Summer Scares Resources

Click here to immediately access the Summer Scares Resource page so that you can add some professionally vetted horror titles into your reading suggestions and fiction collections for all age levels.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Finished Hardcover of Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina

Today I have a finished hardcover of a book I recently reviewed in Booklist; a hotly anticipated second book by an author whose first book was a library hit. Details below but first, the rules on how to enter:

  1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
  2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
  3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
  4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
Click here to see the previous giveaway. Our winner was Jennifer from Forsyth County [NC] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina Apr. 2024. 384p. Berkley, $28 (9780593546888); e-book (9780593546901). First published March 1, 2024 (Booklist).
Medina (Sisters of the Lost Nation) returns with another mystery encased in supernatural mythology, set on a Louisiana Reservation. Noemi, 38, is starting to see a future for herself when her boyfriend is unexpectedly killed. Louie, the uncle who helped to raise her, until the age of 5, returns for the annual Pow-Wow just as Noemi is receiving the terrible news, returning him to the summer of 1986 when a series of deaths led to the unraveling of his life. Told from both Louie and Noemi’s point of view, the story moves fluidly between past and present, enhancing the unease and layering the dread allowing readers to feel the reverberations of both horrible secrets and reservation life over time. However, despite the pain and fear, ultimately, there is a celebration of life at the novel's core. A great choice for fans of Mystery-Horror hybrids which offer a compelling, character focused story that entertains without shying away from a direct portrayal of the generational trauma experienced by marginalized people such as White Horse by Wurth or Children of Chicago by Pelayo.

Three Words That Describe This Book: dual time frames, generational trauma, character centered

Click into the full post to get more detailed appeal info and extra readalikes. 

This finished hard cover copy was sent to me by Berkley. The release date is April 16th. The winner can add this book directly to their collections after this date. Or use it as a prize for summer reading. Most of the book is set over a fateful summer. Either way, enter now to win this and you are entered going forward.

And thank you to Berkley for the book.

Good luck!

Thursday, March 7, 2024

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Two Tenebrous Press ARCs

Today I have one of my 2-fer giveaways courtesy of Tenebrous Press. Two books going to one winner. Details below but first, the rules on how to enter:

  1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
  2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
  3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
  4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
Click here to see the previous giveaway. Our winner was Vanessa from Wheaton [IL] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

I have been featuring ARCs from Tenebrous Press since they started publishing. Some of those titles have gone on to be nominated for major awards as well. I always enjoy highlighting their inclusive, original, and well presented work for library workers. I know it is harder to add titles by independent presses at some libraries, but my hope is that by having me highlight these titles, you can use it as an argument for taking a chance.

Today I have 2 more titles for one winner.

The first is a finished book what you can add to your collections ASAP,  2-fer itself:

SPLIT SCREAM has a new home at Tenebrous Press! Editor Alex Ebenstein brings his acclaimed split-novelette series back for a fourth round featuring: 
 Nonsense Words by D. Matthew Urban 
An aging professor of ancient history strikes up a friendship with her new colleague, Dr. Paul Duncan, a scholar of undecipherable inscriptions. As she finds herself drawn into Dr. Duncan's life—his brilliant wife and mystical daughters, frightened students and uncanny associates—darker forces behind his research emerge, plunging her into a nightmare of mythical absurdity and ritualistic death. Dark academia meets cosmic horror in Nonsense Words, where the incomprehensible is granted a conjured form—but too much imagination can be a dangerous thing. If the cosmos is nonsense, merely a divine or demonic joke, will she live to have the last laugh, or will she die a punchline? 
Bone Light by Holly Lyn Walrath 
An icy surf batters Bone Light as its beacon calls to weary souls at sea. This edifice built of bone and wretchedness sits atop a cursed rock, surrounded by death, watched over by the ghosts of light-keepers past. Their records tell of the inhospitable environment, but it is Mary Long’s writings that show the heart. Misfortune necessitates the arrival of her dear Ida, laying bear to the obstacles that shaped their history—a husband and taboo among them. These log entries illuminate Mary’s world—the banality, the heartbreak, the magic. In Bone Light, a beacon of death might finally be the thing to give life to a long-denied romance. 
Cover art by Evangeline Gallagher. 
Interior illustrations by Echo Echo.

This is the fourth book in the series and serves as an awesome introduction to emerging voices.

The  second book is quite an exciting announcement. It is Tenebrous Press' first foray in to publishing a novel! It is set to come out on May 30th and will be heavily promoted at StokerCon:

From the Belly by Emmett Nahil

The whaling vessel Merciful has just made its strangest catch yet: a massive whale containing a still-living man secreted within its stomach lining. Sailor Isaiah Chase is tasked with keeping the enigmatic man alive.

As their relationship grows, a series of accidents, injuries and deaths quickly befall the ship and its crew. Isaiah is plagued by strangely prophetic dreams, even as the crew continues their endless quest for whale oil under the command of an increasingly unhinged captain.

As events spiral further out of control, the mysterious man confesses what Isaiah has begun to suspect: the crew of The Merciful has fallen into a cycle of punishment for their greed and destruction. Isaiah must confront the sea's vengeance made flesh, and choose between this new, strange love and the fate of the ship itself. 

I don't know how you can read that summary and not be excited about this book. 

Thanks to Tenebrous Press for the books. Please consider adding them both to your collections.

Enter now to be entered going forward because I have some HUGE Summer releases in the giveaway queue.

Good luck! 

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

The Summer Scares 2024 Programming Guide is ALIVE!

 

 

Click here to access the full guide


One of the best parts of the Summer Scares program is the annual Programming Guide created by Konrad Stump and his team at the Springfield-Greene County Library District in Springfield, Missouri.

Starting yesterday, you can access this guide for Free. There is a page for each book just like this one for Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison.


There is also an article by Library Advisory Council member, Jocelyn Codner about using Summer Scares in Academic Libraries. And more, all accessible here for free.

This is also the perfect time to remind you that there are Programming Guides available for every year since 2020 available at the Summer Scares Resources Archive here.

However, the most important reminder is that all of this bounty of books, programming ideas, readalikes, discussion questions, and more can be used anytime of year and in any year. We create a new guide, for the 9 new titles each year, but the information is useful all year long. The 2020 guide has 9 vetted titles with readalikes and discussion questions and program idea just as the guides for 202120222023, and now 2024 do. 

Use them all, at any time, to help Horror readers of any age. Our info in a past guide still work today. And let us know if you need help at anytime by emailing libraries at horror dot org.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates

Today I have an ARC from a USA Today Bestselling Author and Library Patron Favorite (she's also the sweetest human). Details below but first, the rules on how to enter:

  1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
  2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
  3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
  4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
Click here to see the previous giveaway. Our winner was Michael from Oak Park [IL] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

Darcy Coates is one of the most popular novelists in Australia and since Poisoned Pen Press have been releasing them here in American she is among the most popular Horror authors here as well. Her next American release is Ghost Camera coming July 30th. It is a collection featuring the novella that gives the book it's title and new stories.

From NetGalley where this titles is at the top of the most requested books list (as of 2/28 at 4:30 pm central at least):
When Jenine finds an abandoned polaroid camera, she playfully snaps a photo without a second thought. But there's something wrong with the image: a ghostly figure stands in the background, watching her.

Fixated on her.

Moving one step closer with every picture she takes. Desperate, Jenine shares her secret with her best friend, Bree. Together they realize the camera captures unsettling impressions of the dead. But now the ghosts seem to be following the two friends. And with each new photo taken, a terrible danger grows ever clearer… 

DISCOVER CHILLING NEW BONUS STORIES, INCLUDING:
  • A woman survives a plane crash in a remote arctic tundra, accompanied only by a stranger who seems fixated on something moving through the blinding snow. 
  • A house stands empty. Hungry. Waiting for the children drawn to it like moths to a flame. 
  • A woman finds a shoebox filled with old VHS tapes. They have a note attached: "Don't watch. You'll regret it." And more!

Thanks to Sourcebooks and their awesome library marketing team, I have an ARC to giveaway to one of you. 

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

And reminder, if it has been more than 4 weeks from when you won, you are also eligible to reenter. 

Good Luck! 

Monday, February 26, 2024

2023 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Announced

 

Click here to enter the website for the awards

The official nominees for the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® are now live. You can see the press release here or over on RA for All where I have added direct links to my reviews where applicable.

You need to update your horror collection? Want to get some displays or lists up to take advantage of the huge boom and interest in Horror? All you need is the Bram Stoker Awards® website. You can use that to see a database of every single nominee and winner all with one click here. [Well and here, of course.] 

Use the entire homepage to identify critically acclaimed authors and titles of Horror for all ages. Consider adding the anthologies, collections, and novels from the last few years to your collections as well.

One of the best things about the Bram Stoker Awards® is the process that is involved to get to the nominees. Each category has a jury made up of all levels of HWA members, each jury has a chair and an alt chair, and all members have a portal to recommend titles. It is a hybrid nomination process ensuring a diverse (in every way) mix of options on the ballot. Only Lifetime and Active members can vote but everyone has a say up to the vote.

Also jurors are limited to 2 years on a jury before they have to cycle off and either stop or go to another category, meaning, the categories don't get stuck in a rut. I just finished my second year as Jury Chair for Middle Grade and am very happy with our 5 finalists. I am awaiting my assignment for next year; it is still a mystery but I have been notified it is coming soon.

Sadie Hartmann-- a nominee in Nonfiction this year herself-- had this great interview with the Bram Stoker committee a few years ago where they explain the entire process, including the fact that the awards are not for BEST books, but rather award for SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT. I love that distinction as well. We used that distinction throughout our deliberation process for the MG jury this year. Click here to read that interview.

 I wish all genre awards were this transparent. But alas, I can only control the awards with which I am affiliated. See the full nominee list here or on RA for All (with links to my reviews where applicable).

I am going to have some hard choices in a few categories when my ballot arrives later this week.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

2024 Splatterpunk Awards Nominees Announced

Due to the fact that I am traveling (see tomorrow's post on RA for All), there is no #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway today, but I do still have a great post for those of you who expect something new here each Thursday. It is the full list of the 2024 Splatterpunk Awards nominees which were released earlier this week.

Click here to read all about it.

And remember, awards lists are one of my favorite RA Resources, and you can click here to learn more through my ongoing series, "Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool.

Click here to see all the nominees


Thursday, February 15, 2024

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

Today I have an ARC from a book that I I called "a gift" in the January 2024 issue of Library Journal; a title that along with the first two books in the trilogy will be read for generations; a trilogy destined to become a classic ala The Stand by King. Details below but first, the rules on how to enter:

  1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
  2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
  3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
  4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
Click here to see the previous giveaway. Our winner was Kristin from Flat River [MI] Community Library. Now on to today's giveaway.

I am giving away another copy of The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones in honor of the title landing on the Hall of Fame on the March 2024 LibraryReads list. Unlike the last giveaway of this title, this copy is not signed, but also unlike the last giveaway, this is a proper ARC so it is formatted like a book.


Three Words That Describe This Book: heartbreakingly beautiful, thought provoking, perfect ending

 This book is destined to become an epic Horror classic ala The Stand, read for generations to come. I also dare you not to cry at the end. Can't do it.

Draft Review: It’s October, 2023. Four years have passed since the Dark Mills South Massacre and eight years since the Lake Massacre both which sent Jade to prison. Now, thanks to her best friend Lethe, she is back as the high school history teacher just as Proofrock is about to face another massacre, its most devastating and deadly night yet. This Halloween, will be Proofrock’s final stand against the secrets that have been hidden under the pristine waters of the lake at the center of this cursed town for generations. Readers will get wrapped up in the action, as the bodies pile up, but it will be Jade who leads them through as she comes to terms with traumas both personal and historical, relies on her knowledge of slashers, and learns to trust herself and her renewed connection to her Native heritage. It is the perfect conclusion to this story of ghosts and monsters, both real and supernatural and of secrets that must finally be brought to the surface. A story masterfully told, allowing every detail to matter, but most of all one that provides a final girl to cherish, the angel its center, the one who believes it is all worth saving.

Verdict: Jones has given the world a gift, an epic tale for the ages, one that is both a violent, high octane slasher and a frank, thought provoking indictment of America, past and present. For any reader but especially those who love when Horror stays true to its genre roots while always striving to let readers see themselves and their reality in its terror such as written by Due, Moreno-Garcia, and Tremblay.

You know you want to win this one. Enter today and you are entered going forward.

After clearing out a lot of names back in October, the roster of people in the running to win is building back up again. Get yourself entered. There is a VERY busy season of great Horror coming your way in the coming months. You do not want to miss out.

Good luck.