A love story, family drama, stalker thriller and supernatural fantasy all loosely stitched together, with an invented private language that starts out charming and ends distracting. A deep cut for Constant Readers only.
All tagged horror
The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks – Max Brooks
Adapted from portions of "The Zombie Survival Guide," "Recorded Attacks" takes us around the world and across history to document humanity's encounters with the undead. It's creative, gory and fun, illustrated by Ibraim Roberson in a traditional comic-book style. Unfortunately, the digital edition wasn't optimized for Libby, which made some of the artwork and text frustratingly difficult to read.
A Cosmology of Monsters – Shaun Hamill
What began as exactly the kind of strange, melancholy family horror story I love, ended as conventional mishmash of horror tropes. I don’t understand why Stephen King agreed to blurb this.
The Suffering – David Sodergren
For all the bodily fluids, "The Suffering" has the sensibility of an old-school slasher. There's something almost gleefully trashy about the whole thing, and after a relatively slow start, it moves fast. Unfortunately, the more outrageous things become, the less interesting I found the story.
King Sorrow – Joe Hill
Part supernatural horror, part found family drama, part political satire but all entertaining. Six college students summon a dragon and spend decades paying for it. Ari Fliakos delivers one of the year's best audiobook performances. My first-time reading Joe Hill, but it won’t be my last.
Boys Weekend – Mattie Lubchansky
“Boys Weekend” ultimately gave me more interesting ideas than fully developed ones, but it's funny, weird and gory, with enough social commentary underneath the absurdity to give it some bite.
Fabulous Bodies – Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle's latest swaps his signature pointed social commentary for spectacle. A fashion influencer, a not-quite-dead queer rock icon and a body-hopping parasite make for a promising premise that never fully delivers. The second half finds its footing, but the first is scattershot and the protagonist is nearly impossible to root for.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter – Stephen Graham Jones
A haunting, Indigenous twist on the vampire myth, “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” blends frontier realities, vengeance and grief into a brutal, beautifully written horror story.
A Child Alone With Strangers – Philip Fracassi
This is a sprawling, character-driven horror novel mixes crime, grief and the supernatural, but at nearly 600-pages, the pacing often drags. Still, the depth of character and atmosphere kept me engaged.
Lucky Day – Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle’s “Lucky Day” blends gore, grief and cultural critique into absurdist horror that’s unsettling, chaotic and surprisingly moving.
The Midnight Knock – John Fram
“The Midnight Knock” starts with tense, noir-tinged horror and an irresistible mystery, but its overstuffed mythology can’t match the promise of its first half.
If It Bleeds – Stephen King
A solid addition to Stephen King’s bibliography, though it may not stand alongside his most enduring works. The stakes in each story feel high, and while not every piece reaches the heights of his best work, the collection as a whole offers a compelling, if occasionally uneven, journey into King’s evolving narrative style.
The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar – Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris
Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris lean into their respective expertise – academic and journalist – to explore the evolution of Black representation in horror, organizing their insights around themes, tropes and industry trends that often mirror shifting racial attitudes in America.
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology – Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
With 26 stories in the collection, it's unsurprising that not all of them resonated. I enjoyed about half, while others felt flat, somewhat confusing or a bit derivative of stronger stories in the mix. Still, this anthology serves as an excellent entry point to the world of Indigenous writers who are making waves in literature right now.
I Was a Teenage Slasher – Stephen Graham Jones
Ultimately, “Slasher” is an intriguing experiment into metahorror and a homage to 80s slashers (mostly Jason Voorhees) that narrowly misses its mark. If you’re looking for something punchy, gory and unapologetic, I’d suggest Chuck Tingle’s “Bury Your Gays” instead.
Cursed Bunny – Bora Chung
Overall, “Cursed Bunny” is a creative, yet uneven collection. While some stories are haunting and memorable, others feel stretched or underdeveloped. Fans of unconventional horror might find it worth the read, but for me, it was hit or miss.
IT – Stephen King
Despite its length, “IT” stands as one of Stephen King’s most unsettling and complex works, effectively weaving psychological and supernatural horror with real-world brutality. Although King has made a career out of exploring dark and unhinged themes, “IT” pushes those boundaries.
Craven Manor – Darcy Coates
The first half of the book had genuinely good moments, and I'll give the author credit for including a cursed black cat—one of the few charming touches. By the end, however, the story lost all coherence, and I was skimming the last few chapters. All-in-all, “Craven Manor” is simply a gothic misadventure.
Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle
While not aiming for highbrow literature, it offers a perfect mixture of astute social commentary, a dash of camp and a fair amount of meta grievances. We may not know the true identity of Chuck Tingle, but it’s fair to say that like R.F. Kuang and “Yellowface,” he has a proverbial axe to grind with the entertainment machine.
This House Is Haunted – John Boyne
"This House is Haunted" channels the spirit of a Victorian gothic novel with John Boyne capturing the genre's signature atmosphere and whispered gossip about dastardly deeds at a remote English estate. This unique blend of classic setting and contemporary heroine is the novel's greatest strength in what is otherwise a passably but mostly mediocre affair.