Current Reads
I’ve been in a bit of a reading slowdown since AuthorCon and the Women in Horror writing symposium because I got so fired up listening to and talking with so many amazing women and non-binary horror writers that I’ve been focusing more on my writing all month. Even so, I tend to have 3 books going at once, depending on my reading mood, and currently:
Audiobook - I am nearly finished with The Body by Bethany Morrow
eBook - I have just started Bitterbloom by Teagan Olivia King
Physical Book - I have looked at the cover of The Butcher’s Daughter by David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark at least three times for the 100 Horror Movies book club, and that counts.
Meanwhile…
Just announced! I will join the folks at The Sinister Scoop talking about Indie Horror
My Book Recs every Friday in the Horrorverse newsletter at horrorverse.net
Hear me witch cackling as a guest on the Final Girls Feast podcast
Playing with my cats instead of writing OR reading
Preparing to sell our home and move to Atlanta! Know anybody who wants to buy a house in the city Town & Leisure called, “the number 1 city people want to move to in 2025”?
“That book you’re listening to is creepy,” my spouse mumbled, under the weather and less than half awake from the passenger seat as we were crossing the state of Virginia yesterday.
He wasn’t wrong. The Bone Queen by Will Shindler did have creepy moments, and beautifully narrated by Tamsin Kennard, was clearly effective enough to pervade a sleeping spouse’s dreams.
Part commentary on mental health and patriarchal beauty standards, part suburban horror, and all slasher novel, Dollface by Lindy Ryan is a fun read anytime but perfect for March and Women in Horror Month.
I was not aware of Joe R. Lansdale until my spouse turned me onto the show Hap & Leonard, which was just our kind of off-tilt comedy. I knew that show was based off novels, but that’s as far as it went.
With The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale, I saw my chance to fill what I thought was a gap in my experience and get to know the horror side of “the guy who wrote Hap & Leonard”.
In Wolf Worm, T. Kingfisher is once again giving me everything I want from one of her horror novels: a strong, funny female hero, science doing unexpected things, and Gothic elements.
Futility is the second book I’ve read from Nuzo Onoh, and it’s the second time I’ve laughed out loud within the first paragraphs - though a sympathetic wince may have accompanied it this time.
This book is a gonzo dark comedy. It’s got revenge, sacrifice (the “to the gods - or demons” kind not the “for my family” kind), cannibalism, Freaky-Friday style body swapping, mutant powers - you have to read it to believe it.
The first wave of an alien invasion coincides with a New Years Eve party in a Welsh valley.
A group of friends take refuge in an island hotel decorated for New Year's. The problem is, it's early summer, and soon enough, even the walls themselves are striking out against them.
During a live punk-rock New Year's Eve TV programme, the presenter gets a phone call from a psycho calling himself "Evil" saying that when New Year's strikes in each US time zone, he will murder someone.
A group of three friends on a snowmobiling trip find themselves stranded at an abandoned lodge isolated in the mountains. They discover that an old woman resides in the hotel, along with an evil entity that she is keeping in the basement.
Six young adults struggle with their personal demons while staying at a secluded mansion during a dark and stormy night where a seemingly innocent game of 'taboo' brings out their inter-most secrets which soon leads to murder.