Dark Ink: A Day of Horror 2024 at the Doylestown Bookshop

Time to inject a little dark life into this blog… 

This past weekend (08/03/24), The Doylestown Bookshop held their first (of what many attendees and authors hope) was the first Dark Ink: A Day of Horror event, celebrating horror in its printed form. You can see from the promo image above, the event featured some of the leading voices in the horror genre. I’ve visited the Doylestown Bookshop a few times over the years, usually when Chuck Wendig is involved in the event (the release of Wayward in 2022 and before that, in the before-times when Chuck Wendig, Fran Wilde, and Kevin Hearne had an event celebrating the release of Kevin Hearne's Scourged. 

Back to the Dark Ink...

Although I have to cross the State Line dividing New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I’d consider the Doylestown bookshop is the closest, good independent bookshop that supports Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction. As for Dark Ink, when I saw the line up of writers who would be featured, it was a no-brainer for me to make the 30-minute drive to attend. The first panel featured Adam Cesare (whose Clown in a Cornfield teen slasher trilogy is fantastic), Rachel Harrison (whose horror novels are modern classics, like Black Sheep and Such Sharp Teeth), and new-to-me writer Caitlin Marceau. Panel moderator Violet James McMaster did a great job leading the discussion. I hadn’t encountered Marceau’s fiction prior to that day, but hearing her on the panel pushed me to buy a copy of (what I think may have been the last copy) This is Where We Talk Things Out. It was great to briefly chat with these three writers as they were signing my books and I was able to confirm with Rachel Harrison that the amusement park mentioned in Black Sheep was indeed a certain Land up in North Jersey I visited many, many years ago as a child. 

The next panel was about Cover and Book Design and featured Andie Reid, the Creative Director at Quirk Books and Todd Keisling graphic designer and author in his own right, moderated by Marguerite/Peg Turley. This was a fascinating “look” into who at Quirk makes their books look so appealing. They have some of the smartest, and most eye-catching designs in the genre. I told Andie and Todd, when I had Todd sign my copy of Devil’s Creek that when my wife and I attend NY Comic Con every year, the Quirk Books booth is a must-visit because we each always find something we want to buy. I’d heard / seen really good things about Devil’s Creek including the fact that Sadie Hartmann features it in 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered, which is enough of an endorsement for me! 

Following that panel was a “Story Doctor” workshop with Clay McLeod Chapman and Chuck Wending, that I unfortunately wasn’t able to join. There was a sign-up online I missed and seating/participation was limited. I took a little break and strolled around lovely downtown Doylestown for a while and grabbed a beer. Soon enough, I returned for the panel featuring Clay McLeod Chapman, Paul Tremblay, and Chuck Wendig. Although I own the majority of Chuck Wending’s novels, most of Paul Tremblay’s horror novels, and most of Clay McLeod Chapman’s horror novels, hearing them talk about horror in person was a great opportunity. Collectively, these three writers have a very high “batting average” when it comes to delivering books that connect with me strongly. Chapman’s Ghost Eaters remains one of the most creepy novels I’ve read in maybe the last decade. Huge kudos again to Peg Turley for doing a fantastic job moderating this panel as well as the Quirk Books panel.

There was one more panel, which featured Nat Cassidy, Sarah Langan, Brian McAuley, again moderated by Vi James. I’d heard both Nat and Brian on a few podcasts over the years (including the required listens of Talking Scared and Books in the Freezer) so I felt compelled to purchase at least one of their books. I already have a couple of Langan’s books, too. As it turns out, Stephanie, the host of Books in the Freezer was in attendance so it was cool to meet her and Neil’s Talking Scared was a point of discussion by the writers and many of my fellow readers while we waited on line to get our books signed. Because I had something already on the schedule for the evening when I learned about the event, I didn't sit in on the last panel since I had something scheduled before I knew about this event, but because I had books by Cassidy and McAuley on my amazon wishlist, I figured I pick them up during the event.

There's a pretty decent chance one (or more) of the books I purchased (and pictured above) will be featured over at SFFWorld during our annual Hallowe'en Reads during the month of October this year (2024).

The folks at the Doylestown Bookshop (and Lahaska Bookshop) should be proud and happy with how this event turned out. There were a lot of readers, some fantastic conversations throughout the day, and many books bought!  The sentiment from the staff was that this could be just the first event of its kind. I for one, hope more of these book celebrations, especially featuring horror (or fantasy) will happen in the future. One of the big themes of the day is that Horror makes us Happy and that sentiment could be felt throughout the day, from the writers, staff, and fans/readers. 

Thanks to the staff of the store and the writers for making it such a wonderful day. 

2022 Reading Year in Review

Two years in a row with a Reading Year in Review, crazy right? Well, since I resurrected the blog earlier in the year, I’ve been much more consistent with posting my reading wrap-ups so of course that calls for a year in review, right? As I’ve done every year I've posted a Reading Year in Review, here are the previous years I’ve put up a reading year in review, 2021, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006).

As I've done every year for the past decade and a half, I've contributed to SFFWorld's Favorite of the Year lists: Fantasy/Horror, Science Fiction, and Film/TV. Where those book lists are focused only on 2022 releases, here at the reawakened old Blog o' Stuff, I don't limit the list to just 2022/current year releases because there are a lot of good books out there from previous years I haven’t read. A few stinkers, too, but I try to keep my focus on the positive here at the B.O.S. I'm still very actively reviewing for both SFFWorld.

For the first time that I can recall and since I’ve been tracking my reading trends over the last 20+ years, Fantasy was not the genre that featured the highest number of books read, in 2022 that distinction falls to horror and by a decent margin. Horror is in a great place right now, publishers are giving it serious attention, new imprints have been launched, and horror film is getting more attention than ever. That said, here are the full statistics of the 81 books I read in 2022, I finished #81 on 12/31:

• 41 2022/current year releases plus 1 2023 release
• 29 reviews posted to SFFWorld
• 41 can be considered Horror
• 34 can be considered Fantasy
• 12 can be considered Science Fiction
• Some books like S.A. Barnes's Dead Silence falls into multiple genres
• 31 books by authors new to me 
• 41 Books by women
• 13 total debut
• 17 audiobooks
• 5 books I DNF'd

So, without further adieu, below are the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2022. I've listed the books alphabetically by author last name, outside of the first three on this post.  If I've reviewed the book, the title will link to the review either here at the blog or over at SFFWorld with an excerpt of that review below the cover image. If I haven't given the book a full review, then I've provided a brief summary/reaction to the book.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King
(My Favorite Overall Novel Published in 2022)

 

Fairy Tale is a book I’ve been anticipating since I heard about it in January of 2022. I immediately thought of The Eyes of the Dragon and The Talisman when the title was announced and there are some parallels to those King classics, but this one is its own story. Charlie Reade lives with his father, a recovering alcoholic because his mother was killed in a freak car accident when he was younger. Charlie managed to push through his challenges, becoming a star athlete. When he befriends a mysterious man who lives in the oldest house in the neighborhood, Charlie learns of another world filled with magic, strange creatures, and evil. He also befriends the neighbor’s dog, Radar. 

There are little shout outs to past King works, it is a novel that blends so many things King is good at doing; youthful protagonist, monsters, character, friendship between an older and younger character, and dogs. I suspect Molly, AKA the Thing of Evil may have helped in shaping who Radar was as a character. I suspect some Constant Readers will end up naming their dogs “Radar” in the future. 

As I finished the book and as I write this a few months since reading the book, I’d say that Fairy Tale is maybe top 10 King novel for me, out of the near 50 or so books I’ve read by Sai King. 

 

The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson
(My Favorite Horror Novel Published in 2022)

I’ve been enjoying Delilah Dawson’s writing for a few years now, she’s incredibly consistent, incredibly efficient, and an incredibly smart writer. This book is her best book, hands down and one that I think will stand the test of time.

Sometimes when you are reading a book, you know you’re getting into something special. This feeling usually happens in the early chapters, a growing sense that the book is the writer’s Opus. Recently, I felt that way when I read Chuck Wendig’s The Book of Accidents and Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame. I also felt that way while I was reading Delilah S. Dawson’s The Violence.

...

A few elements can truly make a novel like this feel so grounded and believable. First are the characters, all of whom are genuinely real, living and breathing people as I’ve noted. Other little details are “landmarks” I’ll call them, tiny details that add a layer of grit and realism to the world. Enter Big Fred’s Floors, a store that Chelsea and the other characters pass numerous times, with an outdated, misogynistic slogan.

...

But it almost seems like everything she’s written (at least those novels I’ve read) have prepared her for this outstanding gem. The Violence is a novel that will stand out for its intelligence, for its compassion, for its “un-put-down-able-ness,”

Engines of Empire by RS Ford
(My Favorite Fantasy Novel Published in 2022) 

When matriarch and Guildmaster Rosamon sends her children, youngest son Fulren, daughter Tyreta, and eldest son Conall far away, the action R.S. Ford’s Engines of Empire begins. … Ford does many, many things very well in this novel, which launches The Age of Uprising trilogy. He’s nailed the character portion of the novel, each of the Hawkspur family members came across as believable and empathetic. One of Fulren’s driving forces was to see revenge against Lancelin Jagdor, the man he sees as murderer of his father. To be fair, Fulren’s father challenged Lancelin to a duel and lost, but the outcome was the same – Fulren’s father was killed. The death of their father also weighs on Connall, but he’s caught between devotion to his family and the duty placed upon him as military man. Tyretta finds herself embroiled in a conflict far from the borders of her home, but affected a great deal by her homeland.
                                                                    ...
Perhaps my favorite element of this novel is the world-building. The way the magic of the pyerstones powers the technology, like airships and engines, is borderline steampunk. In fact, I’ve seen the setting described as “aetherpunk,” a term I surprisingly (having been reading this stuff for a few decades) wasn’t aware of before reading this book, even if I was familiar with the definition. Anyway, it is a fun setting and “-punk” varietal. Jim Butcher’s The Aeronaut’s Windlass comes to mind, as does Tad Williams’s War of the Flowers as standout novels that sort of fit in this descriptor.

For the remaining favorites, some of these books were published prior 2022

Senlin Ascends (Tower of Babel #1) by Josiah Bancroft 

What makes this novel so enchanting is how it is everything an Epic Fantasy novel should be, but has similarities to so very few Epic Fantasy novels I’ve read. The closest two novels that come to mind for me are Alastair Reynolds’s Terminal World and Gregory Frost’s Shadowbridge… Title character Thomas Senlin takes his wife Marya to the Tower of Babel for their honeymoon. The tower is an enormous, continuously growing structure with each vast level, or "ringdom," essentially a world unto itself… Bancroft’s prose is elegant, it lulls you in like a comforting blanket, but the stories it reveals over the course of Senlin’s journeys through four of the forty "ringdoms" are harrowing, enchanting, and often dark. The fourth and final novel published November 2021, so I may have to binge the three remaining books I’ve yet to read.

 

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
This happens to snag the “Best Debut” of 2022 spot for me.

 

… expound upon the pleasures of Cañas’s writing and storytelling. I immediately felt as if I was inside Beatriz’s head, I was drawn to her character and her plight. The way Cañas conveys the hacienda through Beatriz’s eyes is a delight, I was transported me to the grounds of the estate alongside Beatriz. Cañas also flavors the atmosphere with a lingering paranoia that grows into a mounting sense of dread that made it difficult for me not “just read one more chapter.” … What impresses me most is that The Hacienda is Cañas’s first published novel. She has an enchanted pen when it comes to the prose, telling the story from Beatriz and Andrés points of view that was extremely inviting. Every story element meshed together wonderfully…

 

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

This is the third novel I’ve read by Chapman and he’s a must buy at this point. The story of Ghost Eaters focus on Erin and her toxic ex-boyfriend Silas. She keeps trying to get away from him and his addictions, but she finds it difficult. He eventually turns up dead of an overdose. Erin can’t hold on, she always feared he may wind up dead, but it actually happened and she has difficulty dealing with it. Then she learns about the aforementioned drug called Ghost. There’s an escalating creep factor that sets it apart. Chapman’s characters seem genuine and are empathetic and not since Jeff VanderMeer have mushrooms been so very creepy.

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Possession. One of the more rife subjects explored in horror novels. Sara Gran’s Come Closer takes a powerful approach to examine how easily such a possession can destroy a person. … Gran tells the story in Amanda’s matter-of-fact first person voice. That, for me, might be the most terrifying element of the story, just how “normal” some of the deplorable behavior and events are delivered. I had to re-read some passages with an unspoken “WAIT WHAT?” in my brain. This was an utterly addictive read that I managed to plow through in a Sunday afternoon

 

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

Harrison – I read Harrison’s debut novel The Return earlier in the year and I was very impressed so I was excited to try her new (in 2022) novel which was about werewolves. Well, one werewolf in particular. Harrison tells the tale of Rory (short for Aurora) Morris, who returns to her hometown to be by the side of her twin sister Scarlett during the last weeks of her pregnancy. On the way there, Rory is bitten by a creature and she finds her body going through changes. She’s stronger and transforms during the full moon. Harrison does a fantastic job of paralleling the experiences of the twin sisters, and telling a compelling, addictive story. I read it over the course of two days.

With Such Sharp Teeth, Rachel Harrison has written an instant/modern classic werewolf novel.

The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz

When his old friend Chris suggests he spend some time at Alexander House, allegedly the “Most Haunted House in Virginia” for his next book project, David acquiesces. Dave becomes friendly with his neighbor, Ralph Hooper and much to his chagrin, kids whose parents are absentee parents, all of whom reside on the banks of the Rappahannock River. He also hears and sees things in the house and the area surrounding it. …and like many haunted house stories, David is haunted by his past and brings ghosts of his own when he arrives at Alexander House. …. A couple of days into reading the book I had a nightmare. I’m not saying reading The Siren and The Specter caused the nightmare, but I’m not saying the book didn’t cause the nightmare. Correlation…the only two books I can directly say gave me nightmares are Stephen King’s The Shining and Dan Simmons Summer of Night and what caused those nightmare were what I previously called the “edge of your senses” creepiness. Janz, in The Siren and the Specter, excels at the “edge of your senses” horror, as I said.

Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry

I’m a fan of Maberry’s Joe Ledger Military SF/Horror thrillers and was excited to see him turn his pen to Epic Fantasy. This has some nice horror flourishes; too, with a Cthuhlu/Lovecraftian vibe lurking in the background. From my review: “I realize the plot seems fairly straight-forward, revenge, quest, evil king and all that, but damn if Maberry doesn’t make it feel fresh and exciting. A large part of what makes this novel, and the world, feel so fresh is how much horror, specifically cosmic horror, informs the world-building. Elder Ones like Hastur and Cthulhu are major elements of the world’s mythology with the R’lyehian language appearing in the text. There are some decidedly dark and horrific passages and allusions throughout the majority of the novel and the Lovecraftian flavor is very welcome in an Epic Fantasy setting. It is a seamless infusion, and an elegant one that simply works to the point that I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before. I love that element of this novel and world because the delight in which Maberry reveled during the world-building emanates off the pages.

 

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

This one’s description grabbed me for its very superficial similarity to books like King’s IT and Dan Simmons’s Summer of Night - friends reunite in their hometown to take down a monster they thought was gone. Those similarities, as I noted, are just superficial. Malfi’s tale is a little more confined, in that there are fewer characters and much more despair surrounds the characters; protagonist Jamie Warren is an alcoholic struggling with his addiction; his mother is a junkie who killed herself, thus brining Jamie back to Sutton’s Quay, VA. His disabled brother was found wandering. Dennis’s other friends Mia and Clay have their own demons, but they were very close friends when they were kids, but haven’t seen each other in years, since an eerie man known only as the Magician touched their lives. Malfi excels with his characters and building a sense of creepiness, between the Magician and the haunted region of Black Mouth itself. … He tells the tale in intertwining chapters that focus on the present and past when Jamie and his crew initially encounter the Magician. Malfi has a very deliberate pace and that pace works perfectly in Black Mouth to build up empathy for all the characters, the horrific nature of the Magician, the unsettling nature of Black Mouth itself, and how the tension builds towards the conclusion.

Take Your Turn, Teddy by Haley Newlin and narrated/performed by Thomas Gloom

Newlin played with the “Creepy Kid” trope just about as good as any horror novel I’ve read. I thought Gloom’s narration of the story enhanced the novel a great deal, too.

This is a book I’ve seen good things about on the various horror blogs and instagrammers I follow. This book starts out as a sad tale of a young boy named Teddy whose father is extremely abusive to his mother and becomes a horror novel mixed with a serial killer police procedural. Some creepy scenes, nice character development with the cast of characters, and nods to the Stephen King. Newlin drove the story around some bendy turns that weren’t expected, but worked very nicely. Haley also reviews for Cemetery Dance magazine online.

Lamentation (Psalms of Isaak #1) by Ken Scholes

Lamentation is Ken’s debut and the launch of the Psalms of Isaak five book saga. Set in a world that has survived a few apocalyptic events, magic and science coexist, though not always quite comfortably. The inciting incident – the city of Windwir being destroyed, particularly its legendary library – was because a robot cast a spell. From there, the novel winds through a wonderful path of alliances, manipulation, romance, politics, and redemption. … The novel is more concerned with how the characters react to the destruction of Windwir than anything else, so there isn’t too much world-building on display but the hints (robots and magic coexisting, essentially) are quite intriguing. There are also hints of a deep history to the world, so I'm hoping subsequent volumes will reveal more…. I’m quite excited to see where this series goes over the course of those next four novels.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

The Book of Cold Cases is the second book I’ve read by St. James and it is just as good as the first one, The Sun Down Motel. In this book, Shea Collins, a young divorced woman has a hobby looking into open murder cases and runs the Website “The Book of Cold Cases.” Her latest obsession is the socialite Beth Greer, who was suspected killing two men in 1977, shortly after her parents died. Shea, in 2017, is able to convince Beth to tell her the full story of the murders and her life. It is fascinating story, that has hints of a ghost story, murder, and great character development. St. James excels at telling parallel stories as we learn about Beth’s from Beth as Shea listens intently.

Wayward by Chuck Wendig

Wayward, the sequel to his epic apocalyptic Wanderers. Chuck picks up those threads and weaves a powerful, gripping story of how the survivors of a plague-apocalypse (White Mask) try to survive as humanity with the “help” of an extremely powerful and convincing AI (Black Swan) who helped to “hand pick” a select group of people and protect them from the plague as a last hope for humaity. Picking up about five years after the events of Wanderers, Chuck keeps the pace addictive over the course of the novels lengthy 800 pages. There’s a sense of anger in this novel that is completely believable, especially with the returning characters like Shana Stewart and “President” Ed Creel, though scientist Benji Ray and rocker Pete Corley balance out that anger with signs of hope

Wayward was a fantastic novel, I was consumed by it for the week-and-a-half I was reading it. Never did I want to leave, never did the novel drag, never did things happen in the novel that didn’t make sense even if what unfolded over the course of the novel was not what I expected. I was surprised by where the story went, and at times even scared by a lot of what the characters had to confront. Put simply, a fantastic novel.

Into the Narrowdark (The Last King of Osten Ard) by Tad Williams

This is the penultimate volume in the series that is a sequel to his landmark Memory, Sorrow and Thorn four-book trilogy, which holds the top #1 of #2 spot as my favorite fantasy trilogy. In this novel, Tad deftly balances multiple points of view as the world is on the precipice of another momentous change. He does a fantastic job of balancing the weigh of each character’s storylines and weaving in plot threads dangling from 30 years ago. As it turns out, there’s been about 30 years since Memory, Sorrow and Thorn concluded and that’s about the same time that has elapsed in Osten Ard. … The conclusion/finale of this novel…just…damn you Tad! It was so well executed and is as much of a cliff-hanger ending as you’d want but also hate to read. I can’t wait for The Navigator’s Children. My only real slight on the book – and this is no fault of Tad Williams – is that DAW books decided to drastically change the look/cover art of the book. The legendary, iconic Michael Whelan painted all the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn covers and the two earlier volumes in this series (as well as many of the covers for Tad’s novels).

That's a wrap on my 2022 reading. Like I said, some names are familiar to those of you who know me or the reviews I've written over the years while others are new to me.  

Hope you all have a great 2023, happy reading!

2021 Reading Year in Review

It has been a few years since I did a reading year in review here at the Blog o’ Stuff, the most recent being 2018, and before that, 2015 so apparently, I update this blog every 3 years. That's a far cry from the multiple posts per week I'd publish in this blog's heyday.  

For completeness sake, here are the other previous years I’ve put up a reading year in review, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006).

As I've done every year for the past decade and a half, I've contributed to SFFWorld's Favorite of the Year lists: Fantasy/Horror, Science Fiction, and Film/TV. Where those book lists are focused only on 2021 releases, here at the dusty old Blog o' Stuff, I don't limit the list to just 2021 releases. I'm still very actively reviewing for both SFFWorld and The Tap Takeover

2021 was a tougher year than 2020 in some ways. We thought normalcy would return, but that did not happen. We are still in a pandemic. The year began for me with surgery on my shoulder (which I scheduled in 2020, but still) and for the better part of the first half of the year, our sweet dog Sully was fighting major health issues, passing away at just over 11 years old on May 4, 2021. My wife and I were heart-broken, but we realized how much joy Sully brought to us over those years. In the summer; however, our spirits were brightened by the arrival of our new puppy, Dusty! She brings a smile to our face constantly and she was and is the perfect dog at the right time, she is exactly what we needed.

Of the nearly 100 books I read in 2021, here are some stats: 

• 30 2021/current year releases 
• 33 reviews posted to SFFWorld
• 40 can be considered Fantasy 
• 32 can be considered Horror 
• 18 can be considered Science Fiction 
• 32 books by authors new to me 
• 47 Books by women 
• 15 total debut 
• 17 audiobooks

I also have to give a huge shout out to a couple of book folks on social media who have re-invigorated my love for the Horror genre. It isn't like I didn't read horror in the past, but it usually made up only about 20% to 25% of the books I read in any given year. In 2021 Horror was 34% of what I read. Fantasy is usually about 50%. Those shout outs: My college pal Dave Aldrich who started up his own booktube channel, Book Blather. Sadie Hartmann, AKA Mother Horror, who runs the Night Worms Book Box subscription service with Ashley Sawyers aka Spookish Mommy, maybe the best cheerleader/advocates for horror fiction I've come across in years as well as Neil McRobert's Talking Scared podcast. All positivity from them and quite a few books and writers I discovered this year are a result of following Sadie on Twitter and Instagram. Also, shout out also to my former SF Signal colleague Derek Austin Johnson (twitter), who has been posting one horror book per day for the whole year on his Instagram. 

So, without further adieu, below are the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2021. There's no order outside of the first two on this post.  If I've reviewed the book, the title will link to the review.

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
(My favorite overall novel of 2021, Favorite Horror)

What can I say about this novel without giving away too much of what makes it tick, from the dark and supernatural point of view? Nothing really, because this book turned into something quite unexpected. What I will say is that Oliver is a wonderful creation, despite the pain he feels from others, he does not crumble or wither. He finds strength in how this ability makes him want to help others. Like Oliver, what Chuck has done in The Book of Accidents is powerfully build up empathy in the characters he’s created in this novel. On the whole, their motivations seem genuine, their actions understandable if not approved, and the characters simply come to life. 

 In my review of Wanderers, I mentioned Chuck Wendig’s affinity for the fiction of Stephen King and parts of this novel (in addition to the elderly, friendly neighbor) definitely evoke the best of King’s work. The genius here; however, is that Chuck Wendig completely owns everything in The Book of Accidents. The result, a modern masterpiece of Dark/Horror Fiction.

 

The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
(My Favorite Fantasy Novel of 2021)

Getting the gang back together is a popular motif in many stories, fantasy stories included. One of the most popular (and one of the foundational fantasy sagas in this vein for me) is the DragonLance Chronicles, so I suppose I’m pre-disposed to liking stories that begin in this fashion. In The Bone Maker, the evil sorcerer was defeated 25 years ago, but at no small cost to the heroes who took him down.

Durst examines some deep things here, grief, forgiveness moving on (or not) from a powerful traumatic experience, faith/belief in ideals, and life being more than just one event. She does so this all while weaving a wonderful story and a fascinating, potent magic system in the back drop. The characters a mature, fully rounded, breathing, emotive people whose experiences so completely inform every action they take. Small things in the background of Durst’s writing, storytelling, and world-building make the story and characters on the page come across very elegantly.

In a shelf-filled with multi-volume fantasies it is not only refreshing to see and enjoy a single-volume Epic Fantasy novel, but truly something special for the book to be this amazing.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

I’m a big horror fan, but the slasher sub-genre was never my go-to subset of the genre. It isn’t that I dislike it, I just prefer some of the other flavors of horror. Of course, I’m familiar with a couple of the big ones like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and one of my overall favorite horror movies, A Nightmare on Elm Street, so some of the character stand-ins/homages didn’t land with me 100% since I’m not super well-versed in Slasher films. Again, that isn’t necessarily the point nor are those connections required to be made to completely enjoy the novel, more like a dash of whip cream on a delicious scoop of ice cream. In fact, Dr. Carol Elliott is likely an homage to Professor Carol J. Clover, who coined the term “Final Girl” and theory in her 1992 book, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. All of that said, The Final Girl Support Group was an enormously fun, extremely smart, thrill ride of a novel. It is a novel that both entertains and Makes a Statement, which in my mind, is what great literature should do. I continue to say this when I write about Grady Hendrix’s work, but with each novel or thing (non-fiction like Paperbacks from Hell or films he’s written) he produces in the genre, he’s cementing himself as a foundational voice in early 21st Century Horror. His novels have become appointment reading for me at this point.

Blood of the Chosen by Django Wexler

In everything I’ve read from Django Wexler, especially Blood of the Chosen, the action and combat scenes are essential, and extremely fun to experience. I didn’t feel like I was just reading the words on the page, I felt like I was a proverbial fly on the wall in the action. This is especially true of the final conflict of the novel, so much of the narrative was slow burn build that the explosive ending was extremely compelling. The slow burn of the novel’s beginning made the build-up and the action of the finale that more enjoyable. That ending also sows seeds in some verdant land for a potent continuation in the third novel.

As thick as this novel was, just over 400 pages, I read through it rather briskly. Wexler is a damned fine storyteller and his love of the fantastic comes through the page as a catchy thing.

Near the Bone and The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

 

The Ghost Tree: Henry does a great job with the pacing of the novel as she goes between the multiple threads of the novel. Alongside that strong element of the novel are the emotions of the characters and how strongly the come across the page. From the loneliness Lauren feels, to the awful feelings conveyed by Mrs. Schneider, to the anger the Lopez family feels, Henry makes each character unique.

The Ghost Tree plays on some popular tropes in the horror genre, a 1980s setting, a small town with secret, haunted woods/tree, a hidden lineage and plays with them extremely well. One of my favorite horror novels over the past decade and a half is Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge and I found some really nice resonance between the two novels – small, isolated town with a dark secret being the most prominent.

Near the Bone: This is the second book I read by Henry, but it will be far from my last. Set in a remote, secluded mountain cabin, Mattie is in what can be considered an unhealthy relationship with her husband William. She is confined to the cabin, except when William needs her help and William wants nobody to know of their presence on the mountain. When she discovers a mutilated fox, William decides to hunt down the thing that left the corpse near their house. Strange, inhuman voices begin to cry out in the night and visitors stumble upon Mattie and William. Part psychological thriller, part monster story, Henry tells a taut, gripping horror story here.

Wizard of the Pigeons by Meghan Lindholm

Wizard of the Pigeon is a novel that can work on multiple layers, and the power of Lindholm’s prose is in the ambiguity that allows the reader for that kind of experience. It can easily be readable as a novel with real magic in Seattle while it can also be read as an account of a man suffering from severe PTSD whose coping mechanism is thinking of himself as a wizard. The third alternative is a combination of the two. For me, I see magic.

I must also comment on the physical book itself. As I intimated above, this book has largely been out of print for well over a decade. Sean Speakman, owner of Grim Oak Press decided to publish this 35th Anniversary edition and it is a book whose beauty does justice to the powerful story told between its covers. With evocative full-page color art pieces by Tommy Arnold, the book gets a truly Artistic treatment in terms of a physical book being a piece of art or an artifact.

This book is a must read, must own for readers of the genre especially if you’ve enjoyed anything by Robin Hobb. Wizard of the Pigeons is a progenitor of the Urban Fantasy genre in the truest sense of magic in the cityscape and not leather-clad vampires and vampire hunters. Not that there’s anything wrong with leather clad vamps and vamp hunters, but this book is not that. This book is a beautiful testament to the power of prose, how beauty can be found and carved out of pain and through suffering.

Mount Fitz Roy by Scott Sigler

Mount Fitz Roy is the sequel to Sigler’s hugely popular novel Earthcore. I listened to both books via audible. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read from Sigler and when he re-released Earthcore with the great Ray Porter on audio, I finally read it…and immediately wanted to read Mount Fitz Roy. The premise is that an something on is hiding in the caves of large mountains where knives form an ancient civilization are found. It really isn’t a spoiler to point out this civilization aren’t human. Sigler builds up tension incredibly well and is a master at science fiction horror. Porter is maybe the best narrator I’ve had the pleasure to hear.

 

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

A run down motel, murders in the past connected to our protagonist Carly who decides to work in the hotel to try to solve the unsolved murder of her aunt Viv 35 years earlier. St. James tells the story in parallel timelines, Carly in the present and Viv in the past, which makes the pages fly by because of St. James’s ability to end each chapter in a way that forces you to continue reading. The Sun Down Motel was a near pitch-perfect supernatural murder mystery, one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Ava Reid has boldly announced herself as a literary force with The Wolf and the Woodsman. The novel is impressive in its beauty, characters, and uncompromising nature and is all the more impressive for being Reid’s debut novel. I would not be in the least bit surprised if The Wolf and the Woodsman lands on multiple “Best of the Year” lists for 2021.

Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn

Sarah Chorn’s second novel, Of Honey and Wildfires, is the start of a new series/new world and new characters. Set in a world that evokes the old West/Frontier, the Shine and mining of it dominates everything. The closest analogue I can think of is that Shine is kind of like Spice from Dune. It heals, it is a source of power, it can be consumed, it is everything. …

Human emotion, tragedy, and pain are wrought beautifully on these pages through Sarah Chorn’s carefully constructed prose. There’s a sliver of hope throughout the undercurrent of despair and pain that helps to drive the narrative. Of Honey and Wildfires is a compulsively readable novel whose relatively short page count for the genre (barely 300 pages) belies the epic story and gamut of emotions and purely powerful storytelling on display.

Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman

Chapman takes very real-life events and uses that as a launching pad to spin a gripping story out of those events. He does a fantastic job of humanizing the participants of what would seem to be a larger-than-life bombastic news story. I’ve long been fan of parallel narratives and here in Whisper Down the Lane, Chapman builds up the tension in both Sean and Richard’s stories. It is probably not much of a secret that these stories converge in some fashion, but how Chapman builds towards this convergence is extremely effective. He has a knack for creating a compulsive narrative, which is why I burned through the novel in a couple of days, Whisper Down the Lane was extremely challenging to set down.

Whisper Down the Lane is a potent, compulsive thriller with horrific elements that is one of the most gripping novels I’ve read this year.

Slewfoot by BROM

Much of the story feels like a historical fantasy / fairy tale, but then Brom shifts the tone into something darker and a story firmly entrenched in horror. That build of tension and build of Abitha’s character is like a powder keg that explodes in what at one time could be considered dark magic. Here also is what Brom does so well…he upturns the historical perspective and turns the “good” on its head into something not quite so pleasant. He does this via the simmering of tension I mentioned earlier as well as the path Abitha’s nemesis Wallace takes. Brom gives readers a character to root for in Abitha and an antagonist that is unlikeable in Wallace. Brom doesn’t just make Wallace a cardboard cut-out of a villain, he balances the character by showing some insight into the Wallace’s motivation. We see why he feels the way he does, even if his reaction to those feelings are villainous.

Brom’s art, a half-dozen color plates in the center of the book and chapter icons that take up half the page, enhance the immersive experience of Slewfoot. His words are just as potent at telling the story as is his art. The obvious comparison in recent years is to the film The VVitch because the timeframe, horrific elements, witchcraft, but except maybe a bit more hopeful.

Brom has created a story that feels familiar and fresh and is the kind of powerful story that could last through the generations as a book/novel/story to revisit every Hallowe’en.

Star Kingdom by Lindsay Buroker

This is the second series I’ve read from Buroker and she has a great knack for character and storytelling in her work. She’s self-published (one of the biggest names in genre self-published authors), but most of her work is also available via audible. This series takes place thousands of years in the future when humanity has left Earth. The Star Kingdom series focuses on robotics professor Casmir Dabrowski, who is forced to flee his comfortable life when he is being hunted for reasons he can’t imagine. Joining Casmir is his best friend and roommate Kim Sato and filled with great character development, thrilling action, and are just pure fun. These audio books are available as omnibus editions and are fantastic listens.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I guess I re-read this series about once every ten years. Or when the TV Show starts up. Either way, I am in the midst of re-reading the series via audiobook and I’m loving it. I’ve said quite a bit about this series in the past, and as of this writing, I had just finished The Dragon Reborn. 

Maradaine by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Maresca’s interlinked series of series has been a delight. I read The Thorn of Dentonhill back in 2015, dove back into some of the Maradaine novels last year, and have continued to make my way through the various series this year, in chronological order not in series order, which is what Mr. Maresca recommends. These books are relatively short (barely 400 pages at most) in mass market paperback and have a sword and sorcery feel to them, taking place in a shared location. In many ways, his Maradaine saga is not unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, four trilogies that eventually tie together. You don’t necessarily need to read one of the trilogies to get what is going on in the other, but it makes for a more rewarding experience. Maresca has a handy "reading order" guide.

I also reviewed, and loved the 2021 entry in this series, An Unintended Voyage, which seems to act as a bridge between "Phase One" of Maradaine and the next phase. 

Miriam Black by Chuck Wendig

For all that I’ve read by Chuck Wendig, I’d never read his breakout series, Miriam Black and the only reason I’m not kicking myself for not getting to this series sooner is because I’m not getting to experience these books for the first time. Miriam can tell you how you die and exactly when you die just by touching you. That doesn’t sound fun at all, and Miriam would agree with that sentiment. Horror/thriller/mystery rolled together, I think Chuck has said he envisions these as horror novels. I’m not going to argue with the man. I’ve read the first three thus far, Blackbirds, Mockingbird, and The Cormorant.

I think it might be obvious at this point that my author of the year is Chuck Wendig. Even if I hadn’t met and chatted with him in the past, I’d love his books and writing.

So...not a bad year for reading for me. This year was the first time in probably 15 to 20 years that I got close to reading 100 books in a year.