Jenny Ashford is a horror, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019. Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books. She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook. Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, a supernatural thriller released in May of 2023, seems to be one of those books that had the horror/thriller community all abuzz, and it actually won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award in the horror category, though I didn’t actually know about any of that when I randomly came across it … More Books: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
T. Kingfisher is the horror- and fantasy-specific pen name of prolific children’s book author and illustrator Ursula Vernon. I had read one of her horror novels before (The Hollow Places, from 2020) and enjoyed it quite a bit, so when a friend recommended one of her newest books to me, I was happy to give … More Books: A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
The Boogeyman from 1980 was one of those movies that I always remember seeing the cover of in the video store, but that I never got around to renting, probably because I thought that it was just another forgettable slasher. And as far as that goes, I guess it sort of is, but it also … More Movies: The Boogeyman (1980)
I remember hearing a a great deal about Catriona Ward’s novel The Last House on Needless Street back when it came out in autumn of 2021; there was a lot of buzz about it in the horror community, and I read that the movie rights got snapped up pretty quickly. I’m obviously a little late … More Books: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft stories tend to be kinda hit or miss; admittedly, his particular brand of cosmic horror is difficult to render effectively on screen, and for that reason, the best “Lovecraftian” films tend to be ones that don’t necessarily adapt an existing story, but simply work within the mythos the peculiar author created. … More Movies: The Dunwich Horror (1970)
It’s time to delve back into Night Gallery, and since we already covered the pilot episode as well as the (very short) first season, we’re now going to get into the second season. Because season two contains 22 episodes (as opposed to only six in the first season), I’m planning to tackle this project in … More Revisiting Night Gallery: Season Two (Episodes 1-6)
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know that I love author Grady Hendrix. I’ve read and reviewed several of his works (such as Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and The Final Girl Support Group), but as I was browsing my local bookstore … More Books: We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
A hit at the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival, director Leigh Janiak’s impressive debut Honeymoon is, I think, best enjoyed going into it cold, as I did, because I really had no idea what was going on until near the end, which made the film a reliably harrowing experience (I‘m gonna spoil it here, … More Movies: Honeymoon (2014)
A while ago, I read (and loved, and glowingly reviewed) a 2016 murder mystery called Magpie Murders by prolific British author Anthony Horowitz. I mentioned in that review that there was actually a “sequel” of sorts to that novel, which came out in 2020 and which I was really interested in reading. Jump ahead to … More Books: Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
I’d seen this film three or four times previously and absolutely adore it, so it was with some surprise that I realized I had never got around to doing a proper review of it. Allow me to correct that tragic oversight forthwith. Starry Eyes premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2014. Written … More Movies: Starry Eyes (2014)
