Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

 

For nearly two decades, Jamie Warren has been running from darkness. He's haunted by a traumatic childhood and the guilt at having disappeared from his disabled brother's life. But then a series of unusual events reunites him with his estranged brother and their childhood friends, and none of them can deny the sense of fate that has seemingly drawn them back together.

Nor can they deny the memories of that summer, so long ago – the strange magic taught to them by an even stranger man, and the terrible act that has followed them all into adulthood. In the light of new danger, they must confront their past by facing their futures, and hunting down a man who may very well be a monster. 

I have been a Ronald Malfi fan for several years. In fact, his previous book "Come With Me" is on my best horror of the year list for 2021

With half the year left to go, I can safely say that Black Mouth will be on my best horror of the year list for 2022.

Even though I had already pre-ordered this book I jumped at the chance to read it early when review copies became available.

The story follows four friends who suffered a traumatic experience while coming of age in a small town in West Virginia. What used to be a mining town is now a ghost of its former self after a horrific collapse that left miners trapped and left to die. It's said that you can still hear the ghosts that haunt what's left of the caves. Of these four friends the majority of the story surrounds Jamie, an abused and neglected boy who grew up to be an alcoholic, and his brother Dennis, a boy with special needs who grew up to be a gentle giant of a man with more wisdom than he is able to express.

Jamie is the first to discover the magic man but it's not long before he and his friends Clay and Mia are spending far too much time with this charming but devious stranger who dresses in a shabby, dirty, magician's costume and promises to teach them real magic and not just tricks...for a price.

Told on two timelines, the present day in which some strange goings-on have reunited these four, and the past in which we learn of the events that separated them, it brings about the creeping dread that somehow, just maybe this magician from twenty years ago has not aged a day and is still manipulating children to do his evil bidding.

I loved these characters, and the depth of their friendship, but Dennis was my favorite. I am a huge fan of small-town horror with unlikely heroes and the author has masterfully crafted these, with vivid descriptions that conjure up such striking imagery that I could almost smell the forest and feel the children's desperate need to believe in magic.

Black Mouth will be published on July 19, 2022 

5 out of 5 stars

I received a digital copy from Titan books under no obligation to write a review.

Available for pre-order

About the author

Nightmare Abbey 1 Edited by Tom English

 

The first big volume of Nightmare Abbey features 19 tales of terror by such masters as Ramsey Campbell, Steve Duffy, Lynda E. Rucker, David Surface, Helen Grant, Gregory L. Norris, Robert Bloch, Douglas Smith, James Dorr, and others. Plus, articles on Jacques Tourneur's classic horror film I Walked With a Zombie, and the iconic TV fright series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Tons of photos and illustrations by Allen Koszowski. (From the creators of the popular Black Infinity series.)

This is the Premier issue of what I hope will be a long line of successful volumes from Dead Letter Press. Nightmare Abbey Volume one contains "a mix of literary horror, gothic terror, and classic weird tales."

In addition to the spooky stories, there are notes after each one to tell you a bit about the author, where the stories were first published and the titles of some other books their work has appeared in, in case you feel like adding another mile to your TBR list. (which I did.) I expect to return to this volume over and over, not just for the entertainment value but for those informative notes about other books.

There are some spectacular illustrations by Allen Koszowski throughout. 

I enjoyed the feeling of nostalgia brought on by the articles and photos of Kolchak, and I Walked With A Zombie. There are also some photos of one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock episodes, The Waxwork.

As for the stories themselves I had so many favorites.

Meeting The Author by Ramsey Campbell gave me chills!

The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner is a creepy, crawly, claustrophobic story that I won't soon forget.

Snow by Helen Grant is a cautionary tale of why one should never break a promise. I don't think I have ever read this author previously but this story has made me want to read more from her.

Awake in the Hands of Solitude by Kurt Newton and John Boden is an eerie story about disembodied hands that do the evil bidding of a disabled man.

The Last Sighting of Black Dog by Tom English is for anyone who loves folk tales and urban legends as much as I do.

I was thrilled to see Catnip by Robert Bloch included in this volume. This is an older story I had never read before but had seen a tv adaptation of it on an episode of an old summer replacement TV series called Darkroom back in the 80s. I am a huge Robert Bloch fan even if I have seen more of his writing adapted for tv than I have read in books. The story as written by Bloch is much darker than was portrayed on television and I loved it.

Give Me Back My Name by David Surface is about a man who discovers it's harder than he thought to abandon his old life for new. This is an author I have never read before and I will definitely be looking for more from him.

It bears repeating that this is the first of what I hope will be many more volumes. Horror is my happy place and Nightmare Abbey has so much to offer. It's more than a great read, it's an immersive experience. It's brought me some pleasant memories of turning on the tv a half-hour early to get a good clear picture tuned in before Kolchak or Alfred Hitchcock started. The illustrations remind me of the days I'd go to the used book stores with my mom, her searching for horror novels she hadn't already read, and me searching through the horror comics that she would not have let me buy had she known what was inside. It's brought to my attention writers that I have missed out on and pointed me in the direction of where I will find more of their stories. 

Recommended to all fans of dark fiction, horror stories, and weird tales.

My thanks to Dead Letter Press.

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Lingering by Chris Coppel

 

The woods looked dark and ominous. Between the trees, where the darkness was blacker than black, dozens of slanted yellow eyes flicked open and stared back towards the house. They weren’t the eyes of anything human...

When Paul and Christy purchase Croft House, they are both looking forward to a new start. Christy’s abusive father is dying and she is ready to put the past well and truly behind her. But the house has other ideas. They soon realise there is something in the house, something that’s trying to communicate with them.

In their fear, they ask a local psychic to remove this entity. And in so doing, release something far, far worse.

Paul and Christy are a happily married couple, looking forward to moving into their new home. Cue the ominous warning from a stranger that they need to be sure about this house because once they move in it will be too late.

Follow that up with a presale home inspection that shows the inside dimensions of the house don't match up to the outside. Top it off with a way too thick wall in the loft and you have your makings for a typical haunted house story. Gosh I wonder what's behind there? You may be surprised but I was not.

Weirdly, Christy decides she has to go to her childhood home to care for her dying father after his stroke. I say weirdly because she has had nothing to do with him for decades, ever since she escaped his abuse when she was 16. It seemed an odd choice or at least a choice most people wouldn't make under such circumstances. So for this reason she is not there for her husband to help him with packing or moving into their new home.

Paul moves in by himself unless you count his wife's dog. The strange happenings begin right away, frightening the cable tv installer when he wanted to break through that unusually thick wall, although the ghost seems quite mild and even helpful. When Christy arrives she demands they have the house cleansed of this spirit immediately. Paul for some reason has this done by a woman who outright tells him she does not want to do it, that she doesn't do it anymore, that she has had something traumatic happen when she tried to cleanse a house of something more powerful than she is strong enough to deal with. Sure she sounds like the right woman for the job. He convinces her that this is a mere friendly ghost so against her better judgment she attempts this cleansing. It's not long before she is also frightened away, telling Paul that yes she got rid of the friendly ghost but there is something else in the house.

Up to this point, nothing really scary has happened unless you count dreams and hallucinations which just don't do it for me.

I enjoyed the parts of the story that were about Christy and what her life was like before she met Paul. It was almost like I was reading two different books, one a domestic drama and the other a haunted house story.

There were a few spooky parts near the end but after the big climax, I didn't care for the way  Paul and Christy treated the woman who they practically forced to attempt a cleansing that she did not want to do. I had liked them until then. To me, it's ridiculous to blame someone for not being able to do something they told you they couldn't do. The ending itself was not to my liking either. It's too Casper the friendly ghost or Beetlejuice for my taste. You may enjoy it more than I did, lots of people have loved it.

It also needs a trigger warning for child sexual abuse/rape

I received an advance copy.

Available for Pre-order

About the author

Chris Coppel was born in California. His family moved to Europe, living in Spain, France, Switzerland and mainly England. He has written numerous screenplays but Far From Burden Dell is his first novel. He taught advanced screenwriting at U.C.L.A.

Chris is also an accomplished drummer and guitarist. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Clare, and their very own scaredy-cat, Samantha.

Corpse Honey: A Banquet of Gruesome Tales by Michael J. Picco

 

"Out of the eater came something to eat; out of the strong, came something sweet." What is 'corpse honey, ' you ask? Is it something bitter or is it something sweet? Well, it is honey, after all, so let's assume it's sweet - so sweet in fact, that everything you eat afterward tastes like ashes. No? Then it must be bitter. So bitter that it leaves your tongue blistered and festering. Perhaps it's both bitter and sweet. Maybe it tickles the inside of your skull - like your head has been filled with bees. Some are there to make honey, some are there just to sting you... over and over. One thing is for certain: corpse honey is not for the squeamish. After all, even the sweetest honey is "loathsome in his own deliciousness..."Corpse Honey is a collection of twelve gruesome tales, drawing inspiration from the natural world, folklore, and fever dreams. Within these pages, you will find the lesser-known horrors that lurk in the shadows of our world: the possessed, the cursed, and the afflicted - and worst of all, the monsters with the all-too-human faces. For nearly a decade, award-winning author Michael Picco has brought his disturbing and strange visions to readers around the world. He is proud to present Corpse Honey, his second collection of disturbing stories - a banquet of grisly tales sure to satisfy even the most gruesome of appetites.

What first caught my eye was this gorgeous cover, designed by the author himself. It made me want to read Corpse Honey before I even knew that it was a collection of short horror stories, which of course made me want to read it all the more.

Some of these tales are more sci-fi than horror and others lean towards psychological thriller. My favorites are those with supernatural overtones. 

The author employs the stream of consciousness technique in the narrative which may be jarring for some readers who are not expecting the unusual syntax and rough grammar or heavy use of dashes and ellipses instead of the more conventional use of punctuation. For me, it put me into the characters' thought processes almost making me part of the stories.

Among my favorites were The Bark Men, which is a coming-of-age tale surrounding two young cousins' encounter with mysterious beings deep in the woods of Colorado. I would like to see this story developed into a full-fledged novel. It was both sad and creepy at the same time.

I also enjoyed Isle For One? - a Satirical, darkly humorous look at customer service that has not improved in pandemic times. If you've ever sat on hold while listening to a recorded voice this is for you.

Another favorite was Mortimer the Maus in which a man recalls a childhood visit to a cut-rate unsavory amusement park that went from unpleasant to horrifying when he became separated from his neglectful father. This one made my skin crawl.

Under My Bed... Where The Lower Things Crept - After being frightened by a story his older sister tells him, a boy is forced to give up his bedroom and move into the room where grandma died. Is there something evil under the rug? Or is it all in his mind?

All I have to say about The Popelick Goatman is Ladies, this is exactly why if you break up with your man on a dark and stormy night, you do not get into his junk car and drive off with nowhere to go. You stay inside where you are safe and warm and you toss his ass out. Let the Goat man have him, he deserves it. Trust me and learn from this.

Not every story was my cup of tea but these were my favorites, yours may be different. Recommended for readers who enjoy horror. sci-fi or weird tales.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to the Denver Horror Collective for the finished paperback copy.

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