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.
A happy almost-Halloween to you! The big day is only a week away now, so if you haven’t laid in your stock of candy yet, get thee to a supermarket. In the meantime, I’ve got some exciting new releases and great backlist titles both for you this week, so let’s get creepy!
Bookish Goods
Gothic Literature Stickers by BookishStickerClub
I have to make a confession: I have a Sticker obsession. My book carts both have so many stickers and magnets, I’m nearly out of room! Which is why I am definitely, absolutely…probably not going to order this delightful set of Gothic inspired quote stickers. But if anyone else would like to indulge, there are seven to a set: one Gothic Literature sticker, and six stickers featuring quotes from famous works of Gothic literature.
$5
New Releases
They Were Here Before Us by Eric LaRocca
It’s tiiiiime! Copies of They Were Here Before Us are singing their way to readers and I can’t wait for you all to experience this book. It’s a series of unnerving vignettes that share a thematic heart, forming a single story of death, bodily destruction, and love. I’ve had the chance to read it and it’s amazing. Odd, dark, disgusting but beautiful — it’s everything I’ve come to expect from LaRocca’s work.
But reader be duly warned: I highly recommend heeding the content advisories in Doug Murano’s “Word of Warning” at the beginning of the book, BEFORE you read.
Sign Here by Claudia Lux
So irreverent dark comedy is probably one of my favorite subsets of horror. There’s nothing I like more than laughing (however uncomfortably!) at something even when horrified. The main character of this book is a mid-level office worker in Hell — which officially sounds like the worst office experience ever, and that’s saying something — just trying to make a career for himself by getting people to sell their souls. I’m obviously onboard. This particular denizen of Hell, Peyote Trip, is on a mission: get one last member of the rich, secretive Harrison family to sell their souls. But it seems even Peyote underestimated just how secretive the Harrison’s were, and when he sets his plan in motion, he kicks off a domino effect of dangers and exposed closet skeletons that could ruin the Harrisons entirely. Not to mention Peyote’s best laid plans.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Many of you are probably familiar with the first book in VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series, but if you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend adding Annihilation to your reading list. Especially if you’ve only seen the movie thus far. No judgement! I watched the movie first, too. But the book is so different and so gorgeous and weird that I honestly suggest forgetting everything you think you know about the story and picking it up. Our narrator, the Biologist, is one of four women who form the 12th expedition into the mysterious Area X, looking for answers about what it is, where it came from, and what it wants. Inside Area X they find a world in which biology has exploded into strange new forms of production, mutation, and growth, not just in the world around them but in their own bodies, as Area X creeps beneath their skin and transforms them into something…new.
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Lagoon is one of those genre straddling books that probably leans more towards science fiction in style, but that possesses plenty of horror to make readers of either genre happy. After all, it’s impetus is an alien invasion. First Contact. And all the horrors that ensue whenever the human race encounters something new that frightens it. Lagoon follows this fraught encounter between humanity and extraterrestrial life, as a massive object falls from the sky and lands in the ocean off the coast of Lagos. The descent of this impossible object unites the lives of three strangers — a marine biologist, a rapper, and a soldier — as they band together to save their country and their world.
After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones
And last but absolutely not last, 2014 brought us Stephen Graham Jones’ brilliant horror collection, After the People Lights Have Gone Off. If you have read one of Jones’ novels before, but have yet to read any of his short fiction, you are missing out. And this collection of stories, which won the This Is Horror award for Short Story Collection, and was nominated for both a Bram Stoker Award and a Shirley Jackson Award in the same category, is definitely where you should start. Fifteen tales of the supernatural and mundane turned terrible, both rendered in equally horrific detail.
Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth
Rachel Harrison was a recent guest of the Monster, She Wrote podcast, talking about “lady” werewolves and her newest book, Such Sharp Teeth!
If you’re as excited as I am for the release of Unthinkable: A Queer Gothic Anthology (and the rerelease of its sibling anthology, Unspeakable), be sure to register for the online launch event being held on October 27th!
Did you see the video of the line around the block at the opening of Butcher Cabin Books in Louisville this weekend? Horror readers are the best!
As always, you can catch me on twitter at @JtheBookworm, where I try to keep up on all that’s new and frightening.