Category: The Fright Stuff

Happy Birthday, Stephen King!

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date September 17, 2021

Fresh From the Skelton’s Mouth

Emily Martin over at Book Riot has a list of 2021 horror novels to keep you well stocked with scares!

Janelle Janson interviewed Stephen Graham Jones about his most recent book and slasher tribute novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw, for Nightfire.

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

The Fright Stuff

In Which Marsupials Are Generally Terrifying

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date September 10, 2021

The Roo by Alan Baxter

This was The First book that I thought of when I decided on this topic. In fact I’m pretty sure that that cover has permanent residence in my subconscious (and my nightmares). Right next to that terrifying video of that real life kangaroo trying to get into some guy’s house that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. The claws! Why does it have claws?! Basically: Kangaroos are terrifying. Which means that they make for perfect foil for some classic creature horror in Alan Baxter’s The Roo in which an evil kangaroo menaces a remote little town, taking out the inhabitants one by one. The locals are going to have to join forces if they want to survive this hippy-hoppy menace from hell.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

I didn’t get acquainted with Christina Henry’s work until this year, but I’m definitely well on a way to becoming a fan. She’s got fantastic range, and having Near the Bone be the first book of hers I read was a good life choice. It’s also a book that I wanted to include on this list because there is a genuinely creepy wolf/bear/monster/thing in this book, capable of snatching a grown man clean off his feet in the blink of an eye. But, it’s not the only, or the biggest monster in this book. Yes, Mattie and the cryptozoology enthusiasts trying to rescue her from the mountain are trying to make it to the bottom without getting monster snatched. But they wouldn’t be trying to rescue her in the first place if it weren’t for William, the real monster in this book, who has kept Mattie captive on the mountain since she was child. The monster was scary, but it was definitely William I wanted to stab.

Playing Possum by Stephanie Rabig

Okay, so, technically this is a were-possum (omg that just make’s me so happy) book, but aside from poor Tiffany’s sudden marsupial evolution, Playing Possum is really about a small town being pitted against, and I quote, an army of “ravenous furry hell-beasts”. So it qualifies. It also gets bonus points for being queer horror! Tiffany’s life was going pretty well before her late night encounter with the possum of doom, she was even saving up to buy an engagement ring for her partner. Let’s just hope Vanessa doesn’t mind dating a were-possum, because ever since that parking lot run in, Tiffany’s been acting a bit… odd. I love this book so much. We have a delightful small town ensemble cast, including our leads, a deadly (cuddly) army of killer possums, and I honestly ask you: what else do you need?

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Two words: Elk. Monster. One more word: Antlers. Listen, antlers are one of the gnarliest accessories in nature. Putting aside what they can do to us and all our vulnerable organs if applied correctly, have you ever seen an elk or a deer shed its velvet in the fall? Look it up, it’s amazingly disgusting. Now here’s were I admit that I hesitated to add The Only Good Indians to the list because technically the Elk Head Woman isn’t really an elk/animal/beast-thing. Not all the time, anyway, and not entirely. But I solemnly swear that this book will make you look sideways at every antlered animal that crosses your path, possibly for the rest of your days. And you didn’t even do anything to make the elk lady angry! But the four male leads of the novel did, and she will not stop until she has exacted her revenge on each one of them in as violent a manner possible.

Up From the Deep by Vaughn A Jackson

Confession: my only real exposure to kaiju is the 1998 Godzilla movie, which I grew up with. Which I love, fight me. But I love the idea of giant creatures doing whatever it is kaiju… do? Knocking over buildings, eating some people, you know. The norm. Anyway! Ancient creature that’s basically a giant crocodile-thing from the Mariana Trench with a mouth full of teeth that are probably as long as I am tall? Yes, please. Awakened by a covert operation gone awry, this sleepy lizard baby is not happy that someone woke it up before its alarm, and it’s ready to wreak some havoc. The detective responsible for waking the creature finds himself teaming up with a couple of “Kaiju groupies” in an attempt to bring it down before it can cause anymore damage. But they’re up against not just the creature itself but also the shadowy criminal organization determined to harness the creature’s power to conquer the world.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

The 2020 This is Horror Award winners have been announced! Get ready to load up those TBRs for the long winter ahead.

Ready to make the jump from creatures to full-blown monsters? Anne Mai Yee Jensen has a fantastic list of horror books about monsters for you over at Book Riot. Or if you prefer (mostly) human monsters, make sure to check out K.W. Colyard’s list of the slasher novels!

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

The Fright Stuff

Hello Horror, Goodbye Shelf Space

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 27, 2021

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (September 7)

I have been looking forward to Certain Dark Things ever since Nightfire announced that they were going to re-release it. The new cover is a neon dream, and you can never go wrong with vampires! In Mexico City, street kid Domingo is just trying to survive when he meets vampire-on-the-run Atl. Atl is the descendent of Aztec blood drinkers, on the run from a rival vampire clan. Their meeting happens by chance, but as time goes on the two find themselves working together to escape the dark streets with their lives (life and un-life?) intact. I’ve heard that Moreno-Garcia’s vampire worldbuilding is really unique, and I’m excited to get to read it with my own eyes!

Cover of The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates

The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates (September 7)

I just recently finished the excellent haunted house story by the Queen of Extremely Suspect Realty herself, and let me tell you, if you are looking for a clever, creepy take on the classic haunted house narrative, The Haunting of Leigh Harker needs to be on your radar. Something is living in Leigh’s house, stalking her every move. But the more that she fights back, determined not to be locked out of her own home, the more strange and unexpected things become. Something is deeply wrong with the door beneath the stairs. The very house around her seems to sicken and rot, and if Leigh can’t find out why she may be next.

Cover of The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw

The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (September 7)

I know I’ve been talking this book up higher than the starry firmament it’s set in, but I am a simple girl. And this simple girls likes space, scary things, and scary things in space. And I just know that Khaw is going to deliver. Starring a cast of former criminals, as broken as they are dangerous, The All-Consuming World pits its unusual band of protagonists against a universe ruled by powerful, evolved AI who will do anything to maintain their control. The answer to defeating them and regaining control of the universe lies with the secret at the heart of a plant called DImmuborgir, but between their own traumas and a fleet of something called “sapient ageships” (just contemplating what that might mean is conjuring up some horrible potential concepts) the odds seem insurmountable.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson (September 14th)

You’ve seen White Smoke on Fright Stuff before, more than once, and now it’s finally almost release day for one of best haunted house stories of the fall. For Marigold, recently arrived from her California hometown by the sea, Cedarville is supposed to be a new beginning. But there’s something sinister lurking beneath the renovated facade of their new house. Things move on their own, doors open, lights turn off. Marigold sees shadows, hears voices, and there’s a bad smell inside that house that no one else seems to notice. The more she learns about the house, the more she realizes that the danger isn’t contained just within its wall. All of Cedarville is haunted by secrets from its past that will no longer be contained.

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom (September 14)

This book was so not what I expected, in the very best way, and I cannot wait to hold a finished copy in my hands and read it all again. Fantastical and horrifying, Slewfoot is a dark, magical story about how monsters, and witches, are made. And listen, if you are an aesthetics person, or a book collector, you are going to want this gorgeous, semi-illustrated hardcover. When Abitha is widowed suddenly by a suspicious accident, she finds her self desperately trying to hold on to her freedom in the midst of a pious and patriarchal society that would rather see her tucked neatly under the thumb of another man. Enter Slewfoot, a newly woken spirit who, like Abitha, is searching for his place in the world for good or for evil.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (September 28)

I feel like that Elmo fire gif. Just throwing my arms up like “IT IS TIME”. But listen, if you like your horror gothic, queer, and critical of the institutional academia, Summer Sons needs to be on your September list. Andrew and Eddie have always been inseparable, ever since they were kids. Until Eddie dies suddenly, just days before Andrew was supposed to join him for their grad program at Vanderbilt. He leaves Andrew a car, a small fortune, a house, a pile of secrets, and a haunt that clings to Andrew’s shadow, dropping hints that Eddie’s death was not all that it seems.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

As I said, the titles on this list are just a small selection of the amazing books being released this September. So if you’re looking for even more horror to add to your fall reading lists, make sure to check out Nightfire’s list of all the horror books they’re excited about in 2021!

Speaking of horror content, over at Book Riot we’ve got 8 of the Best Horror Books To Creep You Out This Fall, and 10 of the Best Horror Novels Featuring Cults. Which, I mean, I am always down for creepy cult times. Anyone else?

There’s an excellent essay on the Tor blog about the Gothic! Don’t miss “Becoming the Thing That Haunts the House: Gothic Fiction and the Fear of Change”

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

The Fright Stuff

A Gilead for a New Age

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 20, 2021

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Have a new horror reader in your life? Addison Rizer has a guide to Horror Books for Beginners over at Book Riot.

The 2020 Shirley Jackson Award winners have been announced!

Need more stabby slasher books? (Trick question, you always need more stabby slasher books.) Sadie Hartmann put together a TikTok of recommendations just for you!

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

The Fright Stuff

“Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 13, 2021

Sponsored by Harper Perennial, publisher of When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen.

Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south more than a decade ago. But now she’s back in Kipsen to attend the wedding of her childhood best friend, Celine at the Woodsman plantation which has recently been transformed into a lush vacation resort. But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history and there are rumors that can’t be ignored: whisperings that the ghosts of enslaved people roam the property, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them. And many of those descendants are guests at Celine’s wedding…

Lately, I’ve found myself haunted by a recurring thought while reading. One that won’t let me be. I suppose it could be because of the books that I’m choosing, or the stories that I find myself drawn to, especially as fall closes in. It first appeared when I was reading The Scarlet Letter last month. Then it subsided for a little while, only for me to get to the end of Plain Bad Heroines the other day, and there it was again. Alright, I thought, well that’s not surprising. It takes place in New England, after all, and centers independent, queer women.

Then, just a few nights before sitting down to write this week’s newsletter, I read Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The Foreigner” for the first time, as part of the same New England Gothic reading project that had me picking up The Scarlet Letter. And low and behold, as I neared the thick of the story, there again comes that same old thought:

“It always comes back to this.”

The this, in this case, being witchcraft. Or, more accurately, the accusation thereof against someone living outside the mold of society, in one way or another. I’ve found that a witch panic is one of those things that I never build up a resistance too. It is always consistently upsetting when the whispering starts, and the dread begins to build, and you know – because we all know – how ugly it’s going to get once the word “Witch” finally manifests. And I guess that’s what makes it such good horror. One of the genres strengths is taking things that frighten or disturb us in real life, amplifying them, and giving us a safe place to deal with what they make us feel.

What they make me feel, specifically, is rage. The incandescent sort of rage that I often feel when I look at what’s going on in the world around me. The difference being that bad things happen to judgmental, persecutory puritans in fiction. Every cruelty they visit upon the victims of their witch panic is returned to them in full. Whether their targets were already witches, or whether the violence and fear visited upon them made them turn to witchcraft in search of justice, evil reaps what evil sewed. And there’s something delightfully cathartic about that cosmic comeuppance. Don’t you think?

So this week we’re celebrating books that flip the cauldron – so to speak – on the human-shaped monsters that hunt down “witches”, only to realize that they have bitten off much more than they chew. So light the fires, and get ready to dance! Let’s conjure a little vengeance.

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Immanuelle Moore is an outcast. Among the pious, obedient people of the lands of Bethel, where the word of their Prophet is law, she is viewed as an aberration despite her best attempts to submit and conform. Nothing that Immanuelle does, or doesn’t do, will ever erase her mother’s shame, no matter how obedient or devoted she tries to become. But when a mishap lands her in the terrifying Darkwood that surrounds Bethel – a places of witches, spirits, and evil – leads Immanuelle to unexpected answers about her mother, and about the dark truth behind the Church of Bethel, she finds herself faced with a difficult choice. Bethel is her home, whether she “belongs” there or not, and it is being threatened by forces not from the Darkwood, but from within the walls of Bethel itself. Immanuelle may hold the key to saving the people from themselves, if she wishes. Or she can leave them to their grim fate.

Boneset and Feathers by Gwendolyn Kiste

Odette knows the danger of crossing path with the witchfinders. Her entire family is gone, executed for witchcraft, and she was lucky to escape with her life. No amount of magic was enough to save her mother and sister, and now Odette is alone, living in an exile of her own choosing. She lives deep in the woods outside her village, swearing off magic and hoping only for peace. But she ought to have realized that in a world of superstition and witch-hunts, peace was too much for a known witch to ask. When her magic begins to spin out of her control, menacing the village, it summons the return of the witchfinders. And this time they will not stop until Odette is dead, leaving her no choice but to defend herself. By any means necessary.

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Abitha is already betrothed to a stranger when she arrives at the Puritan colony that is to become her home, only to find herself widowed almost as quickly as she became a bride. Now she stands alone, trying to keep hold of her sudden freedom in the midst of a pious and patriarchal society that would rather see her tucked neatly under the thumb of another man. Slewfoot is a newly woken spirit who, like Abitha, is searching for his place in the world, for good or for evil. When suspicious deaths in the colony give rise to rumors of witchcraft, and Abitha and Slewfoot must decide who they will be and how they will survive in a world determined to see them hang.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

This Nightfire essay on the use of Killer Color in Mexican Gothic is amazing! I totally nerded out, and now I need a re-read so that I can circle every mention of color inside of High Place. Obsession INTENSIFIES.

Make sure you head over to Book Riot and add some terrifying YA graphic novels to your reading list for the fall!

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

The Fright Stuff

Life Eternal? No Thank You, I’m Tired

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date August 6, 2021

Sponsored by Evil Eye: A Slasher Story by April A. Taylor.

Bestselling author April A. Taylor returns with this terrifying story! Six diverse strangers get stuck on an island during a roaring hurricane. They have nothing in common, but five of them will have to join forces to survive the night. Meanwhile, the sixth wants nothing more than to kill every single one of them. Join Annette, Chad, Heather, Spencer, and Kate on the worst night of their lives. Can they survive or will the killer maniacally laugh while eviscerating them? Filled with gore, terror, and the little moments between humans that can make or break their budding friendships.

I have always loved vampires, and even when I shifted away from reading horror for several years, vampires were the one thing I held onto. But I would not want to be one.

I mean sure, on the surface being a vampire seems like The Best. You get to see the world, living for hundreds of years means getting to do all the things that your short mortal lifespan suggested you’d never get to do, and you’ll finally have time to read all those books in your TBR that you’ve been staring at for years. (Oh. Self-burn.) But the older I get the more I realize: yeah, a vampire never needs to sleep. They get to travel the world. They’re too strong for anyone to fuck with, and they no longer have to fear death or the ticking clock.

But wow they must get tired.

Look, I can barely make it to Friday most weeks. Live forever? Maybe I’ll just take a nap. I love vampires, and I love to read about vampires, but like a lot of things in horror (I see you, evil clowns), vampires are definitely a lot more fun when they’re fictional. So let’s toast to the fangy friends we love the most in this week’s Fright Stuff, as we explore some truly tasty vampire reads.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Oh, hey, it’s me, once again begging you to read A Dowry of Blood, because I am obsessed with this book. It’s the perfect vampire book; it’s gorgeous, romantic, dark, violent, and polyamorous! A Dowry of Blood is the story of Dracula’s brides, told from the perspective of Constanta, the first of three brides whom Dracula creates to be his companions over the course of the novel. It is written as a farewell letter to the man she loved and hated in equal measure, detailing a hundred lifetimes of tenderness, abuse, and the unexpected love that develops between she and her fellow brides.

Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw

If you’re looking for a fun, creative, somewhat creepy vampire book for your TBR, you want Mina and the Undead. It’s a love letter to the 90’s vampire craze, and you know I love my nostalgic retro-horror reads. 17-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 you can still order a copy through Book Depository, and you definitely should!

Vampires Never Get Old

I always love a good anthology, but this anthology in particular was one of my favorite books of 2020. Vampires Never Get Old, and vampires also never go out of style, but there’s no denying that for a while there they did fall somewhat out of favor. So I was super excited for Vampires Never Got Old, and the resurgence of my favorite undead. Authors with stories in the anthology include Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley, which is quite a line up! And one of the things that I love best about this collection is that it runs the gamut of vampire fiction, from the genuinely creepy to the romantic. But whether scary or dreamy, each of these stories pays homage to the vampire stories and myths we love so much.

New Cover of Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (September 7)

One month to go, people! One month and I will finally get to read Certain Dark Things, with it’s drop dead (ba dum tish) gorgeous new cover in its shiny new edition from Tor Night Fire. Of the vampire books on my to-read list, this one has been sitting right at the top for ages, and I’m so glad that it’s finally going to be back in print. In Mexico City, street kid Domingo is just trying to survive when he meets vampire-on-the-run Atl. Atl is the descendent of Aztec blood drinkers, on the run from a rival vampire clan. Their meeting happens by chance, but as time goes on the two find themselves working together to escape the dark streets with their lives (life and un-life?) intact.

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl (September 14)

See, the joy/danger of writing these newsletters is all the new books I discovered that would have otherwise slipped under my radar! Which would have been terrible, considered that The Lost Girls is 100% everything I could possibly want in a book. Elton Irving is a serial vampire maker. He prays on teenage girls, promising them eternal love then abandoning them when the shine wears off his newest toy. Holly Liddell was one of Elton’s victims, turned in 1987 and now she’s stuck at sixteen forever, in a dead end job with no future and no end in sight. But things get interesting the night she meets Rose and Ida, two of Elton’s previous victims, who want her help to finally destroy him before he can harm another girl. Holly may be angry with Elton, but she’s not sure she’s angry enough to kill until she finds herself unexpectedly falling for Parker, Elton’s next victim.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Speaking of vampires, did you see Rin Chupeco’s recent announcement!?

Over at Book Riot we have some stellar Horror coverage going on, from bookish references in the Fear Street trilogy, to horror books that will have you definitely reconsidering your next camping trip.

And Gwendolyn Kiste is serving up some scary fairy tales for you on the Nightfire blog!

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

The Fright Stuff

Ringing in the End of (Summer) Days

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date July 29, 2021

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It is my favorite day of the month, ghouls and goblins. It’s new releases day! Every month on the first Monday of the month it is my pleasure to list for you some of the forthcoming releases that I am most excited about. Let me tell you, from here until that most haunting of holidays, Halloween, our months are jam-packed with horror! It’s going to be a great season. The humid, sweaty slog of summer is nearly over, Autumn is in the offing, and what better way to welcome in the dying of the year than with some new books?

So clear your calendars and make room on your TBRs for these fantastic August new releases!

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper (August 1st)

Oh yeah. Months of waiting, but folks it is finally time! What better way to kick of your August reading than with Hailey Piper’s newest, teeth-tastic horror novel. When Yaya Betancourt discovers that she has spouted teeth in her vagina, she assumes that it is a side effect of a pharmaceutically induced genetic condition that she and thousands of others developed in the womb with a little help from AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical. Whoops. But when she realizes that ABP is determined to hunt her down after her incident of toothy sprouting, and when her condition suddenly… worsens… Yaya has to consider the possibility that there may be another, darker motive behind ABP’s pursuit.

Tidepool by Nicole Willson (August 3rd)

You know how sometimes you trip across one of those books that’s just an instant purchase/preorder? Yeah. I have been (im)patiently waiting for Tidepool, and I am so glad that’s almost here! It’s 1913, and Sorrow Hamilton’s brother Henry has gone missing from the small town of Tidepool. Despite her father’s demand that she remain home in Baltimore, she sets out to find her brother. When eviscerated bodies start washing up with the tide, Sorrow has to consider the possibility that when it comes to Tidepool and its secrets, she may be in way over her head.

cover of the dead and the dark by courtney gould

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (August 3rd)

Finally. Come to my arms delightful, queer small town YA horror novel. Two girls – Logan, whose dads are the stars of the popular TV ghost hunting show ParaSpectors, and Ashley, a Snakebite native whose boyfriend has gone missing – face off against a small town full of secrets, slipping slowly into chaos. Ashley’s boyfriend was only the first in a string of missing teenagers, and now he’s returned to haunt her. The only one she can trust is Logan as the pair’s investigation into the town’s secrets threatens everything they believe they know about Snakebite, their families, and themselves.

Mine by Delilah S. Dawson (August 10th)

You know that horror trope where the unsuspecting family movies into a new house in a new town and a new state and it’s supposed to be their fresh start? Forget the past, honey! Everything’s going to be great here in Haunted House in Murder, U.S.A.! (Okay not really but you get the point.) Well for Lily’s family, the move to Florida that really was suppose to be their beginning couldn’t be off to a worse start. The house is disgusting, full of trash with a slime ridden pool in the backyard and an old dock crumbling away into the creepy swamp out back. But the worst part is that Lily is pretty sure the house is haunted, and no one will believe her.

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis (August 24th)

Hang onto your bookmarks, folks, because I’ve been hearing some amazing things about Jessica Lewis’ Bad Witch Burning. If you like your books dark, emotional, and witchy (with a side of necromancy for good measure) this is going to be one YA horror novel you will not want to miss! Katrell makes her living talking to the dead. But while clients are happy to pay her for access to their dead loved ones, they don’t pay well enough. So when a routine summoning goes wrong, resulting in Katrell accidentally raising a spirit from the dead and her realizing how much money there is to be made from a little light necromancy, she jumps at the chance to put poverty behind her. Even warnings from the dead themselves can’t slow her down. But the bigger the magic the higher the price, and the dark is circling, waiting for Katrell to fall.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (August 31st)

I am absolutely going to die a slow death waiting for the end of August when I can finally get my hands on My Heart is a Chainsaw. I have been making grabby hands at this slasher-inspired horror for months, and I am so excited. Jade Daniels has always been an outsider in Proofrock, the small lake town she grew up in that is now slowly being over run by gentrification. In her anger and her loneliness, Jade turns to horror for comfort, letting herself get lost in a world of masked killers and revenge. But when Proofrock’s wealthy newcomers begin dying in bizarre ways, Jade realizes that there is a familiar pattern to their deaths. A pattern that only she can see, and that may foretell a massacre in the making.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

As always, if you are looking for even more exciting August horror releases (particularly since I ran out of room for all the amazing titles being published this month) be sure to visit the grand champion of lists that is Nightfire’s “All the Horror Books We’re Excited About in 2021”.

Speaking of TBR additions: The Ladies of Horror Fiction Award recipients have been announced!

This article by Ally Russell (@AllyOutThere) is a wonderful (and all too relatable) discussion about growing up as a horror fan.

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

The Fright Stuff

Set Phasers to Scream

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date July 23, 2021

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

Dr. Grace Park is a psychologist stationed on the survey ship Deucalion, bound for the distant planet of Eos on a colonization mission. There are thirteen crew members, not including herself, all highly trained and educated specialists, all part of a team meant to assess Eos’ potential for colonization. But Dr. Park might not have been the best choice for this mission. She’s the opposite of a people person, and prefers the company of the ships androids, whereas the other humans can’t stand the androids and certainly don’t trust them. As you might expect, things start to deteriorate rapidly once the survey ship reaches Eos, stranding its occupants in a massive radiation storm amidst a sudden epidemic of paranoia and waking nightmares. We Have Always Been Here is high on my to-read list, and I am particularly excited to see how Nguyen explores the complex relationship between humans and artificial lifeforms, which seems even more fraught than usual on the Deucalion!

Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White

I can hear you saying “Jessica, no. Please. No more Alien.” But shhhhhhhh. Just one. Because not only is Into Charybdis my favorite Alien novel, it’s also a gripping sci-fi horror in its own right that will appeal to lovers of space horror whether they’re Alien fans or not. Part of the reason that I love Into Charybdis so much is that White takes the themes of greed, corporate corruption, and militaristic capitalism (among others) that have been apart of the franchise since the beginning and weaves a nail-biting action horror novel in which the iconic xenomorphs are actually the least scary monster in attendance. A communications crew arrives on a distant planet to set-up environmental systems for the new Hasanova Data Solutions colony, a massive, deep space data bank. But this new station has old bones, and something even older is lurking beneath the surface, waiting to be rediscovered. And when a strange new organism is unleashed on the surface by an unknown vessel, what should have been a routine tech operation quickly devolves into chaos and terror.

The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (September 2021)

I’m sorry, did you not say that you wanted even more A.I. vs. humans in your space horror? Because listen, I can already tell that this September release from Cassandra Khaw is going to be so good. Starring a cast of former criminals, as broken as they are dangerous, The All-Consuming World pits its unusual band of protagonists against a universe ruled by powerful, evolved A.I. who will do anything to maintain their control. The answer to defeating them and regaining control of the universe lies with the secret at the heart of a plant called Dimmuborgir, but between their own traumas and a fleet of something called “sapient ageships” (just contemplating what that might mean is conjuring up some horrible potential concepts), the odds seem insurmountable. I fell head over heels for Khaw’s sinister Nothing But Blackened Teeth recently, so I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes (January 2022)

Y’all, I am so excited. Dead Silence has been giving me Event Horizon vibes since I first read the synopsis and I am so ready to add another legend to my collection of deep space haunted house favorites. The Aurora has been missing for 20 years. She was a luxury ship destined to carry the rich and famous through the stars, and had on board hundreds of crew members and guests – the elite of the elite – when she disappeared. All now presumed dead. That is, until an unexpected emergency signal from the legendary phantom pings Claire’s salvage ship and tempts them with the richest treasure yet pulled out of deep space. But, like all good haunted houses, what looks like a fine prize from the outside turns into a hellscape on the inside. The Aurora, seemingly abandoned, floats empty among the stars, her decks full of horrors. When Claire’s crew starts experiencing violent hallucinations onboard the ship, Claire has to fight against her own mind to keep them all safe and get them off the Aurora before they join the ranks of the missing.

Fresh from the Skeleton’s Mouth

Grady Hendrix’s amazing slasher tribute novel, The Final Girl Support Group, is getting adapted into a series for HBO! And horror fans rejoice because it’s being directed and produced by (among others) Andy and Barbara Muschietti of IT (parts 1 and 2) fame!

There are so many great books to read and so little time, right? If you’re looking for some shorter reads to fill out your list, check out these horror recommendations for titles under 200 pages!

This Nightfire thread of horror recommendations is broken down by geographic region and will have you screaming your way across America in no time!

Speaking of Nightfire, can we please take a minute to shout about ths GORGEOUS (and delightfully pink/blue/teal) cover reveal of Catroina Ward’s forthcoming novel, Sundial. It’s amaaaaaaaazing. I am strangely compelled to rub my face on it.

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

The Fright Stuff

Ghost in the Mycelium

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date July 16, 2021

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Does the new Fear Street trilogy have you looking to indulge in some ’90s Teen Horror? Then head over to Book Riot for a brief history of teen horror in the 1990s and some spine-chilling recommendations for your TBR!

We’re getting Clown in a Cornfield II! Every great slasher deserves a sequel, so get ready for another corn-filled, candy-flavored kill fest Fall of 2022.

Why have one werewolf story when you can have a whole anthology! The TOC for September’s Were Tales anthology is first class, so make sure to follow Brigids Gate Press for all the details!

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

The Fright Stuff

If I’m Going to Swelter, At Least Make it Gothic

Post author By Jessica Avery
Post date July 9, 2021

Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror by Eden Royce

When diving headfirst into a new subgenre and/or a new author, I always like to start with a collection. Short fiction is such a fantastic way to gauge an author’s range or a subgenre’s flavor. You get the opportunity to discover both in Eden Royce’s fantastic collection of southern gothic horror stores. As the book’s synopsis suggests, Royce’s specialty is lavishly Gothic settings that set the stage for the sinister and strange, and as someone who really appreciates a perfectly wrought setting I am certainly a fan. If you enjoy Royce’s collection too, be sure to pick up the second installment, Spook Lights II, or check out Royce’s middle grade Southern Gothic, Root Magic!

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

I’m just going to keep sobbing out my love for this book. Summer Sons doesn’t come out until September so I’ve still got two long months to talk it up before you can get your hands on it, and I will take every possible opportunity! It’s deliciously, gorgeously Gothic. It’s queer. It’s heartbreaking and healing at the same time. It’s about love and grief and all the other emotions that tangle us up as human beings and I am obsessed. I want to crawl inside this book and live. Andrew and Eddie have always been together, bound by a shared secret and a dark gift. Until Eddie gets accepted early to their graduate program, leaving Andrew to trail six months behind. When Eddie kills himself shortly before Andrew is supposed to join him, he carves a hole in Andrew’s life, dragging a trail of secrets in his wake. The circumstances of his death are murky, and the deeper Andrew digs the more he realizes how little he knew about Eddie’s new life without him. All around are strangers, and none stranger than the haunt that stalks his shadow, haunting Andrew with the possibility that Eddie’s death was not what it seemed.

Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

We don’t have a lot of swamps up here. We have bogs. They aren’t as nice, though I imagine that they’re just as good for hiding bodies (or worse things). Whatever the reason, there is definitely a fixed connection between the quintessential Southern swamp and the Gothic. Particularly when it’s a swamp that makes people disappear (and not just when they’re dead). For instance, Sterling’s brother Phin, who disappears into the town swamp one morning following an argument. But Phin doesn’t just vanish into the swamp. He vanishes from the memories of the town altogether. Everyone but Sterling has forgotten he exists, or that in his place a mysterious girl called Lenora May clambered up out of the depths. So it’s up to Sterling to discover who Lenora May truly is, and how she can get her brother back.

Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due

I thought we’d end this list the way we started, with an incomparable collection of Southern Gothic horror short fiction. From hauntings, to monsters, to buried secrets and dark family histories, Ghost Summer is full of rich gothic settings and creeping horrors. Also, zombies! For a more familiar Southern Gothic experience you’ll want Gracetown, one of the four thematic sections of the collection, comprised of “The Lake”, “Summer”, and the titular novella “Ghost Summer”. But all 15 stories in the collection (well, fourteen and a novella) have something to keep horror readers well fed.

Fresh From the Skeleton’s Mouth

Still need more Southern Gothic in your life? Go forth an peruse this list of 12 of the best Southern Gothic titles over at Book Riot!

Nightfire has posted their June rundown of the best horror short fiction and poetry if you’re looking for scares, as well as a list of July’s shiny new releases!

Did you see that the nominees for the 2020 Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards were announced? If you want your TBR thoroughly supplied, be sure to check out their nominee lists for Best Debut, Best Novella, Best Novel, Best Middle Grade Horror, Best Graphic Novel, and Best Collection.

Dawn Kurtagich’s The Teeth in the Mist (one of my favorite YA horror books of all time, complete with evil goat) is getting a sequel! 2023 is a long time away but I can wait! (Not patiently, mind you, but I can wait!)

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