Horror

Excerpt: THE ESSENTIAL HORROR OF JOE R. LANSDALE (Tachyon)

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On October 7th, Tachyon Publications are due to release The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale, a collection of the author’s acclaimed short horror fiction. To mark the occasion, and give readers a taste of what’s in the book, the publisher has allowed CR to share an excerpt from one of the stories, “Fish Night”. Before we get to that, though (and a short introduction from the author), here’s the book’s synopsis:

In this career horror retrospective, World Horror Grandmaster Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep; Hap and Leonard) tackles racism and human cruelty as de­ftly as he conjures demon nuns and Elder Gods. Featuring an original introduction from Joe Hill, this much-anticipated volume showcases the best of Lansdale’s terrifying short stories — menacing, astute, and wildly inappropriate.

Bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale is known for his gritty mysteries and his eccentric horror. As an eleven-time Bram Stoker Award winner, Joe Lansdale cooks up an inimitable recipe of Southern Gothic and Southern fried chicken that continues to delight his many fans and influence generations of horror legends.

Lansdale mashes up crime, Gothic, mystery, fantasy, and science-fiction, filtered through a raw, violent world of dark humor and unique characters. Lansdale is one of the early American horror writers to portray racism not as abstract but as realistic, intimate, and impossible to ignore.

In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, you’ll discover psychotic demon nuns, a psychopathic preacher, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, ­ flying ghost fish, Elder Gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: mankind.

[A full Table of Contents is included at the end of this post.]

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Excerpt: THE UNKILLABLE FRANK LIGHTNING by Josh Rountree (Tachyon)

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Today, we have an excerpt from the next novel by Josh Rountree: The Unkillable Frank Lightning, “a Frankenstein-inspired tale unlike any other”.

The novel is due to be published in a couple of weeks by Tachyon Publications. To mark the occasion, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers. Here’s the synopsis:

Catherine Coldbridge is a complicated woman: a doctor, an occultist, and briefly, a widow. In 1879, her husband, Private Frank Humble, was killed in a Sioux attack. Consumed by grief, Catherine used her formidable skills to resurrect her husband. But after the reanimation, Frank lost his soul, becoming a vicious undead monster. Unable to face her failure or its murderous consequences, Catherine fled to grieve her failure.

Twenty-five years later, Catherine has decided she must make things right. She travels back to Texas with a pair of hired killers ready to destroy Frank. But Frank is no longer a monster; he is once again the kind man she knew. He has remade himself as the Unkillable Frank Lightning, traveling with the Wild West Show, and even taking on a mysterious young ward.

Now Catherine must face a series of moral dilemmas that cannot be resolved without considerable bloodshed.

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Upcoming: EXILES by Mason Coile (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)

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I hadn’t heard about the second novel from Mason Coile, Exiles, until the publisher reached out about it a couple of weeks ago. Coile is a pseudonym for acclaimed, best-selling Canadian horror author Andrew Pyper, who sadly passed away in January 2025. This posthumous release is “a terrifying, taut” blend of “science fiction and psychological horror”. Set on Mars. I’ll be reading this very soon. Here’s the synopsis:

A terrifying locked-room mystery from the author of William – this time set on a remote outpost on Mars.

The human crew sent to prepare the first colony on Mars arrives to find the new base half-destroyed and the three robots sent to set it up in disarray — the machines have formed alliances, chosen their own names, and picked up some disturbing beliefs. Each must be interrogated. But one of them is missing.

In this barren, hostile landscape where even machines have nightmares, the astronauts will need to examine all the stories – especially their own – to get to the truth.

Mason Coile’s Exiles is due to be published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in North America (September 16th) and Baskerville in the UK (September 18th).

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Excerpt: THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY by Suzy McKee Charnas (Tor)

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The latest novel getting the Tor Essentials treatment is The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas. The novel was a Nebula Award finalist (1982), a Locus Award top-ten pick (1981), and has been described as a “masterpiece” by Guillermo del Toro — all of which are pretty good selling points. With an introduction by Nicola Griffith, it is due to be published mid-March. The publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers; first, though, here’s the synopsis:

Edward Weyland is far from your average vampire: not only is he a respected anthropology professor but his condition is biological — rather than supernatural. He lives discrete lifetimes bounded by decades of hibernation and steals blood from labs rather than committing murder. Weyland is a monster who must form an uneasy empathy with his prey in order to survive, and The Vampire Tapestry is a story wholly unlike any you’ve heard before.

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Excerpt: WHITE LINE FEVER by KC Jones (Tor Nightfire)

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Next month, Tor Nightfire will publish White Line Fever by KC Jones, a “harrowing thrill ride about friendship, trauma, and learning how to take the wheel of your own life”. To whet readers’ appetites, the publisher has provided us with an excerpt to share! First, here’s the synopsis:

THEY’LL BREAK MORE THAN SPEED LIMITS ON THIS GIRLS’ TRIP FROM HELL.

At a passing glance, County Road 951 is an entirely unremarkable stretch of blacktop, a two-lane scar across the Cascade foothills of Central Oregon.

But the road is known by another name, coined by those who’ve had to clean up after all those scenic detours went horribly wrong: The Devil’s Driveway.

When Livia and her long-time friends take the Driveway as a shortcut to a much-needed weekend getaway, what begins as a morning joyride quickly becomes anything but. Soon, they’re driving for their lives, pursued by a horror beyond anything they ever imagined.

The Devil’s Driveway might be only 15 miles long, but with danger at every turn, it will take the four women to the very limits of their friendships and their sanity.

And there’s no telling what else lies in wait just beyond the bend.

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Excerpt & Guest Post: MISERERE by Teresa Frohock

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Miserere was my debut novel in 2011, and as such, it had some problems. The prose was too purple, the descriptions too long, and the villains were a bit over the top. Thirteen years and four novels later, I’ve learned a lot about writing fiction, and I’ve grown, not just as an author, but as a person.

Once I reacquired my rights to Miserere, I reread it with more experienced eyes, and rather than just reissue the old book, I used the opportunity to make the story stronger. When Stefan graciously offered me space on his blog to host an excerpt, I thought long and hard about which scenes might have changed the most.

Frankly, each chapter has changed dramatically from the original. I’ve cleaned up the tautology and sharpened the character interactions, especially between Lucian and Catarina. More than ever, they feel like a brother and sister diametrically opposed to one another.

In the end, I chose to begin this excerpt at the beginning for people who have never read Miserere and to reacquaint former readers with the new edition. The first chapter is rather long, so I’ve found a good stopping point and left you there for now.

The story begins in the Sabbatical year 5873. Welcome, my darklings, to Woerld: Continue reading →

Re-view: MISERERE by Teresa Frohock (JABberwocky)

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A superb, mystic fantasy debut

Everything has a price, and those who deal with the devil pay dearly in this enthralling dark fantasy about redemption, sacrifice, and a Hell-bound battle between good and evil.

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru made a choice that has haunted him for years. He abandoned his lover, Rachael, to Hell to save the damned soul of his sister, Catarina. But Catarina doesn’t want to be saved. Now a prisoner in his reviled sister’s home, Lucian is being used as a tool to help fulfill Catarina’s wicked dreams: unleash the demons of the underworld to wage a war above.

Lucian’s first step in thwarting Catarina’s plan is to make amends with the past. Escaping captivity, he is determined to find Rachael even if it means entering the gates of Hell itself. Only then does he cross paths with a young girl fleeing from her own terrors. With the frightened foundling in tow, Lucian embarks on a journey to right a terrible wrong, to protect the innocent, and to rescue the woman he loves.

But no one escapes Catarina’s wrath. She’s just as driven in her pursuit: to track down her brother wherever it leads. And when she finds him, and she will, she vows to turn his heart to glass, grind it to powder, and crush the souls of everyone he loves.

I read Teresa Frohock’s excellent debut novel, Miserere, back in 2011, and I’ve been a fan of the author’s work ever since. In January 2025, JABberwocky are going to released a revised edition of the novel, so I thought this would be a good time to re-post my original review — with only some typos fixed. (I loved it then, so I imagine the new version will be even better.) Since the original publisher (Nightshade) is no more, this book has become very difficult to track down, so I’m very glad it’s getting another lease of life, and that new readers will have a chance to read it. Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: HAUNT SWEET HOME by Sarah Pinsker (TorDotCom)

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PinskerS-HauntSweetHomeUSHCA novella with an interesting twist on haunting, and an amusing satire on “reality” TV

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality…

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along — is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

What if a fake reality show about haunted properties ends up… not so fake? In Sarah Pinsker’s latest novella, a newly-hired production assistant ends up right in the middle of a haunting, while still trying to figure out who she wants to be and what kind of life she wants. It’s an engaging story that feels a little like house-hunting during an episode of Supernatural. I enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Excerpt: TO REIGN IN HELL by Steven Brust (Tor Books)

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BrustS-ToReignInHellUSPB2024Next month, Tor Books is due to release a new Tor Essentials edition of To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust. First published in 1984, the novel is a retelling of Satan’s revolt against Heaven. This new edition, due out on October 15th, features an introduction from Roger Zelazny. The publisher has allowed CR to share the first chapter with our readers. First, here’s the synopsis:

The time is the Beginning. The place is Heaven. The story is the Revolt of the Angels—a war of magic, corruption and intrigue that could destroy the universe.

Heaven is threatened by the reemergence of a cataclysmic event, a wave of energy that can destroy life and result in the loss of many angels. In preparation for this Fourth Wave, the angel Yaweh consults the angel Satan. A plan to build Earth, a new and larger Heaven that would be equipped to withstand the disaster, is constructed. Satan questions the plan because doing so will sacrifice the lives of other angels, much like the Fourth Wave itself threatens to do. Charged with convincing their fellow angels to lay down their lives, Satan has reservations about their right to ask for such a sacrifice. This doubt, and the questioning of ethics, opens the door for a devious figure to manipulate Satan, developing a heavenly war.

This re-examination of Paradise Lost that calls morality and villainy into question through the lens of epic fantasy is a prescient early classic with an enduring legacy and a formative text of the genre.

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Excerpt: WITHERED by A.G.A. Wilmot (ECW Press)

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WilmotAGA-WitheredHCTomorrow, ECW Press is due to publish the second novel from A.G.A. Wilmot (following 2018’s The Death Scene Artist): Withered — a “queer paranormal horror novel in the style of showrunner Mike Flannagan” (Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and so forth). To mark the release, the publisher has allowed CR to share the novel’s Prologue with our readers. First, check out the synopsis:

After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted — everyone including Quinn, a local girl who has quickly captured Ellis’s attention. And Ellis has started to believe what people are saying: they see pulsing veins in their bedroom walls and specters in dark corners of the cellar. Together, Ellis and Quinn dig deep into Black Stone’s past and soon discover that their town, and Ellis’s house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue.

Withered is queer psychological horror, a compelling tale of heartache, loss, and revenge that tackles important issues of mental health in the way that only horror can: by delving deep into them, cracking them open, and exposing their gruesome entrails.

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