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Book List: Summer Reading Recommendations from the New York Times

“There’s nothing quite like summer to make me long for horror fiction” writes Danielle Trussoni, in introducing great reads in the horror genre for the New York Times for summer 2019.  It’s an interesting list. Of the eight books, five have been published since April, three nominees on this year’s final ballot for the Stoker Award are included, two are reprints from Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks in Hell imprint, which is a new imprint that reprints older, out-of-print titles, one is an anthology, and one is a translation from French to English. There are a couple by women, which is nice, since they have often been underrepresented. I’ve provided links to reviews for the books we have already reviewed. Take a look and see what appeals for your next vacation read!

 

The Hunger by Alma Katsu (2018, nominee for the 2019 Bram Stoker Award, reviewed here)

Little Darlings by Melanie Goldberg (April 2019)

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson (June 2019)

The Nest by Gregory A. Douglas (April 2019, reprint from the Paperbacks in Hell imprint) The original 1987 novel is reviewed here. Side note: unless you are a real thrill-seeker, this might not be the best choice for your island vacation. However, my husband saw Jaws just before a day of scuba diving, so I know it’ll be a perfect beach read for some of you…

When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom ( May 2019, also a reprint from Paperbacks in Hell. We reviewed the 2009 book here)

The Laws of the Skies by Gregoire Courtois (May 2019)

Inspection by Josh Malerman (2018, nominee for the 2019 Bram Stoker Award, reviewed here)

Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent (2018. Joe Hill’s story in this anthology was a nominee on the final ballot for the  2019 Bram Stoker Award) Side note: I don’t recommend reading this one on a plane.

 

Well, there you have it. All kinds of horror, with something for nearly everyone. This is a great list for starting your summer reading, and whatever you choose, whether it’s from this list or a different resource, I wish you a summer of enjoyable reading!

 

Posted on May 31, 2019 by , Reply

Book List: Horror Novellas You Don’t Have To Put Down

I’m a pretty fast reader, but sometimes a full length novel is just too long. It’s so hard for me to stop once I start, even if I know I need to! I’ve had to swear off certain authors or series because the books were so long, and compelling, that they consumed entire days of my life (I will never forgive George R.R. Martin for the loss of two weeks of my life to a series where he still hasn’t written the conclusion SIX YEARS LATER) If you aren’t a fast reader, then long novels can be intimidating. That’s what makes novellas great. If you’re a fast reader, you can speed right through them and go back to truly enjoy them again at your leisure. They’re just about perfect for travel– small enough to pack away and long enough to keep you engaged on your flight or train, without taking over your entire vacation. The novella length is perfect for a certain kind of horror story, too– it has to move fast and the words have to be carefully chosen in order to have maximum impact in a compact size. I asked for some recommendations from the people following Monster Librarian’s Facebook page,and checked with a few other horror lovers, and a number of them mentioned the same titles.  Here’s a short list of 14 novellas recommended by horror lovers, that will be perfect for your summer reading, if you haven’t picked them up already. And if any of them pique your interest, feel free to click on the book’s image. It will take you straight to Amazon, and since we are an Amazon affiliate, you’ll be helping us out, too. As always, not every book is appropriate for every reader, and while we’ve reviewed some of these, you read at your own risk.

If you feel that the list could use some additions, feel free to contribute your suggestions below!

 Cabal by Clive Barker

  The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

 A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn (reviewed here)

 Final Girls by Mira Grant

  Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant

 Strange Weather by Joe Hill (technically this is a collection of four novellas) reviewed here

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

 Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan

  The Mist by Stephen King

 The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft

 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson  (reviewed here– you’ll have to scroll down)

 The Murders of Molly Southborne by Tade Thompson (a sequel, The Survival of Molly Southborne, comes out in July)

Posted on May 20, 2019 by , Reply

Musings: Revisiting Stephen King’s Rage

I wrote about Rage five years ago, just a few months before the Sandy Hook school shooting. Shortly after the shooting took place, King released a Kindle single titled Guns that spelled out his thoughts on gun control (he is a gun owner, but supports restrictions) and was very accurate in describing the way the media, politicians, and the public perceive mass shootings (He also mentioned handgun violence in urban areas, although it wasn’t the focus of his essay), and the blame that settles on the culture of violence. The aftermath of the Parkland shooting has followed a much different pattern, but in 2012 there weren’t as many teenagers on social media, news didn’t travel as fast, and parents were the ones who took initiative. Many things are different now, but much of what he wrote is still relevant.

Much of his essay connects to his feelings about his novel Rage,  which he wrote a first draft of when he was still a teenager himself, and which was published under a pseudonym in 1977.  Rage is about a student who shoots and kills his teacher and then holds the class hostage, and in the 1980s and 1990s, four incidents involving four different boys led to them acting out scenarios from Rage. Two of them fatally shot and killed multiple people. King asked that it be pulled from publication– it is the only novel of his to have gone out of print. Of course we have the Internet now so you probably can track down a copy if you really want it.

My son brought it up last night.

I thought maybe I had spoken about it around him in the past, since I’ve written about it, but I was wrong. Some kid on the bus told him about it. He said it was easy to get a copy of it and asked if my son would like to read it. Can I tell you how disheartening it is that King withdrew the book from publication and now this book is not only easy to get ahold of, but middle school kids are recommending it to each other? The Monster Kid knows where to draw the line as far as what he knows he can handle, and he said no, but even as a freedom-loving First Amendment supporter, I don’t know what I would do if he brought it home now.

At any rate, here is a link to the original post, written shortly before the Sandy Hook school shooting. And I do recommend checking out the Kindle single, Guns, that he wrote shortly afterwards. Any profits go to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Posted on March 29, 2018 by , Reply
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