Tag: horror

Halloween 2025 Recap

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Every year, I try to hand-pick a selection of books to read in celebration of the Halloween season. Previously, I have participated in Frighteningly Good Reads, hosted over at the blog Silver Button Books. Unfortunately, she did not run that this year. So, with no outlet to participate in to talk about what I read, I just wanted to do a brief rundown on the books I got through on my Halloween reading list for this year, especially since I’ve been less motivated to write full reviews as of late.

I hope everybody else had a spooktacular Halloween! 🎃Read More »

Book Review – Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

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Acceptance is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the third novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. With the Southern Reach having fallen and the fate of the world unknown after Area X started to expand, Control and Ghost Bird embark upon their own expedition into this anomalous landscape in the hopes of reaching a remote island that they believe may hold the answers they seek. For Control, it’s the secrets behind Area X and how to stop it from expanding; for Ghost Bird, it is the fate of the biologist from the twelfth expedition, of whom she is a copy, in the hopes of gaining closure and a better understanding of who she is separate from her progenitor.Read More »

Book Review – Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

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Authority

Authority is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the second novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. Following the disastrous 12th expedition into Area X, the Southern Reach (the organization in charge of containing and researching Area X) is in complete disarray. Members of the last expedition have returned under mysterious circumstances, the same as the 11th, except for the psychologist, who was also the Southern Reach’s director. Now, despite being an outsider, John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) must take the helm as acting director. Through a series of interrogations, briefings with staff, and reviews of disturbing videos and other documentation, Control must uncover the secrets of Area X and try to salvage the institution’s handling of it, something he soon realizes is deteriorating faster than anybody is willing to admit.Read More »

Book Review – Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden

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Hellboy The Dragon Pool

Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden is the sixth Hellboy novel, a spin-off series of standalone books about the iconic Dark Horse Comics character. High up in the Himalayan Mountains, archaeologist Dr. Anastasia Bransfield believes she has made a fantastic discovery: the ancient site of the dwelling of the legendary Dragon King, which used to rule the land with devastating power, demanding a child sacrifice for placation. Dr. Bransfield’s elation at her discovery is short-lived, however, as strange creatures begin lurking around the site, equipment has been sabotaged, and a colleague’s young daughter has gone missing. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. may be her only hope at preserving lives and salvaging her work, but with them having been romantically involved once upon a time, putting their past behind them may just be their biggest challenge.Read More »

Book Review – Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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Annihilation

Annihilation is a 2014 science fiction horror novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the first novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. Area X, a once lightly populated region, has been under quarantine for decades for unknown reasons, long since reclaimed by nature. There have been 11 expeditions into the region, most of them meeting bizarre and violent ends. The last expedition had all of its members return home under mysterious circumstances, mere husks of their former selves, before all succumbing to aggressive cancer. Now, the 12th expedition is underway, made up of four women including our narrator, the biologist, whose husband was part of the 11th expedition. They struggle to comprehend the phenomena they uncover in this hostile yet strangely captivating environment, the trust between them slowly eroding.Read More »

Book Review – Alien 3 by Pat Cadigan

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Alien 3 First-Draft

Alien 3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay by William Gibson by Pat Cadigan is a 2021 novel that tells an alternative story to the third film in the Alien franchise. The story follows the fates of Ripley, Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the synthetic Bishop after their narrow escape from the Hadley’s Hope colony and their harrowing encounter with the alien Queen aboard their ship the Sulaco. They thought their nightmare was over, but the aliens are nothing if not relentless; though the Queen was ejected from their ship, she has left something behind that is eager to change and grow. As they try to recover themselves at Anchorpoint Station, it slowly becomes clear that the danger hasn’t ended, but evolved.Read More »

Book Review – Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asman

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Man, Fuck This House

Man, Fuck This House is a 2021 horror novella by Brian Asman. The story follows Sabrina Haskins, a disillusioned housewife who has just moved into a new home in a new town with her family—her husband Hal, who is a reverse mortgage salesman, and their two children Michaela and Damian. Desperate for a fresh start and something more from life, she is hopeful this change is exactly what she needs. However, as a strange presence starts making itself known within the house, Sabrina finds herself further losing her grip on reality, something which her precocious son Damian sees as an opportunity make mischief, invoking disaster and putting their troubled relationship to the ultimate test.

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Book Review – American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

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American Psycho

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is a 1991 psychological thriller novel about a young man named Patrick Bateman. He is 26 years old, was born into great wealth, and currently works on Wall Street. He is smart, sophisticated, handsome, and in great shape, focusing much of his attention into cultivating his looks into a model of perfection. He is also a psychopath, having depraved fantasies that he increasingly cannot resist acting upon, sating his bloodlust on innocent people he considers beneath him.Read More »

Book Review – Pet Sematary by Stephen King

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Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is a 1983 horror novel by Stephen King. The story follows the Creed family—husband and wife Louis and Rachel, their five-year-old daughter Ellie, two-year-old son Gage, and Ellie’s cat named Church—who have just moved from Chicago to an idyllic country house near the small town of Ludlow, Maine, with Louis starting a new job as a physician at the University of Maine. It takes some adjusting to at first, but the family finds themselves very taken with the property and their new neighbors.

The nearby woods hide an unearthly secret, however, something altogether more strange than the macabre yet innocent “pet sematary” that has been maintained by the children of the town for several decades. Some say the ground in this hidden place has gone sour but nevertheless contains a terrible power that people cannot help being drawn in by. As tragedy strikes the Creed family thanks to the dangerous traffic that plagues their road, Louis struggles with the cold, hard truth that sometimes…dead is better.Read More »

First Impressions: The Denim Devil #1 by Zach Carter and Jared Yanez

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The Denim Devil issue 1

Excerpt from the press release:

Created by Zach Carter and Jared Yanez, the 5-issue series follows the Denim Devil, local nuisance and public embarrassment to Vanglerton, a city under the thumb of the Vangler family’s crumbling denim manufacturing empire. When a gruesome murder is tied to Vangler’s reclusive young CEO, the Denim Devil’s at the bottom of the suspect list—but not for lack of trying!

When the mystery killer’s reign of terror collides with the Denim Devil’s rain of errors, the resulting vortex drags in a motley array of possible suspects and future victims. Who will survive and what will remain of them? What is the deadly secret of Vangler denim? And will the Denim Devil find meaning and mentorship from the mystery killer, or just become more meat for the massacre?

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