I mentioned in my 2016 book resolutions post that horror fiction is getting harder and harder for me to find each year. The response to my "seek out and share horror fiction" resolution was a resounding "yes, please!"
I've decided to do regular "Horror Spotlight" posts that highlight new horror fiction. The post you are reading now is as much of a sounding off post as it is a call out to the horror community. If you are a publisher, author, or reader of horror and you would like to connect with me or contribute to my Horror Spotlight posts here on Book Den, please let me know.
Feel free to drop me a comment or send me an email at bookdenblog(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will get in touch with you*.
*Standard disclaimer that I make no promises and any works featured on my blog are at my discretion.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
New Feature | Horror Spotlight
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Upcoming February 2016 Book Releases in Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction
So many great books coming out in February! I sure hope I come out of my reading slump next month. This is one heck of a list to tackle. I was hoping to squeeze in some of the Red Rising trilogy before the release of Morning Star, but that's looking like a pipe dream at this point.
What are you looking forward to reading in February? Let me know if it made this list!
Phantom Effect by Michael Aronovitz
Jonathan Martin Delaware Deseronto is a six-foot-five serial killer with a problem. He’s stuck out on I-476 in a heavy November rainstorm with two flat tires and the dead bodies of a cop and a co-ed named Marissa Madison in his trunk. Desperate to get off the highway, he drives his car on its back rims towards Exit 6. The car stalls on the ramp and Deseronto uses the last of its momentum to plunge over the crest of a steep slope and crash into a length of concrete pipe below. The car comes to rest on the edge of a construction site where machines are positioned to tear down an old Motel 6.
For Deseronto, the worst is yet to come. Marissa Madison had been a psychic of sorts while alive, using her ability to assist people in their personal journeys. Now, the ghost of Marissa will utilize her strange gift, trapping Deseronto in the abandoned motel, and forcing him to live the last, fatal week of her own life as a passive passenger in her body . . . Soon, Deseronto will experience something truly horrific: the mind-numbing terror of being stalked by himself.
Pull by Anne Riley
Rosie Clayton witnesses a mugging on her first night in London—and then the scene rewinds itself.
She finds herself standing in the same place again, with the mugging happening just like before, except this time a stranger steps in and stops it. There's no way the same incident can have two outcomes. Rosie thinks she’s losing her mind, until just a few days later, the stranger saves her.
The stranger, Albert, and his band of misfit crime-fighters, have the special ability to Pull, which allows them to rewind just enough time to undo a recent event. Someone is hunting Albert and his crew– and now that Rosie’s been seen with them, she’s a target too. Rosie is left with no choice but to trust Albert to keep her safe.
As Rosie learns more about this unbelievable ability and the people – if you can call them that – who want them dead, she discovers that the group’s desire for her blood might be more than mere coincidence. Each step into this magical side of London introduces Rosie to a family history that she never knew existed, and dangerous forces that could unravel her world in an instant.
Her family may be the reason they’re all being hunted—and she may be the only one who can figure out how to save them. Sure, between the lot of them, they have a few shots to get it right. The thing about Pulling, though, is you have to be alive to do it.
Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell
For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.
But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.
The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.
With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?
Morning Star by Pierce Brown
Red Rising thrilled readers and announced the presence of a talented new author. Golden Son totally changed the game and took the story of Darrow to the next level. Now comes the exhilarating conclusion to the Red Rising Trilogy: Morning Star.
Born a lowly Red in the mines of Mars, Darrow lost his beloved wife to the treacherous Gold overlords. Vowing to fight for the future that his wife believed in, Darrow joins a secret revolutionary group and is remade into a Gold so that he can infiltrate the ruling class and bring them down from the inside. Now, after years of hiding amongst the Golds, Darrow is finally ready to declare open revolution and throw off the chains of oppression. Nothing in Darrow’s world has been easily won, and this final fight will be the most harrowing of all.
Shine Your Light On Me by Lee Thompson
Aiden LeDoux is a typical sixteen-year-old boy when the O’Connell brothers nail his father to a tree. He doesn’t believe things can get any worse...until three months later, when a mysterious light bursts forth from his face and heals everyone in his father’s bar, from minor scrape to terminal illness.
Once word of this miracle event spreads, crazed townspeople attempt to force Aiden to use his newfound gift to heal those they love. But Aiden doesn’t know how he did it. Or why. Or if he can ever make it happen again.
In the heart of a blizzard, in the throes of fanatical entitlement, the townspeople begin to tear the town—and each other—apart, with Aiden and his family trapped in the middle...
Shine Your Light on Me is a gripping tale that illuminates the ugly underbelly of humanity. From its tense opening to its explosive finale, the monsters herein are all too real, too familiar, and Lee Thompson's relentless prose will leave you breathless.
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
MANHATTAN HAS MANY SECRETS.
SOME ARE OLDER THAN THE CITY ITSELF.
Manhattan.
The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone-just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous.
Murders.
In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago. To protect the innocent-and to punish those who stands in her way.
Gods.
With the NYPD out of its depth, Selene vows to hunt the killer on her own. But when classics professor Theo Schultz decodes the ancient myth behind the crime, the solitary Huntress finds herself working with a man who's her opposite in every way. Together, they face a long-forgotten cult that lies behind a string of murders, and they'll need help from the one source Selene distrusts most of all: the city's other Immortals.
Northwoods by Bill Schweigart
Some borders should never be crossed. From the author of The Beast of Barcroft comes a waking nightmare of a horror novel that’s sure to thrill readers of Stephen King and Bentley Little.
Ex–Delta Force Davis Holland, now an agent for the Customs and Border Protection, has seen it all. But nothing in his experience has prepared him for what he and the local sheriff find one freezing night in the Minnesota woods.
Investigating reports of an illegal border crossing, the two men stumble across a blood-drenched scene of mass murder, barely escaping with their lives . . . and a single clue to the mayhem: a small wooden chest placed at the heart of the massacre. Something deadly has entered Holland’s territory, crossing the border from nightmare into reality.
When news of the atrocity reaches wealthy cryptozoologist Richard Severance, he sends a three-person team north to investigate. Not long ago, the members of that team—Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud—were nearly killed by a vengeful shapeshifter. Now they are walking wounded, haunted by gruesome memories that make normal life impossible. But there is nothing normal about the horror that awaits in the Northwoods.
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy
Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, twenty-two year old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned Atticus’s great grandmother—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.
At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.
A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of one black family, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.
The Widow by Fiona Barton
For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, an electrifying thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife.
When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on, when more bad things began to happen...
But that woman’s husband died last week. And Jean doesn’t have to be her anymore.
There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.
Now there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.
The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything…
Good Girls by Glen Hirshberg
Three-time International Horror Guild and Shirley Jackson Award Winner Glen Hirshberg brings his flair for the grim, grisly, and emotionally harrowing to this standalone sequel to Motherless Child.
Reeling from the violent death of her daughter and a confrontation with the Whistler--the monster who wrecked her life--Jess has fled the South for a tiny college town in New Hampshire. There she huddles in a fire-blackened house with her crippled lover, her infant grandson, and the creature that was once her daughter’s best friend, who may or may not be a threat.
Rebecca, an orphan undergrad caring for Jess’s grandson, finds in Jess’ house the promise of a family she has never known, but also a terrifying secret.
Meanwhile, unhinged and unmoored, the Whistler watches from the rooftops and awaits his moment.
And deep in the Mississippi Delta, the evil that spawned him stirs…
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.
Firelight (Amulet #7) by Kazu Kibuishi
Emily, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos Island, where they can access and enter lost memories. They're hoping to uncover the events of Trellis's mysterious childhood -- knowledge they can use against the Elf King. What they discover is a dark secret that changes everything. Meanwhile, the voice of Emily's Amulet is getting stronger, and threatens to overtake her completely.
Firstlife by Gena Showalter
ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.
Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.
There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.
In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…
After the Fog Clears by Lee Thompson
When a policeman accidentally runs over a young boy on a fog-shrouded street in Saginaw, Michigan, it thrusts three families into a head-on collision with grief, violence and chaos…
Officer Nathan Hazzard: for years now a dirty cop and on the brink of losing touch with reality, willingly releases himself from society’s shackles…
Luther Anderson: a young man whose only true concerns up to the day of the accident is to care for his crippled brother and their grandmother, becomes the target of intense hatred…
Raul Spencer: a disgruntled son working at his father’s funeral home; an adulterer, who fears his sins will find him out, blames everyone else for his problems even as his selfishness leads him ever more astray…
Geneva Spencer: the wounded mother who holds her dying son in her arms and finds that there is no one there to hold her as the life she knew takes a dark turn once Officer Hazzard starts pursuing her for reasons she can’t begin to understand…
In the fast-paced Suspense novel, After the Fog Clears, author Lee Thompson probes the fractured psyches of the lost, the abandoned, and the psychotic.
Woman in White by Kristin Dearborn
Rocky Rhodes, Maine.
As a fierce snowstorm descends upon the sleepy little town, a Good Samaritan stops to help a catatonic woman sitting in the middle of the icy road, and is never seen or heard from again. When the police find his car, it is splattered in more blood than the human body can hold.
While the storm rages on, the wave of disappearances continue, the victims sharing only one commonality: they are all male. Now it’s up to three young women to figure out who or what is responsible: a forensic chemist, a waitress struggling with an abusive boyfriend, and a gamer coping with the loss of her lover.
Their search will lead them on a journey filled with unspeakable horrors that are all connected to a mysterious Woman in White.
You can check out what I'm looking forward to reading for the entire year here: Upcoming 2016 New Releases in Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction
What are you looking forward to reading in February? Let me know if it made this list!
February 2, 2016
Phantom Effect by Michael Aronovitz
Jonathan Martin Delaware Deseronto is a six-foot-five serial killer with a problem. He’s stuck out on I-476 in a heavy November rainstorm with two flat tires and the dead bodies of a cop and a co-ed named Marissa Madison in his trunk. Desperate to get off the highway, he drives his car on its back rims towards Exit 6. The car stalls on the ramp and Deseronto uses the last of its momentum to plunge over the crest of a steep slope and crash into a length of concrete pipe below. The car comes to rest on the edge of a construction site where machines are positioned to tear down an old Motel 6.
For Deseronto, the worst is yet to come. Marissa Madison had been a psychic of sorts while alive, using her ability to assist people in their personal journeys. Now, the ghost of Marissa will utilize her strange gift, trapping Deseronto in the abandoned motel, and forcing him to live the last, fatal week of her own life as a passive passenger in her body . . . Soon, Deseronto will experience something truly horrific: the mind-numbing terror of being stalked by himself.
Pull by Anne Riley
Rosie Clayton witnesses a mugging on her first night in London—and then the scene rewinds itself.
She finds herself standing in the same place again, with the mugging happening just like before, except this time a stranger steps in and stops it. There's no way the same incident can have two outcomes. Rosie thinks she’s losing her mind, until just a few days later, the stranger saves her.
The stranger, Albert, and his band of misfit crime-fighters, have the special ability to Pull, which allows them to rewind just enough time to undo a recent event. Someone is hunting Albert and his crew– and now that Rosie’s been seen with them, she’s a target too. Rosie is left with no choice but to trust Albert to keep her safe.
As Rosie learns more about this unbelievable ability and the people – if you can call them that – who want them dead, she discovers that the group’s desire for her blood might be more than mere coincidence. Each step into this magical side of London introduces Rosie to a family history that she never knew existed, and dangerous forces that could unravel her world in an instant.
Her family may be the reason they’re all being hunted—and she may be the only one who can figure out how to save them. Sure, between the lot of them, they have a few shots to get it right. The thing about Pulling, though, is you have to be alive to do it.
Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell
For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.
But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.
The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.
With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?
February 9, 2016
Morning Star by Pierce Brown
Red Rising thrilled readers and announced the presence of a talented new author. Golden Son totally changed the game and took the story of Darrow to the next level. Now comes the exhilarating conclusion to the Red Rising Trilogy: Morning Star.
Born a lowly Red in the mines of Mars, Darrow lost his beloved wife to the treacherous Gold overlords. Vowing to fight for the future that his wife believed in, Darrow joins a secret revolutionary group and is remade into a Gold so that he can infiltrate the ruling class and bring them down from the inside. Now, after years of hiding amongst the Golds, Darrow is finally ready to declare open revolution and throw off the chains of oppression. Nothing in Darrow’s world has been easily won, and this final fight will be the most harrowing of all.
February 15, 2016
Shine Your Light On Me by Lee Thompson
Aiden LeDoux is a typical sixteen-year-old boy when the O’Connell brothers nail his father to a tree. He doesn’t believe things can get any worse...until three months later, when a mysterious light bursts forth from his face and heals everyone in his father’s bar, from minor scrape to terminal illness.
Once word of this miracle event spreads, crazed townspeople attempt to force Aiden to use his newfound gift to heal those they love. But Aiden doesn’t know how he did it. Or why. Or if he can ever make it happen again.
In the heart of a blizzard, in the throes of fanatical entitlement, the townspeople begin to tear the town—and each other—apart, with Aiden and his family trapped in the middle...
Shine Your Light on Me is a gripping tale that illuminates the ugly underbelly of humanity. From its tense opening to its explosive finale, the monsters herein are all too real, too familiar, and Lee Thompson's relentless prose will leave you breathless.
February 16, 2016
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
MANHATTAN HAS MANY SECRETS.
SOME ARE OLDER THAN THE CITY ITSELF.
Manhattan.
The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone-just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous.
Murders.
In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago. To protect the innocent-and to punish those who stands in her way.
Gods.
With the NYPD out of its depth, Selene vows to hunt the killer on her own. But when classics professor Theo Schultz decodes the ancient myth behind the crime, the solitary Huntress finds herself working with a man who's her opposite in every way. Together, they face a long-forgotten cult that lies behind a string of murders, and they'll need help from the one source Selene distrusts most of all: the city's other Immortals.
Northwoods by Bill Schweigart
Some borders should never be crossed. From the author of The Beast of Barcroft comes a waking nightmare of a horror novel that’s sure to thrill readers of Stephen King and Bentley Little.
Ex–Delta Force Davis Holland, now an agent for the Customs and Border Protection, has seen it all. But nothing in his experience has prepared him for what he and the local sheriff find one freezing night in the Minnesota woods.
Investigating reports of an illegal border crossing, the two men stumble across a blood-drenched scene of mass murder, barely escaping with their lives . . . and a single clue to the mayhem: a small wooden chest placed at the heart of the massacre. Something deadly has entered Holland’s territory, crossing the border from nightmare into reality.
When news of the atrocity reaches wealthy cryptozoologist Richard Severance, he sends a three-person team north to investigate. Not long ago, the members of that team—Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud—were nearly killed by a vengeful shapeshifter. Now they are walking wounded, haunted by gruesome memories that make normal life impossible. But there is nothing normal about the horror that awaits in the Northwoods.
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy
Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, twenty-two year old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned Atticus’s great grandmother—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.
At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.
A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of one black family, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.
The Widow by Fiona Barton
For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, an electrifying thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife.
When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on, when more bad things began to happen...
But that woman’s husband died last week. And Jean doesn’t have to be her anymore.
There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.
Now there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.
The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything…
February 23, 2016
Good Girls by Glen Hirshberg
Three-time International Horror Guild and Shirley Jackson Award Winner Glen Hirshberg brings his flair for the grim, grisly, and emotionally harrowing to this standalone sequel to Motherless Child.
Reeling from the violent death of her daughter and a confrontation with the Whistler--the monster who wrecked her life--Jess has fled the South for a tiny college town in New Hampshire. There she huddles in a fire-blackened house with her crippled lover, her infant grandson, and the creature that was once her daughter’s best friend, who may or may not be a threat.
Rebecca, an orphan undergrad caring for Jess’s grandson, finds in Jess’ house the promise of a family she has never known, but also a terrifying secret.
Meanwhile, unhinged and unmoored, the Whistler watches from the rooftops and awaits his moment.
And deep in the Mississippi Delta, the evil that spawned him stirs…
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.
Firelight (Amulet #7) by Kazu Kibuishi
Emily, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos Island, where they can access and enter lost memories. They're hoping to uncover the events of Trellis's mysterious childhood -- knowledge they can use against the Elf King. What they discover is a dark secret that changes everything. Meanwhile, the voice of Emily's Amulet is getting stronger, and threatens to overtake her completely.
Firstlife by Gena Showalter
ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.
Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.
There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.
In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…
February TBA
After the Fog Clears by Lee Thompson
When a policeman accidentally runs over a young boy on a fog-shrouded street in Saginaw, Michigan, it thrusts three families into a head-on collision with grief, violence and chaos…
Officer Nathan Hazzard: for years now a dirty cop and on the brink of losing touch with reality, willingly releases himself from society’s shackles…
Luther Anderson: a young man whose only true concerns up to the day of the accident is to care for his crippled brother and their grandmother, becomes the target of intense hatred…
Raul Spencer: a disgruntled son working at his father’s funeral home; an adulterer, who fears his sins will find him out, blames everyone else for his problems even as his selfishness leads him ever more astray…
Geneva Spencer: the wounded mother who holds her dying son in her arms and finds that there is no one there to hold her as the life she knew takes a dark turn once Officer Hazzard starts pursuing her for reasons she can’t begin to understand…
In the fast-paced Suspense novel, After the Fog Clears, author Lee Thompson probes the fractured psyches of the lost, the abandoned, and the psychotic.
Woman in White by Kristin Dearborn
Rocky Rhodes, Maine.
As a fierce snowstorm descends upon the sleepy little town, a Good Samaritan stops to help a catatonic woman sitting in the middle of the icy road, and is never seen or heard from again. When the police find his car, it is splattered in more blood than the human body can hold.
While the storm rages on, the wave of disappearances continue, the victims sharing only one commonality: they are all male. Now it’s up to three young women to figure out who or what is responsible: a forensic chemist, a waitress struggling with an abusive boyfriend, and a gamer coping with the loss of her lover.
Their search will lead them on a journey filled with unspeakable horrors that are all connected to a mysterious Woman in White.
You can check out what I'm looking forward to reading for the entire year here: Upcoming 2016 New Releases in Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti | Book Review
The Box Jumper is a horror novella from Lisa Mannetti.
In this wonderfully disturbing novella, we meet Leona Derwatt, Houdini's assistant on and off stage, and one of his mistresses. Houdini not only takes her into his confidence, teaching her the intricacies of his magic, but teams with her as they confront and expose fraudulent psychics and mediums of their day. The tension in the story involves Houdini's conflicts with fake mediums (who may have been complicit in his death) and Leona's love for him and her troubled life after Houdini’s death. Is Leona actually visited by Houdini's spirit ... or is there something more dark and sinister?
My favorite thing about The Box Jumper is Lisa Mannetti's writing. I'm thinking this must be the first thing I've read from Lisa Mannetti because I would surely remember her writing.
The Box Jumper is a work of fiction, but it is based around the life of Harry Houdini. All of the "facts" about Houdini are fascinating so I'm anxious to do some more reading about his life.
The Box Jumper is told through the viewpoint of Houdini's assistant Leona. I don't want to say much about her or the story as it is a novella length book, but the progression of Leona is skillfully handled. I look forward to checking out more of Mannetti's work.
6/10: Good Read
Review copy provided by publisher
Monday, January 25, 2016
January 25 | Currently Reading
The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced last week. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out.
This past weekend was my 5 year blogiversary. It's kind of hard to believe! This blog (and the book blogging community) has been through a lot of changes in the last 5 years.
Savage Season (Hap and Leonard #1) by Joe R. Lansdale
OK, this was just plum fun. I'm not up to speed on my Lansdale so I'm just now venturing into Hap and Leonard. I, of course, have heard plenty about them and with the TV show coming up, I decided this might be a great diversion from the horrible reading slump I've been in.
Sometimes I make excellent choices.
8/10: Great Read
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti
I just finished reading The Box Jumper. If I don't post my thoughts later this week, I will add them to my update next week.
Medusa's Web by Tim Powers
This is my first Tim Powers. So far it is trippy in a good way.
What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!
This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
This past weekend was my 5 year blogiversary. It's kind of hard to believe! This blog (and the book blogging community) has been through a lot of changes in the last 5 years.
Books Read Last Week
Savage Season (Hap and Leonard #1) by Joe R. Lansdale
OK, this was just plum fun. I'm not up to speed on my Lansdale so I'm just now venturing into Hap and Leonard. I, of course, have heard plenty about them and with the TV show coming up, I decided this might be a great diversion from the horrible reading slump I've been in.
Sometimes I make excellent choices.
8/10: Great Read
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti
I just finished reading The Box Jumper. If I don't post my thoughts later this week, I will add them to my update next week.
Books Currently Reading
Medusa's Web by Tim Powers
This is my first Tim Powers. So far it is trippy in a good way.
What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!
This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
Thursday, January 21, 2016
2015 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot
The Bram Stoker Awards are awarded by the Horror Writer's Association each year for "superior achievement" in horror. The Bram Stoker Award categories include Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Screenplay, Graphic Novel and Non-Fiction.
The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced today by the Bram Stoker Awards Committee. Voting members of the Horror Writer's Association will vote on this ballot through February 15. The final nominees will be announced on February 23. The Bram Stoker Award winners will then be announced on May 14th at (the first annual!) StokerCon in Las Vegas.
These are the works that were selected for the 2015 preliminary ballot:
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
The Catacombs (World’s Scariest Places: Book Two) by Jeremy Bates
The Fold by Peter Clines
The Deep by Michaelbrent Collings
The Cure by JG Faherty
Monster by Keith Ferrario
Black Tide by Patrick Freivald
Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Werewolf Cop by Andrew Klavan
The Private Sector by Leigh M. Lane
He Who Walks in Shadow Brett J. Talley
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Shutter by Courtney Alameda
Mr. Suicide by Nicole Cushing
Heaven, Hell, or Houston: A Zombie Thriller by Thom Erb
The Amazing Mr. Howard by Kenneth W. Harmon
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Consumption by Heather Herrman
We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk
Hannahwhere by John McIlveen
The Keeper of the Crows by Kyle Alexander Romines
Riding the Centipede by Jean Claude Smith
Never Let Me Sleep by Jennifer Brozek
The Suffering by Rin Chupeco
The Ridealong by Michaelbrent Collings
Devil’s Pocket by John Dixon
Department 19: Darkest Night by Will Hill
Hallowed by Tonya Hurley
The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson
The Silent End by Samuel Sattin
Bleed by Dax Varley
End Times at Ridgemont High by Ian Welke
Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn
Hellbound by Victor Gischler
Behemoth by Chris Kipiniak
Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman
The Children’s Vampire Hunting Brigade, Vol. 2: Age of the Wicked by David Lucarelli
Wytches, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder
Colder, Vol. 2: The Bad Seed by Paul Tobin
Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle
I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since some of the selections were published as part of a larger collection.
Paper Cuts by Gary A. Braunbeck (Seize the Night)
Cracked Sky by Ben Eads
Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen by Scott Edelman (Dark Discoveries #30)
The Torment of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti
Resistance by Seanan McGuire (The End Has Come)
At the Lazy K by Gene O'Neill
Dia de los Muertos by Jason Parent (Bad Apples 2)
Special Collections by Norman Partridge (The Library of the Dead)
Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley (Grimm Mistresses)
I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since most of the selections were either published as part of a larger collection or were originally published online.
Bailey, Dale – Snow* (Nightmare Magazine #33)
Boston, Bruce – A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest* (Daily Science Fiction)
Braum, Daniel – An American Ghost in Zurich (Savage Beasts)
Gonzalez, Michael Paul – Choking Hazard (Winter Horror Days)
Jonez, Kate – All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck (Black Static #47)
Manzetti, Alessandro – The Massacre of the Mermaids (The Massacre of the Mermaids)
O’Neill, Gene – The Algernon Effect
Palisano, John – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop (18 Wheels of Horror)
Southard, Nate – The Cork Won’t Stay* (Nightmare Magazine #34)
Walters, Damien Angelica – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars)
Wong, Alyssa – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers* (Nightmare Magazine #37)
*Snow, A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest, The Cork Won't Stay, and Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers can be read online by following the links.
Spring by Justin Benson
Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins
Goodnight, Mommy by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala
Hannibal: The Wrath of the Lamb by Bryan Fuller, Steve Lightfoot, and Nick Antosca
The Walking Dead: Here’s Not Here by Scott M. Gimple
Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe by John Logon
Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers by John Logan
It Follows by David Robert Mitchell
What We Do in the Shadows by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement
Bone Tomahawk by S. Craig Zahler
The Library of the Dead edited by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
Beware the Little White Rabbit edited by Shannon Delany and Judith Graves
Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden
Horrorology by Stephen Jones
nEvermore! edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles
X-Files: Trust No One edited by Jonathan Maberry
18 Wheels of Horror edited by Eric Miller
Shadows Over Main Street edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward
Midian Unmade edited by Joseph Nassise and Del Howison
Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector
Exigencies edited by Richard Thomas
Halfway Down the Stairs by Gary Braunbeck
Apocalypse Girl Dreaming by Jennifer Brozek
The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
The Mirrors by Nicole Cushing
Sacrificing Virgins by John Everson
The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Grant Taylor
New Avalon: Love and Loss in the City of Steam by Neal F. Litherland
The Hitchhiking Effect by Gene O'Neill
While the Black Stars Burn by Lucy A. Snyder
Dominoes in Time by Matthew Warner
The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror edited by Justin Everett and Jeffrey H. Shanks
Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siècle to the Millennium edited by Sharla Hutchinson and Rebecca A. Brown
The Art of Horror edited by Stephen Jones
Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth edited by Michael Knost
Horror 201: The Silver Scream edited by Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley
Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining by Danel Olson
Haunted by the Abyss: The Otherworldly Experiences of Paranormal by Sarah Soderlund
Haunted Plantations of the South by Richard Southall
Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston
The Madness in our Marrow by Amanda Crum
The Robot Scientist’s Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey
Dark Parchments by Michael H. Hanson
Eden Underground by Alessandro Manzetti
Dark Energies by Ann Schwader
The Crimson Tome by K.A. Opperman
Poetic Allegories Michael Randolph
Naughty Ladies by Marge Simon
An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich
The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced today by the Bram Stoker Awards Committee. Voting members of the Horror Writer's Association will vote on this ballot through February 15. The final nominees will be announced on February 23. The Bram Stoker Award winners will then be announced on May 14th at (the first annual!) StokerCon in Las Vegas.
These are the works that were selected for the 2015 preliminary ballot:
Superior Achievement in a Novel
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
The Catacombs (World’s Scariest Places: Book Two) by Jeremy Bates
The Fold by Peter Clines
The Deep by Michaelbrent Collings
The Cure by JG Faherty
Monster by Keith Ferrario
Black Tide by Patrick Freivald
Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Werewolf Cop by Andrew Klavan
The Private Sector by Leigh M. Lane
He Who Walks in Shadow Brett J. Talley
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Shutter by Courtney Alameda
Mr. Suicide by Nicole Cushing
Heaven, Hell, or Houston: A Zombie Thriller by Thom Erb
The Amazing Mr. Howard by Kenneth W. Harmon
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Consumption by Heather Herrman
We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk
Hannahwhere by John McIlveen
The Keeper of the Crows by Kyle Alexander Romines
Riding the Centipede by Jean Claude Smith
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Never Let Me Sleep by Jennifer Brozek
The Suffering by Rin Chupeco
The Ridealong by Michaelbrent Collings
Devil’s Pocket by John Dixon
Department 19: Darkest Night by Will Hill
Hallowed by Tonya Hurley
The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson
The Silent End by Samuel Sattin
Bleed by Dax Varley
End Times at Ridgemont High by Ian Welke
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Harrow County, Vol. 1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn
Hellbound by Victor Gischler
Behemoth by Chris Kipiniak
Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman
The Children’s Vampire Hunting Brigade, Vol. 2: Age of the Wicked by David Lucarelli
Wytches, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder
Colder, Vol. 2: The Bad Seed by Paul Tobin
Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since some of the selections were published as part of a larger collection.
Paper Cuts by Gary A. Braunbeck (Seize the Night)
Cracked Sky by Ben Eads
Becoming Invisible, Becoming Seen by Scott Edelman (Dark Discoveries #30)
The Torment of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti
Resistance by Seanan McGuire (The End Has Come)
At the Lazy K by Gene O'Neill
Dia de los Muertos by Jason Parent (Bad Apples 2)
Special Collections by Norman Partridge (The Library of the Dead)
Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley (Grimm Mistresses)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
I'm opting not to highlight covers for this category since most of the selections were either published as part of a larger collection or were originally published online.
Bailey, Dale – Snow* (Nightmare Magazine #33)
Boston, Bruce – A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest* (Daily Science Fiction)
Braum, Daniel – An American Ghost in Zurich (Savage Beasts)
Gonzalez, Michael Paul – Choking Hazard (Winter Horror Days)
Jonez, Kate – All the Day You’ll Have Good Luck (Black Static #47)
Manzetti, Alessandro – The Massacre of the Mermaids (The Massacre of the Mermaids)
O’Neill, Gene – The Algernon Effect
Palisano, John – Happy Joe’s Rest Stop (18 Wheels of Horror)
Southard, Nate – The Cork Won’t Stay* (Nightmare Magazine #34)
Walters, Damien Angelica – Sing Me Your Scars (Sing Me Your Scars)
Wong, Alyssa – Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers* (Nightmare Magazine #37)
*Snow, A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest, The Cork Won't Stay, and Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers can be read online by following the links.
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Spring by Justin Benson
Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins
Goodnight, Mommy by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala
Hannibal: The Wrath of the Lamb by Bryan Fuller, Steve Lightfoot, and Nick Antosca
The Walking Dead: Here’s Not Here by Scott M. Gimple
Penny Dreadful: And Hell Itself My Only Foe by John Logon
Penny Dreadful: Nightcomers by John Logan
It Follows by David Robert Mitchell
What We Do in the Shadows by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement
Bone Tomahawk by S. Craig Zahler
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
The Library of the Dead edited by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards)
The Doll Collection: Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
Beware the Little White Rabbit edited by Shannon Delany and Judith Graves
Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden
Horrorology by Stephen Jones
nEvermore! edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles
X-Files: Trust No One edited by Jonathan Maberry
18 Wheels of Horror edited by Eric Miller
Shadows Over Main Street edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward
Midian Unmade edited by Joseph Nassise and Del Howison
Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector
Exigencies edited by Richard Thomas
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Halfway Down the Stairs by Gary Braunbeck
Apocalypse Girl Dreaming by Jennifer Brozek
The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
The Mirrors by Nicole Cushing
Sacrificing Virgins by John Everson
The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Grant Taylor
New Avalon: Love and Loss in the City of Steam by Neal F. Litherland
The Hitchhiking Effect by Gene O'Neill
While the Black Stars Burn by Lucy A. Snyder
Dominoes in Time by Matthew Warner
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror edited by Justin Everett and Jeffrey H. Shanks
Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siècle to the Millennium edited by Sharla Hutchinson and Rebecca A. Brown
The Art of Horror edited by Stephen Jones
Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth edited by Michael Knost
Horror 201: The Silver Scream edited by Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley
Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining by Danel Olson
Haunted by the Abyss: The Otherworldly Experiences of Paranormal by Sarah Soderlund
Haunted Plantations of the South by Richard Southall
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Resonance Dark and Light by Bruce Boston
The Madness in our Marrow by Amanda Crum
The Robot Scientist’s Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey
Dark Parchments by Michael H. Hanson
Eden Underground by Alessandro Manzetti
Dark Energies by Ann Schwader
The Crimson Tome by K.A. Opperman
Poetic Allegories Michael Randolph
Naughty Ladies by Marge Simon
An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich
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