Review: The Worst is Yet to Come by S.P. Miskowski

The Worst is Yet to Come by S.P. Miskowski
Trepidatio Pub (February 2019)
208 pages; $11.72 paperback; $4.95 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Small town horror. A coming of age novel. The good girl/bad girl conflict. Readers have read it all before, right? Not so. S.P. Miskowski turns the tropes on their heads in this wrenching novel that is bound to leave a scar.Continue Reading

Review: A Midnight Dreary by David Niall Wilson

A Midnight Dreary (The DeChance Chronicles, Vol. 5) by David Niall Wilson
Crossroad Press (January 2019)
218 pages; $25.99 hardcover; $12.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

A novel that features Edgar Allan Poe is always something worth reading, especially as a character who is larger than life, shedding light into his mysterious past and sad fate. Add in dimensional and time travel, creatures of all sorts, the Brothers Grimm, and classic mythology, and the reader is in for a treat.Continue Reading

Review: In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson

In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson
Skyhorse (March 2019)

384 pages; $13.80 paperback; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

Stephen Graham Jones posted on social media a few times about a book called In the Valley of the Sun and I took note, but it wasn’t until he posted the book’s cover that I got excited. The cover boasts a human skull bleeding from the eye sockets. It’s wearing a cowboy hat and vampire incisors are clearly visible.

Interesting.Continue Reading

Review: Will Haunt You by Brian Kirk

Will Haunt You by Brian Kirk
Flame Tree Press (March 2019)
240 pages; $24.81 hardcover; $12.38 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I finished reading Brian Kirk’s latest novel over a week ago and put off writing my review to allow this story time to gel in my mind. Or, maybe ferment is a better word. The whole concept of Will Haunt You is a bit of a mind-altering experience.Continue Reading

Review: Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore

Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore
Tor (February 2019)
128 pages; $13.53 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Just when you thought Lovecraftian horror couldn’t get any weirder, Scotto Moore tosses  out this tongue-in-cheek tale of a band that is destined to bring about the end of the world. It’s a fun read that can and will be easily read in one sitting, and is sure to leave the reader with a smile.Continue Reading

Review: Inspection by Josh Malerman

Inspection by Josh Malerman
Del Rey (March 19, 2019)

400 pages; $17.70 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

It’s a wonderful thing, digging into a new Josh Malerman novel—no idea what to expect, no clue where his twisted mind is going to take you.Continue Reading

Review: Tribesmen by Adam Cesare

Tribesmen by Adam Cesare
Black T-Shirt Books (January 2019)

154 pages; $9.95 paperback; $32.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

You know, sometimes Mother Horror feels a little left out of the conversation. I don’t watch very many horror movies, so when some of my horror fiction friends start bringing movies into a bookish discussion, I’m often left standing alone in the corner with not much to say.Continue Reading

Review: Jimmy the Freak by Charles Colyott and Mark Steensland

Jimmy the Freak by Charles Colyott and Mark Steensland
Thunderstorm Books (March 2019)
$40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

From beginning to end, this limited edition novella is something special.  Care is given to every word, beginning with this beautiful opening line…

There’s something magical about it, Mike thinks, watching the fat flakes of snow appear from a sky black as the void.
Continue Reading

Review: Wardenclyffe by F. Paul Wilson

Wardenclyffe by F. Paul Wilson
JournalStone (December 2018)
144 pages; $13.95 paperback; $4.95 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

It’s time for a return to the Secret History of the World by the iconic Dr. F. Paul Wilson. That should be enough reason to pick up this short novel about the plant where Nicola Tesla conducted some of his most dangerous experiments. This should serve as an appetizer to the return of Repairman Jack sometime in the very near future (yes, it’s actually happening). For the many fans of both Jack and the Adversary Cycle, Easter eggs abound everywhere, adding to what is a thrilling story on its own.Continue Reading

Review: Carnivorous Lunar Activities by Max Booth III

Carnivorous Lunar Activities by Max Booth III
Cinestate/Fangoria (February 2019)
380 pages; $12.86 paperback
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

I’ve dug a few things Max Booth III has put out, especially The Nightly Disease, and am not immune to the warm nostalgia of Fangoria‘s return. Also, werewolves are pretty gosh-darned rad. I guess it isn’t particularly surprising that I was excited about Carnivorous Lunar Activities.Continue Reading

Review: Junction by Daniel M. Bensen

Junction by Daniel M. Bensen
Flame Tree Press (January 2019)
240 pages; $23.70 hardcover; $12.86 paperback; $6.29 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Daisuke Matsumori is the star of the most popular nature show on Japanese television and has been recruited to investigate what’s on the other side of a wormhole found in New Guinea. By the way, the pronunciation is “Dice-Kay,” not “Dye-Sue-Key.Continue Reading

Review: The Big Crush by David J. Schow

The Big Crush by David J. Schow
Subterranean Press (February 28, 2019)
125 pages; $40 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

David Vollmand is like a lot of people: he has a job that confines him to a chair and a screen every day; he has a good friend to tip a beer with after work; he has a loyal dog waiting for him at home; and he has an unrequited love from many years ago. Like many people, he finally gives in to temptation and hops on the Internet to see where “the one that got away” got away to.

Unlike many people, reconnecting with an old flame could cost him his
life.Continue Reading

Review: The Same Deep Water As You by Chad Lutzke

The Same Deep Water As You by Chad Lutzke
Static Age Books (January 2019)

120 pages; $6.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

In 1990-1993 I was a skater girl groupie. I wore high-top Converse sneakers, ripped jeans, a flannel shirt tied around my waist and garage band tees. After school and on the weekends, the boys would skate and a few other girls and I would watch. They let us sit on their old boards and we would smoke weed or cigarettes and laugh when the boys ate it and cheer when they landed something.

We listened to The Dead Kennedys, NOFX, the Sex Pistols and the Pixies (theme song: “Where is My Mind”). So when I say that I could immediately relate to Chad Lutzke’s coming-of-age novella, The Same Deep Water As You, it is because I lived that lifestyle and in that same era.Continue Reading

Review: The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz

The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz
Flame Tree Press (December 2018)
288 pages; $16.48 hardcover; $10.37 paperback; $6.29 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I was a bit late to the party when it came to discovering the work of Jonathan Janz. As a result, I totally missed The Sorrows when it was originally published by Samhain Publishing in 2012. When Samhain ceased operations in 2017, many great works went out of print, including this debut from one of the most popular horror writers working today.Continue Reading