Horror Lit - Books Reviews, News and Discussions

All Tomorrows book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Tomorrows

pdf - https://archive.org/details/book-all-tomorrows

Brad Anderson’s Session 9 has been one of my favorite psychological horror films ever since I caught a theatrical screening of it at a 24 hour horror marathon in 2001, so it’s cool to hear that horror and dark fantasy author Christian Francis – who has previously written novelizations of the films Wishmaster, Titan Find/Creature, and Vamp – is giving Anderson‘s cult classic the novelization treatment, with Echo Horror Publications planning to send the book out into the world on October 4th – just in time for Halloween season reading!

Kara, a 34-year-old woman who, after a divorce, moves back into her childhood home—the Glory of God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities, and Taxidermy, owned by her eccentric Uncle Earl. There she takes on the responsibility of running the museum while her uncle undergoes surgery. As she explores the museum, she and her friend Simon stumble upon a portal that leads to a bizarre and dangerous dimension. This dimension, referred to as the "Hollow Places," is characterized by its eerie landscapes and monstrous entities that seem to respond to fear.

REVIEW

sublimehorror.com | grimdarkmagazine.com | goodreads.com |

The book was heavily inspired from classic horror short "The Willows" Algernon Blackwood and have elements of Lovecraftian horror.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55120033-the-worm-and-his-kings

New York City, 1990: When you slip through the cracks, no one is there to catch you. Monique learns that the hard way after her girlfriend Donna vanishes without a trace.

Only after the disappearances of several other impoverished women does Monique hear the rumors. A taloned monster stalks the city’s underground and snatches victims into the dark.

Donna isn’t missing. She was taken.

To save the woman she loves, Monique must descend deeper than the known underground, into a subterranean world of enigmatic cultists and shadowy creatures. But what she finds looms beyond her wildest fears—a darkness that stretches from the dawn of time and across the stars.

Clive Barker's Books of Blood is a collection of horror short stories publicized in the mid-1980s. The series, which comprises several volumes, showcases Barker's unique blend of visceral horror, dark fantasy, and psychological depth. Introduces readers to a range of stories, each distinct yet interconnected by themes of violence, existential dread, and the supernatural. The stories are characterized by their exploration of human fears and desires, often delving into the grotesque and the macabre.

My Favorite Stories

The Midnight Meat Train: A man inadvertently discovers a horrifying truth about the New York subway system, leading to a confrontation with a monstrous figure named Mahogany.

The Yattering and Jack: A story that blends horror with humor, featuring a demon attempting to possess a man during Christmas.

In the Hills, the Cities: A couple who stumble upon a bizarre and terrifying ritual in a rural setting.

Dread: This story focusing on the concept of fear and the lengths to which one might go to confront it.

For the fans of the genre this books is a must-read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32626.Books_of_Blood

https://horrornovelreviews.com/2012/08/29/revisiting-clive-barkers-books-of-blood-volume-one-review/

https://kendallreviews.com/book-review-books-of-blood-volumes-1-3-clive-barker/

Article

Horror is having a moment in 2024. Every month, I’ve been finding new favorites, and July is not slowing down. Not at all. It was so hard to narrow it down to ten books for this list (...)

• Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles
• Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
• The Building That Wasn’t by Abigail Miles
• I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
• Alley by Junji Ito
• So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky
• The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington
• It Came from the Trees by Ally Russell
• Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates
• Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman

It’s never too early for scares — check out our picks for the best books to get you into the Halloween mood this summer:

• Trick or Treat on Scary Street by Lance Bass
• Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
• It by Stephen King
• The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor
• The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
• Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
• Things that Go Bump in the Day by Melinda Beatty
• The Black Girl Survives in This One edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
• I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Troop by Nick Cutter
• Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
• The Between by Tananarive Due

In the wake of the original 1990 movie and the largely forgotten 2017 remake, the Flatliners saga will continue with Flatliners Resurrection, a new novel that’s currently in the works.

According to Deadline’s exclusive report this morning, the upcoming novel will be penned by J.D. Barker (Dracul), and it puts a fresh twist on the original Flatliners screenplay.

Deadline explains, “The original [movie] was released by Columbia, but Barker said that scribe Peter Filardi got back the rights to his original script, and the author swayed the scribe with a twist to the original tale that takes the reanimation tale down a different road than the original or a later remake. The novel is based on that script, not the movie, and Intellectual Property Group’s Joel Gotler will broker both the publishing and screen rights.”

“We’re thrilled to have J.D. Barker on board for this project,” said Filardi. “His ability to craft suspenseful, thought-provoking stories makes him the perfect choice to reinvigorate the Flatliners franchise for a new generation.”

“The concept of Flatliners has always fascinated me,” Barker said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to explore these themes of mortality, consequences, and the unknown in a novel format. Fans can expect a story that honors the spirit of the original while pushing into new, uncharted territories. We’re going to scare the hell out of you.”

Joel Schumacher directed the original 1990 movie, which was packed with stars including Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt.

In that movie, “Five medical students experiment with “near death” experiences, until the dark consequences of past tragedies begin to jeopardize their lives.”

The 2017 remake of Schumacher’s film followed the same storyline, with Niels Arden Oplev directing and the cast including Elliot Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, and Kiersey Clemons.

Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to a remote reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something off about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace.

As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, and the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them.

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” ― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Reviews

musewithmeblog.com | goodreads.com | butfirstkafka.com | trey-stone.com

Once a year, scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-day camping trip; a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story and a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder -- shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry -- stumbles upon their campsite, Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. An inexplicable horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival that will pit the troop against the elements, the infected ... and one another.

Review

hol7ly.co.uk | filthyhorrors.com | whatisquinnreading.com | goodreads.com |

The Troop By Nick Cutter Book Review & Reaction | Definitely Not For The Faint of Heart! (video)

A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming , Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

Featuring stories Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Reviews

thegothiclibrary.com | thelibraryladies.com | gnofhorror.com | goodreads.com

https://fearsomefiction.com/news/horror-book-release-dates/

July 2024 9 July 2024

• A is for Alien – Charles Gould – Little Golden Book teaching kids the alphabet
• Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle – Horror movie horror
• Death Cult – Janelle Schiecke – Splatterpunk cult horror

10 July 2024

• Beyond the Bounds of Infinity – Raw Dog Screaming Press – Horror anthology

12 July 2024

• A Terrible Place and Other Flashes of Darkness – D.L. Winchester – Horror collection

15 July 2024

• Baying the Moon – Jennifer R. Donohue – Werewolf horror – Book 2 in Learn to Howl

16 July 2024

• The Building That Wasn’t – Abigail Miles – Haunted building horror
• I Was a Teenage Slasher – Stephen Graham Jones – Slasher horror
• The Ojanox 1: Scream in the Dark – Daemon Manx – Cosmic horror – Book 1 of The Ojanox Series
• Portrait of a Shadow – Meriam Metoui – YA psychological horror
• Smothermoss – Alisa Alering – Ghost horror
• That Which Stands Outside – Mark Morris – Folklore horror
• Trespass Against Us – Leon Kemp – YA supernatural horror

19 July 2024

• Not the Worst Monster in Town – Chisto Healy & C.A. Baynam – Supernatural carnival horror
• Wings of Sorrow – Yolanda Sfetsos – Gothic horror

23 July 2024

• Bleeding Hart – Conor Metz – Noir horror
• The Body Harvest – Michael J. Seidlinger – Body horror
• Chisel the Bone – Renee S. DeCamillis – Cult horror
• The Deading – Nicholas Belardes – Dystopian horror
• The Dissonance – Shaun Hamill – Dark fantasy horror
• In the Lonely Hours – Shannon Morgan – Ghost horror
• No Road Home – John Fram – Ghost horror
• So Witches We Became – Jill Baguchinsky – YA psychological horror
• The Vermin Sleep – James Watjen – Vigilante horror

25 July 2024

• I’m Sorry If I Scared You – Mae Murray – LGBTQ+ horror

30 July 2024

• The Blonde Dies First – Joelle Wellington – Supernatural sapphic horror
• Castle of the Cursed – Romina Garber – YA vampire horror
• The Creepening of Dogwood House – Eden Royce – YA supernatural horror
• Ghost Camera – Darcy Coates – Ghost horror
• Ghostly, Ghastly Tales – Anastasia Garcia – Middle grade illustrated horror collection
• Heads Will Roll – Josh Winning – Supernatural horror
• It Came from the Trees – Ally Russell – Middle grade bigfoot horror
• Stay on the Line – Clay Chapman – Supernatural horror

The book is a collection of horror short stories narrated in an unusual way. They are descriptions of the aftermath of tragic events, weird ruins and mysterious atmosphere and you have to piece together the clue to find out about the horrors that have occurred.

The same author of The Ritual

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51797060-wyrd-and-other-derelictions

https://www.hypnogoria.com/scribblings_wyrd.html

https://screenrant.com/most-anticipated-thriller-horror-books-july-2024/

• A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman
• I Was a Teenage Slasher by Tolly Driver
• So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky
• The Drowning House by Cherie Priest
• What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena
• Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman
• The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight
• Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías
• Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

The Fisherman is a horror novel by John Langan that won the 2016 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. The story follows two widowers, Abe and Dan, who bond over their shared grief and a passion for fishing. When they hear rumors of a mysterious and cursed fishing spot called Dutchman's Creek, they decide to investigate, despite warnings from locals. Soon, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It's a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as Der Fisher: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.

Reviews

grimdarkmagazine.com | goodreads.com |

Lovecraft Done Right | The Fisherman by John Langan - Book Review (video)

author interviews

The other day I read Stephen King's *Apt Pupil* and I can't seem to make my mind up as to what is the most disturbing scene out the following:

1) the description of Todd's first wet dream in *Apt Pupil* which he has while fantasting performing medical experiments on a Jewish girl in a concentration camp.

2) the awkward sex performed by members of the Loser Club after defeating It the first time round in *It".

3) or the short story *Dedication* which  involves a writer spending the majority of time masturbating, for reasons I have forgotten he is holed in motel. He allows his mess to cover the sheets etc and a maid who is pregnant decides to consume the dried semen in belief this will impart creative talent in to unborn child.

4) or finally, the slight misogynist statement in *The Tommyknockers* which describes Ruth McCausland's masturbatory session as "grim and joyless" as no penis was involved in the climax.  Out of the four this is probably the least disturbing but....

https://theportalist.com/cosmic-horror-books

From the nihilistic absurdity of Thomas Ligotti to the heavily science-fictional chills of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, the cosmic horror of today continues to tell tales of a vast, indifferent, and even carnivorous cosmos, through new lenses and fresh new perspectives.

Here are a few of the best cosmic horror books from exciting writers new and old—both those who were writing before Lovecraft appeared on the scene, and those who have come after.

• At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft
• The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
• The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
• Malpertuis by Jean Ray
• Volk by David Nickle
• Cthulhu’s Daughters by Silvia Moreno-Garcia & Paula R. Stiles
• The Fisherman by John Langan
• The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett
• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
• The Immaculate Void by Brian Hodge
• Chills by Mary SanGiovanni
• The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
• Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Psychomech follows the story of Richard Garrison, a soldier who acquires psychic powers and becomes embroiled in a battle against a malevolent force.

The best horror books of 2024 according to the Esquire (April 10)

• The House of Last Resort, by Christopher Golden
• This Wretched Valley, by Jenny Kiefer
• Among the Living, by Tim Lebbon
• In the Valley of the Headless Men, by L.P. Hernandez
• The Haunting of Velkwood, by Gwendolyn Kiste
• Mouth, by Joshua Hull
• King Nyx, by Kirsten Bakis
• The Angel of Indian Lake, by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Black Girl Survives in This One, edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
• Bless Your Heart, by Lindy Ryan
• This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances, by Eric LaRocca
• Diavola, by Jennifer Thorne
• The Underhistory, by Kaaron Warren
• Incidents Around the House, by Josh Malerman

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16605709

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle is a novella that reimagines H.P. Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" from the perspective of an African-American protagonist, Charles Thomas Tester, in 1920s Harlem. The story follows Tommy, a street hustler who navigates the city's racial tensions and occult circles while dealing with his own struggles and the looming threat of a catastrophic event.

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn’t there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father’s head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?”

Reviews

goodreads | bookjockeyalex.com | efsunland.com

Interview with Victor LaValle - article

The Ballad of Black Tom: A Love Letter to Eldritch Horror - video review

https://howlsociety.com/2023/11/12/6-horror-books-with-modern-takes-on-lovecraft/

His mythos has provided fertile, suspiciously luminescent ground for modern authors to use, reinterpret, and subvert.

titles:

• The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
• Providence by Alan Moore
• Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
• Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
• Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror edited by Lynne Jamnek

The Sleep Experiment by Jeremy Bates is a novel that explores themes of human experimentation, ethics, and the consequences of playing with the fundamental human need for sleep.

The story begins with Dr. Wallis, a charismatic and wealthy professor, who is determined to recreate the Soviet sleep experiment of the 1950s. He hires two students, Penny Park and Guru Rampal, to assist him in the experiment. The two test subjects, Sharon and Chad, are kept awake for 21 days using a stimulant gas in a soon-to-be demolished building on campus. As the experiment progresses, the subjects begin to experience physical and mental deterioration, and the situation becomes increasingly chaotic.

Reviews

errantdreams.com | goodreads | hellnotes.com

Q&A with Jeremy Bates, Author of THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT

Inspired by the original creepypasta

https://bookriot.com/2023-stoker-award-winners-for-best-horror-and-dark-fantasy/

The Bram Stoker Award is a prestigious literary award presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) to recognize "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing.

Here are the 2023 Stoker Award Winners

• Superior Achievement in a Novel: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
• Superior Achievement in a First Novel: The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen
• Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel: The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf
• Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel: She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
• Superior Achievement in Long Fiction: Linghun by Ai Jiang
• Superior Achievement in Short Fiction: “Quondam” by Cindy O’Quinn
• Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection: Blood from the Air by Gemma Files
• Superior Achievement in an Anthology: Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams
• Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction: 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartmann
• Superior Achievement in Short Nonfiction: “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia” by Nadia Bulkin (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror)
• Superior Achievement in Poetry: On the Subject of Blackberries by Stephanie M. Wytovich
• Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel: Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu, art by Soo Lee
• Superior Achievement in a Screenplay: Godzilla Minus One

https://bookriot.com/new-horror-books-may-2024/

New Horror Books: May You Be Scared This May? Yes, You May

• The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller
• The Supernatural Files of CJ Delaney by Carol Williams
• Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda
• The House that Horror Built by Christina Henry
• Tales from Cabin 23: The Boo Hag Flex by Justina Ireland
• It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
• Woodworm by Layla Martínez
• My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
• You Like it Darker by Stephen King
• Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore