Dark Blood Comes From the Feet might at first be considered an odd name for this eclectic collection of seventeen literary horror short stories. Once you delve within the pages, suddenly the title proves to be a perfect fit. The line is from the story, "Cellar Door" and states: "I felt your trauma. I saw it pour out from the soles of your feet. Old, dark blood. Old trauma you have hung on to for too long. The dark blood comes from the feet." If that quote doesn't immediately give you a feeling for Emma J. Gibbon's dark and gorgeous prose, I don't know what will. There's a haunting almost melodic quality to her writing.

Mainly told in first-person narrative, her characters are—like in the quote above—those who have or are experiencing something soul-changing. An awakening to a new reality if you will. The children of Lovecraftian orphanage "St. Scholastica's Home for Children of the Sea" open new and terrifying eyes for the narrator, but the monsters aren’t always the ones you expect. "Janine" tells us of a woman whose frightful experience is ultimately too much to handle; Sometimes just knowing is dangerous. The narrator in "This Is Not the Glutton Club" learns the truth about his uncle's long flirtation with disease and mortality.

The diversity of styles and settings confirm that Gibbon is nothing but adaptable. Stories with a contemporary slant like "Rise", in which a neglected wife's transformation brings freedom, fit seamlessly beside the darker, gothic feel of Victorian-set tuberculosis tale "Infection". Locations are just as varied. You will find yourself transported one moment to a post-apocalyptic world in "Sermon from New London" and the next to purgatory in "The Limbo Lounge".

Spanning horror themes from the consumptive body horror of “Devour” to the paranormal “Ghost Maker”, every story contained within this collection was a joy to read. The emotional spectrum in the stories was everything! Sadness, disgust, fear, and yes, even hope and happiness.

My personal favorite of the collection was “Porch”, about a big, black cat named Rufus bringing his barely-alive, broken treasures to his owner who becomes a odd sort of grim reaper, escorting those poor creatures from their pain and suffering. "Porch" broke my heart, as it did the narrator's, but the ending was simply beautiful. While this was my favorite, there weren't any of the seventeen stories that I didn't enjoy. Dark Blood Comes From the Feet was a delight. Emotional, visceral, and just a lovely assortment of horror.



Review at GingerNuts of Horror


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

Things She's Seen is the second book in the Northern Circle Coven Series. I would highly recommend reading the first in the series, His Dark Magic, before jumping into this one. While I wasn't completely lost, I think it would have furthered my enjoyment of Things She's Seen to have known what happened before. Some books do a good enough job of rehashing everything that happened before but I just didn't get that as much here. Now, on to the book...

Emily Adams is a psychic who was exploited by family and those she trusted as a child. She's managed to get away from all that by joining up with the Northen Circle Coven, however temporarily. It's provided her a safe haven to get on her feet. When Gar, a loup garou, shows up to investigate what previously happened at the coven, Emily is torn between protecting the coven and helping Gar escape his own haunting past. 

Things She's Seen is more of a paranormal romance/mystery than anything. There's a good deal of piecing together everything that needs to happen. The characters are a lot of fun as is the world building. I enjoyed the magical aspects, including some less than latin spell names like pick-a-roo for lock picking. The will they/won't they relationship of Em and Gar was a bit predictable but aren't most in paranormal books? There's a lot going on in this book, and while I would have gotten a better grasp by reading book one, the pacing was good and I enjoyed the read!

If you are looking for a witchy good time and like a little bit of romance thrown in with your magic, Things She's Seen is worth your time. Just start with His Dark Magic so you don't have to find your bearings midstory!


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

I decided earlier this year to start including middle-grade reads on CLC for a variety of reasons. I remember the love that I had from a very early age of horror-leaning books and how much joy it brought me. Including middle-grade allows me to reconnect with some of the nostalgia of my youth and it also permits me to read more diminutive stories that aren't so heavy topic-wise. There's a different focus in middle-grade horror as well. Friendship and family are so often at the center of the narrative, encouraging a completely distinctive read. Rise of Zombert seemed like a perfect pick!

The story centers around friends Mellie and Danny. They do everything together so when they find a mangy stray cat in the garbage can, they quickly secret him to Mellie's house. She can't tell her parents about him because she's afraid they won't let her keep him. Besides, her parents are clearly distracted by her younger twin siblings and the family blog that her parents run. Everything in this house is about getting the perfect shot or the best blog title or the perfect photograph! So much so that Mellie is able to hide "Bert", as she dubs him, pretty effortlessly, simply because her parents aren't paying attention.

Speaking of Bert, he's not your average cat here, but you knew that already from the title. In fact, Bert aka Y-91 somehow escaped from an animal lab run by YummCo. Everything in the town is run by YummCo, but no one really knows what is going on behind the scene and poor Bert has been at their mercy for who knows how long. Mellie finding him finally gives him a place to recover and he does so immediately by killing small animals and insects and eating their heads. Yum. Of course, he's sweet by bringing the headless corpses back for Mellie. Is he a zombie? What has YummCo done to him?

Rise of Zombert was a bit difficult for me as an animal lover. We have no idea what type of testing the facility is doing behind closed doors and Bert is in pretty rough shape when we first meet him. He frequently spends time thinking about those he left behind and he promises to go back for them which is heartbreaking. I didn't expect it to be so sad! Of course, there's the frogs, and birds and squirrels and the myriad of other creatures that Bert hunts and kills. Kids will probably enjoy the grossness of Bert crunching his favorite part, the heads!

What I did like were the main characters. Mellie is adorable, smart, and very resourceful. Danny is everything you want your childhood best friend to be, loyal and kind. There's lots of fun dialogue between these two dubbed the Weirdo Twins by the class bully—who maybe is just really misunderstood. Even Mellie's family, in spite of being distant in the beginning, eventually come around in a sweet, supportive way. The illustrations peppered throughout are well done and added so much to the story. It also has a split narrative, going back and forth from Mellie and Danny to Bert and to the YummCo lab assistants tasked with finding the wayward kitty.

Don't expect a happy ending from this one though. It's the first episode of Zombert's story, so there's an abrupt finale. I actually kept turning blank pages at the end thinking maybe there was an issue with my copy! I wouldn't even call it a cliffhanger. It literally just...stopped. No closure of any kind. No big build-up. It just ended. I was disappointed that there weren't really any answers given.

I can see younger kids loving this one. It's not spooky or scary and reminds me a lot of the Bunnicula series by James Howe, though Bert doesn't come anywhere close to being the narrator that Chester is. Is Bert really a zombie kitty? You'll have to read the series to find out.


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

Black Dogs, Black Tales is a horror/dark speculative fiction anthology with quite a unique theme. There is only one rule—and one of the main reasons I agreed to review it—the dogs don't die. A horror compilation of great authors featuring dogs AND the dogs don't die? I'm in. Even better, Black Dogs, Black Tales is a charity anthology supporting the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. In the case of this anthology, the black dog can also take on a different meaning—that of the trials of mental health. We can thank Winston Churchill for this turn of phrase who named the depression that followed him most of his life his "Black Dog".

While I believe that Churchill was a bit unfair to the canine species in his naming, I've always enjoyed the folklore of the Black Dog and can validate his reasoning. If you are unfamiliar with the lore, black dogs have a varied history of sightings in Britain and feature often in dark tales. Sir Author Conan Doyle’s The Hounds of Baskerville is one such tale with which you may be familiar. Often regarded as a portent of death, sightings of the black dog have been recorded all the way back to 1127. Though not always malevolent, some report the black dog acting as helpers to lost travelers or guardians from harm. Others like the more famous Black Shuck are said to have terrorized people or even been the reason for their demise. It's no surprise really given its vast history that it could be related to mental health concerns that "dog" us through life. Black Dog, Black Tales presents a diverse mixture of new and tried ways of envisioning the black dog as both frightful phantom and man's best friend.

My favorites of the bunch were the vigilante-themed "Shifting in the Black" by L.L. Asher and "Night Wolves" by Tabitha Wood. The former adopts shapeshifter form as a way of tracking down human predators and the latter allowing the dog to lead the way to the truth. "Redbone" by Justin Gulesarian was a fun read with a little Redbone Coonhound and rookie handler Jim called in to handle a missing person's case with a surprising ending. I also adored the eerie "The Dead Way" by J.C Hart, where a little girl knows there's more to a dead-end than it appears. Some of the stories were difficult to read like "Use a Shovel" by Galina Trefil and "Yellow Dog" by Alan Baxter but these too are a testament to the love and loyalty that dogs have. The stirring poetry of Dion Winton-Polak and Steve Dillon and the illustrations of Miranda Crites, Chloe Herczeg, Falco Verolen, and cover artist François Vaillan-court brought a nice break to the writing along the way.

This is a rich collection and one I'd recommend to horror and dog lovers alike. To one degree or another, they all center around a pooch, whether actual or supernatural, and it was exciting to see the diversity of writing given the meager guidelines given. One great thing about anthologies is you are almost always introduced to new-to-you authors to fall in love with and there are definitely new names that I will be searching out for future reads.


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

Balthazar's Bane is the 6th book in the Gaslamp Gothic and Kat Ross shows no sign of slowing down. This paranormal adventure series includes the previously reviewed on Cats Luv Coffee: A Bad Breed, The Necromancer's Bride, and Dead Ringer. With opulent settings and world traveling, the Gaslamp Gothic series is not one to miss!

When Balthazar kills necromancer John Mortlake, he sets a whole train of chaos into motion. Mortlake, who deservedly met his end though quite untimely, had a daughter and while that daughter had no lost love for the man, she also has the great misfortune of being told his debts are now hers. Those debts lead her to steal Balthazar's talisman, the very one that has allowed him his extra longevity. Needless to say, he wants it back. The not-so-merry chase ends Balthazar and thief Zarifa in the hands of a djinn in the kingdom of Al Miraj.

As always, the world that Kat Ross creates is teeming with fantastical details. This time in Egypt from the Cairo bazaar to Nile cruise to mythical Al Miraj. There's a fabulous One Thousand and One Nights vibe going, especially from Al Miraj. The duality of the cursed kingdom, heaven by day and dark hell at night, was fascinating. While I was unfamiliar with the tale of Amir Arsalan, the demon Fulad-Zereh has a spell laid on her (him in the original tale) making her invulnerable to all weapons except one sword. While the original tale doesn't end so well for the witch and her offspring, the gender-swapping and roots in this bit of folklore made for an engaging read.

Each of the Gaslight Gothic books follows a different character and though we've met Balthazar and Lucas before, we get a more intimate look at both characters this time around. Stalwart and level-headed, Lucas is a great counterweight to Balthazar's impulsivity and anger. Zarifa is rash and obviously a bit desperate, but she's smart and wily. She's the perfect foil for the immaculate and in control Balthazar. If you are looking for a happy ever after, you won't find it here—at least not yet—but the angst of the journey is completely worth it.

Once again, Kat Ross has a winner here with the sixth offering of the Gaslamp Gothic series. The characters are always entertaining to get to know, the surroundings are lavish and sumptuous and the pacing is excellent. Balthazar's Bane ticks all the boxes for a delightful Victorian-era fantasy.


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

The Patience of a Dead Man is a chilling debut novel. The blurb tells you what to expect—ghosts. However, just acknowledging that there are ghosts doesn't prepare you for what's about to happen. Part mystery, part ghost story, this well-crafted read isn't your typical haunted house fare. Michael Clark is a phenomenal storyteller, ramping up the tension as the story builds. Like Charon on the River Styx, Clark steers the reader through each white-knuckled spectral encounter. Each spine-chilling situation is detailed in such a way that envisioning each and every creak of the house is effortless. 


Tim is a likable enough guy, though unmistakably flawed. Though the relationship between him and Holly—the real estate agent turned confidant—develops a bit too rapidly, they make a good team. There were some inconsistencies along the way though. You would think if the diary written by the previous owner and her own experience with the ghosts was so significant, they would have made an effort to read it immediately. Not so much. Clark's protagonists are like the people in horror movies that run up the stairs to avoid the killer, leading to that off-kilter feeling of frustration and the reader attempting to manage the characters through the pages.


The fast pace of the novel meant little or no downtime without the spooks. What moments weren't spent with the disturbing presence were permeated with hunched shoulder anticipation of their reappearance. There's a feeling of wrongness from the very start and it only becomes more expansive as the story continues. While the storyline does jump from present-day 1970s to the time of the previous owner and the life of the haunts, the transitions are easy to follow without confusion.  There is a bit of overexplaining at times, specifically where the diary is concerned that could have been trimmed without squandering the plot.


Clark takes the typical haunted house trope and transforms it. Well-plotted and devised, the ebb and flow of dread pulls the reader into the story very quickly and doesn't let go. This is not a book that you will be able to pace yourself contentedly through. Once committed to the story, it will seize you and not let go. My only regret in reading The Patience of a Dead Man was that I didn't read it sooner.



Website | Twitter | Pinterest

This year has been a tough reading year. I needed something light and fluffy to “reset” and hopefully jump start my reading stall. Better Haunts and Garden Gnomes was exactly what I needed! I’ve read Michelle M. Pillow before with Second Chance Magic which was a lot of fun. I’m not typically a cozy mystery reader, but paranormal cozy mystery? Well, I might be a convert now. I mean, look at that adorable cover to start!

Brother and sister Dante and Lilly Goode find out that their mother Marigold left them an inheritance in the town of Lucky Valley and have been called back by Aunt Polly. They aren’t excited, to say the least. After all, their mother left them and their other sister, Jessie, at the firehouse at a very young age. The town of Lucky Valley isn’t excited to have them back either. The Goodes have been blamed for all the bad luck. There’s a long history of bad blood between the town and its founders, The Goodes. Matter of fact, someone in the town wants them gone for good. Aunt Polly keeps telling them they come from a long line of magic and she’s going to help them get it back, they just think she’s nuts.

There’s so much quirkiness in this book! Aunt Polly is a hoot. She’s batty as can be but she makes sense to herself! Eccentric and off the wall, she was a favorite. Herman, the pet lobster. The army of garden gnomes. Lilly and Dante coming into their powers was a blast. The raccoon that ran off with their powers? Hilarious. Of course, the sexy werewolf code inspector that is supposed to be running them out of town decides that the Goodes might just be misunderstood. This story was so much fun to read. The characters were all great and the laughs just kept coming. Haunts and hijinx abound in Better Haunts and Garden Gnomes.

This is #1 in the (Un)Lucky Valley series by Michelle M. Pillow but #7 in the Happily Everlasting World with authors Jana Deleon, Kristen Painter, and Mandy M. Roth. It certainly won’t be my last in either series!

See more over at Wicked Cool Flight!