Undivine Interventions: Reviews of Horror Novels, Past and Present.

Wrapping up 2018 a month into 2019, with a few books that I never got to. But the time comes where I have to let some bygones be bygones and wrap the year up. There are still books I have been sent for review that I absolutely intend to review. The reality remains that the most important part of running this blog is that I maintain the joy that I find in reading this stuff , and not let workmanship get in the way of that. As such, this list is ONLY of books I have actually read, obviously. The biggest difference for this year is that I have included for consideration in the list some books that are 'reprints'. Only one made it in, but I felt the need to clarify. That being said: LET'S WRAP UP 2018 AND GET TO READING 2019s BOOKS! These are in no particular order, as I believe that each and every one of them is worth your reading. They Feed (Click here and buy) Click here for my review This one was an almost total surprise for me. I had read Jason Parent prev...

Alright. Here it is. The last book I'm reading of 2018. There's a few others I wanted to get to before the year was through, but that didn't work out...clearly, since it's almost February 2019. I really just want to get my "best of list" done and move on, frankly. I want to get back to reading stuff from 1988. And, as such, my best-of will be ready soon. Now, I'm not sure if I am just burnt out on "modern horror" but, The Faithful, unfortunately, will not be making that list for me. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the book. In fact, I absolutely looked forward to The Faithful. So much so that I requested a review copy. I loved Matt Hayward's debut novel, What Do Monsters Fear and his collaboration with Patrick Lacey, which I recently reviewed, Practitioners. Sinister Grin Press is dependable for quality. The birds were in row for me to love it. It's well written, it's dialogue is reasonable, characters are well devel...

2018 has come and gone, but the books from it remain in my to be read pile. Just a few more to go, and I can get into reading all the great things 2019 will offer...as well as the whole reason I started this blog: unsung classics from the "heyday". But there's plenty of good stuff being churned out by new authors, that shouldn't go ignored, thus my dedication to covering new material. If we are ever going to see a closeness to the horror fiction glory days, we've gotta take notice of the new, great stuff coming out presently. Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason, AKA The Sisters of Slaughter, have been strong contenders for being the queens of the forefront of today's horror market since they busted onto the scene with their Stoker-nominated walk through hell of a debut, Mayan Blue, a few years back. That novel was, on it's surface, a very traditional 'college kids get torn apart by demons' yarn that was elevated tenfold by the sisters incredible at...

2018 has been an overwhelmingly good and especially prolific year for Horror. So, let me start by saying I am going to hold off on my "best of" list until I've gotten through a few last books of the year, so keep an eye out for that in mid-January. That being said, there are many strong contenders for that list and here is yet another. Glenn Rolfe is an author who I have watched and followed from very early in his career, from his first novel, The Haunted Halls. I read him religiously, because he has never let me down. Rolfe's writing embodies the aura of classic horror fiction perfectly. Even better, his writing gets more focused and refined with each book. To see a guy start humbly with a single title, to now a fairly vast library and fanbase, even starting his own publishing line, Alien Agenda, this year, is a really cool thing to watch. And so, it goes without saying, if you haven't checked out Glenn and his work, you absolutely should. He's amongst th...

As the year closes out, I find myself in a "tough" predicament...as most Horror fiction blogs do, I am preparing an "end of year list". While it's absolutely impossible to have read every new horror novel published in 2018, much less every book I have been sent for review, I am doing my best to cover the corners of the material that meshes at least somewhat closely with the things I enjoy reading, and therefore cover on my blog. There were a few titles I was interested in covering by Sinister Grin Press, and when I outreached their publicist to obtain copies, she also suggested this one, Kill Hill Carnage by Tim Meyer. After checking a quick synopsis, I agreed. Somehow, both this title and its author, have slipped under my radar. It's quite surprising to me, as this dude has quite a bit of interesting material out and is in cahoots with some of newer favorite authors. Not to mention, Sinister Grin has its own hallmark of quality that's been quite depe...

Oh, damn it. I've gotta figure out a better way to do this. I typed a whole bunch of this review already, but had some things to take care of, so I had to put it aside. I saved the draft and now... I come back to it to find it completely empty. I suppose one could argue that I am "professionally" reviewing books now, yeah? So, I should be a professional about it, yeah? Not throw a tempertantrum and say "SCREW THIS!!", YEAH!? Well, SCREW THIS. The Toy Thief is a book by the fledgling new horror line, Flame Tree Press, which as I have alluded to in previous reviews as something I am excited about. My excitement is starting to wane. Not because the books are particularly bad or anything. I'm just yet to read anything by the publisher that has that "wow factor". So far, things are pretty by-the-numbers and The Toy Thief is no exception. There's a good amount of small press putting out tons of "wow" level titles and with the advent...

Shadow Child has had a more fortunate life than many of its 80s horror kin. On the surface, it's hard to put a finger on why. Originally published in 1987 by Zebra, the title bore no outstanding traits in its initial packaging; a horror novel in a sea of horror novels, churned out for mass consumption. Nothing to really set them apart in their presentation, a skull face here, a spooky kid there, we'd be lying to ourselves as readers to deny that while we adore these covers in a nostalgic way, little was done to knowingly separate these novels from one another in their marketing. And with nothing to make them standout from one another, without star power of a "name author", it was very easy for these titles to fall into the abyss to never be seen or heard from again. Shadow Child has avoided this completely, here now in its 4th publication/edition. While I theorized how it has had such a rich life, one thing is clear and delineates it from its much less fortunate br...