Sixteen-year-old Ben Schon, still reeling from the death of his beloved father, is faced with the loss of his mother. Not to deaTW: Animal death, gore
Sixteen-year-old Ben Schon, still reeling from the death of his beloved father, is faced with the loss of his mother. Not to death, but abandonment, by checking out of life with booze and men, unable to deal with the loss of her husband. Now his mom has left him, taking off on a booze-filled trip with her boyfriend. Ben is used to being the adult in the house, so very little changes with her departure, other than the emptiness and silence of the house. Desperately missing his father, Ben begins seeking out relics of his father’s short life- wearing his Doc Martens, sipping his port, smoking his pipe, and exploring his dad’s books in his man cave. While perusing his dad’s bookshelves, he comes across a book titled To Offer Her Pleasure. Inside the book is a robed, horned woman standing in profile. Soon the robed figure communicates with Ben through the book with one word: Sacrifice. Soon Ben is seeking to fulfill the robed woman’s every appetite and whim, it only takes blood and sacrifice. When Weirdpunk Books offered the opportunity to review To Offer Her Pleasure, I jumped at the chance. Having just read and reviewed another of their titles, I knew I was in for a good read. I was most definitely not disappointed. Ali Seay knocked this book out of the park. I was hooked from page one and could not put it down until I finished Ben’s story. It is provocative, gory, and gripping. I loved the character development Seay put into creating Ben. He starts out as this sad, lonely kid who misses his dad and morphs into a cold, uncaring shadow of his former self. When I was reading this, I kept thinking of the stages of grief and how Ben’s character changes throughout the story to almost epitomize those stages: beginning in grief for his father, isolating himself in his house away from others, anger with his mother’s abandonment, bargaining with the entity to obtain his wishes, rage when dealing with his mother and her lover, and finally acceptance of how his life will be from here on out. A wholly satisfying read from beginning to end.
5/5 Stars Thank you to Sam Richard at Weirdpunk Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this book for me to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Nicole’s entire world is shattered when her mother is brutally murdered in front of her at the age of six. To help her heal from her trauma, her father moves her to a remote mountain area where there are few other people living. She seems to be living a normal teenage life, when she suddenly begins receiving letters from an unknown source, hearing voices in her head, and experiencing horrific nightmares. When the nightmares bleed over into her daily life, Nicole is pulled into a world of pain and torture unlike she could ever imagine.
Nicole’s life becomes a wild rollercoaster in this alternate world of pain and torture, enduring unbelievable suffering, all to live through it again and again. She meets those who seek to imprison her and make her their slave, those who want to free her, and finally comes to find those who ultimately become her family.
First up, I LOVE that the author included a page of trigger and content warnings right up front, because I definitely needed them. This book is exquisitely written, but it is a rough read in terms of violence, torture, and abuse. I had to sit with the book a day or so after finishing it to gather my thoughts and describe it succinctly. The book is a wild ride, you feel like you are trapped with Nicole in her nightmares and torture and are just as helpless as she is in the story.
4/5 Stars Thanks to the author who provided me with a review copy of this novel for me to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Anomalies & Curiosities: An Anthology of Gothic Medical Horror, a short story anthology from Quill & Crow Publishing, contains 10 short stories of medAnomalies & Curiosities: An Anthology of Gothic Medical Horror, a short story anthology from Quill & Crow Publishing, contains 10 short stories of medical horrors sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Stories that will creep you out and stick in your brain long after you finish reading the book.
Each of the ten stories in this collection seeks to not only entertain but to remind us of the days when shocking medical experiments were necessary to reach the levels of scientific advancement today. As creeped out as these stories made me, it also made me wonder what experiments today would be viewed as archaic in the future as these are today.
Some stories stuck with me more so than others. My favorites in this collection are: “Ill Wind� by R.A. Busby, “Woman in the White Cottage� by Rebecca Howe Jones, “Shadows� by Marie Casey, and “The Unveiling� by Brad Acevedo. This is a strong collection, there are no weak filler stories.
5/5 Stars
I received an advance copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
TW: graphic animal death, graphic animal abuse, parent/child abuse, mentions of sexual abuse, mentions of spousal abuse, homophobic terms, murder, gorTW: graphic animal death, graphic animal abuse, parent/child abuse, mentions of sexual abuse, mentions of spousal abuse, homophobic terms, murder, gore, descriptions of child death/murder
Nate Graves� estranged abusive father wants to leave Nate's childhood home to him when he dies. Not wanting to live in a house full of bad memories, Nate wants to sell the house and move on with his life; however, Nate’s wife Maddie convinces him to uproot their lives in Philadelphia and move to his childhood home hoping that it will bring the family closer together and give their son Oliver a fresh start.
Immediately after moving into the house, Nate begins to see visions of his dead father and a long-dead serial killer that used to kill his victims near the Graves� home. Animals in the area exhibit odd behavior and show physical malformations. Maddie loses consciousness and all sense of time while working on her art. Oliver makes new friends, one of whom is obsessed with exposing him to dark magic that is contained in a logbook of accidents from an abandoned mine. The longer the family lives in Nate’s childhood home, the stranger the world around them becomes. This book is not what I expected it to be when I initially began to read it. In the earlier chapters of the book when Nate saw the apparition of his dead father, I thought this would be a book about a haunted house. This book is so much more than a haunted house book. This book is about family and those we choose to bring into our family, about the evils of the world, second chances to right wrongs, and the lengths we will go to be with and protect the ones we love. The story is full of slow-building tension, from moments of disgust and unease leading all the way up to wildly gruesome episodes of violence. The heart of this story is the family unit of Nate, Maddie, and Oliver. The bond that this family has, the love and the trust that they share, make the story even scarier for me. To me, nothing is scarier than knowing your family is in danger and not being able to keep them safe. You want the best for them and come to care about them. From the first chapter, you are invested in this family.
Clocking in at over 500 pages this book is a hefty read. Sure, there are things that Wendig could have cut in the story, but the book does not feel overly long or full of extraneous detail. Even after finishing all 528 pages, I was still left wanting more of this story. I was not ready for this story to end.
The Book of Accidents is the very first book by Chuck Wendig that I have read but it will not be the last book of his that I read.
4/5 Stars
Thank you #NetGalley and #DelReyPublishing for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions of this work are my own. ...more
Ravens & Roses: A Gothic Women's Anthology is a new book out by Quill & Crow Publishing House and edited by Cassandra L. Thompson. This is the first bRavens & Roses: A Gothic Women's Anthology is a new book out by Quill & Crow Publishing House and edited by Cassandra L. Thompson. This is the first book out by Quill & Crow Publishing House that I have read and reviewed, and I am overwhelmed by it.
When I review anthologies, there are always a few stories that do not feel strong enough to be included in that anthology. This is not the case with Ravens & Roses. Every story has been meticulously chosen by Ms. Thompson so that the book seems to flow better than most anthologies in my opinion.
A lot of writers throw the term gothic horror around loosely, but few get it right. The stories in this anthology are truly gothic horror. There are eleven stories in this anthology, along with poems interspersed among them. There are stories of ghostly hauntings, revenge, tragic love stories, and murder.
While I loved every story in the anthology, which has never happened before, I especially love the stories “Lolita� by A.L. Garcia and “The Vigilante Witch� by Tara Jazdzewski. I feel that these stories could have been full novels with more work.
All in all, this is one of my favorite anthologies that I have ever read, and I look forward to reading more work from Quill & Crow Publishing House.
5/5 Stars I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
Aaron Decker didn’t know when his wife Allison left their home on a cold December morning that it would be the last time he saw her alive. Her last reAaron Decker didn’t know when his wife Allison left their home on a cold December morning that it would be the last time he saw her alive. Her last request to Aaron, “Come with me,� still ringing in his ears hours later when he is identifying her body in the morgue. Living with the guilt of not accompanying Allison on her fateful shopping trip, as well as for the distance the couple had been experiencing in their marriage as of late, Aaron can only function if “Other Aaron� takes over and pilots him through his life--work, eating, accepting condolences, and activities of daily life that are too daunting for Aaron. But even “Other Aaron� can’t help Aaron when the memories--and ghost-- of Allison begins haunting him.
When he begins to go through Allison’s belongings, he finds a mysterious receipt for a seedy motel paid for in cash--a trip she took without him. Thinking the worst, he frantically searches their home, only to find a gun and a folder full of dead girls from all over the country. What was Allison hiding from him?
I really don’t want to give anything away or spoil the story, but this book was just�.wow. Come With Me is one of my top books of 2021, no contest. First off, Malfi’s choice to tell this story as if Aaron were in conversation with Allison was brilliant. It instantly immersed me in the story. Aaron is a likable and sympathetic protagonist, you feel his pain and confusion throughout the book as he sets out to finish Allison’s unfinished business. Second, this book will make you question relationships both familial and romantic and leave you thinking, “How well do we ever know our loved ones?�
This book was creepy, heartbreaking, and will have you hooked from page one. Please make sure you read the author’s note after the story is finished, it is a beautiful testament to the friendship of the author and the inspiration for the book.
5/5 Stars Thank you to #NetGalley and #TitanBooks for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Miren O’Malley is the last true descendent of the O’Malley’s, a clannish family who made their fortunes on the seas by striking a deal with the Mer: pMiren O’Malley is the last true descendent of the O’Malley’s, a clannish family who made their fortunes on the seas by striking a deal with the Mer: provide safe passage for their ships, in exchange for a child from each generation.
Unable to fulfill their end of the bargain to give a child of each generation to the Mer due to low birth rate, the O’Malley family has slid into decline and lost their fortunes. Miren’s grandmother schemes and plans to restore the family’s largesse by offering Miren up for marriage in exchange for wealth and the hope that Miren and her betrothed, a distant O’Malley cousin, will have children to resurrect the deal with the Mer and restore the family fortunes.
I greatly enjoyed this book; I enjoyed the mythology and the fairy tale aspects of the tale. The book started off strong and grabbed my attention from the very beginning. However, my interests tended to wane toward the end where it felt like it sought to wrap up the conflict quickly. Many of the characters in the story are very hard to sympathize with or to even like many of them seem cold and greedy. However, Miren’s struggle to escape the life that has been planned for her is something to truly root for. I give this story 4 out of five stars.
Thank you to #NetGalley and to #Titan books for providing me a copy of this story for reading and reviewing. All thoughts and opinions of this story are my own....more
I finished reading this story on June 2nd, and have sat here for the past 2 months and wondTW/CW: Animal abuse, animal death, child murder, grooming,
I finished reading this story on June 2nd, and have sat here for the past 2 months and wondered repeatedly to myself, “Wtf did I just read?� In Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Eric LaRocca has written a story unlike any I have ever read before, and probably will never read again. Just kidding, I’m totally reading this again.
In just 102 pages containing a few emails and instant messenger conversations, LaRocca built a story that started out as one human being helping another and quickly turned into a person giving up their freedom, autonomy, and safety to a stranger. Voluntarily at that! The dynamic between Agnes and Zoe ramps up to pure madness. We know from the very beginning how Agnes’s story will turn out, it is getting to the how and why that is brutal and harrowing.
I read Eric’s first novella, Starving Ghosts in Every Thread, and would have begged to review this book if I had to. LaRocca’s prose while exquisite has a way of chilling me and digging down into my brain and camping out. While I thought the first book was also beautiful and unsettling, I clearly had no clue what was to come next.
Highly, highly, highly recommended, but heed trigger/content warnings. 5/5 Stars
Thanks to the author and his publisher Weird Punk Books for providing me with an eARC of this novella to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Mists and Megaliths, the newest short story collection by Catherine McCarthy, is steeped in Welsh folklore and could only be told by a storyteller sucMists and Megaliths, the newest short story collection by Catherine McCarthy, is steeped in Welsh folklore and could only be told by a storyteller such as McCarthy. The love and reverence McCarthy has for her homeland and its folklore are apparent throughout the book. Some stories contained in this collection include, but aren’t limited to:
Cragen- a young girl’s imaginary friend will do whatever it takes to keep her to itself. Two’s A Company, Three’s A Shroud- when burial accommodations become tight in your village, you never know who your new neighbor might be. Jagged Edges- an old railway guard reminisces about the rail lines that he worked his entire life and the disuse and ruin that they have become. MARA- a couple’s life is turned upside down by the spirit box they bring home from holiday.
I loved this collection. While the stories fit in the horror genre, I would say that they are firmly more of the quiet horror variety. Even so, McCarthy has given us a wide variety to read: Eco-horror, cosmic horror, dark comedy, and even heartfelt as you will find in the story “Coblynau,� which was my favorite of the entire book.
Take the time to read the short notes included before each story, they really enhanced the reading for me.
5/5 Stars
Many thanks to Catherine McCarthy for providing me an eARC of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions of this work are my own. ...more
In her sophomore collection Dismal Dreams, Red Lagoe has assembled thirteen unique, thought-provoking stories sure to haunt your dreams. I have had thIn her sophomore collection Dismal Dreams, Red Lagoe has assembled thirteen unique, thought-provoking stories sure to haunt your dreams. I have had the pleasure to read some of the stories contained in this collection in other publications, but Red was right to bring them back into this collection. All the stories balanced each other well. Standout stories for me in this collection were:
Dismal Dreams- Our title story took a turn that I was not anticipating. Dark and disturbing The Creation of Man- A creative and fresh take on the familiar story of Adam and Eve. Valentine’s Day- The lengths one will go to save themselves in a life-or-death situation One Year Anniversary- I originally read this story in Slashertorte and it has stuck with me ever since. So good! This story comes in a close second as my favorite of Red’s writing. Doll House- Hands down, my favorite story that Red has written. Super dark and gritty. I can’t rave about it enough.
You can’t go wrong with Dismal Dreams, there is something for every flavor of horror fan. 5/5 Stars Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of the book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A weekend out in the country in a B&B with her brother and her best friends is just what Skye needs to get over a bad breakup and get her head togetheA weekend out in the country in a B&B with her brother and her best friends is just what Skye needs to get over a bad breakup and get her head together. Hedwig House boasts plenty of space and a hot tub, free-flowing booze, drugs, and the hot B&B owner down the hill don’t hurt either.
Right off the bat, things seem off- the house seems to change in size and shape at its own whims, animalistic shadows appear in the woods, one of Skye’s friends starts sleepwalking and becomes aggressive to all in the house, her best friend takes a dip in the polluted lake and pays a steep price and yet another friend goes missing from his bedroom without a trace. After spending some time with the B&B owner down the hill, Skye receives answers to what is befalling the guests of Hedwig House, but how the group’s choices will seal their fate.
Dire Branches is a fun, modern take on the lore of Baba Yaga, the mythological witch of Slavic legend, which I enjoyed quite a bit. The author spent copious time building the world and fleshing out the characters in the book, so much that the action really doesn’t kick off until 45% into the book. By the time the first big incident occurs, you are invested in this group of characters.
The only drawbacks for me personally were that I would have liked more “character� building for the monsters and creatures in the story. I also would have liked to have a little more of an ending before adding the epilogue chapter. I have my theories about the outcome, and I guess that the point was for each reader to choose what they would do in that situation.
3/5 Stars Thank you to #NetGalley and #AlienAgendaPublishing for providing me with a review copy of the novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
TW: Body Horror, Mental Illness, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Forced/Coerced Abortion, Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Medical Experimentation, Graphic STW: Body Horror, Mental Illness, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Forced/Coerced Abortion, Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Medical Experimentation, Graphic Sexual Encounters, Violence
Before moving away from the only home she has known, Kori Driscoe sets out to find her long-missing father Paul, who suffers from bipolar depression. An incident that occurred fifteen years ago landed him in Northville Psychiatric Hospital, and he has not been seen since. Kori is moving away with her mother and stepfather, and the hospital is slated for demolition, so this is her last chance to go back to where she feels closest to her father and look for clues to his disappearance. An exploration of the hospital’s sub-basement leads Kori to a horrendous discovery hidden underneath the hospital are feral, blood-thirsty creatures that are the products of medical experimentation. In trying to rescue her father, Kori has discovered a plot hatched by hospital doctors that not only puts her life in danger but also those lives that were experimented on and the result of said experiment. Will Kori be able to reunite with her father and save them all before the hospital is demolished?
This book was a lot for me. Before reading this book, I had never thought of mental disorders as being a benefit, or a superpower, if you will. I live depression and anxiety, and I know it has caused me some super high feeling days and others I do not even want to discuss. I certainly would have never thought to equate my mental health issues with lycanthropy, but now it makes sense to me. I have seen firsthand how the waxing and waning of the moon affects the neurological disorder my son has, why wouldn’t other disorders be affected as well.
I appreciate that Mr. Matthews has a background in behavioral healthcare and had beta readers check for sensitivity to make sure that those with mental health issues would not feel attacked. In anyone else’s hands, a story like this most likely could have been exploitative. Another subject that was touched on in this book was medical exploitation.
All in all, The Hobgoblins of Little Minds is a heavy read, but a great read. Don’t go into it expecting your classic werewolf story, this book is so much more than that.
5/5 Stars
Disclaimer: Thank you to author Mark Matthews for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Maria Lopez, a survivor of a sexual assault, receives an invitation to “The Banquet,� an annual gathering of women who have been sexually assaulted. OMaria Lopez, a survivor of a sexual assault, receives an invitation to “The Banquet,� an annual gathering of women who have been sexually assaulted. Other attendees have more than their assaults in common with Maria: the perpetrators of their assaults all went unpunished by the legal system. Where the victims weren’t vindicated through the judicial system, they will find satisfaction in bloody revenge.
With this being a short story, I don’t want to give too much away, but this was a brilliant story of bloody revenge. I had been following Mist on Twitter during the incidents that inspired this story and this story is the result. This was my first foray into reading Mist’s work, but not the last. Anyone who can pack that much blood and gore and revenge into 37 short pages and tell a complete tale is aces in my book.
5/5 Stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of the story for reading and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Janine Pipe’s freshman short story collection, Twisted: Tainted Tales is a wild, fun, gory ride from start to finish. In it, you get a taste of all soJanine Pipe’s freshman short story collection, Twisted: Tainted Tales is a wild, fun, gory ride from start to finish. In it, you get a taste of all sorts of horror tropes with an 80’s twist. I loved the range in subject matter, you get vampires, werewolves, cautionary tales of human predators, sinister imaginary friends and so much more. I especially loved that this is a Splatterpunk novel written from a female perspective, something I haven’t encountered very much of since I’ve been reviewing. To give the novel a little something extra and unique, the stories are listed as tracklists. At the end of the novel, Janine thoughtfully included the playlist she based the stories on, so you can get the full experience.
Thank you to the author who provided me with an eARC of the anthology to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
In her latest horror love letter to her beloved city of Chicago, Cynthia Pelayo shares with us the short story “Snow White’s Shattered Coffin.� This bIn her latest horror love letter to her beloved city of Chicago, Cynthia Pelayo shares with us the short story “Snow White’s Shattered Coffin.� This bite sized piece of horror fiction is loosely based on the story of young Inez Clarke, who is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.
A young girl wanders off from her uncle’s funeral, entranced by a glass enclosed funereal sculpture of a young girl around her own age. A mishap at the site of the sculpture leads to an unimaginable curse that will have life altering consequences for the girl.
Once again, Pelayo has woven a tale that makes you feel like you are in her Chicago, again in a fairytale combined with urban legend. The story was deeply engrossing and ended in a way that has stuck in my mind ever since. Illustrator Vheto Gutierrez Vazquez’s beautiful monochromatic artwork is the perfect compliment to this story and adds to the eerie atmosphere created by Ms. Pelayo.
“Snow White’s Shattered Coffin� is available in a limited quantity of 200 copies, signed by both Cynthia Pelayo and Vheto Gutierrez Vazquez and will be a beautiful addition to any horror lover’s book collection.
Disclaimer: Thank you to It Came From Beyond Pulp for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
I am a big reader of shortTW/CW: Child Harm/Abuse, Child Abduction, Child Death, Rape, Torture, Snakes, Spiders, Gore, Non-consensual Sexual Encounter
I am a big reader of short story collections. In a collection of a single author, you can sometimes see a range of writing styles, themes, and tropes, like trying on different hats. I have previously reviewed Irish Gothic by Ronald Kelly, a collection of different stories and folklore inspired by the home of Kelly’s ancestors. Beyond that collection, I wasn’t familiar with his writing and jumped at the chance to review The Essential Sick Stuff when it came up on NetGalley.
Growing up on 80’s slasher movies, it takes a lot to gross me out or creep me out. I read the foreword and learned the history behind the stories contained in this collection: a bunch of authors writing the sickest stuff imaginable to try to outdo the others. I was game and ready to go. And I was very wrong, Kelly’s The Essential Sick Stuff got to me.
The Essential Sick Stuff is comprised of two previous collections written by Kelly: The Sick Stuff and More Sick Stuff. This edition has the stories from those collections, along with new sick material. Some of my favorites in The Essential Sick Stuff are:
*Pins And Needles- A serial killer who kills via Halloween candy has struck again, but someone has gives him a taste of his own medicine.
*The Day UPS Brought Zombies- fun and gory story where UPS brings about a zombie apocalypse with a cameo from Brian Keene
*Snakehandler- A preacher comes to town bringing more to fear than just the snakes he handles during Sunday service.
*Suckers! - Scientist begins to experiment on local insects with dangerous results
*The Nipples in Dad’s Toolbox- A young boy helping with home repairs gets a grisly surprise that changes his life.
This collection was a wild, gory, and fun ride. I look forward to reading more of Ronald Kelly’s work in the future. There are a lot of potential TW/CWs in this book and I attempted to note them when I found them, but what may be a trigger for me may not be for you.
5/5 Stars Thanks you to #NetGalley and #SilverShamrockPublishing for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
What do you get when a group of writers in a subreddit start a devoted Discord channel and decide to write a horror anthology? You get Howls from HellWhat do you get when a group of writers in a subreddit start a devoted Discord channel and decide to write a horror anthology? You get Howls from Hell written by sixteen members of the HOWL Society (Horror-Obsessed Writing and Literature Society.) Edited by group founder Solomon Forse, and with an entertaining foreword from Grady Hendrix, and authors Quinn Fern, J.W. Donley, P.L. McMillan, B.O.B. Jenkin, Shane Hawk, Alex Wolfgang, Solomon Forse, Joe Radkins, Christopher O'Halloran, Amanda Nevada DeMel, Joseph Andre Thomas, Thea Maeve, Justin Faull, M. David Clarkson, S.E. Denton, and Lindsay Ragsdale, Howls From Hell is a fun, fresh mix of different horror tropes. There is something here for every reader to enjoy.
When I began reviewing books, I was initially hesitant to read and review anthologies. I wasn’t sure how to judge them—should I review the book in total, or should each story receive its own review? Thankfully, I moved past that initial hesitancy and anthologies have become one of my favorite types of work to review. This book is one of the most well-balanced anthologies I have read. Some stories are longer than others, some scarier than others, but every single one of them is original. My favorite part—all the authors are brand new to me, so I have a lot of new work to look for by these artists.
I thoroughly enjoyed this endeavor by the HOWL Society. I don’t remember ever reading a book that jumps from body horror to cosmic horror, comedic horror, surreal horror-just to name a few tropes- in one story after another. I look forward to seeing what the HOWL Society authors create in the future.
4/5 Stars Thank you to #NetGalley and #HOWLSocietyPress for providing me with a copy of Howls From Hell to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
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