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Book Review: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Berkley, 2023

ISBN-13: 9780593201268

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

Louise receives a phone call she never thought she would get from her brother, Mark. Their parents have been killed in a car accident. A single parent to Poppy, Louise doesn’t want to leave San Francisco for Charleston, South Carolina to deal with the estate. However, certain her brother can’t cope with any of the organization and care that is needed to get the old house sold and settle things properly, she grudgingly goes back to her childhood home. Their father, Robert, was a retired successful academic. Their mother, Nancy, ran a successful Christian puppet ministry, creating every puppet with her own two hands, as well as a amassing a collection of dolls, handmade art, and taxidermy. Then there is Pupkin. Oh, we will get to Pupkin later.

 

It seems the moment she sets foot in Charleston, she can’t find the time to mourn or cope with the shock of the death of her parents. Fighting with her brother over everything, including and especially the inheritance, sets the siblings on edge. When they do manage to talk in a civil way, they discover they have very different views on their childhood, and what Pupkin meant to both of them.

 

Pupkin…is he possessed? Is he haunted? Whatever he is, he’s a terror in more than one sense of the word. If you’re his friend, he will take over your entire being. If you are foe, just watch out. He’s got a killer mindset and he’s not afraid of anything.

 

Part of the reason I keep picking up his books is that Hendrix has a unique mix of off the wall horror, gore, and humor in his novels. Another part is that he has a way of writing believable characters, and everyone has flaws. The tense relationship between Louise and Mark feels very real. When the rest of the family gets involved in, well, everything, the story gets even more interesting. Mark opens up about his experiences with Pupkin after Louise has left their family home, which is intense and one of the most horrifying parts of How to Sell a Haunted House. Where Louise felt her brother was the favored child, always being coddled and supported throughout every failed scheme of his, he felt she was the gold standard and that she was always so perfect. The scenes between the siblings are well executed.

 

If you’re a fan of creepy dolls and puppets, family drama, and good, campy horror, pick up How to Sell a Haunted House. Just beware of taxidermy squirrel nativities…

 

Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

 

Posted on October 28, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Attack From the ’80s edited by Eugene Johnson

cover art for Attack from the '80s edited by Eugene Johnson

Attack From the ’80s edited by Eugene Johnson

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2021

ISBN-13: 978-1735664446

Available: Hardcover  ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

 

Eugene Johnson brings together 22 incredible short stories and poems as a fitting tribute to the horror of the 1980s. There is something for everyone in this collection. “Top Guns of the Frontier” by Weston Ochse, a strong open to this anthology, tells the story of friends coming face to face with an ancient evil. In “Snapshot” by Joe R. Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale, Gracie and Trevor, the famous Snapshot Burglars, rob the wrong house. Jess Landry’s “Catastrophe Queens” takes place on the movie set of an ’80s SS werewolf horror film. Pink fake blood starts to take over people…and anything it touches. In “Your Picture Here” by John Skipp, a couple decides to take in a double feature of horror movies only to discover one of the films is closer to the truth. Lee Murray’s “Permanent Damage” invites us to a bridal party at a salon that turns into a bloodbath. “Munchies” by Lucy A. Snyder is a great story about a group of drag queens and the terror that was Nancy Reagan who has come to deliver a check to the local high school’s antidrug drive.

 

No ’80s horror anthology would be complete without the topic of D&D. In “Demonic Denizens” by Cullen Bunn, friends at summer camp discover a new game to play after the counselors forbid them to play any more of that “satanic” Dungeons & Dragons. “Ghetto Blaster”, by Jeff Strand, presents Clyde, who is cursed to carry a rather heavy ghetto blaster until he learns his lesson about loud music in public spaces. Everyone, check your candy before reading “Stranger Danger” by Grady Hendrix. A group of boys, hell-bent on taking revenge on the Judge, discover an army of Yoda-costumed children who have their own havoc to create, with apples containing razor blades the treat of the night. In Lisa Morton’s “The Garden of Dr. Moreau”, a biology experiment on corn plants is a success, but it could be at a deadly cost for life on Earth.

 

Other authors in the anthology include Ben Monroe, Linda Addison, Thomas F. Monteleone, Tim Waggoner, Stephen Graham Jones, Vince A. Liaguno, Rena Mason, Cindy O’Quinn, F. Paul Wilson, Christina Sng, Mort Castle, and Stephanie M. Wytovich. Pick this up if you need a good dose of 80s horror reading. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 28, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Howls from Hell: A Horror Anthology edited by HOWL Society, with a foreword by Grady Hendrix

cover art for Howls from Hell: A Horror Anthology

Howls from Hell: A Horror Anthology edited by HOWL Society, with a foreword by Grady Hendrix

HOWL (Horror-Obsessed Writing and Literature) Society

ISBN-13: 9781736780008

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, Audible ( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

Howls From Hell presents sixteen emerging horror writers from one of the largest horror communities in the world, the HOWL Society. I love reading horror anthologies and this volume holds a place in my personal library now. Each tale offers something different. Some stories that stood out follow in this review.

 

“Red Punch Buggy” by B.O.B. Jenkin involves a car accident leading to a new way of thinking for a young office worker when the accident victim finds his own mind has been…released. “She’s Taken Away” by Shane Hawk is told in a transcription, between a doctor and his patient, Annie Ellis, held in evidence by the Wichita Police Department. Annie has a twin sister who was institutionalized for violent and disturbing behavior, but Annie holds a secret to the case. In “Gooseberry Bramble” by Solomon Forse, the narrator relates a childhood memory in front of a court when he ignored a warning given by his grandmother about not journeying out of the area. As with most children in these stories, he discovers the disturbing truth when he decides to wander to the forbidden territory.

 

“Clement & Sons” by Joe Radkins is a great haunted house story. Lydia Carrigan purchases a “fixer upper” house, hoping to restore it to its former glory. She discovers an old grandfather clock that holds a strange power. In “Duplicitous Wings” by Amanda Nevada DeMel, Lisa craves revenge for familial betrayal committed by her brother. In her drunken fury, she summons a winged woman named Anza to take out Lisa’s ire on her brother and his family. Unfortunately for Lisa, Anza has her own plans.

 

“Possess and Serve” by Christopher O’Halloran comes closer to the length of a novella, and is a solid read. In this story, the police can possess and gain control over the body of an attacker to resolve a crime or problem before it gets out of hand. When Sarah discovers that one of their own could be using the service for nefarious reasons, she suspects she knows who the rogue cop is, and sets out to prove it.

 

Other authors in the anthology are J. W. Donley, P. L. McMillan, Joseph Andre Thomas, Alex Wolfgang, Lindsey Ragsdale, Justin Faull, M. David Clarkson, S. E. Denton, Quinn Fern, and Thea Maeve. Grady Hendrix provides an excellent foreword for this volume.

 

Howls from Hell is one of the best anthologies I have picked up recently. I like discovering what new writers have to offer. If you are looking for a new favorite author, consider picking this up. I look forward to seeing more of these authors’ work in the future.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Highly recommended

 

Posted on September 22, 2021 by , Reply
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