A Nigerian-American police detective named Chioma visits her grandmother and grand-auntie in Nigeria. A strange and injured boy invites her to play tag during a rain storm. But it is what happens After the Rain that drives the plot of this multi-layered tale. First it was the smell. Then theContinue Reading
Marianne is spicing up her retirement by taking a 24-hour booze cruise from Sweden to Finland and back alone. She is quickly picked up by fellow passenger, Goran, in the waiting lounge. YOLO, lol! Too bad she didn’t notice the book’s title is Blood Cruise. That does sound a bitContinue Reading
Finally I found the perfect creepy and atmospheric book I’ve been looking for all week. The Hollow Places updates Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows, published in 1907, for modern readers. “Pray They Are Hungry” Kara, nicknamed Carrot, moves in with her uncle Earl in his taxidermy-filled Wonder Museum. She is helpingContinue Reading
It’s Halloween and I’m ready for something scary! The Witch and the Beast 1 does have a witch, more than 1 beast, & a weirdo who carries a coffin on his back like a backpack. However, it unfortunately failed horribly with the scary heebie jeebies. The first witch we meet,Continue Reading
Monsters are suddenly able to come out of the darkness in The Last Halloween. Will one spunky ten-year-old girl named Mona be able to save herself along with all of humanity? Mona’s father has gone to a party in a dress and a mustache leaving her alone in their house.Continue Reading
A stunningly beautiful retelling of the classic Phantom of the Opera story in a graphic novel format. Most people know the plot. A horribly disfigured man helps a young women become a famous opera singer from behind the scenes. Is he a ghost? A madman? Or just in love withContinue Reading
It’s that time of year when everyone wants a jolt of Tiny Nightmares. There is no easier way to get ready for Halloween than reading one or more of these super short horror stories in the dark before bed! From climate change to a subway rat to mother’s milk, theseContinue Reading
When Agatha dies, everyone has their eyes on her will. However, the bizarre terms will make it difficult to collect what they “deserve”. It seems everyone tries to kill everyone using extremely gory methods. In Dead End Drive, the last person alive wins the estate when the lawyer arrives theContinue Reading
Part parody, part homage, and fully camp, the Snifter of Terror Vol 2 is great for Poe fans that can take a bit of friendly ribbing. It’s the Mad Magazine of Poe. There are graphic short stories, prose short stories, and poems within these pages. Some are mashups of moreContinue Reading
If you found a mysterious black void in your apartment house, what would you do? That is The Cipher facing Nicholas and Nakota. I don’t think I would name it a Funhole. But that might just be me. Nakota decides to place a jar full of insects on the lipContinue Reading
Teenage Erica has an ultra-religious family. She also has night terrors and/or sleep paralysis, where she imagines a demon is after her. When the family moves to a new town, Erica has The Watcher as her next-door neighbor. Is he just a pervy peeper or does he want something more?Continue Reading
Venus in the Blind Spot is an excellent horror manga story collection that is highly recommended for its original plots. Someone is killing the young people in Japan! Killing, undressing, and stitching them together with fishing line. It occurs whenever two or more people gather together. A group called BillionsContinue Reading
The Hollow Ones is an uncomfortable mashup of many, better, thrillers. Admittedly, I may have expected too much from the director of so many of my favorite films. New FBI Agent Odessa volunteers for desk duty after shooting her own partner in a justifiable homicide. In the course of herContinue Reading
Four Native Americans kill an elk years in the past and live, and die, to regret it. After all, The Only Good Indians are vegan Indians. The first part of the book has the pacing and the plot of a thriller. However, the middle slows down substantially to a slow-burnContinue Reading
“They’ve turned the Empire State Building into a—no…it can’t be…a giant pantry? And we’re the meals.” —from the epic graphic novel, Vampire State Building. During a remodeling, a mysterious hidden room with a locked iron door is found behind the walls of the Empire State Building. After opening the room,Continue Reading
Final Cuts is an anthology of eighteen “all new dark and strange fiction inspired by cinema and television.” As with all anthologies, the stories vary in skill-level. However, these tales also swing wildly in genre. All have horror settings or themes. But some are also thrillers, fantasy, and romances. MyContinue Reading