Book Review: SUCH PRETTY CONFUSION
Such Pretty Confusion: Nightmares from a Damaged Mind Peter N. Dudar Trepidatio Publishing (August 18, 2023) Reviewed by Andrew Byers Peter Dudar’s Such Pretty Confusion is a haunting and wide-ranging collection of dark fiction composed over the course of two decades...
Card Deck Review: DEEP, DARK & DANGEROUS ORACLE
Card Deck Review: Deep, Dark & Dangerous Oracle Stacey Demarco (Rockpool Publishing, October 13, 2022) Boxed set of 44 cards and guidebook Graphics by Kinga Britschgi, £17.99 Reviewed by Wendy Stokes The unknown and the Underworld feature in ancient myths and...
Book Review: A CURIOUS CARTOGRAPHY
A Curious Cartography Alison Littlewood Black Shuck Books, 2023 Reviewed by Mario Guslandi A successful novelist and short story writer (winner of a Shirley Jackson Award for Short Fiction), Alison Littlewood is an eclectic author in the general area of speculative...
Card Deck Review: SEASONS OF THE WITCH MABON ORACLE
Card Deck Review: Seasons of the Witch Mabon Oracle Lorraine Anderson & Juliet Diaz Boxed set of 44 cards and guidebook; RRP US $24.95 UK £18.99 Rockpool Publishing (6th July 2023) Reviewed by Wendy Stokes “To find enlightenment, seek nowhere, it lies within...
Advance Review: JOE LEDGER: UNBREAKABLE
Joe Ledger: Unbreakable Edited by Jonathan Maberry and Bryan Thomas Schmidt JournalStone Publishing (November 4, 2023) Reviewed by Andrew Byers While I’ve been aware of Jonathan Maberry’s long-running and very popular Joe Ledger series for a long while, I’m new to the...
Book Review: WICKED SICK
Wicked Sick: An Anthology of the New England Horror Writers Kristi Petersen Schoonover and Scott Goudsward (eds.) Wicked Creative (May 4, 2023) Reviewed by Elaine Pascale The New England Horror Writers (NEHW) hit another one out of the park (Fenway, of course) with...
Book Review: I FOUND PUPPETS LIVING IN MY APARTMENT WALLS
I Found Puppets Living in My Apartment Walls Ben Farthing (August 1, 2023) Reviewed by Carson Buckingham Though the title may lead you to believe that this book is an airy, Muppet-like romp, it is as far from The Muppet Show as it is possible to get. This is a scary...
Book Review: AZATHOTH: ORDO AB CHAO
Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao Edited by Aaron J. French JournalStone Publishing (August 4, 2023) Reviewed by Andrew Byers Having read French’s previous edited Cthulhu Mythos collection, The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft, also for JournalStone, I was looking forward to seeing what...
Book Review: UNSPEAKABLE HORROR 3: DARK RAINBOW RISING
Unspeakable Horror 3: Dark Rainbow Rising Victor A. Liaguno (ed.) Crystal Lake Publishing (June 21, 2023) Reviewed by Elaine Pascale Don’t let the rainbow fool you—it is a dark one. The rainbow is a reminder of highs and lows, of starting points and of falling back....
Book Review: GRIS-GRIS GUMBO
Gris-Gris Gumbo Rick Koster JournalStone Publishing (June 23, 2023) Reviewed by Andrew Byers Rick Koster offers us a treat: what happens when Crayton Breaux, a clerk at a tourist trap voodoo shop in New Orleans’ French Quarter, starts dabbling in voodoo and discovers...
Book Review: VERUSHKA
Verushka Jan Stinchcomb JournalStone (July 7, 2023) Reviewed by Nora B. Peevy Jan Stinchcomb lives in the world of fairytales. Her stories are steeped in the old-world fairytales with a modern retelling. Her latest novel, Verushka, is about a family cursed for three...
Shadow House Publishing: WHEN DARKNESS ANSWERS
Shadow House Publishing Announces the Release of: WHEN DARKNESS ANSWERS by William P. Simmons We tell the dark our deepest secrets, fears, and desires. What if, one night, the darkness should reply? Darkness isn’t simply the absence of light, it’s a living, breathing...
Book Review: THE TRICK
The Trick Douglas Ford Madness Heart Press (May 14, 2023) Review by Elaine Pascale The Trick is an exciting read, and I devoured it with a surprising quickness. Ford writes of the surreal, yet a reader is eased into every plot point so that the logic of the story is...
Book Review: ELEMENT OF DOUBT
ELEMENT OF DOUBT: Ghost Stories A.L. Barker Valancourt Books, 2023 Reviewed by Mario Guslandi Audrey Lilian Barker ( 1918-2002) was a prolific author of novels and short story collections, now largely forgotten. The present volume reprints her collection Element of...
Book Review: THIRTEEN PLUS-1
Thirteen Plus-1 Lovecraftian Narratives Nancy Kilpatrick NKPublishing (May 14, 2023) Review by Elaine Pascale In Thirteen Plus-1, Nancy Kilpatrick has pulled together stories from prior publications that hearken to the style of Lovecraft. While the stories were...
