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.
I came across the 2017 novel The House on Rectory Lane by British author Stuart James randomly, while browsing through my suggestions on Kindle Unlimited. Since it had an intriguing title, numerous four- and five-star reviews, and was free to read, I decided to give it a shot. I thought I had never read anything … More Books: The House on Rectory Lane by Stuart James
Здравствуйте, everybody! Why in the ever-loving Блядь have I reverted to Google-translate Russian, you ask? Well, it’s because today I have decided to watch a Russian film from 1915 called The Portrait (or Портрет, if you prefer). The only remaining fragment of this film is a bit over eight minutes long, but in its original form, it … More Silent Movie Watchalong: The Portrait (1915)
I first got interested in reading this book after seeing NUMEROUS recommendations for it on various horror book review channels on YouTube, and the fact that it was described as a Southern gothic further piqued my interest. The funny thing is, when I ordered my paperback copy off Amazon, I didn’t realize that the novel … More Books: The Elementals by Michael McDowell
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a massive fan of giallo movies; the whole look and vibe of them transports me to a happy place. So it always makes me squeal with excitement when a modern filmmaker shares my obsession with them enough to make a giallo-tinged film in the present day. Some “neo-giallo” movies … More Movies: Francesca (2015)
I chose today to focus on childhood books I loved and that helped to shape my writing identity, books that I still remember fondly decades later. These ten books, among the hundreds I read growing up, have stuck with me for various reasons over the years, and I would recommend any of them unreservedly to … More Favorite Creepy Books from My 70s Childhood
First up on this particular double bill is House of Last Things from 2013, which was written and directed by Michael Bartlett. I can see this movie being the kind of thing that inspires either adoration or contemptuous eye-rolling in the horror community, with fans of more traditional horror maybe thinking it’s too pretentious for its own good, or … More Double Feature: House of Last Things (2013) and Reverb (2008)
Although I had encountered and enjoyed the work of director David Bruckner several times before—he directed segments in the great horror anthology films The Signal, V/H/S, and Southbound, and helmed the excellent 2017 film The Ritual, which was based on the novel by Adam Nevill—I hadn’t actually heard about his movie The Night House until … More Movies: The Night House (2020)
Ti West began his directorial career in 2005 with the killer-bat film The Roost, but it wasn’t until his 2009 Satanic Panic throwback House of the Devil that the horror community really sat up and took notice. He followed up with the excellent paranormal horror The Innkeepers in 2011, and then in 2013 released his … More Movies: X (2022)
As my previously stated love of the novels Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism will attest—not to mention my undying admiration for the absolutely stellar and beautifully-designed nonfiction work Paperbacks From Hell (which explores the horror paperback boom of the 1970s and 1980s)—Grady Hendrix has become easily one of my favorite horror writers working today. … More Books: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Published in the summer of 2020, Stephen Graham Jones’s novel The Only Good Indians immediately started garnering lots of buzz, and ended up winning several awards, including the Ray Bradbury Prize, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. I had read a couple of Jones’s books before, including his 2020 novella Night of … More Books: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
