The Pretty Ones by Ania Ahlborn

 

New York, 1977. The sweltering height of the Summer of Sam. The entire city is gripped with fear, but all Nell Sullivan worries about is whether or not she’ll ever make a friend. The self-proclaimed “Plain Jane” does her best to fit in with the girls at work, but Nell’s brother, Barrett, assures her that she’ll never be like them. When Nell manages to finally garner some much-yearned-for attention, the unthinkable happens to her newfound friend. The office pool blames Son of Sam, but Nell knows the awful truth…because doing the devil’s work is easy when there’s already a serial killer on the loose.

The Pretty Ones is a psychological thriller available on Kindle only. If you prefer a print version you can find it in an edition called Apart in the Dark which contains two novellas, this one and I Call Upon Thee.

I loved the 1970s setting. The music and descriptions of the bellbottoms and platform shoes was spot on, as was the terror of serial killer David Berkowitz who targeted pretty girls in New York. But this story is not about him. It is in this setting, we meet Nell, a friendless, lonely, over weight office worker who dreams of fitting in with her coworkers and making a friend. Each day she grows more envious of the lives and friendships other women have, and each evening she returns home to her dumpy apartment where she lives with her brother who never speaks.

Flashbacks to Nell's abusive childhood, and her silent brother make it too easy to guess what is really going on, too early in the story for my taste, and that is the only thing I didn't care for. I would have liked a bigger shock value or a twisty surprise instead of such predictability.

3 out of 5 stars

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About the author
Born in Ciechanow Poland, Ania has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She’d spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share.
Author of nine novels, Ania's books have been lauded by the likes of Publisher's Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some titles have been optioned for film.
Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ania currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

Shockadelica by Jon O'Bergh

 

Weaving together supernatural legends from Ireland, Nigeria, and China, "Shockadelica" follows two friends who must confront their own fears while fighting an evil, existential threat. With a dash of humor and horror, the story explores prejudice, conspiracy theories, and things that aren't what they appear to be, offering a critical look at the current state of the world.

Two horror podcasters—drag artist Kendall Akande and best friend Jenna Chen—share a passion for art, fashion, and horror. When they find out their Victorian-era apartment building might be haunted, they see an opportunity for an entertaining podcast episode. They learn that a past resident, inspired by demonic images of a goat-headed man, lured victims to his apartment and murdered them. While visiting his grave, they are spooked by a man in a goat mask who watches from the bushes.

The two friends launch their investigation and get a glimpse into the lives of their unusual neighbors. Rooney Xavier posts fake online testimonials for businesses and starts dating the landlord's son, hoping for perks. Aging fashion diva Morvena Delacroix rages against any noise Rooney makes downstairs. The Nigerian/Irish witch Lilith Adebayo offers interventions to help Kendall with his nightmares. Lucy Lee talks to her vegetables when she cooks and helps Jenna cope with her grandmother's worsening dementia. An intimidating musician named the Bone Man has tattoos of serial killers covering his arms. The dignified Mrs. Gupta, architect Elliott Bernbaum, and a reclusive tenant in the basement round out the cast. As strange sightings and sounds spread, Kendall and Jenna visit the landlord on Ward's Island, but his house of curiosities only deepens the mystery. Then a stranger appears who promises protection if Kendall sacrifices something of value.

As the ghosts of the past become entwined with the growing terror, Kendall and Jenna must use their creativity to confront the evil force that threatens them all.

An album of horror-themed songs by the Bone Man complements the novel and is available at most streaming sites and online retailers. 

This was a fun read with a diverse cast of characters that at first glance I would not have expected to fit together as well as they did.

Best friends and co-podcasters Kendall and Jenn live in an old apartment building with quirky neighbors and possibly a ghost.
When closet doors begin opening by themselves and strange noises in the walls start scaring one of their neighbors the two friends decide to investigate.

Soon after, they learn that a serial murderer who killed people that he deemed "undesirables" had once been a resident of their building and had killed himself in apartment six.

Although there were some spooky moments, and a bit of humor thrown in, what I most enjoyed was the friendship between the two main characters. It felt so genuine, the way they could always count on the other to be there for them even if they were angry over a disagreement. I also love the creativity of having an actual album by one of the book characters that you can stream on Sound Cloud.

4 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance copy for review.

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Listen to Box of Bones by The Bone Man

About the Author

Jon O'Bergh is an author and musician. He was born and raised in Southern California and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California at Irvine. He has written four books that link music and stories, and co-authored "Elliptical: The Music of Meshell Ndegeocello." He has also released over a dozen albums in a variety of styles, including the atmospheric album "Ghost Story." After living many years in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., he now spends most of his time with his husband in Toronto.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. 

A group of 6 "Final Girls" meet once a month for a group therapy session that seems more like a place to argue and insult each other than to recover from past trauma. Now someone is out to kill them all... I guess because that is what's supposed to happen, the slashers in horror movies keep coming back no matter how many times you manage to kill them and survive. But who is it? Which monster has found out about the group? Who is coming to kill them after all this time? Or maybe it's more than one person. What if it's several all working together? Now it's up to Lynette to find out who is after them before there is no one left to save. They never considered Lynette to be a true Final Girl because she didn't have to kill her attacker to survive. Maybe this time she will outlive them all.

I really wanted to love this book more than I was able to. It was a great idea and I'm not entirely sure why it missed the mark with me. I think it is partly because the characters in this book are heavily  "borrowed" from or at least based on the survivors of old slasher movies that I enjoyed. Because of that I already had my own ideas about their personalities and the way they might behave. In this book, these survivors mostly do not like each other, or themselves so I didn't like them much either. It also felt more like an action/thriller to me than a horror. There were lots of exciting action scenes but nothing that was really scary.

3 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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The List of Unspeakable Fears by J. Kasper Kramer

 

Expected publication: September 14th 2021 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7

The War That Saved My Life meets Coraline in this chilling middle grade historical novel from the author of the acclaimed The Story That Cannot Be Told following an anxious young girl learning to face her fears—and her ghosts—against the backdrop of the typhoid epidemic.

Essie O’Neill is afraid of everything. She’s afraid of cats and electric lights. She’s afraid of the silver sick bell, a family heirloom that brings up frightening memories. Most of all, she’s afraid of the red door in her nightmares.

But soon Essie discovers so much more to fear. Her mother has remarried, and they must move from their dilapidated tenement in the Bronx to North Brother Island, a dreary place in the East River. That’s where Essie’s new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for the incurable sick, including the infamous Typhoid Mary. Essie knows the island is plagued with tragedy. Years ago, she watched in horror as the ship General Slocum caught fire and sank near its shores, plummeting one thousand women and children to their deaths.

Now, something on the island is haunting Essie. And the red door from her dreams has become a reality, just down the hall from her bedroom in her terrifying new house. Convinced her stepfather is up to no good, Essie investigates. Yet to uncover the truth, she will have to face her own painful history—and what lies behind the red door.

Life as Essie knows it, in the cramped tenements of NYC is drastically changed when her mother announces that she has married  a man that Essie has never even heard her mention before. As if that isn't enough to induce a panic attack she is also told she will have to pack her things, leaving her friends and her school behind to go live on an island where people with dangerously contagious illnesses are sent to quarantine. In fact she may even meet the dreaded Typhoid Mary.

Essie is still grieving for her father and suffering the trauma of his death when she meets her new step father, an imposing figure with strange mannerisms who she begins to suspect of nefarious deeds. Strange goings on in the night may also mean that she is now living in a haunted house.

Essie was a girl after my own heart, who suffers frequent nightmares and anxiety. 

In an odd coincidence I read this book on the anniversary of the tragedy in Little Germany, an incident that I had never even heard of until I read this book. When it was first mentioned I looked it up, and what I found tells me that what was later explained in the book was factually correct, always an important part of historical fiction for me is accuracy of the time period. This was a well researched work of historical fiction with a bit of spooky suspense and a lesson that without fear there is no such thing as bravery, Essie learns that being afraid is ok but that things almost never turn out as badly as we feared they would. Although this is listed as being for readers in grades 3-7 there is really no reason it can not be enjoyed by older readers.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Available for pre-order

About the author
J. Kasper Kramer is an author and English professor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She has a master's degree in creative writing and once upon a time lived in Japan, where she taught at an international school. When she's not curled up with a book, Kramer loves researching lost fairy tales, playing video games, and fostering kittens.

Website: www.jkasperkramer.com 

Ride or Die by James Newman

Amelia Fletcher is a good girl. She’s a straight-A student, second chair in her middle-school chorus, and she never uses the Lord’s name in vain.

But a few days ago, she discovered that her dad has been cheating on her mom.

For the first time in her life, Amelia decides she would like to know what it feels like to be a bad girl. For just one night.

With the help of her BFFs, Cassie and Folline, she plans to teach Dad’s “other woman” a lesson. It's harmless fun, right? An evening of teenage mischief. When all is said and done, the homewrecker will go away and never come back. Only then can Amelia's family begin to repair what has been broken.

However, this was no ordinary affair. And the trio could never expect the horrors that await them inside the house on Callaghan Drive.

When three teenage besties set out to teach someone a lesson about messing with a married man, the important thing to remember is that nobody was supposed to get hurt. Their intention was only to make the other woman go away. Sure there may have been some property damage, but mild destruction was not meant to include death. Well you know what they say about best-laid plans. Things go awry for Amelia and her friends when they discover a horrifying secret and there's no telling who will survive the night on Callaghan Drive.

"Silence. Even the crickets had stopped chirping for now. As if they too were appalled at what they had witnessed."

I loved the friendship between these three girls and the way they were portrayed as willing to do anything for each other no matter the risk. These girls were tough as nails in a day when so many female characters in horror are portrayed as catty or weak and waiting for a man to swoop in and save them. The story itself is quite unsettling. It went places I did not expect to go. 

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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Camp Neverland by Lisa Quigley

 

Camp Neverland is special. At least that's what it said on the mysterious brochure. But when Max arrives to discover her tormentor Chuck Snyder is there, too, her hopes for a magical summer are dashed. Still, the bond she develops with her cabinmates feels almost too good to be true. And when kids start dying in gruesome ways, Max hides a frightening secret. She soon learns just how far she'll go to belong.

Camp Neverland
Book 29 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.

This was my first venture into the Rewind or Die series and although this is book 29 don't let that stop you from diving in. This is a stand alone novella, in the style of those great old horror movies of yester-year.

Max is a lonely teenage girl with a passion for drawing, and no friends to speak of. She is ignored by most, and tormented by one in particular. She is looking forward to the end of the school year when she can get a break from being bullied and harassed by Chuck, the boy who makes her life hell. This summer will be special, because she's going away to Camp Neverland, a mysterious summer camp that sounds too good to be true. Now we all know what happens in horror movies when a teen is bullied beyond her breaking point. Especially a girl like Max who may be more powerful than she knows. Bad things happen that's what. Painful, deadly things.

This was a fun read with a nostalgic horror movie vibe. I enjoyed the woodsy camp setting and will definitely be looking into more of the Ride or Die series. 

I received an advance copy for review.

Camp Neverland will be published on June 24

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About the author

Lisa Quigley is a writer, mother, wife, and irreverent witch living in New Jersey. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside's low-residency MFA program in Palm Desert. Her work has appeared in Unnerving Magazine, Automata Review, The Manifest Station, and more. She is the co-host of the dark fiction podcast Ladies of the Fright, and she is a professor of English and communications.

The Web of La Sanguinaire & Other Arachnid Horrors by Ronald Kelly

 

I must be ahead of schedule for a change because I'm finished reading this before there is any synopsis or purchase info available. 

I believe the publication date is June 18th from D&T Publishing.

This is a collection of the following 8 spider themed stories...

The Web of La Sanguinaire
The Memory Eater
Housewarming
Atomic Arachnid Armageddon!
Cell Number Nine   
The Creeping Sands
Hugs and Kisses
Come See Spider Cave!

A couple of these stories were familiar to me and I believe I may have read them previously in "Sick Stuff"

Ronald Kelly's latest collection of tales all share a theme of 8 legged creepies from which nowhere is safe. They are everywhere, on land and sea, deep underground and in the misty fog of the swamp. Some are so small you won't notice them until it's too late, and some are freakishly large.

They are the stuff of nightmares, and for one woman in The Creeping Sands those nightmares come true.

While some are just your everyday poisonous variety others may have an intelligence and an evil intent.

Not all of them are looking to crawl into orifices where no spider should be and some can even break your heart like in my two favorite stories The Memory Eater, about a man who fears Alzheimer's losing his memories to something even worse, and Hugs and Kisses about a lonely teenage girl who finally finds a friend. These were the more character driven stories and I'm sure it's a difficult thing to fit characters you have time to care about into a short story but Ronald Kelly pulls that off deftly in both of these. I will admit I felt a tear starting to burn in my eye when I read them.

This was a 5 star read for me.

I received an advance copy for review.

About the author

Ronald Kelly was born and raised in the hills and hollows of Middle Tennessee. He became interested in horror as a child, watching the local "Creature Feature" on Saturday nights and "The Big Show"---a Nashville-based TV show that presented every old monster movie ever made ---in the afternoons after school. In high school, his interest turned to horror literature and he read such writers as Poe, Lovecraft, Matheson, and King. He originally had dreams of becoming a comic book artist and created many of his own super heroes. But during his junior year, the writing bug bit him and he focused his attention on penning short stories and full-length novels. To date, he has had ten novels and eight short fiction collections published. In 1992, his audio-book, DARK DIXIE, was included on the nominating ballot for a Grammy Award.

He currently lives in Brush Creek, Tennessee with his wife, Joyce, his two daughters, Reilly and Makenna, and his son, Ryan (Bubba).

Autumn Falls by A.R. Kingston

 

Twenty-five years ago, a deal was made to save a child’s life. Now the time has come for someone to pay the price.

Paramedic Charlotte Briggs is a woman on the run. Having escaped an abusive man with her son, she lives out of motels until a mysterious call offers her a job in a sleepy, fog-locked town of Autumn Falls.

At first, the picturesque New England town, situated off the coast of Maine, seems like an ideal place to raise her son, until strange things begin to happen. At first, it’s just the crows following her around the island and the frightful creature lurking in the shadows. Then, the accidents start. Gruesome, bloody accidents unlike any she’d ever seen before. The island is thirsty for human blood. The dead also don’t stay dead. They either return to warn her or threaten her, and Charlotte suspects that not all is well in her new town.

Digging into the island’s past, Charlotte won’t only unearth its supernatural secrets, but also solve the mystery of her own link to this cursed chunk of rock in the Atlantic.

Charlotte has come to build a new life for herself and her son. What she doesn't know is that there was a nefarious reason she was offered a new job and a place to start over.

Autumn Falls, a lovely name for the odd town with weird inhabitants. There were lots of things I liked about this book. The mystery of the old hospital where even paramedics are forbidden to go, the "ghost" ambulance that can be seen cruising down the street, the creepy way the children act, as if they are synchronized, even the Pig Man! There are lots of spooky happenings here and several  gruesome deaths and mutilations.  What I didn't like was the way some of the characters interacted, and their dialogue. It just hit a few wrong notes with me that a woman who has had to flee an abusive relationship would be so willing to spill her life story to her new coworkers practically the minute they first meet, or to feel obligated to explain to strangers why she chose to raise her son on her own. It could be, that was the way the author chose to fill the reader in on Charlotte's back story but in my head I was screaming it's none of their business! Why are you spilling your guts to these strangers?

I enjoyed the more macabre moments of the story but wasn't crazy about the long lost love angle.

3 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review

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About the author

Multi-genre author A.R. Kingston is a lover of all things dark and magical. She started out writing fanfiction in High School until going off to college to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and spent a few years in the mental health field before her passion for writing called back to her. Now she spends her time weaving fantastical tales of magical worlds or planting terrifying beasts on earth. When she is not writing, you can find her enjoying tea with her potbellied pigs while she reads a book or hones a new skill. Eventually, she hopes to retire in her beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado, and run her own pig rescue.

Blood Kin by Ronald Kelly

 Unholy Revival!

Josiah Craven had been all but forgotten for nearly a hundred years.

To his descendants, he was nothing more than an imposing image in an old tintype photograph and the subject of stories told in hushed tones before the fireplace at night. A traveling mountain preacher who had returned from his wanderings and died by mysterious circumstances; buried in an unmarked grave with a wooden stake through his heart. Dudley Craven had heard the tales, but never believed them… until his plow unearthed an ancient coffin in the center of a lonesome mountain pasture.

Now Josiah is back and his true nature has been revealed. Hungering for the blood and obedience of his kin, he roams the Appalachian Mountains with only one purpose in mind… to initiate his family into a dark church of the damned.

Only a trio of unlikely foes summon the courage to bring Josiah’s ungodly mission to an end. An alcoholic carpenter who will do anything to save his wife and children, a timid preacher’s wife with a love of horror literature and film, and the knowledge to defeat the undead, and a moonshine-making mountain man who once encountered a similar evil in the dark tunnels beneath the jungles of Vietnam.

Together, they will ascend the peak of Craven’s Mountain to do battle with Josiah Craven and his congregation of the living dead!

I first read Blood Kin back in the 90s. When I saw this classic horror had been re-released with a new bonus prequel story at the end I could not pass up a chance to revisit Granddaddy Craven and the hell he brought down on Craven's Mountain.

More than a blood and guts vampire story, there are characters to love, and to hate, and to hope for. There is a family in crisis that I hoped would mend. There is a meddlesome mother-in-law that I wanted to smack! Family bonds and friendships are in peril along with souls.

Josiah Craven was not a good person in life, and being undead did nothing to improve that. When his wife put him in the ground nearly 100 years ago she thought that was the end of it, and for her generation it was. Now all these years later, Dud Craven has unwittingly unearthed Josiah's grave. Josiah is not just starving for blood, he is hungry for power and plans to preside over a congregation of the undead, starting with his family.

Blood Kin is edge of your seat suspense and fang-tastic fun. Over 20 years ago I said it was one of the best vampire novels I had ever read, and it still is, to this day.

5 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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About the author
Ronald Kelly has been writing horror tales set in the American South since the small-press days of the 1980s. A former Zebra Book author, his published works include Fear, Undertaker's Moon, Blood Kin, Hell Hollow, The Dark'Un, Midnight Grinding & Other Twilight Terrors, After the Burn, Hindsight, The Buzzard Zone, The Essential Sick Stuff, The Halloween Store, Season's Creepings, and Irish Gothic. His audio collection of Southern-fried short stories, Dark Dixie: Tales of Southern Horror, was included on the nominating ballot of the 1992 Grammy Awards for Best Non-Musical or Spoken Album. He lives in a backwoods hollow in Brush Creek, Tennessee with his wife and young'uns.