The Crone: Don't Ever Let Her In by Kevin Bachar

Paul and Tina Nimos are like a lot of young married couples, they’re madly in love but finances are putting a strain on their relationship. Their home renovation business is struggling, and with a new baby in the house, bills are piling up. When Paul finds a cheap house to buy and flip, he thinks their problems are solved. It’s an older New England home, with plenty of history and once it’s repaired it should command a great price.

But as Paul and Tina begin the daunting task of restoring the new house, they struggle with the reconstruction. It seems the home doesn’t want to be repaired. As they fall behind in their renovation they realize that unexplained forces are conspiring against them and that helpful friends might not be who they seem.

Soon the couple realizes that a Crone could be the source of their troubles. But it might be too late, as the house and the Crone prepare to extract a horrific toll from Paul, Tina, and their baby. Will they be able to fight back against a centuries-old evil? The Crone, don’t ever let her in.

Paul and Tina Nimos are house flippers, but not the kind that are getting rich off a real estate boon. They and their young daughter move from one fixer upper to the next, renovating and moving on to another dilapidated home every few months. Paul is sure that the next house will be their gold mine, but Tina is fed up with chasing the rainbow for the pot of gold that never comes. Finances are the biggest fight in their marriage. That, coupled with a tragic incident in their past would be more than enough to break some marriages. When Paul sees "Hex House," he is compelled to buy it even though they are already deeply in debt. When he shows the house to Tina, she also falls under it's spell, and they agree to make this their forever home. Creepy happenings ensue!

This book would fit right in with old school 80s horror and I loved it. The struggling family and marriage issues are totally relatable. The ancient witch who preys on their vulnerabilities makes for a classic good vs. evil story which is one of my favorite horror tropes. The dark past of Hex House is steeped in folk horror and the spooky atmosphere made for a shivery good time without an excess of gore. I couldn't put it down and nearly let my Thanksgiving potatoes boil over because I just had to read one more page. Read this book when you can devote all of your time to it because you won't be able to focus on anything else until you reach the end.

My thanks to Kevin Bachar.

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Bloodlines: Horror's Past, Present, and Future

 

Bloodlines is a new eBook series from celebrated publisher Cemetery Dance Publications, bringing together hallmark voices from horror's past, present, and those who represent the genre's future. Featuring a diverse range of voices and styles, Bloodlines seeks to continue the traditions of anthologies which have gone before, such as the vaunted Shadows, Whispers, Masques, and Year's Bester Horror. Each story will have a blackout poem as its epigraph, composed by Stoker-Nominated Poet Jessica McHugh.

Featured in this edition:

"Buckeye Jim in Egypt," by Mort Castle

"The Invention of Ghosts," by Gwendolyn Kiste

"Paint Box, Puzzle Box," by D. T. Friedman

"The Night We Buried Road Dog," by Jack Cady

"The Night Wire," by H. F. Arnold

This anthology features five previously published stories in one volume, curated by Kevin Lucia.

All of the stories were new to me and I will just touch briefly on the ones I loved the most.

My favorites were the stories by Mort Castle and Gwendolyn Kiste.

Buckeye Jim In Egypt takes place in a mining town in the days when racism ran rampant and union busters were a popular way for greedy employers to beat any thought of fair wages or safe working conditions out of your head. There is a warning at the beginning concerning the language of that day being used. You may find it offensive but it would not have been effective to pretend that isn't how some people spoke back then (and sadly some still do.)  It is a story of racism, greed and religion and put me in mind of that old 90's song that went something like What if God was one of us?

"Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, Trying to make his way home?"

 Ok so Buckeye Jim is not God per se but he is more than a man and he will bring both his wrath and benevolence to town. I loved this story. It's loaded with suspense and it was satisfying when a certain someone got their comeuppance.

The Invention of Ghosts is a story of  college roommates and best friends since childhood, that slowly drift apart. One wants to move on while the other wants things to stay as they are. Can a living person be a ghost? Maybe they can if they want it badly enough. This witchy story was both spooky and sad. Chances are that none of us are the same people we once were. We grow and change and evolve. What happens to those bits of ourselves that we've outgrown? It made me wonder if those pieces of ourselves go on without us instead of the other way around. This is an unforgettable tale.

The other stories were just ok for me. I did not actively dislike them but they didn't wow me.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

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We All Go Into the Dark by Kevin Lucia

 It's waiting for us, regardless of who we are. Banker. Lawyer. Teacher. Carpenter. No matter our station in life, someday, we will all go into the dark. And no town is more acquainted with darkness than Clifton Heights, NY. So take your chance and step into the dark throughout these four

Zootown: A lost man seeking a new purpose and life finds something ancient and sinister in the ruins of a carny town just outside Clifton Heights.

The Man Who Sits in His Chair: There is a man who sits in his chair in front of his house, just across from The Motor Lodge in Clifton Heights. Why does he sit there? What does he see? A corporate lawyer on vacation will find out, much to his despair.

In the Court of the Spider A photography enthusiast visits Clifton Heights to photograph the area’s spiders, and discovers a dark eldritch secret huddled in the ruins of the Freivald Health and Wellness Spa, out on Bassler Road.

To Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth: The burned out and cynical host of the paranormal YouTube show Ghost Coasters finds something to believe in again as he searches the ruins of Raedeker Park Amusement Park for ghosts, and finds something much worse.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive

We All Go Into The Dark is a chilling quartet of novellas featuring abandoned places, ghosts, grief, guilt, and folklore all tied together in the mysterious town of Clifton Heights.

In Zootown, a man is intrigued by a beautiful stranger and decides to camp out in an abandoned spot he's been warned away from. Why do people in horror always ignore these warnings? I'll tell you why. It's so that I can enjoy the chilling consequences from the safety of my cozy reading spot.

Car troubles leave a man stranded at the Motor Lodge in Clifton Heights and leads to unraveling the mystery of The Man Who Sits In His Chair. Unfortunately some secrets are best left to the unknown. Once you find out it's too late to run.

In the Court of the Spider A nature photographer who is currently on the hunt for spiders makes a terrifying discovery in an abandoned spa. This creepy crawly story gave me the heebie-jeebies!

The host of a streaming paranormal show receives an online suggestion to visit the ruins of Raedeker Amusement Park in To Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth. This abandoned theme park went out of business after several deaths on the property. Do their spirits remain? Or has his own past caught up to him?

I need a way to rate this book 20 stars. 4 novellas at 5 stars each leaves the math not mathing on sites that only allow 5 stars!

Each novella is genuinely scary, in that delightfully shivery way that this horror lover craves. Kevin Lucia has knocked it out of the park with this one. It will be on my best horror of the year list.

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Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

 

A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

This is a story of poverty and class, the power of dreams, strange creatures, and revenge.

Opal is a young woman who has been plagued by strange dreams involving the crumbling gothic mansion known as Starling House. She has been raising her little brother ever since their mother's death. Some faked records and a free motel room allowed her to keep him even though she was only 15 at the time. A dead end job and occasional petty thievery have kept them afloat. She doesn't want much for herself, but she is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure her brother has a better life than he can have in this small, secretive, dying town, even if it involves working for the owner of the house she's been warned to stay away from. 

I loved Opal and her brother Jasper. By the end I even loved the grouchy motel owner. I'm not usually one to read romantasy, but throw in a dark gothic vibe with a mystery in a crumbling house that seems to be coming to life and I'm all in!

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Tor Books for this gorgeous illustrated paperback.

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