Published July 12, 2022 by Tor Nightfire

What Moves the Dead is Kingfisher's retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher.”

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

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T. Kingfisher could write an encyclopedia that I'd want to read, so when I saw that What Moves The Dead was a revamping of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", I was giddy with excitement. Yes, giddy. I said what I said. Instead of a regurgitated version, Kingfisher has added her own reconception to Poe's short story and it's a doozy.

As with Poe, Kingfisher begins her tale with a first-person narrative. However, unlike Poe and his exceptionally vague male protagonist, Lieutenant Alex Easton is a genderqueer retired soldier friend of the female Usher—a deviation from Poe's who is a friend of the male sibling. Kingfisher has also made the addition of a female mycologist, an American doctor, as well as various townspeople, to complete the cast. Though I have to admit Angus, the Scottish personal assistant of Lt. Easton, was a personal favorite. 

Kingfisher always crafts her stories with creeping dread and from the beginning pages, she molds (pun not intended but in this case, highly appropriate) this inspired tale with care. The Usher property is blooming with nasty, foul-smelling mushrooms, the manor house is crumbling and filled with mildew and decay,  and the Ushers themselves are pallid skeletal things. None of that is anything new.  Oh, but the hares. If nothing else will give you the heebie-jeebies in this story, the hares will. You know that feeling you get while watching horror movies, where a person skitters around on all fours or jerkily ambulates—familiar but thoroughly alien? Kingfisher must dream of that feeling because she excels at writing the wrongness of things. 

It's like Kingfisher took a look at Poe's narrative and decided to complete all of the gaps, mapping out the dark corners and watery lake depths. She scaffolded onto the original with a light touch, melding some gratifying humor and wit with the expected gothic conventions. However, if you were a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic and Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, you'll be over the moon to know that this is also a fungal horror. Undeniably, Kingfisher gives us the answers to the questions that plagued us after finishing the original.  Poe's version left the reader with so many interpretations and very little solid evidence. Kingfisher doesn't wait for the House of Usher to break atwain; She lights it on fire and watches it burn. 

Exiled for a murder her father committed, Brigid Cleary has until midsummer to gather what she needs for readmission to her home in the fairy mound: a chest of stolen gold and a chest full of her father’s blood. With nothing but her own wits and an ability to be mostly unseen, she takes a position as a scullery maid in a country manor house, where stealing gold is easy as dusting the candlesticks.

When discovery of her thieving becomes likely, she scarpers, embarking on a madcap season in London. With midsummer fast approaching, Brigid must recoup her stolen gold in any way she can, even if it means modeling for a lecherous pre Raphaelite artist, posing as a young debutante to spy on other debutantes, and forming a clandestine Pugilism Club for Young Ladies.

With gold filling her pockets and her father newly released from prison, the path back to the fairies should be clear. Or would be, were it not for her growing feelings for Edmund, the gentle young lord who hired her to spy on his sister; her burgeoning sense of loyalty and friendship to Adelaide, the sister upon whom she was meant to spy; and the unsettling question of whether she should--or even could--bloodily avenge her mother’s death.

Inspired by the actual 1895 murder of Bridget Cleary by her husband Michael, the struggle for Irish Home Rule, and events surrounding the late pre Raphaelite artistic movement, The Revenge of Bridget Cleary has been heralded by author Joanna Ruth Meyer as "equal parts haunting, compelling, and thoughtful."

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What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?

I love fantasy and horror because they allow you to explore the meaningful by way of the impossible. 

What part of writing do you consider a chore?

It really depends on my mood. Sometimes I like editing better, sometimes I like drafting better, and sometimes they're both a total slog. Getting shiny new ideas and throwing them all onto paper, however, is always fun.

Did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

Yes. I learned so much about editing and different ways of looking at narrative. I'm really grateful to my writing friends and beta readers for making this story so much better. 

What's your favorite "bad review" that you've gotten?  

*knock on wood* I haven't gotten one yet! I've only had one three star review, and I couldn't even call that bad, as it was thoughtful and generous, and the reviewer also went on to recommend my book to forums on reddit that he thought would enjoy it more than him!

I'm still waiting for a truly scathing review. I feel like it is a rite of passage for authors. 

What comes first for you - the plot or the characters?

It really depends on the story. For The Revenge of Bridget Cleary, it was the plot. For the book I'm currently writing, it was the characters. For a book I'm hoping to write in the near future, it was actually the world building. 

Do you have any writing superstitions?

I don't know if it's so much a superstition as it is Pavlovian training, but I have the hardest time writing if I am anticipating getting interrupted by my children. I like to write a coffee shops while they're at school, or evenings in the library while husband is with them at home, because when I'm with them, even if they promise to give me 20 minutes, I'm constantly anticipating interruptions.

Is there a word you find yourself using too often when writing?

Modifiers. All the modifiers. 

A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there any songs you had on repeat? 

For The Revenge of Bridget Cleary, I really got into "Tell Me Ma," especially the cover by Gaelic Storm.

Do you have a favorite line that you've written? What is it and why do you like it?

"I love this. I love it all. The messiness, the uncertainty, the failure and the hunger. When you can live forever, time matters less. Triumph and failure all runs together like sunrises and sunsets—there are an endless supply of them. It doesn't work that way in the mortal world. You've only got so much time, and the press of what to do with that time. And then you die." 

Mortality is hard, and it's simultaneously comforting and terrifying that it's so temporary. 

What is something about the genre that annoys you?

In historical fiction, or historical fantasy, the assumption that "historical" must equate to "women in supporting roles only." Women have been shaping the course of history since the beginning of time, and I think it's important that we start challenging that assumption, centering their stories, and highlighting their remarkable achievements.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Please stop revising that one book over and over. Write new books, try new things. You can always come back to that project.

What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?

When you hear people talking about writing "rules" or writing advice, stick to the pirates' code. They're all just suggestions. One of your jobs as a writer is to weigh, measure, and experiment with other writer's input and figure out your own process. What helps you be more productive, what helps you love the process? Just because it works for Stephen King doesn't mean it's for everyone.

Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?

I do! I am nearly done drafting The Bee King, a 1920's Gothic Horror about a girl who accepts a marriage proposal from a mysterious beekeeper/ honey baron to save her family. 

Of course, things are not what they seem, and the strange Beekeeper's plans for her are not what she was expecting.

Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?

I like to write duos that are foils to each other--the serious and careful character thrown in with the chaotic, disorganized anarchist. 

Characters are the most fun when they play off each other.

Would you and your main character get along?

Probably!

Killing off characters your readers love - Risky or necessary?

Necessary.

Did any of your characters surprise you while you were writing?

Yes. All the time.

You've watched a movie 50 times and you still aren't tired of it. What movie is it?

Knives Out

Which animal (real or fictional) would you say is your spirit animal and why?

Platypus. Nonsensical, harder to categorize, but totally here and  living my best life. 

Would you rather live in a haunted mansion or a cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures?

Cottage. I love mansions but don't want the upkeep.

What would you say is your weirdest writing quirk?

I mutter dialogue when I'm planning it. 

Using only emojis, sum up your book.

 🔥🌸🧚‍♂️🗡💀

You've just gone Trick or Treating. 

What do you hope is in your bag? 

What do you pawn off on your kids/SO/random stranger?

I want: Almond Joys I pawn off: Jolly Ranchers

What is in your internet search history (researching for your book) that you would want someone to wipe if you were under suspicion from the police?

How much blood do you have to lose before dying?

You wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. What was it?

I'm back in contact with some people that, in real life, I've gone no contact with. If ever there was a sign that no contact is good, maybe it's that one!

What cliched tattoo would your main character have?

Her mother's name on her arm.

What movie completely scarred you as a child?

Silence of the Lambs. I saw it when I was 12, and it was...a lot

What's the strangest thing a fan (or other author)  has said to you?

Someone on Goodreads called The Revenge of Bridget Cleary a masterpiece. I mean, I worked very hard on that book and I am proud of it, but that one still definitely took me by surprise!

If animals could talk, which one would be the rudest?

Cats.

Your main character is at the hardware store. What do they buy?

A shovel.

Which of the Golden Girls is your personality most like?

I've actually never seen the show!

If you were bitten and changed, would you want it to be by a vampire or a werewolf?

Werewolf!

You're riding through the desert on a horse with no name. What are you going to call it?

Fletcher. He's a chubby palomino and I love him.

What are your SM links? Can we follow you and pretend we're besties? 

Yes!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MathildaZeller

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mathildazellerauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MathildaZeller

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mathildazellerauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22669904.Mathilda_Zeller

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/mathilda-zeller

Mathilda Zeller has inhabited 2 continents, 3 countries, 11 of the United States, and 18 towns. Don't ask her where she's from; it's complicated.

She endeavors to make you lose sleep with fantasy and horror stories and currently makes her home in the Midwest with her husband, six children, and two cats.

Published November 22, 2022 by Brigids Gate Press, LLC

Betrayal brings grave ending to a noble bloodline. Forced to flee, its sole surviving heir is spared this fate by the timely intervention of a haunter of the wilds. In his charge, the maiden embraces the lore of the dark arts and rises to become the watch-keep of the woods. As decades pass, with her legend growing, the ‘witch of root and earth’ weaves subtle deceits in a tangled web of vengeance.

But will there be a fairy tale ending, or will poisoned legacies and pacts with dark forces see ambition unravel in her relentless pursuit of power?

Bloody, and brilliantly realised, Baird’s dark fantasy nightmare spins a lavish tale of dread, desire, and fantastical fury.

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Keith Anthony Baird is the author of The Jesus Man: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale of Horror (Novel), Nexilexicon (Novel), And a Dark Horse Dreamt of Nightmares (Book of Shorts), This Will Break Every Bone In Your Heart (Novelette) and Snake Charmer Blues (Short), and a psychological/horror novella titled A Seed in a Soil of Sorrow. His works can be found on Amazon and Audible. 

He is currently querying a dystopian/cyberpunk novella titled SIN:THETICA.

The Diabolica Britannica horror anthology was his brainchild, in which you'll find his own contribution Walked a Pale Horse on Celtic Frost. 2021 saw the release of the Diabolica Americana and HEX-PERIMENTS anthologies, the latter in partnership with author Ross Jeffery.

He lives in Cumbria, in the United Kingdom, on the edge of the Lake District National Park.

Find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kabauthor

Published September 27, 2022 by Tordotcom

In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies.

For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed.

In the frozen north, the Institute's body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron's castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again.

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Leech is a baffling gothic body-horror-filled affair and one in which, I was not totally sold...at first. Intrigued? You should be. It's most likely the most inscrutable read of my entire year (2022 that is). I started Leech initially thinking I was getting a drafty cold chateau set in a bleak snowy landscape with a parasite on the loose—and it delivered that but also much more. So much, in fact, that I initially gave up on it completely at a loss of what was occurring and resigned it to the DNF pile, but when I saw the audiobook, I decided to give it another shot. The narration was exactly what I needed to wade through the details and pique my interest again. 

When we first meet the doctor, they are arriving by train through a wintry desolate landscape to the frozen grounds of the Château de Verdira. It's the perfect gothic setting. The doctor has come after the death of the previous doctor to uncover exactly what caused the death. From there it only gets stranger. The doctor is part of the "The Institute" and has only just arrived, but seems to know all the inhabitants of the Château already. How is this? Well, that's part of Leech's charm. 

This book is dense. The language is stilted and the narrative constantly jumps; past, future, person to person, sometimes it's many voices at once in a strange mind share. The pacing is constantly speeding up and then slowing down. The setting seems primitive and yet the baron is kept alive by an innumerable amount of machinery, tubing, levers, and dials. There are talks of vestigial tails and a vendigeaux side by side with plastiophages and old nuclear plants. You get some answers, and more questions until it culminates in a fantastical ending. The trick of Leech is reading without the expectation to comprehend. It truly is dropping you in the middle of a myriad of things and tromping along until it makes sense in a very ah-ha manner. 

It's a curious beast of medical horror, sci-fi, and old-school gothic. It's body horror all wrapped up in existential dread and dubious bodily autonomy. It's vivid, disgusting things of mucous and fluids, of black tendrils and blood. It's a difficult read, but one where you get to the end, sit back and ruminate before deciding whether or not you truly enjoyed the read.  

Ah, New Year's Day.
The time to reminisce on the days past and look forward to a brighter tomorrow. The day that everyone promises themselves they'll do better, be happier, do MORE, and by the end of January that resolution is gathering dust in the closet with our rattling skeletons and those jeans from two sizes ago that we are holding onto "just in case".


As Billy Crystal said “New Year’s Day — now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
For this reason alone, I don't make New Year's resolutions. I know myself far too well. I'm a sprinter, not a marathoner. But like a good little optimist, I reloaded my Goodreads challenge with another 100 books for 2023. At least I know that reading is something I will stick with, unlike that promise to give up caffeine and sugar. (Sure, like that would happen.)


What about you? Did you make a resolution for 2023? If like mine, it's to read more books, I got you, fam. Get ready to pad your TBR, here are just a few of January's releases!

If you are looking for what's still to come, you can see the whole list for 2023 here.

If you have a book releasing this year and want to get on the list, click here and I'll get you added!

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AHH! That's What I Call Horror: An Anthology of '90s Horror

ed. Chelsea Pumpkins

 

Expected publication: January 1, 2023 by PIT

With fourteen horror stories set during the decade of flannel shirts and neon dolphin Trapper Keepers, Ahh! That’s What I Call Horror features a PHAT (pretty horrific and terrifying) collection of totally rad horror and weird fiction authors exploring the darker side of what many consider a time of relative peace and prosperity. With Communism falling and Clear Channel rising, the horror of the 1990s requires peeling back layers of safe, sanitized media to reveal the nightmares waiting beneath. When it comes to ‘90s horror, this is one anthology guaranteed to be all that and a bag of haunted chips.

You won’t need a dial-up connection to reach the beyond in this time-warp to the ‘90s. With undead grunge rock icons, menacing action figures, family sitcoms gone very wrong, and more: these terror tales will return you to the end of the old millennium.

How will you get back?
Like, who says you will?

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The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

Expected Publication: January 10, 2023 by Crooked Lane Books

T. Kingfisher meets Cassandra Khaw in a chilling horror novel that illustrates the fine line between humanity and monstrosity.

Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.

Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks, and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills, along with his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, is determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.

As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books. Thousands of books. Books without words.

As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.

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Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Expected publication: January 10, 2023 by Doubleday Books

In this gripping debut tinged with supernatural horror, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.

When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.

Night after night, Mackenzie's dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's untimely death: a weekend at the family's lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too--a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina--Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.

Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams--and make them more dangerous.

What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina's death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?.

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Briardark by S.A. Harian

Expected publication: January 16, 2023 by Compass and Fern

Survival and cosmic horror collide in this new series, perfect for fans of LOST and House of Leaves.

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But thirty miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out.

Then the body vanishes without a trace.

The disappearance isn’t the only chilling anomaly. Siena’s map no longer aligns with the trail. The glacier they were supposed to study has inexplicably melted. Strange foliage overruns the mountainside, and a tunnel within a tree hollow lures Siena to a hidden cabin, and a stranger with a sinister message…

Holden Sharpe’s IT job offers little distraction from his wasted potential until he stumbles upon a decommissioned hard drive and an old audio file. Trapped on a mountain, Dr. Siena Dupont recounts an expedition in chaos and the bloody death of a colleague.

Entranced by the mystery, Holden searches for answers to Siena’s fate. But he is unprepared for the truth that will draw him to the outskirts of Deadswitch Wilderness—a place teeming with unfathomable nightmares and impossibilities.

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The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Douglas Preston, 

Lincoln Child

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Grand Central Publishing

Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and now his greatest foe.

AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

Astoundingly, Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins, New York City in the late 1800s, leaping at the chance, although it means leaving the present forever.

A DESPERATE OPPORTUNITY

Constance sets off on a quest to prevent the events that lead to the deaths of her sister and brother. But along the road to redemption, Manhattan’s most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng, lies in wait, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

UNIMAGINABLE ODDS

Meanwhile, in contemporary New York, Pendergast feverishly searches for a way to reunite with Constance—but will he discover a way back to her before it’s too late?

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How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Berkely

Your past and your family can haunt you like nothing else… A hilarious and terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group.

Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.

When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.

Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.

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Bloodtooth by D.W. Hitz

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Fedowar Press, LLC

After nightmares begin in the small town of Custer Falls, Montana, in 1992, it’ll be thirty years before they end.

Just outside of Custer Falls, something is sleeping. Life in the small town was never ideal, but it was safe, quiet, and predictable. After Wes Henson and his friends' field trip to Bloodtooth Caverns, all of that changes.

All they did was stray off the path. They didn't expect to break their bones and discover an ancient relic. But once it's in Wes's hands, he's the one that has to put it back.

Until he does, the town's nightmares are no longer harmless. The good side of your conscience may go quiet as the devil on your shoulder speaks up. Children fall into comas, while adults are torn to pieces in their sleep.

If Wes and his friends want to survive, they'll have to conquer the waking world and the dreamscape.

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Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.

Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go.

Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own.

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Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Expected publication: January 24, 2023 by Redhook

A ghost-hunting reality TV crew gain unprecedented access to an abandoned and supposedly haunted mansion, which promises a groundbreaking thirteenth episode, but as they uncover the secret history of the house, they learn that “reality” TV might be all too real — in Bram Stoker Award nominated author Craig DiLouie's latest heart pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense.

Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. It’s led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin and features a dedicated crew of ghost-hunting experts.

 

Episode Thirteen takes them to Matt's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This crumbling, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about the bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also, undoubtedly, haunted, and Matt hopes to use their scientific techniques and high tech gear to prove it. 

But, as the house begins to slowly reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. 

  

A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, correspondence, and research files, this is the story of Episode Thirteen — and how everything went horribly wrong.

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River of Wrath by Alexandrea Weis, Lucas Astor

Expected publication: January 31, 2023 by Vesuvian Books

Leslie Moore is struggling to get through her last semester at St. Benedict High. Even her relationship with her boyfriend Derek is falling apart. But after receding floodwaters from the Bogue Falaya River expose the bones of a woman, Leslie becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer.

Sightings of an apparition haunting The Abbey send Leslie and her friends back to the scene of the horrors from last Halloween, but no one is prepared for what they find.

After a stranger—the handsome Luke Cross—arrives in town, another girl goes missing, and the sheriff suspects the newcomer is hiding something. Leslie believes the Devereaux family is connected to everything going wrong in St. Benedict. And she means to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.

Not all secrets can be kept silent. Some eventually find their way home.

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Published September 6, 2022 by Skyhorse

A scientific discovery of witches in fiction—Chilled Adventures of Sabrina, Sleeping Beauty, Wicked and so many more!

 

Kelly Florence and Meg Hafdahl, authors of The Science of Women in Horror and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, present a guide to the history of witchcraft through the stories and characters we all know and love. Reveal the spellbinding science behind the legends and lore surrounding fiction’s most iconic witches, answering such questions as: 

What is the science behind divination and spellcraft?

When did witchcraft begin to show up in literature and media?

Has science made it possible to uncover the truth behind the powers of necromancy and employing familiars?

How has witchcraft been thought of throughout the world?

Through interviews, film and literary analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, join Kelly and Meg as they learn about the complicated and rich science of witchcraft throughout the centuries and discover why now is the season of the witch!

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Winter Horror/Thrillers That Will Give You Chills

by meg hafdahl

As a horror author in both fiction and nonfiction, I consider it a vital piece of my job to

read within my genre. This is quite a clever way I’ve fashioned my favorite hobby into a

necessary part of my day. (If I do say so myself…) And while beach reading has its appeal, the

true season for bookworms like me is when the outdoors is less than hospitable. Winter. We can curl up under a comfy blanket, drink something hot, and if we’re feeling particularly drawn to aesthetic coziness; add in a furry pet or a crackling fire.

This is a list of some of my favorite wintery horror/thriller books that will make you even

more grateful to be inside, tucked away from the blizzard. Oh, and away from the creatures who lurk in the cold, darkened shadows, waiting for you to put down that book.

Snowblind (2014) by Christopher Golden

A recent read for me, Snowblind takes place in the idyllic town of Coventry, Vermont

where twelve years earlier a curious number of townspeople died in a brutal blizzard. Now, those who lost loved ones come to realize that the storm is coming back their way.

What I loved most about this novel is that there is a diverse array of characters, similar to

the Castle Rock novels of Stephen King. It also reminded me of one of my favorite small town, supernatural novels; The Missing by Sarah Langan. I am such a fan of the small town horror, I wrote a three-part novel series starting with Her Dark Inheritance (2018) that takes place in ALL the seasons!

In Snowblind, every person in Coventry is well drawn by Golden, making me care

whether they survive through this monstrous storm. Emphasis on monster. I also recommend the winter in Siberia folk-horror written by Golden, Road of Bones (2022), if you want to feel even colder!

Dead of Winter (2018) by Kealan Patrick Burke

Burke is one of my favorite contemporary horror authors. He has written some of my

recent favorites like the depraved though poignant novel, Kin (2012), and he’s taken on other seasons like in his short-story collection Dead Leaves (2018). Also a book of short stories, Dead of Winter is a great way to become accompanied with Burke’s work. His vivid prose makes you feel like you are in the snow with his doomed characters. With Christmas-themed stories you will surely feel the holiday spirit. (Though that spirit might be less jolly and more a manifestation of evil hiding beneath your twinkling tree!)

The Winter People (2013) by Jennifer McMahon

Okay, I have to admit it. I read this book at the height of summer, on a family trip to

Disney World no less! But, McMahon’s talent for creating that chilling, pervading sense of dread made for a thrilling experience, even when I was sweating from Florida’s humidity.

In The Winter People there is yet another small town in Vermont plagued with mysterious deaths. My favorite aspect of the novel is that we jump from 1908 to present day and back again, creating a fascinating world punctuated with violence, madness, and shocking twists.

I’m a big fan of historical horror, and even wrote a short story collection that focuses on

“antique” tales. All stories take place throughout history, before the 1950s. Check out my book Twisted Reveries III: More Tales of the Macabre (2021) if you like your horror old and dusty!

Rock, Paper, Scissors (2021) by Alice Feeney

Set in rural Scotland in a snow storm, a troubled couple comes to realize that someone is

creeping into their cabin to leave clues from their past.

Popular on “BookTok” Rock, Paper, Scissors found its way to me after I watched dozens

of TikToks singing its praises. I knew before reading it that the novel had a shocking twist. So, from the first page I was already working my best Hercule Poirot skills, trying to basically ruin the experience for myself by figuring out the twist. The joke was on me, because try as I might, I didn’t figure it out, or any of the other twists, and had to admit Feeney did a masterful job of planning out a macabre story that, prolific reader that I am, bested me! I would recommend this book to readers who are less horror more domestic thriller fans. It’s a must read that will make you grab your snuggly blanket closer and wonder if you even know that person you’re married to…

There are so many more wintery horror and thriller books you can binge on this season.

And binge you must, as this nasty weather basically forces us to read. If you’re going to brave the cold outdoors (to a local independent bookstore, or a library) just make sure you keep an eye out for hazards. I’ve learned a lot from these books and others about what could be waiting for you in the snow.

And, no…I’m not talking about ice on the road.

Horror and suspense author Meg Hafdahl is the creator of numerous stories and books. Her fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror and Eclectically Criminal. Her work has been produced for audio by The Wicked Library and The Lift, and she is the author of two popular short story collections including Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre. Meg is also the author of the two novels; Daughters of Darkness and Her Dark Inheritance called “an intricate tale of betrayal, murder, and small town intrigue” by Horror Addicts and “every bit as page turning as any King novel” by RW Magazine. Meg, also the co-host of the podcast Horror Rewind and co-author of The Science of Monsters, The Science of Women in Horror, The Science of Stephen King and upcoming The Science of Serial Killers, lives in the snowy bluffs of Minnesota.

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Published December 6, 2022 by Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC

The parents knew it had been a mistake to have a girl. At birth, the girl's long, elegant fingers wriggled and grasped forward, motioning to strangle the very air from her mother's lungs. As she grew older, she grew more like her father, whose ancestors would dream of those soon to die. She walked and talked in her sleep, and her parents warded themselves, telling the girl that she was evil, unlovable, their burden to bear only until her eighteenth birthday released them.

The average person on the streets of Los Angeles would look at the girl and see a young woman with dark chocolate eyes, curly long hair, and tanned skin of her Filipina heritage. Her teachers praised her for her scholarly achievements and extracurricular activities, from academic decathlon to cheer.

The girl knew she was different, especially as she grew to accept that the other children's parents didn't despise them. Her parents whispered about their pact as odd and disturbing occurrences continued to happen around her. The girl thought being an evil demon should require the skies to bleed, the ground to tremble, an animal sacrifice to seal the bargain, or at least cause some general mayhem. Did other demons work so hard to find friends, do well on their homework, and protect their spoiled younger brother?

The demon was patient. It could afford to wait, to remind the girl when she was hurt that power was hers to take. She needed only embrace it. It could wait. The girl's parents were doing much of its work already.

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Victory Witherkeigh is a female Filipino/PI author originally from Los Angeles, CA, currently living in the Las Vegas area. Victory was a finalist for Wingless Dreamer’s 2020 Overcoming Fear Short Story award and a 2021 winner of the Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Short Story Contest. She has print publications in the horror anthologies Supernatural Drabbles of Dread through Macabre Ladies Publishing, Bodies Full of Burning through Sliced Up Press, and In Filth It Shall Be Found through OutCast Press. Written during NaNoWriMo, Victory’s first novel, set to debut in December 2022 with Cinnabar Moth Publishing, has been a finalist for Killer Nashville’s 2020 Claymore Award, a 2020 Cinnamon Press Literature Award Honoree, and long-listed in the 2021 Voyage YA Book Pitch Contest. Find out more about her at: https://teikitu.com/