If the pages of this gruesome horror dystopia could make sounds, they would include the following: SNIP SNIP, AHHHH!, FFFFFFFT, PEW PEW, SHLUNK, PLOP, PBBBT, SNIFF SNIFF, CREAAAAAAAAAK, AHHHHHHH!, SWOOOSH, MMMM, CHOMP, HA HA HA, DRIPDRIPDRIP, AHHHH!, and SPLAT SPLAT.
Palahniuk loves to tell the story of listeners fainting during live readings from this collection. While the imagery throughout the stories is intense, what's more impressive is the flawless structure delivered over and over again. While this book may look like it belongs in the horror section, it is actually a prime example of transgressive fiction at its best. It is crafted with expert pacing and subject matter that will leave you truly, Haunted.
This "certain dark thing" broke through my reading slump, and made me excited about reading again. Set in a "neon noir" Mexico City where vampires hide from Sanitation sweeps, a modern detective with a Van Helsing reputation gets swept up in a blood drenched turf war, and somewhere, a dreamy young garbage picker rides the subway across from a beautiful ... woman. I got swept away—along with Domingo, Atl, and a worldly melange of mythologies—into a world of drug cartels, vampire clans and romance.
Final girls, red herrings, revenge plots, grisly deaths, casual sprinklings of references to Scream and Hellraiser - what more do you need from a book? Maybe just a perfectly sarcastic, horror-trope obsessed, chain-smoking heroine to take you along for the ride through her quickly gentrifying small town and the mysterious slasher terrorizing all its inhabitants.
Dark academia and murder and witches, oh my! Felicity Morrow feels ready to return to school after a tragic accident, but when she finds herself tangled up with the elusive teen prodigy Ellis Haley, Felicity will have to face the darkest parts of herself before moving on. Between the atmospheric setting and gorgeous writing, I couldn't put this book down. Part fantasy, part thriller, A Lesson in Vengeance is guaranteed to lure you in and keep you entranced.
Let me introduce you to Brian Evenson. He can write in nearly every genre imaginable. He's the Rod Serling of books, guiding you through moral tales of ecological horror, the violent history of American religion, the monstrous, self-destructive nature of our species. Booksellers, critics, hard-boiled genre writers, and the snooty upper echelon of literary novelists speak about Brian Evenson in hushed, reverent tones. He never misses.
Perhaps the most perfect creepy book for middle schoolers that I have ever read. Sisters Winnow, Mayhap, and Pavonine live in the strange, otherworldly Straygarden Place surrounded by tall, interminable, antagonistic grass. When eldest Winnow abruptly leaves the security of the house, she returns with an acute delirium and begins to turn the same sickening silver as the grass itself. Chewins writes Mayhap's increasing paranoia and the growing sentience of Straygarden Place with such easy, vivid poetry that readers will find themselves utterly transported into this twisty, turny, and unpredictable tale.
This crime-horror-fantasy is set in the dark swamps of Arkansas, where evil men and an ancient creature are restless with their own dangerous desires. Miranda Crabtree, a quiet and haunted ferrywoman for a ruthless cartel, keeps her head down and avoids colliding with anyone outside of her secret found family. But when an unexpected package is delivered to her boat, a series of events are set off over the course of 48 hours, including but not limited to Slavic bathhouse demons, squished eyeballs, and vengeful house spirits.
Mariana Enriquez brings the senses alive with her descriptions of the putrescent. Her addicting stories read like freshly unearthed urban myths and legends, full of yearning, filth and witchcraft. They make me feel gross and I love them for it. I haven't been this excited about a book in quite some time, and I will greedily consume anything she produces in the future.
This book meets LOVECRAFT COUNTRY meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. You can read this in one sitting but fair warning, you will want more.
