike Flanagan’s newest series The Fall of The House of Usher, so too does the dust settle on his time with Netflix. In December of last year Flanagan announced that he had signed a TV deal with Amazon Studios, and although I am sure there will be plenty of long […]
Review: Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles
Synopsis Aboard the ship Scylla, there is no future or past. Jaq, her fickle lover Lily, and their all-female crew exist in an endless present. It’s better this way. At least it keeps Lily by Jaq’s side, where she belongs. But the meddling gods care little for Jaq’s longing, and despite her protective rituals, their […]
Review: Synced (Gilded Blood Series #4) by Rachel Rener
Synopsis War is coming – and this time, I swear it’s not my fault. Sol and his reanimated Unseelie army are hell-bent on destroying the Seelies once and for all. Worse, he’s stolen the most priceless relic in this land – Zayn’s grimoire – along with my magic-unleashing gilded blood. Oh yeah, and Sol’s claim […]
Review: A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper
Synopsis Three years after running away from home, Olivia is stuck with a dead-end job in nowhere town Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania. At least she has her best friend, Sunflower. Olivia figures she’ll die in Chapel Hill, if not from boredom, then the summer night storm which crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow. If Olivia’s […]
REVIEW: Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi
SYNOPSIS For nearly two decades, Jamie Warren has been running from darkness. He’s haunted by a traumatic childhood and the guilt at having disappeared from his disabled brother’s life. But then a series of unusual events reunites him with his estranged brother and their childhood friends, and none of them can deny the sense of […]