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Book Review: Betty Bites Back edited by Mindy McGinnis, Demitria Lunetta, and Kate Karyus Quinn

Betty Bites Back: Stories to Scare the Patriarchy edited by Mindy McGinnis, Demitria Lunetta, and Kate Karyus Quinn

Demitria Lunetta, 2019

ISBN-13: 9781733666749

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Betty Bites Back contains sixteen short stories and poems about girls and women who are done being held down, stepped on, and demeaned by a world that favours misogyny and the patriarchy. Stories include dark fantasy, body horror, murder mystery, and more. I found each of the stories in this anthology to be unique and well written. A few of my favourites are the following.

In “Vagina Dentata” by Mindy McGinnis, a woman talks with a plastic surgeon’s physician’s assistant about a unique opportunity.In  E.R. Griffin’s “What She Left Behind” a teenage girl discovers that the house she and her mother moved into is haunted by a girl whose trauma bridges the gap between them and pushes an act of violent revenge. In Jenna Lehne’s “@Theguardians1792”, a teenage girl is tired of being harassed by boys about her changing body and standing up for herself, leading to her getting punished for their actions. She discovers a group calling themselves @Theguardians1792 on social media, and boys in the area are found beaten, bloodied, or worse. In “The Whispers” by Lindsey Klingele, set during the time of the suffragettes fighting for the woman’s right to vote, a small community faces a boisterous, loud, and assertive group of young women, quite the scandal of the time. After they are silenced by a mysterious and ill-meaning doctor, murders of prominent community members occur, and women in white are seen around the edges of town.

There is a short author biography at the end of each of the stories, as well as a brief statement by the authors about their inspiration and influence for writing their particular tale. Though short, they provide a great insight into the authors’ processes, and other works that they have written for further reading. I highly recommend Betty Bites Back readers of feminist horror, especially indie horror.

 

Contains: blood, gore, misogyny, murder, racism, rape, sexual assault, sexual content, suicide

 

Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on May 3, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Death’s Dreams by Darryl Dawson

Death’s Dreams by Darryl Dawson

Darryl Dawson Books, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-7331921-4-9

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Death’s Dreams is the wildest, most original collection of short stories to come barreling down the pike in a long, long time.  If you’re looking for stories that are seriously OUT THERE, with a decent touch of blood splashed around the pages, this book is the place to be.  Why this wasn’t nominated for a Stoker award is beyond me, as it is certainly good enough to justify a nomination.

The collection is loosely held together by the idea that ol’ Death, the Grim Reaper himself, is losing it.  All the horrors he’s seen over the years while riding his figurative pale horse have started to get to him, so he finds a shrink to talk to and unload all his stories on.  Those stories make up the basis of this collection.  Make no mistake, what he’s seen in these stories would be enough to put any rational person in a padded room.   “New Identity” is a hellish look at what happens when one bad person makes a mistake and winds up the prisoner of a person who is a lot worse.  It’s a common plot device, but this story is truly terrifying.  “Night Train” may be the most original one, as it contains an actual phantom (or not?) train running in the storm drains beneath the city, that promises possible escape to those who need it.  Simply open the door to one of the train cars, and step into another dimension.  “There Really Are No Accidents” is a viciously ironic story concerning one woman’s attempt to take a brutal revenge on her scummer of a husband, and what befalls her.  This one also showcases author Dawson’s twisted sense of humor. The end of the story might well make you laugh, despite its nastiness.  Written with only dialogue, “The Claim” concerns a camera that causes the death of everyone it takes a picture of.  The author’s choice of format for this story makes it stand out from the others, as it can be a tough format to work with, but Dawson does it with ease.  “The Champion of Suffering” is a fantastic revenge story, as the evil killer starts the story already executed through lethal injection, and in Hell.  The protagonist has to decide if he is willing to sacrifice and condemn himself to Hell, just to go after the killer and inflict more punishment.  Is the death penalty enough?  How much is vengeance  worth to him?  This is an outstanding story that also raises some good questions about the nature of retribution.

The overall quality of all the stories is extremely high; there isn’t a bad one in the collection.  Some are better than others, but they all do a good job showcasing the author’s fertile imagination and skill.  The only drawback is the lack of dialogue between Death and the psychiatrist.  The first chapter was an excellent setup between the two of them, but that thread never really got explored to its potential, as they barely show up for the rest of the book.  If the interaction between Death and the doctor had been fleshed out more, this could have been an outstanding novel, instead of an outstanding collection of short stories.  Despite that minor quibble, Death’s Dreams is a book not to be missed.  Keep an eye out for this author in the future. Highly recommended.

 

Contains: violence, gore, profanity, sex

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

 

 

Posted on March 4, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: The New Annotated Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham edited with notes by Leslie S. Klinger

The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham edited with notes by Leslie S. Klinger

Liveright Publishing, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1631492631

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

 

The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham is a handsome volume of the master’s short stories. This volume collects 25 of the prolific author’s stories, including such famous titles as “The Music of Erich Zann”, “Pickman’s Models”, “The Tomb”, and “The Horror at Red Hook”. It is a heavy book, and I would definitely recommend making sure you have a clean, clear table to read it on.

When you consider an annotated book, the most important thing is of course the annotations, or notes. These notes are printed in an appropriate and easily readable shade of red. They are clear, and they explain fully each and every detail the reader might not have been previously aware of. Leslie Klinger has clearly done extensive research, hunting all manner of information down to provide us thorough, precise explanations of all sorts of short hand descriptions of things in Lovecraft’s stories.

This is a big, beautiful book. If you are a fan of Lovecraft, or you just like short stories that discuss strange, otherwordly monsters, this is highly recommended. This is definitely for ADULT readers.

 

Reviewed by Ben Franz

 

Posted on January 19, 2020 by , Reply
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