Bethlehem by Karen Kelly

With the writing chops of Ian McEwan and the story-craft of Lisa Wingate, Karen Kelly weaves a shattering debut about two intertwined families and the secrets that they buried during the gilded, glory days of Bethlehem, PA.
“A haunting debut.” ―Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones
“Karen Kelly is the real deal.” ―Mark Sullivan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky
A young woman arrives at the grand ancestral home of her husband’s family, hoping to fortify her cracking marriage. But what she finds is not what she expected: tragedy haunts the hallways, whispering of heartache and a past she never knew existed.
Inspired by the true titans of the steel-boom era, Bethlehem is a story of temptation and regret, a story of secrets and the cost of keeping them, a story of forgiveness. It is the story of two complex women―thrown together in the name of family―who, in coming to understand each other, come finally to understand themselves.

This family saga of the Colliers and the Parishes is told on two timelines, through the point of view of two main characters Joanna and Susannah. In 1962 Joanna moves with her husband and children into her Mother-In-Law Susannah's home. This is not at all her idea but she goes along with it at her mostly absent husband Frank's insistence.  Susannah is widowed and taking care of her elderly mother on her own. Frank feels this is too much for her and so moves his family into the large sprawling estate. Susannah's point of view takes over from 1918 through the 1920s and covers the story of her family and the family of her husband to be.  Joanna's point of view was more straight forward as she dealt with living in someone else's home and the loneliness caused by her husband's frequent absences. Joanna uncovers a bit of mystery during one of these absences that leads to spilling old family secrets. There were times when it was difficult for me to keep all the characters straight, with so many names (and nicknames) to keep track of that in Susannah's timeline I was not always certain which character was part of which family or who was who. I felt that this over complicated things, while in other instances the mystery was too easily figured out.
I received an advance copy for review.

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Karen Kelly lives in Edina, Minnesota.
www.karenkellybooks.com

Call Drops: A Horror Story by John F Leonard

Vincent likes nothing more than rootling round second-hand shops in search of the interesting and unusual. Items that are lost and forgotten.
Why not? He needs the diversion. Time on his hands and money to burn. His life is affluent and empty. Little on the horizon and memories tinged bittersweet.
That’s all about to change. He’s about to find something that is perhaps better left unfound.

CALL DROPS is a darkly swirling mix of horror and mystery that will stay with you long after the reading is done. It’ll maybe make you think twice about impulse buying, those moments when you simply must have something, even though you don’t need it.
It might cause you to look again at the apparently mundane and everyday ...and possibly, just possibly, wonder at what twisted marvels lurk within your mobile phone....
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Oddly enough, telephones have often been a source of nightmares for me. I do mean that literally, not just that I dislike talking on the phone. In my dreams it's a land line of the old fashioned rotary dial type. In this story it's a cell phone. A simple older slider model with no inner workings and no service provider that somehow manages to ring anyway, bringing brief but disturbing messages for it's new owner. The first time the phone rings it's shocking, as is the information Vincent is given by the disembodied voice when he answers the call. Further calls lead to far more gruesome discoveries. This was a short but shuddersome read that I would recommend to all who love horror and dark fiction.

I received a complimentary copy for review.


About the author
John was born in England and grew up in the industrial midlands, where he learned to love the sound of scrapyard dogs and the rattle and clank of passing trains.

He studied English, Art and History and has, at different times, been a sculptor, odd-job man and office worker. He enjoys horror and comedy (not necessarily together).

He has published eight books. Congeal, The Bledbrooke Works, A Plague of Pages, Bad Pennies, Doggem, Call Drops, Collapse and 4 Hours, and is currently working on a number of projects which include more tales from the Dead Boxes Archive and the Scaeth Mythos, and new stories set in the ever evolving, post-apocalyptic world of Collapse.

Catch up on Twitter: @john_f_leonard

Tales in Sombre Tones by by Sean Walter and Karen Ruffles

Lock the doors, close the blinds and settle in with this anthology of illustrated horror stories. Velvet dark imagery leads you into haunting tales that will stay with you long after the lights have gone out. Drawing on folklore and nightmares, exploring modern versions of classic stories and bringing original, inventive new horrors, this is a collection that takes the reader on a stunning journey into the world just behind the shadows.

 

 

Tales In Sombre Tones contains 24 deliciously disturbing bite sized morsels of dark fiction that I tried to savor slowly like a box of expensive chocolates, but the urge for just one more got the better of me. Before I knew it I had consumed them all. The gorgeous artwork on the cover is just a hint of what's inside.

Each story begins with a full size illustration and I will allow you just a peek at what awaits you. I admit that upon receiving my copy I immediately flipped through to look at all the pictures and tried to imagine what each story was about. I do love illustrated horror! There are tales of vengeance and loss, unusual people, and supernatural creatures. My favorites were probably the stories of monsters, things under the bed, and strangers stumbling through the fog together while I wondered which would make it to their destination. I would highly recommend this anthology to all horror readers and those who enjoy dark fiction.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

 

 

 

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About the author

Sean Walter is an author living in Portland, Oregon. He writes primarily dark fiction and bizarre concepts.

 

Karen Ruffles is a reviewer for Screamfix and a self employed artist of horror, dark fantasy, wildlife and landscapes.

 

 

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 11 Edited by Ellen Datlow

Description

For more than three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave.

Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as:
Neil Gaiman Kim Stanley Robinson Stephen King Linda Nagata Laird Barron Margo Lanagan And many others

With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.

 

I love short horror stories and although I have not read all 11 volumes of The Best Horror Of The Year, Volume 11 stands out as my favorite among the few that I have read. There are stories that are quite disturbing (Thumbsucker by Robert Shearman and The Donner Party by Dale Bailey for example) and stories that are frightening (Milkteeth by Kristi DeMeester) But my absolute favorites were those that featured people away from their homes facing strange customs such as in "White Mare" by Thana Niveau When a father and daughter claim an inheritance and get caught up in a tradition far different than the Halloween festivities they are used to at home, and Golden Sun where a family on vacation will be forever changed.

There is something for every horror fan in these pages whether you are looking for thrills, scares or scifi.

I received an advance copy for review.

 

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The Devil's Equinox by John Everson

Austin secretly wishes his wife would drop dead. He even says so one boozy midnight at the bar to a sultry stranger with a mysterious tattoo. When his wife later introduces that stranger as Regina, their new neighbor, Austin hopes she will be a good influence on his wife. Instead, one night he comes home to find his wife dead. Soon he's entranced with Regina, who introduces him to a strange world of bloodletting, rituals and magic. A world that puts everything he loves in peril. Can Austin save his daughter, and himself, before the planets align for the Devil's Equinox?



Be careful what you wish for. Not because you just might get it, but because you may not have the stomach to fork over the price of that wish being granted.
Austin is miserable in his marriage. Half the time his wife is giving him the silent treatment and the rest of the time he probably wishes she would instead of picking at everything he does. Who could blame him for spending more time at the bar since he dreads gong home?
When he meets Regina, a seductive stranger on one such night and tells her he wishes his wife would die, he doesn't really expect it to happen. When it does, his wildest nightmares could not have conjured the price he is expected to pay for this favor. Regina has friends in low places and Austin will have a hell of a time when they come to collect.

I received an advance copy for review.


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About the author
John Everson is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Covenant, Sacrifice, The 13th, Siren and The Pumpkin Man, all released by Dorchester/Leisure Books in paperback and by Delirium, Necro and Bad Moon Books in limited hardcover. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a 2012 Bram Stoker Award Finalist. The Family Tree, NightWhere and Violet Eyes, his "creepy spider novel" were released from Samhain Publishing. In January 2017, Redemption, the long-awaited sequel to his novels Covenant and Sacrificewas released. His 10th novel, The House By The Cemetery was released in October 2018 from Flame Tree Press. His 11th novel, The Devil's Equinox, will be released by Flame Tree in June 2019.
A wide selection of his short fiction has been collected in five short story collections - Deadly Nightlusts (Blasphemous Books, 2010), Creeptych (Delirium Books, 2010), Needles & Sins (Necro Books, 2007), Vigilantes of Love (Twilight Tales, 2003) and Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions (Delirium Books, 2000).
John is also the editor of the anthologies Sins of the Sirens (Dark Arts Books, 2008) and In Delirium II (Delirium Books, 2007) and co-editor of the Spooks! ghost story anthology (Twilight Tales, 2004). In 2006, he co-founded Dark Arts Books to produce trade paperback collections spotlighting the cutting edge work of some of the best authors working in short dark fantasy fiction today.
John shares a deep purple den in Naperville, Illinois with a cockatoo and cockatiel, a disparate collection of fake skulls, twisted skeletal fairies, Alan Clark illustrations and a large stuffed Eeyore. There's also a mounted Chinese fowling spider named Stoker courtesy of fellow horror author Charlee Jacob, an ever-growing shelf of custom mix CDs and an acoustic guitar that he can't really play but that his son likes to hear him beat on anyway. Sometimes his wife is surprised to find him shuffling through more public areas of the house, but it's usually only to brew another cup of coffee. In order to avoid the onerous task of writing, he records pop-rock songs in a hidden home studio, experiments with the insatiable culinary joys of the jalapeno, designs book covers for a variety of small presses, loses hours in expanding an array of gardens and chases frequent excursions into the bizarre visual headspace of '70s euro-horror DVDs with a shot of Makers Mark and a tall glass of Newcastle.

For information on his fiction, art and music, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at www.johneverson.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/johneverson

Recursion by Blake Crouch

From the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory—his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.

Memory makes reality. That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

I have been a huge fan of Blake Crouch since long before any of his books were turned into TV shows and I won't be surprised if this novel ends up as a TV series too, a movie wouldn't do it justice.
Barry Sutton is a cop investigating False Memory Syndrome, a strange disorder that causes sufferers of this malady to recall in perfect detail memories of living an entirely different life than the one they really have. Nobody knows what causes it or whether it is possibly contagious but once someone has False Memory Syndrome those in their close social circles seem to come down with it as well.
Helena Smith is a brilliant Neuroscientist who has been working on way to preserve memories in hopes of helping her mother who is rapidly forgetting everything and everyone to Alzheimer's. Her technology is successful beyond anyone's imagination and can give users the ability not just to remember the past but to relive it. What could possibly go wrong? When Barry is given the "gift" of a chance to relive the past and be a better father, son and husband he will find out what can go wrong, on more than one timeline.
This book will blow your mind.
I received an advance copy for review.
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About the author
Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the forthcoming novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado with his family.