Mitch Sebourn is a must read for me, his work is so unique and a breath of fresh air to the horror / dark fiction genre. The Things We Cannot Say takes all the brilliance of his previous work (that I’ve read) and adds a tonne more brilliance. This story in particular focuses on possession, and of a young woman trying to get her life back on track, but there are people from her past that won’t let go of old grudges – and you might think that you’ve read everything you could about that trope, but Sebourn breathes new life into that tired trope with his unique vision and wonderful prose. It’s a ..read more

Welcome to the debut collection from Donnie Goodman – strap yourselves in and prepare for the ride of your life! The Razorblades in my Head – well damn, what a way to kick off the collection and a brilliant introduction to Donnie’s work. This one has the weird horror vibes that I love, think Sarah Hall, Emily Harrison and Angela Readman (all writers you should be checking out) – I love my weird horror and this is just all of that and more, body horror and the healing of old wounds in the most macabre way. Third Grade – I loved the tone of voice in this piece, the clipped dialogue really gets y ..read more

I was told by a few people to read this book, many of those people also told me that this book changed their lives and the way they approached horror. Others said that this book is a must-read that delivers horror in a way no other book has. High praise indeed! So, when Folio Society dropped this exquisite version I decided to start the journey, and I have to say I did quite like it; it was a slow brooding horror that seemed to chill the bones and contort the mind. But having enjoyed it, I wasn’t completely sold. Illustration by © Angie Hoffmeister 2022, from The Haunting of Hill House, The Fo ..read more

An Invitation to Darkness was a beautifully written gothic romp of a book and I bloody loved it. The setting itself is truly magical and in Piper’s hand she turns that magic into black magic – the darkness swells in this story and it pretty much comes out of nowhere. Was I ready for the darkness, I don’t think I was – but I was thrilled with the dark undertones that were sewn into this piece of short fiction. It was graphic and mesmeric, disturbing but utterly beguiling I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the page when Piper began to detail the grotesque details of where something came from and ..read more

Two of these stories had appeared in a limited edition (now super rare book) ‘A Bright Enchanted Suffering’ which Eric pulled from publication at the very moment it was about to go live. So I’d read those two before, but I was very excited to see if the other stories he’d been compiling would stand up to those two bangers because believe me, when I read those last year, damn I was waxing lyrical about them – and then he went and dropped ‘Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke’ from Weird Punk Books and now his star is shining bright and shining like it should be because LaRocca is a maj ..read more

The Ruin of Delicate Things is a Gothic romp of a novel that combines the beauty of past masters into a meandering tale of grief, guilt, tragedy, retribution and healing of past wrongs. Also what a title – it perfectly sums up this book, and what it does to you if you fall under its bewitching spell. I’ve enjoyed some of Beverley Lee’s short fiction previously and I can testify now that her longer fiction is even more macabre and beautiful, it doesn’t take her long to cement the small town vibe with all of its hidden intricacies and unspoken secrets. We’re also offered the creeping unease of ..read more

The Slasher genre has a mythic status for some, and it is easy to see why: few genres encapsulate the primal fears and survival urge of the human race, and women in particular, the way a Slasher does. Grady Hendrix’s latest novel The Final Girl Support Group goes some way to answering the question of why Slashers are so iconic, enduring, and often problematic in equal measure. I have been a huge fan of Grady Hendrix ever since I read his masterpiece My Best Friend’s Exorcism, a novel I still keep coming back to as one of the best narratives about young friendship (and demonic possession) ever ..read more

I’m a huge fan of westerns, they remind me of lazy Sunday afternoons with my father, we’d watch them all – the good, the bad and the ugly (pun intended). Some of my favourite were High Noon, True Grit, High Plains Drifter, Bad Day at Black Rock, Shane, The Searchers, Bone Tomahawk, Unforgiven, The Magnificent Seven, Stagecoach, The Quick and The Dead, Tombstone, Young Guns – even more recently The Sisters Brothers, The Hateful Eight and the quite brilliant TV show Godless. I’d say I’m versed in the genre of film, I studied it at university, I dissected them, found the meaning under the skin of ..read more

Malorie starts straight out of the gates, some time has passed for Malorie and her children in the school of the blind, they’ve found a way of surviving, a way to live a way to hone their skills and be safe from the things that are outside, the things that drive people mad. But Malerman rips all of that comfort, all of that hope all of that water under the bridge away in an earth shattering opening chapter. It’s breakneck speed, it’s writing of the highest praise – I couldn’t get the words in my eyes quick enough, it was furious, frenetic, frenzied writing that had my pulse racing and my heart ..read more