Hunger by Choi Jin-young is one of the most beautiful and depressing horror novels I’ve read in a while, and “worrying” was a constant emotion, as it is when your existence is all about figuring out how to afford to keep living. 

So, the themes, some of the humor, the relatability of the characters were appealing to me, but I wish I'd known these two things before I chose to read it.

1. A major plot point revolves around specific details of multiple cat and small pets' deaths

2. As she writes in her author's note, Beckbessinger chose to use Chat GPT to write portions of the novel which involved AI generated text

Jewelle Gomez' Caramelle, on the other hand, is set in approximately the same time period, the 1860s, but the life of a slave or former slave in America was a very different one from the middle/upper class of Victorian-era Austria, and the 21st century lens from which it is written is also very different. It's also telling that Gomez chose to have Elisabeth tell us her story directly, not filtered through a prologue written by a man who has placed himself between the writer and the reader.

Whether it's virus erotica like Spread Me or cult/folk horror like Make Me Better, Sarah Gailey has an ability to write characters who behave in odd, sometimes off-putting, ways that seem reasonable in the character's voice which is only multiplied by Xe Sands melodic narration.

I’ve had several of Victor Lavalle’s novels on my TBR for a long time, but I wanted when I heard the third season of The Terror was going to be based on The Devil in Silver, I knew it was time to move it to the top of the queue so I could read it before watching the show.