I have been waiting to get my hands on this book for quite some time so when it suddenly appeared on the shelf at the bookstore, I wasted no time in sI have been waiting to get my hands on this book for quite some time so when it suddenly appeared on the shelf at the bookstore, I wasted no time in snagging it.
The book kicks off with an unnamed writer who has earned a three month long all-expenses-paid stay in Madrid. She visits the local bar and meets a man with a very strange story to tell. He is running from a ninety year old nun who is part of a shady underground TV talk show he recently appeared on. Instead of being reconciled with his terminally ill wife after admitting, and begging forgiveness for, his extramarital affairs on air, the nun is sending her henchman after him to collect her due. Feeling bad for him, the writer allows the man to crash at her place and finds herself pulled deeper than she could have ever anticipated into his dark and twisted story.
Carnality is chock full of sex, religion, humiliation, and violence. It's a book about how far people might go to receive, and provide, the salvation they think they deserve. And it's quite the little mindfuck! I loved every weird minute of it!...more
Ok, now this is more like it. It's a down and dirty, read it in one sitting, queer zombie novella unlike anything you've ever read. And those poor zomOk, now this is more like it. It's a down and dirty, read it in one sitting, queer zombie novella unlike anything you've ever read. And those poor zombies! They are people who contracted a new virus that keeps them alert and aware as they rot away to nothing, but it also takes control of all of their motor skills, so they can't help but chase after you screaming at you to please kill them and run like hell and then apologize to you for the gorefest they are about to unleash on your bodies.
And in this chaotic new world, there's Quinton, an HIV+ gay man who has been holed up in a cabin for decades, far removed from this horrorfest until a group of hillbillies break in, destroy his meds, and threaten his safety. Forced out into the zombiepocalypse to scrounge up as many bottles of the life saving medication as he can before going to back into hiding, he meets another HIV+ guy named Billy who is on a similar mission, and the two head off towards the Mayner Pharmaceuticals warehouse where they hope to hit the motherload. Instead, they discover much more than they bargained for.
Bloody but with a bunch of heart, The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark is a perfectly quick, cheeky read for a wet rainy afternoon. ...more
This book was hand selected for me by my bookish pal Drew as part of a curated 'blind box' of books he recently sent my way. And boy does he know my tThis book was hand selected for me by my bookish pal Drew as part of a curated 'blind box' of books he recently sent my way. And boy does he know my tastes!
Welcome to Black Wells, a small town with some pretty dark stuff swirling beneath its surface. Enter Lauren, who moves there after a bad breakup, with the hopes of starting over somwhere fresh at the recommendation of her BFFs. But one visit to a local bar bathroom changes everything when she becomes the vicitim of a violent supernatural haunting.
Unable to shake the spirits that have attached to her, she ends up connecting with William Daniels, an excommunicated exorcist who, after witnessing one of her 'episodes' is just as determined as she is to understand what is happening to her and together, they take plan to action to make it stop.
Trauma and demon possession for the win!
Not sure I would have ever picked this one up on my own, as it had flown under my radar when it released last year. But I'm so glad I read it because I really enjoyed it.
And, oh no! I see that it's planned to be a loosely connected book series set in the the town of Black Wells with the second installment, All the Prospect Around Us, already out in the world.
Damn it you guys... another series for me to keep track of, lol!! ...more
I was really blown away by Eric's novella Things Have Gotten Worse. I was so impressed with it that Eric immediately became an auto-buy author for me.I was really blown away by Eric's novella Things Have Gotten Worse. I was so impressed with it that Eric immediately became an auto-buy author for me. So when I saw that Clash Books was putting out their debut novel, onto the wishlist it went, and when I saw that Eric was seeking reviewers for it, I showed no shame in the request game and recieved a gifted kindle copy.
If you're looking for dark and bleak, you've come to the right place. You'll meet Ghost, a widower who continues to suffer physical and mental damage after a car accident claimed his wife and unborn child; Gemma, mother to a young blind girl and whom Ghost meets during one of his routine visits to the hospital; Malik and Brett, a young gay couple who recently moved into the neighborhood and are finding the place less than welcoming; and Heart Crowley, who has discovered a way to harness a god-like power and who will forever change the lives of these very different but very necessary people.
There were some cranky plotlines that bugged me a little and a few moments where I REALLY had to let go of my inner critic, because this IS a horror novel, so there's the implied expectation to suspend reality while reading it. Each time I encountered one of moments, I treated them much like I do when I'm watching a scary movie and keep screaming at the stupid actors to not go into the basement or get pissed at the people who can't seem to run without falling every five seconds while they're being chased... I breathe out an "I told you so" or just shake my head and shrug and move on.
Going into this, I had really high hopes, and while it didn't fully meet them, it was still a heck of a read. Everything the Darkness Eats is part cosmic horror, part missing persons mystery, and part smalltown secrets you're better off not uncovering....more
Good lord, the next time I decide to pick up a book this long, do me a favor and stop me. Just knock the damn thing out of my hand, or deny my netgallGood lord, the next time I decide to pick up a book this long, do me a favor and stop me. Just knock the damn thing out of my hand, or deny my netgalley or edelweiss request ok?!
It wasn't a bad book by any means, it was just toooo damn loooong. I'm postive we could've achieved the same outcome in oh, say, 300 less pages?
In a nutshell, a boy is born to a father who has a magnificantly terrible ability to communicate with an evil darkness and has inherited his powers. His father is sickly, dying a slow death, and is endlessly abused and forced to perform Rites and Ceremonials at the hands of his adopted family, who want to harness this darkness for their own dark, demented means. His father knows nothing will stop them from coming after his son once he's dead so he protects him, marks him so that his family will never be able to find him and force him to suffer the same destiny.
All of this is basically covered in the first section of the book. During the remaining 75% of the novel, we are frustratingly bounced around at a snails pace across a multitude of time periods and by a handful of connected narrators who continue to shed their particular light on what we already knew, the whole time wondering where we are being led and if we are ever really going to get there. And we do, readers, we do. But man, if there was short cut to get there, I would have gladly taken it!
Also, to be fair, this was a big buzz book in 2022, and by now I should know that me and big buzz books don't usually get along so well. So I'm not surprised to find myself underwhelmed.
Here's looking forward to seeing what 2023 has in store for me!!...more
I requested a review copy of this one after seeing the glowing things Michael Kelly had to say about it (for those of you who don't know, Michael drinI requested a review copy of this one after seeing the glowing things Michael Kelly had to say about it (for those of you who don't know, Michael drinks the best beers, reads the best books, and publishes some of the most amazing small press literature out there!)
This book was a brain bomb of post apocalyptic dystopian western religious fanaticism (yes, I'm aware that's a mouthful). It takes place out in the middle of the desert. The world has been ravaged. Those who are still clinging to life do so against all odds, surviving in a brutal landscape, fighting off horrific "stuffed men" who have been infected by the desert, and avoiding other survivors who most certainly mean you more harm than good. Many are making their way to the city of Las Vegas, where religious relics for various saints are housed, in the hopes of being healed of their many afflictions, while others are deemed heretics and appear to be "saint touched", demonstrating an ability to do strange and miraclous things.
Told in three parts, we follow a young girl named Magdala over the span of many years, beginning when she first convinces her father to allow her to make the pilgramage to the holy city in an attempt to cure her clubfoot, through all of her trials and tribulations, to all the weird and wonderous people and places she encounters. It's deliciously dark and bleak and eerie and was just what the doctor ordered!
This one took me by surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting it to go where it went and ended up reeeeaaally enjoying it!
Set in an alternate version ofThis one took me by surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting it to go where it went and ended up reeeeaaally enjoying it!
Set in an alternate version of Philadelphia, where climate change has ravaged the world, we meet Nina, who's barley keeping her head above water, when she recieves a call from an old friend with a request that she can't turn down. He needs her to sneak into the Saturn Club - a super elite social club she broke away from three years earlier - and retrieve something for him. The timing is perfect, the city is celebrating Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival that has become a trendy 'mardi gras' like block party, and it will provide her the perfect cover.
At first it's all carnival masks and flashbacks to when she was part of the upper echelon and discovering the reason she turned her back on it all... but once she learns exactly what she it is she has stolen, all the wheels fall off the bus and we find ourselves on one roller coaster of a ride. Out of nowhere, we're suddenly thrust into a strange underworld of mayhem and magic and alchemy and secrets darker than anything Nina could have ever imagined.
And it's just.... so.... good! If this wasn't on your radar, it is now, and now you've got no excuse!
I went into this one expecting a bit more from it than it meant to deliver, I guess. I had really high hopes because I was so taken with his novel SufI went into this one expecting a bit more from it than it meant to deliver, I guess. I had really high hopes because I was so taken with his novel Suffer the Children. I mean hell, I read that book back in 2014 and I STILL catch myself thinking about it...
Plus, cults! religious nuts! and mysterious disappearances! How could I not love it?
It was definitely a slow burn, and I can totally see the comparisions to Stephen King's IT - the book follows four cult survivors as they reconnect around the 15 year anniversary of the Family of the Living Spirit masscare. Emily, the fifth survivor, just committed suicide, and the four who remain decide it's time to head back to Red Peak to uncover the mystery surrounding the Family's brutal murder-slash-suicide. The story bounces back and forth in time between present time and the past, slowly showing the reader just how F'd up the cult became, and exposing the trauma, guilt, and confusion each one has been carrying around with them all these years.
While there's no giant alien spider creature hiding out at the summit of Red Peak, there is certainly something terrifying and strange calling to them, and they plan to go and meet it head on regardless of what it wants.
There were a few times I considered chucking it, just due to the pace and the fear that it was all leading to a very disappointing end. And while I'm glad I kept reading, I wasn't disappointing in assuming it was going to be a disappointing end. If that makes sense. LOL.
Mary's made a career out of making herself invisible. As a child, she was bullied relentlessly at school. Her parents died in a fire when she was younMary's made a career out of making herself invisible. As a child, she was bullied relentlessly at school. Her parents died in a fire when she was young, and she was sent to live with her crotchety old aunt. As an adult, she now lives alone with her little porcelain Loved Ones, works in the basement of a local bookstore, and generally tries to Be Good. Though there's more to Mary than meets the eye. And now she's starting to worry that she might be losing her mind.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, strange things are happening to her. The sight of her reflection in the mirror terrorizes her. If she looks for more than a second, her face starts to bubble and ooze and rot. And if she happens to look other woman her age in the eyes, their faces do the same. She's suffering from horrible nightmares, and the undervoice, a dark and nasty voice inside her head, is encouraging her to Be Bad. To do Very Bad Things. The doctor at the clinic chalks it up to menopause, but Mary doesn't buy it for a second. Something is very very wrong.
One panicked phone call from her estranged aunt seems to offer the perfect distraction, at the moment she most needs it, and she willingly heads back to her hometown. Though when she arrives, long forgotten memories begin to surface, and the mysterious Cross House begins to beckon her for reasons she will soon wish she never knew.
The perfect read if you enjoy unreliable narrators, small towns with dark secrets, and possession stories! ...more
Set in Missouri in the 1800's, in an alternate reality where women can still be tried for witchcraft, Tomaino thrusts us into the middle of a search fSet in Missouri in the 1800's, in an alternate reality where women can still be tried for witchcraft, Tomaino thrusts us into the middle of a search for a missing girl. Jack, the town's sheriff, leads the investigation and find himself facing off against aggressive newcomers Preacher Elijah and his Native American companion Chata, who not only want to help locate the girl, but are also determined to bring God and discipline back into the hearts of the wayward townsfolk.
Though I don't normally go in for historical fiction, I'm a sucker for alternate/speculative histories. Small towns hide dark secrets and New Madrid certainly had its fair share. I had really high hopes going into this one but I think the book's brevity ended up working against it. The characters remained sort of stagnant, and the storyline felt a little rushed. I would have loved to spend more time getting to know each of the characters, diving deeper into each of their pasts, developing more of an understanding of what was driving them. And when the real action finally started to wake up on the page, rather than blaze hot and strong, it flashed and fizzled much too quickly.
I'd be interested to see where Robert's writing takes him next. It feels like he has more up his sleeve than he's showing us...
This was sent to me by the publisher. Not a book I would have requested on my own but one I'm definitely glad they put on my radar.
It's a strange litThis was sent to me by the publisher. Not a book I would have requested on my own but one I'm definitely glad they put on my radar.
It's a strange little thing, easily devoured in a matter of hours. I started this on the couch while I was waiting for my husband to finish packing for our weekend trip to Sleepy Hollow NY, and finished it in the car on the way there.
Catherynne pulls the reader along teasingly, keeping us guessing right up until the very end. Although once you know, you realize you've kinda sorta known since the beginning. I've seen it compared to The Stepford Wives, and Gone Girl, and while there are aspects of each bubbling within this story, it's very much an animal all of its own....more
At first, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. A collection of stories with intricately linked characters spanning hundredsOh gosh you guys.
At first, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. A collection of stories with intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years in the aftermath of a plague? I worried that it might be overreaching, that it might be spreading itself too thin, that it might be too ambitious for its own good, that the timing might be too soon (I mean, a book about a super plague in the MIDDLE of a real-life pandemic, c'mon!) but boooy was I wrong.
While some stories hit harder than others, each was essential to the whole. What Sequoia has envisioned is a world of survivors, a culture that focuses on celebrating and remembering lost loved ones, a future that is fueled by grief and hope. The people who populate this collection are more connected than they will ever know, their tiny ripples evolving and expanding across generations, across millenia, and yes, even across space.
Really excited to announce that I am partnering up with Mahyar and UNO Press to promote this deeply fascinating and philosophically twisted collectionReally excited to announce that I am partnering up with Mahyar and UNO Press to promote this deeply fascinating and philosophically twisted collection of interconnected stories! I've never experienced anything like this and I want to share it with you. Reach out if you're interested in reviewing, interview, or otherwise hyping this book!...more
I'm not ashamed to admit that I had the biggest crush on David Duchovny when I was in my late teens/early twenties. I would spend every Friday (and thI'm not ashamed to admit that I had the biggest crush on David Duchovny when I was in my late teens/early twenties. I would spend every Friday (and then Sunday) night curled up in front of the TV watching the latest episode of The X-Files. And then the show ended, and Duchovny kind of faded into the background, as these things go.
It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized David had written a book and was making music. I picked up a copy of Bucking F***ing Dent but hadn't cracked into it yet, and then I saw this one. A modern day Western set in the middle of the desert out by Joshua Tree, where ex-hollywood stuntman Bronson Powers freely explores Mormon life with his wives and children, far removed from the impurities of today's society.
But it wouldn't be a book if it stopped there. See, Bronson's inherited a large chunk of land out there and there's a company looking to purchase it out from under him, but he's not interested, he's got his own little "Garden of Eden" going on out there and likes it just fine the way it is. But the company won't take no for an answer, so they notify child services and wager a bet with him - send a few of his kids to public school and at the end of the year, if those kids do better than the ones he's been homeschooling, he'll sell off some of that property. If they don't, well, no harm no foul, the land remains his and the State of California will let him be.
Of course nothing is ever that simple and what ensues is part comedy, part tragedy as Bronson has no choice but to watch his family split off into two directions, forcing them to navigate new cultural norms and calling into question the faith and life they've cultivated for themselves.
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. And while I found some of the writing to be a little on the "rolling of the eyes" cheesy side, overall I really enjoyed the book. This dude can write!...more
This is a book that had lingered for a long time on my to-buy list and when I finally purchased a copy quite a few weeks back, I continued to let it lThis is a book that had lingered for a long time on my to-buy list and when I finally purchased a copy quite a few weeks back, I continued to let it linger in my tbr stacks until I saw Messy_Aussie_Reader review it on instagram.
Set in an small unnamed Southern town, a family attending church one Sunday morning finds a stranger of indeterminate age and gender napping on their preferred pew bench interprets it as a sign and decides to take them in. Although their presence and refusal to speak rattles the townfolk a bit, everyone is eager to meet them. In lieu of a name, the town calls them Pew. The sense of unease that followed them into the community is compounded by Pew's continued silence, and as everyone prepares for the upcoming and eerily foreboding Festival of Forgiveness, some decisions need to be made on what risks Pew may introduce to their way of life and what role, if any, they may play.
While Pew may choose not to speak with the townsfolk, to us, dear reader, they are a verbose narrator whose mind never seems to stop assessing, critiquing, and exploring. They appear to be hyper sensitive to the inner workings of others, bothered by their own body, and upset at the lack of memories they carry. And they remain a world of curiousities and secrets, because even leading up up to the few final pages of the novel, we know nothing more about them than when we first started.
An enjoyably weird novel that, while having fun with itself, also deals quite seriously with the way we react to and tolerate ambiguity and social disengagement. ...more
This is a story of first contact during an alien awakening.
Three strangers - Adaora, a marine bioligist; Agu, an amphibious solider; and Anthony, a GThis is a story of first contact during an alien awakening.
Three strangers - Adaora, a marine bioligist; Agu, an amphibious solider; and Anthony, a Ghanian rapper - are aimlessly wandering the beach in Lagos, Nigeria when a great sonic boom rattles the land, and a massive wave sucks them into the ocean. When they reimerge, they are accompanied by a fourth, a shape shifting extraterrestrial whose people come from the beneath the water. The aliens desire to live in harmony with humanity and require our three reluctant protagonists' assistance to help them begin to assimilate. Chaos ensues as a religious leader and his followers, the military, and some lowbrow hoodlums each set their sights on the alien ambassador.
The book has fun with itself - at one point, the Nigerian president gets all "take me to your leader" and meets with the alien Elders, and our main characters reveal they have had unique superpowers since childhood - but it also speaks directly to how we as a species have been seriously fucking up the only planet we can call home, and we need to stop.
Shit. This was a tough one for me. I was quite enthralled while I was reading it, but once I put it down, the urge to pick it back up just wasn't there. The book's setting and premise are compelling enough, but the writing and pacing was a little wonky and uneven for me....more
"I have an idea you aren't going to like me very much."
Set in a historically twisted past, our narrator introduces himself as having an unfortunate gi"I have an idea you aren't going to like me very much."
Set in a historically twisted past, our narrator introduces himself as having an unfortunate gift - the ability to sense and converse with demons. One look at someone and he can tell if one of Them are inside. And he's been bestowed with the authority to extract Them...
"Out, I say, and out They have to go. They go, because They know that if They don't, I can haul Them out".
...which can be a painful experience for both the demon and the person. Well, mostly for the demon. Because the human will die.
Our narrator and these demons, they know one another, because there are a finite number of them. They are immortal, they can't die but they also can't reproduce, and they appear to be bound to their territories, unable to travel far, and so our man here, well, he gets to know them and begins to take their menacing personally.
"I feel guilty because I don't feel guilty...The victims aren't what motivates me, not anymore. Or not the only thing... My motivations are my own business, my privilege, and my intolerable burden".
This is not so much a book about the possessed than it is about the revenge this man wishes to exact on the ones that do the possessing. And it's a wicked read!...more
An incredibly quick read that appears to pull in end-time tropes that are strangle similar to other brand spankin' new apocalyptic books like WandererAn incredibly quick read that appears to pull in end-time tropes that are strangle similar to other brand spankin' new apocalyptic books like Wanderers and The Lightest Object in the Universe, while also recycling the whole cities-as-names thing from Zombieland.
For reasons that will remain unexplained to us, people suddenly fall into a catatonic state in which they do not require food or drink or tolieting (see: Wanderers) but are doll-like in their ability to be manipulated by their loved ones - led to walk, to be seated, to hold things. Among those who haven't immediately been affected, a radio station janitor named Memphis (see: Zombieland), one of the late night DJs, and an FCC field agent named Cinncinati (see: Zombieland again) all rise to the status of Main Character as they work together to keep an emergency radio broadcast running after the power goes out and the world begins to fall apart around them.
And how might they do that, you ask? Why, by building a homemade radio tower (see: Lightest Object) out of, uhm, the sick people. Because apparently we are great conductors for radio waves??? That part is actually pretty fricken awesome and begins to tip this novella right the heck into bizarro territory, which is A.O.K. in my book!
Oh yeah, and no end time story is complete without a whacko preacher/pastor/true believer (see: Wanderers and Lightest Object) spoiling the lets-work-together-to-rebuild party.
While it might sound like I'm harshing all over this thing, I really did enjoy it. It's not earth shattering, but it'll do. Really....more
In Psychopomps, Alex swings wide the doors, letting the reader crawl deep down inside, sharing with us their confusion, frustrations, losses, and ultiIn Psychopomps, Alex swings wide the doors, letting the reader crawl deep down inside, sharing with us their confusion, frustrations, losses, and ultimate relief as they move along their journey to self discovery.
An impressively powerful collection of essays on gender exploration and identity, finding and losing and rediscovering religion, and the always problematic quest for love and understanding as one is still learning to love and understand themselves. And it's courageous as all fuck if you ask me. Shedding your skin like that in front of everyone? What a big hot beautiful mess!
Hot damn. A mother fucking apocalypse of the mind told in three distinct parts, within five wickedly deceiving acts. Lauver has cleverly placed you smHot damn. A mother fucking apocalypse of the mind told in three distinct parts, within five wickedly deceiving acts. Lauver has cleverly placed you smack in the middle of this bizarre yet captivating dreamscape of broken characters in the midst of their own mini existential crises - what meaning lies within our dreams? what does it mean to "be"? to what lengths would we go to unbreak what is broken within us? - and a pretty badass game of chess taking place between a young kid and Eleanor Rosevelt outside of a quickmart that plays out through eternity.
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