I’m pleased to say that Scurry feels like a big step up for Seann—a culmination of all these years of grinding in the indie space and building an audience. Right up to the end, I was dialed into this book, giving it every spare minute I had. It feels at once like a throwback to a time when popular literature was more patient, yet also like something unique that moves through its plot at close range, really holding tight to the perspective of the character.

Well-conceived but flatly executed, A Palace Near the Wind showcases some interesting worldbuilding and memorable character dynamics, but the arc of the novella feels uneven and incomplete. There is a distinctive sense that these one-hundred-and-ninety-two pages are little more than prologue, and while the prepared board is intriguing, the pieces are yet to move.

Farrenkopf’s writing style is fresh, creative, and appreciably direct, generally putting the reader right into the story without laying out too much behind or ahead…The prose is polished and accessible, the pacing smooth, and Farrenkopf offers some wonderfully new perspective on creature horror.

The sixteenth annual installment of Datlow’s flagship anthology series features some excellent work, and it’s a great read for anyone looking to catch up on the acclaimed short fiction of recent years. It’s also an excellent resource for anyone seeking a new author to appreciate, as it provides a solid sample of what makes some of these writers so exceptional.

A disharmonic triumph, And One Day We Shall Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel is a collection like no other, striking a secret chord in the American creative zeitgeist that echoes with so many of today’s most important writers of fiction.

Bury Me Cold is not the book that puts Mohr on the awards map and primes him for mainstream success, but it is a publication that gives me full faith that, if he keeps hustling and honing his craft, he’ll produce that pivotal work very soon. I struggle to think of another collection from a single author that shows such thematic and narrative versatility while also being so consistently and captivatingly original. The stories in Bury Me Cold are not only uniformly strong, but diverse in their strengths, and Mohr’s ability to impart a well-developed voice to what is a very diverse array of fiction left me deeply impressed.

…it’s an excellent work that puts the gristle back into horror, telling straight-up dark stories where the shadows are always growing and the evil in the world doesn’t hide for long. I can’t wait to read more Greg Chapman

Haven is a mindfully-written and masterful haunted house story that uses its characters to their full effect. Once you’ve gotten to know the Bakers and seen them to the crossroads where redemption and despair intersect, the mysteries inherent to Aunt Gussie and her strange old lakehouse reach out and drag them along another route entirely. Equal parts Shirley Jackson and Joyce Carol Oates, Haven succeeds at being both human and haunted, and Mia Dalia has made an immediate fan out of me.

This Thing is Starving is a deeply impressive debut, and a remarkably powerful and well-constructed narrative about the hardships visited upon women. Told through the eyes of a house full of ghosts and a threadbare family, Aislin does an excellent job of connecting the reader with the characters, and a major strength of the novel is how real it makes their pain and discomfort visible without being indulgent or exploitative.

Right out of the gate, I loved the tone of the book. The prose is crisp, always a touch playful or glib, and much of the more mundane happenings are clearly drawn from or inspired by the author’s real world experiences. I’ve occasionally written about how the word ‘fun’ is a near-pejorative in literary reviews, but as someone who reads a ton of dark fiction, I really enjoy when something in the genre also makes me laugh. The Fatal Mind flirts with being cozy at times, but never quite crosses that line, and would probably serve as an excellent title for the horror-curious to explore the genre.

Silence In The Basement is nonetheless an smart and effective horror-thriller with strong moments of tension and a consistent, immersive voice. It’s an incredibly promising debut, and genuinely fun read from an author who seems to have all of the tools to find success.

Datlow’s newest anthology, Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror, considers the aspect of dread and its influence on our mental state as we experience the world around us.

The novel is the best I’ve read in some time, marrying the strongest elements of Ramsey Campbell’s and Shirley Jackson’s respective styles together in what is very nearly a perfect horror novel. It is one of those novels where you become very conscious of the dwindling number of pages remaining, and when the story ends, you spend hours mulling over the mysteries that remain.

The Children’s Horror reminded me of the incredible power of a child’s mind to steamroll borders … All in all, it’s a fantastic collection, and I think very promising step up for Patrick Barb.

…this is the finest piece of literature to ever come out of the state of Alabama. Backwaters: 12 Murky Tales is a gloriously tumescent chimera of Southern Gothic hallmarks, obsessively-described body horror, and bizarro-absurdist humor which despite its myriad components, comes out exceptionally coherent and expertly paced.

The core elements of reality TV make great grounds for horror. Questionable motives, real-life situations, narrative arcs, as well and and the winner-take-all nature of the format, really make it an ideal backdrop to get creepy and/or murder-y. In this case, the show is one where a bunch of pretty women compete to marry a very basic Midwestern white dude, though some of contestants may have ambitions beyond making the handsome farmer-pilot from Iowa as happy as a Texas Roadhouse gift card.

Echo is a very solid novel that carries many moments of genuine creepiness. While the story meanders a little bit in the middle, with Sam chasing down a few too many dead-ends and red herrings for my taste, but the ambitious central narrative and excellently-written characters make this something to overlook.

I like Clay McLeod Chapman because he's always excited to tell his story. There's a pervasive energy in his writing that keeps readers immersed, and a palpable stylistic enthusiasm that just makes for infectious reading. He’s never just writing a scene, just recounting events, but constantly spinning the tale, letting the roots already laid down dig a little deeper into the reader’s mind even as he describes the new growth in the current chapter. He sells his narrative very easily, and be it some trick of his style or Satanic super powers, I never fail to sink into the initial narrative arc of a Chapman novel.