Holy crap… what can I say about this book? It wastes no time jumping right into it and it also wasted no time sucking me in. Part coming-of-age, part horrible trauma, and part a treatise on depression masquerading as a story about a haunting. Well, first, before we go any further, if you are triggered about suicide, then stop right here and go no further.

Still here? Okay, then. This is a story about a group of teens who stumble across a haunted video clip on the internet (we’re talking early days of the internet where machines killed each other in battle to connect your computer and you could hear their screams through the phone line). The clip is of a congressman who kills himself on camera by eating a bullet from a .357.

The video imprints itself on the teens in more ways than one as they each begin to see the dead congressman in their dreams and eventually while they are awake as well. Their battle to figure out what is going on leads to some grisly dealings.
​
I’m not going to spoil this book. You have to read it yourself. This book is an Alfred Hitchcock movie that had a baby with The Ring. I just know that it is going to stick with me for a very long time. Keisling has an uncanny ability to get under your skin.
 

There are good horror books out there, there are bad horror books out there, then there are books that I read that will stick with me for some time. We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III is one of those books.
In short, the book is about a family that is going through some serious marital trouble right at the same time that a tornado warning is issued and they have to hole up in a tiny bathroom together. Just the setup alone is tense! Throw in some odd weirdness, and this book doesn’t just crawl under your skin, it rips it off and wears it like a formal tuxedo.

While not similar in story, this novella gave me the same feeling and emotion as Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, and The Merciless by Danielle Vega. We Need to Do Something evokes a sense of dread much like those other books. Plus, while not spoiling it in the least, the ending was somewhat ambiguous, leaving it up to you, the reader, to figure what you think really happened. I love those endings. 

The novella is short, so Booth wastes no time jumping right in. I was also very impressed that he was able to get us connected and invested with the characters so quickly.

Do yourself a favor, read this book! Do it now. And remember, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. 

 

Warning, spoilers abound! 

I want to talk about the ending of this book. On the outside, we have a family trapped in their bathroom because a tree fell through the house and is blocking the door due to a tornado. No implausible in the slightest. Even the fact that they are trapped in there for days is not outside the realm of possibilities if the tornado was big enough. 

However, there is a sub-plot dealing with the POV character and her friend/love-interest, Amy. The two conducted a ritual that could have caused the craziness. One could dismiss it as nonsense and coincidence, or you could choose to believe that the two girls did, in fact, cause the apocalyptic destruction. These are the kind of endings that I love. The kind that make you think and wonder, and ultimately leaves it up to you, the reader, to decide what's going on. 

Near the end, the POV character is seeing all sorts of horrifying images. However, she's drugged and can't be trusted. So did she really see her friend appear with all the black tentacles controlling her body? Or was it part of her drug-fueled stupor? Her mother escaped the bathroom and came back frightened and rattled, but who knows what she saw, not to mention the mother is under A LOT of stress and isn't in her right mind either. 

Hands down, the most brutal aspect of this book is when the little brother dies from the rattlesnake bite. When the book started, I had an inkling that he was going to die. When the snake shows up, it only cements what is to come. However, it didn't make it any easier to read or experience. My hat's off to Max Booth III, he executed that scene perfectly. 

​Anyway, read this book. Seriously. 

I just finished up The Cuckoo Girls by Patricia Lillie. I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review. This isn’t the first time I’ve read Lillie’s work. I read The Ceiling Man a few years back when it first came out, and if you haven’t read that, then you are missing out. If you like Stephen King, it is a must-read.

The Cuckoo Girls is a collection of short stories, some of which have appeared in other anthologies, and some of which are original to this collection. Lillie’s style of horror is often very subtle and psychological, and she excels at her craft. I found most of the stories contained inside wonderful reads, but these jumped out as special to me:

“The Cuckoo Girls”: A woman and her sister encounter a strange teenage girl who appears everywhere they go. The girl seems harmless, but strange things start to happen. This story was fun because it’s a head-scratcher. It’s weird, wonderful, and creepy in its own way.

“In Loco Parentis”: A creepy story about a mother whose child isn’t the same anymore. I don’t want to spoil it, but this one gets under your skin and snuggles with you.

“Alyce-with-a-Y”: Lillie takes Alice in Wonderland, which is already kind of a crazy and unsettling story in its own right, and turns up the creep factor. It’s a fresh new take on things in Wonderland.

“And One for Azazel (with Jellybeans)”: One part Twilight Zone, one part Shirley Jackson, and one part Color Out of Space. This was probably one of my favorites of the collection. The ending is brutal.

“Wishing you the Best Year Ever”: What does a strange visitor in a tree, prophecies, and baseball have in common? Apparently, a lot and since this is a horror collection, it isn’t going to turn out good.

If you like subtle, slow-burn, horror, then do yourself a favor and check out this collection. You won’t be disappointed. 

I did an interview with Patricia Lillie awhile back. If you want to check it out you can read it here. 

For my next, Women in Horror Month feature, I’m happy to present To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger. Tantlinger is a Bram Stoker Award-winning poet and I believe this is her first published novella. Here’s the synopsis:

​
What does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she’s buried beneath anger-induced blackouts.

Her girlfriend, Luna, tries to help Andi battle her inner darkness and infatuation with the vultures. However, the desire to taste dead flesh, to stitch together wings of her own and become one with the flock sends Andi down a twisted, unforgivable path. Once she understands the secrets the vultures conceal, she must decide between abandoning the birds of prey or risk turning her loved ones into nothing more than meals to be devoured.


What a wonderful and disturbing tale from Tantlinger. Without spoiling anything, I have to say the downward spiral of the main character is horrifying and very well written. I enjoyed getting into Andi's head and watching the story play out. Tantlinger has an amazing eye for the visceral and many of her scenes made me cringe (in a good way). If you like bloody horror and ever wondered what raw meat might taste like (you know, that itch in the back of your brain that keeps asking what it would feel like to tear meat with your teeth and feel the splatter of hot blood on your cheeks...don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, it's there, inside you, gnawing its way through your gut) then do yourself a favor and join the committee.

February is Women in Horror Month. In the past, I have taken the opportunity to highlight amazing women who write horror through interviews and such. This year, I wanted to do something a little different.

I decided to tackle my, to be read pile, and not only that, I decided to focus my efforts on all the kick-ass women authors in my, to be read pile. Therefore, to kick off Women in Horror Month, we’re starting with Betty Rocksteady’s novella, The Writhing Skies.

The Writhing Skies released back on Oct 1, 2018, from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. I bought it when it first came out and then it quickly found a home in my ever-growing pile of books. 2019 was a shit-show when it came to reading for pleasure, but I vowed 2020 was going to be different. So far I’ve stuck with that goal and I’ve read four so far.

Here’s the synopsis:

THE SKY IS HUNGRY
Glowing lights and figures in tattered robes force Sarah from her apartment. Outside, phosphorescent creatures infiltrate her every orifice. They want to know everything, especially the things she would rather forget.
Featuring 20 black and white illustrations.
 
It’s a short synopsis but it accurately hits on what this story is about. If you are a fan of weird cosmic sex horror, then this book is definitely for you.

First off, this book is strange. Rocksteady for sure hit it out of the park when she was going for cosmic horror. We never really find out exactly what’s going on, and that’s perfectly fine because the true horror isn’t what’s currently happening to Sarah and the rest of the world, rather the true horror lies in what has already happened to Sarah.

The story evoked all sorts of feelings, from horror, disgust, and sadness. My hat’s off to Rocksteady for being able to hit me with those kinds of feels in such a short tale. However, if you read my review of her collection of short stories, In Dreams We Rot, you’ll know that she is a very capable writer. Also, you can check out my interview with Rocksteady here where we dive into what makes her the awesome author she is.

This is a novella that makes you think, makes you cringe, and makes your face twist into all sorts of different expressions as you read it. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Now, on to a spoilery discussion. Leave now if you don’t want to know the inner secrets of, The Writhing Skies.

As I mentioned above, while there are strange and horrible things happening to Sarah and the rest of the world, the true horror is what has already happened. As the story moves forward, we find out that she was coerced into having sex which results in a pregnancy. Her boyfriend is quite the ass and devises a plan to abort the child, giving Sarah false assurances that it won’t hurt too bad, that he’s done it before (that should have been a big warning sign), and that everything would be okay. We also find out as the story goes on that her boyfriend’s level of assery goes so deep that it puts the Marianna Trench to shame.

In short, his plan to abort the baby is kicking the shit out of Sarah until she starts bleeding. Truly horrifying, and while I would like to think that his chosen method of abortion doesn’t happen that often, I would probably be shocked at how often that it, or similarly dangerous methods occur. A reason why safe and obtainable abortion options need to be readily available for those who need them.

Horror often is a medium that highlights current social/political/economic issues and this novella didn’t hide that fact. Everything that is happening is a result of those choices as if the act itself awakened some cosmic beast from its slumber. The way the creatures or entities interact with Sarah is a metaphor for her own feelings on what happened to her. They can simultaneously make her feel at ease, pleasured, hurt, disgusted, sad, and confused, which I believe is how she probably felt during everything leading up to the abortion.
​
This story stuck with me long after I finished it and I’ve thought about it many times.

Continuing my journey to make a dent in my to-be-read pile, I conquered John Hornor Jacobs' novella, The Sea Dreams it is the Sky. Man oh man, what a ride it was. The back cover blurb for the story reads as follows:

A brilliant mix of the psychological and supernatural, blending the acute insight of Roberto Bolaño and the eerie imagination of H. P. Lovecraft, The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky examines life in a South American dictatorship. Centered on the journal of a poet-in-exile and his failed attempts at translating a maddening text, it is told by a young woman trying to come to grips with a country that nearly devoured itself.

Here was my take:
What a wonderful read! This novella is a slow burn in the best way possible. By the time I reached the end I found I was devouring each sentence like a rabid dog placed in front of a gourmet feast. Jacobs gives you enough to make your skin crawl but hints that there's so much more in the miasma that if you knew what was there, your skin wouldn't just crawl, it would tear itself off and run as fast as it could. If you like slow horror that takes its time, then read this novella.

This story was well crafted. It was slow in the sense that Jacobs took his time ramping up the strange, weird, and supernatural in the book. However, I'm not saying this as a negative at all. It was somewhat refreshing and when the strange and weird do begin to occur, it has more impact because of his choices. Makes me double-think how I write my own tales as generally most of my stories start off with a bang and take off. 

I won't spoil this one at all, I simply recommend if you like horror in the same vein as Lovecraft, or the movie, The Ninth Gate, then check this one out. 

One of my 2020 goals was to read more books. I have a to-be-read pile of both physical and ebooks that is ginormous! I'm definitely in the category of people who like to buy books which may or may not ever get read. However, I'm trying to make a steadfast effort this year to make a dent into that pile. The first book I finished, was Let Sleeping Gods Lie by David J. West. 

The back cover blurb reads as follows:

Louis L’Amour Meets Lovecraft
​Porter Rockwell, wanted for a murder he did not commit, is hiding out in Old California selling whiskey to thirsty forty-niners. When his friends dig up some monstrous bones and a peculiar book and offer to sell it for a helluva price, Porter can’t resist the mystery.
But when both his night bartender and the sellers are murdered at his saloon Porter has to find out what the mysterious artifacts are all about. With some Native American legends, Sasquatch, Lovecraftian horror, and murderous bandits thrown in, not even bullets and blades can stop Rockwell from leaving a swath of righteous carnage in his wake.
Let Sleeping Gods Lie is a weird western fantasy in the vein of classic pulp fiction and Louis L’Amour books. If you like frontier justice, larger-than-life characters, and witty humor, then you will LOVE the first installment of the Cowboys and Cthulhu series.
Buy Let Sleeping Gods Lie to get lost in a horrific weird western adventure today!

I've read several of West's other books, to include his other Porter Rockwell stories. I enjoy West's style of writing as it is very reminiscent of the old pulp adventure stories from back in the day. Now, unless you're new to my blog, you'll know that I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian tales, so when I saw that West was finally merging his Old West stories with Lovecraftian mythos, I was all in. His other Porter Rockwell stories merely touched at the weird and dark, while this one plunges right in with both feet. Here's the review I left on Amazon and Goodreads:

West delivers a story that reads like it's a masterful blend of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft! I'm a sucker for weird westerns and West never fails to deliver. This story is action packed and hits all the right notes. I loved all the nods to Lovecraft.

West can also paint a scene. All throughout the book there was some wonderful imagery, but this one bit stuck with me:

They rounded a bend and came head on against a like-minded group of riders. Stoney’s men, the Mountain Hounds. When a hard rain falls, who was hit with the first drop? Impossible to say, but the thunder certainly sounded. Pistols and rifles were drawn and fired. Horses and men screamed as they careened together, an avalanche of flesh and lead.

Bottom line, if you like westerns and if you like Lovecraft, then this is the book for you. Do yourself a favor and read it. 

I just finished this collection of short stories by Betty Rocksteady and I have to say I’m impressed. Most of the stories contained within have been previously published in other anthologies with a few brand new ones for her fans. Many of the stories are very short and quick reads, however, a lot of them stuck with me for long after I was finished reading them. Rocksteady has an uncanny ability to weave a tale that is equal parts ambiguous (in a good way), visceral, and disturbing. A lot of her tales hint at things ancient and deadly and part of a bigger mythos all her own.

Rocksteady is described as an author of cat mythos, cosmic sex, and bizarro fiction and after reading this collection, it’s not hard to see how she came by those descriptors. I got a big kick out of her tales involving cat mythos. My favorite was near the beginning titled, “Tiny Bones Beneath Their Feet” about an enormous colony of cats and a mysterious path of bones leading away from the house.

Some of the stories were downright disturbing. I found “Postpartum” particularly chilling about a single mother dealing with postpartum depression. She soon finds some purpose in taxidermy and that purpose begins to overtake her very being. Rocksteady’s voice blends real-world horrors such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and the awkward with frightening horrors. The horror she pulls from is mainly cosmic, speaking to creatures and beings that are unknowable and make you feel very insignificant. Her horrors creep (and sometimes wriggle or crawl) in and take over your sense of self until there is nothing left. Some of my favorite reads in this collection that really tapped into the cosmic horror were: “Elephants That Aren’t” about an artist who starts drawing strange creatures but doesn’t have any recollection of doing so; “The Language of Mud” about a spot in the grass that makes people disappear; “The Taste of Sand on Your Lips” which is a small collection of 55, 55-word stories that are bizarrely interconnected and tell a tale that could possibly make you go mad.

If you like strange, well-written horror, then you need to check out, In Dreams We Rot as you won’t be disappointed. Rocksteady’s voice is unique and she is elevating horror fiction with her words. Her collection has made me reevaluate my own writing and challenged me to make my future stories even better.

Well done.
​
You can pre-order In Dreams We Rot here:

​Also, if you want to see my earlier interview with Rocksteady, you can check it out here:

I recently finished the book, Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman. If you recognize the name, it’s probably because he is the author of Bird Box which recently was made into a film by Netflix and has gained a lot of attention. I picked up Unbury Carol back in the day because I enjoyed reading Bird Box and Carol is a western horror which is right up my alley.

The book is about a woman named Carol who has a disease that puts her in a coma-like state. She can appear dead to the untrained eye as all her vitals slow down. In the book, there are only a few people who know about her condition: her husband, Dwight, her close friend, John Bowie, and her ex-fling, James Moxie. Moxie is an infamous outlaw, made famous from a gun-duel he won years ago where it seemed like he never drew his weapon, yet his opponent died of a gunshot wound. Everyone believed he won through the use of magic and his name went down in history. Carol’s close friend John Bowie dies, taking Carol’s secret to his grave. Once he dies, Dwight enacts a plan to basically bury Carol once she slips into another one of her episodes and inherit her money.

Carol decides she wants another person to confide in and begins to tell one of her staff members but falls into a coma-like sleep before she can get the word out. However, before succumbing to the disease, she told her staff/friend that she used to be involved with James Moxie and for whatever reason, the help sends word to Mr. Moxie.

Once he gets word of what happened, he drops everything and hits the Trail (yes, it’s personified in the book as a character) and heads towards Carol to save her from being buried alive. Dwight hears of this and hires a notorious hitman to track down and kill Moxie before he can arrive, a man who has a penchant for lighting fires.
Let’s get into the good with this book. First off, the setting and the characters were intriguing. I love westerns, and really love weird westerns or western horror stories. I think the setting is ripe for those crossovers. What was fun about this book, is that Malerman puts in small bits of the supernatural. For example, whenever Carol slips into one of her episodes, she goes to a shadowy realm she’s dubbed, Howltown. While there, there is an entity known as Rot that pesters her, angry that she keeps ‘dying’ but doesn’t decay like a good corpse should. Rot manifests in other ways throughout the book to harass Moxie and stop his journey back to Carol.

Moxie himself is an interesting character, living off the results of that legendary duel so many years ago. As a reader you begin to wonder if it actually happened, or if it was blown out of proportion. I’ll get into a bit a later in the spoiler section.

The story is cinematic in scope, as I could see this playing out in the big screen and being entertaining. However, the story drags in parts, which leads me to the bads of Unbury Carol.

There were a lot of times we’d get chapters dealing with minor characters in the story, such as the grave-diggers, the staff, or some random guy in some random town. Quite frankly, these sections probably could have been removed without much ill effect to the overall narrative. I was only interested in Moxie, his pursuer, Carol, Dwight, and somewhat with the sheriff. I will be honest that I didn’t’ read this book fast. I read it over the period of a few months, picking it up and putting it back down. It was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it, but not gripping enough that I HAD to finish it immediately.

Second, Carol herself was kind of a non-player through the story. Her scenes in the book didn’t have much impact overall until the end. I wanted her to have more of a part, and I suppose in a way that same frustration was felt by her as she wanted to have more of a part. I’ll be honest though, that my want for her to have more of part clashes with my feelings for the ending and I don’t know what to make of it.

Third, in reality, Dwight could have ended this by smothering her in her one of her comas and then the whole book wouldn’t have happened. I couldn’t forget that point as I read the story and whenever Dwight would show up in a scene all agitated with Moxie coming and the sheriff putting the pressure on his investigation, it was hard to wonder why Dwight never did such a thing to begin with. I mean, if he’s willing to bury her alive, why wouldn’t he be just as willing to cover her face with a pillow?

Before I get to my main issue with the book, I want to give my overall opinion. Because my main issue will get into spoilers. Overall, it’s a good read. If you like westerns, and you like horror, give it a read. I give the story maybe 6/10 overall. Now, on to the last point and spoilers.

Still here? That means you’re cool with spoilers. Last chance to veer off if you don’t want to know. My main problem with the book is the ending. In my opinion, this whole story was about James Moxie riding to save Carol from an untimely death and coming to terms with the decision he made many years ago to leave her in the first place. It’s a redemption arc for him. When he finally gets through all the obstacles and is about to dig up Carol from the ground, we find that she escaped last minute because she came to and used some crazy mechanical casket contraption that her mother built for Carol before she died and had delivered with instructions that her daughter be buried in it.

One, this casket was never really mentioned before. Which I get it, it would have given away the ending and suspense. But come on! This whole story is about Moxie coming for her. Then in one fell swoop, his entire journey is invalidated. I felt like I was cheated. And don’t get me wrong, I am super happy that Carol was able to take care of herself, but with all the lead up to what was supposed to happen, it didn’t feel right.

Next, let’s talk about Moxie’s power to fire his gun with magic. That was a fun little mystery…until the end once again. For starters, we never know if he can do it through some supernatural ability or not. He never talks about what happened during that duel, and there is a scene when he’s detained by a sheriff in a town along the Trail and the deputies are messing with his gun. When he finally decides that they aren’t going to let him out, the gun goes off by itself, seemingly by Moxie’s will. At that point, my mouth was open and I was like, holy shit, he can do magic. Then, at the end he kills Carol’s husband, Dwight, by rigging up multiple pistols with string to fire, possibly implying that he was using strings the whole time to pull off his magical shooting pistol trick. However, the whole thing just doesn’t sit well with me or explain much.
​
Anyway, it was a cool story overall, but the ending fell short for me and left me with a taste of Rot in my mouth.