Author Shirley Jackson should of course be no stranger to horror fans, as she’s responsible for what is arguably the greatest haunted house novel of the 20th century, 1959’s The Haunting of Hill House, which has been adapted into an excellent 1963 film directed by Robert Wise, a shitty 1999 film directed by Jan de … More Book vs Movie: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Author Barbara Avon contacted me a while back and asked me to review her 2022 novella Revived (tagline: “He should have stayed dead.”). She isn’t an author I’m familiar with, but she writes in several different genres, including dark romance, thriller, and horror. This story is definitely a psychological horror with heavy doses of dark … More Books: Revived by Barbara Avon
Brooklyn-born Max Hawthorne is an author (and screenwriter, and songwriter, and cryptid researcher) that I hadn’t heard of before, but he’s known in sci-fi circles as the Prince of Paleo-fiction, largely due to his bestselling Kronos series, which involves massive prehistoric sea monsters. His 2022 novel The Sleigh, though, was something a bit different, still … More Books: The Sleigh by Max Hawthorne
Since it’s getting to be about that time of year, I figured I should get into the holiday spirit by reading some Christmas-themed horror. And quite at random, I came across a spooky-sounding 2023 novel called Alice: A Christmas Ghost Story by prolific British author Shani Struthers. Just what Santa ordered! Much like classic holiday … More Books: Alice: A Christmas Ghost Story by Shani Struthers
British author Alan Golbourn will be no stranger to regular readers of this site, as I previously reviewed two of his other novels, 2022’s The 666 Murders, and its 2023 follow-up, The Cult From Beyond. Alan recently contacted me again and asked if I’d have a look at his latest novel (his fourth), a vampire … More Books: The Last Breath Before Death by Alan Golbourn
A longtime friend of the 13 O’Clock Podcast, Oracle of the Mundane, often recommends books for me to check out, and she’s never steered me wrong yet. Just recently, she was kind enough to buy me an ebook of Barbara Hambly’s 1994 supernatural fantasy Bride of the Rat God, which immediately intrigued me with that … More Books: Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly
Because I’d been covering some Halloween-themed movies in the lead-up to the best holiday of the year, I figured I’d get in some Halloween reading as well, just to balance things out. My Kindle Unlimited subscription had several free options available, including a handful of holiday-themed anthologies like the one I’m discussing today. The Halloween … More Books: The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallows’ Eve by Ronald Kelly
Ben Young is a horror writer based out of Cincinnati, Ohio and the novel of his I chose from my Kindle Unlimited suggestions was called Home. It was published in March of 2024, and as far as I could determine, is his second book (the first was called Stuck and came out in September of … More Books: Home by Ben Young
I’ve probably mentioned this a couple of times before, but I’m generally not a massive fan of vampire novels. There have been a few I’ve gotten really into, but vampires as monsters are a bit stale for me, and I don’t make a habit of seeking out fiction featuring bloodsuckers. But something about the cover … More Books: The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland
Since I was still in a thriller kinda mood after enjoying The Haunting of Whitehall Manor a couple of weeks back, I decided to spin that Kindle Unlimited roulette wheel once again, and this time it came up with a 2023 novel called Don’t Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders. The book was getting quite … More Books: Don’t Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders
The Scare Salon 