Library Journal Best Horror 2020

Below is the Library Journal 2020 Best Horror list. As you can see below in the byline, I was on the committee to pick these books. While, I have the entire list of LJ's 2020 titles in all categories on the main blog here, I wanted to accomplish 2 things on the horror blog today. First, I wanted to make sure the full list appeared here so that each entry was searchable by title here on the blog. 

But second, and more importantly, I wanted to spend a few moments explaining how these lists are built because when you make a best list for a library magazine, it is way more complicated than simply listing your favorite books. [That is a completely different exercise and is not appropriate for a major publication.]

For example, I loved Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, but when push came to shove we decided to use that space for another small press title that was excellent, one you might not know about without us. You don't need LJ to tell you that Survivor Song is awesome and you should order it. But you might not know about Crossroads or Cirque Berserk without us. And you probably forgot about The Boatman's Daughter since it came out in February just as the pandemic was beginning. In the end, a title like the Tremblay was up against the Kraus or Hendrix for 2 out of those 3 making it. In the end, the Hendrix is more important for libraries because it is also about book clubs and would make an excellent book club selection and the Kraus is paired with the Romero legacy. All three got stars from me. All three are excellent must buys and will appeal to a wide audience, but when push comes to shove, the other two had reasons besides being awesome to be included. We don't help anyone by only having bestselling titles on the list. 

Here's the point I want to make with this explanation on how this all works. This best list is for libraries and library workers. We went out of our way to include different types of horror. There is bloody stuff here as well as fairly tame. We have titles that came out early in the year, that others have forgotten about, and titles that are too important to the story of the genre to sleep on. There are books by up and comers and books by old standbys. Every title that was included is there for a reason just as those which were left off have reasons they almost made it. I used Tremblay as the example, but there are at least 5 or 6 more titles that we seriously considered. 

This is a list to be taken in its entirety. There are books I liked just as much as these titles which could have made it, but taken as a grouping of 10, this list represents HORROR right at this moment. And making this list was a group effort, 100%. Our team of three worked together to build this list. We only had a few must includes and then we listened to each other to build out the rest. I am so proud of us, how we worked together, and the list we made as a result.

Remember that as you encounter best lists everywhere. Remember the mission of the list builders. For LJ it is to give you a broad and representative list of the very best for each category. We are trying to help you help build your collections and make suggestions to the public, and we take that responsibility very seriously.

Best Horror of 2020

by Cody Daigle-Orians, Stephanie Klose, Becky Spratford

Clark, P. Djèlí. Ring Shout. Tor.com. ISBN 9781250767028.

This story of Black female power honors the Black American experience in all its complexity, yet also delivers Lovecraftian delight. Readers will gasp at the visceral horrors, both real and otherworldly, cringe at the destruction and carnage, and ultimately cheer for Maryse to keep fighting for herself and her people.

Danforth, Emily M. Plain Bad Heroines. Morrow. ISBN 9780062942852.

Danforth asks readers to contemplate how stories are told. Which horrors are real, which are imagined, and which are consciously constructed? The story, set at the cursed Brookhants School for Girls, unfolds across time in three linked story lines. It features a pointed female focus, an unease seeping in from the perimeter, spiking to fear at key moments, and vividly drawn characters.

Davidson, Andy. The Boatman’s Daughter. Farrar. ISBN 9780374538552.

Miranda earns her living running contraband while trying to survive monsters, both human and supernatural. The restrained narrative doles out the tension, expertly pulling readers in as the novel embraces its horror genre affinities while also confidently fitting among Southern gothic classics of the 21st century.

Guess, Jessica. Cirque Berserk. Unnerving. ISBN 9781989206362.

This celebration of the slasher story also turns out to be a love story, a tale of survival, and an ode to the power of family. Guess shows this through a demented fun house mirror, taking love and devotion to their darkest extremes.

Hendrix, Grady. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Quirk. ISBN 9781683691433.

Hendrix blends the disaffected Southern housewife story with a terrifying vampire tale. The anxiety and tension are palpable as a book club shifts from discussing true crime to battling societal stereotypes and demeaning husbands, as well as an intensely evil, centuries-old vampire, to save their children from very real harm.

Hightower, Laurel. Crossroads. Off Limits. ISBN 9780578723563.

Hightower is writing at the sharpest edges of grief. Her portrait of a mother’s pursuit to undo the unthinkable loss of her son is relentless, muscular, and emotionally fearless. It’s a novella about grief that turns into obsession, and it’s unforgettable.

Jones, Stephen Graham. The Only Good Indians. Saga: S. & S. ISBN 9781982136451.

This classic tale of revenge horror oscillates among eerie moments, violent action, and an overarching sense of dread. It is also an achingly beautiful story about hope and survival, grappling with themes of cultural identity, family, and traditions. Fully entrenched within the genre, the book’s well-developed cast, lyrical language, and heightened suspense will have broad appeal.

Kiste, Gwendolyn. Boneset & Feathers. Broken Eye. ISBN 9781940372594.

Kiste’s writing style moves fluidly back and forth through time with lyrical language describing awful things. Readers will hang on every word, cringe and cheer through the action, and passionately root for Odette, the last of the witches, who has banished herself to a magic-free life of isolation. Kiste casts a spell with this original and suspenseful horror story, which offers more than meets the eye.

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia. Mexican Gothic. Del Rey. ISBN 9780525620785.

Featuring a feisty, whip-smart protagonist, a perfectly rendered setting, exquisite supernatural details, and an escalating sense of dread that jumps off the page, effortlessly pulling both the protagonist and the reader through a range of emotions from unease to panic, and finally, to breathless terror. This is not your mother’s gothic tale.

Romero, George A. & Daniel Kraus. The Living Dead. Tor. ISBN 9781250305121.

The zombies are terrifyingly realistic, but it is the well-developed human characters that readers will appreciate, particularly Etta Hoffmann, autistic researcher and archivist of the apocalypse. This is a rare gem of a story, one that pays homage to its varied source material while also standing on its own merits.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #26: Midnight at the Pentagram [Anthology]

As a reminder I began these giveaways back in April. Click here to  read the first post. Honestly, I see no end to the giveaways.

As a reminder, here are the basic rules 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. 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.
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 last week's giveaway. Our winner was Sarah from Brown County [WI] Library. 

This week I have a finished copy of a short story collection featuring well known and up and coming authors put out by one of my approved independent horror publishers for libraries-- Silver Shamrock Publishing. It is entitled Midnight at the Pentagram and you can click through for the full table of contents.

Two authors in particular that I want to point out to library workers right now are Laurel Hightower, whose Crossroads you WILL see on at least one library year end best list, and Catherine Cavendish whose In Darkness, Shadows Breathe I just read for review in January's Library Journal. I was very impressed and will be writing about how wide its appeal is. 

But overall, this is an excellent collection of horror right now. It has representation both in the identity of the writers and in the types of stories they write. Think of it a solid collection from top to bottom. And it is nice and thick, so there is a lot to offer here.

This is a finished copy you can add to your collections. Thanks to Silver Shamrock for sending it to me for giveaway. Consider adding it to your collection whether you win it or not.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #25[!]- Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

 31 Days of Horror is over, but the #HorrorForLibraries giveaways live on. As a reminder I began these giveaways back in April. Click here to  read the first post.

Those of you paying close attention may have also noticed I lost track of the numbers at some point, mostly due to have more than 1 winner multiple weeks. I have gone back and manually counted and this is week 25 and honestly, I see no end to the giveaways.

As a reminder, here are the basic rules 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. 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.
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 last week's giveaway. Our winner was Heather from Poquoson [VA] Public Library. 

This week, in conjunction with the giveaway, I wanted to point you to the recording of the Library Journal conversation I was a part of last week, "True Monsters of Lovecraft Country". You can watch the roundtable discussion here or click the image below.

The publisher sent me a copy of the novel so I could re-read it. Here is my original review of Lovecraft Country from back in 2016. Since I am done with the program, I want to pass this copy on to your library so you can add it to your collections as demand has risen.

Good luck. And although there can only be one winner of the book, everyone can watch the program.

Recap: True Monsters of Lovecraft Country Virtual Roundtable

This past Friday Library Journal capped off it’s #LovecraftFridays discussion with a virtual roundtable. The panelists included were Alex Brown, Becky Spratford, Gabino Iglesias, Mary SanGiovanni, Steffan Triplett and Matt Ruff! Together they talked about the true meaning of Cosmic Horror, what fair representation looks like in both literature and media, as well as differences between the hit HBO show and the novel. There are also a few tips for librarians as well on how to introduce this growing genre into their community. Overall, it is something you do not want to miss. So, grab some snacks and enjoy. 

Librarians' Day is Live and a Bonus Why I Love Horror for Dia de Los Muertos

Welcome to the launch day for the 4th Annual Horror Writers' Association's Librarians' Day, this year brought to you virtually with the help of ARRT.

Everything you need to participate, view, and access resources is all on this one page courtesy of ARRT [and in particular, Steering Committee Member, Stacey].

November 1st is Also Day of the Dead, and I am combining both Librarians' Day and Day of the Dead into one bonus "Why I Love Horror" blog post. Welcome to the blog, LD panelist, Cynthia Pelayo sharing more of her personal horror journey with us.

Watch her with Daniel Kraus, Stephen Graham Jones, and me in our "State of Horror Today" panel. Link here.

And keep an eye out for my upcoming review of her brand new novel, Children of Chicago, in the January issue of Library Journal.

But first, why Pelayo loves horror...

Why I Love Horror: Day of the Dead Edition

by Cynthia Pelayo

I am never going to be like my mother, I used to think. I always liked to think of myself as more like my father. My father is more positive and adventurous, and my mother is quieter and more reserved; choosing her words very carefully, or providing little to no words in a conversation at all, but I have learned over time that I am like both of them. And each of them gave me an early introduction into the horror genre, a genre for which my love has only grown.  

I was lucky in that I was able to meet three of four of my grandparents, and my mother’s father was very much like her, a solemn – and quite frankly – frightening man, who spoke little, but was always aware of those around him and what they were saying. My father’s parents were salt of the earth kind of people. They were beyond poor, but so kind and willing to share anything they had in their near-empty refrigerator with you, that they would supplement with hours of wonderful conversation peppered with intense laughter, seated on the front porch of their home on a mountain top.

I am the sum of all of these people, my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents whom I have only heard vague stories about, and great-great grandparents we have tried to trace back and beyond. 

It is Day of the Dead, and what I recognize on this day is the hard work my ancestors put in so that I could find myself with you here today. We believe that death is not an end, but another continuation of our story, and while all of my ancestors may not be by my side today, and every day, I am here and I am the product of each and every one of them. I am the product of their decisions, stories, laughter, and maybe a little bit of the things they loved, and one of the things my parents loved was a good scary story.

So, why do I love horror? I can tell you how I fell in love with horror, and it is because of my mother, that woman I said I would never be like. My earliest memory of a scary story was told to me by my mother. 

She told me the nursery rhyme - 
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do

And the nursery rhyme continues with how the woman who lived in the shoe later whipped her children, and this was all absolutely terrifying to me; that this ghastly woman hit her little children, and how they were all crammed in this shoe. 

From that moment on, I was captivated. My mother then recited all of the nursery rhymes to me that she had memorized. She would later read me whatever fairy tale stories I could get my hands on from school, and the scarier the better. While my mother struggled to read those later fairy tales and stories to me, given her first language was Spanish, she tried as best she could – for me, stumbling through new words, and falling into old worlds she had experienced when she too was a little girl. 

My father liked to tell me old folk tales of ghosts who lived in the mountains of his childhood home. He told me of spectral lights and whispers that carried in the wind at night, and when I asked him what he believed was the cause of those lights and those whispers he said plainly - ghosts. When I asked him where he learned those stories he told me those were tales that were told to him by his mother, and likely further back.

Maybe that’s something that you and I share, maybe it was a parent, or sibling, or a close family member that introduced you to the horror genre, whether through words on a page or a scary movie. I can tell you that one of my favorite things to do now is to sit and watch scary movies with my young son, be it Gremlin’s or Bettlejuice, or maybe something a little scarier like Poltergeist. We gather popcorn and candy, and curl up on the sofa with blankets in the dark, and those are some of the best moments – he and I watching these Gothic scenes unfold, our hearts racing as little creatures appear on screen, or a ghost floats across the television. Then, when the movie is finished and the lights come on we laugh and hug, because it was all just a scary story – something we survived together. I hope that these moments are as special for him as they are for me.

My fascination with folk and fairy tales has since found itself continually appearing in all of my own writing, from fiction to poetry to essays. There’s also this wonder about reading the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, knowing that when I read “Hansel and Gretel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” or “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” that I am sharing in a tradition that goes far back, beyond me, my parents, and grandparents. In reading a fairy tale, I am likely sharing in something that you yourself experienced with your own family, that you found wonder and magic and terror in, but that you too survived.

Stories unite us in the most fantastic ways. And so, I have continued on the tradition of sharing fairy tales and scary stories with my own children, continuing this wonderful gift that my parents gave to me that I can now share. So, I suppose I am like my mother, in many ways, and because of her, I share my love of fairy tales, of story, and horror with my little ones whom I hope can continue on that tradition long after I am gone, when I am then their ancestor – a picture in a golden frame on top of their altar for Day of the Dead.