This September, Stephen King brings us a new 576 page thriller, THE INSTITUTE, a classic story of good versus evil. Luke is a smart boy. At age 12 he’s ahead of his class and already admitted to two of the nations top universities. Luke is also telekinetic. Sometimes objects around him mysteriously move on their …Read More
The dedication page on Stephen King’s October 2018 release, ELEVATION, goes to writer Richard Matheson, and with good reason. The late Matheson’s early works (I AM LEGEND, HELL HOUSE, THE SHRINKING MAN, etc) were significant influences to the young King, an influence that’s highly evident on the pages of ELEVATION. Fans of Matheson’s THE TWILIGHT …Read More
Halcyon by Rio Youers is an intense and timely horror-thriller that tackles an issue which tears at the fibre of America: domestic terrorism. Indiscriminate mass killings, especially a school shooting, are important components of the plot. They aren’t, however, its theme. Author Youers chooses to focus on the motivations and manipulations that galvanise individuals to …Read More
In a Florida grocery store, three year old Eric disappears from older brother Ben’s sight in just a matter of seconds, seemingly vanishing into thin air. Five years later, the disappearance has left the family in shambles. A step-mother who won’t leave the house, a mourning father struggling to pay the bills while Ben continues …Read More
“When you turn on the lights, the dark things just hide behind the chairs and under the bed frame. They don’t really go away.” The profound words pertain to recovering drug addict Rain Thomas, the protagonist of Jonathan Maberry’s novel Glimpse. Maberry penetrates Rain’s psyche with the precision of a skilled surgeon, locating the emotional …Read More
Mark Alan Miller and Clive Barker bring us Hellraiser: The Toll, which serves as a prologue to The Scarlet Gospels. Where the scale of The Scarlet Gospels was huge and apocalyptic, with all out war involving Pinhead, this is more of a personal journey. Kirsty Cotton, the heroine from the original story, returns. She is …Read More
The first instalment of Bryan Roberts’ Ed Savage series took me by surprise. It was a mammoth tome which combined elements of various genres to create something of a unpredictable smorgasbord; the type of novel that feels like a truly vivid imagination finally unloading and spilling its influences all over the page. But it actually …Read More
It’s the monsters from movies that stick with us. In some cases they become icons for the horror and science fiction genres, and even become familiar in popular culture. Monster Squad looks at the men and women behind the monsters who brought them to life as we know them. Wixson’s book gives twenty special effects …Read More
Telluride, the setting for Mountain Sickness, is a picturesque ski resort in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, which has become a destination of choice for the wealthy. The small mountain town is quickly growing from being the best kept secret to a ski resort for the rich and famous. A seemingly normal day becomes anything but, …Read More
From the very first paragraph of Blanky, you know it’s going to be a dark and difficult ride. Steve and his wife, Lexi, woke to find that their infant daughter, Robin, died in the night. We meet Steve as he tries to cope with the loss. He is overwhelmed with grief and must learn to …Read More
There is no shortage of books that focus on horror films’ golden age of the 1970s and 1980s. Keesey brings us right up to the present with a look at horror films since 2000. Horror films reflect the social issues of the time, so it’s interesting to see this examined so currently. The book covers …Read More
Music journalist Phil Sturgess is back in the follow up to the fantastic Minstrel’s Bargain. It has been ten years since the events of the first book. Our protagonist, Phil, is older and has a family. He now owns the metal magazine he used to write for. Not all is well though. The magazine is …Read More
Our narrator introduces us to a world forever changed. A fungal disease took away all the women ten years ago. Therefore, what remains of humanity is in its final generation. Our group of male survivors is doing their best to carry on and create a community and lives for themselves. They are thrown into turmoil …Read More
In Knuckle Supper, we’re introduced to underground gang life in Los Angeles. However, these are not the gangs you might expect. These are vampire gangs, but not the neck biting kind of vampire. It’s more the rip-off-an-appendage-and-drink-from-it kind. Unlike most vampires, it’s not blood they crave the most; it’s drugs. RJ is the leader of …Read More
The July 2017 passing of George A. Romero left a hole in the heart of the horror community. Romero’s death roughly coincided with the St. Martin’s Press publication of Nights of the Living Dead, an anthology of original tales inspired by the zombie universe that the beloved horror master created. The compilation was intended to …Read More
“Interdimensional teleportation is murder on your stomach until you get used to it.” So says Charlotte (“Charlie”) Tristan Moore, the sassy protagonist of Black Goat Blues. The novel is a sequel to Red Right Hand, and author Levi Black returns Charlie to the realm of Lovecraftian gods and monsters. It is established in the first …Read More
Kill Creek is a haunted house novel that embraces ruminations as well as revenants and revelations. Author Scott Thomas tweaks the traditions of the sub-genre. Instead of a cluster of psychics/occult professionals investigating a domicile of dread, Thomas employs a quartet of horror novelists. The writers agree to be part of a publicity stunt centreing …Read More
It’s been many years since a book has been released on the work of Stephen King that featured a compilation of essays and short pieces about the horror master’s work from scholars and his contemporaries alike. Works like FEAR ITSELF & KINGDOM OF FEAR were made popular in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by …Read More
The year 2017 has certainly proved to be the Year of King with the releases of IT and THE DARK TOWER on the big screen as well as GERALD’S GAME, MR. MERCEDES and THE MIST on the small screen, not to mention several new limited edition releases and books released about the master of horror. …Read More
It’s difficult to rate a work of fiction that has multiple contributors. The Lovecraft Squad—Waiting is the brainchild of esteemed editor Stephen Jones. Jones conceived a premise in which a law enforcement agency, the Human Protection League, acronym HPL, polices Lovecraftian supernatural activity. This covert division of the FBI is also known simply as The …Read More
Shadows and Teeth Volume 3 is the latest in a horror anthology series published by Darkwater Syndicate. There are some familiar authors included whose books I have covered before, including Guy N. Smith, Adam Millard and Richard Ayre. The ten stories in the collection bring us a variety of scares without an overarching theme throughout …Read More
You might not know Eric Red the author, but you’ll certainly be aware of his screenwriting. He is best known for two horror classics, Near Dark and The Hitcher. The Wolves of El Diablo is the follow up to his first book in The Men Who Walk Like Wolves series. The first book, The Guns …Read More
List books of scariest films are a fairly well treaded area of horror movie non-fiction. The 101 Scariest Movies Ever Made tackles this with a fresh perspective and an up-to-date list of films. The presentation is well structured and concise. It also contains a foreword by Herschell Gordon Lewis. You will find the titles you …Read More
Anita is an inexperienced, young art appraiser who jumps at the opportunity to catalog an artist’s collection following his death. The reclusive artist painted abundantly. He left such an extensive collection that Anita has to spend several days at his remote coastal home. There is no phone service or WiFi. It’s a daunting task to …Read More
Torture is the newest viral sensation. We are introduced to a Japanese torture game show streaming on the internet. As we meet our protagonist, he’s strapped to a chair including face restraint and mouth held open. It’s a graphic and disturbing situation from the beginning and that sets the tone for the book. It’s an …Read More
When Stephen King’s novel Cujo made it to the big screen, it made a huge impact. Man’s best friend had betrayed us, and even more so because it was the lovable St. Bernard breed, renowned for helping people. I’m sure that after watching Cujo, people were taking a second look at dogs and wondering. The …Read More
The Method is an unconventional couples therapy retreat that Frank and Linda hear about from some friends who attended. The treatment saved their relationship. Frank and Linda decide this might be what they need to reconnect and save their marriage. The treatment is expensive and as it turns out, not just financially so. The setting …Read More
Ed Savage and the Savage Murders Trilogy is exactly what a thriller should be – suspenseful, packed with surprises and totally implausible. Here Bryan Roberts serves up a murder mystery that’s difficult to put down. A complex story of sketchy pasts and vengeance, it provides pulpy fun in abundance. Mindless entertainment doesn’t come better than …Read More
At The Cemetery Gates is a collection of 14 short stories. As the title suggests, the stories are all linked by the theme of death, dying, or being recently deceased. Cemetery Gates is also the name of the publisher (see what they did there?). A major strength of the book is the variety of the …Read More
A new designer drug, Intenze, is on the market. The experience of taking it is called Edging. Unlike any other drugs, Edging gives you a brief but terrifying reality-bending experience, along with an adrenaline rush that can’t be beaten. Taking Intenze is like a watching a horror film while riding a roller coaster. It’s also …Read More
