Published October 3, 2023 by Tor Nightfire B estselling authors Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey have teamed up to deliver a dark new stor...
Review || The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
Published January 16, 2024 by Delacorte Press A teen girl and her family return to her mother's childhood home, only to discover that ...
Book Review || A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat
Published January 16, 2024 by Delacorte Press
I'm so excited that the time changed. I hate feeling so tired when it's dark outside and it's only 6pm. I'm looking forward ...
This Month in Horror || March 2024
Of course the house is haunted.
Button House has stood for generations, digging its roots and its rot deeper and deeper. Button House would consume all who approached: twin brothers, a child bride, an innocent baby, four young factory workers.
And then came Rose Billings, who had an affinity with the house no other did. Rose, who could hear the house and the pleas of its many ghosts. Rose, who would attempt to solve the mysteries of Button House, or die trying.
Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive.
It isn’t easy when she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he’s practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone—including her blandly docile husband and two kids—falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet.
The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails—the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself.
(Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)
Published August 20, 2024 by HarperCollins Publishers T he Edgar Award–winning author of A Dreadful Splendor blends mystery and spooky thri...
Book Review || The Third Wife of Faraday House by B.R. Myers
Published August 20, 2024 by HarperCollins Publishers
'Til death do us part...
November 1816: Restless but naïve Emeline Fitzpatrick is desperate to escape her stifling life in foggy Halifax. Her guardian is lining up repugnant suitors, but Emeline has her eyes set on a handsome lieutenant in the British navy. She just needs to persuade him to propose, or her one chance at happiness will be gone forever.
But when Emeline’s hopes end in scandal, she finds herself with only one suitor left: the wealthy and enigmatic Captain Graves. Having already lost two wives to tragic circumstances, the unfortunate widower is seeking a new companion in his cloistered seaside manor, Faraday House. Or at least that is what Emeline had been told, because when she arrives, she is horrified to discover that the second Mrs. Graves, Georgina, has not yet died.
Emeline is only certain of two things: something ghastly is afoot at Faraday House, and no one is going to save her. She will have to rely on her own courage, her burgeoning bond with the ill but strong-willed Georgina, and the aid of a handsome reverend with a mysterious past to unravel the secrets at the heart of the manor and forge her own destiny.
Published November 28, 2023 by Starwatch Press T he faeries of Witchwood Manor have stolen its young lord. His governess intends to steal h...
Book Review || The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
Published November 28, 2023 by Starwatch Press
How is freaking January almost over!! I can't believe it's the 21st already. This month has pretty much been a wash too. I got sic...
This Month in Horror || February 2024
Published October 31, 2023 by Tor Nightfire N at Cassidy is at his razor-sharp best again with his horror novel Nestlings, which harnesses ...
Book Review || Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Published October 31, 2023 by Tor Nightfire
Published September 10, 2021 by Omnium Gatherum The Scream Teens are hired to raise the dead as the necro-tainment for a zombie cruise, and ...
Guest Post || Accurately Portraying Mentally Ill Characters by Nzondi
Published September 10, 2021 by Omnium Gatherum
accurately portraying mentally ill characters
by Nzondi
- Having depression doesn’t mean your character can’t still have fun or laugh or be social.
- A character who has bipolar disorder may have manic episodes or they may not. Bipolar disorder has a spectrum of symptoms from moderate depression to severe.
- No one who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called split personality) would kill someone when they are in one of their alter personality states unless the core personality would also kill.
- Your character would not have amnesia after killing someone. The disorder is rare, and some medical professionals don’t believe it exists at all, so be careful using it.
- Talking about suicide does not mean your character will push the person into attempting suicide. It was already on their mind.
- Your characters don’t stop hearing voices immediately after taking anti-psychotic medication.
- Sometimes, they won’t stop at all. It may take weeks to months for the meds to work. If they are having a psychotic episode, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to function in their daily lives by going to school, work, maintaining a romantic relationship, or maintaining any relationship. Psychotic patients are not dangerous. Are there exceptions? Yes. But as a general rule, they aren’t.
- In conclusion, one of my biggest takeaways from researching horror writing for Mental Health Awareness Month was some of the things we shouldn’t do.
- For example, unless your character is politically incorrect, don’t describe suicide as an “epidemic”, “skyrocketing,” or other exaggerated terms.
- Use words such as “higher rates” or “rising.” Don’t describe suicide as “without warning” or “inexplicable.”
- Do convey that the character exhibited warning signs.
- Don’t refer to suicide as “unsuccessful” or “failed attempt,” or report it as though it were a crime. Do say, “died by suicide,” “killed him/herself,” and instead of presenting the act like a crime, write about suicide in your story as a public health issue.
Published December 11, 2023 by Fractured Mirror Publishing No full moon. No silver bullets. No chance. A young man named Tom Daniels is kidn...
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