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Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer: Quick Review
SUBURBAN HELL BY MAUREEN KILMER
4 STARS OUT OF 5
Possession has come to the suburbs!
It's starts with an innocent She-Shed and ends with complete horror! This is a quick and fun book with a bit of humor laced into a story of possession and friendship. A group of suburban moms must work together when one of their own falls to the dark side.
Amy, Liz, Melissa, and Jess are likeable and realistic characters that come alive off the page. Their bond goes beyond playdates and picnics, which makes this a lovely story of sisterhood in the middle of creative horror elements. Readers who enjoyed My Best Friend's Exorcism will find Suburban Hell to be a similar plot but focused toward middle-aged moms. Overall, this is a fun one that readers will quickly consume!
Beyond the Creek by Nico Bell
When Alex Foster accepted the caregiver position with the eccentric Nox family, she was issued a single rule. Don’t wander past the creek. Alex isn’t interested in exploring the Nox’s vast wooded property. After escaping an abusive past, her sole focus is building a safe future for herself and her unborn baby. Except, a series of chilling events threatens her happily-ever-after. Now, she must fight to survive an ancient evil before all hope is lost.
There’s something beyond the creek, and it’s hungry.
BEYOND THE CREEK is a southern creature horror.
ASIN : B09S8H27NS
Publisher : D&T Publishing LLC (February 9, 2022)
Publication date : February 9, 2022
Language : English
Print length : 127 pages
Authors Whose Books I'll Buy Sight Unseen
Authors I’ll Buy No Matter What
A lot of readers have them. A list of authors they’ll buy books from without reading the back covers, without even glancing at the taglines. I’m no exception. My list is small but mighty. Here are the authors I’ve bought books from without knowing a single thing about the plots:
Chuck Palahniuk
This should come as no surprise as he’s my favorite author, but I buy anything he puts out sight unseen. I just hover my mouse over that “pre-order” button and click! His characters are disturbing, his writing minimalistic but visceral, and he has some of the best quotes in literature.
Nnedi Okorafor
I will never stop recommending the Binti series. They’re some of my absolute favorite books, but readers who stop at those are missing out on Nnedi’s brilliant worldbuilding, memorable characters, and universal themes.
Kealan Patrick Burke
I probably wouldn’t recommend jumping into Kealan’s books the way I did. The first work I read from him was Kin. Yeah, I jumped into the deep end, but when I explored more of his work, I loved his characters, themes, and settings. I’m sold! Anything he puts out, I’m buying.
Black Tide by KC Jones Book Review
Black Tide Book Review
KC Jones takes readers on a apocalyptical sci-fi thrill ride. Beth is a house and dog sitter looking for companionship when she meets Mike, the loner next door neighbor. A cataclysmic event occurs that spirals the world into chaos and leaves Mike, Beth, and the dog she's sitting, fighting for their lives.
The action and horror aspects will keep readers entertained, but some may have to suspend their disbelief when it comes to the characters' ability to fight considering their grave physical wounds. The sci-fi premise is intriguing and while this plot doesn't contain twists, it does strategically drop information about the mysterious event leaving readers heavily invested in the outcome. The setting is largely singular, with the vast amount of the story taking place in a single spot, which some readers may enjoy, but others will find this actually hinders the ability of the premise to fully bloom.
This book is a mix of Predators and Bird Box and will entertain sci-fi horror fans looking for a quick paced read.
Want to Join A Cult? Horror Books Featuring Cults
CULT HORROR BOOKS
Cult horror is a particularly terrifying sub-genre, and here to help you navigate this world is a list of book recommendations. Enjoy!
Intense and profoundly unsettling, Brian Evenson’s Last Days is a down-the-rabbit-hole detective novel set in an underground religious cult. The story follows Kline, a brutally dismembered detective forcibly recruited to solve a murder inside the cult. As Kline becomes more deeply involved with the group, he begins to realize the stakes are higher than he previously thought. Attempting to find his way through a maze of lies, threats, and misinformation, Kline discovers that his survival depends on an act of sheer will. Last Days was first published in 2003 as a limited edition novella titled The Brotherhood of Mutilation. Its success led Evenson to expand the story into a full-length novel. In doing so, he has created a work that’s disturbing, deeply satisfying, and completely original.
Nick Graves is a miserable man. Every day he comes home from his dream job to a stale marriage. On the day he finally summons the courage to tell his wife, Eve, he wants a divorce she has exciting news for him – she’s pregnant.
Nick is a spiteful man. He purchases his dream home in an ideal location far away from family, friends, and coworkers. It’s a life changing decision he’s chosen to make without Eve’s consultation.
Nick is a terrified man. He quickly realizes the residents of his new hometown are a bit eccentric. After a trip to the local doctor’s office Eve begins to behave strangely. And once Nick finds out what’s really going on he’ll never be able to look at Eve the same way.
When guerrilla documentary maker, Kyle Freeman, is asked to shoot a film on the notorious cult known as the Temple of the Last Days, it appears his prayers have been answered. The cult became a worldwide phenomenon in 1975 when there was a massacre including the death of its infamous leader, Sister Katherine. Kyle's brief is to explore the paranormal myths surrounding an organization that became a testament to paranoia, murderous rage, and occult rituals. The shoot's locations take him to the cult's first temple in London, an abandoned farm in France, and a derelict copper mine in the Arizonan desert where The Temple of the Last Days met its bloody end. But when he interviews those involved in the case, those who haven't broken silence in decades, a series of uncanny events plague the shoots. Troubling out-of-body experiences, nocturnal visitations, the sudden demise of their interviewees and the discovery of ghastly artifacts in their room make Kyle question what exactly it is the cult managed to awaken – and what is its interest in him?
A trio of mismatched mercenaries—Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenzer Elkins, colloquially known as “the Englishman”—is hired by young Ellen Bellhaven for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven, where a clandestine religious cult holds sway. But shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. There are stirrings in the woods and over the treetops—and above all else, the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock casts its terrible pall. Paranoia and distrust soon grip the settlement. Escape routes are gradually cut off as events spiral toward madness. Hell—or the closest thing to it—invades Little Heaven. All present here are now forced to take a stand and fight back, but whatever has cast its dark eye on Little Heaven is marshaling its power—and it wants them all…
With his marriage on the rocks and his life in shambles, washed up crime writer Lucas Graham is desperate for a comeback. So when he’s promised exclusive access to notorious cult leader and death row inmate Jeffrey Halcomb, the opportunity is too good to pass up. Lucas leaves New York for the scene of the crime—a split-level farmhouse on the gray-sanded beach of Washington State—a house whose foundation is steeped in the blood of Halcomb’s diviners; runaways who, thirty years prior, were drawn to his message of family, unity, and unconditional love. Lucas wants to tell the real story of Halcomb’s faithful departed, but when Halcomb goes back on his promise of granting Lucas exclusive information on the case, he’s left to put the story together on his own. Except he is not alone. For Jeffrey Halcomb promised his devout eternal life…and within these walls, they’re far from dead.
Planet Bizarro Press: Book Reviews
Porn Land and Sons of Sorrow Book Reviews
I was lucky enough to snag two ARCS from the Planet Bizarro Press catalogue. The first was a sex-filled story of two friends saving porn from extinction in Porn Land by Kevin Shamel, and the other was a returning home story of two brothers fighting literal monsters in Sons of Sorrow by Matthew A. Clarke.
PORN LAND REVIEW
Porn is illegal, and two men accidentally are sucked into the internet to a magical place called Porn Land. Porn Land is the origins of all porn, but because porn is illegal in the real world, Porn Land is slowly disappearing. The men are given a mission: Find the Pornomicron book, put it back together, open the bridge between worlds, and restore porn to the outside. By doing so, Porn Land will be safe, and people in the real world will once again be able to enjoy sex beyond procreation.
It goes without saying but there is a lot of sex in this book. It's...vivid, to say the least. What's surprising about this book is the plot. There's an actual well-developed sex-positive story laying underneath the pile of naked sweaty orgasmic scenes. One of the protagonists has a sexual awakening, finding a love for sex that he previously never experienced. There's a porn-positive message about the joys of sex and overall encouragement not to feel ashamed about ones desires.
There were a few little issues. First, one of the protagonists, Phil, calls the other a "homo" on the first page after the character expresses concern that porn is being viewed. Also, Phil is just a little too concerned that men want to have sex with him when he's in Porn Land. Phil is heterosexual, but still, the insistence that men stay away from him felt a bit...much.
Overall, this is a fast-paced read for those looking for something out-of-the box. TW below.
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TW: Sexual Assault
SONS OF SORROW REVIEW
This is a wild ride into a small town filled with monsters!
Henk and his brother Dave left the town of Sorrow when they were kids, but when their old friend Maria invites them back for her wedding, they decide to go back to the place they long to forget. It's still being overrun with monsters, but now, it's been turned into a tourist attraction. With people dying and the town no longer safe, Henk, Dave, and Marie decide to team up and put an end to this chaos once and for all.
Clarke takes readers down a psychedelic trip filled with fingers, deception, and wild creatures! The plot bounces between past and present, and while this does slow the pace a tad at times, it also helps weave a complete backstory as to how these three characters became friends and how their relationship evolved. The horror elements are a mix of bizarre and comedic, and while I didn't love the representation of the fat character being portrayed in a grotesque manner, this book will entertain anyone looking for something a bit out-of-the box.
I got a free ARC and rounded my 3.5 review up to a 4.
Books I Recently Rated Five Stars
FIVE STAR READS
Here’s a list of books I’ve recently read and rated five stars! Hopefully, there’s something on the list that you will find enjoyable!
DESCRIPTION:
Nat Cassidy’s highly commercial, debut horror novel Mary: An Awakening of Terror, blends Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I'll Be Gone in the Dark.
Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.
But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.
Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.
Then the killings begin again.
Mary’s definitely going to find herself.
DESCRIPTION:
Kate is a hard of hearing homeless woman fighting for her own survival.
All she wants is safety and a place to call home. Instead, she is suddenly able to see visions of the future.
She dreams of disasters and is unable to prevent the events alone.
Will anyone help her? Who gave her the curious ability and who are the tall, sinister men that follow her so closely?
Society does not see her, no one will listen.
Kate is determined to be heard...
DESCRIPTION:
The trees of Alaska’s Arctic wilderness have always been Sarah’s sentries and her house, a fortress, isolated from society and an abusive marriage.
Until it isn’t.
The arrival of a new neighbor and an oil company drilling through primordial, cold earth changes the forest of her valley. It bleeds through the serenity and disrupts her home, her sanity. Plagued with insomnia from the midnight sun, Sarah increasingly suspects something is using her sanctuary to hide from the bright, incessant light. An insidious menace, ancient and beyond explanation, using the wilderness for cover. Her personal demon that cares nothing for Sarah or her mental health. Something that won’t stop until it takes it all
DESCRIPTION:
A short story on the horrors of dating during a zombie apocalypse by bruja and award-winning writer and educator, Maria DeBlassie.
You know how it goes.
You go out, hoping to meet someone.
You wade through your fair share of brainless automatons, lifeless bodies, and ravenous undead, good at passing as human.
The more you go out, the less hope you feel and the colder your body gets.
But you keep at it.
All you need is one beating heart to match your own before yours stops pumping altogether.
How hard can it be to find one living, breathing human in a city full of bodies?
Dating.
It's hungry business.
Advance Praise
"Simple yet detailed, unique, and innovative. A brilliantly written little gem that is equal part creepy with the plague of walking dead and equal parts cozy with the hot chocolate and watching the neighbor's cat."
"Drawing parallels between the pitfalls of dating and dating in the zombie apocalypse, this short story packs a big world into a few pages."
"Just the right size to occupy your time while waiting. I hope you find the humor I found."
The Dead Inside: A Horror Anthology Book Review
THE DEAD INSIDE: A HORROR ANTHOLOGY EDITED BY LAUREL HIGHTOWER AND SANDRA RUTTAN
4.5 stars
COVER ART BY GEMMA AMOR
THE DEAD INSIDE is a dramatic thirty piece collection of short stories and poetry delving into the topic of identity horror. The plots explore what happens when identity is denied, forgotten, repressed, or suppressed whether through society, culture, or family. There’s an inclusive range of characters and a wide array of heartbreaking lessons to be learned. Readers will easily find stories that speak to their own internal and external experiences mirrored by these dynamic characters.
Highwater and Ruttan do a fantastic job of compiling a steady mix between stories and poetry. The collection starts off with a bang, immediately capturing reader’s attention with “From Within” by S.H. Cooper. This body horror short story focuses on an overlooked woman trying to rise the corporate ladder. From there, the collection continues in a steady ebb and flow of themes, characters, and premises that will connect with readers from various cultures and backgrounds.
Each story has a stand out moment, and while many selections will stick with readers long after the final word has been read, there are a few that rise above:
Similar in theme to “From Within,” “Evil Inc. (Or How to Succeed in Business without Really Dying)” by Robert Stahl) delves into the horrors of evil corporations that work their employees to the bone, asking readers, “How far would you go to succeed?” Some stories have a more lyrical tone such as “Subsidence” by Sarah Jackson where the protagonist discovers a crack “not a scar, just a pale slit, like a paper cut” along the collarbone. The poem entitled “Black Like That” by R.J. Joseph is an exquisitely crafted raw look at racism:
“we know your blackity black
but don’t be black like that
dark skin and thick, dark lips
bubble butt rounded with hips…”
“Ending is the Only Beginning” by Ali Seay is a chilling look at motherhood, depression, and substance abuse, while “The Daughter She Wanted” by Jaecyn Boné is less a horror story and more a powerful dramatic piece about family, self-love, and acceptance. Finally, the book ends on a fitting note of death as a young man finds himself on an unusual job interview in “An Evaluation” by Scott J. Moses.
While a few of the stories were a bit slow in pacing, the majority sunk their claws deep within, not letting go of the reader until the final moments. Transphobia, homophobia, racism, suicide, and child death are just some of the sensitive topics that are written about. Check out the content warnings at the back of the book for further information. For those who enjoy Carmen Mario Machado, Thomas Ligotti, or Rachel Yoder, this collection is a perfect fit!
Beyond the Creek: The First Review is in!
Beyond the Creek by Nico Bell First Book Review!
Thank you so much to Christina Pfeiffer @n_dhorrorbooks for this lovely review!
I’m sorry, but where have I been that I haven’t read any Nico Bell before last night?! Like, hello, rock I’ve been under, you have to go.
In her novella, BEYOND THE CREEK, Alex Foster is running from darkness, and his name is Robert (all Robert’s are butt farts, just saying). She needs money because she is pregnant and well, baby crap is not cheap. She takes a job as a caretaker for Peter Nox, a man who just had a stroke. The problem is, there is some shady shit going down in the Nox household and poor Alex is in the middle of it. You want suspense? This is for you. Spiders? Yep, this has them. Kick ass female (and one male) side characters? YUUUUUUP. I read this book in record freaking time.
I can’t remember the last time I speed read because I was not going to go to sleep without finishing it. This one is going to rock your socks off. I 100% promise that. D&T Publishing is hitting nothing but got dang homeruns in 2022 and it’s NOT EVEN FEBRUARY! Available on Godless 1/28/22 10/5 closeted family secrets