Author: Jessica Avery

Read This Book: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date May 4, 2021

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

Malik and Karina stand on two separate sides of the same world, on the brink of a religious festival that comes only once every 50 years. For Malik, Solstasia means a new beginning not just of an era but of a new life in Ziran for himself and his two sisters, Nadia and Leila. Their home has been devastated by war, and what is left of their family cling to survival in a refugee camp, relying on the money that he and Leila will send back. But when Nadia accidentally makes a bargain with a dangerous dark spirit, Malik is forced to strike a deal as well: kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran. His sister’s life for that of the princess.

But when Malik joins the Solstasia champions in a bid to get closer to the princess, he doesn’t realize that he’s involved himself in another deadly game, this one of Karina’s making. Her mother, the Sultana, is dead; a closely guarded secret being kept from the thousands who flocked to Ziran for the celebrations. Karina has until the moment that secret gets out to stop it from being true. She will do whatever it takes to enact the ancient ritual that will bring her mother back from the dead, including marry the champion who wins the Solstasia competition as a means of acquiring the rarest component for the spell: the still-beating heart of a king.

Inspired by West African folklore, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin sings with color, music, and magic. And while there were some aspects the did feel underdeveloped at times, that didn’t at all detract from what ended up being an engaging, suspenseful battle of wills between the two protagonists caught up in magical forces far greater than themselves.

Happy Reading!
Jessica

The Fright Stuff

Some Scares Never Get Old

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 30, 2021

Sponsored by Emporia State University’s School of Library & Information Management.

The Masters of Library Science program at Emporia State University is an ALA accredited program that offers you the flexibility of online classes while also giving you a community of peers to build your professional network. Through a combination of instruction, students are able to form deep connections to the course work, professors, other students, and practicing professionals in libraries. ESU offers a quick and affordable way to earn your MLS, with most students completing their degree in two years – even while working a full-time job! To learn more, visit our website at www.emporia.edu/slim

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.‌

Grab your acid wash jeans and your flannel, it’s I Love the ’80s (and the ’90s) week on Fright Stuff! Some of the best horror on page or screen came out of the genre in the ’80s and ’90s. Okay, yes, and also the late ’70s. Maybe we should refer to the era as the long-1980s, then we can lump the late ’70s and early ’90s into the ’80s… I’m so sorry to my enlightenment literature professor, by the way, who introduced me to the phrase long 18th century and is probably writhing in mental agony at my misappropriation of that device. MOVING ON. The horror genre as we know it today just wouldn’t be the same without the horror of the ’80s and ’90s. Many of the tropes and archetypes that we still love in horror today had their first hurrah in those early mass market paperback days! So I thought this week we’d have a little fun with some horror titles either set in the ’80s and ’90s, and/or inspired by those vibrant (and often very strange) two decades of horror.

cirque berzerk by jessica guess cover rewind or die

Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess

Cirque Berserk is seriously becoming one of my go-to recommendations. Not only does it fit into so many categories that I love (creepy carnival horror, retro-horror, coming of age massacres), it’s hands down a really good book. In the summer of 1989, disaster strikes the town of Shadows Creek, Florida when a group of teens massacred a dozen people at the local carnival and then vanished. Thirty years later a new group of teens escape their boring senior trip and decide to explore the mystery of the infamous Cirque Berserk, unaware of the bloody dangers that lurk behind its gates.

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

Set in the New York City of the ‘90s, where it’s easy for people to just disappear and never to be seen again, Worm’s protagonist Monique is on a quest to find her missing girlfriend Donna. But it’s not just Donna who has vanished, and as other impoverished women start to disappear from the city streets, Monique begins to hear rumors of monsters stalking the city’s underbelly. In order to save Donna, Monique must follow the rumors deep into the world below New York, a subterranean kingdom of creatures, cultists, and an even more terrible, ancient evil lurking there in the dark.

The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones

Okay so I know that this is one of those books that I keep recommending over and over again but it’s just so good. The Last Final Girl is a love letter to slasher films, and in particular to the glory that is ’80s horror. Homecoming Queen Lindsay is a final girl. She survived – barely – the brutal attentions of Billie Jean, the sadistic murder in a Michael Jackson mask who was determined to kill her. She’s a legend. But Billie Jean isn’t done with Lindsey, and Lindsey’s not the only final girl in town. When the masked killer slaughters her royal court, Lindsay replaces them with other final girls, stacking the decks in her favor. One psycho killer vs a homecoming court full of final girls, all competing to be the last survivor standing when the credits roll.

Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw

I had the chance to read Mina and the Undead before it was released earlier this year and it really hit me right in the nostalgia sweet spot. If The Last Final Girl is a tribute to slasher films, this is Amy McCaw’s love letter to the vampire genre. Seventeen-year-old Mina travels from England to New Orleans to visit with her estranged sister Libby, excited to explore a city as steeped in vampire literary references as her home town of Whitby. But Mina gets more than she bargained for when she becomes embroiled in a series of violent murders that all seem to point to Libby. Technically, Mina and the Undead has only been released in the UK, but luckily you can still order a copy through Book Depository!

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Okay so Hendrix’s forthcoming book isn’t set in the ’80s or the ’90s like the rest of these books, but I had to include it on this list. Because The Final Girl Support Group wouldn’t exist without the horror of the late ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. We all know who the final girl is, most horror fans can name at least a handful without really having to think about it. She’s the one who survives. She’s the one who fights back. She’s every horror villain’s worst nightmare because her life spells their death. But what happens with the credits roll and the monster IS dead, but the final girl is still left standing? Lynnette is one of a group of former final girls who, years later, are just trying to put their lives back together. Until one of them goes missing.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

The latest episode of the Post Mortem Podcast features author and filmmaker Clive Barker in conversation with host Mick Garris about writing horror without boundaries.

We have some new haunting horror content for you over at Book Riot with this list of 15 Horror Movies Based on Books.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh who’s ready for Fear Street?! I’m so excited. All three Fear Street movies will be released on Netflix this summer as part of the streaming services “Summer of Fear”, and my wishlist is READY.

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

Read This Book

Read This Book: Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 27, 2021

Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long

So during lockdown I played a lot of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I mean a LOT. And if you’ve ever marathoned any kind of media, a book series, a show, a movie series, a video game – and I know most of you probably have – you know you get into a kind of headspace where all you crave is more of the same kind of content.

Then along came Hall of Smoke, which was everything I could possibly have asked for in a fantasy book at that exact moment. It hit me right in the DA:I sweet spot with it’s massive, mythic feel, it’s vivid landscapes, and it’s warrior heroine stuck right in the middle of a divine war. But what is divinity, really? Who gets to be considered divine? Are divine entities simply brought into being, as they might have us believe, and always divine – or are divine beings made? Do they rise to divinity? And is divinity bestowed upon them? Or is it a prize for a victor to seize?

These are the questions at the heart of Hall of Smoke as Hessa, an Eangi – a battle priestess of the Goddess of War – whose whole town and temple are slaughtered and whose Goddess has forsaken her, struggles to find justice for her people and redemption for herself in a world torn apart by war and fear. When the gods fight amongst themselves, mortals are inevitably trampled underfoot – and something far older, and long asleep, threatens to wake and throw all that Hessa thinks she knows about the gods, the nature of divinity, and herself, into chaos.

There is so much to love about this book, and since we still have something like 9 months until the sequel comes out next January I highly encourage you all to read Hall of Smoke and come join me in the book version of hiatus hell!

Happy Reading!

Jessica

The Fright Stuff

Sir, That’s My Emotional Support Alien

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 23, 2021

Sponsored by Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection.

In the horrifyingly beautiful feature story Lovesickness, Ryusuke returns to the town he once lived in only to find the same crossroads game he ran away from is increasing in popularity. Rumors begin to swirl about girls killing themselves after encountering a bewitchingly handsome man that coincidentally arrived in town at the same time. Harboring his own secret from time spent in this town, Ryusuke attempts to capture the beautiful boy and close the case, but what he finds is far more than he bargained for. This volume collects ten stories showcasing manga horror master Junji Ito in peak form.

Happy Alien Day, everybody! Who’s ready to get nerdy with me?

I’m sure it will surprise exactly none of you – especially since I went practically feral over Alex White’s Alien: Into Charybdis last month – but I am obsessed with the Alien franchise. It is my one true love, and a constant source of joy. You remember that meme going around that went “bitches be like this is my comfort movie” and then it would be a screen shot from some horror movie or some other equally unlikely film? Well I’m bitches and Alien is my comfort movie.

But as much as I love the Alien films, I love the Alien novels more! The Alien franchise would be a pale shadow of its detailed and expansive self were it not for its extensive novel canon and the cooperative efforts of many talented writers over the years. A book, particularly a lengthy book, will always do a better job of worldbuilding in detail than a film simply by virtue of having more leg room. That’s not meant to be a slam on film, or an absolute statement (there are some films that do incredible worldbuilding and some books that utterly fail at it). But when it comes to the Alien series, we really reap the benefits of so much additional content. Even novels like Scott Sigler’s Aliens: Phalanx or Mira Grant’s YA novel Alien: Echo, which standalone from the main storylines of the franchise, add color and explore the unlimited potential of this fictional universe.

It make sense that the Alien franchise would flourish as a series of books when its roots have always been literary. And though there are explicit references to mythology and literature in the series – for instance the various ships’ names; Nostromo and Sulaco from the novels of Joseph Conrad (a favorite of Ridley Scott’s, apparently), or the blatantly obvious Prometheus – it’s the larger scale themes of the franchise that truly speak to its literary heart.

One of the most present themes is, of course, the consequences of human greed – another tribute to Ridley’s fondness for Conrad, who often revisited the theme of the corruptive power of greed in his books. In the Alien films we are offered a front row seat to the unending grasping of the Weyland-Yutani corporation, the real and true evil in the Alien universe. But it’s in the companion novels to the film series that we see the real depth of The Company’s corruption and greed as they attempt to weaponize and monetize first the xenomorph and then, in the most recent generation of novels, the mysterious pathogen – plagiarus praepotens – with its horrific but immensely powerful mutagenic capabilities.

If you summed the heart of the Alien franchise up as “Capitalism Bad” you wouldn’t be far off your mark. But there are other themes in the franchise as well with obvious literary origins: the pursuit of the forbidden knowledge/science (in this case the act of creation), the responsibility of the creator to the created, and the betrayal of the creator by the created. These are massive, mythic themes, and I’m obsessed. There’s a direct line from the Prometheus myth to Milton’s Paradise Lost to Shelley’s Frankenstein clear to the Alien franchise, and I honestly think I could spend ages unpacking the way these themes intersect across mediums. Not to mention The Synthetic Question: that whole moral, ethical quandary – which Alex White has done amazing work with in their novels The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis, by the way – about what defines “a person” and what it means to create one.

You can pick up on these thematic intersections by watching the Alien films, of course. But the novels add so much depth and nuance to things that, on film, are the work of seconds. Since 2017 alone there have been 13 new Alien novels, and that’s not even taking into account the wealth of graphic novels which work in tandem with the novel canon to develop the ever expanding Alien universe. This franchise is thriving on the page!

That isn’t to say that we’ll never see the story carried forward in any other form of media, in fact most of you are probably aware that we are expecting a new video game this summer, Aliens: Fireteam, to which the newest novel in the franchise, Weston Ochse’s suspenseful Aliens: Infiltrator is actually the prequel! And somewhere out there in the aether lingers the sweet promise of a whole Alien series on Hulu…

But what we have seen, with Infiltrator and other recent novels, and what I hope we will continue to see with future novels, is that the map for the future of the Alien franchise is being developed on the page. Which is a brilliant set up, really! Prequels, sequels, interquels, and novelizations allow for multiple voices to have input in the franchise while also taking some of the burden of worldbuilding off of the more visual mediums. Can you play Fireteam without reading Infiltrator? Sure! But think of how much more depths the addition of 300+ pages of background and worldbuilding will give your playthrough!

Not that everything is picture perfect in Alien land. While we are awash in books to read, our pool of authors is almost bereft of diversity entirely. We desperately need authors of color, as well as more women and nonbinary authors. The Alien universe is vast and full of potential, and it will be a sad waste of that potential if efforts are not made to include new voices and perspectives to the mix. Still, the franchise is growing so I live in hope!

In the mean time, may I offer you a tasty sci-fi book by an author of color to add to your reading list along with your Alien picks? Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda would be a perfect space horror fit for Alien fans! I also highly recommend checking out Toxic by Lydia Kang, which is a fabulous space horror novel about a living space ship and the one young woman left on board.

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

Read This Book

Read This Book: A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 20, 2021

Sponsored by Harper Perennial, publisher of Goodbye, Again by Jonny Sun.

Jonny Sun, the wonderfully original author of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too, is back with a collection of essays and other writings in his unique, funny, and heartfelt style. With pieces that range from long meditations on topics like loneliness and being an outsider, to short humor pieces, conversations, and memorable one-liners. Jonny’s honest writings about his struggles with feeling productive, as well as his difficulties with anxiety and depression will connect deeply with his fans as well as anyone attempting to create in our chaotic world. It also features a recipe for scrambled eggs that might make you cry.

This week’s selection is one of those books that from the moment I heard about it I knew was going to 110% my thing, and one which, when I finally got my hands on it, proved to be even better than I had even imagined.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

S.T. Gibson had me sold on A Dowry of Blood from the moment that she announced she was working on a queer, polyamorous novel about Dracula’s brides. Dracula has been one of my favorite horror classics ever since I was a kid, so I’m always on board for adaptations, and Gibson has a style – Gothic lyricism embedded with religious imagery and abundant feeling – that proved a perfect foil for her subject. In Stoker’s original novel the Brides are but a footnote, seducing Jonathan in one chapter, foreshadowing the fate of poor Lucy Westenra, then eventually being beheaded by Van Helsing. With so little textual information to work with, Gibson has all the range in the world to tell a truly compelling novel of obsession, possession, fear, and love, and she really makes the most of it.

A Dowry of Blood is told from the perspective of Constanta, the first of three brides whom Dracula creates to be his companions over the course of the novel, and is written as a farewell letter to the man she loved and hated in equal measure. At its heart that is what the book is about, really: love, hate, and the ugly place in between where the two get blurred together. Dracula is in turns breathtakingly charming and painstakingly cruel. He collects lovers, his Brides, the way that others collect jewels, for their beauty, their fire, and sometimes even for their flaws. Through Constanta’s eyes we see both his cold emotional abuse and the tenderness he uses to reinforce it, we share in her fear and her devotion. And we cheer for her, Magdalena, and Alexi, when they finally decide that they have had enough.

I don’t know that I can do justice to the beauty of this novel in the short time I have to share it with you. All I can say is that if you love lush, poetic, gorgeous books, you don’t want to miss A Dowry of Blood.

Go forth and read!
Jessica

The Fright Stuff

Like a Tardis… But Scarier.

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 16, 2021

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Set in 1902, Plain Bad Heroines tells the linked stories of two sets of girls whose lives are entwined in the history of a mysterious New England boarding school (It’s always New England, right? All we have up here are creepy small towns and creepy, isolated boarding schools, apparently). There’s Flo and Clara, who were students at the school and died tragically, and over a century later, there’s Harper and Audrey, who are playing Flo and Clara in a horror film about their gruesome deaths and the supposedly haunted and cursed Gilded-Age school. When past and present get tangled up during filming what is real and what is fiction becomes increasingly uncertain.

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich

Set in the famous (or, in many ways, infamous) Lowell Textile Mills in 19th century Massachusetts, Malerich’s horror novella is about two young women embroiled in a worker’s strike at the mills. The success of the strike means fair wages, safe working conditions, and decent room and board for all the mill girls. So Judith, a newcomer to Lowell and ringleader of the strike, and Hannah, her best friend and possible love, will do whatever it takes to to make sure this strike does not fail. Thankfully, they’ve got witchcraft on their side to make sure the picket line holds.

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Set in Prohibition Georgia, Ring Shout imagines an alternative history of the South in which D.W. Griffith’s terrible The Birth of a Nation is actually a spell that gathers its power from the dark thoughts and wishes at the heart of the country and raises the Klan into a place of prominence as they spearhead a plot to unleashed a terrible evil. But whiskey bootlegger and magic sword wielder Maryse Boudreaux – along with her companions, a foul-mouth sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter – is ready to fight back. Her mission is to destroy the monstrous Klan members, she’s damn good at it, and she’ll do whatever it takes to stem the tide of hate that threatens to consume her entire world.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Ah, the Victorian Age. Era of extravagance. Era of invention. Era… of fucking creepy dolls. Now, I’ll grant you, the painted wooden figure in Purcell’s The Silent Companions is not exactly one of the terrifying porcelain faced dolls of my nightmares. But it’s still creepy. Terrifying really. And it looks uncannily like our heroine. Elsie was widowed almost as soon as she was married, her dreams of a luxurious life are in danger, her servants are resentful strangers, and the local villagers are downright hostile, making her a prisoner inside the home she once coveted. But she’s not alone in this prison, because behind a locked door she finds the strange wooden figure. One that terrifies the locals, though she doesn’t know why. One that has her face. And though she tries to dismiss it all as superstition and the strain of grief, there is something deeply unsettling about the way it follows her with its eyes.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

1926, Shanghai. Two gangs locked in a bloody feud have submerged the city in chaos in this Romeo and Juliette-inspired dark tale of vengeance and monsters. Eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai is heir to the Scarlet Gang, a powerful criminal network and the rivals of the White Flowers, with whom they have been at war for hundreds of years. Roma Montagov is, you guessed it, the heir to the White Flowers. Roma is also Juliette’s first love and the one who brutally betrayed her. Is there any thing better than lovers-to-enemies? So much loathing mixed with longing. So much unresolved sexual tension. But when a strange contagion starts to spread through both gangs, causing members to go mad and claw their own throats out in the end, Roma and Juliette have no choice but the try and put their past aside and work together to fight this unknown evil before all of Shanghai falls victim.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Danielle Trussoni (The Ancestor) wrote a piece for Crime Reads about the “Dizzying Allure” of mysteries set in the Alps, the setting of her 2020 novel.

The promotional boxes for The Last House on Needless Street are giving me LIFE, for real. How cute are these freaking boxes?

Horror. Themed. Sushi. This makes me so happy.

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

Read This Book

Read This Book: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 13, 2021

Sponsored by Farrar Straus and Giroux/MCD Books.

From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

My recommendation this week is one that, if you haven’t read it yet, you really must add to your TBR. In truth, telling someone they absolutely must read something – though usually the phrase is more an expression of enthusiasm than a directive – makes me feel bossy, because at the end of the day what you read is entirely your own choice! However, I am going to have to make an exception and tell you that if you have not read this book then you really should pick up a copy and give it a try. It is a fantasy novel par excellence, one that I have only just recently finished myself this weekend and have been thoroughly ruined by.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Surprising no one who is familiar with Jemisin’s talent and unmatched worldbuilding, The Fifth Season, book one of The Broken Earth series, was a Hugo Award winner in 2016. And I am the idiot who has let it languish in her TBR for three years, which I regret almost as much as the fact that I did not purchase the sequels and now no bookstore in a 20 mile radius has seen fit to stock them. Catastrophe!

Rather like the catastrophe that opens The Fifth Season, plunging the continent on which the novel is set into a fiery, ash-strewn apocalypse known to the locals as “The Season”. But while the devastation that follows the cataclysm underpins the present day portions of the plot, the novel is actually told over three separate but related timelines. There is Damaya, a young girl who has been exposed as an orogene – one who can control the seismic activity of the ground around her – and in an instant becomes both hated and feared. Syenite, a powerful orogene who has been sent on a mission that goes terribly wrong, exposing the dark underbelly of the world she thought she knew. And Essun, a women who has experienced more loss and grief than I have words to quantify, who sets out into a world torn asunder and set afire to find her daughter.

Go forth and read!
Jessica

The Fright Stuff

Finding Your Haunted Niche

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 9, 2021

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Check out this gorgeous cover art for the forthcoming spec fic anthology Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, edited by Dave Ring and set to be published by Neon Hemlock in October!

This folk horror anthology being crowdsourced over at Unbound is absolutely gorgeous The illustrations are creepy and atmospheric, and as far as collectable books go it’s definitely worth checking out. Pledging closes on April 25th, so it’s not to late to join in and pre-order your copy!

Don’t mind me, I’m just somewhat mesmerized by these Fabergé organs. Technically they’re not real – they’re digital images created as part of a pro-organ donation campaign from Brazil – but aren’t they stunning!?

Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls (an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre) is WAY up there on my shopping list for this fall, and would you just look at this gorgeous painting of the heroine by @ArthShahverdyan. So good.

This announcement for Jessica Lewis’ forthcoming book, right? Oh 2022 why are you so far away?

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

Read This Book

Read This Book: Green Rider by Kristen Britain

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 6, 2021

Sponsored by I’m Waiting for You by Kim Bo-Young.

Two worlds, four stories, infinite possibilities. One of South Korea’s most treasured writers explores the driving forces of humanity—love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence—in two pairs of thematically interconnected stories. Translated from Korean to English for the first time. “Kim Bo-Young has perfectly captured the longing and isolation of our contemporary moment… a timely reminder that longing and heartbreak can be as infinite as the universe, but also just as lovely.” — Micaiah Johnson, author of The Space Between Worlds

This last year has really impressed on me the need for comfort reads. So for my very first Read This Book I decided to call back to a fantasy series that I’ve been following since I was a kid, and which (despite its habit of causing me emotional pain) is a hands down, pre-ordering every book, languishing in the years between publications dates, favorite of mine that I think every high fantasy fan should add to their TBR.

Green Rider by Kristen Britain

To say that Karigan G’ladheon is having a bad day at the start of Green Rider is an understatement. Having been expelled from school after besting a bully with powerful parents, she’s doing the long walk of shame home to the coast and hoping she can beat the dean’s letter to her father’s house. Then she nearly gets run down in the lane by a rider in green, with arrows sticking out of his back. You know. Typical Tuesday.

The rider is one of the royal Green Riders, magically gifted legendary messengers to the king. The message the rider carries is life and death, and he makes Karigan swear that she will take his sword, his rider’s pin, and his horse and deliver the message to the King. What seems like a straightforward promise to a dying man throws Karigan’s whole world into chaos. Soon she’s riding hellbent for the capitol, pursued by assassins and an even deadlier man in grey whose purpose is far more sinister than she can guess and threatens the future of all of Sacoridia.

Like many fantasy series, Britain’s Green Rider series has been a long time in production. The titular novel originally came out in 1998, and the most recent novel, Winterlight, will be out this September. Each of the books clocks in at over 400 pages (the most recent installment was a whopping 800+ pages), so tackling the whole series can be a bit of a time commitment. But if you’ve been looking for a new fantasy series to tackle there are currently six books published, and if you are a fan of high fantasy series with detailed world building, an endearing cast of characters, plenty of action, and a splash of romance (so much pining – this series is defined by its romantic pining), there is no series I’d be happier to recommend!

Go forth and read!

Jessica

The Fright Stuff

April is for Terror, Not Just for Tulips!

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date April 2, 2021

Blessed Monsters by Emily A Duncan (April 6)

I ordered the books in this newsletter based on released date, not on how badly I want to read them. But I have to confess that I might have put this one first regardless, because I am desperate to get my hands on it. This also gives me a chance to once again recommend this dark fantasy series to horror readers looking for books that successfully bridge the genre lines. As much cosmic horror (so. many. eyes.) as it is dark fantasy, this Slavic-inspired setting is peopled with bloody magic, hungry gods, and (again) so SO many eyeballs. In places that eyeballs really should not be. Blessed Monsters is the final book in this trilogy, so if you’ve been looking for a completed series to marathon, now’s your chance!

Near the Bone by Christina Henry (April 13)

I’ve already had the pleasure of reading Near the Bone, and it is 100% everything I want in a horror novel. The isolation, the deep and growing sense of dread, it’s fantastic. Mattie and William have been living on the mountain for longer than she can remember, just the two of them. Until the day that Mattie finds a mutilated fox in the woods and realizes that there is someone or something on the mountain with them. Lurking in the trees, making terrible noises, savaging the wildlife with sharp teeth and claws. But when a group of strangers appears to hunt the creature in the woods they don’t just pose a threat to the monster. Their unwelcome presence makes William angry, and Mattie knows how dangerous it can be when William gets angry.

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (April 20)

From the author of last year’s chilling The Silence of the Bones comes a new story about families, secrets, and deception. Hwani’s family and life have fallen apart ever since she and her younger sister vanished and were found unconscious in the forest on the edge of a crime scene. Though the family fled their small village to escape the incident, some histories are not so easily banished. Years later Hawni’s father, Detective Min, is drawn back to their hometown by the unsolved cases of 13 other girls who recently vanished under similar circumstances as his own daughters. But when he returns to investigate, he too vanishes, leaving Hwani to follow in his footsteps in an attempt to find her father and finally put an end to the mystery that tore her family apart.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart (April 20)

Based on the early reviews I’ve seen, Witches Steeped in Gold is going to be a deliciously dark edition to both the fantasy and horror genres. This Jamaican-inspired fantasy pits two enemy witches against a powerful queen, forcing them into an uneasy alliance in order to take her down. Iraya has lived her whole life in a cell, plotting her revenge. Jasmyne is the queen’s daughter, and determined not to be the next body in a long line of daughters sacrificed to strengthen their mother’s power. Though she and Iraya are sworn enemies, they are left with no choice but to combine forces and pursue, at any cost, the queen who threatens both their lives.

A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus (April 27)

Okay so by now we all know that I adore a short fiction collections, yes? And since I also have an obsession with themes of transformation in horror (thanks Mary Shelley), obviously I am super excited for trans author Callum Angus’ forthcoming debut collection A Natural History of Transition. Angus’ collection “disrupts the notion that trans people can only have one transformation” as its characters undergo incredible, unusual, and at times alarming changes, exploring what it means to “become”. Described as a mix of alternative history, horror, and magic steeped realism, Angus’ first collection promises to be a memorable introduction to a talented new author.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Need more titles to pad out your April reading list? Or maybe your 2021 TBR in general? The Ladies of Horror Fiction, Bloody Disgusting, and Night Fire all have 2021 new release lists for you to peruse!

Author Kate Doughty (The Follower) wrote a fascinating guest post for the Ladies of Horror Fiction blog about “The Alternate Reality of Internet Horror” and the way in which social media is being used to craft new, exciting forms of horror.

May 21st is the 5th Annual Stoker Con /HWA Librarian’s Day! This year it is also a part of StokerCon 2021, and $75 dollars will get you access to the whole con, not just Librarian’s Day. Becky Spratford has a fantastic thread over on twitter with all the details you need to get signed up as well as a full schedule for the event!

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