I’ve been going back and forth between ways to recognize my favorite reads. Throughout the year, I was tracking which books I rated the highest each month, but that came with multiple issues. First, some months had multiple books with a high rating and it was difficult to just choose one winner. Second, some months […]
Horror
Review: Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
I recently decided that I want to explore the horror genre a bit more after being too nervous to do so for years. Sadie Hartmann’s horror rec book put many books onto my TBR but this one has been on my radar for a bit longer so I decided to close out the year with […]
Ed’s Most Anticipated Reads of 2025 (Horror Edition)
For the SFF edition, see here! For more thoughts on new book releases and other weird stuff, subscribe to my Substack newsletter GET CROCKED here (first one drops Jan 6th) When the Wolf Comes Home Nat Cassidy(Tor Nightfire [US], Titan [UK]) With the memorably intense Mary followed by the brilliantly creepy urban horror of Nestlings […]
Tom Bookbeard’s Top Indie Sci Fi and Fantasy Reads of 2024
It’s been a year. I’ve read 52 books in total, a lot for me. A book a week. But let’s break that down a little more. 52 books. 8 trad. 44 indie. This isn’t a coincidence. I’m finding myself more and more fed up with trad publishing at the moment. I don’t feel it’s marketed […]
Review: House Of Muir (The Shadow Twins Series #2) by Luke Tarzian
Synopsis ONCE MARKED, ALWAYS MARKED… The war that was won is lost. His country razed and friends dead, Cailean Catil seeks the miserable solace of inebriation. But fate has other plans for ill-lucked men. An ocean away, he returns to the Galrun Muir, the order from which he was previously exiled. Seeking answers as to […]
Review: Casual by Koji A. Dae
Smart Casual Synopsis Valya’s neural implant is amazing. Its game-like app, CASUAL, has managed her depression and anxiety, stabilized her mood, and helped the infertile Valya get pregnant. But new laws forbid her from using the device when she’s sole caregiver for her infant. Her gaslighting ex won’t help her, and she can’t afford a […]
Review: All The Fiends Of Hell by Adam L. G. Nevill
All The Fiends Of Hell was a gripping, chilling experience, everything I want from an end of the world story.
REVIEW: The Queen by Nick Cutter
SYNOPSIS On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity’s been missing for over a month. Most people in town—even the police—think she’s dead. Margaret and Charity have […]
Review: Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Diavola is a great ghost story, that really, like most ghost stories, isn’t really about the supernatural, but more about what haunts us without us knowing.
REVIEW: Z.E.R.O: Zombie Elimination and Rescue Operatives (The Z.E.R.O. Saga #1) by Jessica Ungeheuer
SYNOPSIS Jeffrey Knight is a down on his luck self proclaimed loser. He can’t keep a job, forced into hours of work in the hell that is retail. His only stable thing in his life was his relationship with his longtime girlfriend…that is until he catches her cheating on him. Now with nothing left, he […]
Review: Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
Synopsis On the night Miles Abernathy-sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian-comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county’s Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called “accident” that injured his dad, […]
Review: The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle by Steve Hugh Westenra
It’s Halloween so what better time than now to talk about the book that’s apparently gotten me into my horror era? That’s probably an exaggeration, but this really is the book that has made me curious about exploring the horror genre more. I am now creating a small spooky TBR for the next couple of […]