Foxfire by Rowan Hill is a suspenseful slasher set in a very remote and cold location that had once promised fun and a great investment opportunity but quickly turns into a place they all want to escape. 

A man and his daughter are trying hard to impress their guests in order to promote the land as a resort to be built upon. The others, from all over the world, are there to see if this is a good investment opportunity. Things are going well overall, even if there was a bit of tension between some of the guests. But when one guest is found out in the snow brutally murdered, things take a very sharp turn. 

What would you do if you were stuck in an isolated area, in below-freezing temperatures, and there were worse things to fear than the horrible and dangerous people around you out in the darkness? 

As this is a story told from various perspectives, readers are slowly introduced to all of the characters in such a perfect way. I loved that each chapter/perspective merged into the other by backtracking just a smidge to overlap, picking up right where the previous section left off, or by mentioning one character at the end of one chapter and then jumping to what they were up to in the next chapter to with a little more space. This was such a fun format to follow as a reader! As I’m sure you can assume, this also made the book nearly impossible to put down!

I am absolutely obsessed with the perfect blend of beauty, terror, and gore that Rowan has here!

His deep twang dropped with the last sentence, the V in his forehead deepened, and a sinister quality overcame his features, his gaze darkening without ever moving.

A ribbon of strong emerald light waved above the trees, running vertically and along with the path and Tetsuya exhaled. Clear and vivid as if paint had smeared across his eyes, scoring into his memories and past lives. Unearthly and spectral, he was stuck where he stood, watching something bigger than him, grander than anyone, occur above.

Here, she could scream and no one would rescue her. No one would come. No one would know.
How completely alien and delightful.

Carly thought lifting the man frozen at odd angles was rather like moving a small armchair. Both convenient and somehow awkward to pivot.

He looked down, puzzled to see a pool of black tar, a small trickle coursing down the slight incline of the driveway, its source a mystery until his boot squished again in the smear of gradual blood leading back to the lodge. He quickly stepped out of {name redacted for spoilers}‘s lifeblood, staring in dread as liters stained like ink on a white blanket.

Beneath the ceiling of branches and needles, the snow-laden ground was smooth and glittered. Occasionally there was the blemish of a fallen pack of snow from a branch above, but they were few. The forest slept for winter, snow pledging an intimate silence in the forest, assuring rest.

The old and weak were first to die in the wild. Nature’s finest fuck you for beating the odds for so long.

Reading this book is like looking out at a wintertime scene. At first, all you see is the beauty, but soon, the focus shifts and you see all of the blood that has fallen into the snow, staining the landscape red. 

Go grab your preorder of this book and prepare yourself for the bloodshed and suspense!

Mister Magic by Kiersten White is a tale of magic, friendship, and darkness.

This book makes you ask yourself, if you could see behind the scenes of your favorite childhood television show, would you want to know what occurs?

As the characters of a famous and peculiar kids’ television show return to a scene from their childhood in order to partake in a podcast reminiscing on the thirty-year anniversary, they soon realize that they may be in for a rougher trip than anticipated.

Like the general public, this crew knows that the show was a bit mysterious. After all, no episodes can be found on streaming services or anywhere online, posts on social media and other discourse websites tend to be taken down quickly, and there is some controversy that seems to be either a rumor or covered up very well. But this crew knows that all of it, the show and the accident, were very real. But even so, they have trouble remembering the details.

Like many children looking back on their past, this cast realizes they had sugarcoated their memories. That is, with the exception of one cast member who has no memory of the events of childhood. Just distant echoes of the songs they would sing together.

As they spend more time together, they unearth the secrets that were trying to stay buried…

My gosh, I got so invested in this tale while reading! I was intrigued by the mystery of the show and what happened to them all while on set as well as what led to the downfall. The anger and paranoia presented by a couple of the characters and the confusion of others only added to that tension. I needed answers!

I really enjoyed that, as a reader, we walked through the events from the perspective of the character with the suppressed memories as she held the key to unlocking the mystery. Seeing everything unfold as she opened up after so many years of keeping herself in the darkness was so interesting.

I also really enjoyed the take on the classic archetypical roles each child played in the show overall and how each child’s individual role worked in tandem with the others. Learning more about that after meeting them as adults was like fitting together puzzle pieces that showed you a tiny part of the overall picture.

It’s not quite honest, saying she doesn’t know them. She knows Isaac, but in the same way she knows how to breathe. She just does, until she thinks about it, and then she can’t remember how to do it normally anymore.

“It should look like an apartment building, right? Like, this should make sense. But it looks like ” Marcus stops, unable to finish his sentence.
“It looks like someone put a regular house on a medieval rack and tortured the shit out of it,” Javi says.
“Fun-house mirror version of a house,” Marcus adds.

“People think children’s lives are simple, easy, but it’s the opposite. Everything that happens around them affects them, and they don’t have the power to affect any of it back…”

Val never had a dream of a future. She only had a nightmare of what she’d already lost.

Her brain sparks the way the battery doesn’t, roaring to life with conspiracy theories. But the answer is simpler than that. She closes the hood and then rests her forehead on it, bent over with despair.

She’s numb with fear. No, more than fear. The air is so cold she can see her breath; her finger joints ache with it. Her scars are brilliant white, memories her body holds even if her mind does not.

I had a blast reading this story as it dripped with childhood nostalgia that I could certainly relate to with some of my childhood favorite TV shows that seemed like a fever dream.

If you enjoy slow-burning suspense novels with some awesome foreshadowing and a spotlight on childhood bonds, then this will be a hit for you!

Finally gotten over your fear of what could be lurking underneath your bed? The Thing Under Your Bed by Stephen Kozeniewski is going to bring that fear back to the forefront of your mind. 

The poor young girl in the story is already dealing with so much darkness; parents that don’t seem to love her, an alcoholic mother, and other sadness far too dark for a girl her age. 

One night, she’s awoken by a monster underneath her bed announcing that it is going to eat her and her whole family. At first, she thinks she’s dreaming, but soon, she’s not able to dismiss what is happening as she begins a fight for her life. 

We’ve all had that experience of being afraid of what could be lurking under the bed. Heck, I still check under hotel beds and such every time I’m staying somewhere that isn’t my own bed. But that’s mainly checking for human monsters. 

At home, with my beautiful bed that only has about a half-inch gap between the flood and the wooden paneling, I still worry about something reaching out from under there. 

Not only is that fear the main focus here, but Stephen takes it so far into the dark realm of nightmare, that you’ll find yourself making sure no part of you is hanging off the edge of whatever you happen to be sitting on while reading. 

She waited for an eternity, even holding her breath as long as she could. She would give it time, and the monster would disappear. That’s all she had to do: wait for it to disappear.

Horror fans, this quick novella is an absolute must-read. You’ll want to cry, you’ll want to scream, and most of all, you’ll want to hide under your comforter and wish for the monster to just go away. 

Good luck and happy nightmares! 

October Screams: A Halloween Anthology edited by Kenneth W. Cain is jam-packed with twenty-seven amazing tales of Halloween horror! Each one is bite-sized just like the candies you’d get while trick or treating! Just be warned, some candies are sweet, some are sour, and some may just be hiding something else inside…

My favorites from the collection include:

Per usual, here are my thoughts on each tale!

After his son has been trick or treating, he inspects his candy, taking out a piece that looks odd. But rather than throwing it out, he eats it. 

Wow, what a story to kick off the collection! We’ve all heard the old stories of candy being tainted, even though it was tracked down to the parents attacking/killing their own children and trying to pass it off on the candy from strangers. This tale takes this fear and adds an even more brutal twist. 

On a Halloween night, a magician who comes to this old man’s door triggers quite the trip down memory lane. 

This grief horror tale was blood-boiling and heartbreaking. The friend’s comments about monsters broke me. 

Surprised when a young boy rang the doorbell later than normal and twisted the visit around so he was the one asking treat or trick, this man wasn’t sure what to think. 

My gosh, the ending of this one!

Going for a walk one evening, this man knows his son wouldn’t approve. But he ends up walking for hours in a mass of people.

I loved not knowing what was going on here, but getting little hints throughout that let you try to guess. 

Seeing meteorites fall from the sky, this father thinks this night will be exciting even through his dread that this will be the last Halloween he spends out trick or treating with his daughter. He has no idea what’s to come. 

The way this tale slowly dialed up the creep factor was amazing. 

This bossy little child gets her friends to do everything she wants until things start going wrong. Angry, but not to be let down, she and her other strange friend make a second loop of the neighborhood.

This tale was wild! The intensity of this little girl getting everything she wants and needing others to live up to her exact expectations was terrifying! Like a much darker version of Veruca Salt. 

While on watch, this character’s sole goal is to stay awake. Unfortunately, he’s struggling and dips in and out of sleep and memories of Halloween nights when he was younger. 

The choppy storytelling style is so unsettling! What was real and what was a dream? 

Not wanting to go home at the end of Halloween night, this young girl spots a sign for free telescope views. The only thing she loves more than free candy is space, so she quickly heads down the dark drive. Once there, she learns a great deal from the woman who lives there.

Immediately feeling for this character, I was so hoping we would get a happy ending. I loved her interest in space and how she could see right through her new friend. I would love a whole book about the girl and the older woman!

Sitting outside with a bunch of bags of popcorn, this man is determined to greet the trick-or-treaters, even if most others have given up on the holiday. Of course, there’s very good reason as to why most no longer celebrate. 

Gosh, this is some powerful grief horror. What an absolute nightmare of a situation. And what strength to still continue the tradition. 

Still grieving the loss of their son, things are tense on the one-year anniversary.

My goodness, this one is bleak. What an awful situation all around!

Kicking off with a presentation on how to write about the perfect murder, we then get a look at the writer and how he knows this information.

This one starts out so lighthearted even while discussing such darkness. But of course, the story takes a dark turn. 

Going through a shocking breakup, this woman drowns her sorrows in booze. Luckily, trick-or-treaters show up the next day to cheer her up. 

Such a brutal tale of heartbreak and the aftermath that comes roaring in much too quickly. 

Set up in quick snapshots of Halloween night, this builds to a dangerous point!

Oh my gosh, I loved this one so much. I had an eerie vibe at the start, but once I finished the tale and learned what was going on, I had to go back and read from the beginning! 

When invited to the Halloween Decoration Committee meeting, this couple makes the mistake of skipping the event. They soon learn how seriously the neighborhood takes the holiday. But the neighborhood is about to learn something about the couple as well.

This tale is wildly unsettling. How petty people can be is truly terrifying! I’m a people pleaser, so thinking of one person that I’ve upset kills me enough. I can’t imagine an entire neighborhood being upset! 

A family outing to find a good pumpkin turns into quite the trip.

This tale was so bizarre! 

After hearing a wild story from their friend, this group decides to go with him and break into a house to try to see if what he said he saw was real. 

Of course, trouble wasn’t far behind here… I was so ready for a jump scare at every turn. What we got here was much more devastating. 

After stealing candy from his brother, this person becomes cursed with spiders crawling under his skin. Determined to make it stop, he tries to kill himself a different way each Halloween. But this year, he has a new plan. 

Oh my gosh. Reading this at any normal time I’m sure would have had me squirming. Reading this while insanely itchy with PUPPS during pregnancy made me want to rip my skin off even more!

While at a Halloween party, these teens partake in a tradition one of their grandmothers had told them about. Unfortunately, they didn’t take the warning of danger seriously and things go very wrong.

Reading this was so nerve-wracking! I was equally excited and terrified to see what would happen next! So many bombshells were dropped that I actually gasped.

 A man who has clearly gone through some stuff is not enjoying this Halloween night. As he keeps going outside to smoke, he just gets more and more worked up about something lurking in the shadows. 

What an unsettling tale! I’m glad I read this one at 11 a.m. to have plenty of time between now and nightfall to process the story! Things lurking outside of a house at night just gets to me every time!

Forced to return home, this woman dreads every second of the trip. While she still tries to keep many things secret, she will soon regret not giving her girlfriend more details as her girlfriend refuses to let her go alone. 

I loved how this story revealed itself slowly! What a terrifying plot! 

Sent out once a year to collect, these young ones are looking for something other than candy and treats. 

My gosh. I love this tale. I especially enjoyed the scene with the trick-or-treater. I would love to learn more about this family and see the outcomes of scenes like that in a longer version. But of course, this was perfect as is!

Telling his children a story from childhood, this man struggles to keep his composure. 

My gosh, that ending!

One Halloween night, a woman dressed as a vampire goes to a bar seeming to be the only one celebrating. Catching the eye of a man with some cheesy lines, she’s about to show him why she loves Halloween so much. 

The foreshadowing here for the ending was perfect! 

Regretting telling her kids a spooky story about a ghost, this mom is soon telling herself there’s no such thing.

A lovely quiet horror tale set at bedtime with an eerie story neatly tucked inside! 

Planning to rob a convenience store on Halloween, these kids get more attention than they bargained for! 

Oh man! What a cliffhanger ending! 

A story told in sets of Halloween memories, we see the family go through a lot over the years. The latest Halloween could be the worst of them… 

I love a great haunted doll! Oh boy was this one perfect!

Before moving to the West Coast, this man decides to go to his childhood home and walk the neighborhood just like he used to as a kid every Halloween. But this Halloween, he’s reminded of a local urban legend. Remembering events from his past like a shock of lightning hitting him, he’s determined to make sure a lone kid gets home safe. 

Jeeeeeeeze. Two scenes here gave me jump scares! I loved this tale so much. I need a shirt made from this asap. 

I leaned into the mirror and pulled back my upper lip. Sure enough, it looked as if I hadn’t brushed in months–Jesus, years. These cavities were wreaking absolute havoc throughout my mouth. My teeth wobbled about the gumline, tipsy passengers onboard a pink cruise liner in the middle of a monsoon, all of them falling overboard.
— Sweetmeat by Clay McLeod Chapman

“Some people are not meant to live among humans. Some are born with too much evil.”
— Free Candy and Telescopic Views by Red Lagoe

I scrolled down the street happily taking everything in- laughing kids playing in a pile of leaves with a fulty white American Eskimo puppy; an elderly couple sizing on their rockers, sipping fo steaming mugs; some of my classmates walking on the opposite side of the street, wearing thick flannels; a father and daughter on a blue lawn tarp, carving a smiling face onto their bright orange pumpkin. I wished I could live in October year-round. Taking one more cleansing breath of the cool, intoxicating air, I let myself inside.
— November Eve by Bridget Nelson

A lonesome breeze sends dead leaves skittering up the street. Bradbury would love it. I watch them for a moment before I notice the air smells faintly of cotton candy, and there go those alarm bells again. I’m just going to say for the record that if it’s an evil clown out there, I’ll shit my pants in three different languages.
— Let The Dark Do The Rest by Kealan Patrick Burke

Roxanne knows how to make me feel better, to make me feel like I’m someone else entirely. She and I couldn’t be more different: I’m a woman with a past, and she’s a woman with a future. I tell myself if I can only hold on tight to her, then maybe I can have a future too.
— Twin Flames by Gwendolyn Kiste

He was about to whisper Roddy’s name when the room was suddenly illuminated in an amber light, and Ben saw what might have been ripped straight from his ten-year-old mind. The thing that would haunt him for years to come. The thing he’d see in nightmares that would jerk him awake, his shirt soaked with sweat, his heart racing as if he’d just finished a marathon.
— Scattergoods by Kevin Kangas

October Screams is the perfect collection to read to kick off the spooky season. Covering such a wide variety of Halloween-related things, each story in the collection is so unique that all horror fans are sure to find something here that they love.

Sick! Stories From the Goop Troop by Lor Gislason, Shelley Lavigne, and Eric Raglin is a unique and brutal gag-inducing collection of tales that is sure to upset even people who boast that they have a stomach of steel.

When I started putting together my review, I realized I had written, “Oh my gosh!” at the start of my notes for every single tale… If that doesn’t sum up my thoughts on the collection, I’m not sure what will. 

So, oh my gosh, let’s dive in!

There are just no words for how wild I thought this collection was… Try as I might, I think this is a book you just need to immerse yourself in.

Good luck! 🙂

Per usual, here are my notes on each tale:

Oh my gosh. Short and sweet, and so much fun! I loved that there were notes from The Swinesayer before each tale. 

Knowing a family curse may be right around the corner, this 29-year-old decides to have an extravagant birthday party. But will the curse arrive as he dreads? If so, what will his friends think?

What a dread-filled tale! I can only imagine having this countdown going on in the back of your mind at all times… The burst of body horror had me ready to gag even though I felt terrible for the poor guy. 

All this poor high school girl wants is to be able to produce silk just like her classmates. Unfortunately, try as she might, her nodules just won’t pop like the other girls. 

This brought up the tension of waiting for my period to start back in elementary school when all the other girls started getting theirs. Such a weird form of feeling left out as your body doesn’t cooperate with what you think you want. 

Determined to satisfy their curiosity and finally look at the rooms in the back half of the trailer, this character gets quite a shock!

This was WILD! I was so nervous to see what we were going to discover. The grease and the hair elements… Eek.

When this takeover begins, it’s off to a rocky start and time is extremely limited. Will they be successful? 

This one had me feeling so nauseous thinking about the smells… Glad I’m not a huge meat kind of person after reading this one!

Determined to just grow a couple more inches, this man doesn’t take no for an answer and finds other means to continue his journey. Of course, he should have heeded his original doctor’s warning.

Ah, the pressure to be tall. This poor guy. I can’t blame him for how obsessed he gets as there are plenty of things I would obsess over if science and money weren’t setbacks. 

In a lab, the latest velvet garments are created. But once the process is unveiled, will anyone still want them? 

The things people will do for money AND the things people will buy even if the ethics are iffy.

While at a gym, almost everyone knows to leave one man alone. But not this guy. Unfortunately for him, he tries to help and it doesn’t go well. 

A terrifying tale of body horror and the intention to help that just ends up backfiring on you. The word “squelch” here was insanely perfect and gag-inducing. 

Determined to spread an infection, this mass of people all take part in a grotesque party, each step of the way getting more and more intense. 

Right from the invitation, I was already feeling sick over this one. The lack of understanding, caution, and empathy for others is terrifying and hits home with COVID still so present. By the end of this one, I was ready to be ill. Phew!

A midnight club at a hospital gets together to tell patient stories to try to make others sick. But that’s not all they bring to the table.

This one just gets worse and worse! Good lord, Lor has an intense tale here. This is the top tale that I have read that made me feel wildly ill. I’m surprised I didn’t actually get ill… My husband was eating an apple next to me while I read this, and let me tell you, his crunching did not help. Bravo, Lor!

Living in an apartment with a Clean Living Clause, this couple is distressed when their landlord and her two children bust in and tear their place apart looking for “filth” to claim. But unfortunately, that’s not the most distressing part of this night.

This tale was WILD. The initial scene of the intrusion had me ready to rage. Things only get more strange from there! What a story to end the collection with!

I crossed the street to avoid a rat hauling a half full bag of fries with the confidence of someone who had paid for them.

DO NOT READ THIS ANY TIME AROUND WHEN YOU’RE PLANNING TO EAT. Don’t even look at the cover too close to mealtime…

Gross horror fans, you’re gonna absolutely love this one. Each tale is so disgustingly and horrifically wonderful! I can’t say I “enjoyed” this exactly, but I did have a blast seeing which tales would give me full-body reactions with the grossness! These authors nailed this genre.

Hot Iron and Cold Blood: An Anthology of the Weird West is a collection that truly brings some of the most bizarre tales to the table. Scattered amongst a few brutal Western horror tales, this collection has a bit of everything.

Grab your cowboy hat and your six-shooter, and let’s hit the trail! Yee-Haw!

To be fair and totally honest upfront, I sometimes struggle with weird horror, as well as Western horror. Bringing these two together had me a bit nervous but also super excited to give it a go! When I was asked to provide an early review, I couldn’t resist.

I found a number of favorites from the collection, with a few more that came in a close second compared to my top faves. But each tale in this collection is so wonderfully unique. I found it so interesting to see how each tale was placed within the collection; the full read certainly takes readers on quite the trip!

From the collection, my favorite stories include:

Per usual, here are my thoughts on each tale:

A good foreword gets the readers pumped for what’s to come next. R.J. certainly accomplishes that here! In just a few short pages, I was already feeling the dust and heat of the West rolling in.

Determined to bring a woman back home, this main character is blinded by her own wants. Gathering a group, a tale is told to impress one of the women during the journey. Seemingly innocent, this tale curses them all. 

Going after bandits, these three are surprised to find that their bullets didn’t take down one of the men. Now, they must find a way to stop him for good. 

After the town grew tired of the way this sheriff held power, he moved to an isolated spot. One day, he wakes up to find strange holes all over his land. Thinking they’re made by critters, he doesn’t think too much of it. That is, until they grow and begin to speak…

This tale is so unsettling! Shame that the town appreciated his efforts at first, then made him out to be a monster later. 

Knowing she can’t continue with her line of work while pregnant, this young woman takes a powder given to her by another brothel owner. She soon unfortunately finds that the powder was a trick to take down the competition. 

Oofh, the body horror here! This poor woman. 

Forced to grow up quickly and fend for herself, this woman isn’t afraid to spill some blood in order to complete her journey. 

When their best cattle begin to meet horrible ends, these men hear a tale of a shapeshifter and set out a plan of attack. Little do they know, they’re about to bite off way more than they can chew. 

I got sucked right into this one! I love a good werewolf tale with a twist! I’d never read one quite like this before. The gore was intense!

Taking a job for double pay, this man goes to a cemetery to dig up and move a casket. While dreaming of the sex acts he’ll pay for later, he’s surprised when the person funding this little task shows up… 

A woman who has birds living inside her meets men and asks them to feed her birds. But soon, each town has enough of her and runs her out. Will she ever be able to settle?

This was one of the most bizarre tales I’ve ever read.

In a world where dinosaurs appear and disappear for seemingly no reason, these characters go on a drive to monitor them. Each has their own reasons to be there. 

Another absolutely wild tale. I need to try this one again at some point because I’m not sure I understood everything that was going on. 

Making plans to hang a man who robbed a bank where six people were killed, this man won’t go quietly. He calmly talks to the mayor and townspeople and explains all the things they should do in order to execute him properly. 

This one had a wonderful level of humor mixed in with the brutality. I loved this tale! 

Determined to get to a town to ask his girl’s father for her hand in marriage, this man is upset that the group decides to camp for the night. Going to search for water, he doesn’t feel good about what they find. Back at camp, the sun has set, and more than just the darkness from the lack of sunlight begins to roll in.

This story is a love story soaked in dread. So many awful things happen so quickly! I was totally captivated by this one!

Riding out a freezing winter, this woman still mourns the loss of her husband. Little does she know, the daughter has made a wish, and that wish is coming true, just not in the way she had hoped. 

Part grief horror, part cosmic horror, this was quite a wild ride!

Recalling scenes from the very recent past, this young man writes in a journal to process his struggles with the relationship he and his father have as well as the things he stood idly by while his father profited off the sick and needy. 

This tale is heartbreaking in so many ways! I so hope this kid got a happy ending.

Working to build a railroad, dreaming of their families back home, one man is deeply unsettled by the area they have wound up in. Turns out, he was right to be disturbed.

This tale had one lovely note that set off the alarm bells, then it got dark so quickly! While absolutely brutal, I loved this one! 

During a tornado, this man shelters in a structure. Once the wind dies down, he’s shocked to see that a metal rod that he had seen earlier in a graveyard has been flown into the building. Now, he has a new mission…

When approached with a job, this man tried to warn them away. But they know who he is and they know they need a devil on their side. 

This one starts with some bloody action before taking a brief pause to let readers breathe before diving head-first into the horror. I’m obsessed with this story! I was so excited to see Salem Covington back in action. 

A wonderful summary of how this book came to be along with a quick note on each tale!

Johnny had no time to cry out before the dynamite packed tightly under his ass blew him to smithereens, raining chunks of Mabry from the sky. Shit, some of him maybe even landed back in Buzzard’s Edge. Only on the outskirts, though.
— Holes by Brennan LaFaro

I made to move past them when I heard the flick of a pistol hammer pulled back. I spun on my heels and let the Gun sing; the bullet split the man’s head open like kindling on a chopping block. Bits of his brain splattered over his companions, both watching with wide eyes and trembling guns, then they ran.
— Seeking A Grave In Canaan by Wile E. Young

Weird Horror and Western Horror fans alike, you need this anthology! Begin your read and prepare to get lost in the dust and gunfire.

The Conservator’s Collection: Derelict by John Durgin, Jay Bower, and John Lynch is a collection of three novellas with the theme of abandonment and derelict situations that each bring their own level of darkness into play.

Starting out with a terrifying tale, we then move into a suspense-filled story, followed by a dread-inducing short, all of which have a horrific supernatural element that will haunt readers long after finishing the stories. 

The amazing cover was created by Matt Seff Barnes. The interior art by Anugerah Putra with Daydream Studios featured three main illustrations, one for each tale. My goodness, I can’t wait to see these in print rather than on my old Kindle! They look so creepy and dark! 

Now, let’s get into the stories!

Setting things up just like Creepshow and Ronald Kelly’s Southern-Fried Horror Tales, this intro sets the scene and introduces each tale to come perfectly. 

After promising their daughter that they are done fostering kids, this family can’t help but take in one last foster kid after learning about the terrors that she went through. 

After her arrival, the first afternoon goes well but as the sun sets, odd things begin to occur. Soon, this family is faced with a terrifying story of her past that leads up to what is happening now. 

This family has helped so many kids before, but is this situation out of their control?

This story starts out in the aftermath of an extremely brutal slaying rampage that leaves readers with one chilling note to go by; that “she” did this.  

The rest of the tale is a fast-paced roller coaster of emotions and terrors as things get more and more dangerous. 

One scene that is going to haunt me forever is the pool scene… The fact that it happened right in the middle of the day with both parents right there only added to the terror! We’ve all had that irrational fear of a shark in the pool, right? Well, this blows that fear right out of the water! 

Fifteen years after a school shooting, the building is finally scheduled to be torn down, but these teens are determined to break in and try to talk to the ghosts first. 

Entering the building, things go sideways very quickly when one of the friends goes missing. Determined to find him, they search the school only to run into the ghosts they were once so excited to see. 

My gosh, this was a brutal tale. I mean, just the title with the word “Eyebiter”?! Jeeze. Then the setting itself is something of real-world terror. The description of the bullet holes and staining had me ready to cry. But then insert the dust, the dread, and the spirits that are still within the walls? What an absolute nightmare. 

The tension readers will feel while experiencing this tale is intense. I was so nervous with each door or hallway they turned into. The body horror was absolutely brutal throughout and many scenes will haunt my nightmares. 

And the “oh crap” moments! Perfectly placed within the tale.

Denied parole on his sentence after killing the man who messed up his son, this prisoner keeps making choices that he doesn’t think through fully, impacting various other people as he goes. 

But one day in isolation, he’s given a chance. Which way will he go; the selfish route, or will he actually do the right thing this time?

The build-up here is frustratingly slow as the author takes us on a similar journey that the character is forced to take while locked up. Sprinkled with bursts of action and gore, this hints at what’s to come at the end!

Heads up to readers with this one, there’s a brutal rape scene in the prison. 

Loose body parts lay scattered across the floor like chewed-up dog toys.
— Blank Space by John Durgin

Dan charged at her with the hammer raised, but with minimal lighting, he didn’t see the corner of the bed frame. His knee drove into the sharp corner of the metal frame. His leg buckled. He caught himself from falling, but he’d lost most of the force he intended for the strike.
— Blank Space by John Durgin

The rumor around town was that the children who died in the shooting were still trapped within the walls of the school. Some claimed the adults were there too, which meant his father might still be there.
— Eyebiter’s Revenge by Jay Bower

There was too much silence. The air felt dead, as though this violent act from fifteen years before had melded with whatever calamity they were not dealing with and sucked the energy from around them.
— Eyebiter’s Revenge by Jay Bower

The monster was eventually apprehended and sentenced to prison, which should have ended the ordeal. But wounds like those inflicted on the Murphy family don’t heal properly. The scabs begin to itch until someone picks them and rips the wound open again.
Richard Murphy ripped their scab off, bleeding their family dry.
— Expiration of Sentence by John Lynch

With these heavy hitters, be prepared to feel a bit dreadful after reading this collection. There’s so much darkness packed in here! Some of it hit me only after I had closed the book. What a collection! 

I absolutely cannot wait to see what comes next from The Conservator! 

Mosaic by Catherine McCarthy is a gothic horror tale that slowly burns like the candles set up at an altar, complete with shadows that jump, making the viewers ask if it was just a shadow, or perhaps something more sinister.

When Robin receives a letter in the mail asking for her to accept a job restoring a stained glass window at an old abandoned church that they are working to fix up, she’s intrigued. The work sounds like her dream job, but she can’t put a finger on what’s making her cautious.

Going out to the area for the first time, she almost lets her inner thoughts turn her around to leave, but soon enough she arrives at the property and is mesmerized by the building.

Treating the first few days as her research and preparation, she also gets to do a bit of a scavenger hunt. Then the “real work” starts.

Boy, did I love the quick scavenger hunt focus! I would have been just like this character, obsessed with the hunt to try to find all the original pieces of glass. Though knowing myself, I would have been a bit more extreme with it; I would have been absolutely determined to search high and low until I was sure I didn’t overlook any. So I was pleased to see the character note that if she didn’t stop, she would keep going and going and going. That level of awareness was refreshing! Now, if only I could do that in my own life!

I am obsessed with the pacing of this story. There’s such a quiet burn going on. It works its way down to the bottom where you finally get to see what has been lurking just beneath the surface.

The author does an amazing job getting you settled right in the mindsets that the main character has, whether that’s with the project itself, how she feels about various people, her determination to find answers, or, most unsettlingly, her terror of going to the crypt. I’m pretty certain I didn’t breathe the entire time Robin was in the crypt. Her anxiety was so palpable.

And that ending… MY GOSH.

Ahead stands the church, an ancient Cotswold-stone building complete with narthex and bell tower, but it is the graveyard itself that steals my breath. Scattered headstones peep from behind knee-high grass, some of the stones leaning towards each other as if conspiring. The wind whispers through the trees, giving them a voice: visitors, visitors!

As far as I can see, no skeletons or coffins are hidden in this space. It’s just an empty shell, devoid of any horror except the worst kind: that which one’s own mind produces.

The dream is as sharp as a knife. The final image so keen it threatens to slit my throat and watch me bleed. But I have done so already by shedding my family ties. I will not allow it to kill me twice.

Gothic horror fans, go snag this one today and dive into the mystery. You’re going to have so much fun with this read! I know I did! I already can’t wait to read it again to see if I can pick up on any hints along the way that I may have missed in my first read-through.

The Black Lord is a grief-fueled tale of terror centered around how far a family can go after a devastating event that’s only going to get worse before it can get better. 

After their youngest son has gone missing, this family struggles to wrap themselves around the grief and the unanswered questions of what happened and whether or not the toddler was still alive. 

One night, a creature appears and the older son’s window. It terrifies the boy, but he knows what he saw. Later, when his father sits him down to tell him about his family, the young boy knows who he saw was the same person in the story. 

Can the family all be the bravest that they have ever been together and trick their way into saving their youngest? 

This story is unputdownable for two main reasons, one of course is the content itself, but the second is that the story is organized in a way where each chapter is from a different perspective, overlapping perfectly to give more detail until they all come together for the big ending. 

I picked this up one afternoon and read straight through. I couldn’t set it down for a second, antsy to see how it would all play out. 

With how fast-paced this story is, I really appreciated how each person involved just went with what was going on. There wasn’t any long drawn-out denial or questioning of every little thing. They all understood the danger and that time wasn’t on their side. 

One side note; I had no idea that this book had illustrations. When I turned a page and saw the first one, I had quite the jump scare, almost tossing the book away from me in fright. I would add that here, but I don’t want to spoil the graphic itself. Needless to say, Echo Echo crushed it. 

The air around the thing’s mouth vibrates, then turns black, as if the sound is darkness, leeching from deep inside its stinking gullet. It fills everything, turning every shadow into a bottomless pit, his normal, familiar things – his bureau, his bookcase, the picture of his family, still intact- winking out like fireflies yanked into a toad’s mouth.

The weight of her missing son is a suit made of sandbags and she knows dwelling on the details of the night before will make the bags swell. She’s not sure she can handle the extra weight.

Before he could lose his nerve, he’d stormed out the back door and gone to Eddie’s window. There was nothing there, of course. But the woods behind the house seemed darker than they should have been, and the crickets’ song was tepid and uncertain, as if they had just started up again after a long silence.

“I wish I had answers to give, I do. But if there are answers, they’re not accessible to me. And part of me feels that I don’t want to know what’s truly happening. I’m not sure our brains are built to know.”

He sways and the world sways with him. The moon fills its own corner of the sky and grins with chalky teeth upon the screaming black river below.

A tale that runs full petal to the medal, prepare to have your blood pressure jump up and stay up throughout this read. Each step of the way, more terrors and anxious dread are introduced. 

Horror fans who love tales centered around family and terrifying things that scream in the night, this is a book for you! 

Last Stay by Brennan LaFaro is a terrifying slasher novella that is set in a rough-looking motel located on the side of a roadway. The rooms themselves aren’t much better… But it’s not just the splatter on the ceiling and sink that could be blood or the potential bedbugs hidden in the old bedding that they should fear. In this motel, there are also monsters lurking.

When you read this one, you will be very grateful that you don’t have any road trips planned anytime soon, but be prepared to look under your bed before you go to sleep at night.

That first chapter… PHEW, it’s intense!! This opening is truly a scene from my darkest nightmares. With each element, it just keeps getting worse and more horrifying!

One of my favorite elements of horror stories is when they start with a bang, before taking slowing down a bit, and that’s exactly what Brennan did here! After that shocking first chapter, we take a step back into the past to get to know the motel owners and see where it all started to go down the steep hill that led up to the first chapter. 

This step back really allowed the reader to get more into the minds of the hotel owners to understand their struggles and their relationship with one another. Even though you already knew these two were up to no good, Brennan develops these characters in a way that makes readers also root for the bad guys.

There are also various victims that come into play here and there, and you’ll want to root for them as well. Especially a character named Morgan, who just wants to get to California to take care of something.

The writing style throughout is so vivid that this read plays out like a film! I would love to see this tale on the screen. It’s just screaming for a Shudder exclusive!

That ending…. it was so unexpected and refreshing. This had all the makings of a great final girl situation, but it ended up being so much more. 

“The closet,” he repeated. “Door’s open. Were you rootin’ around in there?”
Millie’s stomach dropped and the blood drained from her face. “I didn’t open the closet.”
A hand shot out from under the bed, clamped vise-like fingers around her ankle, and yanked her off her feet.

Peter uttered a wet, gurgling sound as the blade tore through his ribcage and erupted from the front of his shirt. His eyes relayed everything his voice was incapable of.

The husband lay on the bed, one arm draped over the side. He would’ve looked almost peaceful if not for the deep gashes in his abdomen and the pool of blood keeping his corpse afloat.

The business of life and death was a tiring one, and it belonged to him now.

John knew the expression about one’s jaw hitting the floor, but in that moment, he legitimately feared getting a patch of rug burn on his chin.

“Still, turning the stairway to heaven into an escalator don’t quite feel right.”

Dover’s teeth clacked as he bit at the bag, the sound dulled through the plastic, but they couldn’t find purchase.
“Always wondered why they never tried that in the movies,” said John. “Guess it don’t work all that well.”

There were so many flies in there, he ought to be charging them room and board.

Buck smirked and flicked the cigarette. The phantom butt flew to the floor in a wide arc, vanishing into the carpet.

In addition to the ethereal glow, he noticed Buck Corley appeared worse off than their last meeting just that afternoon. Not sick, exactly, but rotten. The look a pumpkin gets about a week after Halloween when it’s a little wider and shorter than it used to be. Buck was settling.

I had so much fun reading this and could not put it down. When you pick this one up, you’re in for a real treat!

If you enjoy slashers with a lot of heart and a positive spin, then you gotta check this one out ASAP!