MIDNIGHT UNDER THE BIG TOP edited by Brian James Freeman

 Midnight Under the Big Top: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Magic

edited by Brian James Freeman

Cover artwork by Ben Baldwin
Interior Illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne

About the Book:
Venture inside Midnight Under the Big Top, where your wide eyes and pounding heart will discover: 

• the world's grandest tales of murder, madness, and magic set in and around the circus by renowned storytellers such as Stephen King, Joe Hill, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Neil Gaiman, Kelley Armstrong, Robert McCammon, Tananarive Due, Lisa Morton, Heather Graham, Richard Chizmar, Billy Chizmar, Amanda C. Davis, Nayad Monroe, Jeff Strand, Amanda Downum, Robert Brouhard, and Dominick Cancilla!

• the World's First-Ever Poetry Intermission featuring Norman Prentiss, G.O. Clark, Marge Simon, Bruce Boston, Robert Payne Cabeen, David E. Cowen, Alessandro Manzetti, Christina Sng, Stephanie M. Wytovich, K.A. Opperman, Ashley Dioses, and Terri Adamczyk!

• and for the grand finale, Josh Malerman, author of the New York Times bestseller Bird Box, will introduce you to Dandelion Andrews, a very unusual man who hasn't seen daylight in three months because he's digging a hole destined to become a most unusual carnival house of horrors!

These death-defying tales aren't for the faint of heart, but they are perfect for the long lost child deep inside of you who instinctively understands you should never trust a circus clown.

Welcome to the dark side of various carnivals and traveling circuses.

 Midnight Under The Big Top is a feast for the senses, featuring gorgeous artwork, dark poetry,  grim stories, and one novella. 

Some of the stories were familiar to me. I'm not sure if I have read them elsewhere but I did see Joe Hill's Twittering From The Circus of The Dead on tv when it was made into one of my favorite episodes of Creepshow. The classic story The Black Ferris by Ray Bradbury is included which was later turned into Something Wicked This Way Comes, and also an episode of the tv series Ray Bradbury Theater. 

Excited kids blow off their last day of school when the carnival comes to town in The Girl In The Carnival Gown by Kelly Armstrong There's something more wild and twisty than a roller coaster going on in this one.

Josh Malerman's novella Dandy is a dark and claustrophobic tale of a girl who wishes she had not gone into the fun house alone. It had me nearly hyperventilating.

All this and more awaits you at Midnight Under The Big Top.

Grab your tickets and get in line 

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

 

Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret. Or is there? Discover a haunting new vision of the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear...

The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it—except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.

Told in Victor LaValle's signature style, blending historical fiction, shimmering prose, and inventive horror, Lone Women is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—and a portrait of early twentieth-century America like you've never seen.

Adelaide Henry has never lived on her own, never done anything she wants to do, and has always been weighed down by her mother's mantra "a woman is a mule." 

Now she is free...sort of. Out from under her parents' rules, she makes her way to Montana where she will someday own a plot of land outright if she can cultivate it. This is not an easy path for a woman on her own, and even harder for a lone Black woman in 1914 with a dark secret and a heavy burden she drags along in a steamer trunk.

I was totally entranced with Adelaide from page one. This is a book I would have devoured for the remarkable characters and story alone even if there wasn't any horror aspect woven into this intriguing historical fiction. I was so engaged in this story that it was almost a bonus when the horror crept in. Once I started I could not bear to put it down.

Victor LaValle is a master storyteller. There is a nuance and depth to his writing style that I have rarely encountered.  I'm now on a mission to collect everything he has ever written and added him to my very short list of must-read authors. I'm trying hard not to fangirl all over this review but finding it impossible not to gush about it.

5 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to One World for the invitation to read an advance copy.

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The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle

 

When Ryne Burdette inherits his family's old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon wilderness, he wants to say no. Nothing much is left in that place except for unpleasant memories and the smoke of old burns. But after a tragic year, he sees a weekend trip to the cabin with his best friends as a way to recuperate and begin again.

But there is something strange about these woods. As a winter storm moves in, the animals begin acting strangely, and the natural laws of the wilderness seem to fall apart. Then, the soft voices start whispering through the trees. Something is watching them.

As the storm gets worse and the woods get darker, the three friends must dive into the darkest waters of the Burdette family lineage. Because the horrible truth is deep, resting in the shadowed places no one wants to look.

Three life long friends head out for a weekend trip to a secluded cabin to support each other and heal over loss, grief, and tragedy. The weird happenings begin before they even reach their destination and an unnatural storm keeps them trapped once they arrive. The few people they encounter are strange and the behavior of wildlife is abnormal.

The broken places is a slow burn literary/folk horror with shades of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher but happily for me there are no aliens or Sci-Fi here. 

Strong characters and family bonds drive the story forward at a slow but steady clip for the first half of the story, picking up speed in the final half and culminating in a heart stopping climax.

The chills are plenty and not just from the cold howling winds and heavy snow.

I can't say much about the plot without giving anything away so I will just say prepare yourself for some heart wrenching circumstances, difficult choices, and gruesome body horror.

Horror for me is always best when it makes me feel something. I'm more about the story than the gore. I loved these characters and the depth of their friendship. I was in constant dread of what would happen next because I wanted them to be ok. 

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Wicked House Publishing

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Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

 

A Head Full of Ghosts meets Hereditary in Piñata, a terrifying possession tale by author and artist Leopoldo Gout.

Carmen Sanchez is back in her home country of Mexico, overseeing the renovation of an ancient cathedral into a boutique hotel. Her teen daughters, Izel and Luna, are with her for the summer, and left to fill their afternoons unsupervised in a foreign city.

The locals treat the Sanchez women like outsiders, while Carmen's contractors openly defy and sabotage her work. After a disastrous accident at the construction site nearly injures Luna, Carmen's had enough. They're leaving.

Back in New York, Luna begins acting strange, and only Izel notices the chilling changes happening to her younger sister. But it might be too late for the Sanchez family to escape what's been awakened...

Piñata is a bone-chilling story about how the sinister repercussions of our past can return to haunt us.

Carmen travels to Mexico to oversee the renovation of an old church that is being turned into a hotel. The locals are not very welcoming and the men who work under her are resentful. Her eldest daughter is also resentful of being taken away from her friends and their plans for the summer. Her younger daughter is enjoying the trip and soaking up the culture, but something otherworldly has its eye on this little girl. After an accident occurs Carmen and her daughters leave Mexico but something has attached to her daughter and follows.

Mexican folklore and a bit of history combine with the supernatural in this chilling tale by Leopoldo Gout.

Did you know that piñatas were originally clay pots made as sacrifices to the gods hundreds of years ago? I didn't.  

There were lots of spooky moments in this book and I loved Carmen and her daughters. I did feel the story was a little longer than it needed to be, making it slow in some spots, but overall well worth a read.

 If you are in the mood for a slow-burn horror this is for you.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Tor Nightfire

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