Today's Author Spotlight is Richard Thomas, dark fiction and short story author! Read on for the full interview.
Almond-eyed celestial, the filial daughter, the perfect wife. Quiet, submissive, demure. In Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Southeas...
Feature Fiction || Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women Edited by Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a dark and intimate exploration of what it is to be
a perpetual outsider.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was...
Top Ten Tuesday || My Fall TBR
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week's Top Ten Tuesday is...
Books on My Fall TBR.
Here are a few of the reads I have coming up:
White Land by Rosie Cranie-Higgs
‘By what?’
‘Monsters,’ she calls into the night. ‘And girls who go looking for them.’
In a lonely Swiss mountain village, Kira’s holiday erupts. It’s winter, it’s eerie, and out in the woods, something imbeds its claws into her sister.
When Romy returns, she’s different. She’s violent, inhuman, and by rights, should be dead. But all their parents care about is that she’s still alive. That is…until their parents disappear.
In the otherworldly forest, Kira starts to pry, but secrets like to be kept. Alongside sarcastic Scotsman Callum, Kira stumbles upon the folkloric world of Whiteland, eating all she knows.
Something has changed.
It’s all but imperceptible, but present nonetheless; a change in the air, or a shift in her perceptions.
She stills, listening, sensing.
If Kira runs away, she’ll be safe. If she doesn’t, her family might not survive. In the end, there’s no mercy in revenge.
This is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes
Daffodil Franklin has plans for a quiet summer before her freshman year at college, and luckily, she’s found the job that can give her just that: housesitting a mansion for a wealthy couple.
But as the summer progresses and shadows lengthen, Daffodil comes to realize the house is more than it appears. The spacious home seems to close in on her, and as she takes the long road into town, she feels eyes on her the entire way, and something tugging her back.
What Daffodil doesn’t yet realize is that her job comes with a steep price. The house has a long-ago grudge it needs to settle . . . and Daffodil is the key to settling it.
After Sundown
Dead Woman Scorned by Michael Clark
Mildred Wells had a miserable life that carried over to a lonesome death. In the end, they betrayed her--played her the fool.
She was the last to know, but there's still time to catch up. She'll formulate her painful plan as they live their lives in blissful ignorance.
With no more family, only vengeance drives her; in fact, it’s all she has. She would have rather rested in peace, but for Mildred, dying isn't so easy.
Devil's Creek by Todd Keisling
About fifteen miles west of Stauford, Kentucky lies Devil’s Creek. According to local legend, there used to be a church out there, home to the Lord’s Church of Holy Voices—a death cult where Jacob Masters preached the gospel of a nameless god.
And like most legends, there’s truth buried among the roots and bones.
In 1983, the church burned to the ground following a mass suicide. Among the survivors were Jacob’s six children and their grandparents, who banded together to defy their former minister. Dubbed the “Stauford Six,” these children grew up amid scrutiny and ridicule, but their infamy has faded over the last thirty years.
Now their ordeal is all but forgotten, and Jacob Masters is nothing more than a scary story told around campfires.
For Jack Tremly, one of the Six, memories of that fateful night have fueled a successful art career—and a lifetime of nightmares. When his grandmother Imogene dies, Jack returns to Stauford to settle her estate. What he finds waiting for him are secrets Imogene kept in his youth, secrets about his father and the church. Secrets that can no longer stay buried.
The roots of Jacob’s buried god run deep, and within the heart of Devil’s Creek, something is beginning to stir…
Embassy of the Dead by Will Mabbit
Welcome to the Embassy of the Dead. Leave your life at the door. (Thanks.)
When Jake opens a strange box containing a severed finger, he accidentally summons a grim reaper to drag him to the Eternal Void (yep, it's as fatal as it sounds) and now he's running for his life! But luckily Jake isn't alone - he can see and speak to ghosts.
Jake and his deadly gang (well dead, at least) - Stiffkey the undertaker, hockey stick-wielding, Cora, and Zorro the ghost fox - have one mission: find the Embassy of the Dead and seek protection. But the Embassy has troubles of its own and may not be the safe haven Jake is hoping for . . .
Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt.
Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable.
They live on the same street.
They live in different worlds.
On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures.
And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives."
Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks
In post-war 1952, the good guys are supposed to have won. But not everything is as it seems when ex-Spitfire pilot Captain Samantha Moxley is dragged into a fight against the shadowy US government agency she used to work for. Now, with former Nazis and otherworldly monsters on her trail, Captain Moxley is forced into protecting her archaeologist sister in a race to retrieve two ancient keys that will unlock the secrets of a long-lost empire - to ensure a civilisation-destroying weapon doesn't fall into the wrong hands. But what will she have to sacrifice to save the world?
The House That Fell From the Sky by Patrick Delaney
When twenty-nine-year-old Scarlett Vantassel comes to the conclusion that her life doesn’t resemble any of the things she actually wanted for herself, she drops out of school and moves back home, attempting to reconnect with the people she left behind. But a shadow falls over her return one early October morning when a sinister house miraculously appears in the center of the city, sparking a media frenzy that attracts attention nationwide.
Soon after the newspapers label it, "The House that Fell from the Sky," Scarlett’s childhood friend Hannah becomes obsessed with the idea that the house holds the key to discovering whether there really is life after death. Undeterred by her friends' numerous warnings, Hannah becomes increasingly consumed with the desire to enter the house, convinced it would allow her to reconnect with her recently deceased mother.
Despite a series of escalating events suggesting that the house may be more dangerous than anyone ever thought possible, a privately owned company seizes control of the property and hosts a lottery to lure the city’s residents, promising the winners a large cash reward if they dare to enter the house.
To Scarlett’s horror, Hannah uses her vast wealth to secure a spot among the winners to gain access to the house. Now, it’s up to Scarlett, her older brother Tommy, and her friend Jackson to face their fears and journey into a place where nothing is ever quite as it seems, and decide if they can help a friend in need, or if Hannah truly is lost.
Sisters of the Moon by Alexandrea Weis
On an island in Lake Obersee, where The Sisters of St. Gertrude abide, a destitute Moor named Durra arrives. Sold for taxes, she and her two companions tend to the nuns and their collection of cats. At night, she combs the library for details on the order, the remote island, and the beasts howling outside her window.
But when a prank reveals the sisters’ gruesome secret, Durra is forced to accept a new fate. Bestowed an unearthly power, she must choose between life as a nun or living among the monsters beyond the convent walls.
Her path is about to change the tide in the ultimate war. The war between good and evil.
From the author of The Reattachment comes a frightening and twisted collection of stories that demonstrates Douglas Ford’s imagination at...
Feature Fiction || Ape in the Ring by Douglas Ford
In these stories, a woman uncovers the buried memory of how she once disappeared inside the house of a murderer; a father waits and waits for his son to come out of a playground structure, unprepared for what finally does emerge; a group of foster children play an unconventional form of divination while protecting a secret together; the closet of a hotel room hides an unspeakable voyeur; and in the title story, a carnival offers ritualized combat with something that may or not be an ape.
Three-time Bram Stoker Award® nominee Lee Murray delivers her debut collection, and it is monstrous. Inspired by the mythology of Europe, Ch...
Feature Fiction || Grotesque Monster Stories by Lee Murray
Tails that wag and tales that tell of vampire dogs, undead dogs, and canine superheroes. Some save our souls and protect the world while ...
Review || Black Dogs, Black Tales
An international community of writers, poets, and artists came together to bring their best dark fiction to this anthology, where there is only one rule: “the dogs don’t die.”
Old Hallows Eve, when things go bump in the night, Children come to play, and the witches provide the fright. For 21 authors, USA ...
Feature Fiction || Soul's Day
Children come to play, and the witches provide the fright.
For 21 authors, USA Today and international bestselling,
The Halloween tales become more than this foretelling.
In the Soul’s Day Boxset, a mansion feeds on souls,
A gargoyle captures them, and a demon dungeon master makes the calls,
Campers gets picked off one by one,
The Karnaval’s corn dogs are less than fun,
Ghosts lurking around every bend,
‘I do’ at the wedding is the very end.
A boxset of chills and thrills to keep you up at night,
One-click pre-order to snap your copy filled with fright.
On old Hallow’s eve when creatures come to play,
With this spine chilling pages, it’s where you’ll want to stay.
Welcome to the blog tour for Double Barrel Horror Volume #3 , a collection of thrills and chills by six amazing authors! Hold onto yo...
Feature Fiction || Double Barrel Horror #3
Welcome to the blog tour for Double Barrel Horror Volume #3, a collection of thrills and chills by six amazing authors! Hold onto your pants folks!
Brace yourself for another two-barrel blast of unrelenting horror and suspense. Volume 3 of the ‘Double Barrel Horror’ anthology series delivers two chilling tales from each of six talented authors for a 12-story onslaught that will blow you out of your sneakers. This time around, your fate lies in the hands of Christine Morgan, Mark Matthews, Theresa Braun, Calvin Demmer, Glenn Rolfe, and Robert Essig.
The Guide by Glenn Rolfe
Blog Tour Schedule
May 11th
Blog Tour Organized By:
R&R Book Tours
Out-of-control magic that could destroy a young apprentice’s master and their world Wayward Magic (Magic Underground Book II) reveals st...
Feature Fiction || Wayward Magic Anthology
Through the Mole Hole takes you on a journey through 28 terrifying, twisted, and thought-provoking tales. Along the way, you will...
Review || Through the Mole Hole: Strange Stories for Peculiar People by K.G. Lewis
Through the Mole Hole takes you on a journey through 28 terrifying, twisted, and thought-provoking tales.
Along the way, you will meet a young man who awoke to find a hole to another dimension in his arm, a couple whose painting is more than the simple portrait it appears to be, and a woman whose cat ate something it shouldn’t have. These are just a few of the unfortunate souls whose stories await you.
Do you dare take a peek at the worlds that lie on the other side of the mole hole?
20 mind-expanding short stories. Inspiring, liberating, otherworldly, magical, surreal, bizarre, funny, disturbing, unique... all of...
Midnight. Some call it the witching hour. Others call it the devil’s hour. Here in the graveyard, midnight is a very special time. It...
Review || Midnight in the Graveyard
Midnight. Some call it the witching hour. Others call it the devil’s hour. Here in the graveyard, midnight is a very special time. It is a time when ghostly spirits are at their strongest, when the veil between our world and theirs is at its thinnest. Legend has it, that while most of the world is asleep, the lack of prayers allow the spirits to communicate under the cover of darkness, among the headstones, their whispers rustling in the leaves of the old oak trees. But if you’re here in the graveyard, you can tell yourself it’s just the wind, that the moonlight is playing tricks on your eyes, that it's only the swirling mist you see. But when you hear the graveyard gate clang shut, the dead have something to say. Here are their stories…
For fans of American Horror Story, Shirley Jackson, and Creepshow. You know them. Those girls that aren't quite like everyone...
Review || Strange Girls: Women in Horror Anthology
For fans of American Horror Story, Shirley Jackson, and Creepshow.
You know them. Those girls that aren't quite like everyone else. Those girls who stand out in the crowd. Those girls that dare to be different. Those girls are dangerous.
In Strange Girls, twenty-one authors dare to tackle what makes the girls in this collection different. Vampires, selkies, murderous mermaids, succubus, and possessed dolls take center stage in these short stories that are sure to invoke feelings of quiet terror and uneasiness in the reader.
Following the successful debut of Women in Horror anthology with My American Nightmare, Strange Girls is the sophomore effort to showcase these talented women in a genre that is often dominated by the male gaze.
Dare to take a walk on the dark side.
Most kids don't have to stress about things like exotic insects with a taste for human flesh when they go to class. But students ...
Review || Tales from the Fringes of Fear
Most kids don't have to stress about things like exotic insects with a taste for human flesh when they go to class. But students at this school have to be ever vigilant. You never know when a supernatural pastry or a clay monster bent on revenge might be lurking just around the corner. Even a simple field trip to a local animal sanctuary can have ssserious consequences.
Dragged fresh from the grave and pulled out of the haunted corners of a school locker, these thirteen new stories are a nod to the storytelling style of Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. They are guaranteed to make you laugh like a hyena, shake your head in wonder or tremble with fear.
A companion volume to Tales from Beyond the Brain.
FEMINIST FICTION TO FRIGHTEN THE PATRIARCHY! Behind every successful man is a strong woman... but in these stories, she might be ab...
Review || Betty Bites Back
FEMINIST FICTION TO FRIGHTEN THE PATRIARCHY!
Behind every successful man is a strong woman... but in these stories, she might be about to plant a knife in his spineThe characters in this anthology are fed up - tired of being held back, held down, held accountable - by the misogyny of the system. They're ready to resist by biting back in their own individual ways, be it through magic, murder, technology, teeth, pitfalls and even... potlucks.
Join sixteen writers as they explore feminism in fantasy, science-fiction, fractured fairy-tales, historical settings, and the all-too-familiar chauvinist contemporary world.
Six stories of not-so-merry Yuletide whimsy from the authors of Black Spot Books. A woman so cold she hardens to ice on a winter...
Review || A Midnight Clear
A woman so cold she hardens to ice on a winter's eve.
Risen from his grave before his time, a winter god alters the balance between seasons.
A wolf's holiday season is interrupted by a strange curse.
From a murder at the Stanley Hotel to demons of Christmas past, present, and future, and a mad elf and Santa's Candy Court, the authors of Black Spot Books share their love for winter holidays in this collection of dark winter tales, destined to chill your bones and warm your heart for the Yuletide season.
The Dauntless by Sam Hooker
This one was definitely unexpected. A puzzling story of courtroom justice in...the North Pole? Yes, you read that right. There's a submarine, some elvish killings, and a coal delivery to a Lovecraftian being sleeping away obvious to its Christmas stocking filling up. I probably struggled the most with this one, but Lovecraft has never been my thing.Tidings of a New Moon by Alca Leyva
What happens when werewolves are the civilized ones and human bites are to be feared? This was a fun read. I enjoyed seeing the tables flipped.Movin' on Up by Laura Morrison
In a Dante ordered hell, three inhabitants are given the opportunity for improving their circumstances (or put in time in the gladiator pits). They crawl back up from Hell in a sort of twisted Christmas Carol to show a heaven-bound human the error of her ways in attempting to show that her good deeds actually sent others on their paths downstairs.The Poetry of Snow and Stars by Cassondra Windwalker
Here we revisit the Stanley hotel and have a murder mystery to go along with it. I enjoyed the main character but it seemed a little too neatly wrapped up to me. There wasn't a lot of mystery, just an ah-ha moment and some romantic pining that felted a little immature. It was just ok for me.Sleep, Sweet Khors by Dalena Storm
One of my favorites out of the bunch! Ripe with Slavic mythology, Lisa is devastated at the forthcoming death of her favorite uncle. In an attempt to keep death from coming, she creates a horrible world where death doesn't come and life is stuck in a sort of half death. Its grotesque symbolism about life and death and the inability to halt the progression was well done. It's also a great anecdote on children and explaining death.Snow Angel by Seven Jane
Haven't we all tired of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season? This one follows a wife and mother that is disenchanted by all the errands and to-dos of the season and for whom Christmas has lost its glow. It's a bit heavy and morose but I enjoyed the prose of Snow Angel. It's beautifully written and has wonderful imagery.Kindle Edition , 240 pages Published May 21st 2019 by Unnerving From the brutal past in WHITE GHOST FUR, to...
Review || Something In The Water by Eddie Generous
Kindle Edition, 240 pages
Published May 21st 2019 by Unnerving
|
Something in the Water is a collection of 13 violent and disturbing tales with its sights set on manufacturing sleepless nights and paranoid days. Binge read all 13 stories...if you dare.
A video store that transports you through time. Immortality from a microwave oven. A trip across the Atlantic, fro...
Review || A Magnet to a Flame by Shawn Patrick Cooke
Featuring both previously published works and never-before-seen stories, this debut collection ranges from America's industrial past to a potluck at the end of the world; from windswept moors to suburban homes, from fairy tales to harsh reality—while shining a light on the core of what it means to be human.
An American reporter rides along with a British park ranger through a park filled with multidimensional unicorn...
Review || The Unicorn Anthology
An American reporter rides along with a British park ranger through a park filled with multidimensional unicorns. A princess and a poisoned zombie queen must find the queen’s murderer before the queen decomposes...or eats someone. The cutthroat world of competitive unicorn riding gets even more intense after a relationship might end the career of a rider. A man’s life is ruined after he is unjustly accused of defiling a noblewoman, but he is led to the lady by a magnificent beast. A brash bookseller must navigate demons, black market couriers, pretty girls, and gumshoes while searching out a most unusual artifact.
Sharp & Sugar Tooth: Women Up To No Good is a horror anthology of dark fiction and darker appetites, edited b...
Review || Sharp & Sugar Tooth
Kathleen Alcalá, “The Doll’s Eye”
Betsy Aoki, “And When We Die They Will Consume Us”
Joyce Chng, “Dear Son”
Katharine Duckett, “Gimme Sugar”
Anahita Eftekhari, “The Fool’s Feast”
Chikodili Emelumadu, “Candy Girl”
Amelia Gorman, “She Makes the Deep Boil”
Jasmyne J. Harris, “What the Bees Know About Discarded Girlish Organs”
A. R. Henle, “Strong Meat”
Crystal Lynn Hilbert, “Soul of Soup Bones”
Erin Horáková, “A Year Without the Taste of Meat”
Kathryn McMahon, “The Honey Witch”
H. Pueyo, “I Eat”
D. A. Xiaolin Spires, “Bristling Skim”
Rachael Sterling, “Alice Underground”
Penny Stirling, “Red, From the Heartwood”
Catherynne M. Valente, “The Lily and the Horn”
Sabrina Vourvoulias, “A Fish Tale”
Damien Angelica Walters, “A Lie You Give, And Thus I Take”
Rem Wigmore, “Who Watches”
Alyssa Wong, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers”
Caroline M. Yoachim, “The Carnival Was Eaten, All Except the Clown”
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