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This one’s for you, Mistress of the Dark

Hey‌ ‌there‌ horror fans, ‌I’m‌ ‌Jessica‌ ‌Avery‌ ‌and‌ ‌I’ll‌ ‌be‌ ‌delivering‌ ‌your‌ ‌weekly‌ ‌brief‌ ‌of‌ ‌all‌ ‌that’s‌ ‌ghastly‌ ‌and‌ ‌grim‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌world‌ ‌of‌ ‌Horror.‌ ‌Whether‌ ‌you’re‌ ‌looking‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌backlist‌ ‌book‌ ‌that‌ ‌will‌ ‌give‌‌ you‌ ‌the‌ ‌willies,‌ ‌a‌ ‌terrifying‌ ‌new‌ ‌release,‌ ‌or‌ ‌the‌ ‌latest‌ ‌in‌ ‌horror‌ ‌community‌ ‌news,‌ ‌you’ll‌ ‌find‌ ‌it‌ ‌here‌ in‌ ‌The‌ ‌Fright‌ ‌Stuff.

Well, folks, I played myself. I usually delight in providing you with lists of books and then hearing from folks about which titles they just had to buy. Relishing the long distant cries of broken book bans everywhere. Such a sweet sound. Only this week, it’s my poor bank account begging me to cease and desist. I have discovered my self-control (shelf-control?) kryptonite: sapphic spec fic. All other things I can resist except, apparently, sapphic protagonists and either epic world building or chilling horror. Or both, obviously. Both is good.

I’ve shared my love of sapphic horror before on The Fright Stuff, particularly titles from the pantheon of well known reader favorites. But this week I really wanted to spotlight some other recent sapphic horror titles that are well worth having on your reading list!

Cover of To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames

To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames

So hot off the presses that the ink’s barely dry, Ame’s To Break a Covenant is about an ex-mining town capitalizing on its haunted past to bring in the tourism money that’s keeping the town alive, and a group of girls determined to discover the mystery behind the strange phenomena that plague their town. Moon Basin’s haunting supposedly stems from the violent deaths of sixteen people the day the mine exploded and touched off an underground fire that burns still. Now only New Basin is left. Clem and Nina, best friends since childhood, and on the verge of being something more, are joined by Lisey and Piper as they journey deep into the abandoned mines of Moon Basin in search of the truth.

Cover of The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

I love Machado’s work, so I was beyond excited when I found out she would be contributing to the 2020 Hill House comic series! Her graphic novel, The Low, Low Woods, is about two teenagers, El and Octavia, who are best friends that grew up in the tiny town of Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. A strange forgetting illness has begun to affect the inhabitants of the town, stealing their memories as horrors stalk the streets of a town on fire. Its long burning coal mines abandoned but still aflame (sense a theme here?). When El and Octavia are infected, the two take it upon themselves to investigate the dark mysteries of their town before they loose themselves forever.

Cover of Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

This one probably sways the most towards dark fantasy, rather than being more fully horror. Our heroine Jessamyn hears the voice of her estranged grandmother, now a mysterious deity who is determined to make use of Jessamyn to settle a vengeful score. With that, plus the existence of a whole strange world full of danger, gods, ghosts, and secrets, I think there’s plenty here to keep dark fiction readers intrigued. And while I freely admit that I haven’t read Black Water Sister yet, the reviews I’ve seen suggest there might even be a few scenes that are down right, graphically scary. Cho described Black Water Sister as “A stressed zillennial lesbian fights gods, ghosts, gangsters & grandmas in 21st century Penang”, and I mean honestly what better inducement can I offer?

Cover of Dead Lez Walking by G Benson

Dead Lez Walking by G. Benson

I will never miss a chance to include zombies on absolutely any list where I can fit them. Particularly these days, when zombie apocalypse novels have taken on an additional shade of emotional significance. There’s something extra cathartic about a plague with a physical manifestation that you can actually fight. I doubt that comes as much a relief to Taren and Joy, though, as the hospital they work at is suddenly overtaken with the living dead. With a soured “almost romance” hanging between them, the two find themselves unable to avoid one another, trapped in the hospital with a group of other survivors. Their only way out is to work together and fight their way free. Which makes this a bit of an awkward time to find themselves falling in love. Did I specifically make room for this book because I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of the horror romance? Pfft. Of course I did.

Cover of This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

So this one might also fall more under the umbrella of dark fantasy, but it has plenty of creepy, Gothic goodness to sate horror readers. In This Poison Heart, Briseis finds herself spending the summer at the dilapidated estate of her dead aunt, surrounded by its vast gardens. There, Bri hopes that she will learn to control her extraordinary gift: the ability to grow plants from seed to full bloom with just a touch of her hand. But the estate is old, and dark, and one of its gardens is comprised of nothing but the world’s most deadly plants. As she falls into creating tinctures and elixirs for those who come to the estate seeking help, Bri meets Marie, a young woman keeping dark secrets, who knows more about the estate than she is letting on.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Speaking of queer horror in general, that wonderful terrible book that ruined my life (yes I’m talking about Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo) comes out next week and Unabridged Bookstore will be holding a virtual event to celebrate on Monday the 27th! That’s tonight folks!

October 19th TorDotCom Publishing is hosting an event to celebrate the publication of Zin E. Rocklyn’s fantastic cosmic horror novella, Flowers for the Sea!

It’s finally fall, which means Book Riot is ramping up its production of creepy good fun to make sure you’re Halloween reading seasons are well supplied. For shiny new YA horror to haunt your nights, check out this list by Kelly Jensen or stock up on indigenous horror with a little help from Ann-Marie Cahill.

As always, you can catch me on twitter at @JtheBookworm, where I try to keep up on all that’s new and frightening.