2025 Reading Year in Review

Once again, the post that truly keeps the Blog o’ Stuff alive, the “Highly Anticipated” annual installment of “What Did Rob Enjoy Reading the Most Last Year?!??!” That’s right folks, for the fourth in a row and 15th year overall, here are the books I enjoyed reading most the previous year! As I’ve done every year, here are the previous years I’ve put up a reading year in review, 2024, 2023, 2022, 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. We focus only on 2025/current year releases on our there are a lot of good books out there from previous years I haven’t read.

Horror, once again, is the genre that takes up the most space in the pie chart of “genres Rob read” in 2025. Fantasy is always going to be in my heart and is a fairly close second place, but Science Fiction keeps sliding down, unless you count some of the novels that tow the line between Science Fiction and Horror. The annual statistical rundown of the nearly 97 books I read in 2025:

• 56 2025/current year releases 
• 1 2026 release 
• 41 reviews posted to SFFWorld (including the Halloween Countdown Reviews)
• 56 can be considered Horror
• 44 can be considered Fantasy
• 13 can be considered Science Fiction
• 21 books by authors new to me 
• 49 Books by women
• 10 total debut
• 17 audiobooks
• 1 Non-Fiction

So, without further adieu, below are the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2025. It was really tough to rank this group of books because there’s a very high level of quality and enjoyment across them all. Unlike our annual tally at SFFWorld, I’m not going to break these out by genre since a few of the novels can fit into more than one genre/category. I’ll start with my favorite overall novel, then go alphabetically by author’s last name. Oddly, the earliest last name in the alphabet on this list is “F.” Maybe I’ll note something additional about a few titles, too.

King Sorrow by Joe Hill

(Takes the top spot overall, it perfectly marries Horror and Fantasy)

Hill tackles a lot in this story and he is more than up to the task he sets for himself. One of the skills I most appreciate in a writer is when they are able to finely balance a story between epic and intimate. King Sorrow balances those elements very powerfully. We meet these characters at a critical time in their lives, young college-aged students (Gwen is a couple of years younger). For many people who attended college, decisions made at that inflection point of their lives – falling in love, deciding on a major which can direct a career path, friendships built – often to have lifelong affects. Many of my friends (myself included) met their wives when in college, many of those same friends or friends from that circle of friends, are in a job nearly 30 years later because of the path they started in college. Some of the decisions were great ones, others… well, those decisions especially when people aren’t fully mature and in desperate straits, can have negative impacts. Summoning a demon… or in this case, a dragon to help in a bad situation would qualify as life-changing, for certain. None of our heroes expected these decisions to be so long-ranging when they spoke the words that bound King Sorrow to them from the Long Dark.

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

(My Favorite Fantasy Novel of 2025, Top Debut of 2025)

 

Neema is a wonderful protagonist, richly drawn, empathetic, smart, vulnerable…human. Hodgson gave a point of view character who is thrust into a situation that is far beyond her comfort zone. She has no desires to sit on the throne, or compete in the tournament. Through her, we learn about the history of her nation, the magic of the world, and some secretive elements. ... The world-building is so well-done, it seems like Hodgson put a great deal of care and precision into all of the things readers don’t see on the page so that the events/characters/history readers do experience on the page feel natural and effortless. When you pare it down to the core / high concept, The Raven Scholar could be seen as Hunger Games meets murder mystery, plus courtly intrigue in a fantastical/magical setting. The Raven Scholar is full of tension on many fronts. But I won’t say too much more than that, it is very much one of those novels that works best without knowing too much about the pathways of its plot, discovering some of those revelations were wonderful. However, I feel this is a novel that would benefit quite well from a second reading.

 

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi 

This is the second novel I’ve read from Fracassi and it totally hooked me

In The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, Fracassi gifts readers with a most unique final girl in a most unique setting. The title gives away the setting and it can be surmised that our heroine Rose DuBois (in her 70s) may be older than the typical final girl. She is a delight and a joy to get to know..

This novel is far more than just a “Septuagenarian Slasher.” Case in point – Rose, I soon fell for her as a character, I loved her. A great writer gradually reveals layers of their story and characters and with Rose, Fracassi delivered a master-class in a slow reveal of the character. We knew what we needed to know about her when we knew it about Rose and when we knew more of her backstory it led to a wonderful, powerful reveal of just what an incredibly strong character Rose is. She kept her life history fairly close to the vest with the small circle of friends and acquaintances in Autumn Springs, just as she did with the readers.

 

Revelator by Daryl Gregory

 

I’ve read some stories as well as Gregory’s earlier novel (16 years ago!) The Devil’s Alphabet. Shame on me for not reading any of his work since that book because Revelator is an outstanding cult horror novel, one of the best I’ve ever read maybe. For me the highwater mark for that subset of horror is Todd Keisling’s Devil’s Creek and I’d say Revelator is on that level. Gregory does an incredible job of make place an integral character in the story, he crafts an empathetic, complex protagonist in Stella, but what he does with mounting dread and then a KICK-WHAM reveal is nothing short of amazing. My wife received this as a Christmas gift last year and said I need to read it and damn was she correct! I’ve seen the great Mother Horror singing this book’s praises for quite a while, too. I’m singing those praises, too. I read this in two days at the end of the year and the book screamed at me to include it in my favorite reads of the year, so here we are.

 

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison 

 

Rachel Harrison has been averaging a new novel every year and for me, each novel is an Event and Play Nice just might be her best yet.

I will be completely honest and up front here – on the surface of this book – a book about a social media fashion influencer being haunted – chances are I might pass on reading it. Just not something (a social media influencer as protagonist) that thought I would connect with (says a person who posts regularly on social media talking about books and beer – yes, I can be a hypocrite). However, the fact that Rachel Harrison wrote this book made it a must-read. I’ve come to trust her over the course of the last few years and she absolutely delivered something very special in Play Nice. That something special starts with Clio.

Rachel Harrison has become one of the defining voices of Horror fiction the last half-decade. 

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

    

Alix Harrow tells stories like almost no other writer, we fans of fantasy should be thankful she plies her trade in our genre. Carrying this compelling story is Harrow’s lovely prose, which acts as a comforting blanket that you know took skill and effort to craft. The story is more than just a gender-flipped King Arthur story. Of course those echoes are present, but heroism, love, avarice, addiction to power, and love are part of the story, too. Owen and Una are the hearts of this story and their hearts are connected. But there are two additional characters who form help to flesh out the story: Queen Yvanne from Una’s timeline and the ambitious Chancellor Vivian Rolfe from Owen’s time. 

If it isn’t clear by this point, I loved this novel.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

 

Somehow, Grady Hendrix gets better with every novel. Hendrix’s narrative style remains a strong point for his novels, easy-going prose, strong characters, relatable snarky descriptions. He does a lot of character building through the first third of the novel. The girls share their frustrations as well as physical and emotional with their situation. Miss Wellwood is built up as an easy to dislike antagonist, but as he always does, Grady allows empathy for his antagonist to seep in as the story moves through its phases. Supporting Miss Wellwood is the even-more insidious Doctor Vincent. While the emotional nastiness is on full display through that first third, don’t worry, there’s some gruesome nastiness once the witchcraft makes its presence known. Wellwood House reminded me a bit of Reverend Gardner’s Sunlight Home for boys in Stephen King & Peter Straub’s The Talisman.

The timeliness of this novel is hard to ignore. Even though it was initially slated for a mid-2024 publication, the current climate in the United States is … shall we say not very kind to women, women’s bodies, and women’s health.

 

The Will of the Many by James Islington

Confession time: When this book first published in 2023, I saw almost universal praise across the genre landscape of reviewers / book blogs / etc. I read the author’s first novel The Shadow of What Was Lost and didn’t connect with the book as much as I hoped I would. I also saw many, many comparisons to Red Rising by Pierce Brown, a novel that, to put it very mildly, did NOT work for me. Those two things gave me a bias against reading this book. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw about the novel and how my “trusted reviewers/readers in the genre” wrote about this book, I wanted to try it. I am damned glad I did because I was very impressive with this novel, as all those words I put to screen prior to this paragraph attest. For my reading sensibilities, I think a more apt comparison, or “If you like that, then you’ll like this” recommendation that Red Rising would be Kate Elliott’s The Court of Fives.

Veil by Jonathan Janz

Janz is no stranger to stories where people are abducted by strange creatures (Children of the Dark) or apocalyptic fiction (The Raven, Blood Country), these are also common themes of horror. Here in Veil; however, Janz has seemed to level up in his storytelling on multiple fronts and he is an even more assured writer at this point. … Ultimately Janz may have crafted an even more effective alien invasion apocalypse than readers (and film viewers) are accustomed to experiencing. … His character work has always been top tier for me, but the empathy he infuses in Veil is even more potent. Writers often put a great deal of themselves into the characters (it is impossible for them not to do so, I think): John Calhoun is a high school teacher and married father of a son and daughter, Janz is a high school teacher, married and has three kids. Janz is a fan of Stephen King as is our protagonist. I’m not saying this personal infusion is a bad thing at all, in fact, I think the parallels only enhance the story, lend even more emotional weight to the story.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Good Stab is an unkillable Indian who had a tussle with a Cat Man that should have killed him. But Good Stab did not die, he woke with a thirst and need for blood and, through his own words, takes many, many lives. The scene of Good Stab’s rebirth as a vampire is visceral, fascinating, and immediately iconic. There are other elements of vampirism Good Stab conveys that feel fresh and unique. The Vampire characteristics SGJ utilized in this world were constructed with careful consideration. These “traits” of SGJ’s vampire play out so well in the story and are just one facet of what makes The Buffalo Hunter Hunter such an incredible work. … There are some novels, they are rare I think, that as you turn the pages, you realize you are reading Something Special. That you’re reading maybe a game-changer of a novel, a Landmark Novel. I began feeling that way maybe one third or so through my reading experience of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

The Sundowner’s Dance by Todd Keisling

Keisling layers in the horrific and terrifying elements. I think getting older is a natural human fear, losing faculties, being alone, being taken advantage-of. Those three human fears are very much on display. Sundowner’s Syndrome is a real thin and it seems to make Alzheimer’s Disease tame. While I’m not near the age of Jerry, I’m closer to that age than I’d like to be and I won’t lie – I have thoughts about what my life will be like in 20-25 years. (Just writing that gave me a chill). At one point, The ‘Burbs (Joe Dante’s cult 80s movie featuring Tom Hanks and Bruce Dern) is called out and it feels pretty appropriate, even if the events in The Sundowner’s Dance eventually worms its way into my consciousness as a much more creepy-crawler horror novel.

The Stand: Complete and Uncut by Stephen King (audiobook)

It can be very much worth revisiting the books that shaped you. It is even more rewarding when you aren’t visited by the Suck Fairy and that book is even better than you remember it being. With the anthology The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand publishing in 2025, I figured I was far, far overdue for a re-read of the classic post-apocalyptic novel. Listening to Neil McRobert, Nat Cassidy, and Chris Panatier talk about the book on their read through of The Dark Tower and adjacent novels further convinced me and let me tell you some happy crappy, I am sure glad I re-read the book. M-O-O-N that spells glad.

For this re-read (2nd or 3rd, if you count the original uncut) I consumed it via audio book as read/performed by Grover Gardner and it was maybe one of the best audiobook experiences I’ve ever had. I knew I enjoyed the book, why else would I have re-read it multiple times? But the last time I read it was maybe 30 or so years ago just before the amazing TV adaptation by Mick Garris aired. This novel has some of King’s best character work and some of the bets character work of any novel I’ve read. It is a classic and should be given serious consideration as The Great American Novel of the 20th Century. I think in past readings, I may have connected most with Stu, but I think this time around, Nick was my guy. I wasn’t that big of a fan of Larry in past readings, but I found his journey and maturation very, very rewarding. Not going to lie, when Grover read the line, “And that’s how they met Ralph Brentner” I may have teared up. All the old friends were getting together again! I am probably not going to allow three decades pass before reading this one again.

The Martian Contingency (A Lady Astronaut novel) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Throughout these novels, Kowal backs her story with solid science – she consults with Astronauts after all. Nothing posited seems far-fetched. As the time of the series gets farther away from the meteor strike that started everything and closer to our current day, some of the “headlines” about current Earth events that preface each chapter resonate with our current world. On one hand, that’s still almost 60 years separating the publication date of the novel and time in which the novel is set. On the other, science (especially as it relates to space travel and habitation) has been forced to advanced at a different pace than our own world, so the political climate of the novel resonating with our world isn’t too big a leap. What keeps these novels going; however, are the characters and Kowal has crafted extremely charming characters in Elma, Nathaniel, Leonard, Nicole, Parker (it was unexpectedly nice to see him return) as well as all the others. There was a scene towards the end the end of the novel that I found very believable: Elma is a problem solver, she’s always trying to make things right. Her role is somewhat reversed and somebody else is leading an initiative and had to put Elma in her place. It was a genuine moment and the kind of interaction I’d expect to see between trusted colleagues and friends.

The Dragon in Winter (Kagen the Damned #3) by Jonathan Maberry

It has been a nice challenge to get through any given year in the recent past without me reading a novel by Jonathan Maberry, he is so incredibly prolific. A standout from him (and overall in my reading journey in 2025) was the finale to his Cthulhu Epic Fantasy saga, set 50,000 years in our future. There were some interesting twists along the way and damn does Maberry know how to bring a series to a satisfying conclusion.

The Demon Awakens (DemonWars, Book 1) by R.A. Salvatore

Sometimes, it is a nice change of pace to go back to a classic, or at least a novel/work people consider classic. I’ll admit to some hesitancy, as a very, very seasoned fantasy reader, to take a look at this 25-year old epic fantasy novel that has garnered varied opinions over the years. … I was swept away by the novel, by Elbryan’s journey with the elves as he became a true Hero. I was pulled into Pony’s (a.k.a. Cat) plight as she relearned who she was. I was taken aback by the change Avelyn made from his initial introduction as devout monk to powerful, almost jovial cleric. I found the centaur Bradwarden to be a refreshing character. The friendship and camaraderie that developed between these characters felt genuine and real. … I am very, very happy I finally dove into this series. I’ve been knee deep in horror the past few years (more than 50% of what I’ve been reading), especially most recently so I was happy to dive into a novel like this, something that hit the familiar notes of epic fantasy I enjoy so much, along with some unexpected nuances, told with a very engaging pace. Had I picked up these books when they were first published when I was first getting into The Wheel of Time, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams, and The Farseer by Robin Hobb, I suspect I'd hold them in very high regard, at least based on how much I enjoyed The Demon Awakens.

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor (audiobook)

The Gathering is the second novel I read by Tudor and it worked very, very well for my reading sensibilities. Tudor builds tension and suspense very powerfully throughout the narrative. She also elegantly marries crime fiction with horror since this is a vampire novel. I think there may be a sequel in the works, I hope so because I thought Tudor's take on the vampire was intriguing and a foundation for many stories to be told. This was an audiobook consumption and I thought the narrator, Lorelei King delivered a great performance.

Honorable Mentions

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha #1) by Tomi Adeyemi – An enthralling African-inspired young adult Epic Fantasy. I picked up the first book at NY Comic Con in 2024 and because of how much I enjoyed it, snagged book two at NY Comic Con in 2025. 

The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry was one another awesome novel from Henry, who has been reliable for releasing a stellar horror novel every year for the past few years. This one packs a lot of heart and emotion. 

Alison Gunn’s Nowhere, is her debut novel and a very gripping, powerful folk horror novel. I don’t think I’ve ever been this compelled to continue reading a novel featuring a protagonist I disliked so much. Some terrif, creepy scenes in this novel. 

Chuck Wendig continues his streak of superb horror novels with The Staircase in the Woods, which hit on a lot of great cylinders for me. There’s the young kids being friends vibe like Stand By Me but it certainly takes a turn up the stairs to something dark. I loved this book.

In Search of Darkness: 1980s Horror Documentary Trilogy

I’ve been a horror fan for years, I cut my reading teeth on Stephen King, just as many “children of the 80s” did, as well as early Dean Koontz and Robert R. McCammon. I sort of skipped all the Goosebumps and Christopher Pike books, I was already on King early in my middle-school years and maybe even before that.

From a TV perspective I remember the show Tales from the Darkside with great fondness, too and the fact that it isn’t available a streaming service like Shudder boggles my mind. As relates to this post, specifically, I also was a fan of the horror movies of the 1980s. Movies like An American Werewolf in London, Gremlins, Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce were movies I often returned to during my formative years. I remember being drawn to the video cassette boxes at my local mom & pop video store, Video Unlimited in Linden, NJ for many rentals. In those days, there was no Blockbuster Video, just mom and pop stores capitalizing on the home video craze.

Fast-forward a few decades and I learn of the documentary, In Search of Darkness and I’m intrigued. When I learned that the horror streaming service Shudder had rights to air it on their service, I signed up for the service. I’d wanted to sign up for Shudder for a while, but for whatever reason, the app wasn’t available in my smart TV and was eventually made available through Prime Video via amc+. This was January/February 2021 and I was recovering from shoulder surgery so there wasn’t much I could do except sit up straight. The first installment of the In Search of Darkness was an absolute delight. This documentary, like the best of them, was clearly a passion project for the creators. It was so much fun reliving some of those classic movies that are now much more readily available thanks to streaming services. It was wonderful to get both insider perspective on the movies from the people behind the scenes (actors like Hellraiser’s Doug Bradley, directors John Carpenter and Joe Dante, 1980s Scream Queen Barbara Crampton) as well as fans/media personalities like Phil Nobile, Jr. (Fangoria’s Editor-in-Chief Cinnemascre’s James Rolfe (f.k.a The Angry Video Game Nerd) and Daily Dead News’s managing editor Heather Wixson.

A few months later, the second installment of In Search of Darkness landed on Shudder after a successful crowd-funding campaign. The first installment shone its lens on the more well-known horror films like An American Werewolf in London, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Fright Night, and Pet Sematary that have entered the larger public consciousness with some smaller films like Dolls and Night of the Creeps thrown into demonstrate the breadth of the genre. 

In Search of Darkness Part II highlights some of the lesser-known films, or rather, the films that most horror-junkies know and might be considered cult classics. Movies like EvilSpeak, C.H.U.D., and Night of the Demons. If the first installment was something of a reminiscence and films to revisit, this second part was very much a “To Watch” list. As I said, with so many streaming services, many of these films can be found with a few clicks of the remote control. The creators also expanded some of the “panelists” / talking heads for this installment and more of the filmmakers including Nancy Allen (Carrie, Dressed to Kill), filmmaker Jackie Kong (Blood Diner), and one of my favorite professional wrestlers of all time, Chris Jericho!

Of course, a third installment would have to happen, right? Well, a crowd funding campaign through Kickstarter made sure that would happen. From past experience, I had a pretty strong feeling Shudder would eventually be airing the third installment, so I commenced a re-watch of the first two installments….all 9-ish hours of the first two volumes.

February 2023 rolls around and I'm finishing my re-watch of In Search of Darkness II and the third installment is about to release to Shudder. On Valentine’s Day, my wife gifted me something on a piece of paper… “Nothing says love like a nice cozy night or two or three or 666” along with an image of the three-disc set. She had the link to watch online, but I wanted to wait for the Blu-Ray to arrive. 

A big focus for the third installment was home video and some of the movies that were direct to video. While the first installment covered some of the "video nasties" elements of 1980s horror, there was more of a deep dive into people like Charles Band of Media Home Entertainment, Empire Pictures (Ghoulies), and Full Moon Features (Puppet Master) and quite obscure movies like The Video Dead and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. Some very obscure (to American audiences, at least) films were featured as well, like the Canadian film Things, Japan's Guinea Pig: The Devil's Experiment, and Italy's Hell of the Living Dead.

All told, the In Search of Darkness is a masterpiece, a piece of media lovingly created, meticulously detailed, and just pure fun. One hand hand, it is a lens to the past, on the other it can be seen as an elaborate curation of movies to watch. Seek it out if you are a horror fan, horror curious, or simply want to experience an exceptionally well-made documentary.

As for extras that came with the gift...

Not only did the Blue-Ray of In Search of Darkness III arrive, it came with the In Search of Darkness I and II and a nice slipcase for all three Blu-Rays, the three posters were part of the package. I got a sense that when they filmed the panelists for In Search of Darkness II the creators knew they were going to release a third installment. It is a common practice nowadays when film series are being made, so it shouldn't be a surprise, for example, when you see Chris Jericho in the same jacket and seat in both In Search of Darkness II and III. 

My wife also said for me to make sure that she’s awake when I watch the end credits.

You see, I acquired the nickname of ManBearPig a few years back and my wife wanted to make sure my name stuck out in the credits so she had them add me as Rob ManBearPig Bedford.

September 2022 Reading Round up

September proved to be a proflific and varied reading month for me. A few books I read were review books for SFFWorld: Ruination (the first prose novel set in the world of League of Legends) and It Rides a Pale Horse. Also, I read Full Immersion by Gemma Amor in August (as hinted last month), but the review posted in September. As of this post, those reviews are up at SFFWorld, but the excerpts of each are below. 

My SFFWorld colleague Mark Yon and I both received review copies of Ruination, we both enjoyed the book a great deal…and probably more than we expected: 

Reynolds has a great deal of experience in writing these kinds of books and he’s quite adept at relaying a lore-heavy world while also maintaining a well-paced story with developed characters. The primary characters manage to breath uniquely beyond the tropes in which they fit and the plot is fairly straight-forward. The details of the world relayed in the novel are just enough to keep the plot going for a relatively un-experienced League of Legends person like myself. 

On the other hand, I didn’t quite enjoy It Rides a Pale Horse:

Marino does some interesting things with his characters, at least Lark and his two companions, pens engaging dialogue, and has a knack for crafting some horrific, visceral scenes. Unfortunately, those elements – while strong – weren’t strong enough to carry through the portions of the novel that didn’t work for me. That dichotomy ultimately left me feeling frustrated with the novel.

Full Immersion by Gemma Amor was one of the most potent novels I've read this year:

Amor pours her soul into this novel, it is raw, full of emotion, and incredibly honest. That feeling comes through in every word of the novel, even outside of the forward. There’s a science fictional aspect to the novel with the Virtual Reality element, but a mounting dread both in the simulated environment and with the observers has the novel creeping and creeping towards horror. The bouncing between the observers and what Magpie was experiencing in VR made for a very gripping read, building tension on both sides that made it tough to set the book down. 

As for the non-review books, I read Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, the first the Burning Kingdoms saga and thought a very good silk road, epic fantasy. 

Potent themes, thrilling action, and fantastic character development. Set in Parijatdvipa, which is very much inspired by the legends and history of India, the novel focuses on the character of Priya, a servant in the household of the regent of the city state of Ahiranya. The other main character is Malini, a prisoner and sister of the emperor. The storyline of the two characters eventually intertwine making for a very satisfying novel. Great world-building, interesting magic, with enough closure for the novel itself, while also setting up a foundation for future novels. 

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a book I’ve been anticipating since I heard about it in January of this year (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. Charlie’s 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 there, too. I wouldn't be surprised if some Constant Readers will end up naming their dogs “Radar” in the future. 

In the end, I’d say that Fairy Tale is a top 5 or top 10 King novel for me, out of the near 50 or so books I’ve read by Sai King. This one is an instant classic.

The Last Stand of Mary Good Crow by Rachel Aaron is the first book in a new Weird-Western-Epic Fantasy series. Set in Medicine Rocks, Montana which is a hotbed for “Crystal” a mysterious substance discovered in 1866 which has since become the most valuable thing in the world. Crystal, unsurprisingly, is a magical substance that can speak to certain people. The Mary Good Crow of the title is a guide, helping would-be seekers of fortune find crystal in the mines. She is enlisted by Josephine Price, an heiress from Boston seeking to reinvigorate the company she inherited. Rounding out the trio of protagonists is Tyrel Reiner, who has connections to a lot of things happening in Medicine Rock. 

Like I said, the Crystal is highly sought after so many people are vying for control of the mines, which presents one of the novel's primary conflicts. Two strong elements make this book as enjoyable as it was: Aaron’s amazing world-building skills and the characters she creates. 

This was a fun one and a good start to a series. As with The Jasmine Throne, there is a decent amount of resolution in the novel, but The Last Stand of Mary Good Crow is definitely just the first of a series. 

Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo is a fascinating blend of urban fantasy, fairy tale, crime procedural, and mystery. These are all genres that can naturally meld together and Pelayo does an impressive job of placing the Pied Piper myth into modern day Chicago. The main character is detective Lauren Medina, whose father was also a police detective. Children are being brutally murdered and the only clue is a connection to the Pied Piper. Medina is an extremely well-constructed character, flawed, determined, and undeniably believable and real. The novel is also steeped in the dark history of Chicago. 

Unsurprisingly, this one takes some chilling turns on the way to the stunning conclusion. 

 

I just finished The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James a couple of days before this post went live so technically it could be either an "October" or "September" read. Either way 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.

Friday Round-Up: Hallowe'en Edition (Featuring Hill, Maberry, King, Priest, & Zelazny)

Time for a preemptive Friday Round-Up for Hallowe’en weekend, since the few books I’ve covered  recently have been very much horror, as has much of my October reading.

Earlier this week, my review of the audio version of Jonathan Maberry’s Patient Zero read by Ray Porter posted to SFFWorld. This is Maberry’s first Joe Ledger novel and I am hooked. I think this is the first series I'm going to "consume" audio-only.

Zombie stories are a dime a dozen, they come in all shapes and sizes and are very much a pop-culture phenomenon that have transcended the horror genre. Military Science Fiction is one of the most popular of subgenres of speculative fiction. Take those two great tastes, mash them up and add a wonderful amount of wit and you’ve got Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger novels, which begin with Patient Zero.

Maberry masterfully crafted the character of Joe Ledger, a tough-as nails, smart character who epitomizes what it means to be an ultimate “warrior.” While he is a rugged wise-ass, he doesn’t come across as a macho asshole, either. That trap is one many a writer/storyteller has fallen into, but Maberry assimilates many archetypical elements of the hero in his construction of Ledger. Joe is a guy you immediately want to have a beer with, want in your foxhole, and don’t want to piss off. His comradery with Rudy comes across as a friendship that has seen a great deal; his interaction with Church is entertaining for Joe’s wise-ass snark against Church’s dry humor; and his introduction / assumption of Echo Team leader is pure gold.

The next day, my first Completist column in a few months posted to SF Signal. In it, I gush about two novels that climbed very quickly up my top horror reads, Cherie Priest’s Borden Dispatches, a superb Lovecraftian duet:

Lizzie Borden and her axe is as much of an American myth as she is an historical figure, but what if those forty whacks she took were in self-defense against creatures that bore a stronger resemblance to H.P. Lovecraft’s aquatic Cthulhu monstrosities than her father and step-mother? That idea serves as the launch pad for Cherie Priest’s darkly delicious “Borden Dispataches,” which is comprised of Maplecroft and Chapelwood. Priest magically mixes historical figures and events with the horror of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos in an elegant concoction that seems so logical that it almost begs the question why hasn’t it been done before? Well, Priest’s storytelling skills and lyrical, completely convincing voice elevate these books to greatness.

..

The Borden Dispatches aren’t simply great horror tales (and they are at the top of the list of horror novels I’ve read in the past decade), but an examination of some less savory social structures. The primary protagonists are all women, with Lizzie/Lisbeth at *the* protagonist and inMaplecroft, her relationship with her lover Nance is central. Dr. Seabury, in his “diaries” expresses disapproval of such a relationship, but he is able to get past that and still help Lizzie. In Chapelwood, there’s a layered examination of the racism and gender bias of the day, Ruth’s marriage to a Puerto Rican man is not viewed kindly, and the aura of racism haunts Birmingham nearly as strongly as does the Lovecraftian monstrosities. Those two evils work quite well together under the roof of the Chapelwood Church.

In addition to those three books, I’ve spent much of my October reading on Horror. The fine folks at audible put together a marvelous audio adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key graphic novel series. (My favorite thing Hill has done and a top 5 all time comic/graphic novel series for me).

That one was free to audible members and will be for a few more days (until November 3), so I highly, highly recommend downloading it.

With my October audible credit, I went for a big, deep cut. A horror novel I read twice before, but many years ago (at least 20 years ago was the last time I read it). I’ve been wanting to revisit IT for a few years, but the piles of review books kept pushing it away, so I finally jumped back to Derry, Maine for Stephen King’s largest book, but with the shortest (and most un-Google-able title), IT. I am thoroughly enjoying it IT even if I can see some “issues” throughout (if Bill Denbrough isn’t Stephen King, then I don’t know what writerly character is)

Over the course of a couple of days, I read through Roger Zelazny's classic A Night in the Lonesome October and had a lot of fun playing the literary guessing game. Snuff might be a new favorite literary canine. 

In the end, this October for my All Hallows Reads, I revisited two big-time favorites and found two new writers whose backlist I need to go through.

Hallowe'en Reading 2014 - 'SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King

I have a long association with Stephen King’s fiction, as I may have mentioned in the past. I would say I’ve read about 80% of his novels and many of short stories, but before last week, one of the major oversights of his bibliography for me was his classic vampire novel ’Salem’s Lot. Well, that oversight has been “corrected,” to borrow a term from another of King’s work. In short, I enjoyed the hell out of the novel.

Cover of original US Hardback.
My dad has a copy of this.

As has likely been recounted about this novel, ’Salem’s Lot is King’s mash-up of Peyton Place and Dracula. Both novels are referenced in the text of ’Salem’s Lot: one character (Matt Burke) is remarked to remind the others of Van Helsing and Peyton Place is even called out by another character. After a brief prologue featuring Ben Mears and a young boy after the events of the novel transpire, King introduces the populace of Jerusalem’s Lot in a leisurely fashion. ‘Salem’s Lot (or The Lot), as the inhabitants call it, seem to know each other and each other’s business; the quintessential New England small town. Their everyday life is shaken up when visitors arrive: writer Ben Mears arrives looking to exorcise some past demons through writing a book and Straker & Barlow, two antique salesmen who arrive looking to set up a new shop. Ben and Straker & Barlow are both interested in the old Marsten house which overlooks the Lot to the point that Ben was going to rent it out until he discovered Straker & Barlow have taken up residence in what many feel is a haunted mansion.

Cover of the MMPB I read. I've
had the copy for at least a decade.

While some of the characters can be considered to lean towards cardboard cut-out territory, King gives a lived in, familiar, and quaint feel to the Lot. This is one of the novel’s strengths, its sense of place and initial comfort. The other strength is the subtlety and slow reveal of the terror hiding in the shadows, aside from the dog’s head on the pike early in the novel, of course. The subtlety is when the human characters interact with the vampire; there are more hints than description, allowing the reader to finish the scene with their own imagination. Though King can imagine terrifying things, it is this cooperative horror that proves to be so effective in ’Salem’s Lot.

Where the novel stumbles is two-fold and both of these I’ll generously attribute to the time the novel was published and the fact that it was King’s second published novel. The relative lack of female characters stood out to me. We have one primary female character – Susan Norton – and while it is through her eyes we initially see the novel she’s little more than a romantic entanglement used to drive Ben Mears through the plot and provide him tension and action. The only other truly (and fully) positive female character in the novel is Eva Miller, owner of the boarding house where Ben takes up residence during his time in the Lot. Most of the other women are portrayed in varying degrees from middling to quite negative.

The other stumble is some of the flowery early interaction, between Susan, her family, and Ben. I’ll chalk this up to being a novel of its time in how the characters talk. Susan and Ben fall for each other quite quickly and the language King uses to show them falling for each other reads as a bit put upon by today’s standards.

Some other points to note about ’Salem’s Lot:

• It is the first (of many) Stephen King novels to feature a writer as the protagonist
• King would return to similar themes, specifically small town with a dark cloud of monster(s) hovering: It, Needful Things, The Tommyknockers and to a lesser extent The Dark Half
• Tangentially, like Needful Things, ’Salem’s Lot features a small town disrupted by the arrival of a strange visitor
• Like IT, ’Salem’s Lot features a small town with some historically recurring darkness
• As the King constant reader knows, Father Callahan later shows up in the fifth Dark Tower novel, Wolves of the Calla
• I think part of the reason Needful Things has a lesser reputation in King’s bibliography might be because of how it echoes ’Salem’s Lot (I personally liked Needful Things but it has a special spot for me relating a great deal to when I read it, as I point out in that link at the top of this post).

My colleague (though we’ve never met, and I mean colleague in the sense that some of our writing appears at the same place) Grady Hendrix over at Tor.com wrote about ’Salem’s Lot as part of his Great Stephen King Reread. While he does make some points I can grok even if I don’t agree with them, one interpretive point I can’t agree with is his assessment of the Marsten House. He suggests there’s no real reason for Barlow and Straker to set up residence at the Marsten House. The answer, for me, is right there in the novel. Throughout the novel, characters remark that The Marsten House is a magnet for evil, ever since old Hubie Marsten lived there and committed horrific acts, supposedly demonic sacrifices, killing children, and killing his wife.

The other point on which Grady is also flat out wrong is the character of Mark Petrie; Grady makes Mark out to be something like Harold Emery Lauter when in fact, Mark is fairly well-adjusted and manages to take out the school bully early in the novel. This sort of informs us that Mark, coupled with his love and knowledge of horror/monster movies, is as well-equipped as any character in the novel to take out Barlow. Mark’s calculative methods prove very useful to the plot and if he were nerdy and off-putting, the two other kids we see in the novel (the Glick Brothers) would have been more hesitant to visit him. (Admittedly, Grady recants some of his thoughts on Mark).

I’ll split the hairs regarding Grady’s take on the one-dimensional hillbilly characterization of the ‘Lot’s inhabitants. Most of them don’t really stretch beyond their cliches, like that of a cheating spouse or an abusive mother, but those folks don’t need much more attention than their archetypes in this particular story for me. Again, I see Grady’s point here and can agree with it to an extent.

As for the adaptations of the novel, I watched the old TV miniseries once years and years ago. I hadn’t been aware of who James Mason was at the time, but now I want to rewatch it just for James Mason. I did not see the 2004 remake with the stellar cast of Rob Lowe, James Cromwell and Rutger Hauer but that interests me now, too.

’Salem’s Lot was an incredibly addictive read and I can understand why this helped to set King on the path of superstardom. I’m not sure exactly where it ranks against the other King novels I’ve read only because the later books I read were after he became a more polished writer and storyteller. All told, I really enjoyed the novel despite some of its flaws.

A post-script: Any and all King fans and Constant Readers should check out Grady’s reread project, there’s some good insight to the books in his articles and I’ve reexamined my own thoughts on some of King’s work.